CSC151.01 2006S, Class 02: An Introduction to CSC151

Admin:
* Due: HW1: Administrivia.
* Reading: DrScheme
* Do not address me in the generic
* Note: We meet in a different room on Tuesdays, 2435.  
  It's directly west of our normal meeting room.
* Office hours: MTuWF 2:15-3:05
* CS Tuesday talks: Cookies 12:45-1:00, Talk 1:00-2:05.  
  EC for attending.
* This week: Keeping up with the Blogs:  Using RSS and Atom 
  Feed Readers to Monitor Dynamic Web Sites.  
  Should be okay for 151 students.
* What is an eboard?  It's this thing.

Overview:
* Lessons from PB and J.
* Common parts of an algorithm.
* Lab!
* Some administrative details.

/Lessons from PB&J Exercise/

* You can have fun, even when the computer completely 
  misunderstands what you say to it.
* Know your data; know your materials; know your components; know your basic operations.
* Trust Sam.  Always.  Don't trust the computer, though.
* You can feel frustrated, but consider it an "interesting"
  challenge.
* Work in an environment in which you can observe intermediate
  results so that you can adapt your algorithm to the 
  unexpected.
* Break the problem into small pieces.

/Parts of an Algorithm/

* Some basic operations.
* We name things
* Sequence operations
* Conditionals: If <this situation holds> do <this one thing>
  otherwise do <this other thing>
  * Do different things for different states of the universe.
* Repetition: Do <this> again and again and again <until this condition holds>
  * Need to make sure that it eventually stops!
* Subroutines: "Encapsulate" this group of instructions