Computer Science I: Media Computation

I have added a link to Prof. Schafer's web page for the 061 labs. You may want to refer to them as you work on the course.

The notes for Session 4 are now available. Work through them, especially the code. Dr. Java can help you learn a lot, and the experience you gain will prepare you for writing your own code in the coming weeks.

With Labor Day weekend upon us, I will not assign an program for you to write just yet. Next session, I will assign Homework 1, which will be your first chance to "fly solo". Of course, you won't really be flying solo, as you'll have me, your classmates (via the mailing list), Prof. Schafer, and the lab assistants to help you. Be sure to use these resources as you need them!

For next time, read Chapter 4 in Guzdial & Ericson.

How many of you have computers at home? Most of you do. If you do, you should definitely install the software on the CD that came with your book. All of the programs and code that you will need this semester are on that CD. So are detailed instructions for installing and setting up everything. If you need any help or have suggestions for overcoming problems, send them to the class mailing list, 810-061-04-fall@uni.edu.

Today we began to learn a little Java, in terms of its primitive data, the ways that you can create compound expressions, and the ways that we can abstract detail away from data in terms of a variable. The big ideas we saw were names and trade-offs (among different representations).

Here are the slides I showed in class, and here is a script of some of the Dr. Java interactions we considered. The interactions with Picture require that you have this Picture class from Session 2.

As an interlude during the lecture, we re-considered the survey (PDF) you filled out last session. Here is a tabulation of your answers to the quantitative questions and to the qualitative questions. Some of my favorite answers were...

• What are your expectations for faculty at UNI -- how do you expect us to be similar to or different from your best (or worst) teachers in HS?

  "I expect UNI faculty to reduce my HS instructors to jabbering idiots."

• Name up to three famous Computer Scientists...

  Eugene Wallingford -- It's too early to suck up this hard.

• Write the year in which you think each of the following items first appeared.

  abacus: 1971
  four-function calculator: 1989
  telegraph network: 1994
  commercial radio: 1970
  commercial TV: 1979

  ... The world is a much older place than some of us realize!

• Name a favorite ... book.

  Cat's Cradle -- That's my favorite book, too!

• Name a favorite ... musician.

  Jimmy Buffett

• What question did I leave off this survey that you would most like to read answers to, from all the other CS I students?

  What would you do if you knew that you would not fail?
  If you could write a program for anything, what would you write?

  I would like to hear the answer to these questions, too. Another question I thought to ask: What is the first program that you wrote out of passion?

I even gave some of my answers. Other than what I have revealed here, you'll have to go from memory...

For the lab tomorrow, be sure that you have read through Section 3.4 in the textbook.

I like to post the notes I use in class for you to read and review. For some of my older courses, I have created quite complete and elaborate lecture notes. But this course is new, so my lecture notes will usually be less complete. Still, I will post what I have, including PDFs of slides, code, pictures, and any other notes I can write up for you.

I've just uploaded notes for Session 1 and Session 2. They are incomplete -- in particular, I don't yet have all of the steganographry talk ready to post -- but I hope they help you as you review the course.

Let me know if you find any typos or other errors. I'll fix them as we find them...

Welcome to your portal into the world of 810:061 Computer Science I. This web site for is for Section 4 of the course, which is subtitled "Media Computation". You'll soon know why...

These pages will complement what you find in class. You will want to check the site often -- even when I don't mention changes in class -- to see what is available.

If you use your web browser or a news reader to subscribe to newsfeeds, you can subscribe to this site's feed using RSS or Atom. Links to these newsfeeds will always be available from the home page.

Please send any questions or comments to me or to the course discussion list. We will use the mailing list often this semester, to share information, to ask and answer questions, and to discuss topics of mutual interest.

We should have a lot of fun this semester... Let's get to it!