Difference between revisions of "CSC103 Weekly Schedule 2013"

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* '''Thursday'''
 
* '''Thursday'''
 +
** '''Announcement''': <font color="red">If you want to take CSC102 and haven't contacted Pippin Wolfe (apwolfe@smith.edu), please do so now!</font>
 
** Quick recap of Tuesday's lecture.
 
** Quick recap of Tuesday's lecture.
 
** A [http://cs.smith.edu/~thiebaut/videos/Charles_Babbage_and_his_Difference_Engine.flv movie on Babbage's] '''Difference Engine'''
 
** A [http://cs.smith.edu/~thiebaut/videos/Charles_Babbage_and_his_Difference_Engine.flv movie on Babbage's] '''Difference Engine'''

Revision as of 08:35, 5 September 2013

--D. Thiebaut 10:23, 1 April 2013 (EDT)




Syllabus | PIAZZA


Week Topics Reading
Week 1
9/3
  • Tuesday
    • Syllabus
    • Introduction to the class and the 1/2 semester schedule
    • Organization of the class
    • a short movie to get the discussion started...
    • some examples of computers:


AbacusWolfram.png


DifferenceEngine.jpg


DifferenceEngineDetail.jpg


DNAComputer.png


Antikythera.jpg
Antikythera mechanism, oldest computer


(start at 1min 47sec)

DoubleHelix.jpg
Harvard research: 1.8 zettabytes in 4 grams of DNA


    • Keywords:
      • code: Translating from one system of values to another system.
    • Electricity
    • The Binary System: a system where the only two numbers available are 0 and 1. Every operation that we can do in decimal, with 10 digits, we can also do in binary.
    • The Transistor: A switch controlled by electricity.
  • Counting in binary




  • Thursday
    • Announcement: If you want to take CSC102 and haven't contacted Pippin Wolfe (apwolfe@smith.edu), please do so now!
    • Quick recap of Tuesday's lecture.
    • A movie on Babbage's Difference Engine
  • We continue counting in binary, then move on to simple additions in binary, remembering first how we do additions by hand in decimal.
  • Figuring out the value of a binary number: what is the value of 1110, for example?
  • ==> Main message: everything we can do in decimal we can do in binary
  • Recap:
    • at some point in time, engineers had very fast electronic switches at their disposition in the form of transistors
    • mathematicians had shown that a binary system allowed the same quality of arithmetic as the decimal system.
  • Comes Boole (1815-1864), and the boolean algebra (very soon we'll talk about Shannon, who linked Boole's work with binary arithmetic. More on that later)
    • Boolean assertions can be either True or False
    • new boolean assertions can be combined with simple operators to form other assertions that are also boolean and can only be True or False
    • The operators are AND, OR, and NOT. They are defined by truth tables.
    • Several examples to discuss in class:
      • Alarm system to go to CSC103 the right day at the right time
      • Alarm system to allow one to stay in bed during the weekend
      • True/False machine to pick ice cream

Week 2
9/10
  • Tuesday
  • Thursday

 


Week 3
9/17
  • Tuesday
  • Thursday

Week 4
9/24
  • Tuesday
  • Thursday

 

Week 5
10/1
  • Tuesday
  • Thursday

Week 6
10/8
  • Tuesday
  • Thursday

 

Week 7
10/15
  • Tuesday: Fall Break
  • Thursday