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INSS 510

Computer Concepts

University of Maryland, European Division

Term III, 00/01

 

Lecturer: F. Schindler, Ph.D.

Jan 15 - March 09, 2001

 

Harrogate, UK

Tuesdays & Thursdays

 

E-mail: fschindl@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

16:30-19:30 p.m.

 

Office Hours: TBA

Course Description:: (3 semester hours) Prerequisites: All undergraduate prerequisites or permission of instructor. Programming skills are required. The course will provide an overview of computer concepts as they apply to MIS professionals. Emphasis will be placed on basic machine architecture including data representation and manipulation; principles of operating systems; software algorithms and programming languages. In addition, basic concepts of data organization, file structures, and principles of networking will be examined. Emerging trends in computer technology and their impact on organizational information systems will also be discussed.

Students will be required to complete programming projects..

Course Objectives: Upon completion of the course, participants should understand:

1. Basic principles of computer architecture

2. Major operating system concepts

3. The interrelationships between operating systems and computer hardware

4. Concepts of programming languages, including machine, assembly and high level languages

Course Requirements:

Midterm Examination

30%

 

Final Examination

30 %

 

Programming Assignments

40 %

(All exams are closed-book; the final is not comprehensive. late programs will be penalized 25%)

Grading Scale:

90% or above -- A

 

80-89% -- B

 

70-79% -- C

 

Below 70% -- F

 

Text: Stephen D. Burd, Systems Architecture: Hardware and Software in Business Information Systems (2nd Ed).

 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

 

 

Topics Discussed

Activities

 

Class 1

Jan 16

Introduction to course, lecturer, Architecture Overview

Assignment: Read Chapters 1 & 15

 

Class 2

Jan 18

HISTORY--History of Computer Hardware; Computer Hardware: processors, functions, and components; Performance Measures and Design Functions; History of Software; Programming Languages; Systems Software; Systems Development

Assignment: Read Chapters 2 and 3

 

Class 3

Jan 23

Data Representation: math, physics, signals, goals; representation of numbers, characters, and functions; memory addressing; data structures

Assignment: Read Chapter 4 and Chapter 11, pages 426-439

 

Class 4

Jan 25

Data Storage--Alternatives and Tradeoffs; Storage Devices; CPU Memory Access

Assignment: Read Chapter 6

 

Class 5

Jan 30

PROCESSOR PERFORMANCE ISSUES--Processors and Instruction Sets; Instruction Formats; Clock rates; of RFPs; CPU registers and word size; Processor Implementation; Future Trends

Assignment: Read Chapter 5

 

Class 6

Feb 01

System Integration and Performance--System Bus; Logical/Physical I/O; Device Controllers; I/O Processing; I/O Storage Device Performance Issues; Application development: Compilation; Support libraries; Intrepreters; Debugging; Programming languages and development tools

Assignment: Read Chapters 7 & 11-pages 439+

 

Class 7

Feb 06

Review for Mid-Term

Read Chapters 1-7

 

Class 8

Feb 08

Mid-Term Exam

Chapters 1-7

 

Class 9

Feb 13

Data and Network Communication: Overview; Encoding Methods; Transmission Media; Channel and Media Organization; Coordinating Communications

Assignment: Read Chapter 8

 

Class 10

Sept. 15

Distributing Computer Resources--Network services; Network Architecture; Open Systems Integration Network Layers; Standard Network Architecture

Assignment: Read Chapter 9

 

Class 11

Feb 20

Input/Output Devices and Technology: Keyboards, Pointers, Printers, Displays, Scanners, Optical Devices, Audio devices

Assignment: Read Chapter 10

 

Class 12

Feb 22

ADVANCED TOPICS: Operating Systems: Overview; Resource Allocation; Process Management; CPU Allocation; Memory Management

Assignment: Read Chapter 12

 

Class 13

Feb 27

ADVANCED TOPICS: Mass Storage Access and Management: Overview; Storage Allocation; Directory Content and Structure; File Organization, Operation, Manipulation, Security, and Administration

Assignment: Read Chapter 13

 

Class 14

March 01

ADVANCED TOPICS: Input/Output Service Functions; Command Layer; Network I/O

Assignment: Read Chapter 14

 

Class 15

March 06

Review of the Course Content

Read Chapters 1-15

 

Class 16

March 08

Final Exam

Final on Chapters 1-15

 

 

email: fschindl@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Instructor:

Frank Schindler B.S. (1978), M.S. (1980) in Mathematics

Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Ph.D. (1983) in Mathematics

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Dr. Schindler has taught various computer information science classes and seminars at the University of Maryland, European Division. Besides that he has worked as software engineer for IBM, Kingston, N.Y. , Prime Computer, Framingham, M.A. and Diagonal Systems, AG, Zuerich, Switzerland.

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