Introduction to Programming and Data Processing

The use of computers for technical/mathematical computations and simulations is central for many areas at DTU, and it is therefore necessary to have a working knowledge of computer programming. In the course students will learn about basic concepts and techniques in programming, as well as how to write programs with a focus on computations with technical/engineering applications. The participants will be able to design and develop well-structured smaller programs, test the design and program, read various data formats, and visualize the results graphically. One of the programming languages Matlab, Python or R is used.

Contents of the course

Programming language: Matlab, Python, or R.
Using the desktop environment and language documentation.
Working with numbers, strings, logical values, vectors and matrices.
Using arithmetic and logical operators, branching statements, looping and vectorization.
Organizing code using scripts and functions.
Error checking user input and creating interactive programs.
Writing comments and technical documentation.
Reading and writing data files.
Graphical visualization of data.

Learning objectives

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

Explain basic programming concepts
Design and implement programs to solve simple computable engineering problems
Use the integrated development environment and user interface of the programming language
Import data in different formats
Use variables of different types and perform basic computations
Organize code using scripts and functions
Write well-structured, commented, and readable code
Use functions from existing toolboxes and libraries
Graphically visualize data and information
Write technical documentation

Course objectives

Contents of the course

Learning objectives