Check your understanding of the previous reading: what a programming language is, why Python, syntax vs semantics, and how programs execute.

Question 1

Humans discovered programming languages in the 1940s and have been decoding them ever since.

Select True or False, then check.

  • Not quite. The reading explains that programming languages were created by Computer Scientists, not discovered and decoded like an ancient language.
  • Correct. Programming languages were created by Computer Scientists to make it easy to write instructions a computer can understand — they weren't discovered or decoded.

Question 2

Programming languages, like spoken languages, have rules.

Select True or False, then check.

  • Correct. The reading explains that programming languages have very strict rules — syntax (grammar, spelling, punctuation) and semantics (logic, making sense, intent) — just as English has grammar rules.
  • Not quite. The reading is explicit that programming languages have very strict rules, split into syntax and semantics.

Question 3

Programming languages are good for writing instructions.

Select True or False, then check.

  • Correct. The reading says programming languages are good for only one thing: giving instructions to a computer to solve a problem.
  • Not quite. Giving instructions to a computer is exactly what programming languages are for — unlike human languages, which serve many purposes, this is their one job.

Question 4

Which of the following are reasons why Python is a good language to learn?

Select every option that applies, then check.

  • Correct. The reading says Python is one of the most popular languages in the world — by some metrics, the most popular.
  • Correct. The reading calls Python a "friendly" language for beginners that many people find easier to learn than other languages.
  • Not quite. The reading never claims Python is brand new — nothing in the text supports this.
  • Correct. The reading says Python has a huge number of libraries that make it useful for a wide range of problems in scientific computing, data science, web development and more.
  • Not quite. The reading doesn't mention government funding at all — this isn't one of the three reasons it gives (popular, useful, friendly).

Question 5

What are some common uses for Python?

Select every option that applies, then check.

  • Correct. The reading lists web servers among the application areas Python is useful for.
  • Correct. The reading lists scientific computing as one of Python's common uses.
  • Correct. The reading lists processing data among Python's common uses.
  • Not quite. Writing a novel is a human-language task, not a use the reading lists for Python.

Question 6

Semantic Error, Syntax Error, or No error?
Green is with the monkey's ears and toes.
Wishes hop incorrectly over the coffee cup.
Oxygen cold wheat.
This Open. Verbed -- ? Outside ... grapes!
Where did the ribbon go?

Question 7

Which of the following are TRUE statements about Python?

Select every option that applies, then check.

  • Correct. The reading explicitly lists this as one of the two things Python is.
  • Correct. The reading says Python is also a program that can execute programs written according to the rules of the Python language.
  • Not quite. Python is a programming language and a program that runs other programs — not an operating system.
  • Correct. The reading's "Programs are Text" section says a Python program is really just some text, following Python's syntax rules.

Question 8

Which of the following are equivalent to the phrase "Ran a program"?

Select every option that applies, then check.

  • Correct. The reading's Terminology section says "Execute" is a synonym for "run."
  • Not quite. Killing a program means stopping it — the opposite of running it, not a synonym for running it.
  • Correct. The reading defines "Run" as performing each step of a program line by line, so "performed" matches.
  • Not quite. Writing a program is a separate, earlier step from running it — the reading never treats them as the same action.

Question 9

When a program is being executed, each line of the program is executed at the same time.

Select True or False, then check.

  • Not quite. The reading is explicit that the computer does each step one at a time, line by line, not simultaneously.
  • Correct. The reading says the computer reads the text of the program line by line and performs each step one at a time, just like a human following a recipe — not all at once.