The latest instance of the course can be found at: O1: 2024
Luet oppimateriaalin englanninkielistä versiota. Mainitsit kuitenkin taustakyselyssä osaavasi suomea. Siksi suosittelemme, että käytät suomenkielistä versiota, joka on testatumpi ja hieman laajempi ja muutenkin mukava.
Suomenkielinen materiaali kyllä esittelee englanninkielisetkin termit. Myös suomenkielisessä materiaalissa käytetään ohjelmaprojektien koodissa englanninkielisiä nimiä kurssin alkupään johdantoesimerkkejä lukuunottamatta.
Voit vaihtaa kieltä A+:n valikon yläreunassa olevasta painikkeesta. Tai tästä: Vaihda suomeksi.
For the Reader
This interactive ebook combines text with diverse practice activities and dynamic illustrations. The ebook has been tailored to the needs of the Aalto University course Programming 1 a.k.a. O1, but we’ve made it publicly available for personal use.
The ebook is divided into weeks, which set a tempo for Aalto students: each week has a deadline for submitting assignments. Weeks 1 to 13 are associated with Programming 1; they are followed by weeks 14 to 20, which are associated with the follow-on course Programming Studio 2.
Each week is further divided in chapters. Each chapter builds on earlier ones; the ebook is meant to be read in order, without skipping chapters. Of course, you may occasionally want to go back to an earlier chapter to refresh your memory, and there are a lot of links between the chapters to help you do that.
Chapter 1.1 serves as an introduction to Programming 1 while Chapter 14.1 introduces Programming Studio 2.
The ebook comes with a lot of example programs. Some of them are embedded directly in the ebook’s text; others are packaged into downloadable files, which you’ll load into a separate programming environment.
The main chapters of the ebook are not designed for use as a reference and aren’t very well suited for that purpose. When you want to look something up, take a look at the Scala Reference page or the Glossary, or do a word search within the ebook.
Technical requirements
This ebook is meant to be read so that you can simultaneously access a programming environment and work on the assignments. Chapter 1.2 will introduce you to the environment that we use.
The ebook isn’t designed for use on mobile devices. Not that it’s forbidden to read it on one, but you won’t be able to install all the necessary tools on a mobile device, and some parts of the ebook may also work imperfectly on such devices.
The ebook will work right only if you have an up-to-date web browser and JavaScript is enabled in it.
The ebook makes occasional use of sound. Obviously, this can work only if your computer setup has audio support switched on. If you study among other people, see if you can pack some headphones with you. On the other hand, we use sound only infrequently, and none of the chapters is impossible without sound.
Notations used in the ebook
Gray-bordered boxes
Gray-bordered boxes like this contain optional material. Skipping these boxes won’t prevent you from learning the basics of programming; neither will it put your course grade in danger. Some of them do, however, contain additional tasks that you may find to be an effective form of practice. Others have links to further reading, and still others present you with challenge tasks that may take you well beyond official course requirements.
We recommend that you take a look at these boxes, too. But if you must skip something, skip them.
The ebook embeds quotations from students who have taken the course before — and even students who are taking the course right now. In the English version of the ebook, most of these have been translated from Finnish. Here’s an example:
Boxes like the one below appear all over the ebook. They contain program code. Many of these boxes use color to highlight the different parts the code consists of.
def withdraw(sum: Int) = {
val withdrawn = min(sum, this.balance)
this.balance = this.balance - withdrawn
withdrawn
}
Chapter 1.3 introduces an interactive programming environment known as the REPL; boxes like the one below contain examples of interactions in that environment. The text written by the programmer appears on a darker background and the automatic response from the REPL on a lighter one.
1 + 1res0: Int = 2 50 + 50 > 100res1: Boolean = false
Many examples come with green boxes like the two below; they contain explanatory text. If you mouse over the explanations, the relevant part of the above example will be highlighted. You can also click the boxes to make the highlight stay on.
Peachy boxes contain pseudocode: text that resembles actual program code but is meant for human readers only. You’ll see these boxes from Chapter 2.5 onwards.
def totalPrice = {
For each of the auctions in this.items in turn:
- Determine the current price of the item and add it to the sum.
Finally, return the sum.
}
The ebook also contains many dynamic elements, such as multiple-choice questions and interactive animations that you the reader can control. These elements are either self-explanatory or explained where they appear.
Feedback
Credits
Thousands of students have given feedback that has contributed to this ebook’s design. Thank you!
Weeks 1 to 13 of the ebook, including the assignments and weekly bulletins, have been written in Finnish and translated into English by Juha Sorva.
Weeks 14 to 20 are by Otto Seppälä. That part of the ebook isn’t available during the fall term, but we’ll publish it when it’s time.
The appendices (glossary, Scala reference, FAQ, etc.) are by Juha Sorva unless otherwise specified on the page.
The automatic assessment of the assignments has been programmed by Riku Autio, Jaakko Kantojärvi, Teemu Lehtinen, Timi Seppälä, Teemu Sirkiä, and Aleksi Vartiainen.
The illustrations at the top of each chapter, and the similar drawings elsewhere in the ebook, are the work of Christina Lassheikki.
The animations that detail the execution Scala programs have been designed by Juha Sorva and Teemu Sirkiä. Teemu Sirkiä and Riku Autio have done the technical implementation, relying on Teemu’s Jsvee and Kelmu toolkits.
The other diagrams and interactive presentations in the ebook are by Juha Sorva.
The O1Library software has been developed by Aleksi Lukkarinen and Juha Sorva. Several of its key components are built upon Aleksi’s SMCL library.
The pedagogy of using tools from O1Library (such as Pic) for simple graphical programming
is inspired by the textbooks How to Design Programs by Flatt, Felleisen, Findler, and
Krishnamurthi and Picturing Programs by Stephen Bloch.
The course platform A+ has been created by Aalto’s LeTech research group and is largely developed by students. The current lead developer is Jaakko Kantojärvi; many other students of computer science and information networks are also active on the project.
For O1’s current teaching staff, please see Chapter 1.1.
Additional credits appear at the ends of some chapters.
