Course Overview COSC , S04 User Interfaces

2 Topics for Today Who am I? Why take this course? What this course entails The course syllabus

3 Why take this course? COSC3461 is a prerequisite for: –COSC 4441 Human-Computer Interaction –COSC 4461 Hypermedia and Multimedia Technology It is interesting, fun, and useful

4 What this Course Entails… 1.Attendance of two 90-minute lectures per week. 2.Weekly readings. 3.Frequent monitoring of course website, preferably in the 12-hour period before lecture (for instructor announcements, discussion board) 4.Completion of course assignments and preparation for term tests and final exam. 5.Additional contact with instructor from: –Weekly office hours –Meeting by appointment (to be arranged in advance if unable to attend office hours)

5 Below are two screen shots from separate invocations of WinZip, a file compression utility. The arrangement of the buttons is inconsistent from one invocation to the next. In one or two paragraphs, describe what justifies the violation of this fundamental design principle. Sample Final Exam Questions…

6 (a)List three types of human processes that are used during human-computer interaction. (b)In one to three sentences, describe why it is important to understand the performance limitations with respect to the processes mentioned in part (a) above. (c)Identify and briefly describe (in one to three sentences) one research finding that concerns the human processes mentioned in part (a) above. Be sure to state the relevance of the finding to the use of computer interfaces. Sample Final Exam Questions…

7 Course Objectives Human-computer interaction vs. communication vs. information Computational media vs. other types of media How interactions are afforded Compare and contrast (aka “evaluate”) interactions Design, implement and evaluate basic graphical interfaces using Swing components –Swing components are part of the Java Foundation Classes (JFC).

8 Evaluation/Grades/Marks Course Evaluation –Two term tests (20%) –Three assignments (50%) –End of term test (30%) It’s a two-way street… –Instructor and Course are evaluated by students

9 Evaluation/Grades/Marks (II) The Course: –Relevance of texts and supplementary readings –Relevance of assignments –Relevance of tests and examinations –Relevance of course with respect to other COSC courses –Relevance of course in general –Organization of course –Appropriateness of pace with which material is covered –Appropriateness of complexity of the material –Rating of assignment and test grading –Overall rating of course

10 Evaluation/Grades/Marks (II) The Instructor: –Is well prepared and organized –Presents material clearly –Knows the subject –Shows interest in the subject –Is sensitive to student’s level of understanding –Provides opportunity for questions and discussions in class –Is helpful to students in course matters –Is reasonably accessible to students –Provides helpful comments and feedback on assignments –Compared with other university instructors, instructor is:

11 Comments on Marking Policy… [adapted from P. Roosen-Runge] The numerical score on an assignment, test or exam is never "out of" anything –it is the sum of scores assigned to questions, occasionally individually adjusted where appropriate. –You can't "lose marks" for anything — you didn't have them to begin with. Letter grades are assigned to numerical scores –The numerical score is not to be interpreted as or converted to a percentage. –The basis for the assignment reflects the meaning of each letter grade as determined by the York Senate and published in the York Undergraduate Programmes Calendar.

12 Comments on Marking Policy… Only the letter grades have meaning –the numerical scores are used only in order to compute the letter grade (e.g., in cases where there are many questions or problems in a single piece of work) Marks are never "belled" or "curved“ –or anything else in the sense of being adjusted to approximate a normal distribution. –Marks aren’t usually normally distributed anyway. The course mark is the weighted average of six letter grades –3 Assignments, 2 Term Tests, 1 Final Exam

13 About the Assignments… “If assignment has a [sic] detail outline of marking scheme, we will know how to do our assign. to match the scheme in order to score higher mark” Anonymous student evaluation, winter 2003  We don’t see this as a problem! Figuring out which features your interface should have is part of doing the assignment. The detailed marking scheme, if we revealed it in advance, would give away the solution.

14 What you need to do to succeed… Stamina is better than brilliant bursts - pace yourself Take good notes –What questions do you ask yourself when studying? Form study groups Don’t wait until the last minute Don’t misapply mindset from other COSC courses

15 On a lighter note… [The Economic Times, Oct 05, 2003] At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon". In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

16 1.For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day. 2.Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car. 3.Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on. 4.Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn, would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5.Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.

17 6.The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light. 7.New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt. 8.The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off. 9.Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grab hold of the radio antenna.

18 10.GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department. 11.Every time GM introduced a new model car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 12.You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.