Question

am i missing some of the readings? i've been reading what the website says to when it says to but im still kind of lost on the syntax or notation of the problem. The concept is simple but i feel like i have no clue on what syntax to use for built in functions for lists etc... anyone else have that problem or do you just read more than what is asked

Answer 1

Are you also reading the handouts?

Answer 2

yeah the ones with the sample code that they talk about, but what theres always differences in the ps with the example in class like for problem set 8 the knapsack problem counts through the list with indices and in the PS we have to count through with dictionaries but it hasn't been explained how to do that because there aren't any indices, so how are you suppose to iterate that with a greedy algorithm with out going through every single option

Answer 3

Ok, well if you have syntax questions, feel free to ask them here. There are a few of us who can probably help you out.

Answer 4

i have been reading anything i can find. probably the best is the Tutorial in the python documentation. If you are using windows it should have been installed when you installed python. you can access via F1 when using IDLE. here is the online link.
http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html#the-python-tutorial
I have read it at least once and parts of it many times. i kinda forced myself to read it once thru and promptly forgot it til i needed/wanted to do something and i had a good idea where to go look. i refer to it all the time

others:
builtin types section of the Standard Library portion of the docs:
http://docs.python.org/library/stdtypes.html#built-in-types
code like a pythonista: http://python.net/~goodger/projects/pycon/2007/idiomatic/handout.html
http://docs.python.org/release/2.5.2/lib/lib.html
i've found myself here a few times:
http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/contents.html
ibm: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/views/opensource/libraryview.jsp?search_by=Discover+Python

Answer 5

Actually, I do get that feeling sometimes. It's as though the lessons weren't ordered. Like in ps3. It was supposed to focus on iteration/recursion, yet it was heavy on string operations. But like bwCA said, the Python docs do solve things. Though it's also a tempting source of built-in functions that we're not supposed to use just yet. :P

Answer 6

I would think that if you/we were taking this class for real that there would not be any restrictions on which Python functions (etc) we used. There is a link to the Python Tutorial on the Readings page. I would hope that a college level course would expect you to take part in your education.

Answer 7

yeah and some of the problems you have to solve with built in functions like splices and everything else so i doubt that's a problem. That was actually my problem i wasn't up on all the syntax of python and now im just going to read a lot about it. I think if we were actually in the class it would be much easier because they explain more during the recitations and you can ask questions at recitations and office hours and talk with the TA's etc...

Answer 8

btw im reading the python tutorial and the modular section 6 i think is really confusing

Answer 9

we are definitely missing out without the recitations

The Python Programming link, on the Readings page, looks like it might be pretty good