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CS 2000: Introduction to Program Design and Implementation

Introduces computer science and data science to students with no programming experience. Starts by building programs with numbers, text, and images, then moves to exploring real, complex data sets both interactively and through coding. Students then practice coding using a popular industrial language with a professional programmer's interface to the code. Students learn to identify and respond to ethical challenges in program design.

Schedule (Boston & Oakland)​

Dates are for Fall 2026, Boston & Oakland campuses; they will differ for other semesters or campuses.

Lectures meet Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Labs meet Tuesday. Homework is due Sunday (Anywhere-on-Earth).

Colored stripes at the bottom of each day indicate which skills are assessable during office hours on that day. Past days are faded.

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
September 2026
Week 1Programming with Numbers, strings, images: IDE, interactions, operations on standard values
6
7Labor Day
8
9
Class 1
10
Class 2
11
12
Week 2Definitions, functions, conditionals: type annotations, test cases
13
14
Class 3
15
Lab 1
16
Class 4
17
Class 5
18
19
Week 3Ethics & Intro to tables: constructing, importing, extracting
20
HW 1 due
21
Class 6
0
22
Lab 2
0
23
Class 7
0
24
Class 8
0
25
0
26
Week 4More on tables: transforming, filtering
27
HW 2 due
28
Class 9
0
1
11
12
29
Lab 3
0
1
11
12
30
Class 10
0
1
11
12
1
Class 11
0
1
11
12
2
0
1
11
12
3
October 2026
Week 5From tables to lists: extracting columns, performing operations on them, visualizing data
4
HW 3 due
5
Class 12
0
1
2
11
12
6
Lab 4
0
1
2
11
12
7
Class 13
0
1
2
11
12
8
Skill Day
0
1
2
11
12
9
0
1
2
11
12
10
Week 6Computing with lists: iteration & mutable local variables
11
HW 4 due
12Indg. People's Day
13
Lab 5
1
2
11
12
14
Class 14
1
2
11
12
15
Class 15
1
2
11
12
16
1
2
11
12
17
Week 7Structured data
18
HW 5 due
19
Class 16
2
3
11
12
20
Lab 6
2
3
11
12
21
Class 17
2
3
11
12
22
Class 18
2
3
11
12
23
2
3
11
12
24
Week 8Conditional and recursive data
25
HW 6 due
26
Class 19
3
4
11
12
27
Lab 7
3
4
11
12
28
Class 20
3
4
11
12
29
Class 21
3
4
11
12
30
3
4
11
12
31
November 2026
Week 9Trees
1
HW 7 due
2
Class 22
3
4
5
11
12
3
Lab 8
3
4
5
11
12
4
Class 23
3
4
5
11
12
5
Skill Day
3
4
5
11
12
6
3
4
5
11
12
7
Week 10Transition to Python: IDE, files, definitions, testing
8
HW 8 due
9
Class 24
4
5
6
10
Lab 9
4
5
6
11Veterans Day
12
Class 25
4
5
6
13
4
5
6
14
Week 11Python: iteration & scoping
15
HW 9 due
16
Class 26
4
5
6
7
8
17
Lab 10
4
5
6
7
8
18
Class 27
4
5
6
7
8
19
Skill Day
4
5
6
7
8
20
4
5
6
7
8
21
Week 12Python: mutable data structures
22No HW Due
23
Class 28
6
7
8
9
10
24No Lab
6
7
8
9
10
25Thanks. Break
26Thanks. Break
27Thanks. Break
28
Week 13Tables in Python: pandas & csvs
29
HW 10 due
30
Class 29
7
8
9
10
1
Lab 11
7
8
9
10
2
Class 30
7
8
9
10
3
Skill Day
7
8
9
10
4
7
8
9
10
5
December 2026
Week 14Catch up, bonus content, etc. Depends on section / instructor.
6
HW 11 due
7
Dictionaries
Datavis
λ Calculus
Y Combinator
7
8
9
10
8
Lab 12
7
8
9
10
9
7
8
9
10
10
7
8
9
10
11
7
8
9
10
12
Week 15Finals Period
13
14
15
16
17
18
19