James Tam

Introduction to CPSC 203

James Tam

James Tam

Administrative

Contact Information

• Office: ICT 707

• Phone: 210-9455

• Email: tamj@cpsc.ucalgary.ca

Office hours

• Office hours: MW 12:00 - 13:00

• Email: tamj@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (any time)

• Appointment: phone or call

• Drop by for urgent requests (but no guarantee that I will be in!)

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Feedback

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Organization of this course

Lectures

•Theory, concepts (how do things work)?

•Exam-related material (some assignment stuff)

Labs

•Practical (e.g., How do I do I use a computer to do something?)

•Assignment-related material

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How you will be evaluatedAssignments (30%)

• Email (1%)

• Word Processing (4%)

• Spreadsheet (4%)

• Database (6%)

• Internet (5%)

• Project (7%)

• PowerPoint (3%)

Exams (70%)

• Midterm exam (30%)

• Final exam (40%)

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Course resources

Course website: http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~tamj/2002/203

Course textbooks:

• Computer Confluence, 4th Edition, George Beekman, Prentice Hall

• Projects for Microsoft Office, Toliver, Johnson and Koneman, Addison Wesley

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Course outline

1) Introduction to computers

• Today’s material and much more!

2) Number systems

• More than just decimal

3) History of computers

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Course outline (continued)4) Networking and telecommunications

5) Introduction to Computer Science

• Simulations

• Graphics

• Databases

• Artificial Intelligence

• Computer vision

• Human-Computer Interaction

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Course outline (continued)

6) Computer programming

• What’s involved in the creation of a computer program.

7) Issues in computing

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What is a computer?

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High-level view of a computer

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Why use a computer?

Calculations

• Fast, accurate

Repetition

• Don’t get bored

Storage and retrieval of information

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Categories of computers

Supercomputers

Mainframes

Personal computers

Portable computers

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Supercomputers

What are they?

What are they used for?

Example applications

• Medical research

• Science

• Government

• Telecommunications

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Mainframes

One main computer with many secondary computers attached.

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Mainframes (continued)

Expensive and big

Need special environments

Used when reliability is important

• Banks

• Airline reservations

• Web servers

• The U of C!

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Personal computers (desktops)

The most commonly found type of computer

• Windows, Apple, Sun, Amiga…

For one person at a time

Inexpensive (but quite powerful)

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Portable computers

Notebooks (laptops)

• Portable form of a desktop

• Pay more, get less

• Battery powered

Hand helds (palmtops, PDAs)

• More portable, less powerful