Dan Armendariz, Instructor
danallan@mit.edu
http://danallan.net/

David J. Malan, Instructor
malan@post.harvard.edu
http://www.cs.harvard.edu/malan/

Harvard Extension School

This course is all about understanding: understanding what's going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer, how everything you do on the Internet can be watched by others, and how your computer can become infected with a worm just by being turned on. Designed for students who use computers and the Internet every day but don't fully understand how it all works, this course fills in the gaps. Through lectures on hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, privacy, website development, programming, and more, this course "takes the hood off" of computers and the Internet so that students understand how it all works and why. Through discussions of current events, students are exposed also to the latest technologies.

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These lectures were filmed in Northwest Science Labs in HDV by Chris Thayer.

If you have questions or would like to discuss the material with others, you may want to join the Google Group at right.

Lecture 1: Hardware ▶ play

Computation. Overview. Bits and bytes. ASCII. Processors. Motherboards: buses, connectors, ports, slots, and sockets. Memory: ROM, RAM, and cache.

Lecture 2: Hardware, Continued ▶ play

Secondary storage: floppy disks, hard disks (PATA and SATA), CDs, and DVDs. Virtual Memory. Expansion buses and cards: AGP, ISA, PCI, PCI Express, and SCSI. I/O devices. Peripherals. How to shop for a computer. History.

Lecture 3: Software

It's the first of two movie nights for Computer Science E-1! A look at "how modern day visionaries Bill Gates and Steve Jobs changed the world" by way of Pirates of Silicon Valley, a dramatization of the history of Microsoft Corporation and Apple Computer, Inc.

Lecture 4: The Interweb ▶ play

Networks: clients and servers, peer-to-peer, LANs and WLANs, the Internet, and domains. Email: addresses; IMAP, POP and SMTP; netiquette; spam; emoticons; snail mail; and listservs. SSH. The World Wide Web: URLs and HTTP. Blogs. Instant messaging. SFTP. Usenet.

Lecture 5: The Interweb, Continued ▶ play

Network topologies. The Internet: backbones, TCP/IP, DHCP, and DNS. NAT. Ethernet: NICs, cabling, switches, routers, and access points. Wireless: IR, RF, Bluetooth, and WiFi. ISPs. Modems: dialup, cable, and DSL.

Lecture 6: Multimedia ▶ play

Graphics: file formats, bitmaps and vectors, and compression. Audio: file formats and compression. Video (and audio): file formats and compression. Streaming.

Lecture 7: Security ▶ play

Threats to privacy: cookies, forms, logs, and data recovery. Security risks: packet sniffing, passwords, phishing, hacking, viruses and worms, spyware, and zombies. Piracy: WaReZ and cracking.

Lecture 8: Security, Continued ▶ play

Defenses: scrubbing, firewalls, proxy servers, VPNs, cryptography, virus scanners, product registration and activation.

Lecture 9: Website Development ▶ play

Web servers: structure, permissions, and implementations. Static webpages: XHTML, well-formedness, and validity. Dynamic webpages: SSIs, DHTML, AJAX, CGI, ASPs, and JSPs.

Lecture 10: Programming ▶ play

Pseudocode. Constructs: instructions, variables, conditions, branches, and loops. Languages: interpreted and compiled. Scratch.

Lecture 11: Startups

It's the second of two movie nights for Computer Science E-1! A look at the rise and fall of the dotcom era by way of Startup.com, a documentary that traces the history of govWorks.com.

Lecture 12: Exciting Conclusion ▶ play

Where were you? Where are you? Where can you go?

Below are problem sets (i.e., homework assignments).

If you have questions or would like to discuss the material with others, you may want to join the Google Group at right.

Problem Set 1: O, Hai!
Problem Set 2: Hardware and Software
Problem Set 3: Teh Interwebs
Problem Set 4: Hardware, Software, and teh Tubes
Problem Set 5: Multimedia
Problem Set 6: Security
Problem Set 7: Website Development
Problem Set 8: Programming
Problem Set 9: kthxbai