ICS10A Spring 2006
Course Schedule

Information: Presentation and Representation
Norman Jacobson, Instructor

revised 5/2/06

This course schedule has an entry for each day lecture or a section meets; it lists lecture topics and their corresponding readings. We also list the dates of the midterm and final exams. Lab assignment due dates are given in the Lab Manual.

We’ll stick to this schedule as closely as is practical; I’ll announce any changes in lecture.

Date
Lecture Topic
Lab Activities & Note
Abernethy & Allen
Readings
(Text and Supporting Web Site
Apr 4 Introduction to the course; What’s information?
Discussion/priority lab meetings begin after lecture
Chap. 1
Apr 5    
Apr 6 Representing data I:Basic computer architecture; bits, bytes, words; numbers; text; commands - part 1 Chap. 2
Chap. 5 pp. 79-84
Chap. 6 pp. 105-112
Apr 7    
Apr 10    
Apr 11 Representing data I:Basic computer architecture; bits, bytes, words; numbers; text; commands - part 2 Chap. 2
Chap. 5 pp. 79-84
Chap. 6 pp. 105-112
Apr 12    
Apr 13 Representing data II: Basic data types & structures; structures for word processing, spreadsheets & databases., part I  
Apr 14    
Apr 17    
Apr 18 Representing data II: Basic data types & structures; structures for word processing, spreadsheets & databases, continued  
Apr 19    
Apr 20 Processing data I: Operating systems; program translation Chap. 15
Apr 21    
Apr 24    
Apr 25 Processing data II: Machine and assembly language; high-level languages Chap. 14 pp. 296-300
Apr 26    
Apr 27 Processing data III: Productivity tools; the Web; macro & Web languages Chap. 5 pp. 85-102;
Chap. 6 pp. 113-119
Chap. 7
Apr 28    
May 1    
May 2 Midterm exam  
May 3    
May 4 Hardware I: Electrons to "the brain box" Chap. 11
May 5    
May 8    
May 9 Hardware II: Secondary storage & peripherals Chap. 12; Chap. 13
May10    
May 11 Data comm; Choosing a computer system Chap. 16; Buying a Computer
May 12    
May 15    
May 16 Sharing Information I: Networks and the Internet Chap. 17; Chap. 18
May 17    
May 18 Sharing Information II: Data compression; formats & standards Chap. 19; Chap. 20
May 19    
May 22    
May 23 Systems analysis & software development Chap. 14 pp. 288-296
May 24    
May 25 User Interface Issues; Presenting Information Effectively Chap. 3 pp. 47-49; Tufte reprint
May 26    
Mar 29 Memorial Day Holiday; first-floor labs closed  
May 30 Foundations of Computing I: Boolean algebra and searching Web Directories and Search Engines
May 31    
June 1 Foundations of Computing II: What can we compute?  
June 2    
June 5    
June 6 Foundations of Computing III: Uncertainty and randomness  
June 7    
June 8 Legal and social issues in computing
Brief Review for Final
The Social Themes links on the Resources tab of the textbook’s Web page
June 13
(Tuesday)
Final Exam
10:30 am - 12:30 pm