CSci 227 Syllabus    Resources    Coursework

CSci 227: Programming Methods
Department of Computer Science
Hunter College, City University of New York
Spring 2026

TL;DR: Data structures & algorithms in Python for CS Minors.

For questions about the course, write to: zs494 AT hunter cuny edu.

Announcements:

• This course is designed as a continuation of CSci 127 and aimed at computer science minors and others interested in strengthening their programming skills and knowledge of canonical data structures and algorithms. This course can be counted towards a computer science minor, but not towards the computer science major.
• If you have taken the introductory programming course at Hunter (CSci 127), you can enroll directly via CUNYFirst without additional permissions. If you took the course elsewhere, reach out to a computer science advisor about what's needed to align your previous courses to Hunter courses on your CUNYFirst record.

Course Structure:

Each we have:

• In-person Lecture: Fridays 10:00-11:15am, 1001E HN.
• Online Lab: asynchronous, schedule below.
• In-person Quizzes: In 1001E Hunter North.
• In-person Code Reviews (oral assessment): In 1001E Hunter North.
• Programming Assignments

This is a HYBRID course which means that, in place of a second weekly meeting, you are responsible for independently working through the weekly lab found in the "Handouts" column in the Course Outline below.

Calendar:

Tentative schedule, subject to change:

Week	Dates	Topics	Handouts	Coursework	Reading
Week 1	01/25–01/31	Syllabus & Class Policies; Recap of Primitive Data Types & Control Structures; Intro to Collection Data Types (List, Set, Tuple, Dictionary)	Syllabus Lab 0 Lab 1	Programs 1–2 Quiz 0	Textbook: Sections 1.1–1.8.1, 1.10, 1.12
	01/30	Class 1
Week 2	02/01–2/07	Dictionaries & Hashing; String Methods & Traversal (Slices, List Comprehension, f-strings)	Lab 2	Programs 3–5 Quiz 1 Code Review 1	Textbook: Sections 1.8.1, 1.9
	02/06	Class 2
Week 3	02/08–02/14	File I/O; Intro to Running Time Complexity	Lab 3	Programs 6–7 Quiz 2 Code Review 2	Textbook: Chapter 2 ThinkCS: Chapter 11
	02/13	Class 3
Week 4	02/15–02/21	Functions (Parameters, Return Values); Exception Handling; Recursion	Lab 4 triangle.py	Programs 8–12 Quiz 3 Code Review 3	Textbook: Sections 1.11–1.12, Chapter 4
	02/20	Class 4
Week 5	02/22–02/28	Object-Oriented Programming; Writing Classes; Standard Libraries (numpy, pandas, plotly, scipy)	Lab 5	Programs 13–15 Quiz 4 Code Review 4	ThinkCS: Chapter 17 ThinkCS: Chapter 19 Textbook: Section 1.13
	02/27	Class 5
Week 6	03/01-03/07	Linear Data Structures: Arrays, Linked Lists, Stacks	Lab 6	Programs 16–18 Quiz 5 Code Review 5	Textbook: Sections 3.1–3.9
	03/06	Class 6
Week 7	03/08-03/14	More on Linear Data Structures: Queues & Deques	Lab 7	Programs 19–20 Quiz 6 Code Review 6	Textbook: Sections 3.10–3.18
	03/13	Class 7
Week 8	03/15–03/21	No Class
Week 9	03/22–03/28	Map Abstract Data Type: Dictionaries, Maps	Lab 8	Programs 21–22 Quiz 7 Code Review 7	Textbook: Sections 3.19–3.25
	03/27	Class 8
Week 10	03/29–04/04	No Class
Week 11	04/05–04/11	Searching: Sequential and Binary Search; Searching Running Times	Lab 9	Programs 23–24 Quiz 8 Code Review 8	Textbook: Chapter 5
	04/10	Class 9
Week 12	04/12–04/18	Sorting: 2 Basic Sorts; Using Built-In Python Sort (timsort); Sorting Running Times	Lab 10	Programs 25–26 Quiz 9 Code Review 9	Textbook: Chapter 5
	04/17	Class 10
Week 13	4/19–04/25	Tree ADT & Heaps	Lab 11	Programs 25–26 Quiz 10 Code Review 10	Textbook: Chapter 6
	04/24	Class 11
Week 14	04/26-05/2	Binary Search Trees & Graph ADT	Lab 12	Programs 27–28 Quiz 11 Code Review 11	Textbook: Chapter 6
	05/01	Class 12
Week 15	05/03-05/09	More on Graphs; Current Topics in Algorithms	Lab 13	Programs 29–30 Quiz 12 Code Review 12	Textbook: Chapter 7
	05/08	Class 13
Week 16	05/10-05/16	Review (Mock Exam)		Quiz 13 Code Review 13
	05/15	Mock Exam
Finals	05/22 10AM-12PM	Final Exam **TIME IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE**