1. Terms of Endearment FIT 100, Spring 2006
Fluency in Information Technology
20-Nov-18
le mot university of washington

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

3. 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 university of washington

4. 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 university of washington

5. 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 university of washington

6. 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 university of washington

7. 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 university of washington

8. 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 university of washington

9. 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:
Demonstrate Google & Wikipedia!
20-Nov-18
le mot university of washington

10. 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 university of washington

11. 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 university of washington

12. 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 university of washington

13. 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 university of washington

14. 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 university of washington

15. 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 university of washington

16. 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 university of washington

17. 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 university of washington

18. 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
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le mot university of washington

19. 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
A rate of mph
Compare that with Roger Bannister
In 1954 Bannister ran a mile in
A rate of mph
In 45 years the top runners got 7% faster
New rate - Old rate / Old rate = Percent improvement
/ = 0.07 = 7%
20-Nov-18
le mot university of washington

20. 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 (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
/ = 1.07 X Bannister
/ 8 = 2 X normal people
20-Nov-18
le mot university of washington

21. 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 university of washington

22. 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 university of washington