Computational Thinking Lab
Spring 2019

• Jeopardy game

• To receive extra credit points for filling the CTL survey, you must submit it by end of day Saturday May 4. If you did not receive an email invitation to take it yet, please send email to peakresearch@usa.net requesting one. We appreciate your feedback!

• Game 1
• Game 2

• Good luck on your finals!

• Defining new exception types


• Propagation of exceptions


• Handling exceptions


• SIRS

• Did you catch that?

• throwRedBlueGreen.py


• throwBlueRedGreenGreen.py


• throwBlueBlue.py


• throwGreenRedBlue.py

• Look for a personalized email invitation from peakresearch@usa.net to fill the retrospective survey for this semester's CTL. We appreciate your feedback! To receive extra credit points for filling the survey, you must submit it by end of day Saturday May 4. (If you don't find the email in your inbox or your junk folder, send email to peakresearch@usa.net requesting a link to the survey.)


• Interested in teaching programming to 6^th—12^th graders next year? Send contact information (email and phone number) for this summer to Prof. Dillon (ldillon@cse.msu.edu). MSU student instructors for our outreach programs are generally decided and contacted in the last half of July.


• Dr. Anderson is looking for ULAs for CSE 201. Must love programming in Python and be willing to work with students who have limited or no programming knowledge. For information, email Dr. Anderson (ande1989@cse.msu.edu).


• MSU Women in Computing: Keep an eye out for an announcement about applying for funding to attend the 2019 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on WIC BITS (sign up here) before classes let out.


• Cyber FastTrack: A free online cybersecurity program for college students and graduates. Sign up for Cyber FastTrack (today!) and you could be eligible to win a scholarship in advanced cybersecurity training.


• Rewriting the Code, an organization dedicated to empowering undergraduate college women in tech, is opening their application for the RTC Fellowship Program from April 1-22.


• Women in Technology Scholarships: Each year, Zonta International and our local chapter, Zonta Club of East Lansing Area (ZCELA), offer several scholarships to women in business and technology. Application deadline: May 1.


• Many universities around the country offer Research Experiences for Undergraduates Programs over the summer. Apply now!


• Keep your eye on ACM@MSU, Spartan Hackers, Spartasoft, and Brain Intelligence Club for future fun and useful events.

• Inheritance and the type hierarchy


• Subtypes and supertypes


• Scope rules for qualified names

• A Drink for Inheritance!


• drinks.py

• drinks.py


• subtypeDemo.py


• drinksProgram.py


• drinksWithCallsCheck.py

• Interested in being an undergraduate learning assistant for CSE 102 next year? Send email to Dr. Anderson (ande1989@cse.msu.edu) ASAP to be considered.


• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Vertafore Tech Talk. Tuesday April 16, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.
  • Lean In Lunch. Wednesday April 17, 11:00-1:30 pm, 3105 EB.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• The Illinois Technology Association is kicking off a Spring Tech Challenge from April 10-16, 2019. This virtual challenge is open to any U.S. based students who identify as female in higher education; the top spot receives $1,000! Register here.


• Cyber FastTrack: A free online cybersecurity program for college students and graduates. Sign up for Cyber FastTrack (today!) and you could be eligible to win a scholarship in advanced cybersecurity training.


• NIFS Student Scholarship Information Session for STEM Majors: 5-5:45 p.m., Thursday, April 18, Room 114, Bessey Hall.


• NANOG will be awarding four scholarships of $10,000 each for the 2019-2020 school year. See https://www.nanog.org/scholarships for more information. (Deadline: April 16.)


• Rewriting the Code, an organization dedicated to empowering undergraduate college women in tech, is opening their application for the RTC Fellowship Program from April 1-22. Attend this webinar to learn more about the RTC Fellowship program (Apr 10 @ 8 pm).


• Women in Technology Scholarships: Each year, Zonta International and our local chapter, Zonta Club of East Lansing Area (ZCELA), offer several scholarships to women in business and technology. Application deadline: May 1.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Data abstraction using Classes


• Overloading functions and operators


• Logic

• A Better Box


• box.py

• box.py


• Visualization

• Interested in being an undergraduate learning assistant for CSE 102 next year? Send email to Dr. Anderson (ande1989@cse.msu.edu) ASAP to be considered.


• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Self Defense Workshop. Tuesday April 9, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. This self defense workshop, brought to us by MSU’s Recreational Sports and Fitness Services, provides common sense and practical information regarding assault prevention. Learn verbal, non-verbal, psychological, and physical techniques for defending potentially violent encounters. The program is interactive and fun!
  • Vertafore Tech Talk. Tuesday April 16, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• The Illinois Technology Association is kicking off a Spring Tech Challenge from April 10-16, 2019. This virtual challenge is open to any U.S. based students who identify as female in higher education; the top spot receives $1,000! Register here.


• NIFS Student Scholarship Information Session for STEM Majors: 5-5:45 p.m., Thursday, April 18, Room 114, Bessey Hall.


• NANOG will be awarding four scholarships of $10,000 each for the 2019-2020 school year. See https://www.nanog.org/scholarships for more information. (Deadline: April 16.)


• Rewriting the Code, an organization dedicated to empowering undergraduate college women in tech, is opening their application for the RTC Fellowship Program from April 1-22. Attend this webinar to learn more about the RTC Fellowship program (Apr 10 @ 8 pm).


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Class v.s. class instance


• Class contructor


• Data members and methods

• What's in a Box


• shapes.py

• Visualization


• box.py


• shapes.py


• draw.txt


• Turtle graphics cheat sheet

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • TechSmith Tech Talk. Tuesday April 2, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• NANOG will be awarding four scholarships of $10,000 each for the 2019-2020 school year. See https://www.nanog.org/scholarships for more information. (Deadline: April 16.)


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Using special-purpose classes


• More modular program development

• Playing with Cards


• cardsDemo.py


• 21-card Magic Trick


• trick.py


• Example Calls

• cards.py, trick.py


• paced-cardsDemo.py


• exercise_helper.py

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • WIC Eboard Elections.Tuesday March 26, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. Hear short speeches from candidates. Voting will be conducted on D2L after. Voting is open to all students who have attended at least two WIC meetings. Pizza will be provided!
  • TechSmith Tech Talk. Tuesday April 2, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• NANOG will be awarding four scholarships of $10,000 each for the 2019-2020 school year. See https://www.nanog.org/scholarships for more information.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Sets


• Review for Exam 2

• Sets of this and sets of that


• Sets Cheat Sheet

• Visualization


• partB.py


• fishing.txt


• lineLookup.py


• Jeopardy

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Lean In Circle. Tuesday March 19, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. Lean In Circles are small group meetings to share and discuss experiences about school, work, and other life events in a supportive, confidential environment!
  • WIC Eboard Elections.We offer ten positions, so you have a lot of options to choose from. To run, fill the form at https://goo.gl/forms/CHluo4zfgsOUDn922. You can run for up to two positions, but can only hold one. Use your MSU email to access the form.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. Fill out this form for funding. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• NANOG will be awarding four scholarships of $10,000 each for the 2019-2020 school year. See https://www.nanog.org/scholarships for more information.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Dictionaries

• Look it up


• Dictionaries Cheat Sheet


• Data diagram

• Visualization 1


• make.py


• exampleDict.py


• initData.txt, updateData.txt

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Wisely Tech Talk. Tuesday March 12, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. Fill out this form for funding. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Program development


• Representing and manipulating a data set


• Lists, tuples, file I/O

• Keeping Records: The American Pastime


• Starter program

• mlb.py


• mlb.2013.txt mlb.test.txt


• mlb.comment.txt


• mlb.errors.txt

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Course Scheduling Advice. Tuesday Feb 26, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. We will go through each CSE class and encourage everyone to share advice or ask questions about the course. This will help you schedule for next year or decide which 400-levels are best for you. This has been one of our most popular meetings in the past, and we hope to see you there!
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. Fill out this form for funding. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Lists


• Tuples


• More functions


• Logic

• A Collector's Paradise


• Cheat sheet for lists and tuples


• Star Drawings

• Visualization 1


• Visualization 2


• starDrawings_0.py


• starDrawingsFromFile.py, drawCup.txt, drawSat.txt,


• starDrawings.py

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Spectrum Health Tech Talk. Tuesday Feb 19, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. As always, dinner will be provided.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. Fill out this form for funding. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• Engineering Week activities start Sunday, Feb 17!
  • Impression 5 Event, Sunday Feb 17, 11 am—6 pm, Impression 5, Lansing.
  • Celebrate Engineering Luncheon, Monday Feb 18, noon, EB Lobby.
  • Engineering Expo Day 1, Tuesday Feb 19, 11 am—6 pm, EB Hallways.
  • Engineering Expo Day 2, Thursday Feb 21, 11 am—6 pm, EB Hallways.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU). Deadline: Feb 15. (For female students.)
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• (Vanilla) Exceptions


• File input and output

• Reading From and Writing To Files


• Python File I/O Cheatsheet


• Dealing with Exceptional Things


• Handout #1, Handout #2


• Overview of files in Python


• Overview of exceptions in Python

• example2.py, example3.py, example4.py, exParrot.txt


• jabberwocky.txt, inputTries.py


• Visualization

• MSU Women in Computing:
  • Lean In Circle. Tuesday Feb 12, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB. Lean In Circles are small group meetings to share and discuss experiences about school, work, and other life events in a supportive, confidential environment! As always, dinner will be provided.
  • 2019 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Friday & Saturday March 29 & 30 in Grand Rapids: Join us to meet many peers and mentors in Michigan schools and companies, learn about career choices and graduate study, and attend a career fair. Fill out this form for funding. See the MICWIC 2019 website for more information.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• To get ready for upcoming Career Fairs, attend Spartan Engineering's Adulting 101: Preparing for the Engineering Expo. Monday Feb 11, 6:00—8:00 pm, C108 Wilson.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU). Deadline: Feb 15. (For female students.)
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Functions


• Exam 1 Jeopardy Game

• How does a function function?

• testConversions.py


• Function overview slides


• Visualization


• Jeopardy Game


• Ascii Table


• Khan Academy Lessons on Number Systems

• Strings and string operators


• Tracing control flow


• Incremental coding with strings


• Logic

• Glorious Strings!


• Strings Cheat Sheet


• Mystery Loops


• Creating Titles

• Visualization 0


• Visualization 1


• Visualization 2

• MSU Women in Computing: Brookstone Networking Workshop. Tuesday Jan 29, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• Interested in paid opportunities to explore research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU). Deadline: Feb 15. (For female students.)
  • Any of the 88 Computer and Information Science and Engineering REU Sites funded by the National Science Foundation in the nation.

• Control flow: Selection and Repetition


• Incremental coding


• Tracing execution


• Turtle Graphics

• Control Flow: Conditional Statements


• Control flow diagram


• Progression of flow diagrams (incremental development)


• Control Flow: Loop Statements


• Turtle Cheat Sheet

• MSU Women in Computing: Lean In Circles are small group meetings to share and discuss experiences about school, work, and other life events in a supportive, confidential environment! Dinner will be provided. Tuesday Jan 22, 6:00-7:00 pm, 3400 EB.


• SpartaHack V: This 36-hour coding marathon in East Lansing allows students of all skill levels to work together on new and exciting projects while connecting with professionals. January 18th-20th. Apply at spartahack.com!


• Check out other fun and useful activities with Spartan Hackers and ACM@MSU.


• Learn about the opportunities available for involvement in research and creative activities at Michigan State. A short presentation, discussion, and Q & A facilitated by current undergraduate researchers. Jan 24 7:30-8:30 pm, 106 Bessey Hall.


• Interested in exploring research in CS this summer? Check out:
  • MSU's ENSURE Program. Rolling admission. Usually fills by April 1.
  • CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU). Deadline: Feb 15. (For female students.)

• Overview of CTL


• Programming concepts: Statements, Expressions, Side effects, Objects, Types, Typing rules, Operator precedence, Type constructors, Input and Print functions


• Python Tutor


• Collect CTL Pledge and Consent Form

• Syllabus


• Fundamentals.


• Assignment, Input and Output


• Downloading Python Scripts - Windows version or MAC version


• Opening and Working on Python scripts - Windows version or MAC version

• Introduction to the CTL


• someAssignments.py


• precedence.py


• Visualization

• MSU Women in Computing: DOW Tech Talk, Tuesday Jan 15, 6:00 pm, 3400 EB.


• SpartaHack V: MSU's annual student-run hackathon invites you to come together and be creative with your tech! The 36-hour coding marathon allows students of all skill levels to work together on new and exciting projects while connecting with professionals. Location TBA in East Lansing from January 18th-20th. Applications are open at spartahack.com!


• Keep your eye on Spartan Hackers for fun and useful events.


• Keep your eye on ACM@MSU for fun and useful events.


• Interested in exploring research in CS this summer? Check out the CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) program. Deadline: Feb 15.

Meeting times and locations

• Section 2: Meets Wednesdays, 5:30—7:20 pm in 1220 Engineering, starting January 9.
• Section 3: Meets Thursdays, 5:30—7:20 pm in 1220 Engineering, starting January 10.

Grades are based on attendance. Don't start the semester by missing the first week!

Peer Leaders

• Clare Kinery
• Avani Shrivastava

Course Instructor

• Laura Dillon
• Office Hours: 3436 EB, We & Th, 2:30—4:00 pm and by appointment

Before The First CTL Meeting

• Follow the instructions in the first half of the first CSE 231 lab, lab01.pdf, to download and install Spyder, preferably on a lap top or other mobile device that you can bring to CTL meetings.
• Familiarize yourself with the CSE 231 Website.

Bring To Your First CTL Meeting

• Your signed CTL Pledge.
• Your signed Research Study Consent Form.
• A lap top or tablet running Spyder, if possible. (See instructions in Lab 01.)
• Your enthusiasm and attention.

Last But Not Least

• Wear something green to the first class for a sweet reward!
• Never, never, never press this link.