CPSC 1000 -- Introduction to C.S. (Spring 2008)

Final exam (lab and class finals): Tue, Apr 22, 9am-noon, E646, E640, E630, E620.
Final Class exam topics: [txt]

Three 50 min lectures are scheduled each week for this course. The classes are held in TH201, at the following times:

Day Time Location
Mon, Wed, Fri 9:00-9:50 TH201

Office hours for your instructor are posted here.

WebCT & labs

This course uses a different link than the usual WebCT server called WebCT Banner Pilot. The interface is the same, except the response from the server should be faster. You can access the WebCT for this course via courseware.uleth.ca .

This course has an important lab component. Lab schedules are posted on WebCT.

Textbook, Grading and Examinations

Details about textbook, grading and what is expected from you in this class are described in the course outline available here .

Changes in grades

The following process applies only to class assignments and midterm. Note that final grade appeals must be submitted oficially, using the guidelines in your calendar.

If you disagree with your mark, please fill out this form. Attach the form to your assignment/midterm and hand them in to your instructor during the office hours or in class no later than one week after the marked assignment is returned. Your entire assignment will then be re-marked and, as a result, your mark may go up or down, or remain unchanged.

Midterm

Date: Wed. Feb. 27 (usual lecture time and location)
Chapters: 1,2,3,8,9,14

Midterm Topics

Assignments

There are two kinds of assignments for this course: lab assignments and class assignments. Details about lab assignments are given during your labs and are posted on WebCT.

The dates for class assignments are given below. Every class assignment will be announced in class and on the mailing list. Make sure you read your e-mail regularly. The class assignments are delivered via WebCT.

No. Date handed out Date due Solution
1 Jan 28 Feb 4, 10:00 PM [txt]
2 Mar 2 Mar 10, 10:00 PM [txt]
3 Apr 2 Apr 9, 10:00 PM [txt]

Calendar, Lecture Notes, and Assignments

The following schedule is tentative and subject to adjustment.

Week Dates Topic & textbook chapters Lecture Notes, Resources
1 J 4 Introduction
2 J 7-11 Terms of IT (Ch 1)
Human computer interaction (Ch.2) 		Day 1-2 [notes] [slides]
Day 3 [notes] [slides]
3 J 14-18 Evolution of computers
Information representation (Ch.8) 		Day 1: [slides]
Day 2-3: [notes] [slides]
Readings:
  • Article on history of computers [txt]
  • Article on Computer History Museum, CA [pdf]
  • U-Tube video about Bill Gates' first PC
    (from Computer History Museum) [url]
  • article about the digital computer
    (from Encyclopedia Britannica) [pdf]
  • Interesting article about Jacquard's loom
    (from Encyclopedia Britannica) [pdf]
  • A history of computers seen through old computer
    ads: [url]
  • A short article about Baskerville, inventor of
    the Baskerville font (used in computers today)
    & a site with many interesting articles about typography; [url]
4 J 21-25 Information representation
fonts
Spreadsheets (Ch.14) 		Day 1-2: [notes] [slides]
Day 3 (and next week - introduction to spreadsheets)
[notes]
Readings
  • A page explaining conversion of decimal
    numbers to binary: [url]
Spreadsheets:
  • Recommended: Ch. 14 in text
    Optional: Ch. 15 in text (it covers
    advanced spreadsheet operations).
  • A short history of spreadsheet applications: [url]
  • Visicalc, the first spreadsheet application
    can be downloaded and run (on PC-s) [url]
  • Page from UNC about MS Excel [url]
5 J 28 - F 1 Spreadsheets (c'ed)
Principles of computer operation (Ch.9) 		Read Ch. 9 in text
6 F 4-8 Computer operation
Networking (Ch.3)
7 F 11-15 Networking (Ch.3, c'ed)
8 F 18-22 Reading week
9 F 25-29 Midterm, (Wed) Feb 27 (Ch.1,2,3,8,9,14)
HTML, Designing Webpages (Ch.4)
10 M 3-7 Web 2.0
Searching information (Ch.5)
  • Notes Web2.0: [pdf]
  • Articles about wikipedia:
    • Wikipedia prank (NYT 2005): [url]
    • Nature article comparing Wikipedia with Encyplopaedia Britannica: [pdf via Uleth library]
      Related articles accessible from here: [url]
    • Thomas Chesney's study, as well as Encyclopaedia Britannica's response available from here: [url]
  • Searching for info notes (see week 11)
11 M 10-14 Searching for information (Ch. 5)
12 M 17-19 LOGO & Programming (10)
No classes Fri 		Notes Logo: [notes]
13 M 26-28 No classes Mon
Logo
(notes from Week 12)
Examples in class: [logo]
14 M 31 - A 4 Multimedia (Ch.11) Notes: [days 1-3]
Slides: [day 1] [day 2] [day3]
Link to audio demonstrations: [url]
15 A 7-11 Computers in society (Ch.12) Notes: [pdf]
Slides: [day2] , [day3]

Updated Apr. 11, 2008.