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

Last updated: 10/19/98
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Mid Term Topics

The Mid Term exam will be

1. Counting, adding and multiplying binary numbers, powers of two in binary and decimal notation, binary to decimal and decimal to binary conversions, values stored in n bits
   1. Explain why computers use the binary system, and humans use the decimal system
2. Mouse actions: list and describe the mouse actions, and describe the active part of the mouse icon
3. Given an example of a full file path, identify its parts (drive, folders, file name, file extension)
4. For Microsoft Windows, list the three (or five) parts of a window that (almost) all windows share. Also list what actions you can take with them.
5. Given a picture of a window, list its active elements and describe which of the basic mouse actions are used to activate them.
   
   For example, for the "Open" button on the File / Open menu item, you activate it by clicking on it. That is the answer to this question. What it does when clicked is to open the selected file. That is not the answer to this question.
   
   The following active elements are included:
   1. Scroll bars
   2. Text boxes (type in them)
   3. Buttons
   4. Lists
   5. Drop-down lists
   6. Menus
   7. Check boxes (square, choose all that apply)
   8. Radio buttons (round, choose only one)
6. Estimate text, sound and graphic file sizes, and find how many test files of a given size can fit on a given storage medium
7. Diagram the structure of a computer. List examples of what goes in each part. Given a list of components, say which part of the diagram they go in.
8. Describe the different types of storage, and the different types of disks.
9. Give five different examples of computers, including whether or not the computer is embedded in another system
10. List and give examples of the types of computer information or files
11. Describe the following terms, as they are used with respect to computers:
    • Programmable
    • Data
    • Information
    • Memory (or primary storage)
    • Storage (or secondary storage)
    • Client
      • Web Browser
    • Server
    • Peer
    • LAN
    • Internet
    • Domain name
    • URL
      • Bookmark
    • IP address
    • Logic Gate
    • Hypertext
    • Hypertext Transport Protocol
    • Markup Language
      • HTML
    • ISP
12. Compare the four computer generations with respect to:
    • Type of hardware
    • Type of software
    • Machine-independence of software
    • Type of communications
13. Translate back and forth from letters to ASCII codes, given the ASCII code table.
14. Fill out truth tables, given a switch network or a logic gate network. For logic gates, only AND, OR and XOR are included.
15. For the Internet, describe:
    1. How a domain name is turned into an IP address
    2. How Gateways and Routers move packets on, through and off the Internet
    3. The role of LANs in the Internet
    4. The structure of a data packet
    5. How typical Internet applications work:
       1. Internet email
       2. World Wide Web
          1. Identify the parts of a URL
       3. Telnet
16. List and describe the general capacities of word processors and spreadsheets
    1. Word processors
       1. Create, open, print, save and save as for files
       2. Edit text, including entry, moving, deleting
       3. Formatting, including font, paragraph, margins
          1. Describe the following aspects of fonts: face, size, serif Vs san-serif, monospacing Vs proportional
       4. Proofing, including spell check and grammar check
    2. Spreadsheets
       1. Create, open, print, save and save as for files
       2. Edit cells, including text, numbers and formulae
       3. Format cells, including font and number formatting (plain, currency, date, percentage)

Basic computer skills. For the Midterm and later exams, you should be able to carry out the following tasks without the step-by-step instructions such as you get in Microsoft Office Professional 97 Step by Step, or in many of the Agendas and Labs here.

1. Start a program. Example: Start Word. (NOTE: Microsoft is the manufacturer, Word is the product. "Microsoft Word" and "Word" mean the same thing.) Examples of programs that this can apply to:
   1. Word
   2. Netscape (NOTE: Netscape is the manufacturer. The products are Navigator and Communicator, but normally these are just called "Netscape". Netscape is a Web Browser -- a program that used to view web content. A competing Web Browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer. It works pretty much the same way that Netscape does. On the other hand, Internet Explorer is different from Windows Explorer.)
   3. Windows (NWAC: NT) Explorer
2. With a program started, open a document on any drive, or open a web site
   1. In Word, open a file, given the path
   2. In Netscape, open a web site, given the URL.
      1. URL = "Universal Resource Locator", such as http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/casf98
3. In Netscape, follow a link by clicking on it. Links are colored blue or purple (if they have been followed already), and underlined. the active part of the link is the words themselves.
4. Print an open Word or Excel file or web page.
5. In Word and Excel, Save or Save As. Use Save As the first time you save a new file, or if you want to change the path of an existing file. If you open an existing file and Save, you will replace the original version with the current version. Otherwise, Save saves to the path you set in the last Save As.
6. The main Word menus that you should be able to use are
   1. File. Used for getting the file into Word and outputting it from Word. Includes opening, saving and printing.
   2. Edit. Used for changing the content of text; moving it around, deleting it, copying it.
   3. Format. Used for changing the appearance of text. Font format affects individual letters, paragraph formatting affects entire paragraphs but not individual letters, etc.
   4. Insert. Inserts things besides text into a document, such as pictures and charts.
7. In Excel, be able to enter text, numbers or simple formulae into cells