How to Use the Course Web

For a number of reasons, I have chosen to make many of the handouts for this course available only in electronic format on the World-Wide Web. I will not go over basic use of the Web, since you should know about it from other courses. You should make sure to ask me if you have any questions about using the World-Wide Web.

The course web can be found at You may want to bookmark that page.

A number of important pieces of information are in the course web, including assignments, readings, requirements, syllabus, and office hours. I assume that if I put information on the Web, you will (eventually) read it.

• At the bare minimum, you should read all the pieces of basic information about the course. Of particular interest is the syllabus, which lists all the readings. I will also hand out a copy of this information on the first day of class.
• I prepare a rough outline for each class. Most students find these useful, and you should feel free to refer to them before, during, and after class. Since this class is becoming more lab-based, it is likely that in laboratory sessions there will be more information in the outlines than I will cover in class.
• Each outline begins with some notes. You can find just the notes in a separate news page.

At the top and bottom of every page are a series of links to important components of the course web. These are

• Instructions. This set of instructions.
• Search. A simple search facility for the course web.
• Current. The outline of the current or next class. You may need to reload the page to get the appropriate version.
• News. The course news, taken from the outlines.
• Syllabus. The course syllabus.
• Glance. An abbreviated version of the syllabus.
• Links. A collection of links that you might find useful.
• Handouts. Handouts for the class.
• Stories. Short stories of computing and society. You will need to contribute your own this semester.
• Outlines. The outlines of classes that have been held. You can sometimes access other outlines through the syllabus.
• Labs. Laboratory assignments. When appropriate, we'll do labs in class (or as take-home assignments).
• Assignments. A list of the assignments for the class, accompanied by their due dates. (There may not be any assignments except those mentioned in the course front door.)
• Examples. A list of examples generated for this class.