The operating system wars are far from over, and there is still much
room for improvement in usability, security, and "stability" (meaning,
how often the system "crashes" or makes errors). It's often
helpful to realize, when you're frustrated with something that doesn't
make sense, that it's not necessarily "your fault" -- rather, the
operating system's "user interface" may not be designed so that the correct way to do something is also
the obvious choice -- the
first thing you'd guess to try. (If you'd like to read more about
this design principle, see The Design of Everyday Things
by Donald Norman.)
Rather than get annoyed (which can prevent you from being able to think clearly), treat it as a puzzle to be solved. Don't immediately turn to another human for help -- instead, look carefully at the options that the software provides, read its help information, remember what's worked in the past in similar situations. Think "out of the box": Is there another (more general) way to describe what you need to do? What assumptions are you making about how the system works? Think about the end result you want, and look for information about that. Then give yourself a pat on the back when you figure it out.
You might want to review the material of Lab 0 and
Lab 1
before doing this assignment. There may be some parts of this
homework you cannot finish until you have done Lab 1. If you
encounter that, do as much as you can of this homework (skip around
parts if necessary), and leave time to complete it before the due time.
Visit one of the general-access computing labs in:
or do this work somewhere else where you have access to both a Mac
with OS X and a Windows computer with
Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
If you work in the UW labs, you can't "break" anything -- when you
log off, any changes you may have made on the computer are wiped
out. So if you're worried that "experimenting" might mess up your
own computer, work in the labs. (A caution: Because all
local changes are removed when you log out, any files you create on the local computer
will be deleted. Always save your work before you log
out! Copy it to dante or to your own storage device.)
You will be using both types of computer to do this assignment. We
suggest that you start with the computer that you are more familiar
with, then switch to the other computer and complete the comparisons.
(If you have access to a Linux or Unix computer, you might want to include it in your comparisons, but this isn't required. Note that there are many user interfaces available for Linux and Unix -- how "user-friendly" it is (or isn't) will depend strongly on which user interface you try.)
| Start with a computer running the operating system that is most familiar to you. | |
| 1. |
Start up a text editor or word
processing program (e.g. the
one you used in Lab 1, or any other you prefer). You'll use this
to write your answers to the questions in this assignment. Be
sure to "save" your file often. Make sure you know what directory
or folder your file is in, so you can copy it to dante later. Put your name, student ID number, and section at the top of the answer file. When you answer each question, put the number of the question before your answer. For question 1: What operating system did you start with? What text editor did you choose for writing your answers? |
| 2. |
Find the online help information
for the system. Is there something specifically for people who
are new to using computers? How about for people who haven't used
that operating system? How is the help information organized? Do you need to know what you're looking for in order to find it, or are there tutorials or "task-directed" information (i.e. something that lists tasks you might want to do, and takes you to an explanation of how to do them)? Open a window that lets you examine files and directories. Is it clear how to change the name of a file without looking at any help information? Now see if you can find the help information that describes how to change the name of a file (try this whether or not you figured out how to change a file name). For question 2: Briefly comment on the quality of the help information, e.g. what did you like or not like about it? When you were finding out how to rename a file, did you need the help info, or did you figure it out from trying out things in the file window (or did you already know how to do it)? About how long did it take to find the appropriate help info? |
| 3. | Start a web browser (e.g., Mozilla,
Safari, Internet Explorer).
Look at all the menus and options and controls that the browser
provides (not links on any web page it's displaying -- look at what's
on the browser's "frame" or "border"). Look for the browser's
"help" information. In the displayed web page, try clicking or
holding down each mouse button -- try this where there isn't a link,
and try it on a link. See if you can you find a tool that will let you create a web page. Some browsers provide one, but if the browser you're using doesn't seem to, then try a word processing program -- see if it will let you save a file as a web page. (If you can't find a tool for making a web page after about 5 minutes of hunting, then ask a TA, a fellow student, or one of the help desk people in the labs.) Once you've found something that lets you create and edit a web page, make a simple page. Put at least your name and section on it. Then add whatever you want -- write a poem, comment on current news, change the background color, maybe figure out how to add an image or a link to another web page. No need to get fancy -- just experiment. (If you do want to include an image, it is simplest to save a copy of the image file in the same directory as the web page itself, then add that copy to the web page. Be careful to choose an image that is freely available for use, or is an image you made yourself, to avoid copyright issues. You can use the wave image from the course web page if you want to be safe. To do this, you'll need to figure out how to save an image that's displayed on a web page...) Just as with the file you're writing with your answers, save your web page frequently. For question 3: Briefly describe what you had to go through to find a way to make a web page. What program did you end up using? Print out the page you made -- you'll turn it in with your answers. |
| 4. | Start one of the secure file transfer programs (e.g., SFTP
or Fugu)
and connect to your account on dante. Using the file transfer program,
choose a place to store your work for this assignment (e.g. make a
folder for it, or navigate to an existing folder -- review Lab 1 for
how to do this). "Save" your answers and web page so you have all your changes written to the files. Then copy both of them to dante. (Your answers won't be complete, but now you have a copy that's not on your local computer. Especially if you're working on a UW lab computer, you may want to copy your answer file to dante occasionally so you don't lose much work if something Goes Wrong.) If you included an image in your web page, copy that to dante, too. For your answer file, estimate how many "characters" (letters, spaces, punctuation...) are in the text you've entered so far. Count each new line as one character, also. Use the Properties command (SFTP) or the Get Info command (Fugu) to view information about the answer file and web page file you just copied to dante. How many bytes does each file contain? For question 4: Report the sizes of the two files, and your estimate of how many characters your answer text contains. How much bigger or smaller (e.g. what percentage) is the number of bytes in the answer file than the number of letters in the text it contains? |
| Save your
answer file and exit from the editor. Copy the answer file to
dante (and any other files you changed
since the last time you saved them). You're going to continue
working on your answers on the other type of computer. Now
log out from this computer, and log in to
a computer of the other type. |
|
| 5. |
Start a secure file transfer
program connect to your account on dante. Locate your answer file
and copy it to the computer you're using. Find a text editor or
word processor and open your answer file. You may find that the
same editor program as you were using before is available on this
computer. Or you might try out a different editor. For question 5: Which editor did you pick this time? |
| 6. | Try out the help system just as you did in step 2. For question 6: Answer the same questions as for 2. Then: Which help system did you prefer? Why (briefly)? |
| 7. | Try out the browser, and find a way to make a web page, as in
step 3. You may find that the same tool for making a web page is
available on this system as well. If so, see if you can find a
different one. For instance, if you used a word processing
program in step 3, this time check through the browsers that are
available for one that provides a web page editing tool. For question 7: Which of the two tools did you prefer? Why (briefly)? Can you tell if either of them were provided by the company that produced the operating system (i.e. did you use a Microsoft product on Windows, or an Apple product on the Mac)? Or did one (or both) come from some other source (e.g. was it from a company other than Microsoft or Apple, or was it an "open source" project, or did you use a Microsoft tool on the Mac)? |
| 8. | Repeat step 4. For question 8: Answer the same questions as for 4. (You might also think about why we're asking about the number of characters versus the number of bytes. No need to include this in your answer -- it's just to think about. If the file contains lots more bytes than characters, what else could be in the file? How big is a byte? What range of numbers can a byte represent? How many characters are there? What if you include characters needed for other languages, or math symbols, or different fonts? Is it possible we might need more than one byte to represent all of them? You might look at these tables of "Unicode" characters for a hint.) |
| Save your answer file and print a copy of it. Exit from the editor, and copy your answer file to dante once more. Log out from this computer. | |
Collect all of the following pages and staple them together.
You
can't be sure there will be a stapler in the lecture hall, so staple
before you come to class! Bring
the package to
class on Friday, April 7, and turn it in at the beginning of
class. Keep in mind what the syllabus says about missed
homework.
(Be sure your name and section are on anything you turn in, whether or
not that is mentioned specifically.)