Week 9 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Computer Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 9 (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 89–108 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 (20–22 min total)

① Making, reading, and slicing a list

Chapter 9, Section “Making a list: many values under one name” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Making and reading a list” · Remember: a list keeps many values in order under one name, its first item sits at index 0, and a slice is a brand-new list.

Python lists — Bro Code — a short demo on a list of foods that replaces one item by index and then tries append, remove, pop, insert, and sort before looping over the list; predict the list after each method before it prints. Use it while working through the Week-9 module overview. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
Python Lists, Visually Explained — Visually Explained — an animated tour of creating a list, reading items by index, slicing, and changing a list with its methods; pause at the slicing part and say which indexes each slice keeps. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)
Python Tutorial, Slicing Lists and Strings — Corey Schafer — a code walkthrough of slicing lists and strings to pull out the items or characters you need; check each slice against the rule that the stop is left out. (video, 11 min) (captions: automatic)
Python Lists, Google's Python Class — Google for Developers — a compact reference page; read the opening section, where assignment does not copy a list, then FOR and IN, List Methods, and List Slices, and skip Range and While Loop, which repeat earlier weeks. This builds on Week 7's work with functions that hand back None, because the page warns that list methods return None too. (reading, 10–15 min)

② Changing a list and what each method hands back

Chapter 9, Section “Return values: what each method hands back” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Changing a list in place” · Remember: pop hands back the item it removed, while append, insert, remove, and sort change the list and hand back None.

Collections, Python for Beginners 25 of 44 — Microsoft Developer — a beginner-series talk that builds a list of two names and a list of two numbers, reads one item by its index, and then shows len, insert, sort changing the list in place, and a slice that stops before its end index; skip the arrays part in the middle, and stop when the dictionary part begins, about eight and a half minutes in, because its remark that a dictionary keeps no guaranteed order is out of date (Week 10 shows the insertion-order guarantee). (video, 11 min) (captions: automatic)
python, .sort() vs sorted(...), anthony explains 116 — anthonywritescode — a short explainer on the difference between the sort method and the sorted function and when to pick each; listen for which one changes the list in place, and skip the part on how sorted works under the hood. (video, 5 min) (captions: automatic)
How To Use List Methods in Python 3 — DigitalOcean — a community tutorial that changes one small list with each method in turn; read the parts on append, insert, extend, remove, pop, and sort, and skip count, index, copy, reverse, and clear. (reading, 10–15 min)

③ Aliases, copies, and changing a list while you walk it

Chapter 9, Section “Aliases and copies: identity versus equality” · Session 2, Segment 6, “Alias against copy” · Remember: a plain assignment gives one list a second name, a full slice builds a separate list, and is asks whether two names point at the same object.

Python Quick Tip, The Difference Between == and is, Equality vs Identity — Corey Schafer — a focused explainer on why == checks that two values are equal while is checks that they are the same object in memory; any id number you see on the screen differs from computer to computer, so never memorize one. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)
Alias against copy, step by step — Python Tutor — the chapter's alias-versus-copy program loaded in the visualizer; click Next and watch two arrows point at one list in the first half, then a second list appear when the full slice runs. (reading, 4–6 min)
Lists, Python concept page — Exercism — a free volunteer-run lesson page; read Construction, Accessing elements, and Some cautions, where a second name for a list is not a copy, and skip Related data types. (reading, 8–12 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

More on Lists, The Python Tutorial section 5.1 — Python Software Foundation — the official tutorial's section on list methods, the course's free reference for every language fact; read the list of methods and the note that methods such as insert, remove, and sort return None, and stop at section 5.1.1. (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.

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