This week, the AcadeCoders learn the wonderful coding language of python! Python’s design philosophy emphasizes code readability, and its syntax allows the campers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than would be possible in languages such as C ++ or Java. This week, campers will learn an introductory course to python, learning the basic syntax and functions; while taking on fun challenges.
Day 1 (July 6th, 2015)
In the morning, the campers were given a tour of Academie de la Capitale and given all camp rules in respect to the camp and computer use. Following the camp introductory tour, they began with Jiu Jitsu with instructor Daniella of K2 Martial Arts!
After Jiu Jitsu, the campers began learning the introductory concepts of python including variables, Booleans, whitespaces, and math operations.After they went through and understand the basics of python, they began their first challenge: Tip Calculator. In this challenge, campers take the basis of what they have been taught and apply it to using python to calculate tip on various high-end restaurant meals.
After a wholesome lunch, the campers went to Morrison park to enjoy the beautiful weather! Campers played various playground games, played on the play structure, basketball, and touch football.
After outdoor play, campers were brought back to continue their afternoon of python. Campers worked on strings and console outputs. Campers learn to code strings, escaping characters, using upper and lower coding methods for strings, printing variables with strings, and advanced printing with explicit string conversion. Following that, campers were met with the challenge: Date and Time. In this challenge, campers had to create a database that keeps track of day and time. This challenge will look at getting the date and time with python, extracting information, and organizing it all.
Day 2 (July 7th, 2015)
Once the AcadeCoders logged into their code academy account, they spent the first half of their morning learning about conditionals and control flow, following with several practice challenges and assignments. Conditionals and control flow are used to create programs that generate different outcomes based on their output and campers did this with comparators, Boolean operators, and If, Else, Elif statements.
In the second half of the morning, the campers took on the challenge: PygLatin. In this challenge, campers apply their knowledge of python thus far and build a PygLatin translator. Following the challenge, the campers begin learning functions. Within functions, campers learn the basic function syntax, importing modules with generic and universal functions, and built-in functions.
After a wholesome lunch and enjoying the sun with outdoor activities at Morrison Park, the AcadeCoders were back to complete the afternoon installment of python! They began with the challenge of planning their own vacation. This is where campers get to experiment with the knowledge they have obtained thus far and plan a vacation destination of their choice using python. This includes planning the trip in regards to destination, transportation, and hotels.
Following the challenge, the campers began to transition in learning lists and dictionaries. Lists and dictionaries are used to store, organize, and manipulate information.
Day 3 (July 8th, 2015)
Once all the campers were logged into their code academy account, they were ready to start a day full of exciting lessons and challenges of python! AcadeCoders began the first part of their morning with the challenge “A day at the supermarket!”. In this challenge, campers had to use looping with lists and dictionaries to devise their own store in a market and learn to organize selling and trading using python.
In the second part of their morning, campers had the second challenge “Students become the teacher”. In this challenge, the tables were turned as campers had to create a ‘challenge’ course to display to the instructors of all their python knowledge thus far.
After lunch, the campers were headed to Morrison Park for outdoor activities! This week the weather has been on our side with sunny and warm days, making it great for the campers to take part in various playground activities, playing on the splash pad, and basketball!
Once outdoor activities finished and campers had their snack break, they were back at python! Campers began their afternoon with Lists and Functions. Campers will learn to use functions with lists, manipulating and removing elements, and use two lists as two arguments in a function. For the rest of the afternoon, the campers began the challenge “Battleship!”. In this challenge, campers build a simplified, one-player version of the classic board game Battleship! In this version of the game, there will be a single ship hidden in a random location on a 5×5 grid. The player will have 10 guesses to try to sink the ship.
Day 4 (July 9th, 2015)
Loops! Loops! Loops! Loops are an essential portion to python and the AcadeCoders began their morning strong with learning the concepts of looping and attempt to apply to a few practice challenges. This includes creating their own loops, basic looping syntax, for loops, and creating complex lists and organizing information using loops.
In between the first half of the morning, the AcadeCoders had the pleasure of learning more Jiu Jitsu from instructor Daniella from K2 Martial Arts! The AcadeCoders were learning various break falls from various angles and positions from frontwards, sideways, and backward.
In the second half of the morning, the AcadeCoders worked on the challenge “Practice makes perfect!”.This challenge is full of practice problems and the AcadeCoders worked in groups to take their programming skills to the next level by apply them to real life problems.
After a wholesome lunch, the AcadeCoders were off to a wonderful day at the park! The AcadeCoders have grown a close bond with constant playing and socialization among each other and devising games that included everyone!
In the afternoon, the AcadeCoders had one last challenge of the day; “Exam Statistics”. In this challenge, the AcadeCoders had to create a program to compute statistics without having to use a calculator and manually crunch numbers. Campers will have to supply a new set of numbers and organize those using python code. This mini-project will give campers some practice with functions, lists, and translating mathematical formulas into programming statements.
Day 5 (July 10th, 2015)
Last day of Python for the AcadeCoders! The AcadeCoders have worked hard this week going through various assignments and challenges; doing the best to learn all the key concepts within only five days. In the first part of the morning, the AcadeCoders worked on advanced topics in python. This part of the section covered various complex aspects in python, including iterating over data structures, list comprehension, list slicing, and lambda expressions.
In the second half of their morning, the AcadeCoders moved on to Bitwise Operators. These operators are used to manipulate bits, patterns of 0’s and 1’s. In all computers, numbers are represented with bits, a series of zeros and ones. In fact, pretty much everything in a computer is represented by bits. This section will introduce campers to the basic bitwise operations and then show them what you can do with them.
After lunch, the AcadeCoders spent another beautiful day at Morrison Park playing their various activities on the playground, basketball court, field, and splash pad.
In their final afternoon of Python, the AcadeCoders had one last challenge; “File Input/output”. In this challenge, the AcadeCoders had to learn the process of file I/O (the “I/O” stands for “input/output”), and Python has a number of built-in functions that campers will use. Campers will use the open() function to devise their own python code. Once the AcadeCoders finished their last challenge, they had free time for the last twenty minutes of the day!
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