V-overview.ltx

\documentclass{wsheet}
\usepackage{rcs}
\usepackage[colorlinks]{hyperref}
\RCS $Id: V-overview.ltx 239 2010-07-23 21:41:31Z RobPearce $
\RCS $Date: 2010-07-23 22:41:31 +0100 (Fri, 23 Jul 2010) $
\RCS $Revision: 239 $
\sheet{V}{Overview of the course}
\author{Gareth McCaughan}
\date{Revision \RCSRevision, \RCSDate}
\begin{document}

\section{Credits}

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\copyright{} Gareth McCaughan. All rights reserved.
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This document is part of the LiveWires Python Course. You may
modify and/or distribute this document as long as you comply with the
LiveWires Documentation Licence: you should have received a copy of the
licence when you received this document.

For the \LaTeX{} source of this sheet, and for more information on
LiveWires and on this course, see the LiveWires web site at
\href{http://www.livewires.org.uk/python/}{|http://www.livewires.org.uk/python/|}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
\section{Introduction}

There are a lot of worksheets in our beginners' Python course.
The most important are the five numbered sheets; you should
work your way through those. But they'll be pretty hard going
unless you also make use of the lettered sheets, which give
you useful information about particular topics.

This sheet gives a very brief description of all the sheets.

I've given each sheet a ``difficulty rating'': one to three
stars.

\begin{tabular}{rl}
  $*$ & Basic. This stuff is reasonably easy, and you'll need to know it. \\
 $**$ & Intermediate. This is trickier, but it might be useful. \\
$*{*}*$ & Advanced. You don't need this to complete the course, but
          if you're feeling adventurous it might be interesting.
\end{tabular}

\section{Numbered worksheets}

Things to try, programs to write.

\newcommand{\xsheet}[4]{%
\noalign{\smallskip}
\qquad \textbf{#1} & \ifcase #2 \or$*$\or$**$\or$*{*}*$\else?\fi & \emph{#3} \\
     & & \parbox[t]{5in}{#4\strut} \\}

\begin{tabular}{lcl}
\xsheet{1}{1}{Introducing Python}{You should read this second (after Sheet~R).
                          It's a little tour of some of the simpler
                          things you can do with Python.}
\xsheet{2}{1}{Turning the Tables}{Computers are better at arithmetic
                                  than people. By the end of this sheet
                                  you'll have written a program that
                                  tests you on your tables.}
\xsheet{3}{2}{Pretty pictures}{An introduction to graphics in Python.
                               This sheet also introduces the important
                               idea of \emph{functions}.}
\xsheet{4}{1}{Higher! Lower!}{Writing a guessing game program.
                              Not very hard, but there are plenty
                              of ideas for taking it further.}
\xsheet{5}{2}{The Robots are Coming}{A graphical game in which you
                                     try to outwit a horde of robots.}
\end{tabular}

\section{Lettered worksheets}

Important (and unimportant) topics.

\begin{tabular}{lcl}
\xsheet{A}{1}{Lists}{Lists of things are important in Python.
                     This sheet shows you some things you can
                     do with them.}
\xsheet{C}{1}{Conditions and Conditionals}{How to tell the computer ``Do this if so-and-so
                            is true; otherwise, do that''}
\xsheet{D}{2}{Dictionaries and Tuples}{Dictionaries and tuples: two kinds of object
                            that aren't covered elsewhere in the course}
\xsheet{E}{1}{Errors (also called Exceptions)}{Some rude messages you might get from Python,
                      and what they mean}
\xsheet{F}{2}{Functions}{An important tool for organising programs}
\xsheet{G}{2}{Graphics}{More details about drawing pictures with Python}
\xsheet{I}{1}{Input and output}{How to make Python tell you things
                                and ask you questions}
\xsheet{J}{1}{Jargon}{A guide to some technical terms. A useful sheet
                      to have around.}
\xsheet{L}{1}{Loops}{How to do things over and over again. Important.}
\xsheet{M}{3}{Modules}{An advanced topic: How Python manages to provide
                       a huge number of useful functions without being
                       too confusing.}
\xsheet{O}{2}{Objects and classes}{Fairly easy. Important for the Games
worksheets.}
\xsheet{R}{1}{Running Python}{Probably the first sheet you should read.
                              This tells you how to get Python running
                              on your computer, how to enter commands
                              and write programs, etc.}
\xsheet{S}{1}{Strings}{What you can do with bits of text.}
\xsheet{T}{2}{Time}{How to tell the time, wait for 0.3 of a second, etc.}
\xsheet{V}{1}{Overview}{You're reading it.}
\xsheet{W}{3}{The LiveWires module}{Which of the things you've done
                                     actually depend on special stuff
                                     we've written.}
\end{tabular}

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\end{document}