Department of Computer Science
Pomona College
CS 051A PO—Intro to Computer Science with Topics in AI
Spring 2025

Lecture Instructor

Dave Kauchak
e-mail: David.last_name@pomona.edu
office hours: Edmunds 224
  Mon 9:30-10:30am
  Wed 9:30-10:30am
  Thu 10-11am
  and by appointment

Lab Instructor

Zilong Ye
e-mail: Zilong.last_name@pomona.edu
office hours: Edmunds 115 - Thu 3-4:30pm

Mentor hours (in Edmunds 229)

Assignment submission:

Web page: http://www.cs.pomona.edu/classes/cs51a/

Textbook: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive Edition. Brad Miller and David Ranum, based on original work by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers. It is available online for free.

Final exam: Monday, May 12, 2-5pm (Section 1) and Wednesday, May 14 2-5pm (Section 2)

Other information:



Schedule

Note: This is a tentative schedule and will likely change
DateTopicReadingAssignmentMisc
1/21 introduction Ch 1-2
1/23 functions Ch 1-2 Assignment 0
1/28 modules Ch 4-5 practice 1 (solutions)
1/30 random, booleans Assignment 1 practice 2 (solutions)
2/4 conditionals Ch 7-8 practice 3 (solutions)
2/6 while loops and lists Assignment 2 practice 4 (solutions)
2/11 sequences practice 5 (solutions)
2/13 boolean variables, aliasing, parameter passing Assignment 3 practice 6 (solutions)
2/18 scope and debugging
2/20 reading files Assignment 4
2/25 dictionaries
2/27 recursion Assignment 5
3/4 more recursion
3/6 Midterm 1 Assignment 6
3/11
3/13
3/18 Spring break
3/20 Spring break
3/25
3/27
4/1
4/3
4/8
4/10
4/15
4/17
4/22
4/24 Midterm 2
4/29
5/1
5/6