COMP 101Fluency in Technology
13 January 2011
Agenda
Introductions› Who am I?› Who are you?
Logistics What is technology fluency and why
should you care? Browsers, servers, software
Logistics
The source of all information:http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/Courses/comp101-s11/ Important:
› Laptops everyday› Keep up with the little things
OFFICE HOURS Software
› Open source› Microsoft Office
NO TEXT
Grading Policy
Late Policy› 3 free days› Extra credit if left at end
Redos› 7 days from grade return
What this course is about
How to communicate data and information in today’s technologies
To be comfortable with the underlying principles
To learn to think quantitatively
Course Goals
Demystify computersFear is the main source of superstition … To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. - Bertrand Russell (1872 –
1970)
Skills to use computers and especially› Web pages› Spreadsheets
Want to create
Artifacts usable by people as well as computers› Working isn’t enough!
Solutions to complex problems› More than one step
Why you should care
Challenge: › Name a field that has not been or will not
be impacted by technology Reality:
› Future leaders will be those with the vision to embrace and harness technology.
› Do you want to lead, follow or get left behind?
Course Methodology
Just do it! As you learn new skills, we’ll delve
deeper› Don’t do things that you don’t understand!
New tools… that you can always use
What is the Internet?
The machines The connections The content
The Internet in 1980
The Internet Circa 1998
Two Types of Computers
Servers: contain information to share Clients: machine with a web browser
to access that information
Server Client
Web Server
PagesBrowse
r
The Browser
BROWSER software on your
machine (client)> interprets instructions to display a web page> usually retrieves web page from server
BROWSER:Web page processor(software program)
InstructionsText
Web Pages
Text file that says what to display› Web pages use HTML (HyperText Markup
Language) a little history
Two types of information› Instructions on how or what to display› Text (the data)
Instructions are in the form of tags› < command >
Do NOT need any special tools to build› BUT tools can make it easier
General Structure: HTML Page
<html>
<! --- most important item in head is the title --- ><head>
<title>Put your title here</title></head>
<! --- body is where the “good stuff” is --- ><body>
What will appear on the page<br />Here … and there
</body>
</html>
WARNING: This is not a complete page.
Anatomy of a URL
Protocol: server-name/file-to-display HOW WHERE WHAT
Protocol: usually http Have you ever seen others? https? telnet? ftp?
Server-name The computer’s name
Usually begins with www Usually ends with 3 characters that define the kind of site
However, there are no rules: as long as its registered, you can get there
File-to-display Can be a whole path (just like Windows)
Choosing Tools
Very fancy tools exist› Ease of building vs. Control› Cost
We will use an editor that help you get it right
We will NOT use tools that hide what you are doing
We will use Komodo Editor
Why Learn HTML?
Mainly, to demystify But more than that -- even if using a package Sometimes you …
› can’t figure out how to make it do what you want
› can’t figure out what is wrong› just want to make some minor changes
If you understand how it works, YOU are in control
Sharing Web Pages
Using Komodo Editor creates a web page on your machine› You can use the browser to look at it
But who else can see it?› NOBODY
Want it to be on a SERVER› UNC provides: ISIS
UNC Site
UNC website› Everything that is going to be available on the
web must be in your public_html folder› Treats index.html as your home page› Default is “This page is blank”
Creating WWW Pages at UNC-CH› http://help.unc.edu/?id=108
How to Transfer
UNC discusses sftp (Windows) and fetch (Mac)
We will use Filezilla Why?
› Simpler interface› Cross platform