Fluency With Information Technology
CSE100/IMT100

Alan Borning & Mel Oyler, Instructors

Grace Whiteaker & Yana Kadiyska, Teaching Assistants

University of Washington, Autumn 2000

CSE 100 and IMT 100

This class is listed on the UW registration system as both CSE 100 and IMT 100 for the lecture and quiz sections.

There is just one class – it doesn’t matter which one you are registered for.

Class is currently full. We aren’t doing overloads, but there might be a few drops – if you are not registered and want to be, attend class this week and check again with STAR to see if there is space.

Fluency With Information Technology

Goal: Teach you everything you need to know to use information technology effectively throughout your life

… but information technology changes very rapidly, so the real goal is to make you a “life long learner” of IT

There are three kinds of knowledge we will teach

Skills, such as how to use email, WWW, word processing etc.

Concepts, such as how computers work, how networks work etc.

Capabilities, such as logical reasoning, managing complexity etc.

Projects are the key to this course -- mostly the class is doing stuff … make a web page, solve world hunger

Fluency

Fluency with information technology is a new

concept derived from a National Research

Council study on “What everyone should know

about information technology”

The committee abbreviated “fluency with information technology” by FIT, and being fluent as FITness

FITness replaces “computer literacy” with knowledge that has “staying power” for the rapid changes in information technology

This class is not what you need to know about IT … it’s what you need to know to learn what you need to know about IT

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

The rate-of-change in information technology is unprecedented

To give perspective, a college education has an “expected useful lifetime” of 55 years

Electronic computers are 53 years old

ARPANet came on-line 30 years ago

The term “PC,” as in personal computer, is less than 20 years old

WWW has been “visible” less than 5 years

How do you prepare? Learn the fundamentals!

Perspectives on Scale

On 7 July 1999 Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj ran a mile in 3 minutes 43.13 seconds, 1.26 seconds better than Noureddine Moreceli

El Guerrouj “smashed” “eclipsed” “shattered” record

Roger Bannister broke the “4 minute mile barrier” in 1954 with 3:59.4

As a rate this is an astonishing improvement in 45 years from 15.04 mph to 16.13 mph, or 7%

Normal People & The Mile Run

On average people in their early 20s can run a mile in about 7:30, or about twice the time it takes El Guerrouj

This factor-of-2 difference between average people and world record holders is typical for physical activities like running, jumping, swimming, etc.

No matter how hard we try, we can improve by at most a factor-of-2

Scale of Advancement ...

The Wright’s Flyer 1 flew so slowly that the brother who wasn’t piloting ran along side …

Suppose that implies a speed of 10 mph

NASA says the SR-71 Blackbird, a reconnaissance aircraft, flies at least 2200 mph

The Blackbird is faster than Flyer 1 by a

factor-of-220 times or so ...

Computer Speeds

The 1951 UNIVAC I performed 100,000 additions per second

IBM’s Think Pad laptop does 500 million adds per second, a factor-of-5000 over UNIVAC I

Intel’s custom ASCI Red computer built for Sandia National Labs holds the world record at 2.1 trillion (floating point) additions per second

ASCI Red is a factor-of-21,000,000

times faster than UNIVAC I

Scale of Advancement ...

We can comprehend ...

El Guerrouj’s factor-of-1.07 over Bannister

El Guerrouj’s factor-of-2 over average 20 year old

Possibly Blackbird’s factor-of-220 of Flyer 1

Can we comprehend a factor-of-21,000,000? Or even a factor-of-5000?

Keeping Up Through Fluency

Fluency is designed to teach you the fundamentals, mostly by hands-on practice

Skills -- Email with PINE, Web browsing with Netscape, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access and work with UW databases, Dr. Solomon virus protection ...

Concepts -- workings of computer, networks, encryption, digital encoding, programming and algorithmic thinking, effective searching ...

Capabilities -- logical reasoning, debugging, testing, thinking abstractly about technology, managing complexity …

This knowledge should be useful throughout college and throughout life

Is FIT 100 Right For Me?

Fluency acquisition takes a significant amount of time in the lab

Students in Spring 1999 thought …

FIT100 was very valuable

Expanded their thinking

Options …

To learn specific skills like making a Web page, see UWired

If you are a “techie” or have significant experience with computers, plan on taking CSE142

CSE100/IMT100 will next be offered in Spring 2001

Class Structure

Three lectures per week

Two lab sections per week

Few formal testing situations

4 short in-class quizzes

Short (< 1 hour) final

Projects and assignments are the basis for most grades … use of “ternary system” will be common

“0” -- nothing turned in, incomplete, unsatisfactory

“1” -- satisfactory completion

“2” -- truly extraordinary (rare)

Specifics ...

Text books

Lawrence Snyder, Fluency With Information Technology, Professional Copy ‘N’ Print, 4200 University Ave

Kerman & Brown, “Computer Programming Fundamentals with Applications in Visual Basic 6.0”, Addison-Wesley

Instructors:

Alan Borning   borning@cs.washington.edu

Mel Oyler   melo@u.washington.edu

Teaching Assistants by section

Mel Oyler AA   melo@u.washington.edu

Grace Whiteacker AB, AC, AD gbwhit23@u.washington.edu

Yana Kadiyska AG, AH yana@u.washington.edu

Vocabulary

What is “information technology”?

Information Technology (IT) is the totality of computers, networks and communication, software, information resources etc.

There will be a huge number of new terms used in this class. They will generally be defined when they are first used, but if not … ask! [Use your whistle!] The surest way to be successful in FIT100 is to understand the terminology

To Be Successful In FIT100 ...

Attend classes and labs religiously

Ask questions when you don’t understand something

Start assignments early … even if you do only a small amount

Ask questions when you don’t understand something

Look for resources from Web page

http://www.cs.washington.edu/100/

email archive, classmates and TAs

Ask questions when you don’t understand something

Spend some time each day in the lab

Ask questions when you don’t understand something

Assignment 0

Assignment 0 is to help you to familiarize yourself with the basics of email and the web at UW

For this assignment you can get help from a friend, a lab consultant or President McCormick

Steps 1-5 of Assignment 0 are due before your first lab meeting

Steps 6-9 of Assignment 0 is due before class on Wednesday

We ask you to get your UWNetID on your own and to learn to send email on your own because it’s really easy to do (follow the instructions on the sheet or ask a friend for help), and once you have done it you will be on your way towards using IT independently

Assignment 0 & Class Mailing List

One of the steps in this assignment asks you to subscribe to the class e-mail list

to subscribe: send mail to
cse100-request@cs.washington.edu. The body of your message should consist of the single word subscribe. This message goes to a computer program named majordomo, not a person. (Think of the analogy with telephoning a voicemail system instead of a person.)

To send a message to everyone in the class: send mail to cse100@cs.washington.edu. These messages are also archived on the class web pages.

Please don’t send subscription request messages to the whole class. But if someone messes up, don’t send a nasty reply to that person with a copy to everyone in the class!

Gilligan’s Island Rule

You may work with anyone provided you don’t take a written record away from the meeting … including notes, electronic notes, white/black board, etc.

Indulge in at least 1/2 hour of mindless activity before doing your task … Gilligan’s Island is a 60s TV show that set the standard for mindlessness

Note who you worked with on your assignment

Summary

Welcome to FIT100

It’s a fun class where you learn a lot of things that you can apply immediately, later in college and throughout life

Don’t forget --

Homework due for tomorrow’s lab


	Alan Borning & Mel Oyler, Instructors
	Grace Whiteaker & Yana Kadiyska, Teaching Assistants
	University of Washington, Autumn 2000


	This class is listed on the UW registration system as both CSE 100 and IMT 100 for the lecture and quiz sections.
	There is just one class – it doesn’t matter which one you are registered for.
	Class is currently full. We aren’t doing overloads, but there might be a few drops – if you are not registered and want to be, attend class this week and check again with STAR to see if there is space.


	Goal: Teach you everything you need to know to use information technology effectively throughout your life
	… but information technology changes very rapidly, so the real goal is to make you a “life long learner” of IT
	There are three kinds of knowledge we will teach
			Skills, such as how to use email, WWW, word processing etc.
			Concepts, such as how computers work, how networks work etc.
			Capabilities, such as logical reasoning, managing complexity etc.
	Projects are the key to this course -- mostly the class is doing stuff … make a web page, solve world hunger


	Fluency with information technology is a new
	concept derived from a National Research
	Council study on “What everyone should know
	about information technology”
		The committee abbreviated “fluency with information technology” by FIT, and being fluent as FITness
		FITness replaces “computer literacy” with knowledge that has “staying power” for the rapid changes in information technology
		This class is not what you need to know about IT … it’s what you need to know to learn what you need to know about IT


	The rate-of-change in information technology is unprecedented
	To give perspective, a college education has an “expected useful lifetime” of 55 years
		Electronic computers are 53 years old
		ARPANet came on-line 30 years ago
		The term “PC,” as in personal computer, is less than 20 years old
		WWW has been “visible” less than 5 years
	How do you prepare? Learn the fundamentals!


	On 7 July 1999 Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj ran a mile in 3 minutes 43.13 seconds, 1.26 seconds better than Noureddine Moreceli
		El Guerrouj “smashed” “eclipsed” “shattered” record

	Roger Bannister broke the “4 minute mile barrier” in 1954 with 3:59.4

	As a rate this is an astonishing improvement in 45 years from 15.04 mph to 16.13 mph, or 7%


	On average people in their early 20s can run a mile in about 7:30, or about twice the time it takes El Guerrouj

	This factor-of-2 difference between average people and world record holders is typical for physical activities like running, jumping, swimming, etc.
		No matter how hard we try, we can improve by at most a factor-of-2


	The Wright’s Flyer 1 flew so slowly that the brother who wasn’t piloting ran along side …
		Suppose that implies a speed of 10 mph

	NASA says the SR-71 Blackbird, a reconnaissance aircraft, flies at least 2200 mph

	The Blackbird is faster than Flyer 1 by a
	factor-of-220 times or so ...


	The 1951 UNIVAC I performed 100,000 additions per second
	IBM’s Think Pad laptop does 500 million adds per second, a factor-of-5000 over UNIVAC I

	Intel’s custom ASCI Red computer built for Sandia National Labs holds the world record at 2.1 trillion (floating point) additions per second
		ASCI Red is a factor-of-21,000,000
		times faster than UNIVAC I


	We can comprehend ...
		El Guerrouj’s factor-of-1.07 over Bannister
		El Guerrouj’s factor-of-2 over average 20 year old
		Possibly Blackbird’s factor-of-220 of Flyer 1
	Can we comprehend a factor-of-21,000,000? Or even a factor-of-5000?


	Fluency is designed to teach you the fundamentals, mostly by hands-on practice
		Skills -- Email with PINE, Web browsing with Netscape, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access and work with UW databases, Dr. Solomon virus protection ...
		Concepts -- workings of computer, networks, encryption, digital encoding, programming and algorithmic thinking, effective searching ...
		Capabilities -- logical reasoning, debugging, testing, thinking abstractly about technology, managing complexity …
	This knowledge should be useful throughout college and throughout life


	Fluency acquisition takes a significant amount of time in the lab
	Students in Spring 1999 thought …
		FIT100 was very valuable
		Expanded their thinking
	Options …
		To learn specific skills like making a Web page, see UWired
		If you are a “techie” or have significant experience with computers, plan on taking CSE142
		CSE100/IMT100 will next be offered in Spring 2001


	Three lectures per week
	Two lab sections per week
	Few formal testing situations
		4 short in-class quizzes
		Short (< 1 hour) final
	Projects and assignments are the basis for most grades … use of “ternary system” will be common
		“0” -- nothing turned in, incomplete, unsatisfactory
		“1” -- satisfactory completion
		“2” -- truly extraordinary (rare)


	Text books
		Lawrence Snyder, Fluency With Information Technology, Professional Copy ‘N’ Print, 4200 University Ave
		Kerman & Brown, “Computer Programming Fundamentals with Applications in Visual Basic 6.0”, Addison-Wesley
	Instructors:
		Alan Borning borning@cs.washington.edu
		Mel Oyler melo@u.washington.edu
	Teaching Assistants by section
		Mel Oyler AA melo@u.washington.edu
		Grace Whiteacker AB, AC, AD gbwhit23@u.washington.edu
		Yana Kadiyska AG, AH yana@u.washington.edu


	What is “information technology”?
	Information Technology (IT) is the totality of computers, networks and communication, software, information resources etc.

	There will be a huge number of new terms used in this class. They will generally be defined when they are first used, but if not … ask! [Use your whistle!] The surest way to be successful in FIT100 is to understand the terminology


	Attend classes and labs religiously
	Ask questions when you don’t understand something
	Start assignments early … even if you do only a small amount
	Ask questions when you don’t understand something
	Look for resources from Web page
		http://www.cs.washington.edu/100/
	email archive, classmates and TAs
	Ask questions when you don’t understand something
	Spend some time each day in the lab
	Ask questions when you don’t understand something


	Assignment 0 is to help you to familiarize yourself with the basics of email and the web at UW
		For this assignment you can get help from a friend, a lab consultant or President McCormick
		Steps 1-5 of Assignment 0 are due before your first lab meeting
		Steps 6-9 of Assignment 0 is due before class on Wednesday
	We ask you to get your UWNetID on your own and to learn to send email on your own because it’s really easy to do (follow the instructions on the sheet or ask a friend for help), and once you have done it you will be on your way towards using IT independently


	One of the steps in this assignment asks you to subscribe to the class e-mail list
		to subscribe: send mail to cse100-request@cs.washington.edu. The body of your message should consist of the single word subscribe. This message goes to a computer program named majordomo, not a person. (Think of the analogy with telephoning a voicemail system instead of a person.)
		To send a message to everyone in the class: send mail to cse100@cs.washington.edu. These messages are also archived on the class web pages.
		Please don’t send subscription request messages to the whole class. But if someone messes up, don’t send a nasty reply to that person with a copy to everyone in the class!


	You may work with anyone provided you don’t take a written record away from the meeting … including notes, electronic notes, white/black board, etc.
	Indulge in at least 1/2 hour of mindless activity before doing your task … Gilligan’s Island is a 60s TV show that set the standard for mindlessness



	Note who you worked with on your assignment


	Welcome to FIT100
	It’s a fun class where you learn a lot of things that you can apply immediately, later in college and throughout life
	Don’t forget --
		Homework due for tomorrow’s lab