Lecture 1, Thu 04/03

Introduction, Python Review

• Slides folder

Code Clarity

• It is highly encouraged to use explicit parentheses to make your code clearer.
• Keep in mind that the and operator has higher precedence than some other logical operators in Python, such as or.

Data Structures: Set vs. List

• List (list): Ordered, allows duplicates, supports indexing.
• Set (set): Unordered, no duplicates, supports set operations like union or intersection, just as in math.

# Sets vs lists

set1 = {1, 1, 1, 3}
list1 = [1, 1, 1, 3]

print(set1)
print(list1)
print(set(list1))

Autograder

• Engaging with the lab material and calling our attention to improvements that could be made may result in extra credit at the end of the quarter.
• Think critically about the test cases you write to ensure your code is robust!
• If at least half of the students are affected by an issue, the instructor may consider making an accommodation.
• If your submission has a syntax error, the autograder will give a zero.
• Unlimited submissions are allowed on Gradescope

Testing & Assertions

• It is impossible to prove a program is 100% correct.
• Labs require you to write additional assert statement to verify correctness.
• The autograder has more assert statements in the backend that will further validate your code.
• On the midterm and final, you will be required to write assert statements for a given function.

Design activity

An example of how to store weaknesses and vulnerabilities with their related attributes:

# Using a list to keep track of the weakness and the related counts
# [200, 45, 1 , 3] 

# Alternatively, using a nested dictionary
threat_database = {
    "CWE-20": {
        "pillar": 200,
        "base": 45,
        "class": 1,
        "variant": 3
        },
    "CWE-200": {
        "pillar": None,
        "base": None,
        "class": None,
        "variant": None
        }
    }

# Two ways to retrieve values
print(threat_database["CWE-200"]["variant"])
print(threat_database.get("CWE-20").get("variant")) # less prone to errors

iClicker notes

# The code from the iClicker question

cve_val = "CVE-2022-21668"
cwe_val = "CWE-400"
year = 2022

print(f'cve_val cwe_val year')
#print(f'{cve_val} '{cwe_val}' {(year)}' )