CMPSCI 105

Computer Literacy (University of Massachusetts)

Spring 2009

News & Upcoming Events

Here is a review sheet for the final exam. Here is the solution key to Quiz #7. Here is the solution key to Quiz #6. Here is the solution key to Quiz #5. Here is the solution key to Quiz #4. Here is the solution key to Quiz #3. Here is the solution key to Quiz #2. Here is the solution key to Quiz #1. Tuesday, May 5, 2009 The final exam has been scheduled for Friday, May 15TH at 4:00pm in Boyden Gym. The exam rules are basically the same as for the midterm: BRING A PICTURE ID!!!!! Open book, open notes, any paper reference is OK. No electronics of any kind (no calculator or computer). You may use pen or pencil (no red pens, please). Leave your iPod or other media player in your backpack. Turn off cell phones and leave in your backpack. Extra credit term papers are due at the final. If you want me to mail you your final exam and labs, please bring a self-addressed 9x12 or 10x14 Manilla envelope with $3 in loose postage, and I will send the contents of your folder to you after the grades are in (leave stamps loose so I can return extra postage to you). Students are allowed to turn in lab #10 (on-time) and labs #8 and #9 (late) at the final exam. No lab work of any kind will be accepted after that time. Tuesday, April 28, 2009 Owing to our late start on databases, I have decided to push the due date for lab #8 to Friday, May 8TH, concurrent with the due date for lab #9 (lab #9 is still due on the 8TH). I encourage people to do labs #8 and #9 at the same time, as #9 depends on #8 and both are very short. Friday, April 24, 2009 The TA office hours are on-line (below). However, Dan Xie will not hold his hours this coming Monday as he is defending his dissertation proposal. Thursday, April 9, 2009 Lab #6 is officially due by 5:00pm on Friday, but due to the fact that a number of students observe the Passover/Easter holiday, I will accept the assignment through Monday night (April 13) without penalty. The midterm exams are ready for pickup from the TA's at their office (LGRC A355) during their office hours. If anyone scored below 60, you should come see me during my office hours so that I can make certain that you are keeping up with your other work. Here is the histogram for the midterm scores. Monday, March 23, 2009 -- NOTES FOR MIDTERM EXAM The midterm is scheduled for this Thursday, March 26, 2009, from 7:00pm-9:00pm. The exam is open book, open notes, no electronics. Make certain to bring a picture ID! Here are the exam halls, based on the first letter of your last name: A-L: Go to MAH108 M-Z: Go to THOM104 You may switch between Mahar and Thompson, but only if you tell me (so I can keep the count of exams correct for each of the rooms). People registered with Disability Services as being entitled to extended time on the exam should contact them to have them proctor the exam. (I cannot allow extended time at the regular exam as we have the lecture halls for only a limited period. We would have to set up a special session the following week.) The makeup midterm is Monday the 30th, also from 7:00pm-9:00pm, in LGRC A301, but only for people who have filled out the on-line request form. Monday, March 2, 2009 Campus is closed today. The due date for lab #2 and the late-acceptance date for Lab #1 has been extended to 5:00pm on Tuesday, March 3. Enjoy the snow! Wednesday, February 25, 2009 -- NOTES FOR LAB #3 Several people in the past have reported problems doing lab #3 in Word 2007 because the galleries of options in the headers and footers, page numbers, etc., were missing in their installations. If this is the case for you, there is a document at Microsoft which will explain how to fix the problem. In my experience, this document can only be printed from Internet Explorer, but not from Mozilla Firefox. Here is the URL: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102033461033.aspx On page 857, the instructions for Word 2003 say to "click on the Layout notebook tab". The tab is in the File-Page Setup dialog, and I forgot to include this in the instructions. Finally, I have extended the on-time due date on Lab #2 until 5:00pm on Monday, March 2. Thursday, February 19, 2009 -- NOTES FOR LAB #2 For Lab #2, the server address is: elsrv3.cs.umass.edu Your account has the same username as what you use for UMail at OIT, and your password is your student ID number. The first time you log in it will ask you to change your password. Do so. You should pick a new password that contains both uppercase and lowercase letters (but no dictionary words) and digits (but no sequences such as 123), and of at least 6-8 characters in length. If you forget your password please send me an email saying "Please change my password back to my ID number" (but don't include your ID number in the email; I already know it). Your Web address is: http://elsrv3.cs.umass.edu/~_____ with your own username in the blank (don't forget the tilde). At the end of lab #2 there is a directive to complete an assignment on email. For that assignment, found on page 841, use the email address: literacy@cs.umass.edu Do NOT send that email to me directly! Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Here is the class Web page updated for Spring 2009! Make certain that you check back here frequently for news, updates about labs and exams, etc. I'm slowly getting the other pages updated for Spring, so keep watching! Labs Next week is the start of the lab assignments for CMPSCI 105. As you know from the syllabus, you will work on Lab #1 during the week of February 9-13, and it is due anytime during the following week of February 16-20 (and is considered late after 5:00pm on the 20th). If you need help, our TAs will be in the campus labs on the following days: Monday, Goodell 613, 7:45pm through 9:15pm Tuesday, Goodell 613, 7:45pm through 9:15pm Wednesday, Goodell 613, 7:45pm through 9:15pm Thursday, Du Bois 720, 5:45pm through 7:15pm The labs are drop-in only, first-come-first-served. If nobody shows up during the first 15 minutes, the TA is free to leave. There may be other, non-CMPSCI 105 students in the labs, but they are not allowed to ask our TAs for help. There will be a lab monitor present as well, whose job will be to oversee the lab and printers, but that lab monitor is not a TA and may not be asked questions on 105 assignments. Midterm Exam The midterm exam has been scheduled for the date listed in the syllabus. Please reserve the evening of Thursday, March 26RD from 7:00pm to 9:00pm for the midterm exam. The rooms will be announced as the date gets closer. For people with a legitimate reason for missing the regular exam time, there will be a form to fill out to request taking the make-up exam on Monday, March 30TH at the same times in the evening. That make-up request form will be available on-line in early March. Teaching Assistants TA hours and evening drop-in lab hours will start the week of February 9TH. Here are your TAs for this semester. All of them have worked for me in the past, and all have worked to support CMPSCI 105 in particular (some TAs for several semesters). Zongfang Lin (HEAD TA) Lumin Zhang Dan Xie Chao Guo We will also have several undergraduate students who will help out by grading papers. When you come to the TA office to pick up your graded work, please remember to bring a picture ID. Any of the graduate TAs or undergraduate graders can get you your work from your folder (and, no, they cannot give you graded work for any other student). Book The book, available for $89.95 in the Textbook Annex, is Computer Literacy Workbook, 15TH edition, 2008-2009 printing, with the ORANGE cover. DO NOT buy any older edition with any other color cover! Lecture #1 Here is an outline of the first lecture, with enhancements not covered in class but important nonetheless, in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, go here. Pictures of Important Stuff The Ledlerle Graduate Research Center and Tower My office in LGRC A357 (not the Tower) The CMPSCI building The CMPSCI main office Buy a flash drive to store your files Previous Semester's Scores To see how previous classes fared, here are histograms from previous semesters: Fall 2006 Spring 2007 Fall 2007 Spring 2008 Fall 2008 Previous Semester's Exams For reference, here are some links to previous semesters' midterms and final exams, all in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF format): Spring 2003 Midterm Solution Fall 2003 Midterm Solution Fall 2003 Final Exam Solution Key Spring 2004 Midterm Solution Key Spring 2005 Midterm Solution Key Spring 2006 Midterm Solution Key Fall 2006 Midterm Solution Key Spring 2007 Midterm Solution Key Spring 2008 Midterm Solution Key Fall 2008 Midterm Solution Key

On-Line Quizzes, Forms, and Homeworks	Data for lab assignments
Dr. Bill's Office Hours	Teaching Assistants Office Hours
Description of CMPSCI 105 (1.2 Meg)	Some fun (free) PC software I wrote
Syllabus and Handbook	Send Email to Dr. Bill
Back to Dr. Bill's Classes	Back to Dr. Bill's Home Page