Lab #9 is due on Friday, May 3, and #10 is due by the final exam. I STRONGLY encourage people to get both #9 and #10 done at one sitting (#10 flows naturally from #9, and both are short) and turn them in this week. This will reduce your load before the final exam, and will reduce the grading load on the TAs later on.

This is the last day for office hours, both for me and the TAs. The TAs have their own finals to study for. I cannot be on campus tomorrow (Thursday), but I will be in 12:00-1:00 on Friday. After that, I will not be on campus any particular day or time.

The final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, May 8^TH, at 4:00pm, in Totman Gym (where we had the midterm). Totman Gym in May can be hot, particularly in the afternoon, so watch the weather closely. If it looks to be a warm, sunny day, please dress appropriately, with loose clothing, and bring a water bottle. We don't want anybody passing out from overheating!

Folks needing a make-up exam should have a good reason, and should have already filled out the on-line request form in the Quizzes, Forms, and Homeworks Web page.

As with the midterm, the exam will be open-book, open-notes, no electronics. Turn your iPods and cell phones off, leave calculators and computers at home. Anything brought in on paper is allowed. Bring a picture ID. Any makeup exam must be taken during final's week.

The exam is essentially entirely spreadsheets and databases. I won't be able to put on the site (below) any more final exams from previous semesters, but there is one currently available. Also, ALL previous midterms listed below have spreadsheet questions that can be used as study guides. The sample questions in the Exam chapter in the back of volume 3 are also good study guides.

Any extra-credit work (Extra-Credit Web Page or Term Paper) are due NO LATER than the day of the final exam.

Here is a printable review sheet from a previous semester.

BRING A PICTURE ID TO THE FINAL EXAM!!!!

I will hang on to your old graded work for one semester, but will discard it at the end of Fall 2013. If you wish me to send you your final exam and all other graded work, please bring to the final exam a self-addressed 9×12 Manilla envelope or larger (8½×11 is too small) with about $3-$4 in postage and I will mail it to you after the grades are done. If you include loose stamps I will return any extra postage to you.

Grades are due by Tuesday, May 14^TH, and we will not have them available before that time. Please do not pester us about the grades before then! DO NOT ask for extra work to do after the grades are done in order to boost an undesirable grade! When the grades are in, we're done!

If you are planning to take any more computer courses, particularly courses from me for the I.T. minor(120, 145, 191P/119), I strongly recommend that you hang on to your copy of the Computer Literacy Workbook - you will find it to be a valuable resource for your other computer classes.

All the midterm exams have been graded and entered into our database. Please come pick up your exam, plus other graded work, from LGRC A355 during TA office hours. The average on the exam was 76.8 (yay!), and several people scored above 100% (double yay!). Unfortunately, several people scored very badly (one 4 and one 9) as well. Here is a link to the solution key. Here is a histogram of how people did overall:

If you scored 65 or under, you should probably come see me during office hours so that I can make certain you are keeping up with all the rest of the work.

The midterm is scheduled for this Thursday, the 7^TH, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in Totman Gym.

REMEMBER TO BRING A PICTURE ID TO THE EXAM!!!!!

People needing to take a make-up exam for legitimate reasons (work or class schedules, family requirements, etc.) may request to do so through the proper form in the Quizzes page below. The make-up exam is Monday, March 11^TH in LGRC A301 (across the hall from my office), also from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

The midterm is open-book, open-notes. You may bring anything on paper that you wish. No electronics: no calculators or computers, turn your cell phones off, and please leave your iPods in your backpacks. You may use pen or pencil (please no red pens).

For study purposes, you should look at the sample exams at the bottom of this page, BUT there will be NO QUESTIONS ON SPREADSHEETS on this exam. Since the exam is open book, I recommend that you use small Post-It notes to index frequently used pages of the book so that you don't spend a lot of time looking for things.

Due date on Lab #2 extended to Monday, February 25^TH.

For LAB #3, pages 913-914, please use one of the following FTP addresses (instead of garbo.uwasa.fi, which no longer works):

• ftp.sunet.se
• nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov (lots of space pix)

Due date on Lab #3 extended to Monday, March 4^TH.

Newer versions of Safari on the Mac don't seem to have the View-Source option (happened since this year's book was printed). Here's how to get it:

1. In the menu click: Safari-Preferences
2. Click to set "Show Develop Menu in menu bar"
3. Close preferences
4. In the menu click: Develop-Show Page Source
   The source will appear in the bottom of the window.
5. Click somewhere in the text
6. Key in Command-A to select all
7. Key in Command-C to copy all the text to the clipboard
8. Paste into TextEdit for printing.

Midterm

It's official: the midterm will be held the evening of Thursday, March 7, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, in Totman Gym. The make-up exam for people with legitimate excuses will be held in the evening of Monday, March 11, also from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, in LGRC A301 (across the hall from my office).

Lab #1 Due This Week

Remember that lab #1 is due this week. You may turn it in in-class, or bring it by the TA office (LGRC A355) before 5:00pm Friday. Remember as well that there are TAs holding office hours in LGRC A355, and there are evening help-lab sessions in DuBois 1685 (side room) Tuesday through Thursday, 5:45pm-7:15pm. If nobody shows up in the first 15 minutes or so of the lab period the TA is free to leave.

Talking to the Server

For labs #2 and #3 you will need access to our server:

• The host address is elsrv3.cs.umass.edu
• Your username is the same as your UMail username
• Your password will initially be ELxxxaaa, where xxx is the last three digits of your student ID and aaa is the first three letters of your username.

For example, if Fred Smith has username fsmith and student ID number 12345678, then his initial password would be EL678fsm (with uppercase and lowercase as shown). We'll use this username and password in all the following examples.

Telnet for PC users

In the OIT lab in DuBois 1685 use the PuTTY program, which is already installed. Do not attempt to download or install it yourself.

At home, PC users need to download a program called PuTTY to their computer. Go to the main site, click on the Download tab, and download putty.exe to your desktop. It is the upper left link on the download page. There is no installation for this program, but you should scan it for viruses. Run it.

• In the Host Name box of the opening dialog place the host name: elsrv3.cs.umass.edu
• Verify that the SSH radio button is set.
• Click the Open button.
• When the server responds (black screen) with login as: type in just your username. (Fred Smith would type in fsmith)
• When the server asks for the password, type it in. THE PASSWORD WILL NOT ECHO TO THE SCREEN. (Fred Smith would type in EL678fsm)
• You should now be connected to the server and can give it commands.
• At the end of your session, type logout to drop the connection to the server and close the PuTTY window.

Telnet for Mac users

Mac users do not need to download a program to their computer for this step. Go to Finder-Applications-Utilities and run the Terminal application.

• At the Terminal command line, type ssh, a space, your username, an at-sign, and the host address. (Fred Smith would type ssh fsmith@elsrv3.cs.umass.edu)
• When the server responds (white screen) and asks for the password, type it in. THE PASSWORD WILL NOT ECHO TO THE SCREEN. (Fred Smith would type in EL678fsm)
• You should now be connected to the server and can give it commands.
• At the end of your session, type logout to close the connection to the server and return to the Terminal command line.
• Type logout again to close the Terminal program.

Changing Passwords

When you first log in, via PuTTY on the PC or via ssh through Terminal on the Mac, the first thing the server will demand is that you change your password. Change it to something containing digits and both upper and lower case letters, with no sequences or dictionary words (for example "frog1234" is a bad password because is contains both a dictionary word and a sequence). If you forget your password I cannot retrieve it for you, but I can set it back to the initial ELxxxaaa default for you.

FTP for PC users

In the OIT lab in DuBois 1685 use the WinSCP program, which should be already installed. (There may be another tool available instead of WinSCP.) Do not attempt to download or install it yourself.

At home, PC users need to download and install a program called WinSCP. Go to the main site and download the WinSCP 4.3.6 Installation Package. WARNING: This site has an advertisement linked to a software package with a big DOWNLOAD button -- DO NOT CLICK THE DOWNLOAD BUTTON! Click the link to Installation Package (sponsored) instead. Once the package has been downloaded, install it. Accept all the default settings during the installation that pertain to WinSCP (turn off any options to install other software). Run it. In the WinSCP Login of the opening dialog place the following items:

• Host name: elsrv3.cs.umass.edu
• User name: your user name (Fred Smith would type in fsmith)
• Password: your password (Fred Smith would type in EL678fsm), password will appear as dots.
• Click the Login button.

FTP for Mac users

Mac users need to download and install a program called Fugu. Go to the main site, click the Download link, then download and install the Fugu-1.2.0-English.dmg program. Owners of Macs running "Lion" (OS X 10.5 and above) have a separate link on that page to download a compatible version of Fugu. Run it.

• In the Connect to: box put the Host name: elsrv3.cs.umass.edu
• In the Username: box put your user name (Fred Smith would type fsmith)
• Leave Port: and Directory: boxes blank.
• Click the Connect button
• When the password box appears, type your password (Fred Smith would use EL678fsm), password will appear as dots.
• Click the Authenticate button.

Warning!

WARNING #1: If you are attempting to log in to the elsrv3.cs.umass.edu server using any of the telnet or FTP tools and FAIL six times, the server will lock out your IP address for at least 24 hours. It thinks you are trying to break in! If this happens to you, you will get a message such as "Server unexpectedly closed connection" or something about "ssh-exchange-identification". You can then attempt to log in from another machine (on a different IP address) or you can wait until the server clears yours to try again.

WARNING #2: If you attempt to log in from a public wireless hotspot such as the Campus Center, please remember to first log in to OIT's wireless through your Web browser BEFORE attempting to connect to our server. If you aren't connected to the OIT wireless network, neither PuTTY nor WinSCP nor ssh nor Fugu will work.

Welcome to all new incoming students, and welcome back to everybody else! This is the main Web page for CMPSCI 105 (Computer Literacy). Check back here throughout the semester for news and updates pertinent to the class. Here are a few tidbits to get you started.

Enrolling

If you are attempting to enroll in CMPSCI 105 and cannot do so through SPIRE, please come see me. I will give out override forms to those students I accept into the class, to be filled out and taken to the main office in the CMPSCI building.

Anyone looking for another computer class may wish to consider my CMPSCI 145 (Representing, Storing, and Retrieving Information) class, which meets at 11:15am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Herter 227, or my CMPSCI 191P (Introduction to Programming in Python) class, which meets at 2:30pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in LGRT 121 (formerly LGRT 101). I have a handful of seats open in both classes. CMPSCI 105, CMPSCI 145, and CMPSCI 191P all fulfill requirements for the IT (Information Technology) minor. If you are interested in the minor, please see me for more information.

Book

The book, to be available in the Textbook Annex, is Computer Literacy Workbook, 19^TH edition, 2012-2013 printing, with the BLUE cover. DO NOT buy any older edition with any other color cover! The new edition is a rewrite of the old book in three volumes and has had updates to the material, and the lab assignments have been overhauled (many, but not all, are Mac-friendly, and are now compatible with Office 2010 for the PC).

If you take any of my other classes, I strongly recommend that you hang onto the book from 105. There is some overlap, and I think you will find it helpful in these other classes.

Lecture #1

For any student who cannot attend the first class, here is a direct link to a .PDF file of the Syllabus (see also the link to the Syllabus at the bottom of this page), and here is a link to a .PDF file of the first lecture. It is an expanded outline version of the first lecture, with enhancements not covered in class but important nonetheless, in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, go here. This will be the only lecture I put on-line.

Midterm Exam

The midterm exam will likely be scheduled for the evening of Thursday, March 7^TH from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. THIS DATE MAY CHANGE. The rooms will be announced as the date gets closer. For people with a legitimate reason for missing the regular exam time, there will be a form to fill out to request taking the make-up exam on Monday, March 11^TH at the same times in the evening. That make-up request form will be available on-line in late February.

Pictures of Important Stuff

• The Ledlerle Graduate Research Center and Tower
• My office in LGRC A357 (not the Tower)
• The CMPSCI building
• The CMPSCI main office
• Buy a flash drive to store your files

Previous Semester's Scores

• Fall 2006
• Spring 2007
• Fall 2007
• Spring 2008
• Fall 2008
• Spring 2009
• Fall 2009
• Fall 2011

Previous Semester's Exams

For reference, here are some links to previous semesters' midterms and final exams, all in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF format):

• Spring 2003 Midterm Solution
  
• Fall 2003 Midterm Solution
  
• Fall 2003 Final Exam Solution Key
  
• Spring 2004 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Spring 2005 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Spring 2006 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Fall 2006 Midterm Solution Key
• Spring 2007 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Spring 2008 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Fall 2009 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Spring 2010 Midterm Solution Key
  
• Spring 2013 Midterm Solution Key
  

Social Networking

While I have a Facebook account, I reserve its use strictly to personal friends (high-school comrades, hiking buddies, etc.). Please DO NOT "friend" me on Facebook or Linked-In; all such requests will be ignored.

You may, however, follow me on Twitter if you wish. My posts, although infrequent, will be primarily math and science based.

I will maintain a separate Twitter feed for the classes I teach, which you may follow or not, as you choose.