Articles tagged with #computer-science

Math for CS: Problem Set 2 Thoughts

For problem 1, I follow the description’s equivalence formula of set theory. But for part (a) when it asks to write a formula Members(p, a, b) of set theory that means p = {a, b} I am lost. This must be something from the text book that was not …



Math for CS: Sets

Informally, a set is a bunch of objects, which are called the elements of the set. The elements of a set can be just about anything: numbers, points in space, or even other sets. The conventional way to write down a set is to list the elements inside curly-braces. This …



Intro to CS: Lecture 5 - Floats and Approximation Methods

Topics: Simple Algorithms: approximation method, floats One thing I observed so far is that this course is not teaching a systematic way on how to come up with algorithms. By coming up with algos, I mean the process of taking a well-defined problem, its steps, and translating it into code …



Intro to CS: Problem Set 1

I was able to do part A and B in less than 1 hour. Part C, however, I will have to watch the related lectures because I need to know the bisection search algorithm, which I don’t know off the top of my head. Part A and B were …



Intro to CS: Lecture 4 - Loops over strings, guess-and-check, and binary

This lecture explains iteration in simple programs like guess-and-check, binaries, and fractions in Python. Loops can iterate over any sequence of values including a range for numbers or a string. Guess-and-check provides a simple algorithm for solving problems. When the set of potential solutions is enumerable, exhaustive enumeration is guaranteed …



Intro to CS: Lecture 3 - Iteration

Going over while and for loops. This is basic stuff for me. Watching video at 2x speed. Done watching, no new things learned. Onward to lecture 4.



Intro to CS: Lecture 2 - Strings, Input/Output, Branching

This blog post might be really short as I don’t feel like repeating things that I already know. Will keep watching the lecture to see if anything interesting pops up. Watching lectures on 2x speed. Topics: Core Elements of Programs: strings, input/output, f-strings, operators, branching, indentation. I already …



Intro to CS: Lecture 1 - Introduction

Here are my notes and thoughts about this lecture. Topics: Introduction to Python: knowledge, machines, objects, types, variables, bindings, IDEs. Declarative vs. imperative knowledge. The former is statements of fact while the latter is a recipe or “how to”. In this course we will be dealing with mostly imperative knowledge …



Taking a new course - Intro to CS and Programming using Python

Decided to take intro to CS using Python from MIT. Yes, this is easy basic stuff and my ego is nudging me to not proceed because “I already know this stuff”. And I feel like I’m already well-versed in Python, so why am I taking this course? Mostly out …



Systematic Program Design: Week 6b - Mutual Reference

We are presented with a new data structure for arbitrarily wide and arbitrarily deep tree structures. The example given is a file system. This structure reminds me of the Trie data structure implementation in Python, because of the list of nodes data referencing itself. In this course’s terms, it …