Computer Science 109:
Computers in Our World

Fall 2007
Princeton University

Brian Kernighan
Computer Science Dept.

Tue Jan 22 12:58:53 EST 2008

answers

summary of what we covered     2005 final     2005 answers     2006 final     2006 answers    

Lecture notes:    9/17    9/19    9/24-26    10/1-3    10/8    10/10    10/15-17    10/22    10/24    11/5    11/7    11/12    11/14-19    11/19-21    11/26    11/26-28    12/3-5    12/10    12/12   

Problem sets:    1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8    

Solutions:    1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8    

Labs:    1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8    

Old stuff:    playlist    survey results    25th birthday of the smiley    fashion copyrights    Dilbert prox card    binary counter    binary converter    color display    Toy simulator    lab 2 home pages    digital watch    finger counting    thinkgeek.com    2005 midterm    2005 midterm answers    2006 midterm    2006 midterm answers    Javascript examples    Lab 4 web pages    final exam schedule    file system patents    midterm answers    MSFT filing    UK identity theft    further courses    intro to public key crypto    public key simulator    credit card checksum checker    copyright reform    crypto in the comics   

Problem sets, labs and announcements will be posted only on the web page.

You are responsible for monitoring the web page frequently.

Course summary, schedule and syllabus     What was covered in 2006
Comparison of COS 109, 116 and 126   Office hours   Labs   Problem Sets   Exams   Lateness Policy   Collaboration Policy   Textbook   Bibliography

Course Summary

Computers, computing, and many things enabled by them are all around us. Some of this is highly visible, like personal computers and the Internet; much is invisible, like the computers in gadgets and appliances and cars, or the programs that fly our planes and keep our telephones and power systems and medical equipment working, or the myriad systems that quietly collect and share personal data about us.

Even though most people will not be directly involved with creating such systems, everyone is strongly affected by them. COS 109 is intended to provide a broad, if rather high level, understanding of how computer hardware, software, networks, and systems operate. Topics will be motivated by current issues and events, and will include discussion of how computers work; what programming is and why it is hard; how the Internet and the Web operate; and how all of these affect security, privacy, property and other issues. We will also touch on fundamental ideas from computer science, and some of the inherent limitations of computers.

This course is meant for humanities and social sciences students who want to understand how computing works and how it affects the world they live in. No prior experience with computers is assumed, and there are no prerequisites. COS 109 satisfies the QR requirement.

The labs are complementary to the classroom work, though intended to reinforce the basic ideas. They will cover a spectrum of practical applications; two of the labs are a gentle introduction to programming in Javascript.

The course will have fundamentally the same structure as in previous years, but lectures, case studies and examples change every year according to what's happening. Internet sites like MySpace and YouTube expose more and more of our private lives. Microsoft and Google are duking it out with each other and with a variety of governments. The battle between students and the RIAA and MPAA is moving into new territory. The careless and the clueless continue to do bad things with technology. Stay tuned -- this will be different by the time the course starts.

Schedule 

	 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S
Sep	 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
	16 17 18 19 20 21 22	first class
	23 24 25 26 27 28 29	problem set 1 due; lab 1 due
	30
Oct	    1  2  3  4  5  6	problem set 2 due; lab 2 due
	 7  8  9 10 11 12 13	problem set 3 due; lab 3 due
	14 15 16 17 18 19 20	problem set 4 due; lab 4 due
	21 22 23 24 25 26 27	takehome midterm due (no lab or problem set)
	28 29 30 31
Nov	             1  2  3	fall break
	 4  5  6  7  8  9 10	problem set 5 due; lab 5 due
	11 12 13 14 15 16 17	problem set 6 due; lab 6 due
	18 19 20 21 22 23 24	Thanksgiving (starts Thu, not Wed)
	25 26 27 28 29 30	problem set 7 due; lab 7 due
Dec	                   1
	 2  3  4  5  6  7  8	problem set 8 due; lab 8 due
	 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	last class
	16 17 18 19 20 21 22	winter break
	23 24 25 26 27 28 29
	30 31
Jan	       1  2  3  4  5
	 6  7  8  9 10 11 12	Q/A sessions 1/10 (4pm) and 1/13 (7pm) in CS 105
	13 14 15 16 17 18 19	Final Exam Friend 101 1:30 PM on 1/16
	20 21 22 23 24 25 26
	27 28 29 30 31

Syllabus

This will evolve over the semester, so check it out from time to time.

Sep 17, 19:    Introduction. What's in a computer

  • Reading: (1) A famous 1945 article by Vannevar Bush, As we may think, is often cited as predicting the Internet and the web. Think about how Bush's "Memex" relates to Google and your computer, and ask yourself what Bush got right and what he totally missed. (2) The Recording Industry Association of America has been continuously in the news for its attempts to stop sharing of music. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's report, RIAA v. The People: Four Years Later, is instructive. Note especially the Princeton reference in the sidebar on page 3; caveat lector. The RIAA's position may be found here. (3) Everyone sues everyone. This is Viacom v. YouTube, which is notable for the clout of the parties and the dollar amount at issue (¶10). Skim it to see how a real lawsuit is expressed and to get a sense of how technology is described in a legal document. (local copy in case of access problems)
  • Problem set 1, due Sep 26

    Sep 24, 26:    How does it work. Representation of information

  • Reading: (1) Preliminary discussion of the logical design of an electronic computing instrument. Original article by Burks, Goldstine and von Neumann. The first page is a remarkably clear description of how computers are organized, though in archaic terminology. There's no need to read much beyond that, though section 3 is also quite germane. (2) Wikipedia is an excellent source for many of the topics of this course; for this week, check out its articles on bits, bytes, and binary.
  • Lab 1: Operating systems, SSH, file transfer, a first web page
  • Problem set 2, due Oct 3

    Oct 1, 3:    What the components are and how they are made

  • Reading: Intel web pages on How microprocessors work, how chips are made, and Moore's Law.
  • Lab 2: HTML and web page design
  • Problem set 3, due Oct 10

    Oct 8, 10:    Software and algorithms

  • Reading: a Wikipedia article on algorithms. None of the details matter for the course, but skim it to see the different ways the basic ideas are expressed. (This article is also on the way to becoming an example of what is sometimes called "The Tragedy of the Uncommon": experts add more and more detail that can only be of use to other experts, and thus make the material inaccessible to those with little expertise.)
  • Lab 3: Advanced HTML
  • Problem set 4, due Oct 17

    Oct 15, 17:    Languages, programming; Javascript

  • Reading: some Javascript tutorials, out of many: one, two, three.
  • Lab 4: Graphics
  • Problem set 5, due Nov 7

    Oct 22, 24:    Javascript. Operating systems

  • Reading: Professor Michael Mahoney's 2007 Freshman seminar on The World of the Computer points to a good collection of interesting reading, including an oral history of Unix.
  • Take-home midterm, due Oct 26 at 5 PM. To be handed out in class on Oct 22. A Q/A session will be scheduled, probably on Oct 21.   
  • No lab, no problem set due this week.

    [fall break]

    Nov 5, 7:    File systems, information storage. Applications.

  • Reading: These articles describe some of the realities of software development: Patriot missile defense system failure, a GAO report; A Bug and a Crash, by James Gleick (who has written numerous other fine technical articles); the Therac-25 accidents (long and scary); a Mars Rover software problem (more technical, recent). Skim these and think about the many computer systems that we rely on.
  • This is an off-year for elections, in spite of the herd of presidential candidates. Browse these items on electronic voting machines, a troubling place to encounter the problems of software development, and hope that things are better a year from now: EFF page, Summary judgement, security analysis of a voting machine, the Diebold variations.
  • Lab 5: Introduction to Javascript / Programming fundamentals
  • Problem set 6, due Nov 14

    Nov 12, 14:    Networks & communications, Internet

  • Reading: Skim some of the Internet history papers
  • Lab 6: More Javascript / user interfaces
  • Problem set 7, due Nov 28:   

    Nov 19, 21:    World Wide Web

  • Reading: browse around in some ancient Web history
  • Lab 7: Spreadsheets
  • Problem set 8, due Dec 5

    Nov 26, 28:    Threats; security and privacy

  • No problem set or lab this week, but there is class on Nov 21.
  • Reading: what do they know about you? -- general information on privacy; the Electronic Privacy Information Center is also informative.

    Dec 3, 5:    Cryptography; Compression & error detection.

  • Reading: FAQ on cryptography. Good book chapter on public key cryptography. The Heavenly Jukebox, by Charles Mann, an excellent article from the middle of the Napster era, circa 2000. Think about how much has changed since, and how much is the same, but amplified. DRM, spyware and security by Ed Felten and Alex Halderman.
  • Lab 8: Privacy

    Dec 10, 12:    Intellectual property. Case studies. Wrapup

  • Reading: The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is an excellent, authoritative site dealing with the legal issues around free speech, intellectual property, and online activities. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also has good coverage of these issues. James Gleick has an interesting but now a bit dated article on software patents. Finally, Your Rights Online at Slashdot points to numerous stories about online rights.
    The original technical paper describing Google. Skip the hard bits, but get the insights. Note the comments about advertising in Appendix A.
  • No more labs or problem sets!

    [winter break]

    Jan 10:    Q/A session. (Depending on interest, this date might move around, and we might arrange for two sessions.)

    Jan 16:    Final exam, 1:30 PM, Friend Center 101   

  • Note that the final exam date is set by the registrar and I am not allowed to make any individual arrangements. Take this into account when making travel plans.
  • Registrar's Official Exam Schedule page.

    Administrative Information

    Lectures: Monday and Wednesday 11:00-12:20, Peyton 145.
    Lab sessions: Friend 005/007.

    Professor: Brian Kernighan, 311 CS Building, 609-258-2089, bwk at cs dot princeton dot edu. Office hours Monday and Tuesday 2:30-4:00, or by appointment, or just drop in if my door is open, which it usually is.

    Teaching Assistants and office hours:
       
        Siddhartha Brahma, sbrahma@, F 4-5, CS 001c
        Sunghwan Ihm, sihm@, Th 3-4, CS 416
        Joe Jiang, wenjiej@, Th 4-5, CS 415
        Eric Keller, ekeller@, T 11-12, Equad F wing
        Minlan Yu, minlan@, M 10-11, CS 318b
        Bill Zeller, wzeller@, T 4-5, CS 418a

    Send mail to cos109@princeton.edu with any questions any time.

    Labs:

    There will be eight labs to give hands-on practice in important aspects of computing. The labs are designed to be easily completed within three hours, if you have read through the instructions beforehand, which should take at most an hour. Undergrad lab assistants will be available to help out during scheduled lab sections. Labs are held in the Friend Center; they can be done in dorm rooms or campus clusters, but there will be lab assistants in Friend, and no help elsewhere.

    Labs are together worth about 20 percent of the course grade. To receive credit, students must complete labs by midnight Friday of the week they are assigned, unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

    Labs start the week of September 24. There will be no labs in the week before fall break, Thanksgiving week, or the last week of classes. Lab sessions are Monday through Friday in Friend 007 at 1:30 and Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 in Friend 005.

    Problem sets:

    Eight weekly problem sets, together worth about 20 percent of the course grade, will be assigned. Problems are intended to be straightforward, reinforcing material covered in class and providing practice in quantitative reasoning, and should take 1-2 hours to complete.

    Problem set solutions will be due by 5:00 PM Wednesday, one week after they are assigned. Turn in solutions in the box outside room 311 on the third floor of the CS building, or at the beginning of class. There will be no problem set due in the week before Fall break (midterm instead) or the last week of the term. No credit can be given for late submissions unless there are extraordinary circumstances, and in no case after solutions have been discussed in class.

    Lateness Policy

    For both labs and problem sets, extracurricular activities and heavy workloads in other classes don't count as "extraordinary", no matter how unexpected or important or time-consuming. And I am unsympathetic to the appeal that "this is my fifth class," since the same could be said of any one of the others.

    Nevertheless, everyone gets truly behind from time to time. In recognition of this, you are allowed two late submissions (no more than 4 days late in each case). Please let us know ahead of time that you will be submitting late so we can keep track.

    You must complete all labs and assignments to pass the course.

    Collaboration Policy

    You are encouraged to collaborate on problem sets, but you must turn in separate solutions; the names of your collaborators must appear on each submission.

    (This elaboration of the policy on collaboration is paraphrased from COS 126:) You must reach your own understanding of the problem and discover a path to its solution. During this time, discussions with friends are encouraged. However, when the time comes to write down the solution to the problem, such discussions are no longer appropriate -- the solution must be your own work, so you must work on the written assignment on your own. If you have a question, you can certainly ask friends or teaching assistants, but do not, under any circumstances, copy another person's work or present it as your own. This is a violation of academic regulations.

    Another way to look at this: If I asked you to explain how you got your answer, you would have no trouble doing so, because you understood the material completely.

    Examinations

    There may well be short, unannounced, in-class quizzes to verify your existence and test your understanding. These will be worth 5-10 percent of the course grade. Regular class attendance is expected; frequent absences are grounds for a failing grade regardless of other performance.

    A take-home, open-book midterm examination will be given during the week before fall break. It will cover material presented and discussed in class and any relevant reading through Wednesday, October 17. It will be worth 20 percent of the course grade.

    An open-book final examination will be given during the fall-term exam period. It will cover all of the relevant readings and material presented and discussed in class. It will be worth 35-40 percent of the course grade.

    There will be question and answer sessions before exams. These are not meant to be an orderly review and are not a substitute for missed lectures, but they are a chance for you to ask questions about course material.

    Sorry: no collaboration on take-home exams or the final.

    Textbook and Readings

    There is no assigned text for this course; I have never found anything that seems right. Fluency with Information Technology by Larry Snyder (Addison-Wesley, 2005) is the closest so far, but it's expensive. Notes and readings will be posted online. The weekly readings are for background, context, general education, and/or entertainment. You are not expected to know any of the detailed content, but you should at least understand the general ideas.

    I have half a dozen books that purport to cover the same kinds of areas as the course. None feels right to me, but among them there is coverage of many class topics, so you might find it helpful to browse in them a bit. Available for short term loans; drop in to take a look. Meanwhile, check out the bibliography for other suggestions.