python

Announcements

• Welcome to IDS-101-13: Thinking Machines!
• Opening Days: Day 2... Did you?
  • Get ~8 hours of sleep
  • Drink water
  • Eat at least one vegetable
  • Wash your hands
• I sure hope you have a computer today.
  • If not, we improvise
• How about those machines that might be thinking, eh?
  • Today's lecture loosely adapted from here.

Python

• This semester we will use Python
• Python is a language, but a novel kind of language.
  • Languages like English, Mandarin, Arabic are natural languages
    • They emerged as a result of historical and cultural processes.
    • They are ill-defined - it is ambigious whether a well-formed English sentence may terminate with a preposition.
    • They (usually) are well suited to vocalization or some other form of human communication, like sign language
  • Python is a constructed language
    • Languages like Elvish, Klingon, and JavaScript are constructed by linguistics for some purpose.
    • They are designed, rather than evolved.
    • Often they are precisely defined by community groups of thinking humans maintain a ruleset followed by thinking machines.
    • Many constructed languages are programming or scripting languages.
      • These languages are intended to be interpreted by computers rather than vocalized.

Python

• This semester we will use Python
• Python is a language, but a novel kind of language.
  • Languages like English, Mandarin, Arabic are natural languages
  • Python is a constructed language
• We can differentiate thinking humans from thinking machines in perhaps a similar way.
  • Humans are natural thinkers.
    • Humans and human culture emerged consistent with naturalistic process over time.
  • Machines are constructed thinkers.
    • Machines are designed, engineered, and ultimately constructed by some other entity (humans).

Be sure to introduce yourselves!

Colab

• Take notes
  • Navigate to https://colab.research.google.com
  • Make a "New Notebook"
  • Name it something, like CC_8_22, you'll remember
  • For each question, +Text and record
  • You can remove the "Code" block by clicking the trashcan
  • Share with your group and with me!

Question #1

How do I understand myself in relation to thought and language?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Question #2

How do I understand myself in relation to nature and construction?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Question #3

How would I imaging a thinking machine understand the self in relation to nature and construction?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Question #4

How would I imaging a thinking machine understand the self in relation to thought and language?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Thinking and Expressing

• As humans, we are accustomed to vocalization and textual expression between one another.
  • Through natural languages.
• How might we expect a thinking machine to express thought?
  • Through constructed and especially programming languages.

Hello, World!

• Let's consider a famous example: the "Hello, World!" program
• Go into your Colab notebook (perhaps a copy of the group notebook)
• Create a new "Text" block that reads:
  • "Exercise A.1 Have Python print $Hello,\; World!$ to the screen."
  • Use double stars ** to click the "B" button to make the exercise name bold.
  • Use ` tick marks or click the "<>" button to style "Hello, World!" differently, to denote it is "printed".
• Create a new "Code" block.
  • You will be prompted: Start coding or g͟e͟n͟e͟r͟a͟t͟e with AI.
  • Determine how to make the "Hello, World!" program.
    • You may chat with the AI.
    • You may read the Wikipedia link
    • You may use other resources at your disposal.
  • Once you have successfully written the program, add another "Text" block explaining your thought process.

Hello, World!

• Here is a lightly redacted example:
  
  
• What do you notice?
  • What does this tell you about "generate"?

Hello, You!

• Create a new "Text" block that reads:
  • "Exercise A.2 Have Python print your preferred name to the screen."
• Create a new "Code" block.
  • You will be prompted: Start coding or g͟e͟n͟e͟r͟a͟t͟e with AI.
  • Determine how to complete this task.
    • Will you use the same steps as last time?
    • Has your previous experience informed how you work with machines?
    • What have you learned?
  • Once you have successfully written the program, add another "Text" block explaining your thought process.

On Colab

• Exercise A.3 Learn a bit more about Colab.
• Figure out how to:
  • Save a notebook.
  • Load a notebook.
    • Load a brand new notebook.
    • Load a notebook you saved in Google Drive
    • Load a notebook you saved on your computer.
  • Share a notebook with your instructors and peers.
  • Write and format text in "Text" blocks.
    • Bold
    • Italicize
    • Underline
    • Quote
    • Code, and
    • Hyperlink (perhaps to Wikipedia or OpenAI chat you used to figure something out)
  • Change between "Text" and "Code" blocks using only the keyboard shortcuts.

Question #5

How did you decide whether and how to use AI to generate your responses to A.1, A.2, and/or A.3?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Arithmetic

• Compared to humans, I find machines are much better at doing what I call "arithmetic".
• I do arithmetic in my life when I'm trying to estimate when to leave my home to reach campus.
  • I enter I-5 at mile 298.
  • I exit I-5 at mile 260.
  • I-5 has a 55 mph speedlimit from 298 to 289 then 65.
  • It takes ~40 minutes to get to 260.
• Or I can ask a computer. (298 - 289) * (55/60) + (289-260) * (65/60) 39.666666666666664
  • Oh wow - that's a lot faster, easier, more accurate, and more trustworthy.
• To ease into approaching how machines may think we'll start with arithmetic:
  • It's easy for machines.
  • It can be useful for us.

Arithmetic

• Python has many of the expected arithmetic operations, and some extra fun* ones too.
  • Addition: $+$
  • Subtraction: $-$
  • Multiplication: $*$
  • Division: $/$
• And some and some extra fun* ones too.
  • Integer Division $/$
    • 5/2 is 2.5, but 5//2 is 2 (an integer, or whole number)
  • Modulo $\%$
    • 5%2 is 1, but 4%2 is 0 (Modulo is the remainder)
  • Exponentiation $**$
    • 5**2 is 25, 5^2 is... something else.

Question #6

Can you think of a question you've left unanswered to because the arithmetic to answer them felt too daunting?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Operations

• Exercise A.4 Testing operations.
• Take two numbers: $123456789$ and $12345$ (selected to be easy to type)
• Estimate and record your estimate of the value from using each of the arithmetic operations over these two values.
• Using "Code" blocks in Colab, calculate the results.
  • $123456789\; +\; 12345$ (Addition)
  • $123456789\; -\; 12345$ (Subtraction)
  • $123456789\; *\; 12345$ (Multiplication)
  • $123456789\; /\; 12345$ (Division)
  • $123456789\; //\; 12345$ (Integer Division)
  • $123456789\; \%\; 12345$ (Modulo)
  • $123456789\; **\; 12345$ (Exponentiation)
    • Take special note of what happens here.
  • $123456789\; ^\; 12345$ (Something else)
    • Describe vaguely what you think might be happening here.

Variables

• We can also use variables in Python.
• There are some restrictions on names - mostly that they can't contain spaces.
  • We can use single letter names, like $=$
  • We can use underscores as spaces, also called "snake case", like $my\_variable$
  • We can use capitalization to start words, also called "camel case", like $myVariable$
• We assign the value of a variable $=$
  x = 1
  • There must be a valid variable name on the left side of the "="
  • There must be some valid value on the right side
• It's important to different assignment "single equals" "=" from equality testing "double equals" "=="

Variables

• Exercise A.5 One or two equal signs.
• Select any two integers and assign them to any two variable names, such as "x" or "y"
  • It will help latter if the first value is much larger than the second, but you can always change latter.
• Calculate the integer "quotient" (the result of integer divison) and remainder of the two values
  • What operations should you use?
  • Store the result of each in a variable, for latter
• Use "double equals" to check if
  • the smaller value (say, y)
  • times the quotient (say, q)
  • plus the remainder (say, r)
  • is equal to the larger value (say, x)

Question #7

What do you like or dislike about Python compared to other ways you've performed arithmetic in the past?

• Think about a possible answer on your own
• Discuss your answers with the rest of the group
• Record a summary of each group’s discussion

Homework

• Homework 1 Pythagorean Triples
  • Write code to define positive integers $a$, $b$, and $c$ of your own choosing.
  • Calculate $a$^$2$, $b$^$2$, and $c$^$2$
  • Check to see if your three values form a Pythagorean Triple such that $a$^$2$$+\; b$^$2$$=\; c$^$2$.
  • Have Python print True or False to verify that you do, or do not, have a Pythagorean Triple defined.
  • Hint: You will need to use double and single equals as well as print()
• You may make a copy of this Notebook and share it with me and anyone with whom you collaborate.
  • Give Shouvik and I edit permissions.
  • You may only give your peers view or comment permissions.