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Contents Beyond Syllabus PPS

This document outlines a comprehensive curriculum for teaching Programming and Problem Solving, emphasizing practical applications and deeper concepts. Key topics include debugging techniques, algorithmic thinking, recursion vs iteration, data structures, version control, and object-oriented programming. The curriculum also suggests activities and projects to enhance student engagement and understanding.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

16 views9 pages

Contents Beyond Syllabus PPS

Uploaded by

sharvil.sopal

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 9

Page 1: Introduction

Programming and Problem Solving is a fundamental subject that lays the

groundwork for computational thinking and software development.
However, to prepare students for real-world challenges, it is essential to
go beyond the textbook and explore deeper concepts and practical
applications. This document introduces additional topics to enhance
understanding, logical reasoning, and coding proficiency.

Page 2: Debugging Techniques

Debugging

Developers often find themselves in situations where the code

they've written is not working quite right. When that happens, a
developer debugs their code by instrumenting, executing and
inspecting the code to determine what state of the application
does not match the assumptions of how the code should be
correctly running.

Why is debugging important?

There are bugs in every modest sized or larger application. Every

developer has to learn how to debug code in order to write
programs that work as correctly as time and budget allow.

In addition to fixing bugs, debugging is an important skill for

improving the efficiency of an application by optimizing
performance and improving the logic. Debugging is a complex
skill that takes time and practice for a developer to gain as a
capability.

What are some common debugging techniques?

Some common debugging techniques include:

 Printing out or displaying values of variables and state at

certain times during the execution of an application

 Changing the state of a program to make it do different

things. This is called altering the "path" of the program

 Stepping through the execution of a program line by line

 Breakpoints

 Trace Points

 Stopping the program at certain events

 Viewing the output of a program in a debugger window

Debugging tools

There are many debugging tools, some of which are built

into IDEs like PyCharm and others that are standalone
applications. The following list contains mostly standalone tools
that you can use in any development environment.

 pdb is a debugger built into the Python standard library and

is the one most developers come across first when trying to
debug their programs.

 Web-PDB provides a web-based user interface for pdb to

make it easier to understand what is happening while
inspecting your running code.

 wdb uses WebSockets to allow you to debug running Python

code from a web browser.

 Pyflame (source code) is a profiling tool that

generates flame graphs for executing Python program code.

 objgraph (source code) uses graphviz to draw the

connections between Python objects running in an
application

pdb tutorials

pdb is the most commonly-used debugger for Python because it is

built into the standard library. The following walkthroughs will
show you how to use pdb while fixing your own code.

 How to Use Pdb to Debug Your Code is a wonderful code-first

tutorial on getting started with pdb.

 pdb - Interactive Debugger is featured on the Python Module

of the Week blog and has some great detail on using the
program effectively.

 pdb: Using the Python debugger in Django is a tutorial

specific to working with pdb in Django projects.

 Debugging your Python code walks through a scenario

where pdb can be used to find a defect in a block of Python
code.

 pdb Tutorial is a code-heavy beginners tutorial for pdb.

 Debugging in Python elaborates on what pdb does and how

it can be used.
Python-specific debugging tutorials

The Python ecosystem has a range of tools to help with

debugging your code. These tutorials show you how to either use
a tool other than pdb or provide an overview of the debugging
ecosystem for Python.

 Python debugging tools provides a list of tools such as pdb

and its derivatives ipdb, pudb and pdb++ along with how
they can be used in the hunt for defects.

 Profiling Python web applications with visual tools details a

configuration for visualizing code execution
using KCachegrind.

 My Startling Encounter With Python Debuggers along

with the follow-up second post are a fantastic couple of
posts that walk through a specific scenario of how a well-
tested distributed web crawler failed and how tools like gdb,
top and Winpdb were used to debug a multithreaded
application.

 Debugging Python like a boss covers several Python

debuggers such as pudb, pydbgr and ipdb.

 The case of the mysterious Python crash explains the

symptoms that happened during a crash and what steps the
author took to figure out what was going on.

General debugging resources

The following resources are not specific to Python development

but give solid programming language-agnostic debugging advice.

 The art of debugging provides a whirlwind overview for how

to fix issues in your code.

 Linux debugging tools you'll love is an awesome comic that

covers the Linux ecosystem for debugging.

Importance:

Understanding debugging is crucial as beginners often face difficulties

identifying and resolving code errors.

Topics Covered:

 Types of errors: Syntax, Runtime, Logical

 Debugging with print statements

 Using IDEs with debugging features (e.g., breakpoints, step over)

 Python's pdb module

Activities:

 Provide students with buggy code snippets.

 Assign tasks to identify and correct errors.

Page 3: Algorithmic Thinking

Importance:

Algorithms form the basis of problem-solving. Teaching students how to

break down a problem into logical steps is vital.

Topics Covered:

 What is an algorithm?

 Writing pseudocode

 Creating flowcharts

Activities:

 Problem: Design an algorithm for an ATM withdrawal system.

 Group work: Convert real-world tasks into step-by-step procedures.

Page 4: Recursion vs Iteration

What is recursion ?

To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.

A recursive function is one that calls itself. Let me try to explain

with an example : Search a key in boxes.
Both approaches accomplish the same thing. The main purpose
for using the recursive approach is that once you understand it, it
can be clearer to read. There is actually no performance benefit
to using recursion. The iterative approach with loops can
sometimes be faster. But mainly the simplicity of recursion is
sometimes preferred.

Also, since a lot of algorithms use recursion, it’s important to

understand how it works. If recursion still doesn’t seem simple to
you, don’t worry: I’m going to go over a few more examples.

How does it works ?

the tow mains principles of recursion is the stop condition and

the recursion call.

You can notice here that the function call herself but you will face
an infinite loop because there is no stopping condition. The
function runs indefinitely.
The other aspect is the recursion call. You need to call the
function inside herself.

How Recursion is managed ?

The recursion use the stack implementation. The stack is a data

structure which can be manipulated by pushing (adding)
and popping(removing) data of the top of the list. In fact, the
stack stands for LIFO or Last In First Out
So, when a function is called, this one go to the top of the stack.
And then, as the operation of a stack requires, the function at the
top of the stack will be the first to be executed. This means that
the last function called will be the first one executed.

We must consider when a function requests space for local

variables, the allocated space is added to the top of the stack. So
when the end of the function is reached, the space allocated for
local variables appears at the top of the stack.
Therefore, we must bear in mind that variables that are stored in
stack-based memory cannot be dynamically allocated pieces of
memory during program execution. Instead, memory of this type
uses a heap-based storage allocation.
An example of this type of memory is the memory obtained using
the malloc function in C.

It is important to note that stack overflow can occur due to

limited space available for stack-based memory. One of the most
common causes of stack overflow is infinite recursion, a behavior
that we must consider when programming recursive functions.

Importance:

Both techniques are core to solving repetitive problems in different ways.

Topics Covered:

 Understanding base and recursive cases

 Stack memory usage

 Pros and cons of recursion

Examples:

 Fibonacci series

 Factorial

 Tower of Hanoi

Page 6: Basic Data Structures

Importance:

Data structures organize data and are essential for efficient programming.

Topics Covered:
 Arrays and Linked Lists

 Stacks and Queues

 Intro to Trees and Graphs (optional)

Activities:

 Implement a stack using a Python list.

 Create a queue system for ticketing.

Page 6: Simple Project-Based Learning

Importance:

Applying learned concepts in mini-projects solidifies understanding.

Suggested Projects:

 Calculator using functions

 To-Do list using file I/O

 Quiz application using conditionals and loops

Tools:

 Text-based projects (Python terminal)

 GUI using Tkinter (optional for advanced students)

Page 7: Version Control Basics (Git & GitHub)

Importance:

Version control is an essential skill for collaborative and individual

software development.

Topics Covered:

 Git basics: init, add, commit, push

 GitHub repository creation

 README and documentation

Activities:

 Create and push a simple project to GitHub.

Page 8: Problem-Solving Platforms

Importance:

Online coding platforms provide practice and exposure to real-world

problems.

Suggested Platforms:

 HackerRank (Beginner-friendly)

 CodeChef (Competitions and practice)

 LeetCode (Advanced problem solving)

Activities:

 Weekly coding challenge

 Classroom leaderboard for motivation

Page 9: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Importance:

OOP is a widely used paradigm in modern software development.

Topics Covered:

 Classes and Objects

 Encapsulation, Abstraction

 Constructors and Destructors

Examples:

 BankAccount class

 Student Record Management

Page 10: Error Handling and Exceptions

Importance:

Writing robust programs requires handling errors gracefully.

Topics Covered:

 Try, Except, Else, Finally blocks

 Handling user input errors

 Raising and defining custom exceptions

Activities:

 Build a login system with retry on failure.

Page 11: Conclusion and Further Learning

Expanding the horizon beyond the syllabus empowers students with

practical knowledge, increases problem-solving confidence, and improves
readiness for industry or further studies. Teachers can use these modules
flexibly depending on course timelines and student backgrounds.