Fall 1998 Computers and Society
Tuesdays 6 - 9:40 PM in 113 Rackham: GST 2710, Section 990 and AGS 3360, Section 983
Mondays 5:30 - 9:10 PM at NWAC: GST 2710, Section 984
Course web site: http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/casf98/
Last updated: 12/7/98
Link back to course Welcome...

Thirteenth class: Agenda
NWAC: Monday December 7 / Rackham: Tuesday December 8

  1. Announcements and Reminders:
    1. Sign in on the course web site (every class).
    2. Reminder: I may be late for my office hours in the Rackham lab on Tuesday, December 15. I will not be later than 5 PM.
    3. New items on course web site:
      1. Make an on-line comment or a course evaluation, anonymously if you like
      2. Submit work electronically (on-line) or email the Instructor
    4. Topics for the Final Exam will be distributed this class (#13) and reviewed at the following class (#14). The final exam is the week after that (#15).
    5. The people listed below do not have on-line grade reports enabled. This is not a requirement for the course, but it does give you a good record of how you are doing. If you are on the list below, and want on-line grade reports, leave a note for me, including the password that you want to use to access grade reports.
      1. Rackham (Tuesdays)
        1. James Hobbs
        2. Frazier Kimpson
        3. Pamela Shaw
      2. NWAC (Mondays)
        1. Donna Jones
    6. The people listed below still need to log on to the computer conference for this class. For instructions, see Agenda 5, VII.A.
      1. Rackham (Tuesdays)
        1. Melanie Brown
        2. Nantambu Kohlbatz
        3. Pamela Shaw
      2. NWAC (Mondays)
        1. Joyceline Blackmon
        2. Jason DeMeyer
        3. Precious Sampson
        4. Jevon Woods
  2. Handouts, pass backs
  3. Computers and Society -- discussion
  4. Course evaluation
  5. Working with files:
    1. Use Save As... whenever you need to change
      1. Drive
      2. Folder
      3. File Name
      4. File Type (this is rare)
    2. With modern Windows applications (Word, Excel, Access, etc.), when you are changing the file name, do not mess with the extension and its dot. Do not delete it, do not retype it, do not change it. Let the program handle the extension. Changing the extension (for example to htm) does not change the type of file. Only the application can change the type of file, under control of the "Save As Type" line at the bottom of the Save As... dialog. If the extension is messed up,
      1. The application may not display the file in the File Open dialog
      2. The application may treat the file as a different type of file, meaning that it will be confusing if not unusable. For example, if you change the extension of a normal Word document Globwarm.doc from doc to htm (Globwarm.htm), trying to make it an HTML file, and "Save As Type" is set for Word (doc), then when Word saves the file it will add a .doc at the end of everything, making it Globwarm.htm.doc. Note that you thought you saved it as HTML, but since "Save As Type" says doc, it is not HTML, but a normal Word file. The difference between the two types of files is in the formatting and special features codes.
  6. Databases -- Tables, Relations, Queries, Forms and Reports
    1. A Table is a set of data, with fields (columns) and records (rows). In industrial-strength databases such as Access, you cannot do calculation in a table. In these databases, a table only contains directly-entered data, not calculated data. A database has to have at least one table, but it can have many more than that.
    2. A Relation is a connection between tables. In the Sweet Lil's database, you can take an order for bonbons, and get the bonbon price from the bonbon table. This is a relation. A relation connects two tables using a common field. Actually, several fields can be used, but we won't go into that any further in this course. Relations save file space in a database. For example, consider a student database. We would need a name and address for each student, along with a student ID. Where do we put grades? We don't know exactly how many courses a student will take before graduation. After all, there are two-credit, three-credit and four-credit courses. It would be wasteful to allow the maximum number of courses that a student could take. Instead, there is a separate table of courses taken, with each record being a course taken by one student. Do we put the student's name and address in each record? That would also waste space, since each student's address would occur once for each course s/he takes. Instead, only the ID number is kept in each record. We can temporarily make a new table joinging the name and address table with the course table, using the common field of the student ID number. We would need to do this, for example, to mail out student grades.
    3. A Query is one or more related questions that you ask about tables. In a query, you can
      1. See a joined or compound table based on a relation
      2. Only look at certain fields in a table
      3. Filter out records that you are not interested in. For example, you might want to look at people 64 or older to see who might retire next year.
      4. Calculate quantities as new fields, based on other fields. This is similar to the calculations you would do in a spreadsheet, but here calculations are much more structured. A calculation applied to one record is applied to all, since each field must be identical in different records.

      Obviously, Queries are very general and can be used for many purposes.

    4. Data can be entered directly into tables, using the table view. But often it is preferable to use Forms instead. A form is like a paper form, with words to describe what gets entered. Unlike paper forms, forms can check that data makes sense. For example, do zip codes have five numerical digits? Do telephone numbers have the area code in them? Forms can also be used to view a table. You used forms for both purposes in Lab 9 (Part 5, Lesson 1).
    5. Reports are used to list and summarize tables and queries. Results can be printed out and formatted. Summary data can be added, such as the total dollars outstanding, from a table where each record is an order, and some have not been paid yet.
  7. Lab 12
    1. Email
      1. When the diskette "email addresses" comes by, start Microsoft Word, open the file a:\emailf98.doc, and follow the directions in the file to add your email address to the list. Save the file back to the diskette (Save, not Save As).
      2. Activate your WSU email account. This is a new step. You will not be able to actually use your WSU email until a couple of days after you activate it. Instructions for activating your WSU email account are given below.
        1. Start Telnet and log in to the Pine email client.
          1. In Rackham, this is done using the Macintosh system.
            • Click on the Telnet button in the Launcher widnow.
            • Click on the File menu item.
              NOTE: on the Macintosh, you may have to hold the mouse button down in order to keep the menu visible.
            • With the File menu items visible, and holding the mouse button down, pull the mouse down to the Open Connection item and release the mouse button.
            • In the New Connection dialog, type in the Domain Name of the WSU email client, mail.wayne.edu and click OK.
            • If your connection is successful, you will see the login screen of the WSU email system. You have successfully connected to the right system if the top line of the login screen reads (more or less)

              UNIX(r) System V Release 4.0 (mail2.wayne.edu)

              Go to setp b below.
          2. In NWAC, starting Telnet and logging in to the Pine email client is pretty much automatic. Use the Mail icon (or the closest equivalent) You should see a screen with the top line as shown above.
        2. Login using your AccessID and Password from your postcard or from the C&IT form.
        3. When you are logged in, choose option i to activate your WSU email account.

          If you have not previously activated your WSU email account, this is as far as you will be able to get until your account is actually activated in the next two or three days. Go on to the next part of the Lab. If you have already activated your WSU email account, then you can continue with step 3 below.
      3. A few days after you have activated your WSU email account, you can complete the following email tasks. This is an on-going assignment.
        1. Send an email message to the Instructor, aa2012@wayne.edu
        2. Send an email address to another student in the class, with a cc to the Instructor.
        3. Forward an email message from someone else to the Instructor.
    2. Access. In Microsoft Office, Step by Step, do Part 5 (Access) Lesson 4 on Pp 509 through 521 as changed below. Note that this is also your practice on databases for the Final Exam. Also, Pp 521 through 528 can be done for extra credit as Lab 12A. This lab does not include "One Step Further."
      Changes: (NOTE -- Landscape mode is sideways printing, Portrait is normal. Change these print mode using the "Properties" button on the "Print" dialog.)
      1. Use the Sweet Lil's database that is already on your floppy disk. Do not use Sweet Lil's Lesson04.
      2. On Pg 515, print the Suppliers table in Landscape mode
      3. On Pg 519, print the Carriers table in Landscape mode
      4. Also on Pg 519, print the Carriers form in Portrait mode
      5. On Pg 521, print the revised Carriers table in Landscape mode
      6. Staple all of the above together into one packet and write Lab 12 on it, with your name, and turn it in
    3. Extra credit Lab 12A, Pp 521through 528
      1. On Pg 528, print the Carriers Query in Portrait mode
      2. Label each field in the printout with the table and field that the data came from
      3. Write Lab 12A on this, and add your name

 

Assignment 13