Introduction to Computing Lecture 1

Instructor: Nadeem Ahmad Khan TA’s: Ehtisham Rasheed Mudassir Ali

Can a computer think?

Course Contents Detailed Course Outline is on the CS-101 homepage

Course Goals Introduce computers and computing Build programming concepts for next level programming courses Familiarize students with Visual Basic 6

Textbooks An introduction to programming with Visual Basic 6 by David Schneider, Prentice Hall; 4th edition Chapters 1-7 and some more ……………….

Course Policy

The 5-minute rule

Assignments (15%) Unannounced Applicable rules and submission deadlines will be indicated with the assignments No make-ups

Assignment 1 Send an email confirming that you have seen the course-outline and any other remark on the course outline (if any). Email to: Ehtisham Rasheed ( for Section 1) Mudassir Ali (for Section 2) Deadline: 5:00 p.m, 11 Sept. 2002 No credit after the deadline

Quizzes (20%) Will cover reading assignments and 10-15 minutes duration Will cover reading assignments and material covered in the class Unannounced No make-ups Lowest grade will be dropped

Midterm (30%) Close book Will be based on all material covered in the first 5 weeks

Final Exam (35%) Close book Will be based on all material covered in the entire course of 10 weeks

Office Hours Hours reserved by the instructor & TA’s for the students of CS101 for: Answering questions Clarifying concepts Discussing assignments & quizzes

Tutorials/Lab Sessions Supervised Lab Sessions and Tutorials will be organized as and when required and will be notified before hand

Check your email often for announcements related to the course

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Designer of the Analytical Engine - the very first computer (1833) The Analytical Engine was not built until 1944 (in the form of the Harvard Mark I)

The Analytical Engine A mechanical, digital machine Could carryout any calculation Could make decisions based upon the results of the previous calculation Components: Input; Memory; Processor; Output

John Von Neumann Developed the stored program concept

Timeline First digital computer: Harvard Mark I (1944) First electronic, digital computer: ENIAC (1945) First commercial computer : UNIVAC (1951) First personal computer: Altair I (1975) First supercomputer: Cray I (1976) First popular PC: Apple II (1977) First laptop: Grid Compass (1979) First popular PDA: Palm Pilot (1996) progress continues………