www.cs.amherst.edu/ccm/cs5/index.html

Computer Science 5: Demystifying the Internet

• The course meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Seeley Mudd 206 at 2pm. Sometimes on Mondays we will meet in Seeley Mudd 014 for lab work.

• The course is taught by Professor Catherine McGeoch.

• Books and Readings. There will be lots of handouts and online readings for this course. Please visit the Online Course Syllabus for a week-by-week reading list. Some readings will be handed out in class -- you should get a 1-inch binder to hold the handouts.

  You should also get a copy of Blown to Bits , by Abelson, Ledeen, and Lewis (Addison Wesley 2008). The book is available at the Jeffrey Amherst College Store. Note: this book is also on eReserve in the library. Because of copyright restrictions, you can only access this book online a few hours at a time, and the library server can't handle a large number of simultaneous accesses. So if you plan to do your reading the night before the reading is due, do not depend on having library access -- buy your own copy.

• Grades: There will be two writing assignments (one including a presentation), two tests, and a collection of small (mostly in-class) problem sets. Each part will count for 20 percent of your grade.

We will consider the Internet three ways: how it works, how it illustrates some fundamental themes of computer science, and how it affects, and is affected by, our society. About two thirds of the course will address scientific and technological topics: binary codes, data compression, network protocols, routing algorithms, cryptography, and such. The other third will focus on the Internet and social issues such as property (intellectual property, open source, and music downloads), and privacy (encryption, identity theft, and data mining).

Links

1. Here is a link to the Power Point Slides on P2P
2. Here is the privacy discussion worksheet we used Friday, November 21. Write a one-page or so discussion of one of the three topics.
3. Here is the Second Writing Assignment
4. Here is a description of the First Writing Assignment.
5. Here is a handout describing expectations for the two writing assignments.
6. Here is the In Class Protocol Worksheet.
7. Here is the Dining Philosophers Page
8. Here is Lab 1.
9. Here is the Transmission Media Worksheet.
10. Here is the Table of Transmission Media Bit Rates
11. Overview. Here is the Handout from the first day. Here is the Lingo Bingo game.

Contact Information

 
        Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
        Amherst College, Box 2239
        Amherst MA 01002-5000

        413-542-7913