CSC 104, Winter 2012: Course topics

Part I: Introduction to computing machinery.

Timetable: the first two weeks of the term.

Some material used:

• The statement of that ages problem
• Notes on problem-solving in Brookshear section 5.3, including Polya's problem-solving phases.
• The photos and most of what I said while opening up a CDF computer
• Example data flow diagrams presented in class: [add two typed numbers], [date formatting].
  (They're just examples! You certainly don't have to know them!)
• The "ASCII" character code
• Discussion of what an algorithm is is in section 5.1 of Brookshear (also read intro to chapter 5), and also maybe see section 5.3 (more difficult).
• Some sketchy notes about "algorithm", hardware, software
• Tutorial discussion about hard disks referred to http://computer.howstuffworks.com/hard-disk.htm

Final exam coverage: All concepts (problem-solving, algorithms, issue of precision). No rote memorization (e.g. Polya's problem-solving phases, details of problems examined, Brookshear's definition of what constitutes an "algorithm", ASCII character values, etc) -- questions about these items would generally be accompanied by a summary of the principles or definitions in question.

Types of possible exam questions:

• What's wrong with this algorithm?
• Write an algorithm to do some every-day task.
• Questions about basic computer usage learned during this time and basic parts of a computer as examined during this time.

Part II: Modern computing.

Timetable: approximately January 19, 24, and 26.

References:

• Secondary storage and hierarchical filesystems:
  • Roughly what I wrote on the chalkboard or overhead display is in secstorage.html
  • It's not about filesystems, but some discussion of hierarchical organization and "tree" terminology in general can be found in the text and figure on page 374 of Brookshear and figures 8.2 and 8.3 (page 352 and figure 8.3 in the ninth edition; page 321 and figure 8.2 in the previous edition). A "plain file" is a leaf-node of the filesystem tree; internal nodes are directories; and we also talk about the "root directory" of a filesystem.
• Operating systems:
  • Brookshear 3.1 through 3.3, but that's more in-depth than we're discussing in this course
• Data communications:
  • Brookshear chapter 4, especially 4.1 and 4.2
• The web
  • Brookshear 4.3

Final exam coverage: all of the above.

Types of possible exam questions:

• something general about the connection of computers on the internet
• questions about hierarchical filesystems; relative and absolute file path names
• questions similar to part 1 of assignment two, but more specific

Part III: Data representation; numeric expressions.

• basic numeric expressions, using the 'print' statement in Python
• comma-separated multiple 'print' items in Python
• Giving names to numeric expressions, and to sequences of statements
  • example mortgage calculation programs developed/presented in class (some in part III, some in part VI)
• String expressions (just a bit)
• Spreadsheet programs:
  • We will be using "gnumeric" as an example in the lab and for assignment three. Gnumeric is nearly identical to Microsoft Excel in the syntax of formulas and the set of formatting options available. But all spreadsheet programs are basically the same, and when you know one, you more-or-less know them all.
  • Discussion of projectile example problem and solution
  • Projectile example spreadsheet in /u/ajr/104/a3/projectile.gnumeric on CDF.
  • Projectile example in python in /u/ajr/104/a3/projectile.py on CDF.
• Boolean expressions, and 'if' formulas in a spreadsheet program.
• See collected expression syntax
• Basic data representation: bits and bytes; base two numbers; converting to and from base two; a few notes about representing other kinds of data
• "Markup languages": Some basic HTML. See collected HTML tag list
• See Brookshear sections 1.4 and 1.5, and ASCII chart on page 597
• various small bits of python code written in class for part III (not too exciting, but in case you transcribed something wrong and can't get it to run)
• At some point I did something similar to a loop to validate input

Final exam coverage: all of the above, including HTML and spreadsheets.

Types of possible exam questions:

• some simple manipulation of binary numbers
• write some formulas for a spreadsheet, possibly involving 'if's ('if's also relate to Part VI below, of course)
• write HTML code for a web page or part of one
• other questions about binary numbers, the ASCII character code, or other data representation matters.

Part IV: History of computing machinery.

Some material used:

• Section 0.2 of Brookshear
• Some of the computer history material and some of the photographs are from Michael Williams, A History of Computing Technology. But much of it is just stuff I've accumulated over the years from a very wide range of sources. Photographs can often be found on the web these days, especially via http://images.google.com.
• There is some interesting historical material comprising chapter 1 of the book from which I learned the IBM 1130 assembly language, Elements of IBM 1130 Programming by Wilson Price, Rinehart Press, 1968; it's in the U of T library system.

Final exam coverage: none.

Part V: Application: Time-keeping.

Timetable: approximately March 13, 15, and 20.

[Example python code written in class in this unit]

Final exam coverage: there might be a small question about the time calculations. You do not need to know the leap-year formula. Time-keeping is not on the exam.

Part VI: Computer programming.

Schedule:
To some extent we've been gently introducing computer programming all along; but we'll get into it more seriously during the above time-keeping discussion, and then continuing in greater depth for March 20, 22, and 27, with a discussion of the Bresenham line algorithm (for lab 5) on March 27.

Bresenham line algorithm as discussed on March 27, and as used in lab 5

Binary search presentation shown in class

Example python code written in class in this unit:

• Linear search, first version and more involved but more useful version
• Code to guess the number the user is thinking of using the binary search principle, not shown in class
• binary search code developed in class
• insertion sort code developed in class

Final exam coverage:
Everything except for

• the "software life cycle" is not on the final exam
• you do not need to know how to write your own procedures for the final exam
• the mortgage calculations are just an example; you need to know the Python programming ideas they presented (other than procedures), but not the mortgage formula/algorithm itself.

Example types of possible exam problems:

• write short python programs or short bits of python programs
• read and answer questions about short python programs or bits of python programs
• questions about how this-or-that programming construct works
• answer questions about the binary search algorithm, the insertion sort algorithm, or the Bresenham line algorithm; or perform a bit of one of these algorithms by hand
• a more-difficult programming problem, harder than those on assignment two but easier than lab 5. (This is "the A+ question", which not all students are expected to be able to answer. That is to say, answering this question distinguishes the 'A+' students from the 'A' students.)

Part VII: Computers and society.

Schedule: approximately March 29, April 3, and April 5. We will only have time to cover a little of the above-listed topics.

An introduction to the ideas about software freedom. Remember that a large number of the software packages you use on a regular basis are in fact "free" in this sense. Also note that there are free substitutes available for just about all large software packages, including operating systems as well as "office" software.

The bit I read in class about Susan Thunder was from the book Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Katie Hafner and John Markoff, Touchstone, 1991. The thing which makes this book unusual amongst other similar books is that the content is actually technically correct and historically accurate. But it's primarily a non-technical book and I think you should find it quite readable.

Final exam coverage: none.