Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Welcome to Principles of Computer Technology, Fall 2018!

Thursday:

Welcome! 
Discuss rules and expectations, course outline, current events assignment, "Good Questions" homework for Tuesday.

Friday:
Homework for the beginning of class today: register for turnitin, bring back parent/guardian contact information sheet, take this survey to help me know a little about you.

Mr J's homeroom, also please bring back the yellow 'Student Handbook Acknowledgement Form", and any other beginning-of-year forms that you need - emergency information, transportation, and military recruiting info.


Begin unit 1: Digital Representation of Real World Information 
Essential Questions:

  • How can a computer work with so many kinds of information if all it can do is process ones and zeroes?
  • How can a computer turn physical phenomena like sound and pictures into ones and zeroes?
  • How can a computer turn ones and zeroes into physical phenomena like pictures and sounds?

Ones and zeroes: introduce binary/hex numbers
Give out worksheet for Tuesday.

The Typhoon, used by technicians in RCA Laboratories, is typical of the huge computers in the 1950s. The panels in the background house thousands of electron tubes and miles of intricate wiring. (https://gizmodo.com/5944572/25-supercomputers-that-fill-entire-rooms)