Introduction to Computing
Nathan Friedman
Fall, 2006
Winter, 2007
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Why Am I Taking This Course?
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Why Am I Taking This Course?
Reason #1:
My faculty made me!!
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Why Am I Taking This Course?
Reason #1:
My faculty made me!!
Reason #2:
I’m actually going to learn a lot of
interesting new things
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Why Am I Taking This Course?
Reason #1:
My faculty made me!!
Reason #2:
I’m actually going to learn a lot of
interesting new things
(Believe it or Not)
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What Are We Going to Study?
There are three components to this
course
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What Are We Going to Study?
There are three components to this
course
1. FORTRAN
2. C
3. Algorithms
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FORTRAN
Fortran was one of the first high level
programming languages. It was designed to
be used for scientific applications and has
been updated several times. It remains an
important language in the engineering
community.
We will spend about four weeks studying how to
design and implement programs using Fortran
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C
We will spend four weeks studying a language
called C. This language was developed in the
1970’s for systems programming applications. It
is very powerful and efficient and very widely
used in many applications areas including
scientific and engineering computations.
Many modern languages are based on C, making it
a useful springboard to learning new languages
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Algorithms
There are many fundamental problems that arise
in engineering and other areas of application.
These include sorting data, searching for specific
data values, numerical integration, finding roots
of functions, solving ordinary differential
equations and solving systems of linear
equations
We will spend about four weeks studying
important algorithms for these problems.
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Why Study This Stuff?
Computers play a central role in almost every branch
of engineering
You will often have to put into practice the theoretical
ideas you study in your courses.
This may involve the use of software packages with
limitations on their applicability.
You may have to write programs during to modify or
extend this software.
Even using programs developed by others may
require some knowledge of the programming
process.
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What if I never write a
program again?
Besides programming this course will give you:
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A basis for interpreting and appraising the
results and limitations of software
Tools for the analysis and design processes that
underlie engineering practices
Sharper logical thinking and problem solving
skills
Tools for scientific and mathematical applications
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In short, this course
will make you a
better person
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In short, this course
will make you a
better person
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Course Staff
This course is taught by a team that
includes a course coordinator/lecturer, a
lecturer for the second section and a
number of teaching assistants.
The lecturers will present the course
material in the lectures and be available
during office hours to assist you.
The teaching assistants will run tutorials,
assist you during their office hours and
grade your assignments.
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Instructors
Nathan Friedman (course coordinator)
nathan@cs.mcgill.ca
MC325, (514) 398-7076
Yi Lin
ylin30@cs.mcgill.ca
MC105, (514) 398-7071 ext 0664
http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~ylin30/courses/cs208/
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Teaching Assistants
Nicolas Gervasi
nick.gervasi@mcgill.ca
Zouhair Mahboubi
zouhair.mahboubi@mail.mcgill.ca
Marina Malkova
marina.malkova@gmail.com
Omar Skalli
omar.skalli@mail.mcgill.ca
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Timetable
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Lectures are Tuesday, Thursday 2:304:00
Tutorials
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Weekly tutorials will be held
Time and place to be announced
Attendance is not mandatory but highly
recommended
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Sections
Assignments and tests will be the same
for both sections of the course. You are
free to attend whichever lecture you
prefer
Section 1 is taught by Nathan Friedman in
ENGTR 0100
Section 2 is taught by Yi Lin in
ENGTR 1080
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Computing Facilities
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The Faculty of Engineering computers
have all the software required for the
course
The main facilities are in FDA 1 and
MDHAR G15
Software used in the course can also be
downloaded from the class web site on
WebCT
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Computers in Engineering
Please see the course description and
outline that is available (in pdf format) on
WebCT (at www.mcgill.ca/webct/)
That document was prepared by Jean
Francois Bastien, a former TA for the
course.
It will be an invaluable tool for you to use
throughout the course.
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Resources
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Textbook
FORTRAN, C and Algorithms by G. Ratzer
and J. Vybihal
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WebCT resources include
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Lecture notes
Code for algorithms studied in class
Previous midterm and final examinations
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Grading
Assignments
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There will be 3 assignments in Fortran and 3 in C
They will be worth 20% of the final grade
Midterm
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A 90 minute midterm will be held during class time
It will be worth 30% of the final grade
Final Examination
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A 3 hour final exam will be held at the end of term
It will be worth 50% of the final grade
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Academic Integrity
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You are encouraged to attend tutorials to get ideas for
solving the assignments
You can discuss approaches to solving the problems
BUT: You must code the programs yourselves and
not copy from anyone else
Copying all or portions of a program can be
detected by software
If you copy an assignment, you will receive a zero
on it
Please read the McGIl Code of Student Conduct at
www.mcgill.ca/integrity for the University policy on
cheating and plagiarism and disciplinary procedures
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
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Slides for the lectures will be available on
WebCT for you to read and download
Ask questions about anything you find
unclear
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
Attend the tutorials
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We will try and set times to accommodate
as many of you as possible
This is an opportunity to see more
examples, get pointers on how to approach
assignments and benefit from the
experience the TA’s have had with this
course in the past
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
Attend the tutorials
See the TA’s during lab hours
(in FDA 1)
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
Attend the tutorials
See the TA’s during lab hours
See your instructor during office hours
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Don’t be afraid to ask questions
I will also try to answer emails within 24
hours
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
Attend the tutorials
See the TA’s during lab hours
See your instructor during office hours
Do the assignments by yourself
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The only way to learn how to program is to
program
There is no substitute for practice
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How do I Ace this course?
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Prepare for lectures
Attend the tutorials
See the TA’s during lab hours
See your instructor during office hours
Do the assignments by yourself
Study using old midterms and finals as
well as sample programs on WebCT
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Let’s Get Started
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A Brief History
The Abacus is
considered to be the
first mechanical
computing device
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Mechanical Calculators
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1612 – John Napier used floating point
arithmetic and invented the logarithm
1622 – William Oughtred created the slide
rule based on Napier’s logarithms. This was
the primary calculator used by engineers until
the 1960’s
1642 – Blaise Pascal created a machine that
could add and subtract, automatically
carrying numbers
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The Pascaline -- 1642
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Mechanical Calculators
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1612 – John Napier used floating point
arithmetic and invented the logarithm
1622 – William Oughtred created the slide
rule based on Napier’s logarithms. This was
the primary calculator used by engineers until
the 1960’s
1642 – Blaise Pascal created a machine that
could add and subtract, automatically
carrying numbers
1673 – Gottfried Leibnitz built a calculator
that could multiply as well
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The Industrial Age
Joseph-Marie Jacquard
invented an
automatic loom
using punched cards
to control patterns
in the fabrics.
(Leading to riots
against replacing
people by
machines.)
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Charles Babbage
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1822 – Charles Babbage designed the
Difference Engine for comuputing
navigational tables
1833 – Designed the Analytical Engine
that had the basic components used in
a modern computer
1847-1849 – Work on Difference
Machine but technology too primitive to
build it. In 1991 the Science Museum in
London built it
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Early Modern Machines
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1935-38 Konrad Zuse developed Z-1
and Z-2 computers using binary
arithmetic
1936-39 John Vincent Atanasoff and
John Berry built ABC computer for
solving linear systems in Physics.
Introduced ALU and rewriting memory.
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ENIAC
The First Electronic Computer
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1943 Work started on ENIAC at
University of Pennsylvania under John
Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert with
Herman Goldstein
A general purpose computer used for
computing artillery tables
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ENIAC
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Used 18,000
vacuum tubes
U shaped, 25m long,
2.5m high, 1m wide
Programmed by
plugging cables and
setting switches
From 1 hour to 1
day to program
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Von Neumann Computer
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1944 – John von Neumann joined
ENIAC team.
Credited with the idea of storing
programs as numbers
1945 – von Neumann proposed a stored
program computer called EDVAC
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The 1950’s
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IBM produces series of computers with
Jean Amdahl as chief architect
Memory upgraded to magnetic core
memory, magnetic tapes and disks with
movable read/write heads
1957 – Fortran introduced
1958 – Integrated Circuit invented
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The 1960’s
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1963 – ASCII code introduced
1965 – IBM/360 introduced using
integrated circuits
1965 – DEC introduced PDP-8, first
minicomputer
1969 – Work began on ARPAnet (the
predecessor of the internet)
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The Early 1970’s
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1971 – Intel 4004 the first microprocessor
and the first floppy disk introduced
1973 – Xerox invents Ethernet
1775 – First PC, MITS Altair 8800 (no
keyboard, no display, no auxilliary storage)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote a BASIC
compiler for the Altair, their first product
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The Later 1970’s
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1976 – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
develop Apple I in their parent’s garage
1976 – Cray-1, first supercomputer
announced
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IBM PC
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1981 – IBM enters
market with IBM PC
based on Intel 8088
chip
Release of Microsoft
DOS for the PC
1982 Computer
chosen by Time
Magazine as “Man of
the Year”
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Apple Macintosh
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1984 – Macintosh
introduced, based
on Xerox Alto. The
icon and mouse
became the main
tools for interacting
with computers
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INTERNETS
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SUN
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THE NETWORK IS THE COMPUTER
WHO NEXT?
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