AP Computer Science Principles
This is a resource for teachers and students for AP Computer Science Principles. This curriculum is being updated for newly revised 2020-21 College Board curriculum. The official language for the course is Python.
Course Outline and Lecture Notes
Introduction to Programming with Python
We will cover the essentials of the Python language: data types, conditionals, loops, basic data structures including lists, tuples and dictionaries, functions, object-oriented programming and inheritance.- Basic Datatypes(PPT, PDF)
- Operations and Variables(PPT, PDF)
- Conditionals(PPT, PDF)
- Animation with Processing(PPT, PDF)
- Functions(PPT, PDF)
- For Loops and Strings(PPT, PDF)
- Lists(PPT, PDF)
- While, Nested Loops and List of Tuples(PPT, PDF)
- Object-Oriented Programming(PPT, PDF)
- Algorithms(PPT, PDF)
- (optional)Tuples and Dictionaries(PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)An Introduction to Jupyter Notebook(PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)An Introduction to Numpy(PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)pandas for Tabular Data(PPT, PDF)
Intro Processing Lab(ZIP)
Growing Circle Lab(ZIP)
Bouncing Ball Lab(ZIP)
Capture the Flags(ZIP)
List of Circles(ZIP)
Top-Down Games Collision(ZIP, Slides PDF)
Breadth-First Search(PPT, PDF)
AI: Eight Puzzle Solver (ZIP)
Text Processing: Analyzing Shakespeare(txt, HTML, ZIP)
Luhn's Algorithm: Validity of Credit Card Numbers(PPT, PDF)
The Create Task
Computer Science Principles
We will cover general computer science principles here.- Understanding Data 1: Representing Data Digitally(PPT, PDF)
- Understanding Data 2: Images and Compression(PPT, PDF)
- Understanding Data 3: Extracting Information from Data(PPT, PDF)
- Securing Data: Cryptography(PPT, PDF)
- The Internet: An Introduction to Networking (PPT, PDF)
- Impact of Computing(PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)Digital Audio Processing with Python: Part 1: Audio Basics (PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)Digital Audio Processing with Python: Part 2: The Discrete Fourier Transform (PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)Machine Learning(PPT, PDF)
- (Optional)Reinforcement Learning(PPT, PDF)
Image Processing Lab(ZIP, online notebook(MyBinder))
Intro Exploratory Data Analysis with Pandas(ZIP, online notebook(MyBinder))
Audio Basics Lab(ZIP, online notebook(MyBinder))
(Optional)Discrete Fourier Transform Lab(ZIP, online notebook(MyBinder))
AP Exam Preparation (PPT, PDF)
Interesting Short Projects/Applications in Python
Computer Animation with Processing
We will introduce computer graphics using Processing.- Introduction to Processing(Python Version)(PPT, PDF)
- Keyboard and Mouse Inputs(PPT, PDF)
- Working with Sprites(PPT, PDF)
- Collision Detection(PPT, PDF)
- Resolving Top-Down Collision(PPT, PDF)
Processing Python Template(ZIP)
Create and Control Sprites Lab(ZIP)
Pick Up Coins Lab(ZIP)
Tank Shoots Bricks Lab(ZIP)
Top-Down Games Collision(ZIP)
How to write a very simple platformer game!
This material uses Processing. Review the Processing lecture notes and labs(see above) before attempting this lab. The two video tutorials were created for my APCSA(Java) class but they discuss the math behind the algorithms and are language agnostic.Text Processing: Analyzing Shakespeare
A short problem set and tutorial on how to perform a simple word frequency analysis: total words, total unique words and most frequently used words in all of Shakespeare's collection of works. (HTML, ZIP)
Additional Topics
Introduction to Neural Networks
A 2-3 weeks curriculum designed for AP Computer Science Principles on Neural Networks. Students will implement from scratch a Python program that recognizes handwritten digits! The full course resources page can be found here.
Introduction to the Discrete Fourier Transform
This course explains the math behind the Discrete Fourier Transform and illustrates its utility through analyzing and manipulating audio files in Python. The full course resources page can be found here.
