Week 8 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Computer Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 8 (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 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 43–52 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and review segment, so use the full menu when you want more practice before the midterm, 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 (17–20 min total)

① Predict it, then read the last line

Chapter 8, Section “Predict, then run: the review method” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Predict, then run” · Remember: write your prediction down before you run, and read any error from its last line, where the error type is named.

How to Read Python Error Messages, Fix Your First Bugs, Python Tutorial 6 — Mrs. Tech — a short party-planning program crashes and gets fixed one error at a time, reading each message from the bottom up; pause at the NameError, TypeError, and SyntaxError parts and name the type before the video does. The last few error types are a preview of later weeks. Use it while working through the Week-8 module overview. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
Rubber Duck Debugging — rubberduckdebugging.com — a one-page, tongue-in-cheek explainer of an old programmer's habit: tell a rubber duck what your code is supposed to do, then go through it line by line until you hear yourself describe something the code does not do. Read the numbered method and skip the jokes about buying a duck. (reading, 2–4 min)

② Name the type, then find the branch

Chapter 8, Section “Name the type: division, remainders, and slices” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Name the type” · Remember: a single slash always makes a float, and Python works out not, then and, then or.

Python Order of Operations, Precedence Rules for Arithmetic, Logical and Relational Operators — Appficial — a three-minute run through the order Python follows, from the exponent operator down through multiplication and division, addition, comparisons, and finally not, then and, then or; check it against the chapter's 14 and its True. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)
Python Integers vs Floats - Visually Explained — Visually Explained — an animated look at why 5 and 5.0 are different kinds of number, how type() names them, and what division does to the type; predict each type before it appears. (video, 5 min) (captions: automatic)
Operator precedence, The Python Language Reference section 6.17 — Python Software Foundation — the official table of which operator Python works out first, from highest priority to lowest; find multiplication and the division operators above addition near the top, and not, and, and or, in that order, near the bottom, then skip the footnotes. (reading, 4–6 min)

③ Read for the six classic slips

Chapter 8, Section “Read for the six classic slips: the checklist” · Session 2, Segment 6, “The classic-bug checklist” · Remember: read every program for the six slips before you run it, because five of them run with no error message at all.

Python Assignment vs Comparison Operators Explained, = vs == for Beginners — The Learning Loop — a beginner-friendly lesson on the difference between one equals sign and two, ending with the common mistake of writing = where == belongs; say each = as gets and each == as is equal to. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
Debugging an Off-by-One Error, Step by Step, Python — Mrs. Tech — a bug hunt on a loop whose total comes out wrong with no error message, ending at a range that left out its stop; watch the parts on the range, slices, counting 1 to 5, and while loops. Skip the part on list indexes; next week, Lists, takes that up. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
print vs return, Python's most common beginner mix-up — ludwig explains — pictures a function as a box with a screen for print and a wire for return, then shows the None a print-only function hands back. This builds on Week 7's work with functions, return values, and None. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)
The printing function, step by step — Python Tutor — the chapter's show(4) program loaded in the visualizer; click Next and watch the frame for show print 8 and then hand back None as its return value before the outer print displays it. (reading, 5–8 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

What are the rules for local and global variables, Python Programming FAQ — Python Software Foundation — the official answer to why an assignment inside a function makes a new local name, the rule behind the chapter's program that still prints 5; read that one answer and skip the rest of the FAQ. (reading, 4–6 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.

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