Spring 99 - Computer Engineering 003

Personal Computer Concepts: Software and Hardware

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Lectures: Tu and Th, 10:00 to 11:45, Kresge 321.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Contacting Staff | Text | Supplies | Accounts | Sections | Grading | Assignments | Newsgroup

Course outline:

This course discusses fundamental concepts and terminology of hardware, software, and the Internet from an Engineering perspective. The focus is on IBM-compatible Personal Computers. Basic hands-on training is provided through lab assignments on: The course includes a survey of themes from the current computer uses and the future of the technology.
For the General Education Code of this class, refer to the Registrar's Course Catalog.

NOTES:

  1. You are not allowed to repeat this class for credit, or to take it if you have already taken CMPS 002.
  2. If you have more than little experience with computers, this basic literacy class is probably not right for you. Consult the CS and CE course offerings for a class that is appropriate for your level and interests.
  3. If you wish to train on Mac Instosh computers, CMPS 002 may be a better-suited literacy class you.

Textbook:

 The textbook is Computer Confluence, 3rd Edition, G. Beekman, Addison-Wesley 1999. Copies are sold new in a bundle that includes the following: Only the textbook itself is required. You may find the CD-ROM helpful to prepare for exams, and the guide handy as a reference for one of the hands-on projects. Nevertheless both the CD-ROM and the web design guide are optional. Used copies of the textbook are available at the BayTree bookstore without the accompanying web design guide and/or CD-ROM.

An evaluation copy of the 3-piece textbook kit is on hold at the Reserves Desk of the Science Library for your perusal. A number of reference books have also been placed on hold there to assist you with your projects.

Supplies:

Other required supplies for the course are Scantron forms No F-1712-ERI-L (pink) and number 2 pencils to be used for quizzes and the final exam. Students are responsible for bringing their own form and pencil to class on quiz and exam days. In addition, recommended supplies are a small number of 3.5" floppy disks to store your project files. These supplies are all available on campus from the Bay Tree Bookstore.

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Computer accounts:

 Students are required to obtain a computer account (or login) from UCSC's Communications & Technology Services, CATS. This organization manages campus-wide computer resources. All enrolled UCSC students are entitled to receive, at no additional charge, a CATS computer account, access to the CATS Instructional Computing resources, CATS-IC, and access to the CATS Information Resource Center, CATS-IRC. CATS also refers to computer accounts as athena account, unix accounts, email accounts, or network i.d..

If instructions on how to obtain a CATS account seem pretty complex, we will go over them in the first week of class. To sign up for an account, you will need to:

In answers to frequently-asked questions about how to request an account and use an account, CATS sometimes also refers to the student UCSC ID Card number as student id, or teleslug PIN.

Your CATS computer account comes with Internet access and personal web homepage hosting. In this course, we will get you started on building a web page.

* CATS suggestions on account names and passwords are the following:

"Choose your account name (i.e. email address) carefully as it will be with you for the rest of your time here at UCSC. Select a name you wouldn't mind giving publicly to a professor. The name can consist of lowercase letters and numerals, and must begin with a letter. It can be anywhere from 3 to 8 characters long.

Once you have chosen and entered a account name, you are asked to pick a password. We recommend that you do not use any English word or name, to make it harder for anyone to guess what it might be. Try combining two words together, with unusual capitalization. Your password can consist of any characters on the keyboard, including control characters, but be careful not to include any backspace, RETURN, or other special control characters. Any characters beyond the first eight are ignored. "

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Contacting staff:

 IMPORTANT: Please rely primarily on e-mail, as opposed to the phone, for remote communication with individual teaching staff. Consider this a required part of your training for this class: email communication is becoming the standard practice in computer-using institutions.

In addition to email, the staff will rely on two other forms of class-wide remote communications:

The newsgroup gives anyone in the class a means to broadcast announcements to all other class members, both students and staff. Use of the class web page and newsgroup are requirements of this class.

Instructions for using email, newsgroup and the class web page will be given in the second week of the course.

Staff:

To contact a staff member by email, click on their name below.

Instructor: Habib Krit
Email: habib@cats.ucsc.edu - Office Hours: Friday, 2:45-4:45, MingOng Lab
Address: Applied Sciences 153B - Phone: 831-459-3691

Teaching Assistants:

Naira Harutyunyan

 Office Hours: See schedule
Email: nairah@cats.ucsc.edu 		Yang Xue

 Office Hours: See schedule
Email: xue@cats.ucsc.edu

Tutors:

Kevin Yamami

Email: kyamami@hotmail.com
Kevin has short hair now! 		Mary Joy Bocaling

Email: joyster@cats.ucsc.edu
Parag Paranjpe

Email: zaius101@hotmail.com
 Will Dower

Email: mustapha@cats.ucsc.edu

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Sections:

Hands-on projects will be assigned during the course of the class to build and then check hands-on proficiency. For this purpose, IBM-PC computers and software are available to the students at the following locations:

The course has optional lab sections held in the labs above throughout the week, and during which the class staff can provide individual help with homework assignments and other class-material questions. If the need arises, discussion sections and section sign-ups will be set up. Section attendance is recommended once a week.

Sections begin on the second week of class, that is the week of April 5th. Currently, the schedule is the following:

Day Time Location Staff
Monday 11:00 - 1:00 Social Sciences 1 Mary Joy and Yang
Tuesday 12:30 - 2:30 Ming Ong Parag
Tuesday 5:00 - 7:00 Applied Sciences 213 Kevin and Naira
Wednesday 11:00 - 1:00 Social Sciences 1 Mary Joy and Yang
Thursday 12:30 - 2:30 Ming Ong Parag
Thursday 3:00 - 5:00 Ming Ong Will
Thursday 5:00 - 7:00 Ming Ong Kevin and Naira
Friday 2:45 - 4:45 Ming Ong Habib and Will

New locations are in red. More lab section hours may be added if need be to this schedule.

Outside of section times, students are welcome to use these labs as well as other CATS Instructional Computing Labs, although with no guaranteed priority access to a computer or guaranteed class staff presence. The CATS-ICL link above also provides maps, lab times and equipment.

Project descriptions and due dates will be posted on this site as the course progresses.

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Grading:

The exact details on how proficiency are subject to change. Changes will be announced in this class web page when they are finalized.

The current plan is to grade on the basis of the following required work:

Extra credit work can help you make up for failing quizzes or projects. Or it can simply improve your grade or evaluation if appropriate. If nothing else, it increases your skills.

Extra-credit is offered for doing a Power-Point assisted 5-minute presentation in class on one of the following:

A presentation is credit equivalent to one quiz. To schedule a presentation, contact instructor in class or by email.

Failing a Project, Quiz or Exam:

Unless you have made prior arrangements in person or by email with the instructor, a quiz or exam that is not taken is considered failed.
Mostly by consensus, the class decided on the following late homework policy:

  1. Each student is allowed to turn in one homework late during the quarter.
  2. Late homework is only accepted within 72 hours of the deadline.
  3. Late homework is subject to penalty: the grade is reduced by 10% for every 24h period that the homework is late. No extra-credit is granted on that assignment.
  4. Students that turn in all their homework on time during the quarter, get extra-credit.
Cheating on a project, quiz or exam is cause for failing all the students involved. In addition, an advisory letter is sent to your provost.

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Page authored and maintained by: habib@cse.ucsc.edu
Last Modified: April 3, 1999.