WELCOME!

(download slides and .py files from

the class site to follow along)
6.100L Lecture 1
Ana Bell

1
TODAY

 Course info
 What is computation
 Python basics
 Mathematical operations
 Python variables and types
 NOTE: slides and code files up before each lecture
 Highly encourage you to download them before class
 Take notes and run code files when I do
 Do the in-class “You try it” breaks
 Class will not be recorded
 Class will be live-Zoomed for those sick/quarantine

6.100L Lecture 1
WHY COME TO CLASS?

 You get out of this course what you put into it

 Lectures
 Intuition for concept
 Teach you the concept
 Ask me questions!
 Examples of concept
 Opportunity to
practice practice practice
 Repeat

6.100L Lecture 1
 OFFICE
PSETS
HOURS
OPTIONAL
PIAZZA (practice)

PROBLEM
SOLVING MANDATORY
FINGER

PRACTICE
EXERCISES

LECTURES
KNOWLEDGE PROGRAMMING
OF CONCEPTS SKILL

RECITATION
EXAMS

February 3, 2016 6.100L Lecture1 1

6.0001 LECTURE
TOPICS

 Solving problems using computation

 Python programming language
 Organizing modular programs
 Some simple but important algorithms
 Algorithmic complexity

6.100L Lecture 1
LET’S GOOOOO!

6
TYPES of KNOWLEDGE

 Declarative knowledge is statements of fact

 Imperative knowledge is a recipe or “how-to”

 Programming is about writing recipes to generate facts

6.100L Lecture 1
NUMERICAL EXAMPLE

 Square root of a number x is y such that y*y = x

 Start with a guess, g
1) If g*g is close enough to x, stop and say g is the answer
2) Otherwise make a new guess by averaging g and x/g
3) Using the new guess, repeat process until close enough
 Let’s try it for x = 16 and an initial guess of 3
g g*g x/g (g+x/g)/2
3 9 16/3 4.17

6.100L Lecture 1
NUMERICAL EXAMPLE

 Square root of a number x is y such that y*y = x

 Start with a guess, g
1) If g*g is close enough to x, stop and say g is the answer
2) Otherwise make a new guess by averaging g and x/g
3) Using the new guess, repeat process until close enough
 Let’s try it for x = 16 and an initial guess of 3
g g*g x/g (g+x/g)/2
3 9 16/3 4.17

4.17 17.36 3.837 4.0035

6.100L Lecture 1
NUMERICAL EXAMPLE

 Square root of a number x is y such that y*y = x

 Start with a guess, g
1) If g*g is close enough to x, stop and say g is the answer
2) Otherwise make a new guess by averaging g and x/g
3) Using the new guess, repeat process until close enough
 Let’s try it for x = 16 and an initial guess of 3
g g*g x/g (g+x/g)/2
3 9 16/3 4.17

4.17 17.36 3.837 4.0035

4.0035 16.0277 3.997 4.000002

10

6.100L Lecture 1
WE HAVE an ALGORITHM

1) Sequence of simple steps

2) Flow of control process that specifies when each step is
executed
3) A means of determining when to stop

11

6.100L Lecture 1
ALGORITHMS are RECIPES /
RECIPES are ALGORITHMS
 Bake cake from a box
 1) Mix dry ingredients
 2) Add eggs and milk
 3) Pour mixture in a pan
 4) Bake at 350F for 5 minutes
 5) Stick a toothpick in the cake
 6a) If toothpick does not come out clean, repeat step 4 and 5
 6b) Otherwise, take pan out of the oven
 7) Eat

12

6.100L Lecture 1
COMPUTERS are MACHINES that
EXECUTE ALGORITHMS
 Two things computers do:
 Performs simple operations
100s of billions per second!
 Remembers results
100s of gigabytes of storage!
 What kinds of calculations?
 Built-in to the machine, e.g., +
 Ones that you define as the programmer
 The BIG IDEA here?

13

6.100L Lecture 1
A COMPUTER WILL ONLY DO
WHAT YOU TELL IT TO DO

14

6.100L Lecture 1
COMPUTERS are MACHINES that
EXECUTE ALGORITHMS
 Fixed program computer
 Fixed set of algorithms
 What we had until 1940’s
 Stored program computer
 Machine stores and executes instructions
 Key insight: Programs are no different from other kinds of data

15

6.100L Lecture 1
STORED PROGRAM COMPUTER

 Sequence of instructions stored inside computer

 Built from predefined set of primitive instructions
1) Arithmetic and logical
2) Simple tests
3) Moving data
 Special program (interpreter) executes each instruction in
order
 Use tests to change flow of control through sequence
 Stops when it runs out of instructions or executes a halt instruction

16

6.100L Lecture 1
 MEMORY

CONTROL ARITHMETIC
UNIT LOGIC UNIT
program counter do primitive ops

INPUT OUTPUT
17

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459 True
7891
7892 MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
18

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459 True
7891
7892 MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
19

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459
7
True
7891
7892 MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
20

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459
7
True
7891
7892 MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
21

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459
7
True
7891
7892
7
MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
22

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459
7
True
7891
7892
7
MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
23

6.100L Lecture 1
 3456 3 7889 5
3457 4 7890 2
3458
3459
7
True
7891
7892
7
MEMORY
3460 7893
3461 False 7894

Add 3456 3457

Store
Add CONTROL
3458
78897890 ARITHMETIC
Store
Compare
UNIT
7891
34587891
LOGIC UNIT
Print

INPUT OUTPUT
True

24

6.100L Lecture 1
BASIC PRIMITIVES

 Turing showed that you can compute anything with a very

simple machine with only 6 primitives: left, right, print, scan,
erase, no op

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This

content is excluded from our Creative Commons
license. For more information, see
https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/

 Real programming languages have

 More convenient set of primitives
 Ways to combine primitives to create new primitives
 Anything computable in one language is computable in any
other programming language
25

6.100L Lecture 1
ASPECTS of LANGUAGES

 Primitive constructs
 English: words
 Programming language: numbers, strings, simple operators

26

6.100L Lecture 1
ASPECTS of LANGUAGES

 Syntax
 English: "cat dog boy"  not syntactically valid
"cat hugs boy"  syntactically valid
 Programming language: "hi"5  not syntactically valid
"hi"*5  syntactically valid

27

6.100L Lecture 1
ASPECTS of LANGUAGES

 Static semantics: which syntactically valid strings have meaning

 English: "I are hungry"  syntactically valid
but static semantic error
 PL: "hi"+5  syntactically valid
but static semantic error

28

6.100L Lecture 1
ASPECTS of LANGUAGES

 Semantics: the meaning associated with a syntactically correct

string of symbols with no static semantic errors
 English: can have many meanings "The chicken is
ready to eat."
 Programs have only one meaning
 But the meaning may not be what programmer intended

29

6.100L Lecture 1
WHERE THINGS GO WRONG

 Syntactic errors
 Common and easily caught
 Static semantic errors
 Some languages check for these before running
program
 Can cause unpredictable behavior
 No linguistic errors, but different meaning
than what programmer intended
 Program crashes, stops running
 Program runs forever
 Program gives an answer, but it’s wrong!

30

6.100L Lecture 1
PYTHON PROGRAMS

 A program is a sequence of definitions and commands

 Definitions evaluated
 Commands executed by Python interpreter in a shell
 Commands (statements) instruct interpreter to do something
 Can be typed directly in a shell or stored in a file that is read
into the shell and evaluated
 Problem Set 0 will introduce you to these in Anaconda

31

6.100L Lecture 1
PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT:
ANACONDA

Code Editor
Shell / Console

32

6.100L Lecture 1
OBJECTS

 Programs manipulate data objects

 Objects have a type that defines the kinds of things programs
can do to them
 30
 Is a number
 We can add/sub/mult/div/exp/etc
 'Ana'
 Is a sequence of characters (aka a string)
 We can grab substrings, but we can’t divide it by a number

33

6.100L Lecture 1
OBJECTS

 Scalar (cannot be subdivided)

 Numbers: 8.3, 2
 Truth value: True, False

 Non-scalar (have internal structure that can be accessed)

 Lists
 Dictionaries
 Sequence of characters: "abc"

34

6.100L Lecture 1
SCALAR OBJECTS

 int – represent integers, ex. 5, -100

 float – represent real numbers, ex. 3.27, 2.0
 bool – represent Boolean values True and False
 NoneType – special and has one value, None
 Can use type() to see the type of an object

>>> type(5)
int
>>> type(3.0)
float

35

6.100L Lecture 1
 int float
0, 1, 2, …
0.0, …, 0.21, …
300, 301 …
1.0, …, 3.14, …
-1, -2, -3, …
-1.22, …, -500.0 , …
-400, -401, …

bool NoneType
True
False None

36

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 In your console, find the type of:
 1234
 8.99
 9.0
 True
 False

37

6.100L Lecture 1
TYPE CONVERSIONS (CASTING)

 Can convert object of one type to another

 float(3) casts the int 3 to float 3.0
 int(3.9) casts (note the truncation!) the float 3.9 to int 3
 Some operations perform implicit casts
 round(3.9)returns the int 4

38

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 In your console, find the type of:
 float(123)
 round(7.9)
 float(round(7.2))
 int(7.2)
 int(7.9)

39

6.100L Lecture 1
EXPRESSIONS

 Combine objects and operators to form expressions

 3+2
 5/3
 An expression has a value, which has a type
 3+2 has value 5 and type int
 5/3 has value 1.666667 and type float
 Python evaluates expressions and stores the value. It doesn’t
store expressions!

 Syntax for a simple expression

<object> <operator> <object>

40

6.100L Lecture 1
 BIG IDEA
Replace complex
expressions by ONE value
Work systematically to evaluate the expression.

41

6.100L Lecture 1
EXAMPLES

 >>> 3+2
5
 >>> (4+2)*6-1
 35
 >>> type((4+2)*6-1)
 int
 >>> float((4+2)*6-1)
 35.0

42

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 In your console, find the values of the following expressions:
 (13-4) / (12*12)
 type(4*3)
 type(4.0*3)
 int(1/2)

43

6.100L Lecture 1
OPERATORS on int and float

 i+j  the sum if both are ints, result is int

 i-j  the difference if either or both are floats, result is float

 i*j  the product

 i/j  division result is always a float

 i//j  floor division What is type of output?

 i%j  the remainder when i is divided by j

 i**j  i to the power of j

44

6.100L Lecture 1
SIMPLE OPERATIONS

 Parentheses tell Python to do these operations first

 Like math!
 Operator precedence without parentheses

**

* / % executed left to right, as appear in expression

+ – executed left to right, as appear in expression

45

6.100L Lecture 1
SO MANY OBJECTS, what to do
with them?!
temp = 100.4
a= 2
go = True
b= -0.3
x= 123 flag = False
n= 17
small = 0.001

46

6.100L Lecture 1
VARIABLES

 Computer science variables are different than math variables

 Math variables
 Abstract
a + 2 = b - 1
 Can represent many values
x * x = y

 CS variables
 Is bound to one single value at a given time a = b + 1
 Can be bound to an expression
(but expressions evaluate to one value!) m = 10
F = m*9.98

47

6.100L Lecture 1
BINDING VARIABLES to VALUES

 In CS, the equal sign is an assignment

 One value to one variable name
 Equal sign is not equality, not “solve for x”
 An assignment binds a value to a name

pi = 355/113

 Step 1: Compute the value on the right hand side (the VALUE)
 Value stored in computer memory
 Step 2: Store it (bind it) to the left hand side (the VARIABLE)
 Retrieve value associated with name by invoking the name
(typing it out)
48

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 Which of these are allowed in Python? Type them in the
console to check.
 x = 6
 6 = x
 x*y = 3+4
 xy = 3+4

49

6.100L Lecture 1
ABSTRACTING EXPRESSIONS

 Why give names to values of expressions?

 To reuse names instead of values
 Makes code easier to read and modify
 Choose variable names wisely
 Code needs to read
 Today, tomorrow, next year
 By you and others
 You’ll be fine if you stick to letters,
underscores, don’t start with a number
#Compute approximate value for pi
pi = 355/113
radius = 2.2
area = pi*(radius**2)
circumference = pi*(radius*2)
50

6.100L Lecture 1
WHAT IS BEST CODE STYLE?
#do calculations
a = 355/113 *(2.2**2)
c = 355/113 *(2.2*2)

p = 355/113
r = 2.2
#multiply p with r squared
a = p*(r**2)
#multiply p with r times 2
c = p*(r*2)

#calculate area and circumference of a circle

#using an approximation for pi
pi = 355/113
radius = 2.2
area = pi*(radius**2)
circumference = pi*(radius*2)
51

6.100L Lecture 1
CHANGE BINDINGS

 Can re-bind variable names using new

assignment statements
 Previous value may still stored in memory but
lost the handle for it
 Value for area does not change until you tell the
computer to do the calculation again
3.14
pi = 3.14 pi
radius = 2.2 radius
2.2

area = pi*(radius**2) area 3.2

radius = radius+1
15.1976

52

6.100L Lecture 1
 BIG IDEA
Lines are evaluated one
after the other
No skipping around, yet.
We’ll see how lines can be skipped/repeated later.

53

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 These 3 lines are executed in order. What are the values of
meters and feet variables at each line in the code?
meters = 100
feet = 3.2808 * meters
meters = 200

ANSWER:
Let’s use PythonTutor to figure out what is going on
 Follow along with this Python Tutor LINK
Where did we tell Python to (re)calculate feet?

54

6.100L Lecture 1
YOU TRY IT!
 Swap values of x and y without binding the numbers directly.
Debug (aka fix) this code.

x = 1 1
y = 2 x
2
y
y = x
x = y
 Python Tutor to the rescue?
ANSWER:
1
x
2
y
temp

55

6.100L Lecture 1
SUMMARY

 Objects
 Objects in memory have types.
 Types tell Python what operations you can do with the objects.
 Expressions evaluate to one value and involve objects and operations.
 Variables bind names to objects.
 = sign is an assignment, for ex. var = type(5*4)

 Programs
 Programs only do what you tell them to do.
 Lines of code are executed in order.
 Good variable names and comments help you read code later.

56

6.100L Lecture 1
MITOpenCourseWare
https://ocw.mit.edu

6.100L Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python

Fall 2022

For information about citing these materials or our Terms ofUse,visit: https://ocw.mit.edu/terms.

57