Introduction

Preface: mindsets

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random USA. ISBN: 978-0345472328

Intelligence can be developed! Please, abandon your prejudices on Computational Thinking and/or Programming, be an hacker: one who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations

Did it happen?

Did some of you have experienced any of the following issues in the past? – Raise your hands if you were obliged:

• to buy one or more books

• to attend mandatorily a large part of the course for attending the final exam

• not to participate to an exam session for some informal rule imposed by the professor

• not to receive the maximum score if you attended the exam without attending the lectures

Rules

Let's see the rules of this course

• No text books needed for passing the exam - the material can be found on the GitHub repository of the course

• If you cannot attend, do not attend (even if attendance is recommended: you can ask questions)

• At least six exam sessions per academic year

• Max score one can obtain is 42 (out of 30)

Material

All the material is available in the GitHub repository of the course at https://github.com/comp-think/2019-2020/

Two kinds of objects:

• slides: a summary of the topics introduced in the lectures - available usually a few minutes before each lecture

• lecture notes: an extensive text describing the topics introduced in all the lectures - available in advance for each lecture

Have you found a mistake in the material? Please write me an email at silvio.peroni@unibo.it, or comment it directly on Google Docs

Communications

We use a Telegram group for communicating with each other

Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed, it is an open source software, and can be used in any device (it has been developed for mobile and desktop devices)

Invitation link to join the group:
https://t.me/joinchat/GrGmRRTeFdM7fpgAFkIi-w

Twitter

The course has its own Twitter account: @UniboCompThink

Twitter will be used to highlight interesting articles and initiatives about computational thinking, and to share the various topics addressed during the course so as to provide the materials to anyone can be interested

Interacting

We will use the GitHub repository of the course for a series of activities, such as exercises and raising issues

Thus, please, create a new account on GitHub: https://github.com/join

Once logged into GitHub, go to the issue page of the course repository, and then feel free to add and respond to issues there

A very introductory guide to GitHub can be find online

Course organisation

Theoretical part (30 hours), where I will introduce all the notions related to the course - no computer needed: 15 lectures of two hours each (today included)

Practical sessions (indicated as "Exercise" in the timetable online, starting from November), where Francesca Giovannetti will be available for helping you in the issues that may arise during the course (e.g. solving exercises) - use Telegram for coordination (e.g. topic to address and when)

Laboratorial part (16 hours), where Dr. Marilena Daquino will have some practical lectures on programming languages - computer needed here

Theory, practice, laboratory

Theory: it introduces the tools for doing something - e.g. vocabulary and syntax of a language

Practice: it addresses assignments to enable people to learn and understand the correct way to use such tools - e.g. using the language vocabulary and syntax to write sentences to express a particular idea or situation

Laboratory: a workshop run by someone that enables one to use the tools learned to understand advanced concepts and to build wonderful (and complex) artifacts - e.g. writing a novel

Course calendar

Exam

1. Two partial written examinations – they are not mandatory, but recommended – held during the lectures (no dates defined, surprise surprise): score <= 5 for each examination (max. score: 10)

2. Implementation of a project in Python: score <= 8

3. Oral colloquium on the project: -8 <= score <= 8

4. Final written examination: score <= 16

Total max. score: 42 (32 without the partial written examinations) out of 30

Evaluation of the course

Usually, during one of the last lectures of the course, you will be asked to fill-up a questionnaire on the organisation of the course and related stuff - it is anonymous, of course

Please, do it carefully and honestly, since it is one of the most important inputs I will have to understand what can be improved in the next year course

The fact that the course of this year is slightly different from the one held during the previous year one is mainly due to the comments I have received through these questionnaires

About learning a new language

Do you think that attending only to all the classes of a 6 credit course (i.e. 30 hours) on a foreign language is enough to master its basics?

Learning a programming language is like learning a new language: you need to practice it (a lot) to master it properly

Final recommendations (1)

Umberto Eco (1980). The Name of the Rose. Available online

In the face of some inexplicable facts you must try to imagine many general laws, whose connection with your facts escapes you. Then suddenly [...] you perceive a line of reasoning that seems more convincing than the others. You try applying it to all similar cases [...] and you discover that your intuition was right.

There is no single solution to a given problem, and the best one can be found only trying (and making mistakes, and trying again and again) more than one approach

Final recommendations (2)

Stephen Toulmin (1958). The Uses of Arguments. Available online

The purpose of these studies is to raise problems, not to solve them

Please do ask questions

There are no stupid questions

My answers can be odd though, sometime

Thus, in order to avoid such odd answers, I could ask you to be patient and wait for the next lecture, so as to provide you with the best possible answer ever