Week 3 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Computer Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 3 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 94–110 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (19–23 min total)

① Typed input is text

Chapter 3, Section “Ask the keyboard: typed input is always a string” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Typed input” · Remember: whatever the user types arrives as a string, so convert digits with int() before you do arithmetic.

Python user input — Bro Code — a quick demo of asking the user for a name, an age, and a height, and converting the typed age and height before using them; the video joins its output with +, and this course builds the same lines with f-strings instead. Use it while working through the Week-3 module overview. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
String Concepts, Python for Beginners 9 of 44 — Microsoft Developer — a short talk on how Python works with text; as you watch, notice that every value in quotation marks is a string, the same type input() hands back. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
Python Basic Input and Output — Programiz — a tutorial whose Python Input section shows that a typed 10 comes back as a string until it is converted. This builds on Week 2's work with type conversion. Skip the output-formatting section with format(), which f-strings replace in this course. (reading, 5–8 min)

② Building output with f-strings

Chapter 3, Section “Build output with f-strings, not glue” · Session 1, Segment 2, “F-strings” · Remember: an f-string fills each pair of braces with a value, and without the f the braces print as they are.

Formatting Strings, Python for Beginners 11 of 44 — Microsoft Developer — a short talk on why gluing strings together with + gets hard to read and how placeholders in a string fix it; listen for the f-string version, the style this course uses. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
Python String Formatting — W3Schools — a one-screen reference that leads with f-strings; read the F-Strings and Perform Operations in F-Strings sections and try one example in the page's try-it box, and skip the modifiers and the older format() method. (reading, 4–6 min)

③ Indexing and slicing a string

Chapter 3, Section “Cut a piece: slices keep the start and drop the stop” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Slices” · Remember: indexes start at 0, and a slice keeps its start and drops its stop.

Python Intro Ep 06, Indexing, Slicing, and Concatenation — Russell Lewis — a calm walk through picking items by position, cutting slices, and joining sequences; follow the string examples closely, and treat the list examples as a preview of Week 9. (video, 17 min) (captions: creator)
Python string slicing — Bro Code — a demo of slices with a start, a stop, and a step, including a step of minus 1 that reverses a name; pause before each slice, predict it, and stop before the part that builds a slice() object, which this course does not use. (video, 12 min) (captions: creator)
Python Tutorial for Beginners 2, Strings — Corey Schafer — a longer tour of working with text; watch the parts on indexing, slicing, and f-strings, and treat the string methods as a preview of Week 11. (video, 21 min) (captions: creator)
Variables and Assignment, Plotting and Programming in Python — Software Carpentry — a carefully tested lesson episode; read the sections on using an index to get a single character, using a slice to get a substring, and using len, then try the slicing practice at the end. (reading, 8–12 min)
Python Strings, Google's Python Class — Google for Developers — a compact page whose String Slices section explains zero-based and negative indexes with short examples and whose formatted-string-literals part shows f-strings; skip the string methods and the % operator. Stop at the If Statement section; next week, Booleans & Conditionals, takes that up. (reading, 6–10 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Text, The Python Tutorial section 3.1.2 — Python Software Foundation — the official tutorial's section on strings, the course's free reference for every language fact, covering quotes, indexing from 0, negative indexes, slices, and len(); read section 3.1.2 and stop before the section on lists. (reading, 5–8 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com