This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book.
Fluency with Information Technology: Skills, Concepts, and Capabilities is intended for use in the introduction to Computer Science course. It is also suitable for readers who wish to become fluent with information technology.
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Fluency with Information Technologyequips readers who are already familiar with computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web with a deeper understanding of the broad capabilities of technology. Through a project-oriented learning approach that uses examples and realistic problem-solving scenarios, Larry Snyder teaches readers to navigate information technology independently and become effective users of today’s resources, forming a foundation of skills they can adapt to their personal and career goals as future technologies emerge.
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Teaching and Learning Experience
This program presents a better teaching and learning experience–for you and your students.
- Skills, Concepts, and Capabilities Promote Lifelong Learning: Three types of content prepare students to adapt to an ever-changing computing environment.
- Topics are Explained in Contemporary Terms Consistent with Student Experience: The text has been rewritten to accommodate how students encounter computation, positioning the presentation squarely in the second decade of the 21st century.
- Engaging Features Encourage Students to become Fluent with Information Technology: Interesting hints, tips, exercises, and backgrounds are located throughout the text.
- Student and Instructor Resources Enhance Learning: Supplements are available to expand on the topics presented in the text.
Table of Contents:
PART 1 Becoming Skilled at Computing
Chapter 1 Defining Information Technology
Terms of Endearment 3
Computation’s Greatest Hits 5
Terms of Endearment 14
Computers, Software, Algorithms 15
The Words for Ideas 19
Summary 22
Try It Solutions 22
Review Questions 22
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Chapter 2 Exploring the Human-Computer Interface
Face It, It’s a Computer 25
A Few Useful Concepts 27
Perfect Reproduction 29
What We See and What We Think 34
Summary 38
Try It Solutions 38
Review Questions 39
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Chapter 3 The Basics of Networking
Making the Connection 43
Comparing Communication Types 45
The Medium of the Message 48
The World Wide Web 60
File Structure 63
Summary 67
Try It Solutions 67
Review Questions 68
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Chapter 4 A Hypertext Markup Language Primer
Marking Up with HTML 71
Marking Up with HTML 73
Lab Practice I 75
Structuring Documents 78
Lab Practice II 83
Get Into Style with CSS 85
Marking Links and Images 88
Referring to Files 91
Span, Lists, Tables, and Boxes 93
Cascading Style Sheets 99
Styling with Class 101
Hovering Above Links 104
HTML Wrap-Up 106
Summary 107
Try It Solutions 108
Review Questions 108
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Chapter 5 Locating Information on the WWW
The Search for Truth 113
Web Search Fundamentals 115 Advanced Searches 121
Web Searching 126
Authoritative Information 131
Truth or Fiction? 135
Summary 139
Try It Solutions 139
Review Questions 140
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Chapter 6 An Introduction to Debugging
To Err Is Human 143
Precision: The High Standards of
Computing 145
Debugging: What’s the Problem? 145
A Dialog About Debugging 147
Debugging Recap 151
Fixing HTML Bugs: A Case
Study 152
No Printer Output: A Classic
Scenario 162
Ensuring the Reliability of
Software 165
Community Debugging 166
Summary 167
Try It Solutions 167
Review Questions 168
Interview with Vinton G. Cerf 171
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PART 2 Algorithms and Digitizing Information
Chapter 7 Representing Information Digitally
Bits and the “Why” of Bytes 177
Digitizing Discrete Information 179
Information Representation 181
Binary and Hex 185
Digitizing Numbers in Binary 187
Digitizing Text 190
UTF-8 194
The Metadata and the OED 195
Summary 200
Try It Solutions 200
Review Questions 201
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Chapter 8 Representing Multimedia Digitally
Light, Sound, Magic 203
Digitizing Color 205
Computing on Representations 212
Digitizing Sound 218
Digital Images and Video 221
Optical Character Recognition 226
Multimedia Challenges 228
Bits Are It 229
Summary 230
Try It Solutions 230
Review Questions 231
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Chapter 9 Principles of Computer Operations
Following Instructions 235
There’s an App for That 237
Software Isn’t So Hard 238
Instruction Execution Engine 242
The Program Counter:
The PC’s PC 248
Instruction Execution 249
Translation 254
Integrated Circuits 257
How Semiconductor Technology
Works 260
Combining the Ideas 262
Summary 264
Try It Solutions 264
Review Questions 265
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Chapter 10 Algorithmic Thinking
What’s the Plan? 269
Algorithms 271
Algorithms–A Basic Concept 277
A Closer Look 278
Doing the Right Thing 282
Summary 285
Try It Solutions 285
Review Questions 286
Interview with Ray Kurzweil 288
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PART 3 Data and Information
Chapter 11 Social Implications of IT
Computers in Polite Society 295
The Power of the Crowd 297
Out on Good Behavior 299
Expect the Unexpected 303
Creating Good Passwords 304
Spam 309
Scams 310
Protecting Intellectual Property 315
Creative Commons 319
Summary 321
Try It Solutions 322
Review Questions 322
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Chapter 12 Privacy and Digital Security
Shhh, It’s a Secret 327
Privacy and Technology 329
A Privacy Definition 330
Enjoying the Benefits of Privacy 331
Fair Information Practices 332
Is There No Privacy? 333
Tracking 336
Cookies 340
Digital Security 342
Prevention 345
Encryption 349
Redundancy Is Very, Very, Very
Good 355
Summary 358
Try It Solutions 359
Review Questions 359
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Chapter 13 The Basics of Spreadsheets
Fill-in-the-Blank Computing 363
Arranging Information 365
Computing with Spreadsheets 369
Daily Spreadsheets 378
Importing Data 384
Summary 389
Try It Solutions 390
Review Questions 390
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Chapter 14 Advanced Spreadsheets for Planning
“What If” Thinking Helps 395
Designing a Spreadsheet 397
Conditional Formatting 400
Conditional Formulas 403
Naming: Symbolic Reference 406
“What If ” Analysis 409
Analyzing Data Using Filtering 415
Summary 419
Try It Solutions 420
Review Questions 420
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Chapter 15 Introduction to Database Concepts
A Table with a View 423
Differences Between Tables and
Databases 425
XML: A Language for Metadata
Tags 426
Tables and Entities 432
The Science of Tables 435
SQL: The Language of Databases 446
Structure of a Database 449
Summary 451
Try It Solutions 451
Review Questions 452
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Chapter 16 A Case Study in Database Organization
The iDiary Database 455
Thinking About a Personal
Database 457
A Preliminary Exercise 458
The iDiary Database 468
Using the iDiary Daily 478
Summary 480
Try It Solutions 480
Review Questions 481
Interview with Alan Kay 483
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PART 4 Problem Solving
Chapter 17 Fundamental Concepts Expressed in JavaScript
Get with the Program 489
Overview: Programming
Concepts 491
Names, Values, and Variables 492
Three Basic Data Types of
JavaScript 496
The Assignment Statement 499
Lab Practice 502
An Expression and Its Syntax 504
A Conditional Statement 508
The Espresso Program 513
Summary 515
Try It Solutions 516
Review Questions 517
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Chapter 18 A JavaScript Program
The Bean Counter 521
Preliminaries 523
Background for the UI 524
Creating the Graphical User
Interface 527
Event-Based Programming 530
Critiquing the Bean Counter 534
Bean Counter Recap 537
Summary 538
Try It Solutions 538
Review Questions 539
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Chapter 19 Programming Functions
Thinking Big 543
Anatomy of a Function 545
Forms and Functions 548
Writing Functions, Using
Functions 550
Customizing Pages 556
Making a Web-Based Phone App 559
Social Functions 564
Summary 570
Try It Solutions 571
Review Questions 572
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Chapter 20 Iteration Principles
Once Is Not Enough 575
Iteration: Play It Again, Sam 577
JavaScript Rules for for Loops 579
Experiments with Flipping Coins 582
Indexing 587
Arrays 588
It’s Magic 590
The Busy Animation 592
Not So Busy Animation 597
Summary 599
Try It Solutions 600
Review Questions 602
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Chapter 21 A Case Study in Algorithmic Problem Solving
The Smooth Motion Application 605
The Smooth Motion Application 607 Planning Smooth Motion 608
Build the Basic Web Page UI 611
Animate the Grid 612
The Best Laid Plans . . . 616
Build Controls 617
Sense the Keys 618
Staircase Detection 621
Assemble Overall Design 622
Primp the Design 624
Summary 625
Try It Solutions 626
Review Questions 627
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Chapter 22 Limits to Computation
Computers Can Do Almost {Q Everything, Q Nothing} 629
Can Computers Think? 631
Acting Intelligently? 633
Watson 638
Acting Creatively? 642
The Universality Principle 645
More Work, Slower Speed 648
Are “Best” Algorithms All Fast? 649
Summary 651
Try It Solutions 652
Review Questions 652
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Chapter 23 A Fluency Summary
Click to Close 655
Two Big Computing Ideas 657
Fluency: Less Is More 658
Lifelong IT Learning 660
Shifting for Yourself 662
Try It Solutions 662
Review Questions 662
Interview with David Ferrucci 664
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Appendix A HTML5 Reference 669
Appendix B RSA Public Key Cryptosystem 675
Appendix C iDiary: Tags and Templates 681
Appendix D JavaScript Programming Rules 687
Appendix E The Bean Counter Program 695
Appendix F¿ myApps Page 699
Appendix G Smooth Motion Program 707
Glossary 711
Answers to Selected Questions 721
Index 731
Credits 751
About the Author :
Larry Snyder was the chairman of the National Research Council's (NRC) committee that issued the report, "Being Fluent with Information Technology." It is this NRC committee funded by the National Science Foundation that identified the three types of knowledge needed in Fluency. Larry received his BA in 1968 from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in 1973 at Carnegie Mellon. He taught at schools such as Yale, MIT, Harvard, and Syndey University before settling down at the University of Washington in 1983, where he is currently a professor of computer science and engineering.
