Faculty Contact Information:
Name: Craig Ewert
E-mail: cewert@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Office hours: MTW 1530-1630
E-mail is normally checked daily, and responses will be made when the e-mail is checked. Note: this may be no more than an acknowledgment of receipt. Technical or personal difficulties may, on occasion, delay this. Physical items (letters, disks) may also be left in my UMUC mailbox.
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Consultation:
Consultation should be performed during office hours. Extended time may be requested, either during class breaks or via e-mail. You should consider consulting with other classmates as a first step.
Class meetings are Tuesdays/Thursdays, 1630-1930.
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Required Texts and Readings:
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Englander, I. (2003). Architecture of Computer Hardware & Systems Software, (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
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Supplementary Readings:
The standard for papers in the graduate program is the APA style. All participants in this course and all graduate INSS, MGMT, PUAD, and ECON courses should have a copy of the style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. Washington DC: Author.All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended. In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line.
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Course Description:
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3 semester hours credit. Prerequisites: Undergraduate programming and college algebra, or permission of the Program Director. Provides an overview of basic computer concepts as they apply to MIS professionals. Emphasis is on basic machine architecture including data storage, manipulation, the human-machine interface including the basics of operating systems, algorithms and programming languages. In addition, the basic concepts of data organization including data and file structures are examined. Emerging trends in computer technology and their impact on organizational information systems are also discussed.
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Course Goals:
Upon completion of the course, participants should:
1. Understand basic principles of computer architecture
2. Understand major operating system concepts, including the interrelationships between operating systems and computer hardware
3. Understand concepts of programming languages
4. Understand computer logic and data representation
5. Be conversant with the terminology describing computer hardware and software
6. Understand how computer peripherals work
7. Understand basics of network architectures
8. Understand new developments in computer technology
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Define the basic terms and processes related to computer systems architecture
2. Discuss components of an operating system
3. Describe the mechanisms by which an operating system manages hardware and software resources
4. Describe progression of operating system development
5. Describe the various types of programming languages
6. Describe the processes of translating and executing a program
7. Describe the process for developing applications
8. Describe basic methods of data representation
9. Describe the characteristics of data storage technology and how it influences the performance of computer systems
10. Describe the use of buffers and caches to improve computer system performance
11. Describe the use of data compression to improve computer system performance
12. Describe the concepts of file systems
13. Describe the characteristics and implementation of input and output devices
14. Describe the basic concepts of communication protocols
15. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of distributed computing systems
16. Describe the technological trends in computer development
17. Discuss ethical issues in computing
18. Research current topics in computing
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Grading Information:
Grading Information:
90% - 100% A
89% - 89% B
70% - 79% C
below 70% F(a)
The midterm and final exams will be in-class, closed book/closed notes.
Students will complete a term paper of approximately 1500 - 2000 words (7 to 10 pages) over a topic related to a current or historical issue concerning computer hardware and software. Topics must be approved by the instructor not later than the third week of class.
In addition, each student will deliver an oral report over his/her paper topic-approximately 15 minutes. Quality of presentation will be included in the final mark assigned to the paper.
Homework will be assigned by the instructor from end-of-chapter exercises.
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
10% - Participate in classroom discussions
40% - Complete graduate level projects or programming assignments, write graduate level papers or case studies
20% - Orally/visually present prepared material
30% - Complete one or more written examination(s)
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Complete graduate level projects or programming assignments, write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables, to include programs, projects, papers, and/or case studies.
Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your results in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your instructor and classmates.
Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary for successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The examination questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.
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Course Schedule:
Session 1.
Introduction and Overview of Course Englander, Ch 1
Session 2.
Number Systems and Conversions Englander, Ch 2
Session 3.
Data Formats and Integer Representation Englander, Chs 3&4
Session 4.
Floating Point Representation Englander, Ch 5
Homework 1 Due
Session 5.
Introduction to Computer Architecture Englander, Chs 6 & 7
The Little Man Computer
Session 6.
CPU Architecture and Memory Englander, Ch 8
Session 7.
Digital Logic and Addressing Modes Englander, Supplementary
Chs 1 & 2
Session 8.
Review and Midterm Examination (90 Minutes)
Session 9.
Computer Input/Output and Peripherals Englander, Chs 9&10
Homework 2 Due
Session 10.
Multiprocessor Architecture, Clusters and Networks, Englander, Ch 11
Session 11.
Overview of Operating Systems Englander, Chs 13 & 14
Session 12.
Operating System Architecture Englander, Ch 15
Homework 3 Due
Session 13.
File Management Englander, Ch 16
Session 14.
Presentation of Papers
Session 15.
Presentation of Papers
Session 16.
Final Examination (150 minutes)
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Academic Policies:
Please refer to the UMUC - Europe Graduate Catalog, available online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/index.html or from your local Education Center, for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
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Faculty Bio:
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Mr. Ewert received his BS in mathematics from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1969, and began working in the computing field that year. He returned to academia in the 1990's, obtaining an Associates Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology from his local community college in 1992, and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Roosevelt University in Chicago in 1998. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at DePaul University in Chicago, specializing in Artificial Intelligence. His research interests center around genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, and cellular automata, with application to computer vision.
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