CSCI 1300 Course Library

General References

Website for our textbook, with a wide variety of interactive exercises, labs, additional materials and supplements for the course.

Study Guides for MWF class section tests (four tests per semester)

Test #1 Study Guide, chapters 1-3
Test #2 Study Guide, chapters 4, 5, 10
Test #3 Study Guide, chapters 11,12,15
Test #4 Study Guide, chapters 6, 13, 16

Study Guides for TTH class section tests (three tests per semester)

Final Exam Study Guide, all sections

Outline of additional major topics for the final exam.

CSCI 1300 Key Terms and Concepts

This document-in-progress contains lists of key terms and concepts for each major topic covered by the course. It can be used as a review/study guide for quizzes and tests.

Recommended Readings

List of recommended readings in computer science.

File Extensions and Programs

Ever wondered what a file extension means? Ever wondered what program you use to work on a file? This site has a comprehensive list of file extensions, along with the program(s) you can use to access each file.

How To Become a Hacker

Eric Raymond's classic treatise on what constitutes a hacker, what a hacker is not, and how to teach yourself to become one.

Unit References

Introduction

History of Computing: An outline of the history of computing from 3000 B.C. to present. Shows dates and important events, with hyperlinks to additional information on the World Wide Web.

Data Representation

Data Representation Study Sheet: A summary of all the numeric conversions, with examples.
Conversion charts: One page reference sheet with binary/octal and binary/hexadecimal conversion tables and powers of 2.
Number Systems Tutorial: A brief tutorial on number systems.
Quick conversions: A quick method of converting binary numbers to decimal.
An article explaining binary, octal, and hexadecimal numbers.
Converting Binary, Decimal, and Hexadecimal Notation: Another page discussing base conversions.
Numeric Conversion Data: Includes a table showing decimal/binary/ternary (that's base 3)/octal/hexadecimal values and a Java-based conversion calculator.
How Many Bytes...: How many bytes does it take to store _____?
ASCII/ANSI symbol table
Unicode organization home page: includes background information and the current working definition.

Computer Hardware and Architecture

Logic Gates: Brief guide to digital logic gates
Introduction to the PC: PC Guide's Introduction to the PC gives a nice overview of the components of a PC, along with links to more detailed information if you want it.

Computer Software

Operating System Study Sheet

Spreadsheet (Excel) Tutorials

Intermediate Excel (downloadable PowerPoint file)

Spreadsheet Examples (downloadable, Excel format)

Database (Access) Tutorials

Designing Your Database Application
Creating Your Database and Tables
Modifying Your Table Design
Report Basics
Sample Database for Database Survey Lab (self-extracting ZIP files -- unzip into its own folder before using)
Microsoft Access Music Collection database template

Presentation Software (PowerPoint) Tutorials

Getting Started With Microsoft PowerPoint

Computer Networks

Setting up a Personal Computer Network: Linksys Corporation has a nice computer network resource center, including an excellent on-line guide to help you set up a personal computer network at home or office.

Computer Security

Computer Security Presentation: Powerpoint slides from a four-hour talk on computer security issues and techniques.
Computer Security References: Word document listing recommended computer security tools and corresponding websites.
Guide to Spyware: Brief tutorial on spyware and malware.

The Internet and the World Wide Web

Web Page Design Notes -- Part I, XHTML: Notes for designing and implementing Web pages using XHTML.
Web Page Design Notes -- Part II, CSS: Notes for controlling style and appearance of Web pages with Cascading Style Sheets.
Web Page Template Files: Self-extracting archive file containing templates for a basic web page and a basic CSS style sheet, plus two simple Javascripts to display the last update date of the page and an email to link.
Internet Law Topics: Information from Nolo Press on various aspects of Internet law.
Programmer's File Editor: A freeware text editing program with some major advantages over Windows Notepad. Download by clicking the link above, then create a directory and unzip the file into that directory. Very simple to use, very intuitive.
CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor: CoffeeCup's html editor comes in both this free version and in a shareware version. This is the freeware version, which you can download and try out.
HomeSite HTML Editor: You can also download a 60-day trial version of this very nice html editor and check it out.
Irfan View graphics viewer: An easy-to-use graphics program, useful for resizing image files or converting to .jpg format for the web.