On this page I hope to summarize the "one most interesting thing" comments that
you, my students, provide me in your written journals at the end of each class.
Posting them allows you to see what your classmates are thinking. I also use
this as a source of exam questions!
Similar responses are grouped, and they are listed based on group size.
| Count | Comment |
| 12 | Video about the Sixth Sense project at MIT |
| 8 | Computers could be smarter than humans someday (Kurzweil and singularity) |
| 2 | Two major approaches to AI: model the brain, and imitate outward behaviors |
| 2 | Even though AI is so advanced, common sense is not easily replicated. CYC is an attempt |
| 2 | Difference between the brain and the mind |
| 1 | machines could someday achieve consciousness |
| 1 | computers are 1000 times "smaller" than 20 years ago (Moore's law 10 times over) |
My Comments:
Sorry I had a hard time articulating my thoughts about what may happen in the future when computers become smarter than humans
and perhaps achieve consciousness!
|
| Count | Comment |
| 9 | Don't connect to a computer-to-computer wireless network, others can see what you're doing |
| 4 | Viruses, worms and Trojan horses are all kinds of malware |
| 2 | Spyware can be good at times, depends on its purpose |
| 1 | There are several types of WiFi connections |
| 1 | You can safely use HTTPS websites even on an unsecured network |
| 1 | You can use the Internet through someone else's wireless network |
| 1 | Malware stands for "malicious software" |
| 1 | Trojan horse is trusted software with malware hidden |
| 1 | Worms require no action to activate and can bring down the Internet in 15 minutes |
| 1 | Viruses cannot act entirely on their own; they must be activated |
| 1 | How spyware, anti-virus and other programs work |
| 1 | The zombie army; your computer could be helping hackers and you wouldn't even know it |
My Comments:
Your comments show me that you are interested in and knowledgeable about network security. It can get pretty tricky but a
little knowledge goes a long way. Anti-virus software automatically updated will protect you from the vast majority of
malware attacks.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 15 | Learning about the Scratch programming language from MIT, which looks easy to use |
| 3 | George Polya lists four basic steps of problem solving that can be used for anything |
| 2 | Programming languages are capable of sequence, selection and iteration |
| 1 | How much control a user has with the language capabilities when programming |
| 1 | Learning how animation works |
| 1 | Controlling the layers in Scratch |
My Comments:
I hope you enjoy using the Scratch language for your projects. At the end of spring quarter, another computer science professor
and I are offering a 5-day summer "programming camp" for middle-school students in which they will develop computer games using Scratch!
|
| Count | Comment |
| 6 | How last names are determined in Iceland |
| 5 | Icelandic phonebook ordered by first name |
| 5 | Can search for data either sequentially using binary search. Binary search is much faster but data must be ordered |
| 4 | A relational database has similarities to an Excel workbook. Databases have more intricate ways of organizing and finding information. |
| 4 | A database search is called a Query. The language for forming queries is SQL, Structured Query Language. |
| 1 | All the different parts of a database that must work together |
| 1 | Every time I send a text messsage I'm accessing a database |
| 1 | Data mining is used to discover patterns within databases |
| 1 | Iceland has volcanoes covered by glaciers |
My Comments:
Please be clear that although there are similarities between spreadsheets and relational databases, there are also many differences!
Each can do lots of things that the other cannot. That's why we need both.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 9 | RAM is one million times faster than Hard Drive |
| 6 | Video cards have their own RAM and processor (GPU) that carries out complex graphics instructions |
| 3 | Learning how CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray work, and how "pits" can be melted and unmelted to re-write |
| 2 | All the components of a computer: RAM, hard drive, Optical Drive, video card |
| 1 | The Dell configuration sheet shows going from 3GB RAM to 12GB costs $350 more and to 24GB costs $3000 more! |
| 1 | RAM is volatile and better than hard drive memory |
| 1 | Cache is RAM built into the CPU chip, is very fast and used for frequently used data |
| 1 | Hz is cycles per second and data travel to/from memory very quickly |
| 1 | Floppy disks were once as large as 8" |
My Comments:
It seems funny, but in most cases the most effective way to speed up your computer is not to buy a new and faster CPU, but to buy
more RAM memory! If you try to run a program that is not already in RAM, it has to first be read into RAM from the hard drive.
This takes a long time, since hard drives are one million times slower than RAM. If you have more RAM capacity, then more programs
can be all be stored there at the same time. Then when the program needs to run
it is already in RAM so it will start up immediately. I recommend you have at least 2GB of RAM, but 4GB is much better.
You don't need more than 4GB unless you are using lots of high performance software.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 7 | Seeing an original Macintosh computer work: it cost $2500 (in 1985) and only had a black and white monitor, and no hard drive |
| 4 | The system booting process, which relies on non-volatile BIOS memory for initial instructions |
| 3 | The way the operating system supports multiple users and tasks by slicing up CPU time, RAM space and disk storage. |
| 3 | The Macintosh commercial shown once during the 1984 Super Bowl is consider the best commercial ever. |
| 1 | Multicore means there is more than one processor on a chip |
| 1 | Blackberrys, Palms and other mobile devices all have Operating Systems |
| 1 | Operating system coordinates operations of the different computer components |
| 1 | One worksheet in a spreadsheet can reference cells in a different worksheet |
My Comments:
Sorry about the overheated classroom!
|
| Count | Comment |
| 5 | Spreadsheets led to the acceptance of PCs in the workplace |
| 5 | All the different available functions and the use of formulas to calculate things |
| 2 | Microsoft Excel was not the first spreadsheet software but it is the most well-known |
| 2 | Spreadsheets are very useful and can do so many different things |
| 2 | If you use text in a formula, it must be enclosed in quotes (") |
| 1 | When typing a formula into a cell, the first character must be an equal sign (=) |
| 1 | When typing a formula use the asterisk (*) for multiplication |
| 1 | Absoluate cell references use dollar signs ($), and they are preserved when copying/pasting formulas |
| 1 | When comparing two text items, the comparision is based on the internal binary representation of the characters |
| 1 | Spreadsheet was the first "killer app" for the PC |
| 1 | Spreadsheet terminology: worksheet, workbook, row, column, cell |
My Comments:
Please take advantage of all the materials available to you for learning how to develop Excel spreadsheets, especially the three textbook chapters and their corresponding
exercises and myItLab tutorials. Take charge of your own learning. These are incredibly useful skills to have.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 7 | All the different types of software: Different kinds of application software, the
distinction between media and entertainment, distinctions among application, system, and translation software. |
| 5 | Software compatibility is a serious issue. Compatibility problems with PC and Mac originated from PC using Intel processor while Mac used Motorola.
Compatibility issues can arise when a software company is bought by another company |
| 4 | When you buy software you don't own it, you are only buying a license to use it |
| 3 | Software programmers need all sorts of translation software to program |
| 2 | How cloud computing like Google Docs stores documents off-site and could be used for group projects |
| 1 | It used to be when you bought a phone you only owned the shell and the phone company owned its working parts. |
My Comments:
(1) Compatibility between PCs and Macs has improved greatly. Remember diskettes? Used to be that Macs and PCs could not
read each other's diskettes. Microsoft normally releases a PC version of Office then releases the corresponding Mac version a
year or two later. A seesaw effect results, leading to release-oriented compatibility problems. I just investigated this
issue and discovered that Microsoft offers free downloadable compatibility packs to address these problems.
(2) I used the term "commercial software" to refer to software you buy off-the-shelf or at download time. Probably should have
called it "retail software", to distinguish it from large and complex software systems that businesses, governments and schools use to
support their operations.
(3) Until the Justice department broke up the Bell telephone monopoly in the early 1980's, they owned the
telephones. When you moved into an apartment or house the telephone was there and when you moved out it stayed, like an electrical meter.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 9 | Web pages are written in HTML, the HyperText Markup Language, using lots of tags |
| 5 | All places on the Internet have a numeric IP address |
| 5 | WiFi is wireless but does not give you Internet access directly; it needs a modem to work |
| 4 | How the Internet works like a highway system |
| 3 | Communication satellites orbit 22,000+ miles above the equator |
| 1 | How many different ways you can access the Internet |
My Comment:
I hope these two classes have demystified the Internet a bit for you. The details are complicated but the principles are
pretty straightforward. The weakest aspect of the Internet is it was not designed with security in mind!
Ironic, considering it arose from the Dept of Defense. Until the Web came along, the Internet was used mainly by researchers,
computer scientists and computer hobbyists. It was a small close-knit and mostly trusting and trustworthy community.
We will spend more time on networks toward the end of the quarter.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 11 | The Internet has its origins as the ARPANET in 1969, a full 20 years before the Web was invented |
| 4 | If a Web address starts with "https" it is secure and if it starts with "http" it is not secure |
| 3 | The Internet and the Web are not the same. You can use the Internet without a Web browser. |
| 3 | Blackle is a seach engine that saves energy because white pixels use more energy than black pixels (see www.blackle.com) |
| 2 | How many search engines there are and how search engines work |
| 2 | What a cookie is, and that it is not necessarily bad |
| 1 | What phishing is |
| 1 | Google Docs is very interesting (see docs.google.com) |
| 1 | How many different applications the Internet can be used for |
My Comment:
Probably the greatest power of the Internet is that its communication standards (protocols) are publicly available to everyone at no cost.
This allows anyone with a dream, imagination and a little technology knowledge to start their own Internet business.
You will learn a little more about how the Internet works next time. Also, we will return to the topic of networks late in
the quarter and study the "annoyances" in greater detail.
|
| Count | Comment |
| 7 | JPEG and MP3 can compress to one-tenth the size (and still remain functional) |
| 5 | JPEG and MP3 lose information during compression so are not as good as the original |
| 5 | The QWERTY keyboard was developed in the 1870s and is not the most efficient layout. Alternatives such as Dvorak exist and seem better. |
| 3 | So many color combinations can be produced using just 3 primary colors: red, green, blue |
| 2 | Knowing how to estimate the size of pictures in my digital camera |
| 2 | Files and everything else in the computer are stored in binary |
| 1 | A byte is a series of 8 binary numbers (bits) |
| 1 | Babbage was a genius and way ahead of his time (like 100 years!) |
My Comment:
Last fall I did some quick calculations relating Scrabble® letter values to keyboard positions. The more frequently a letter is used, the lower its
Scrabble value. So the average Scrabble value of letters in a keyboard's home (middle) row should be very low. The top row should be next highest. The bottom
row should be the highest. Finger movement to the bottom row takes the longest so the letters there should be the least frequently used. Here's what I found:
| Average Scrabble Value by Keyboard Row |
| | top | middle | bottom |
|---|
| QWERTY | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.7 |
| Dvorak | 2.6 | 1.4 | 6.1 |
|
| Count | Comment |
| 7 | computers were built in some form over 150 years ago by Charles Babbage |
| 4 | early computers were so big and were used only to do arithmetic. |
| 4 | first computers like ENIAC in the 1940s took up a whole room and had thousands of vacuum tubes but less computing power than a hand held calculator |
| 3 | the speed of the growth of computer efficiency as its cost dropped |
| 2 | before World War II, 'computer' referred to a person not a machine |
| 2 | electronic computers were not developed until 100 years after Babbage's computer |
| 1 | computers use a language based on the binary number system of 1's and 0's |
| 1 | people once thought that the world would only ever need 6 computers |
| 1 | Turing could see all the possibilities a computer had years before it actually happened |
| 1 | Turing built a computer to break the German codes during World War II |
| 1 | the debate over whether computers can have intelligence like a human's thinking process |
| 1 | first computer programmer was a woman (Ada Augusta Byron, Countess of Lovelace) |
| 1 | the women who manually programmed the ENIAC had to learn the electronic blueprints |
| 1 | so many different people produced early electronic computers at about the same time |
| My Comment: I cannot comprehend how quickly computers have
evolved in terms of speed and size. Under "Moore's Law"
computers have roughly and halved in size and doubled in speed every 2 years. That means today's computers
are about 500,000 times faster and smaller than the one I used in college! They've gotten at least 500 times faster
since the video you watched was produced. So if you thought 7 seconds was fast to calculate 700 digits of PI, today it
would take only 0.014 seconds! That's about how long it takes a car traveling at 60 MPH to move 14 inches!
|
