About Algorithmic Thinking With Python (UCEST105)
Algorithmic Thinking with Python (UCEST105) is a first-semester course in the KTU B.Tech 2024 scheme, common to all branches. It teaches how to break a problem down, plan a solution as an algorithm, and turn it into a working Python program. It combines classes with programming lab sessions.
Syllabus
- Module 1: Problem-solving strategies such as trial and error, heuristics and backtracking, the problem-solving process, and Python basics: variables, data types, operators and input/output.
- Module 2: Algorithms, pseudocode and flowcharts, using sequence, selection and loops.
- Module 3: Selection and loops in Python, lists, tuples, sets, strings and dictionaries, NumPy arrays, functions, and recursion.
- Module 4: Problem-solving approaches: brute force, divide and conquer (merge sort), dynamic programming, greedy algorithms and randomized methods.
Exam pattern
The end-semester exam is for 60 marks: 8 short questions of 3 marks each, plus 4 questions of 9 marks each, one from each module. Internal assessment, including a lab exam, adds 40 marks.
Study tips
Write and run programs yourself rather than only reading code. Practise pseudocode, flowcharts and recursion problems such as factorial, Fibonacci and GCD, and solve previous question papers to spot repeated topics.
Notes and resources
Find module-wise notes, lab programs, previous year question papers and the syllabus for UCEST105 here, shared by KTU students and teachers.