Introduction to Programming and Computer Science
(Fall 2026)

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Calendar

Jump to current week.

Week 1
Wed, 9 Sep: Lecture 1
Intro, Objects, Variables, Branching
no pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 2.1–2.4
Pset 1 released after class
Fri, 11 Sep: Recitation
F-strings, Python REPL
code
Notes:
Wed, 9 Sep: First day of class
Thu, 10 Sep: First day of office hours
Week 2
Mon, 14 Sep: Lecture 2
Looping, Enumeration, Functions
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 2.5–2.7, 3.1, 5.2, 4.1.1
Wed, 16 Sep: Lecture 3
Lists, Mutation, Scope
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 5.3, 4.1–4.3
Pset 2 released after class
Fri, 18 Sep: Recitation
Function environment diagrams, Decomposing programs
code
Week 3
Mon, 21 Sep: Lecture 4
Wrap-up functions, Simulation, Stochastic programs
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 18, 17.1
Pset 1 due at 10 PM
Wed, 23 Sep: Lecture 5
Random walks, Functions as arguments
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 16, 4.4
Pset 1 checkoffs start
Fri, 25 Sep: Recitation
Matplotlib
code
Week 4
Mon, 28 Sep: Lecture 6
Probability, Distributions, Variance
no pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 17.2–17.4
Pset 2 due at 10 PM
Pset 1 checkoff due at 9 PM
Wed, 30 Sep: Lecture 7
Continuous optimization, Bisection search
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 3.2–3.4
Pset 3 released after class
Pset 2 checkoffs start
Fri, 2 Oct: Recitation
Discrete bisection search, Applying CLT to random walks, Exam review
code
Notes:
Mon, 28 Sep: Last day to switch to 6.100A
Week 5
Mon, 5 Oct: EXAM 1
Covers Lectures 1–6
questions, solutions
Wed, 7 Oct: Lecture 9
Curve-fitting, Validation
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 20
Pset 2 checkoff due at 9 PM
Fri, 9 Oct: Recitation
Fitting non-polynomial data
code
Notes:
Fri, 9 Oct: Institute Add Date
Week 6
Tue, 13 Oct: Lecture 10
Confidence, Statistical significance
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 19, 21.1–21.4, 22
Wed, 14 Oct: Lecture 11
Dictionaries, Tuples, Graphs
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 5.7, 5.1, 5.5, 14.2.1
Pset 4 released after class
Pset 3 due at 10 PM
Fri, 16 Oct: Recitation
Train-validate-test
code
Pset 3 checkoffs start
Notes:
Mon, 12 Oct: Indigenous Peoples' Day holiday – no lecture, no office hours
Tue, 13 Oct: Monday schedule
Week 7
Mon, 19 Oct: Lecture 12
Hashing, Sets, Breadth-first search, Shortest paths
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 17.5, 5.6, 14.2
Wed, 21 Oct: Lecture 13
Depth-first search, Recursion
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 14.2, 6.1–6.2
Pset 3 checkoff due at 9 PM
Fri, 23 Oct: Recitation
Dictionary manipulation, BFS maze-solving
code
Week 8
Mon, 26 Oct: Lecture 14
Dijkstra's algorithm, Other graph problems
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 14.2.1
Pset 4 due at 10 PM
Wed, 28 Oct: Lecture 15
Review, Lambda, Comprehensions
no pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 4.4, 5.3.2, 5.8
Pset 5 released after class
Pset 4 checkoffs start
Fri, 30 Oct: Recitation
Dijkstra's with non-positive weights, Iterative deepening
code
Week 9
Mon, 2 Nov: Lecture 16
Combinatorial optimization, Decision trees
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 6, 14.1
Pset 4 checkoff due at 9 PM
Wed, 4 Nov: EXAM 2
Covers Lectures 1–14
questions, solutions
Fri, 6 Nov: Recitation
Generating subsets
code
Week 10
Mon, 9 Nov: Lecture 18
Knapsack, Dynamic programming
no pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 14.1, 15
Pset 6 released after class
Pset 5 due at 10 PM
Fri, 13 Nov: Recitation
Complementary knapsack
code
Pset 5 checkoffs start
Notes:
Wed, 11 Nov: Veterans Day holiday – no lecture, no office hours
Week 11
Mon, 16 Nov: Lecture 19
Classes, Attributes, Methods
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 10.1
Wed, 18 Nov: Lecture 20
Exceptions, Assertions
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 9
Pset 7 released after class
Pset 5 checkoff due at 9 PM
Fri, 20 Nov: Recitation
Using exceptions within a class
code
Notes:
Wed, 18 Nov: Institute Drop Date
Week 12
Mon, 23 Nov: Lecture 21
Inheritance
pre-lecture code, slides, code, finger exercise
Readings: 10.2
Pset 6 due at 10 PM
Wed, 25 Nov: Lecture 22
Revisit simulation using classes
slides, code, no finger exercise
Readings: None
Notes:
Thu, 26 Nov: Thanksgiving holiday – no lecture, no office hours
Fri, 27 Nov: Thanksgiving holiday – no lecture, no office hours
Week 13
Mon, 30 Nov: Lecture 23
Revisit graphs using classes
no slides, code, no finger exercise
Readings: None
Pset 6 checkoffs start
Wed, 2 Dec: EXAM 3
Covers Lectures 1–23
questions, solutions
Fri, 4 Dec: Recitation
CS curriculum topics
code
Pset 7 due at 10 PM
Pset 6 checkoff due at 9 PM
Notes:
Fri, 4 Dec: All finger exercises due by 11:59 PM
Week 14
Mon, 7 Dec: Lecture 25
Computer architecture
slides, code, no finger exercise
Readings: None
Pset 7 checkoffs start
Wed, 9 Dec: Lecture 26
Other programming languages
slides, code, no finger exercise
Readings: None
Thu, 10 Dec:
Pset 7 checkoff due at 9 PM
Notes:
Thu, 10 Dec: Last day of office hours