Intermediate Data Programming

Jason Rukman

Originally from Australia I started my Engineering career in the US at Apple, Cupertino. Worked at multiple companies as sofware architect, product manager, people manager and project manager for over 30 years

This course is designed to support students who have:

• an understanding of control structures, file I/O, and data structures in Java. Your first weeks will focus on learning these concepts in Python.

Why should we learn?¶

The education you receive in this course can help prepare you for programming jobs, but this isn’t the only purpose for computing education. Education is not only about yourself and your personal gain, but also about all of us and our capacity to live together as a community.

North Creek High School acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Among the traditions of the Coast Salish peoples is a value for the connectedness between all living things and a recognition of the unique ways that each of us comes to know things.

Modern education has the idea that we all need to know the same thing. At the end of the lesson, everyone will know the same thing. That’s why we have tests, that’s why we have quizzes, that’s why we have homework: to ensure we all know the same thing. And that’s powerful—that’s important—within a certain context.

But for native culture, the idea that each listener divines or finds their own answer, their own meaning, their own teaching from the story is equally powerful—that each person needs to be able to look at the world and define it for themselves within their culture and then also find a way to live in that world according to the teachings of their people in their culture.

We are responsible for each others’ success

Everyone has a right to feel like they belong in this class. We’ll need to act with compassion and caring to collaborate with each other. Although we will need more than just unexamined commitments to collaboration, listening, empathy, mindfulness, and caring, the following guidelines offer a starting point for ensuring compassion toward each other Inoue, 2022.

• Listen with intention to understand first and form an opinion only after you fully understand.
• Take responsibility for intended and unintended effects of your words and actions on others.
• Mindfully respond to others’ ideas by acknowledging the unique value of each contribution.

You should expect and demand to be treated by your classmates and teachers with respect. If any incident occurs that challenges this commitment to a supportive, diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment, please let the teacher know so the issue can be addressed.

We recognize everyone has unique circumstances

Do not hesitate to contact the instructor by private discussion. The sooner we are made aware of your circumstances, the more we can help. Extenuating circumstances include work-school balance, familial responsibilities, religious observations, unexpected travel, or anything else beyond your control that may negatively impact your performance in the class.

It is the policy and practice of North Creek High School to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

We believe everyone wants to learn

Education is about shaping your identity as much as it is about learning things. In school, the consequences of making mistakes are relatively small. But the habits you form now---repeated over days, weeks, months, or years---determine who you will be in the future. Now is the best time to practice honest habits.

We ask that you do not claim to be responsible for work that is not yours. When you receive substantial help from someone else, include a citation. Don’t post your solutions publicly. Most importantly, don’t deprive yourself or others of the learning opportunities that we’ve created in this course.

Academic honesty reflects the trust (or the lack thereof) between students and teachers. We do our best to design the course in ways that ensure trust, but we know our systems are not perfect.

How does learning occur?¶

In a traditional classroom, you attend class while a teacher lectures until time is up. Then, you go home and do the important work of applying concepts toward practice problems or assignments on your own. Finally, you take an exam to show what you know.

Today, we know that there are more effective ways to learn science, engineering, and mathematics Freeman et al., 2014. Learning skills like software engineering and algorithm analysis requires deliberate practice: a learning cycle that starts with sustained motivation, then presents tasks that build on prior knowledge, and concludes with immediate, personalized feedback. Each module in the course will involve several different activities that are designed so that we can make the most of our class time together.

During lecture, participate in the lecture deliberate practice on programming concepts.

Lecture participation is tracked via completion of warmup and in class activities.

If you miss a lecture activity it will be recorded as a zero. If you have an extenuating circumstance for an ongoing absence please submit a student request and explanation to excuse the activity.

During quiz section, apply what you learned for that lesson.

Show what you learned by completing the individual homeworks/assessments and a team project.

Most assessments will be submitted to github.

Make sure to submit and commit often to GitHub to show your flow of work. One large single commit is a red flag to your teacher that it was created with AI.

Expect to spend an equivalent to twice the inside class time working on this course. Some weeks may require more or less time than other weeks. If you find the workload is significantly exceeding this expectation, talk to your teacher.

Only lab computers may be used in-class at student discretion but with the agreement that use should generally be on-task and minimize distractions to others. We agree to common courtesy including blanking screens when not in direct use.

All work is designed to be completed with what has been taught in class. Keep your submitted work within the scope of what has been taught. Work that is found to be out of scope with what we have taught will be penalized. Generative AI or other external resources may be used only for clarifying concepts, supporting debugging, or explaining problems at a high level. If you are consulting generative AI or external resources in permitted ways, include citations for what you used and how you used it. Writeups should all be your own words and ideas; you will not be penalized for grammar or mechanics as long as we understand what you are saying and your arguments are reasonable. Regardless of how much help you receive from others, in order to pass this class, you’ll need to be deeply familiar with data programming. Do not deprive yourself or others of learning opportunities in this course.

Encouraged

Discussing examples shown in class. These examples are learning materials.

Working with a TA to work on a task and resolve a particular problem.

Talking with other students without sharing code or details to reproduce code.

Permitted with caution

Working alongside one or more other people on an assessment.

In general the person helping should keep their hands off the mouse and keyboard and offer only indirect help and support.

Prohibited

Obtaining or generating solutions to any part of an assessment in any form for any reason.

Giving, receiving, or generating a walkthrough to an assessment from anyone or anything else.

Posting solutions to an assessment in a public place even after the course is over.