References

Readings

• Reading: What is Code - Intro and sections 1.1-2.3.
• What Kind of Mind Does ChatGPT Have? [Article] The New Yorker
• AI tools used by English councils downplay women’s health issues, study finds [Article] The Guardian
• Ten Ways AI Will Change Democracy [Article] The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation

Videos

• Video: Netflix – Explained (Season 2): Coding (24 min)
• Did the Camera Ever Tell the Truth? | Death of a Fantastic Machine [Video, 16 min] NY Times Opinion]

Coding

• pickcode.io online coding platform
• Supplemental Coding Assignment

  Program: Calculating Age

  In the hello_world_personal.py program, we added 1 to a variable to identify the person's age next year. Having the computer calculate with numbers is a huge part of programming.

  def main():
      name = input("Enter your name:")
      print("Enter your age:")
      age = int(input())
      print("Hello", name)
      print("Next year you will be", age + 1, "years old.")
  
  main()

  Another way we could have written that same program is to modify the value of age, replacing whatever was entered before with the same value + 1. We would write those lines like this.

  age = int(input))
  age = age + 1
  print("Next year you will be", age, "years old.")

  This would work, too:

  age = int(input())
  age_next_year = age + 1
  print("Next year you will be", age_next_year, "years old.")

  Write a new program calculating_age.py that asks the user to enter what year they were born, and then calculates what age they will be this year based on it currently being the year 2026. If I was born in 2020, then, I would turn 6 years old this year.

  Use a line like this in your program to calculate that age.

  age_this_year = 2026 - birth_year

  If you get stuck, here's a solution:

  def main():
      name = input("Enter your name: ")
      birth_year = int(input("Enter the year you were born (4 digits please): "))
      age = 2026 - birth_year
      print("Wow", name, "!")
      print("This year you will be", age, "years old!")
  
  main()

• guess_the_number.py

  import random
                                          
  def main():
      # make a random number from 1 - 10
      randnum = random.randrange(10) + 1
      # print(randnum)
      for attempt in range(1, 4):
          print("Guess #", attempt)
          guess = int(input("Guess a number between 1 & 10: "))
          if guess == randnum:
              print("You win!")
              break
          elif guess > randnum:
              print("Darn, you guessed too high.")
          else:
              print("Your guess was too low.")
      
      print("The number was", randnum)
  
  main()

• random_walker.py

  import time
  import random
  import os
  
  def disp(WIDTH, HEIGHT, x, y):
      os.system("clear")
      for row in range(HEIGHT):
          for col in range(WIDTH):
              if row == y and col == x:
                  print("@",end='')
              elif row == HEIGHT // 2 and col == WIDTH // 2:
                  print("+",end='')
              else:
                  print(".",end='')
          print()
      return
  
  def main():
      WIDTH = 60
      HEIGHT = 20
  
      x = WIDTH // 2
      y = HEIGHT // 2
      turn = 0
      for step in range(1000):
          direction = random.randrange(4)
          if direction == 0: 
              x = x + 1
          elif direction == 1: 
              y = y + 1
          elif direction == 2: 
              x = x - 1
          else: 
              y = y - 1
          turn = turn + 1
          # disp(WIDTH, HEIGHT, x, y)
          print(x, y, turn)
          time.sleep(0.1)
          if x == WIDTH // 2 and y == HEIGHT // 2:
              break
          
      print("Done after " , turn, "steps!")
  
  
  main()

• html_files.zip
  This zip-file contains a started document index.html and a folder of assets that you can use to create a webpage on your own computer. Click or ctrl-click to download onto your computer, then double-click the downloaded file to expand into a folder.

Additional Resources

Want to learn some more Python or HTML/CSS on your own? Check out these two recommended resources.

• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, by Miller and Ranum.
  We use this free, online text to support our Intro to Computer Science elective at Poly. It's got readable text interspersed with review questions and interactive code cells where you can try out what you just learned about. Highly recommended.
• HTML/CSS recommendation coming soon!