FALL 2002 (Dec 9)
  (under construction)

                                                 I don't have to out run the bear...

 

Watch this spot for announcements: TIP: I was searching www.google.com using the search words "computer" and "dictionary" and got many hits. I did a quick check of some of them and found http://www.webopedia.com/ and http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html particularly useful. They will be useful in your studies. Please let me know immediately if any of the due dates conflict with religious or cultural holidays. Aug 29: Added Ch 2 assignments. Sept 2: Updated project list Sept 3: Chapter 2 ppt slides modified Sept 7: Chapter 3 ppt slides modified & Ch 3 assignment added.  NOTE: Thursday (Sept 12) will be a lab day. I will available in my office to discuss your term projects.  Sept 9: updated projects. Sept 12 & 13: updated projects. Sept 18: Revised Chapter 4 ppt slides and assignments posted. Sept 24: Revised Chapter 5 ppt slides and assignments posted. Sept 25: Added some midterm exam tips and comments. Sept 26: Presentation and team evaluation forms are posted. Student solutions to problems 3.1 and 3.2. Oct 1: Projects updated. Oct 2: Projects updated. Oct 6: Since students frequently ask--both versions of the mid-term has 6 questions. Each one of my questions is probably the equivalent to 2 or 3 of the author's end-of-chapter questions in terms of scope and length. There are no questions specifically from Chapter 1. Good luck. Oct 8: Revised Chapter 6 ppt slides and assignments posted. Oct 15: Revised Chapter 7 ppt slides and assignments posted. Oct 16: Started assigning presentation time slots based on e-mail requests. Oct 17: See http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html for more info on RAID. Oct 22: Updated presentation schedule. Oct 22: ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PROJECTS. Oct 23: Updated presentation schedule. Oct 28: Revised Chapter 8 ppt slides and assignments posted.               PRESENTATION SCHEDULE FINALIZED.               Any team (in each class) want to volunteer to take the lead on presenting problem 8-1? WARNING: It is getting late for class participation--which is 10% of your final grade!! Oct 30: Now, the revised Chapter 8 ppt slides posted. Nov 1: NOTE: Thursday (Nov 7) will be a lab day. I will available in my office to discuss your term projects.  Nov 8: See requirements regarding PowerPoint presentations. Based on my analysis of in-class volunteering to answer end-of-chapter questions, it looks like the magic number for class participation is 5. So, if you want to calculate your participation grade multiply the number of times you volunteered by 20. The maximum is 100. NOV 21: I NEED ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR REPORT, SLIDES, AND QUESTIONS FOR SEVERAL OF THE PROJECTS. See table. Nov 22: More links added--and some corrections made--to student project table--SOME STILL MISSING. Nov 25: The IN-CLASS review for the final exam will be Tuesday, Dec 3. I will be available in my office during my regular office and class hours on Thursday, Dec 5 to help students on an individual basis. Nov 26: Final exam seating charts for 3:30 Class has been linked. Make sure your name is listed! [7pm class to be added soon] Nov 27 & 29: More links added--and some corrections made--to student project table--SOME STILL MISSING. Dec 1: NOTE: for the final exam you will be responsible for the textbook chapters since the midterm AND all the papers from your particular section. Dec 3: Teams should be ready to answer questions from their fellow students about their papers in class today. Teams that submit electronic (e.g., email) answers to their questions by Thursday will receive additional class participation credit. If you already provided answers, there is no need to resubmit your answers. 3:30Class Questions  7:00Class Questions Dec 4 & 5: Answers have been updated, but not officially blessed by me yet. Dec 7: I have reviewed and added some comments to the posted questions and answers. In addition, I reserve the right to add the “why” to any question—as in: Why is A better then B? Secondly, I reserve the right to ask for definitions of terms that appear in the questions and answers. In other words, it is important that you actually understand the questions and the answers. A frequent question for any exam is how many question will appear on the exam. As I said in class, there will be one question from each term paper and one or two questions from each of the three chapters. Dec 8: Here is how the final exam is shaping up: 2 questions from Chapter 6, 1 question each from Chapters 7 and 8, and 1 question from each set of term paper questions. The chapter questions are inspired by the end-of-chapter questions (not problems), which means some of the questions are identical to end-of-chapter questions and other questions expand on (e.g., "briefly discuss" instead of "list") end-of-chapter questions. NOTE: since some of the term project questions included a definition question (e.g. What is the definition of VPN?), and since I reserve the right to ask definition questions in addition to other suggested questions, some of my questions may be the equivalent of 2 of the suggested questions--the definition of a term or concept + some other aspect of that term or concept. Dec 8v2: On closer look at the questions and answers a couple of things came to my attention. For the 3:30 class, 802.11 had 6 questions. Eliminate #4 (about speed). For 7pm class, Chipset had 6 questions. Eliminate #6 (about memory management). Also for 7pm class, Question #4 is missing. The answer is there, but not the actual question. I have added it and reposted the 7pm questions/answers. Dec 9: 7pm Seating Assignment added.

Required:

• W. Stallings, Computer Organization & Architecture, 6th ed., Prentice Hall, 2003.

• Check-out the author's Web site: http://WilliamStallings.com/COA6e.html

Course Objective:

The objective of this course is to provide a grounding in basic computer technology by discussing the information technology (IT) that is used in business, specifically the characteristics of hardware architecture, operating systems concepts, and their interactions.

Week	Topics*	Readings	Assignments
1 [8/29]	Introduction Number Systems	Ch 1 App B
2 [9/2]	Computer Evolution	Ch 2	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-6, Prob. 2
3 [9/9]	Computer Functions	Ch 3	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-6,  Problems 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 9/12 = Lab day
4 [9/16]	Cache Memory	Ch 4	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-9
5 [9/23]	Internal Memory	Ch 5	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-7, 9-11, Problems 1 and 2.
6 [9/30]	External Memory (Review for mid-term )	Ch 6	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-15
7 [10/7]	Input/Outputs		MID-TERM EXAM (10/8)
8 [10/14]	Input/Outputs (cont) (Review mid-term)	Ch 7	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-7, Problems 1 & 2
9 [10/21]	Operating System	Ch 7
10 [10/28]	Operating Systems	Ch 8	End of chapter Terms & Questions 1-10, Take a shot at Problems 1
11 [11/4]	Additional topics	Notes & References
12 [11/11]	LAB DAYS		Finalize presentations
13 [11/18]	Presentations
14 [11/25]	Presentations		Thanksgiving [11/28]
15 [12/2]	Presentations

The final course grade will be based on the following weights:
 

	Class Participation	10%
	Term Project	25%
	Mid-Term Exam	30%
	Final Exam	35%
	Total	100%

The final course letter grade is assigned competitively (on a curve). + and - grading will be used.
 

YOU MUST TAKE YOUR EXAMS WITH THE SECTION YOU ARE REGISTERED IN. The exams are closed book. The final exam will be comprehensive. The exams include short answer and essay-type questions. Bring LARGE (81/2 x 11) bluebooks to the exams. No make-up mid-term exams will be given. If the mid-term is missed for an acceptable reason, then the weight for the mid-term will be added to the final exam weight. Failure to notify me with documented support for missing the mid-term will result in a zero on the mid-term.

Test tips and comments: Focus on the end-of-chapter terms and the assigned questions and problems. In class we have answered the assigned questions and problems. Although we have not specifically discussed the end-of-chapter terms in class, don't discount those terms. Successful IS professionals must walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk, so those terms will be an important part of the exams. All the terms are defined in the applicable chapters.

Regarding the answers to the questions, problems and terms, you cannot send me an email (or phone, etc.) asking what is the answer to a question or definition of a term. You have to send (give) me your answer or definition and then ask me if it is correct or complete.

Term Project

For the term project your team will summarize computer technology not covered in class. Your project will include an in-class presentation and a summary document that you turn in. 

The summary documents will be posted to the IS 311 Web site and will be considered the common body of knowledge for the final exam.

Here are the basic parameters (more details later):

(1) Team size must be 4 or 5 students--5 is preferred because of class size! NO WHINING ABOUT TEAMMATES. 

(2) You can select essentially any IT technology not covered in the textbook. The textbook author lists the following possibilities (but there are many more possibilities):

      ·  web PC, web TV

·  Image Retrieval Systems

·  SPEC benchmark

·  cache coherence protocols

·  network media technologies

·  RAM bus

·  flat panel displays

·  active matrix LCD displays

·  register allocation

·  N-version programming/recovery blocks

·  MPEG-2

·  graph theory

·  encryption hardware

·  design for test

·  adaptive control

·  imaging systems

·  image recognition

·  quantum well transistors

·  computing in space

·  Linux

·  SunOS

·  Spring

·  Windows NT/ Windows ‘98/2000/XP

·  OSF/1

·  Mach kernel

·  taligent

·  alpha

·  ultraSPARC

·  MIPS R10000

·  Intel's IA-64 architecture

·  PowerPC family

·  AMD K5, other P5 clones

(3) I must approve your technology selection so that there will be only one presentation of any technology in each section. Approval will be on a first-come basis via email. So, soon as you form your team, identify a specific technology or two or three and then email me with the names of the team members and 2 or 3 of your top technology choices.

(4) Your in-class presentation should  be at least 25 minutes. It should include a PowerPoint or Web-based presentation.

(5) Your report should be at least 10 pages including graphics. The report will be evaluated based on content and presentation style. The report can be in Word or PDF format.

(6) Grading: The projects will be graded on a competitive basis. Since the two sections are doing the same project, the projects from both sections will be pooled for evaluation and comparison. The best projects that meet the minimum requirements could get up to 85 points. Truly outstanding projects could get up to 110 points. The factors that contribute to truly outstanding includes extra length, well-written, good presentation style, excellent in-class presentation, and well researched. Because the equivalent of 3 full class periods have been set aside for presentations, longer presentations are acceptable--but let me know ahead of time so I can schedule the groups.

All the project reports are due November 19 whether you are presenting that day or not.

COMMENT ON PRESENTATION ORDER: The class presentations start November 19. All written project materials (including your report plus things like copies of your PowerPoint slides) are due November 19. In terms of the order in which the class presentations occur, your team can volunteer or you will be randomly volunteered. Send me an email if you want to volunteer for a specific slot. Slots will be assigned based on the order in which I receive your emails. If the slot you are requesting is filed before I get your email I give you the next available slot.

Presentation Guidelines

·        Everyone in your team must attend the presentation. (Students who do not attend the presentations will receive 0 points for their presentation grade.)

·       All team members should participate in creating the presentation and be part of the presentation.

·       Each presentation is allotted 25 minutes with another 5 minutes for questions and answers. [Additional time is available upon request.] Have all team members join the group for the question and answer time.

·        A COW or other computer will be available. You can bring your laptop with your PowerPoint slides. To use the projector in the classroom the display resolution of your computer should be set to 1024 x 768. This is done via the Display option under your Control Panel. 

·        Be prepared for the unexpected by having a printout of your presentation and a disk with your PowerPoint slides, which you can use with the computer in the room.

·        Look sharp and feel sharp.

·        Speak loudly and clearly. Look at your audience. Do not read your presentation.

·        Practice! Practice! Practice! Do a dry run of your presentation with your team members. Invite a friend to listen and give you feedback. Practice creates a very polished presentation.

·        Prepare an excellent presentation.

·        Have fun! This is your chance to show off your hard work.

The class will be evaluating each presentation using the presentation evaluation form. Attendance is mandatory during presentations. 

Team member will evaluate each other with the team evaluation form.

Friendly advice on term project:

• Pick your teammates carefully.
• Don't underestimate how long it takes to complete the project. Start early.
• Make frequent back up copies of your written report and PowerPoint slides.
• Consider this important point: the grade you get on your project is totally under your control. You do not have the time anxiety you have taking an exam. Your project grade reflects the priority you give them.

Selected Technology (Team rep.)