CMSC102 Information Technology and Internet Research

1
Welcome

• CMSC102 Information Technology and Internet
  Research
• I am John Arras
• Office 1109 A.V. Williams Building
• Phone [phone]
• Email jra_at_cs.umd.edu
• This is the best way to contact me.

2
Class Materials

• 4 large brown envelopes
• 4 3.5 diskettes
• Nothin but Net by E.Golub and J. Plane (3rd
  edition)
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Hafner and Lyon
• WAM print account (get one in 1109 S Campus
  Dining Hall. 20 to start)

3
Grading

• 7 Projects Practice what you learn.
• Paper (book report)
• 2 in-class exams
• Final exam
• Online skills exam
• A file called duedates in the class account will
  give approx. due dates for projects.

4
Administrative

• Missed Exams
• No makeups. A Univ. approved excuse with prior
  notice can drop an exam.
• Academic Honesty
• Do not discuss any assignments with other
  students. Come to me or the TAs for help.
• The waitlist generally clears up.
• I might oversubscribe, but not likely.

5
Late Assignments

• Assignments are not accepted late.
• This includes being just 10 minutes late or
  handing in to me in my office after class.
• This includes things like power outages the night
  before the assignment is due.
• I do this to be fair to the people that hand the
  assignment in on time.

6
Late Assignments 2

• The one exception to no late assignments is if
  you have a university-approved excuse that says
  you were unable to do any work for a long time.
• You have about 1-2 weeks for each assignment, so
  any excuse would have to excuse you from most of
  that time.

7
Course Outline

• Introduction to computers, networks, and UNIX
• Editors and email
• FTP, Telnet Usenet and online databases
• Browsers, the Web and HTML
• Javascript
• Spreadsheets

8
Hardware

• Hardware consists of the physical pieces of a
  computer.
• Different hardware can perform the same task.
• Hardware may be interchangeable
• Some computers are more modular (like PCs) and
  some are more monolithic (like laptops).

9
Operating Systems (Software)

• Low-level instructions between hardware and
  applications.
• Examples Windows, MacOS, UNIX, and Linux.
• Usually hardware-specific.
• Each type of hardware has a specific way of doing
  operations like add two numbers.

10
Applications Software

• They run over the operating system.
• Examples word processors, web browsers and
  spreadsheets.
• Different programs perform similar tasks.
• Incompatible data files between programs.
• Incompatible data transmission between programs.

11
Hardware/Software Interaction

• Hardware physically processes instructions to and
  from devices like the keyboard, monitor, and
  printer.
• Applications software tells the hardware what to
  do.
• The operating system acts as a mediator between
  the hardware and applications software.

12
Compatability

• Generally software works on one kind of machine
  and one kind of operating system.
• Some software can work on many machines and
  operating systems.
• Examples
• Netscape runs on many platforms.
• Java programs run on many platforms.
• They run many places for different reasons.

13
Examples of Computers

• Desktop PCs, Macs.
• Laptops.
• Servers.
• PDAs.
• Game Consoles.
• Some Cellphones.
• Some Electronic Toys.

14
Using a Computer

• Batch Mode vs. Interactive environments
• Command Line interface
• Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Some other kinds of interfaces
• Electronic toys
• Talking to voicemail
• Buttons in home appliances

15
Types of Networks

• Single Machine
• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Internet (network of networks)
• Topologies point to point, bus, ring
• Connections Client/Server, Host/Terminal.

16
Protocols

• A set of rules for communication.
• A network can have many protocols.
• Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
  (TCP/IP) is used on the Internet.
• Machines send and receive information from each
  other using these protocols.

17
Internet Research Issues

• We will address this issue more as the semester
  goes along.
• What kinds of research can you do?
• What are some of the pitfalls?
• How much use can the Internet be?
• How accurate is the information?
• Are you allowed to use the information?