Welcome to CS 1! We’re super excited to have you here this term!

Most Recent Announcements

Project07 DUEs
Here is the sign up link for the project07 DUEs: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040D4AAAA923AAF94-57242641-cs125sp
We have sign ups available from tomorrow mid day to Friday afternoon. Only one person from each group needs to sign up for a DUE but all members need to be present at that time in person or via Zoom....(continued here)
Project07 Extra Information
In addition, on project07 we have included a survey about LLM usage in this course. If at least 80% of the class fills out this survey, we will lower all the shadow grade thresholds when calculating everyones' final grades! We really really want your opinions on this aspect of the course as it's very important to us that we take an approach that makes sense in the future....(continued here)

Due Next

Calendar

Wellness and Inclusion

It is very important to us that you succeed in CS 1. We provide many extra resources to help you. The professors and the TAs hold many office hours.

It is also very important to us that you maintain your mental wellness throughout the course. A few points are not worth losing sleep over. Everyone on the course staff is available to chat, and you can always attend office hours for a non-academic conversation if necessary. You can also visit the counseling center if you find you need help beyond the course staff. If you have a temporary health condition or permanent disability (either mental health or physical health related), you should contact accessibility services if you have not already. Additionally, if there is something we can do to make your experience better, please let us know.

Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are all core values of this course. All participants in this course must be treated with respect by other members of the community in accordance with the honor code. If you feel unwelcome or unsafe in any way, no matter how minor, we encourage you to talk to Prof. Blank or one of the Deans. We view these sorts of honor code violations as completely unacceptable, and we take them very seriously.

Tools

Project Registration •Current Diagnostics •Extension Request Form

Course Staff

Instructors

Prof. Blank

they/them

Book an appointment!

Annenberg 115

blank@caltech.edu

(626) 395-1765

Jedi Tsang

he/him

Book an appointment by email!

Annenberg 245

tsang@caltech.edu

(626) 395-6251

Teaching Assistants

Hopper

she/her

hopper@

Jinhuang (Jin) Zhou

he/him

jzhou2@

Bisrat Kassahun

he/him

bkassahu@

Lucas Smith

he/him

lsmith2@

Maya Keys

she/her

mekeys@

Philippe des Boscs

he/him

pdesbosc@

Reiden Walker

he/they

rrwalker@

Tami Soyebo

she/her

tami@

Handouts

The following is a list of handouts that you might find helpful throughout the course. We’ve categorized them by when they are useful.

Course Information

Syllabus – an overview of the course and administrative information

Setup Instructions – setup instructions for the course

Policies

Diagnostics Policy – the rules around diagnostics in the course

Collaboration Policy – the course collaboration policy

Projects

Grading – guide to understanding project grading

Readings

Course Readings – an optional set of readings to supplement lecture material

Cheatsheet for Python - a comprehensive list of examples and tips for python syntax and libraries

Schedule

L00	Mon, Mar 31	Computation and Algorithms in 2025 Variables, Types, Calling a Function, Introduction to CS 1. Administrivia. Our first program!
R01	Tue, Apr 01	Syntax Recitation 01 [ problems, solutions ] Variables. Lists. for loops
L01	Wed, Apr 02	Introduction to Lists, Iteration, and Selection `list`s, `for` Loops, `if` statements Lists. `for` Loops. Basic `if` Statements.
L02	Fri, Apr 04	Functions and Returns Defining Functions Writing our own functions. Tips, tricks, and pitfalls.
L03	Mon, Apr 07	Return of the Return Values Defining Functions “Catching” return values from functions
DUE	Mon, Apr 07 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 1a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
R02	Tue, Apr 08	Syntax Recitation 02 [ problems, solutions ] Types. Functions. Reading documentation.
DUE	Tue, Apr 08 11:30 pm	project01 (battleship, part 1) [ guide ] This project covers fundamental Python concepts with a particular emphasis on conditionals and lists.
L04	Wed, Apr 09	Reading Documentation, Type Annotations, and More! none. How should you go about reading the project guides? What is a type really?
DUE	Wed, Apr 09 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 2a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L05	Fri, Apr 11	Indefinite Loops `while` Loops while loops. More common loop patterns.
DUE	Fri, Apr 11 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 3a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L06	Mon, Apr 14	Doing It Again (and Loops and Lists) More `list`s, `tuple`s More complicated loop and list patterns.
DUE	Mon, Apr 14 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 4a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Mon, Apr 14 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 4b (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
R03	Tue, Apr 15	Syntax Recitation 03 [ problems, solutions ] Nested for loops. While loops. More types.
DUE	Tue, Apr 15 11:30 pm	project02 (battleship, part 2) [ guide ] This project covers more fundamental programming concepts including functional decomposition and computational thinking.
L07	Wed, Apr 16	Case Study: Wordle `list` operations An example program that synthesizes all that we’ve done so far!
DUE	Wed, Apr 16 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 5a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L08	Fri, Apr 18	Storing Mappings (Dictionaries) Dictionaries
DUE	Fri, Apr 18 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 8a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Fri, Apr 18 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 6a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L09	Mon, Apr 21	In-Class Quiz
DUE	Mon, Apr 21 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 6b (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Mon, Apr 21 11:30 pm	quiz01
L10	Wed, Apr 23	Working with Hardware Dictionaries Introducing the Trinkey which is a piece of hardware we will be working with in project03!
DUE	Wed, Apr 23 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 7a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L11	Fri, Apr 25	Exceptions Exceptions
L12	Mon, Apr 28	vpython and using objects TBD
DUE	Tue, Apr 29 11:30 pm	project03 (morse code) [ guide ] This project covers indefinite loops, dictionaries, and advanced string manipulation.
L13	Wed, Apr 30	Monty Hall Problem `floats` and `Fraction`s
DUE	Wed, Apr 30 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 9a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L14	Fri, May 02	Mysteries and Tests! What does a unit test look like? It’s a mystery!
DUE	Fri, May 02 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 10a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L15	Mon, May 05	Matrices and More Objects
DUE	Mon, May 05 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 11a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
R04	Tue, May 06	Syntax Recitation 04 [ problems, solutions ] Exceptions and dictionaries.
DUE	Tue, May 06 11:30 pm	project04 (newton's cradle) [ guide ] This project covers dictionaries and using objects.
L16	Wed, May 07	Recursion TBD
DUE	Wed, May 07 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 12a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L17	Fri, May 09	Impromptu Office Hours TBD
DUE	Fri, May 09 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 13a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L18	Mon, May 12	...why Java? why NOW? TBD
DUE	Mon, May 12 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 14a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
R05	Tue, May 13	Syntax Recitation 05 [ problems, solutions ] Enums. Counters. Fractions. vpython objects.
L19	Wed, May 14	Structuring Code TBD
DUE	Wed, May 14 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 15a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Wed, May 14 11:30 pm	project05 (equation balancer and solver) [ guide ] This project covers using custom types and linear algebra operations in Python.
L20	Fri, May 16	Objects and Classes TBD
L21	Mon, May 19	In-Class Quiz
DUE	Mon, May 19 11:30 pm	quiz02
L22	Wed, May 21	Enrichment Lecture 1 TBD
DUE	Wed, May 21 02:00 pm	Diagnostic 19a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Wed, May 21 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 17a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L23	Fri, May 23	No Lecture -- ditch day TBD
DUE	Fri, May 23 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 18a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L24	Wed, May 28	LLMs 1 TBD
L25	Fri, May 30	LLMs 2 TBD
DUE	Fri, May 30 02:00 pm	Diagnostic 20a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
L26	Mon, Jun 02	Enrichment Lecture 2 TBD
L27	Wed, Jun 04	Victory Lap TBD
DUE	Wed, Jun 04 03:00 pm	Diagnostic 22a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Wed, Jun 04 11:30 pm	project06 (Critters and LLMs) [ guide ] It's here!
DUE	Mon, Jun 09 11:30 pm	Diagnostic 21a (attempt 2) [ link ] This is the second attempt for this diagnostic. You can complete it even if you didn't do the first attempt in lecture.
DUE	Wed, Jun 11 11:30 pm	project07 (Minecraft Plugin) [ guide ] The final project of CS 1...more turtles in the pond!