csci106

Course Overview

What this course covers

Hardware
- How computer developed into what it is today
- How to describe your computer parts to technical support
- What terms like RAM, CPU, MHz, etc mean
- How to select the computer that fits your needs (and price range!)
Software
- How software and hardware interact with each other
- How the operating system (OS) fits in
- How to read and write technical documents
- How to do basic projects with spreadsheets, databases, and presentation packages
Internet
- How the Internet came to be
- What terms like TCP, IP, Public/private key encryption, packets, etc mean
- How to create a web page and do simple JavaScript programs

Course Reviews

Fall 2001-

I liked computers, but I did not know what really was going on. It was all just "magic" to me. Now I understand computers a little better and am more comfortable with working with them.
Before this course, I felt belittled by comptuers. They seemed to contain too much information I would never handle. Now I feel more secure with exploring the different programs on a computer.
I saw computers as familiar, old, with no new concepts to teach me, but I realize now how much new technology and different facets I haven't explored yet.
I am not afraid of computers as I was before. I realize that the computer is made up of a series of instructions that make it seem "smart".
I thought of comptuers as "Word, Excel, Internet". I now think of it as "history, progress, logic gates, motherboard, parts, etc."
Before: hate them, scared of them. Now: Understand some concepts, not afraid anymore, still don't like them much (but I want one for myself!)