4 Assignments

4 Assignments

4.1 Book reports

You will need to do two book reports this class. The books must be non-fiction, non-textbook, non-manual, computer related books. If you have a question about a specific book, PLEASE ASK. Be wary of books that are more than then (10) years old. This is a computer class and the industry does move quickly.

I recommend that you take notes while reading the book you are reporting on. Jot down page numbers too. It will help you with your citations.

Please see the reading list for possible books to read.

The reports should be your thoughts on the subjects covered in the book, NOT a summary of the books content.

At the start of your book report please have the following identification information:

• Your name
• CIS100 & Louis Taber
• Author's name
• Title of book
• ISBN number
• Copyright date
• Library call number of the book

Consider the following when you write your book reports:

• What is your interest in the topic? Do you expect it to affect your career or job?
• Why did you choose this specific book. What about it appealed to you before you read it?
• What else has the author done or written? Is he an expert in the material covered in the book? Is the author famous? If so for what?
• Did you agree or disagree with the authors position? Why? What backs up your position? Did the author back up his/her reasoning? Did the author site any sources that you have accessed?
• Was the book easy or difficult to read? Why?
• Did the book met your expectations? In what way? Or, how did it fail to meet your expectations?
• Was the material relevant? Is it dated?
• Did the book change your perspective on the topic?
• What was the author trying to communicate? Why do you think he/she wrote the book? Did the author succeed in getting his/her point across?
• Did anything in the book surprise you? Did you learn anything new? What? Was it siginifagant or just a passing note?
• Did you learn anything you expect will be useful in the future? How do you expect to use the new information? Do you expect it to affect your current/future career/job? If so, how?
• What did you learn? Will you do anything differently in the future because of your new knowledge?
• Would you recommend or have you recommended the book to others? Why?

4.2 Topic report

You will need to research a computer related topic and write a report on it for this class. It is required that you have at least 5 substantial references. Try to keep the references relevant. Most references should have been written within the last five (5) years. There is no need to go past 10 references in this class. Make sure that you use at least three (3) different types of references. Ideally have at least one from each of the following categories:

• A published book
• A referred journal
• A popular magazine
• A newspaper article
• A web site (Required)

These need to be listed after your report. Please indicate on your bibliographic page what type of reference each one of your citations refers to. If you cite a dictionary or encyclopedia entry be aware that is doesn't count toward the required references. It is not a bad idea to use this type of material, but it does not represent an in depth look at a topic.

We will go to the Library early in the class. A research librarian will provide the class with pointers on doing research. This presentation usually includes information on locating books, locating information in library data bases, some of the pitfalls of Internet research, and how to locate and access other possible information sources.

I expect we will receive some information on how research librarians can be of help.

The topic paper requires the use of the Internet.

Some possible topics:

• Data Integrity, Computer Availability, and Backup
• Privacy & Identity Theft
• IC manufacturing
• The early history of the PC or Computers
• Supercomputers (Cluster and Vector)
• The History of Supercomputers
• Linux
• Linux on the Desktop
• Shrink-wrap licences. EULA -- "End User Licence Agreements"
• The Microsoft Vista operating system
• SCO vs IBM lawsuit (http://www.groklaw.net)
• Trojan Horses, Viruses & Worms
• Programming errors and the consequences
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
• Digital Signal Processors and/or Embedded Computer Systems
• IT Outsourcing
• The fate of the paper-less office
• Encryption (AES, DES, Twofish, RC4 ...)
• NSA (National Security Agency) See: Bamford[1]
• Weather forecasting
• Intel and/or AMD
• The Human Genome Project. Gene sequencing.
• Foldinghome (http://folding.stanford.edu/)
• SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. (http://www.seti.org/)
• Mersenne Prime Search (http://www.mersenne.org/)
• Video game consoles
• Multi-core processors

Please remember, the emphasis is on the computers in this class. So for any of the above topics make sure the area you research and write about is computer related.

4.3 Labs

4.3.1 HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) page

For this lab, I would like you to create the file index.html on your desktop using a text editor, NOT an HTML authoring program. This file will contain HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). The HTML needs to have at least the following features:

• <html> and </html> tags
• <head> and </head> tags
• <body> and </body> tags
• <title> and </title> tags with your name.
• <h2> and </h2> tags with your name.
• At least three links to other pages using <a ...> and </a> tags.
• Additional text to identify the instructor (Louis Taber) and class (CIS100).

For extra credit include an image. Please give proper credit for the image.

Access your page from a web browser and print it off on a printer. You should be able to double click on the file's icon to bring it up in a web browser.

Turn in your printed results after you have checked all of the links.

4 Assignments