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1. Computer Studies
1. 1.1 Course Outline
2. 1.2 Week 1
3. 1.3 Week 2
4. 1.4 Week 3
5. 1.5 Week 4
6. 1.6 Week 5
7. 1.7 Week 6
8. 1.8 Week 7
9. 1.9 Week 8
10. 1.10 Week 9, Week 10, Week 11
11. 1.11 Week 12
12. 1.12 Week 13
13. 1.13 Week 14

1. Computer Studies

1.1 Course Outline

There are a number of assessment pieces, throughout this term, including your folio work and participation.

Online Computer Courses A list of Computer Study Resources available Online

1.2 Week 1

Introduction to CS a synopsis of what will be covered over the next 9 weeks. Students will assist with building the computing environment and LAB Computers. – serves and a introduction to Operating System Fundamentals which takes place in weeks 3 – 7. School Computer Labs are in the process of being reorganized, this is an ideal opportunity to get and exercise your hands on skills including setup and configuration. This window of opportunity, (before the school images are copied onto the computer), will be offered opportunity's to install a derivative of Linux on the computers they configure and setup

Comparing Linux with Windows

Today we will begin looking at Linux Operating System and to do this I have chosen a stable distribution that has been around for a long time called SUSE 10.3. To do this properly we need to act responsibly and carefully with computers since you will be installing and removing software and hardware.

Select a computer, and begin to set it up, we do not need networking at this stage.

For the first part, separate into pairs since I have only six disks. Set up each computer and install Open Linux 10.3. (I have six DVD ROMS)

At this early stage, treat this as a “dry run” make the most of this opportunity, try and interpret the questions and ask questions, I will be on hand to help you. At this early stage it is OK to wipe out the operating system underneath ie Windows XP since they will be rebuilt in due course anyway.

Where are we headed with all this? We are going to produce an operating system on a writable DVD or CD Rom which you will be able to take home and use on any computer, anywhere without impacting the computer you run on. Also, we are going to be looking closely at Linux and considering the moral, social and financial impact of running Linux. Finally, we will compare Linux with commercial, more expensive systems.

Following this we will also look at case studies, organisations and corporations who use Linux, why they use it, what are the advantages and gains and what does it give them?

1.3 Week 2

Introduction to Personalities in Computer spanning the past 20 years. We take a brief look at the histories and market value of large corporations like Oracle and Sun. This exercise will take the form of a research project during which students are expected to research, investigate and answer questions. This mini task is to be completed and printed out and will contribute to students folio assessment.

Compare Linux to Windows

We will look at PCLinuxOS – (Live Disk) and SUSE (Live Disk) and also boot into Windows and consider a few features in each of the systems. The main purpose will be to discover what you can and can’t do in each of the systems. You may need to look at the 101 page doc about SUSE10.3 to answer a few questions.

Before we go any further, I need (please place in you coloured folder)

• Your week 1 assignment, please print them out immediately. • The handouts which I have given you placed into you folder.

We are going to read an Essay – “How to Become a Hacker” - please ensure you understand the “true definition” of the word hacker.

Revision

What additional tools are there on the PC Linux OS disk? (APC Disk)

Does the live disk make any changes to the physical system i.e. the computer you are running on?

We booted off the DVD or the CD-Rom drive. Is it possible to boot off your USB stick?

Which computer operating system supports being booted off your USB stick? Your USB hard drive or your USB thumb drive?

What do you understand by emulation? Explain in a few sentences what emulation is.

What are partitions? What is a FAT? (What types of File systems are available?)

Web Research

(Mini assignment by Friday) Please spend a few minutes on the internet and go to the following sites and find out what they offer: Please write me a paragraph on on each of the following and email it to <Email Address Withheld> VMWare, VMPlayer, Parrallels, CrossOver Linux & CrossOver Mac, Parallels

Explain convergence? Research the term convergence with reference to digital media and ICT and information technology. Hand On Activities

Windows Activities

You may login to each system to try these exercises.

Open Word and create a Document and save it to your USB. In this file write a brief paragraph (you can list features) but paragraphs in your own words are usually best for learning. Save a document on your USB stick called YourName-Y10-Review.doc

 What would you use to create a Presentation, Document, Spreadsheet, Drawing, and Viewing Photographs?
 What would you use to play and record Sounds or Music?
 What would you use to watch a DVD?
 What would you use to browse on the World Wide Web?
 What Key Applications are available in this operation system? 
 What can you dot to, that you would like to be able to do.

Create a Simple Spreadsheet with and list which software has the following applications installed. – Save this to your USB Drive. The spreadsheet should contain the following.

Columns: Windows XP, PCLinuxOS, SUSE 10.3 Rows: for example: Browser, FireFox, Flash Player, Adobe, MediaPlayer, Java (create a list of all the useful application installed in each operating systems.) and show which systems have them installed. (by default or otherwise)

PCLinuxOS

Open PCLinuxOS and repeat the windows exercise except please add to and update the 2 files you created on you USB Drive.

Open SUSE 10.3: Now Open SUSE 10.3 and repeat the windows exercise except please add to and update the 2 files you created on your USB Drive.

Student Comments and Notes:

Additional Research: (Handouts)

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Windows_and_Linux 2. http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html 3. Linux’s from APC Magazine. ( 2 pages)

Please email all info to <Email Address Withheld>

1.4 Week 3

1.5 Week 4

You will remember that this term we are going to look at the social aspects of computing by investigating personalities in information technology. We are also going to do a comparative analysis of three major operating systems namely Windows XP and Vista as well as OSX and also of course Linux. Today’s Hands on Activities

Our task today is to complete Lab J4B. I put names on all your computers as best I can, remember where they are, please locate them and continue with the 101 page documents I gave you. By the end of these lessons you need to :

complete your build ie. operating system installed.
be able to access the internet and have networking enabled (this is dependent on the switches arriving).
you have had fun taking bits out of other computers now we need to ensure that the other computers are able to boot up so that I can image them and configure them.
we are going to watch a few youtube videos if we can get access to the data projector. These videos will compare operating systems and give you some idea what can be achieved with Linux.

Personal (Guided Research) I would like you to please research the following:

When did Linux start?
Approximately how many distributions are there?
Who maintains the kernel?
Which are the most popular distributions of Linux?
Consider the following questions.
Linux is a threat to which major operating systems?
Linux is likely to be used increasingly by which type of countries?

1.6 Week 5

Today we are going to look at operating systems co-existing with one another and the different ways of allowing systems to dual boot and we will begin to investigate virtual operating systems.

Dual boot means that the system shows the same hardware however the operating system is placed into different partitions on the hard drive or on different hard drives which means that at system start up you can choose which partition you can boot from (however you cannot run both systems together simultaneously).

Suggest a few types of dual boot software managers:
Suggest a few types of operating system environments:

Virtual operating systems exist on top of other operating systems. The host operating system emulates the hardware of another OS.

Suggest a few types of operating system environments:

This weeks task: We are going to re-image our systems, it has been necessary to rebuild the lab so unfortunately your efforts were wiped out. The good news however is that each time we are each going to have a system including myself. We will work together through the instructions.

I have brought in some “historic books” which may interest some of you simply to page through and see some of the earlier resources and technology that was available in the mid 90’s. You will recall during the videos we watched that Linux was described as growing up or as a young system. This is half true as Linux is young but is modeled on Unix which is at least 40 years old.

Dual Booting The important thing this week is to keep the existing operating system on our school computers and install Linux alongside Windows ie. in a different partition. Hopefully we will use a boot manager to choose which operating system we boot from. The default operating system to make it easier for other students in the school should be Windows.

1.7 Week 6

We have 2 weeks left before our major prac example and 3 weeks before your exam. Only 1 student has returned their mini assignment which I required to be emailed to me. I intend to finalise marking this weekend and you therefore have until Saturday midnight to email me the document if you wish this to be included in your assessment and part of your folio mark.

Having laid the foundations, we looked at XP Pro since you have been using it for all of your secondary years. We have examined 3 derivatives of Linux. I have brought in one of my Macs as an example of the new OSX platform which is surprise, surprise based on a derivative of UNIX and identical in many ways to Linux.

I feel we have laid the foundation to continue with visual basic programming next term bearing in mind that the modern programmer this will be important because next term to ensure that whatever we program is usable on Windows platforms including XP and Vista and that it also runs on Linux and Apples OSX including Panther, Tiger and Leopard.

Mini Assignment due by Monday, the 17th of March.

You need to write an essay on the year 2020 written from the perspective of technology however you may also refer to social and environmental changes as you will envisage them occurring.

While I may be tolerant of fantastic predictions or bias you must have sound referential information regarding technology ie. you need to be able to defend your technological views. I am looking for information about the types of computers you will be using, the way we will interface with these devices and what they will be used for, who will be using them, why will they will be using them ie. what they will be doing with them and why will they be important to society (or perhaps they won’t be important at all and we will return to paper technology or remembering things by rote). Consider who will be among the top 10 companies / operating systems and why. I would like this to be complete by Monday, the 17th of March.

So this essay needs to be well written, professional and about 1500 words.

Good Luck.

1.8 Week 7

1.9 Week 8

Examination Week

1.10 Week 9, Week 10, Week 11

Students away on camp. Holidays Anzac Day

1.11 Week 12

Introduction to Flowcharts

Welcome to a new term. As promised this term is going to be very busy so I need you all to work consistently throughout this term. Some students have not completed all their testing and will be expected to write this in the next day or two so please prepare. As soon as these tests have been completed I will release all the results thus far.

Your tests were in general well completed and I was pleased to see that you have grasped many ideas and concepts about the history of computing and operating system fundamentals.

Programming

Programming is where, as you know from last term, we have been heading all this time. We have covered a lot of ground, sufficient I believe to move forward and begin programming. To do this we are going to be using “real basic”. This is an object oriented language which makes it very modern, it is also a visual language which allows us to program a visual interface which as described earlier in this course can be cross compiled on either Windows, Apple or Linux.

However before using real BASIC we will begin by using BASIC. Our reason for doing so is because real BASIC is an advanced product and we need to ensure that we can walk before we run.

Flow Charting

Introduction to Flow Charting

Logic structure and organisation (clearly understanding what it is that you are trying to do) are fundamental to good programming. Flow Chart will prepare you and help you in your own mind, clarify what needs to be done and in which order.

I have prepared two hand outs, these hand outs should be read in their entirety after we have engaged in some discussion about Flow Charts.

Your task over these two periods is to produce a Flow Chart on a sheet of A4 paper, use as much paper as you need. I will be very critical when marking this minor assignment which needs to be handed in on Friday at the end of the lesson.

When producing Flow Charts it is nearly impossible to create a single Flow Chart for your entire program and your Flow Chart can be broken into a series of Flow Charts. This closely correlates what happens when programming, a program often consists of a series of routines and functions which are called or executed intermittently. I expect, when you create your assignment, you may need to include logical routines and loops.

Hand out 1

Hand out 2

Task 1

Produce a Flow Chart which includes the steps required to prepare your breakfast.

Task 2

Prepare a Flow Chart which describes all essential activities required to bring yourself to school. This begins from the time you wake up in the morning to the moment you enter your classroom. Please be aware that this is a significant task and you should only include the essential and critical activities.

1.12 Week 13

Introduction to BASIC Programming

http://lbpe.wikispaces.com/map

Welcome to another lesson in programming, I would like you to begin exploring the Jump Basic Interface. This is where we are going to start initially however I will shortly be installing Liberty Basic which provides additional interfaces and support for programming. For your information Liberty Basic is entirely free and you can easily install it at home on your PC and for mostly works as well as the commercial version.

I have also provided you with a handout which I would like you to work through to get a feel of rudimentary programming constructs.

As we go I shall be providing additional instruction in Basic programming.

Well done for those of you who did well in your tests, after discussing these tests and evaluation we will continue with our BASIC programming.

Today's task will be to select your game or application, whichever you choose.

There are three requirements.

Describe your application in full, how it will work, what it does, how the user will interface with the game and what the results will be?
Design your flowchart. A flowchart should demonstrate the logic you plan to use in your game. This is necessary to help you understand what you wish to do and it will also help me understand what you wish to do. After this is the main purpose of flowcharting.
Begin your program, remember we have got about six more lessons to complete this program. Also remember that what you learn in this semester will be reused in the following semester when we study "RUBY" and/or "PYTHON".
Include a Help file with your program.

This term, TERM2 there will be two assessment items.

A Programming Assignment
End of Term Examination

Some of you are further ahead than others, please progress further and include sprites into your program, by now you should have completed Monday Tutorial and have begun experimenting with the programming interface.

PS. Next week we will be completing a mini assessment of what we have covered so far. (Multiple choice mostly)

If you feel you need extra help, you may need revisit what we have covered in the tutorial by having a look look at these 3 YouTube training sessions, these videos describe FreeBASIC however all the examples will work perfectly in JustBASIC.

1.13 Week 14

Selecting and Designing an Application you wish to develop further using BASIC programming, feedback from the examination and suggestions.

Ideas about progressing further, some students are well ahead and confident that they are on the right track. For a couple of others I need to look up more indepth programming. I have printed out another document which will help to gain an understanding of foundational programming.

Everyone will need to by the end of today submitted a full description of their project describing what it is going to do.

Everyone will by the end of today begun working on their flowchart.

Please note that these two items at this stage are more important than beginning your programming.

For those of you having difficulty I am willing to provide a separate assignment which will consist of a series of execises in basic programming. They will range from simple to difficult and all will need to be completed.

Information Technology and Resources

Year10ComputerStudies