Programming for Information Professionals

UNC SILS, INLS 560, Fall 2025

August 19
First meeting

Our first meeting of the semester is Tuesday, August 18 at 9:30AM in Manning 014.

August 19
Introduction to the course

Total amount of required reading for this meeting: 3,600 words

πŸ“– To read before this meeting:

  1. Vinge, Vernor. “Software Archaeology.” In A Deepness in the Sky, 183–86. New York: Tor, 1999. PDF.
    1,400 words
  2. Quéru, Jean-Baptiste. “Dizzying but Invisible Depth,” October 15, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20150417195936/https://plus.google.com/+JeanBaptisteQueru/posts/dfydM2Cnepe.
    1,200 words
  3. Recurse Center. “Social Rules,” n.d. https://www.recurse.com/social-rules.
    1,000 words

August 21
GitHub and GitHub Classroom

πŸ“– To read before this meeting:

  1. GitHub, Inc. “Start Your Journey: Learn the Basics of GitHub.” GitHub Docs, 2024. https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/start-your-journey.

August 26
Visual Studio Code and Codespaces

Total amount of required viewing for this meeting: 14 minutes

πŸ“Ί To view before this meeting:

  1. Microsoft, β€œLearn Visual Studio Code in 7min.”

    View. 7 minutes
    Viewing tips

    You can follow along at https://vscode.dev.

  2. Microsoft, β€œUsing Git with Visual Studio Code.”

    View. 7 minutes

August 26
Hello, World available

August 28
GitHub Copilot

Total amount of required reading for this meeting: 2,300 words

πŸ“– To read before this meeting:

  1. GitHub, Inc. “What Is GitHub Copilot?” GitHub Docs, 2024. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/about-github-copilot/what-is-github-copilot.
  2. Butterick, Matthew. “GitHub Copilot Investigation,” 2022. https://githubcopilotinvestigation.com.
    2,300 words

August 28
Hello, World due

September 2
Designing functions I

September 2
Compound Interest available

September 4
Designing functions II

September 9
Variables, conditionals, strings, lists I

September 9
Compound Interest due

September 9
Flag Maker available

September 11
Variables, conditionals, strings, lists II

September 16
Loops, dicts, sets, files, modules I

September 16
Flag Maker due

September 16
Square Roots available

September 18
Loops, dicts, sets, files, modules II

September 23
Testing I

September 23
Square Roots due

September 23
Testing Athleticism available

September 25
Testing II

September 30
Mid-semester review

September 30
Testing Athleticism due

October 2
No class

I will be out of town, so we will not meet today.

October 7
Well-being Day

Due to the well-being day, we will not meet today.

October 8–14
Mid-semester 1-on-1

Sometime between Wednesday, October 8 and Tuesday, October 14, you will schedule a 15-minute mid-semester 1-on-1 evaluation with me.

We will not meet as a class on Thursday, October 9 or Tuesday, October 14.

October 8
Mid-semester 1-on-1 available

October 14
Mid-semester 1-on-1 due

October 16–17
Fall break

Due to fall break, we will not meet Thursday, October 16.

October 21
Problem decomposition I

October 21
Authorship identification available

October 23
Problem decomposition II

October 28
Debugging I

October 30
Debugging II

October 30
Authorship identification due

November 4
Handling exceptions I

November 4
Assigning Grades available

November 6
Handling exceptions II

November 11
Handling exceptions III

November 11
Assigning Grades due

November 13
Going online I

November 13
Web Crawler available

November 18
Going online II

November 20
Going online II

November 20
Web Crawler due

November 25–27
Thanksgiving

Due to Thanksgiving, we will not meet this week.

December 2
End-of-semester review

December 3–9
Final 1-on-1

Sometime between Wednesday, December 3 and Tuesday, December 9, you will schedule a 30-minute final 1-on-1 evaluation with me.

December 3
Final 1-on-1 available

December 9
Final 1-on-1 due