Application Assignments Theme
Rutgers University - Department of Computer Science
CS110 - Introduction to Computers and Applications
Jt ¥ Summer 2007

During the summer you will be working on two types of assignments. For some  - listed in boldface on the Lecture Schedule - you will be writing programs using the True BASIC programming language.  These programs  will be assigned from the end of each chapter in your True BASIC book as explained in a separate handout.  The rest of the HW - which has a consistent theme - will familiarize you with various types of Applications.  Below, this theme is developed, so you can start preparing for it now.

    There are six graded application assignments. The first week you will have assignments using the Web (using Mozilla or Safari) and email. Another application assignment will involve creating your own webpage using the Mozilla Composer software. Later, you will have assignments dealing with spreadsheets, graphics and database using MS Office and Appleworks.

    As you no doubt know, some of the infomation on the Internet is organized into what is called Òthe WebÓ (or World Wide Web - WWW). This information is available as ÒwebpagesÓ. There are several billion such pages now available on the Web - created by hordes of different individuals, organizations and companies and maintained on numerous computers.  These pages contain multimedia hypertext information. ÒMultimediaÓ means the information can include text, pictures, sounds or even video segments all combined together on the same page.  ÒHypertextÓ means that instead of using the traditional linear fashion we all are used to reading in books, the information is organized so that the viewer can flow through it in many different directions.  For example, while reading a page on Rock music, you may see a picture of the Beatles. By clicking on this picture, you suddenly may be off on a side journey reading through pages that discuss the career of the Beatles.  These connections from one page to another are called ÒlinksÓ. The pages on the Beatles may have links to other similar topics. By following these links from one page to another, it would not be all that surprising that you never returned to the page on Rock music - and thus that page will be left unfinished by you.  This non-linear excursion is a vastly different way of perusing information as opposed to  reading a novel - in which you start at the front cover of the book and read straight through to the end. Such excursions are the nature of hypertext and thus the Web.

    Your first assignment will be to explore (browse or ÒsurfÓ) the Web by discovering  pages and following links.  The information you discover will be used as a theme that your following  application assignments will be based on.  In fact, you will actually be using information (text, pictures) that you find on the Web to include in your later assignments. You will want to spend a decent amount of time on the Web assignment (Safari or Mozilla) so that you can find sites (that is,  a computer containing a collection of Web pages) with good information.  You may have several false starts before you find the information you desire.

    Throughout these assignments you will be pretending that you are interested in purchasing some item through the Web.  We will be using a number of sites to help us select the item - this will include shopping bots to help find good prices, product review sites to the gather information, company sites to research and possibly buy a product directly and auction sites where you might be able to purchase the item from other Internet users.  For these sites to be useful for you, and thus to make the assignments actually do-able, it is important that you pick an item such that a lot of information and alternatives can be found on the web.  We are allowing you to select the item that you want to explore. But as you are doing the first assignment, you may decide that you have selected something that is too hard to research.  That is okay - as that will be one of the purposes of that assignment.  If what you have selected is not working out, you will be able to change to another item very quickly and easily at that time - without interfering with the rest of the assignments.  However, you may discover that if you wait until later assignments to change your mind, you will run into many more difficulties.  So use the first assignment, when you explore the web, wisely to settle on a good item to research purchasing.  You will find that some items work out better than others. Examples of things to try include: cameras, computers, printers, cell phones, bicycles, cars, toys, books, CDs, exercise equipment, jewelry, designer handbags and beauty products. Some of these items will work much better than others.

    To help you select, it will help to have a better understanding of the upcoming assignments. For this first assignment, you will search the Web to look for information on your product. You will visit company sites, auction sites, product review sites and shopping bot sites to see if you can find enough info and pricing on items in your category. When you first start exploring the Web, you may discover that there does not seem to be enough useful information on your first choice.  So, you will explore information on a second or third choice.  But if you come prepared with ideas, and spend enough time exploring, you will eventually be able to find the relevant info you need for the following assignments.

    In your email assignment, you will send a short message to a classmate explaining what item you have finally selected to purchase, why you made this choice and what was the best site you found containing relevant info. To be prepared for this assignment, you will have had to finish the Web assignment and know the email address of one or two of your fellow classmates. Most people have used email before so the main purpose of this assignment is to familiarize you with some of Rutgers email tools and features.

    In another assignment, you will create your own Web page talking about your item, showing some pictures of it and possibly competing products and listing reasons why you have decided to purchase the one you have.  As you are surfing the Web in the first assignment, keep your eyes open for information you might want to use on your own page and remember the address of, or bookmark, pages containing useful information.

    For the graphics assignment, you will be creating a flyer that you might post stating you are interested in purchasing your item and if anyone has a good deal for you, to contact you. You probably will use the Web to gather precise info on the characteristics of the item or items you are interested in. Your ad should be full of attention-grabbing graphics to draw peopleÕs attention to it.  Since you may chose to include some previously created picture,  keep your eyes open as you explore the Web for any useful graphics that you may want to include in your flyer.

    For the spreadsheet assignment, you will be doing a cost comparison of how much it will cost you to buy your item from different sites given their best offer, shipping costs and  other fees. As part of this analysis  you will create a graph or chart. You will be comparing five different sites, so make sure you can find pricing on your exact or a very similar item in at least five places.

    For the database assignment, you will be entering information on friends, acquaintances and family around the country who you will target to ask for loans to  help you purchase your item.  You will need to enter names, addresses, phone numbers, salary and other personal information.  You will have to enter 20 to 30 individuals and they should live in a number of different states - so start thinking up information.  (You can make up phony people if need be.)  You will use this database in several ways - including using information in it to personalize a form letter to send to each person.

    The purpose of this handout is to prepare you for what is coming, so you can start thinking up ideas.  In particular, it should be clear from the information provided here how  important the first  assignment - exploring the Web - will be.  You will want to do a good job on this.  More precise instructions will be made available on the class webpage for each of the assignments.

                                Good luck and enjoy yourself,  Jt