CS 105P
Week 1: Getting comfortable with the computer
Overview
This course is an entry-level course. No prior computer knowledge or experience is
assumed. If you have never used a computer before, you should expect to spend some
additional time during the beginning of the course learning the basics. You will have an
opportunity during the independent study portion of the course to challenge yourself and
work at a pace that is just right for you.
Lab Objectives
- Topic 1: Starting and Stopping the Computer
- How do you turn on the computer?
- How do you use the mouse to position the cursor and specify an action?
- On the keyboard what are the groups of keys and their function?
- How do you log into the computer? (Different labs have different methods of logging in.)
- How do you select a command from a menu?
- How do you turn off the computer?
- What can you do if you run out of mouse pad as you are dragging the mouse?
- Topic 2: Starting and Stopping Applications
- How do you start/stop an application?
- How do you identify what applications are running?
- How do you switch to a running application?
- How do you move a window?
- How do you resize a window?
- What do the buttons in the upper right-hand corner of the window do?
- How do you view a large document in a small window? (Scroll bars)
- How do you identify a document, a folder, and an application?
- Topic 3: Entering Text and creating a document
- How do you open an existing document?
- How do you create a new document?
- How do you enter text?
- How do you select text? (Click and drag. Shift click. Double click.)
- How do you position the cursor in the edit field?
- What are the different ways to erase or edit text? (Backspace, Highlight and delete,
delete key)
- How do you delete a file?
- Topic 4: Browsing the Internet
Lecture Concepts
Operating
System Concepts
- What will you learn in this course?
- Why is this class important?
- What is a computer?
- What do computers do? (input, process, output)
- What is the difference between data and information?
- Why are computers frustrating?
- What is hardware and software?
- How do you determine if a component is hardware or software?
- What is the similarities and differences between the computers placed in digital watches
and the computers we are using in class?
- What is an operating system?
- Describe the following categories of computers: supercomputer, mainframe, minicomputer,
personal computer, workstation, personal digital assistant.
- What are the similarities between a Macintosh computer and a Windows computer?
- There are a lot of keys on this keyboard. What are they all used for?
- Why do some computers have login screens?
- What are screen savers?
- What is a window?
- What is a menu?
- What is a menu command?
- Why are menu commands different in different applications?
- What is selecting a window?
- What is the difference between the Internet and World Wide Web?
- What's so special about the Internet?
- What is hypertext? (non sequential text fragments linked together with hot spots called
hypertext links) (Need a computer to read hypertext. Reader is author in the sense that
the reader can control the sequence of information.) You can find a good intro here.
- What is hypermedia? (links between other media. ie click on a small picture to display a
larger version of the picture. Or, click on a picture of a person to hear an audio remark
by that person.)
- What is a hyperlink?
- How is the Internet organized?
- Who owns the Internet?
- What are the similarities between the Internet and the phone system?
- What are the parts of an Internet address computer name?
- What is DNS?
Terms
Computer
Mouse
Hardware
Software
Application
Monitor
Window
Icon
Cursor
Scrollbar
Keyboard
Diskette
Hard drive
World Wide Web
Internet
Hypertext
Hypermedia
Hyperlink
Home Page
Protocal
URL
Interface
DNS