Day 1 - Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Note: These Day-by-Day pages give a detailed overview of how the time was used in each class meeting. This is meant primarily as an archive for me (J. Klay) for when I teach the course again, but can also be used to stimulate ideas for other instructors.

Summary: Welcome, overview, Pre-learner Survey, UNIX Shell introduction, Codecademy sign-up

1. Introduction/April Fool's Joke
   • "Fortran 42" - so much science software written in it
   • Need to buy a compiler license, only $242
   • :-)
2. Enrollment
3. Pre-learner Survey
4. Course syllabus
5. Overview of tools
   • Python (why? vs. Matlab, Mathematica, C/C++, etc.)
   • UNIX Shell
   • Git/github
6. UNIX Shell introduction
   • pwd, ls, cd, mkdir, nano
   • Case sensitivity of filenames
   • What files/directories look like
   • File system hierarchy
   • Have them make a directory PHYS202-S14 (will become a github repo on Thursday)
   • In their new directory, have them use nano to create the pledge file for the repository
7. Codecademy signup with <CPUID> or <CPUID>202
   • Assignment by Thursday is the first seven modules of the Python track
     • Python syntax
       • 1. Python syntax
       • 2. Tip calculator
     • Strings and Console Output
       • 3. Strings and Console Output
       • 4. Date and time
     • Conditionals and Control Flow (so they'll be ready for PE1)
       • 5. Conditionals and Control Flow
       • 6. Pyglatin
   • Let them work on Codecademy in class for a bit

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