Information Technology, Introduction

The course consists of two parts: ICT theory and basic procedure-oriented programming in Python.

ICT theory: Basics of computer structure and operation. Digital representation of information. Basics, methods, applications and tools of artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data. Computers in connection to society, ethical and sustainability aspects.

Procedure-oriented programming: Variables and data types. Input and output. Control structures: Sequence, selection, and repetition. Structuring and division of programs; functions and modules. Data structures: Lists, tables, text strings, quantities (set), tuples, and records (dictionary). File management, persistent storage of information, and exceptions. Representation of numbers, simple processing and visualization of measurement data. Basic understanding and use of external libraries and modules such as NumPy, Matplotlib and Pandas. Python as a programming environment.

Knowledge:

• K1: Hold basic knowledge about information and communication technology (ICT): Computers, digital representation of information, algorithms, software, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.
• K2: Hold basic knowledge about how computers affect society. Ethical and legal aspects of ICT.
• K3: Hold basic knowledge about the basic elements of procedure-oriented programming.
• K4: Hold basic knowledge about the process from a problem to a working program.

Skills:

• S1: Be able to use the basic elements in practical, procedure-oriented programming.
• S2: Be able to use relevant programming tools, like Thonny or other syntax-driven editors with semantic error-tagging and step-wise execution with inspection of variables.
• S3: For small-scale problems, be able to use the process from analysis, via algorithm design formulated as pseudo code or in flow-charts, before programming with the right data structures in Python, and testing whether the solution works.
• S4: Be able to carry out small programming projects with a few hundred lines of code.

Lectures, exercise lectures, mandatory exercises. Info regarding the required number of completed exercises will be found on the courses Canvas site.