Code as a Liberal Art, Spring 2022

Unit 1, Homework 0

Due: Tuesday, January 25, 8pm

Note: In general, homework will be assigned on Wednesday and due the following week, but for this week, since we're just getting started, and I hope this is a simple, fun exercise, I hope you can get it posted by tomorrow evening. Thanks and good luck!

Experiment in algorithmic thinking

  1. Get a deck of playing cards and shuffle it well. Then, carefully sort the deck so that you have all clubs, then the diamonds, then the hearts, then the spades. Within each suit, the order should be A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

    As you are sorting, pay careful attention to the specific steps that you are taking, or the rules you might be following. Perhaps takes notes as you do so. When you are done, write an algorithm to sort a deck of cards: a set of steps that someone else could follow to sort a different, shuffled deck.

    Part of the trick of doing this successfully is a balance between specific and general. Your instructions need to be specific enough that anyone could follow them by only making very rote, mechanical gestures without any sophisticated thinking, but they have to be general enough that the same set of instructions would work for any shuffled deck of cards. If you need to make some assumptions (about locations within your workspace, or other operations) you can, but be explicit about what they are.

    Create a new folder in your Google Drive folder named "Unit 1, homework 0". Inside it, create a new Google Doc named "Algorithm" and put your algorithm in that. If you also wish to include your notes or any documentation (photo, video) of your process, please feel free — but do so in a separate file.

Preparing for our first technical lesson

Once you have that completed, try to get through as much of the below as possible. This will prepare you for our work in class on Wednesday. If you have any issues with any of this, don't worry. Feel free to email me and I can assist, and we can also try to use some class time working out any kinks.

  1. Text editor. Before class on Wednesday, make sure to download and install the Atom text editor onto your computer, freely available from atom.io.

  2. Python. If you have a Mac computer or a computer that runs Linux, it should have Python already installed and ready to go. If you have Windows, you will likely need to install Python. This guide on docs.python.org should have all the information you need to get that installed. If you are running Windows, please email me so we can make sure your system is setup and ready for you to use.

  3. Command line. We will be using the command line throughout the semester. Please take 25 minutes to watch this video which will explain a bit about what the command line is, why it exists, its history, and why we use it this semester and in the Code program. this video about the history of the command line (25 min) that I made last semester. This was made for my "Radical Software" class, so please ignore that on the title slide. I also refer to a twitter project, which we won't be doing in this class.

    Make sure you can access the command line on your computer. On Mac, the easiest way is with a program called Terminal. Open up Finder, go into the "Applications" folder, look for a folder called "Utilities", and within that, find and double-click on "Terminal". Or you can use a Spotlight search (⌘-SPACE) and search for Terminal. When you open that, it should look like this:

    but with different colors. You can customize your colors in Preferences.

    On Windows, again, please reach out to me and we can work together to get you setup.

  4. Python image library (Pillow). For the first unit we will be working with a Python library for maniupulating images called "Pillow". It gets its name because it is based on a prior project called PIL (Python Image Library). PIL was abandoned about 10 years ago, but some other developers continued supporting a compatible project, and the name is a reference to the original.

    To install this library on your system, open Terminal and type the following command: 

    pip3 install pillow
    If you get a message that states something like Successfully installed pillow-8.1.0 then you are ready to go.

    If you get an error stating something like "command not found", you may need to run pip instead of pip3. (So the command would be pip install pillow.) But if that is the case, make sure that you are still working with Python 3 by running pip --version and look for some output that says something like python 3.8. If you are confused or unsure, ask me or Viyan.)

  5. Make a Github account (if you don't have one yet), follow the instructions on class help page, and send me a Gist. If you aren't having any problems with anything yet, that's great! Your Gist can just say "hi". This is just a test so you know how this system works, and so I can record your Github username for future reference.