Video Notes

There are videos on reserve available for you to view at the Media Counter in the lower level of Miller Nichols Library. These videos are NOT required but are option viewing for your own interest and enrichment. They are not required for the Quizzes (which are based on the textbook). However, you might find them informative, as some people might absorb information easier through a video, than through a book.

The videos range in topics about the history of computers, history of the Internet, historical people in the computer industry, etc. One favorite is a speech that Grace Murray Hopper gave to a graduating class of cadets. It is well-worth the viewing. Below are some notes that point out the highlights of the speech, and information about Grace Murray Hopper. Enjoy.

Hopper Video Notes, Highlights

• Commodore 64 namesake
• Documented first "Computer Bug"
• Issues brought up are still viable today
  • Flow of Information
  • Value of Information, over time; Value curve of data
  • The Hardware/Software diagram, showing communications flow, shows People as being the most important, yet most overlooked, factor in Information Flow.
  • Why are calculations important to military? (Esp. WWII?)
    • Encryption codes, to keep messages secret (Remember Turing and Enigma Machine).
    • Ballistics (Uses calculus; Remember Feinman story of shifts of students doing calculus in WWII.)
• Words of Wisdom from Hopper
  • Extend and Generalize each Solution
  • Always make Plans based on 2 Reviews:
    • In the case of all possible events/costs.
    • The Cost of NOT doing the Plan.
  • Better to Apologize, rather than asking Permission
    • Using the Report Strategy can work...!
  • Ships are Safe in Harbor, but Ships are not built to be Safe in Harbor.
• Critique of Hopper
  • On wasting a microsecond
    • In those days, storage was limited and expensive; Had to write "tight code";
    • Speed and Storage now are plentiful and cheap, so Speed and Storage are not issues anymore. Time and understandability in code more important now; Human hours spent on troubleshooting other people's code are more costly now.
    • Speed has pretty much topped out under the current technology; Next generation will likely have to be a new paradigm of processor (e.g. optical computers, or protein-based/bacterial-based processors).
    • Massive Parallel Processing is commonly done today...but has been largely superceded by Distributed Computing (analgous to an army of all doing the same task, moving to a new task en masse vs. an assembly line with different groups doing different specialized jobs symultaneously).
    • Importance of Hardware vs. Data; Data is more important.
    • We now have Databases that DO talk to each other and share info. It is very effective and efficient when they do. However, an issue today is using that same Database technology to share consumer info raises legal and privacy right issues.
    • Planning for tomorrow's equipment, needs to be done, but can also be overdone.
      • Dot.Com Bust of 2000 was due partly to high technology expansion expectations that surpassed existing technology (e.g. Broadband expectations overly optimistic, given the state of technology).
      • Political climate can influence technology (e.g. Al Gore was pushing Internet/Web technologies, but losing election made silicon industry more uncertain).