ENGR 103 — Week 08: Functions: Scope and Higher-Order Functions

📖 Weekly Overview

This week we go deeper into Python functions: understanding how variables are scoped, how function calls create execution environments, and how functions can be treated as data — passed as arguments and returned from other functions.

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, you will be able to:

Understand local vs. global variable scope
Trace execution through nested function calls
Pass functions as arguments and return functions
Use map(), filter(), and lambda for data processing

📚 Required Reading

Guttag, "Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python" (3rd Ed)
Week 08 Reading: Ch 4.3–4.6
Complete before the first lecture of the week.

📅 This Week's Schedule

Monday: Monday: Variable scope and execution environments
Friday: Friday: Functions as objects, map, filter, lambda.

✅ Assignments Due This Week

Week 08 Quiz — Due Sunday 11:59 PM on Canvas (15 questions, 15 pts)
Week 08 Assignment — Due Sunday 11:59 PM on Canvas (3 coding problems)

🔗 Resources

Lecture slides available on Canvas before each class
Textbook: Guttag Ch 1 available free at MIT OpenCourseWare
Python documentation: docs.python.org
Office hours: Check Canvas calendar for times and Zoom/room info
Course Piazza: Post questions (anonymously if preferred)