CS 201 - Spring 2025. 1/17/2025.

Welcome to CS 201!

Note: you can find this page by going to the syllabus in canvas and then clicking "home" and "lectures" and "0117.html".

Video of the Day

Toccata and Fugue in d minor, J.S. Bach. As mentioned earlier, computer programming has design patterns, like Racket's read-eval-print loop (REPL), which are analagous to musical forms, such as sonata allegro, rondo, or fugue. The fugue also exhibits recursion, as discussed in Doug Hofstadter's book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid which won the Pulitzer Prize. See also: Crab cannon.

I hereby solicit suggestions for the video of the day. Please email me your ideas with explanations. Selected entries will win 5 homework points. If your video is played at the beginning of class, you must also briefly explain something about the video and something about yourself - in person.

Logical problem of the day

Murphy's Law states "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

https://pollev.com/slade You may also download the app to your phone. Use the "slade" poll id.

Top Ten Reasons to Learn Racket!

Number 9: It’s like Latin: you can understand otherwise obscure references, e.g., some Yale students graduate cum laude, some graduate magna cum laude, and some graduate mirabile dictu. (attributed to William Howard Taft, Yale class of 1878.)

Canvas Quiz of the Day (need daily password)

Most days, there will be a simple canvas quiz related to the lecture. You need a password to activate the quiz, which I will provide in class. These quizzes will count toward your class participation grade. The quiz is available only during class.

Click for today's quiz.

Note: the collaboration quiz is separate. It coincides with the first homework assignment.

Lecture 3: Racket.

I have office hours Wednesdays from 4-6 pm, on zoom, id 459 434 2854.

If you're thinking of taking CPSC 201, please do the following.

Complete this online Student Information form.
Get a course account for CPSC 201 on the Zoo. When you register for this class, your course account should be created within one hour or so of signing up.
Start the homework assignment: [Assignments].
Familiarize yourself with the Zoo computers with classmates or ULAs or on your own using the Zoo tutorial, Spring 2014 edition. We will discuss UNIX in class in the coming weeks and throughout the term. The compiled staff solutions to the problem sets are available for execution on the zoo. There is also an interactive UNIX tutorial available on the zoo.
(Optional.) Download and install DrRacket on your computer (Racket) and familiarize yourself with it (Choose language: "Use the language declared in the source", #lang racket. Then press the Run button to actually change the language.) If you don't want to install and run DrRacket on your machine, you may run it in person or remotely using your Zoo account.

Announcements

STEM Navigators Spring Kickoff and STEM Extracurricular Bazaar, Friday January 17th, 3 PM.

Come join STEM Navigators at our Spring Kickoff + STEM Extracurricular Bazaar on Friday, January 17th, from 3:00–4:00 PM at the Poorvu Center, Room 120A! Enjoy hot chocolate and cookies while meeting STEM Navigators mentors and members from 13 of Yale’s STEM organizations, representing fields ranging from healthcare to computer science and engineering. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the STEM Navigators program, explore Yale’s STEM extracurriculars in a focused and intimate setting, and discover ways to engage with the STEM community. RSVP here, and check out the list of participating extracurriculars here. Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of involvement in STEM Navigators!”

Racket.

Racket.html (jupyter) Section 4. environments.

Getting to know UNIX

UNIX Introduction

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