Terms of Endearment FIT 100, Spring 2006 Fluency in Information Technology http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/100/06sp/ 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

Readings and References Fluency with Information Technology Chapter 1, Terms of Endearment 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Le Mot Juste Learning le mot juste, the right word for something, aids us in two ways: Helps our learning … our brains like to connect concepts to words and phrases Helps us to communicate with others … asking “tech support” for help or using online HELP requires us to describe the problem precisely If you stop and ask for directions and you don’t know what north or south mean, you will be in trouble! 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Not Another Term?!? Blog (from weblog) Online journal Geocaching GPS scavenger hunt type of game Pod-casting Program broadcasting from your iPod 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Computer Terms Possibly familiar terms…. monitor screen saver CRT vs LCD vs plasma pixel (1024 X 768) RGB Component vs. monolithic (laptop = monolithic) Cathode-ray tube Liquid crystal display Picture elements (1024 x 768 is typical for a laptop today) Red green blue (all of the colors are made out of the RGB color scheme) 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Computer Terms con’d motherboard daughterboards / cards Video card Modem CPU (central processing unit) [micro] processor You can buy a used computer from the UW Surplus for like $10! It’s a good deal to take it apart and learn about the insides of a computer…. 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Computer Memory Types of memory ROM (read-only memory) RAM (random access memory) hard disk / hard drive sequential access vs. random access persistent vs. volatile ROM stores the operating system and the instructions that the computer boots (starts) from. If it were deleted or overwritten, then the computer would not boot-up. RAM is most often used while the computer is operational. For example, say you are writing a term paper. All of your new edits are stored in the RAM until you save it. What happens if the power goes out before you save it? This is must like our short term memory. What did you have for breakfast this morning?!? When computers restart, the RAM is erased. The hard disk is the permanent memory store. Example of sequential access is tape. Random access can be retrieved DIRECTLY. Examples are books, hard disks, cds... 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Hardware/Software Hardware refers to the physical devices Software refers to the programs The instructions for directing a computer The main difference is that hardware cannot be changed, while software can be modified The same computer hardware often runs many different software applications The same software application can often run on several different (but similar) computers Mac PC runs web-browser, MS office, Yahoo chat, etc… Mozilla web-browser can run on most operating systems that have Java installed 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

Encountering New Terms Definitions for information technology terms like byte, pixel, etc.. Are found in glossaries There is a glossary in the back of the text book Online glossaries are also handy … A useful study aid is to start your own glossary, write down the definitions of the new words that you encounter Use Google with define: <term> Use Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org Demonstrate Google & Wikipedia! 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Invisible Terms Understanding the “tangible” parts of IT is important system board, CPU, memory, disk, etc… Understanding the “intangible” parts of IT is important too! algorithm, abstraction, generalization, interface, user model (eg. deadbolt example in the book) 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington An Algorithm algorithm = is a precise and system method for solving a problem Writing out the steps of an algorithm is programming We write instructions to build a program We ask a computer to run a program A computer executes a program when it performs instructions Example: how to get into my locked front door? Computers are dumber than your dog! The steps or instructions needs to be written out precisely for the computer to execute it properly. 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington To Abstract abstract = to extract or remove something In FIT100 abstracting will usually involve removing the core idea or process from a specific situation (eg. A fable with a moral) The “thing removed” is an abstraction What do we take away? Humans abstract core ideas, principles, rules, themes, etc… naturally 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Imagine A Story… The fable of the boy who cried wolf… Shepherd boy was tending his flock of sheep He was lonely, so decided to cry out to the villagers, “wolf, wolf” The villagers came running to his aid, and were very disappointed when they discovered no wolf! Then one day a wolf did actually come and when the boy called out to the villagers, no one came Moral: no one believes a liar, even one who speaks the truth 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington To Generalize generalize = infer a rule that applies in many situations Suppose you notice that a faucet works like this: Turn counter-clockwise (left) to turn the water on Turn clockwise (right) to turn the water off To infer that all faucets work the same way is to generalize 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington To Generalize con’d Can we generalize further? Twisting lids, caps and screws counter-clockwise usually opens or loosens them Volume knobs usually work the other way Can we create an abstraction from this? A twisting motion is often used as an “on or an off”, more or less, a control gesture, but the correct direction is not always obvious unless there are other clues Righty-tight, lefty-loosey 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

Operationally Attuned Noticing how devices operate simplifies their use Observation: computer programs often give feedback when they are working Example: vending machine - how do you know its working? Computer? Is cursor icon moving? Are there lights flashing? Is there a beep? 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

Operationally Attuned con’d Noticing how devices operate simplifies their use Observation: computer programs often give feedback when they are not working So, if you think you’re waiting for the computer but there is no indication that its working, its probably waiting for you! Look around the screen Is there an input dialog box? Is there an error message that you need to ok? Think about using computer software, like Microsoft Products. They make the menus the same across many applications! This is to simplify their use! If you have already encountered this menu - then you may understand how it might work in the next context! 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Analytical Thinking Allows us to talk about changes in a meaningful way By giving facts as a measure of performance We can compare changes to other changes 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington The Speed of Change Consider running a mile … How fast can anyone run a mile? In 1999 Hicham El Guerrouj ran it in 3.43.13 A rate of 16.134 mph Compare that with Roger Bannister In 1954 Bannister ran a mile in 3.59.4 A rate of 15.038 mph In 45 years the top runners got 7% faster New rate - Old rate / Old rate = Percent improvement 16.134 - 15.038/15.038 = 0.07 = 7% 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington A Speed Comparison Compared to normal people… How fast can you run the mile? El Guerrouj ran it in 3.43.13 (16.134mph) Health people in their 20s run in ~7.30 (8mph) That is, El Geurrouj is twice as fast as you El Guerrouj is about a factor-of-2 X faster than normal people … New rate / Old rate = Factor of improvement 16.134 / 15.038 = 1.07 X Bannister 16.134 / 8 = 2 X normal people 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington One More Factor How fast do computers run now? Univac I ran 100,000 adds(+)/sec in 1954 BlueGene ran 138 teraFLOPS 138 trillion adds/sec in 2005 (new rate/ old rate = factor of improvement) 138 trillion / 100,000 = a factor of 1.38 billion times faster! BlueGene ran over 280 TeraFLOPS (floating-point operations per second) 2Ghz = roughly 2 gFLOPS 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington

le mot just @ university of washington Summary We reviewed a lot of terms (and more terms!) Talked about where to learn more about new terms Discussed why its good to be operationally attuned Learned how to calculate factors, which we can use to compare changes 20-Nov-18 le mot just @ university of washington