CSC103 How Computers Work
Assignment 1: Discussion & Best of the Week


Last Update:

Almost everyone did well on this assignment. The average grade was 89. (See Grading Numerology link for how I interpret these numbers.) Incidentally, I accidentally called the course CSC102 rather than CSC103 in the email I sent each of you.

A few remarks.

  1. The remarks you receive from me by email are terse. If I thought your answer was above reproach, you got an A for that question and no comments. My comments are mainly about what you missed.
  2. I treated all questions of equal weight, which will be the default unless I specify otherwise on the assignment.
  3. If you work together with another student, I would appreciate it if you note that in the file you submit. Two students working together may submit just one set of solutions, or you can both submit if you prefer.
  4. Many of you did not read the Assignment and Quiz Rules first, and so did not cite your sources. You should either leave me a URL (web address), or, if from Wikipedia, then you can just cite the name of the Wikipedia article (e.g., Wikipedia, Device Drivers). Rarely will you have to go outside of Wikipedia to answer the questions.

Here is a submission by Elizabeth Glen, working with Gabriela Acosta, which I consider among the "Best of the Week."

Concerning the Quiz, there was a question of how to find, e.g., when the electromechanical relay was invented.

  1. One method is this. In Wikipedia, search for "electromechanical relay." Then you get a disambiguation page, which lists Timeline of computing 2400 BC–1949 among the options. The little bit it displays of that page (before even clicking on it) includes "Joseph Henry invented the electromechanical relay." Following that link shows that he invented it in 1835. It helps to use Edit | Find in your web browser to search through a long page like that for what you seek, in this case, "relay."
  2. I placed that link (Precommercial Computing Timeline) in Notes2. So you could get there without searching.
  3. If you typed "when was the electromechanical relay invented?" into Google, the 5th, 6th, and 9th hits all show that Joseph Henry invented the relay. With this info, it is not difficult to find the date (e.g., the 5th link gives the date explicitly).