There are a few different parts to the first lab. Either scroll down the page, or click on any of the below links to move directly to that section. This page contains a brief overview of each subject. For more information, click on the links provided.
Welcome to Computer Science 1001 - Introduction to Computers. This class is designed to teach you the fundamentals of computer science, both in a theoretical (lecture) and a practical (labs) manner.
Most of the information needed to accomplish the labs are available through these web pages. So, please use them whenever you need. Also, feedback is encouraged, so if you see any way to improve these pages to help you retrieve information more easily, let the T.A.s know.
In this first lab, you will learn about the internet by using two basic uses of it: e-mail and Netscape.
Finally, as with each lab, you are expected to turn something in...just to prove that you understood the lab and stayed at least partly awake.
The internet is simply a name given to a bunch of computers, located all over the world, which are able to talk to each other (notice, there is no capitalization -- it's not THAT important!!). There are many different ways to use the internet, such as: e-mail, browsing (using http), ftp, telnet, gopher, irc and newsgroups. To learn more about these, click here .
If you've never heard of Netscape before, have never "surfed the web", or want more background on Netscape click here .
Netscape is a browser of the World Wide Web (which is the name given to the cool looking part of the internet) that uses http, hyper-text transfer protocol. Netscape gives you the ability to look at public information on many computers worldwide by just clicking on links.
The terms you should know for this are: web page, http, URL, image, link, download, upload, browse, and search. You also should be able to do the following:
- Open up and close down Netscape
- Understand what Netscape is, and how it finds information using addresses
- Use the Back, Forward, Home and Reload buttons
- Be able to find different commands in the menus
- Go to a specific web page using it's address (URL)
- Follow links to other web pages
- Scroll around the information on a web page
To learn more about these functions, go to the Netscape page.
That's it, you are free to go!