CSC108H1 Introduction to Computer Programming
The Complete Exam Bible · Fall 2026CSC108H1 Overview
- Fall 2026
- First-year course
- Python with Wing 101
- Paper tests with no aids
- Three-hour final exam
A first programming course in Python
Introduction to Computer Programming is the University of Toronto's first course in Python for students who have never programmed. The opening lecture says most students in it do not plan to enrol in a computer science program, and that the teaching team assumes no prior experience.
- Assessed by Weekly Prepare and Perform exercises, four assignments, two quizzes, a midterm test and a final exam on which you must earn 40% to pass the course.
- Hardest step Tracing code on paper with no aids: drawing the memory model, following each function call and stepping through loops one pass at a time.
- How to prepare Do every worksheet question by hand before checking it in Python, and work through each week in order, since every topic builds on the last.
How CSC108H1 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Final Exam · hurdle | 40% | On paper, 3 hours, in the final assessment period; you must earn 40% on it to pass the course |
| Midterm Test | 20% | 90 minutes on paper, outside lecture time, no aids |
| Quizzes (2) | 12% | 6% each, 30 minutes on paper in your lecture section, no aids |
| Assignments (4) | 12% | 3% each, submitted on MarkUs, due Tuesdays before 4:00 pm |
| Perform Exercises | 10% | Weeks 2 to 12; the best 9 of 11 weekly marks count equally |
| Prepare Exercises | 5% | Weeks 2 to 12; the best 9 of 11 weekly marks count equally |
| Surveys | 1% | Two surveys, 0.5% each |
The seven components in the opening lecture's coursework table total 100%. Passing the course requires a mark of at least 40% on the final exam. Prepare and Perform exercises allow unlimited attempts, mark the last attempt before the due date, count the best 9 of 11 weeks and accept no late submissions. Assignments have a one-hour grace period, and for each one an extension of as much as 4 days can be requested. The final exam is scheduled by Arts & Science in the final exam period, and the course said more information about it would be posted later in the term.
Assessment structure
Segment widths reproduce the published weights and total 100%.
Current CSC108H1 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| September 29, 2026 | Assignment 1 due | Before 4:00 p.m., submitted on MarkUs. |
| October 5-6, 2026 | Quiz 1 | Monday for Monday and Wednesday sections, Tuesday for Tuesday and Thursday sections, in your usual lecture. |
| October 13, 2026 | Assignment 2 due | Before 4:00 p.m., submitted on MarkUs. |
| November 17, 2026 | Week 11 Prepare exercise | Due by 9 a.m., moved from the usual Monday noon deadline. |
Dates are as published in the Fall 2026 assignment pages, the Quiz 1 announcement and course announcements. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What CSC108H1 covers
Ten chapters follow the lecture worksheets for Weeks 1 to 5, from expressions and the memory model through functions, if statements and strings to loops and lists.
Expressions, Types and Built-in Functions
Operators and precedence, int and float, three kinds of division, error messages, and calls to max, min, abs, pow, round, type and helpWhat Week 1 starts with
The course opens in the Python shell and treats it as a calculator. An expression is code that produces one value, and every value has a type: int for whole numbers, float for numbers with a fractional part.
- Expressions, values and the shell prompt
- The int and float types and the type function
- Operator precedence from parentheses to addition
- True division, integer division and modulo
- Syntax errors, semantic errors and tracebacks
- Built-in functions, optional arguments and nested calls
Variables, Assignment and the Memory Model
Naming rules, assignment as evaluate then store, memory addresses and diagrams, reassignment and the safe swapThe model behind every trace
A variable stores the memory address of a value, not the value itself, and an assignment statement runs right side first: evaluate the expression, then store the address of its value.
- Variable naming rules and pothole_case
- Assignment as evaluate then store
- Memory addresses and the id function
- Drawing a memory model diagram
- Reassignment and why variables are not linked
- Swapping two values with a temporary variable
Defining and Calling Your Own Functions
Headers and bodies, parameters and arguments, the rules for executing a call, return versus None, and helper functionsFrom built-in to your own
Week 2 moves from calling functions to writing them. A definition has a header, made of def, a name, parameters in parentheses and a colon, and an indented body that returns a value.
- Function headers, bodies and indentation
- Parameters in the definition and arguments in the call
- The four rules for executing a call
- Return statements and the value None
- Helper functions and function reuse
- Writing functions in a file and calling them in the shell
The Function Design Recipe and Testing
Examples, header, description, body and test, type contracts, preconditions, description rules and testing in the shellFive steps in a fixed order
The Function Design Recipe asks for examples first, then the header with its type contract, then a description, then the body, and finally a test of every example in the shell.
- The five steps of the Function Design Recipe
- Writing docstring examples before code
- Type contracts in the function header
- Rules for a strong docstring description
- Preconditions and who must meet them
- Testing examples and corner cases in the shell
Booleans, Comparisons and Logical Operators
True and False, comparison operators, and, or and not, precedence, short-circuit evaluation, string comparison and the in operatorA type with two values
Week 3 introduces bool, whose only values are True and False. Comparison operators produce bools, and arithmetic happens before comparison.
- The bool type and its two values
- Comparison operators and arithmetic order
- Truth tables for not, and and or
- Precedence among logical operators
- Short-circuit evaluation and guards
- Comparing strings and the in operator
If Statements and Choosing Docstring Examples
if, elif and else as one structure, separate ifs versus elif, condition order, boundary examples and constantsOne structure, one branch
An if statement starts with one if, may continue with any number of elif clauses and may end with one else.
- The shape of if, elif and else
- How Python chooses exactly one branch
- Separate if statements versus elif
- Ordering conditions from narrow to broad
- Choosing docstring examples by behaviour
- Boundary examples and named constants
Strings: Indexing, Slicing and Methods
Concatenation and repetition, len, positive and negative indices, slices and strides, string methods and the help sheetText as a sequence
A string is a sequence of characters. Each character has an index counted from 0 on the left and from -1 on the right, and a slice collects the characters from one index onward, stopping just before a second index.
- Quotes, the empty string and len
- Concatenation, repetition and conversion
- Positive and negative indices
- Slices, omitted ends and strides
- String methods return new strings
- Reading help entries for find, count and strip
For Loops and the Accumulator Pattern
Loop bodies and passes, counting, totalling and building strings, any and every checks, and early returnRepeating with a for loop
A for loop executes its body one time per element of a sequence, and on each pass the loop variable refers to the next element.
- Loop bodies, passes and the loop variable
- The three steps of the accumulator pattern
- Counting and totalling characters
- Building a new string from an empty one
- Any and every questions with a Boolean flag
- Searching with an early return
While Loops and Index-Based Search
Loop conditions and progress, stop and go conditions, guarded index searches and tracing loops by handRepeating while a condition holds
A while loop checks its condition at the start of every pass and repeats its body while the condition is True. Something in the body must move the loop toward stopping, or it runs forever.
- The while condition and when it is checked
- Progress lines and infinite loops
- Stop conditions and their negation
- Guarded searches over string indices
- Trace tables for loop variables
- Debugging loops in Wing 101
Lists, List Methods and Aliasing
Indexing lists, modifying versus reassigning, aliasing, sort returning None, range with start, stop and step, and loops over listsValues that can change
Lists store several values in one sequence, index and slice like strings, and can be modified after they are created.
- Indexing, length and membership in lists
- Modifying a list versus reassigning a name
- Aliasing and shared addresses
- Methods that modify and return None
- The range function with start, stop and step
- Building new lists and modifying in place
Its weekly cycle pairs online Prepare videos and exercises with lectures built around worksheets and online Perform exercises, while four assignments ask students to plan, implement and test functions in Wing 101.
What the first five weeks cover
Week 1 treats Python as a calculator: expressions, the int and float types, the three division operators, built-in functions and the memory model of variables and assignment.
Week 2 defines functions, introduces the Function Design Recipe and tests functions against their docstring examples. Week 3 adds Booleans, if statements, choosing docstring examples and string operations. Week 4 covers string methods, for loops with the accumulator pattern, debugging in Wing 101 and while loops.
Week 5 introduces lists, list methods, aliasing and the range function.
How the course is assessed
The final exam carries the largest single weight and is written on paper over three hours, and students must reach the published minimum on it to pass the course. A midterm test and two short quizzes are also written on paper with no aids.
Weekly exercises, four assignments and two short surveys make up the rest of the mark.
How this guide is built
Ten chapters follow the lecture worksheets for Weeks 1 to 5. Each explains the idea, traces an original example by hand and ends with practice in the forms the worksheets and assignments use. All examples are written by AskSia; they are study aids, not course materials.
Worked example · free
Trace a digit total through a for loop
- 1Start the accumulator before the loop: total refers to 0.
- 2Pass by pass: '4' gives 4, 'x' leaves 4, '7' gives 11 and 'y' leaves 11.
- 1The last pass adds 2, so total is 13 and the function returns it.
Key terms
- Expression
- Code that Python evaluates to produce a single value of one type.
- Memory Model
- A diagram showing variables on one side and the values their stored addresses lead to on the other.
- Memory Address
- The location where a value is stored, written as id1, id2 and so on in course diagrams.
- Type Contract
- The parameter types and return type written in a function header.
- Function Design Recipe
- A five-step method for writing a function: examples, header, description, body and test.
- Docstring
- The triple-quoted text under a function header that describes the function and shows example calls.
- Precondition
- A requirement on a function's inputs, stated in its docstring, that callers are responsible for meeting.
- Helper Function
- A function that another function calls to do part of its work.
- Short-Circuit Evaluation
- Stopping an and or or expression as soon as its result is known, so the right side may never run.
- Index
- The position of an element in a string or list, counted from 0 on the left or -1 on the right.
- Slice
- A piece of a string or list that begins at one index and stops just before a second one.
- Method
- A type's own function, invoked by writing a value, a dot and the method name.
- Accumulator Pattern
- A loop technique that initialises a variable, updates it on relevant passes and returns it at the end.
- Alias
- A variable that holds the same list address as another variable, so changes through one appear through both.
CSC108H1 FAQ
How is the Toronto introductory Python course graded?
According to the opening lecture's coursework table, the final exam is worth 40%, the midterm test 20%, two quizzes 12% together, four assignments 12% together, Perform exercises 10%, Prepare exercises 5% and two surveys 1%. Prepare and Perform marks count the best 9 of 11 weeks.
What is the final exam like?
It is written on paper and lasts three hours, and Arts & Science schedules it during the final exam period. The slides state that you must earn 40% on it to pass the course, and the course said fuller details would be posted later in the term, so watch the course page.
Do I need programming experience before starting?
No. The opening lecture says the teaching team assumes students have never programmed, and that most people taking the course do not plan to enrol in a computer science program. Students come from programs such as economics, psychology and music, and many are still undecided.
Can I use notes or a computer on the quizzes and midterm?
No. The course states that its tests are paper-based and allow no aids, and Quiz 1 was closed book with no computers or calculators. Instead, the course supplied help entries for the functions and methods students might need, posted in advance for study.
What is the Function Design Recipe?
It is the five-step process the course uses to write every function: write examples, then the header with its type contract, then a description, then the body, and finally test each example in the shell. Assignments ask you to follow it and mark both style and correctness.
Why do memory model diagrams matter so much?
They are how the course explains what variables, function calls and lists really do, and they appear in assessments: Assignment 1 and Assignment 2 each included tasks asking for code that produces a given memory model diagram. Aliasing questions about lists are almost impossible without them.
What does the course say about using generative AI?
The opening slides warn that students who hand their exercises and assignments over to other people or tools tend to fail, because their supervised quiz, test and exam marks fall short. They add that such tools can create a false sense of mastery that disappears on paper.
Questions students ask in each CSC108H1 chapter
- Why does 8 / 4 give 2.0 rather than 2?
- True division with / always produces a float in Python, even when the division is exact. Use // when you want the whole-number result as an int, and remember that a tracing question treats 2 and 2.0 as different answers. Chapter 01 · Expressions, Types and Built-in Functions
- Why does the course say a variable refers to a value?
- Because the variable holds the address where the value is stored, not the value itself. Two variables can hold the same address, and reassigning one gives it a new address without disturbing the other, which is exactly what memory model questions test. Chapter 02 · Variables, Assignment and the Memory Model
- What is the difference between a parameter and an argument?
- A parameter is a name in the function header, such as bill in total_due(bill, rate). An argument is the value written in a particular call, such as 40.0. During the call the parameter holds the address of the argument's value. Chapter 03 · Defining and Calling Your Own Functions
- What order do the Function Design Recipe steps go in?
- Examples, header, description, body and test. Writing examples first fixes what the function should return before you think about code, and the final step runs those same examples in the shell to check the body against them. Chapter 04 · The Function Design Recipe and Testing
- What is the difference between = and ==?
- One equals sign assigns: it stores an address in a variable and produces no value. Two equals signs ask whether two values are equal and produce True or False. Writing if x = 5: is a syntax error in Python. Chapter 05 · Booleans, Comparisons and Logical Operators
- What is the difference between elif and a second if?
- An elif belongs to the same structure and is skipped once an earlier branch has run. A separate if begins a new structure and is always tested, so it can run as well if an earlier branch changed the variable it checks. Chapter 06 · If Statements and Choosing Docstring Examples
- Why does s[len(s)] raise an error?
- Indices start at 0, so the last character of s is at len(s) - 1. Asking for position len(s) points one past the end, where no character exists, and Python raises an IndexError. Slices are more forgiving, but single indices are not. Chapter 07 · Strings: Indexing, Slicing and Methods
- What starting value should an accumulator have?
- It depends on the answer you are building: 0 for a count or a total, the empty string for new text, False when asking whether any character qualifies and True when asking whether every character does. The course reference sheet lists these choices. Chapter 08 · For Loops and the Accumulator Pattern
- When should I use a while loop instead of a for loop?
- When you do not know in advance how many passes you need, or when you want to stop as soon as a condition is met, such as finding the first space in a string. A for loop always visits every element. Chapter 09 · While Loops and Index-Based Search
- Why does changing one list variable change another?
- If one variable was assigned from the other, both hold the address of the same list, so they are aliases. Any modification through either name, such as append or assignment to an index, changes the one shared list. Chapter 10 · Lists, List Methods and Aliasing
How to study for the exam
Work in three passes. First, for each week, redo every lecture worksheet question on paper, then check it in Python or the visualizer; the course's own advice for Quiz 1 was to look at posted solutions only at the end. Second, build a personal trace bank: one memory model, one function call, one if chain, one for loop and one while loop per week, each traced line by line with a table of variable values.
Third, rehearse writing functions with the Function Design Recipe under a time limit, examples before code, and test every example plus one corner case. Throughout, keep the help-sheet habit: answer string and list questions with only the help entries beside you, as on the quizzes and midterm. Do not skip a week, because each topic is used by the next.
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