Welcome to the Computer and Information Technology program http www cis upenn edu matuszek cit591 2008 html Jan 13 2019 Registering If you are not registered this class is full I will teach a new course CIT590 in the Spring I will allow that class to be as large as necessary Once you are registered CETS will create an account for you that you can use in Moore 207 There s plenty of room in this lecture hall but not in the lab If and only if you are in MCIT you can register This may take an extra day Before you come to lab on Friday go to Moore 207 and make sure you can log in there If you can t contact CETS immediately 2 Who am I David Matuszek muh TOOZ ik I prefer Dave or Dr Dave I m the director of the MCIT program I m here to teach not to do research I teach CIT 591 Introductory programming for MCIT Fall CIT 590 Introductory programming for non MCIT Spring CIT 594 Data structures and algorithms Spring CIT 597 Programming for the Web Fall CIT 700 Emerging Technologies Summer II 3 Who are you Most of you are in the new MCIT program You are here because You are extremely bright You do not have a BA or BS in computer science The rest of you are in other programs You have a very wide range of backgrounds 4 What is this course This is a beginning programming course The primary audience is MCIT students The language we are using is Java 6 This is one of six required MCIT courses The sequel to this course CIT594 also uses Java CIT591 is also a service course for other students who need to learn to program However there is only a limited amount of room for nonMCIT students We are starting a new course CIT 590 to be held Spring semesters specifically for non MCIT students 5 What are you getting yourself into Programming is intellectually challenging It can be tremendous fun if you like that sort of thing Lifelong learning is essential The technology is constantly changing We cannot teach you all you need to know We can point you in the right direction and give you a good hard push but the rest is up to you 6 Programming can be fun Programming is puzzle solving Very little is mechanical routine work You always have to be thinking If you like solving puzzles there s a good chance you will like programming Some puzzles are hard You need a tolerance for frustration Solving hard puzzles can be very satisfying 7 Computer Science Computer science is the study of what we can do with computers how we can best do it If we really understand how to do something we can write a program to do it We do a lot of things without really understanding how we do them Walk upright Recognize faces Talk and understand someone else s speech Computer science is all about how to do things Programming is about how to make the computer do the things that we ourselves know how to do Computer science is about figuring out how to do additional things 8 CIT 591 is a programming course Programming is teaching the computer how to do something Programming like woodworking is a craft To master a craft you need both knowledge and experience Even a poor woodworker can produce a useable chair A master craftsman can produce a chair that is strong comfortable and beautiful 9 Beauty in programming Programs can be beautiful or ugly Outer beauty in programs consists of Doing a job the way the user wants it done Providing a simple intuitive set of controls Working reliably without crashes or glitches Inner beauty in programs consists of I am not speaking metaphorically Simple elegant efficient solutions to problems Code that is easy to read understand and modify Good commenting and coding style Non programmers can recognize a program s outer beauty Good programmers can recognize its inner beauty 10 Elegance Powerful software can do everything you want to do for example Microsoft Word Complex software is hard to learn and hard to use for example Microsoft Word More power usually means more complexity Elegant software somehow manages to be both simple and powerful 11 What CIT 591 and 594 are about You need to learn the craft of programming In CIT 591 we study programming How to design and write programs that work How to write clear code and documentation This is a skill and it requires a lot of practice You learn a language Java and some basic skills You learn how to use the language to tell the computer how to do things In CIT 594 we concentrate more on computer science Remember what I said If you really understand how to do something you can write a program to do it Computer science is all about how to do things 12 Changes in computer science Computer science is only about 60 years old The technology changes fast Java was first introduced in 1995 We will be covering the sixth major version of Java Change is rapid and accelerating Dominant language of the 1990s C Dominant language of early 2000s Java Dominant company IBM to Microsoft to Google First GUI Macintosh 1984 First web browser Mosaic 1992 Web pages HTML to DHTML to XML 13 Versions of Java Oak Designed for embedded devices Java Original not very good version but it had applets Java 1 1 Adds inner classes and a completely new event handling model Java 1 2 Includes Swing but no new syntax Java 1 3 Additional methods and packages but no new syntax Java 1 Java 2 Java 1 4 More additions and the assert statement Java 1 5 Generics enums new for loop Java 5 0 and other new syntax Java 6 A few new features mostly at the advanced level 14 What s ahead Half life of CS knowledge about 5 years Typical length of career about 40 years What does this tell you Nobody expected personal computers graphical user interfaces the mouse the World Wide Web the popularity of Java the ascendance of XML the DMCA Amazon Google etc There is only one safe prediction You will be taken by surprise 15 Maybe you should learn accounting instead What can we possibly teach you that will do you any good five years from now Many underlying programming concepts and mathematical foundations don t change Programming paradigms change slowly Each new language you learn will be easier to learn than the previous one because most of the ideas in it will be familiar 16 But more importantly The attitude you need doesn t change Always be prepared to learn Take pride in your work but Realize that your work is not and can never be perfect Learn to welcome corrections and criticisms as helping you to perfect your work do not take them personally Seek out and fix problems don t avoid them Be responsive to the realities of the
View Full Document
Unlocking...