CS12 Syllabus Spring 1999



The exact coverage will change from semester to semester (depending on the particular capabilities of a given class) the following breakdown, however, is  fairly typical.



Segment1 - weeks 1- 5 - Operating Systems and Word Processing, Intro to Internet

Lecture

Introduction: Some background, history and societal implications. 

Overview of hardware: The goal here is to give students  basic understanding of the various hardware components of a typical microcomputer system and how they work together. At the end of this segment the students should be able to  understand a typical  computer ad in Computer Shopper be able to intelligently compare and contrast different hardware configurations and decide about purchases.

Introduction to Software: General concepts, different types of software, :system software, programming languages and systems, end-user software, Overview of operating systems, shells and interfaces. Introduction to DOS and UNIX: system functions the file system, creation and deletion  of directories, file management, file protections (UNIX) , batch files with and without parameters ("programming" the DOS environment)

Introduction to Macros in Word ("programming" in Word).

The use of the pico editor and the pine email system on UNIX.

Students are assigned to read the Grauer Internet text and do  assignments and exercises for the next 4 weeks.   

In the Lab (Using the Grauer Series from Prentice Hall - high level, fast paced)

Video about hardware from Boston Computer Museum, . One week on the organization  and use of Windows - including working with directories and files, 3 1/2 weeks on Word. 



Segment 2 - weeks 6- 10 - Excel

Lecture and Lab

Excel requires the students to learn how to think with the tool rather than just learn to use it as in Word. This is difficult for many of the CS12 students. Consequently both the lecture and lab focus on working out many problems and examples. 

Topics include structure of a worksheet and workbook. spreadsheet navigation. absolute and relative cell addressing. Formulas and built in functions. If function and nested ifs. Lookup functions. Sorting and database functions. Goal seek, solver ("non-procedural programming" in Excel) and macros ("procedural programming" in Excel).. 

Worked examples include automated "grading sheet", mortgage analysis, invoice  - including if and lookup functions, break-even analysis, profit margin, distribution problems (with linear constraints) using solver, and mathematical function minimization.

The focus is on using Excel to formulate, analyze, set up and solve numerically based problems .



Segment 3 - weeks 11- 14 - Access, HTML and Web Pages

In Lecture

The first few lectures provide the conceptual background for the lab work on Access. We discuss tables, and databases and relational databases, design issues including normalization and relationships. Students learn to formulate single and multi-table queries and to express simple select queries using SQL. If time permits we cover forms and reports. 

By this time the students have learned simple  UNIX and completed the Grauer book on the structure of the Internet. The lecture covers simple HTML and the design of very simple Web pages. The students create and are graded on Web pages that they create. 

In Lab

The lab follows  Grauer's development of Access and reinforces and illustrates the concepts developed in the lecture.  

Exams:

Three in-lab exams and one in-lecture final (multiple choice). 



Grading: Lab exams 70%, assignments and projects 20%, Final 10% (varies by semester. 

























