Informatics for Science and Engineering
Objectives
Knowledge
The fundamental components of a computer.
The tools of a software development system.
The essential constructions of an imperative programming language.
Some fundamental notions of relational databases.
Some basic concepts involved in the World Wide Web.
Application
Decompose a problem into simpler problems.
Design an algorithm for solving a simple problem.
Write a program, making a correct use of the basic constructions of an imperative programming language.
Test a program in a given programming environment.
State a very simple SQL query.
Access resources available in the network inside a program.
Soft-Skills
Ability to do a programming project.
Skills in time management.
General characterization
Code
10344
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Pedro Abílio Duarte de Medeiros
Hours
Weekly - 5
Total - 60
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
This unit has no access requirements.
Bibliography
Web
- Material in course web page in CLIP (slides, guides assignments)
- Notes from Prof. Ludwig Kripahl http://iceb.ssdi.di.fct.unl.pt/1819/files/ICEB_notes.pdf
Main book
- Allen B. Downey. Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (version 2.4.0). PDF avalaible at http://greenteapress.com/wp/think-python-2e/
Other books
- Brian W. Kerninghan, Understanding the Digital World 2nd Ed, Princeton University Press, 2017
- John V. Guttag. Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, MIT PRESS, 2016.
Teaching method
There are two hours of lectures and a lab session of three hours each week.
Lectures are problem-driven. They start with a concrete problem, which motivates the presentation of some computer systems topic, some data type or some programming language construct, and end with the complete source code of a program that solves it.
In the lab classes, students design, implement and test programs for solving simple problems in Science and Engineering fields.
Evaluation method
Available soon
Subject matter
Introduction: Problems, algorithms, programs, and computers. Goals and components of computer systems. Program execution. The interpreter.
Fundamental Concepts of Programming: Constants, variables and expressions. Numbers and strings. Predefined functions. Assignment statement and sequence of statements. Levels of abstraction in problem-solving. Functions. Source code files. Program life cycle. Kinds of error. Unit testing. FOR loops. Vectors. The IF statement. Relational and logical operators. Matrices. Graphics. WHILE loops. File systems. Binary and ASCII files. Structures. Vectors of structures.
Networks and communication protocols. The World Wide Web.
Introduction to databases: the relational model, relations, some basic SQL queries.
Simulation of continuous models.