22C5 Problem Solving and Computing
Wednesday, January 17

Topics

• Define a vocabulary so we can begin working
• E-mail basics
• Text files
• WWW basics
• Netscape (browser) basics

Electronic Mail

• electronic transfer of a message from one mailbox (computer account) to another
• cheap and fast
• the machines must be connected by some sort of a network
• the recipient is named by the sender
• e-mail address is of the form username@location
• bruell@cs.uiowa.edu amy@hotmail.com
• the location name is a hierarchical domain name
• for class purposes, I prefer a simple text message
• it is possible to send attatchments, but they are only useful if both parties have similar software
• some systems send mail in a form much like web pages
• in the first assignment, you will be creating/using your e-mail account
• it is expected that you will regularly check this account for class related messages

Text files

• for most of this class, you will be creating text files
• text files contain character-based information, but no special formatting or other specific application information
• this makes text files more portable
• and platform independent
• most word-processing applications have an option to save the document as text only
• the details will depend on your working environment
• I suggest that you practice this to make sure you have it figured out.
• some on-line editors are provided if you have the desire to work on-line
• off-line work requires a place to save the files and a way to transfer them

WWW (World Wide Web) basics

• less than 10 years old
• a collection of computers and hypertext documents
• text, graphics, virtually any digital information
• links between documents form the web
• easy to use, easy to find pages, easy to make pages
• browser
  • software to allow the user to view web pages and navigate the links
  • Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer
• URL
  • Universal Resource Locator
  • the address of the information
  • http://www.uiowa.edu
• homepage
  • the starting point for an individual's or organization's web content
• HTML
  • Hypertext Markup Language
  • Language web pages are written in
• link
  • a connection from one web page location to another
• ftp/upload/download
  • transfer files between machines/accounts
• cache
  • the browser will hold recently used pages and images locally, if re-visited they are loaded more quickly
  • uses cached version rather than going over the network to access
  • has a maximum size
  • can be cleared manually
• reload
  • get a new image of the page, do not use the cached version
  • Button on the toolbar

Netscape Basics

• Netscape Navigator is a web browser
• Menu bar
  • File, Edit, View, Go, Window, ...
• Tool bar
  • Buttons for Back, Forward, Reload, Stop, ...
• Location bar
  • Enter/Display URL
• bookmarks
  • allow the user to store a list of URLs for easy access
  • places you would like to visit again
  • can be exported/imported to file
• search engine
  • find web pages related to a certain topic or containing some keywords
• Status bar - bottom of page
  • displays info about link without visiting
• The browser will
  • add the http://
  • complete a business name, so you can just type ibm, apple, netscape, kcrg, hotmail, and the http://www. and .com are added. This will only work for commercial (.com) sites
• preferences
  • configure the web browser: such as font, cache, user identity, ...