CSE 111 - Fall 2002
Lab #1
Background
The
workstation that you are working on is running as a Windows NT workstation, and
has lots of software already built on to it.
If you are reading this, you have opened one of the two web browsers
available to you, Netscape or Internet Explorer. For this lab and the next, we will focus on
some of the tools available to you on the system, and allow you to experiment
with them to see how they work.
The
TA will begin lab by introducing some of the ideas that you will need to
complete the lab. Ask the TA if you have
any questions about the contents of the lab, or if you are unsure how to
accomplish a specific task.
Creating
a Folder for Your Work
The
first thing we need to do is to create a place for you to store your work from
this class. By virtue of being a student
at UB, you are granted a certain amount of space on the computer system here to
store your work. This space is available
to you as long as you are enrolled as a student here. Therefore, we are going to create a folder in
your space in which you will store the work completed in this class.
In
order to do this, you need to double click on the icon for My Computer. Your space on the UBFS (UB File System) is
designated as drive S:. Clicking on that drive will show you the
contents of your space. If you have used
your space before, there will be the files you saved there. Otherwise, the drive could be virtually
empty. Please do not be tempted to
remove files that you did not create.
When your computer account is set up for you, there are certain files
that are created and put into your account so that your account works correctly
on all the computers on campus. These
files should not be removed. You may, of
course, remove any files that you have saved that you do not wish to keep
anymore.
Create
a new folder in S:\ called CSE111. Click
to go inside that folder. Create another
folder called Lab1. You will put all of
your work for this lab into the Lab1 folder.
This way, you can keep your work for each lab separate.
You
may close this window now, by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of
the window.
Exploring
the Course Web Site
If
you have not already surfed the course web site, now
is your chance to do so. Surf over to http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/adrienne/FA2002/cse111. Make sure you look over all the different
parts of the site. You will answer the
following questions in a file named WebQuestions.txt
that will be created in your Lab1 folder.
To create this file, open Notepad which is under the Programs ->
Accessories menu. Copy and paste the
text of the questions into the open document and type your answers under the
questions. Make sure to save your file
when you are finished.
Exploring
the Web
We
already know how to start a web browser from the first lab. However, let's look at the power of the
web. Surf over to your favorite search
engine. Examples are www.yahoo.com, www.google.com,
www.hotbot.com. There are others as well. Now, you should search for your name on the
web. You should type
"FirstName LastName"
into the search box for the web browser.
See if there are any web page matches with your name in them. You may be surprised how popular/unpopular
your name is. For instance, the only
hits on your instructor's name, were the web pages
that she created. However, your name
might be more popular, or even less. Now
try another search that should get more results. Type
"FirstName"
and "LastName"
into the box.
Take
a screen capture (shot) of both results pages.
To get a screen capture, hold the Alt key and hit the PrintScreen key. It
will seem at first that nothing happened, but it did. Open the Paint program (under Accessories) on
the machine, and click on the Edit menu and select Paste. You may get a question about enlarging the
bitmap. Answer "Yes" to this
question. You will then see the image of
the web browser. Save the first image in
your Lab1 folder as NameSearch.bmp
and save the second search image as NameSearchSep.bmp.
Building Our JavaScript Reference Library
In
a few weeks, we will be using JavaScript to write simple programs to put on web
pages. In order to help you gain more
familiarity with JavaScript and searching for appropriate data with a Search
Engine, the students in this course will self-create our JavaScript reference
library. Go to your favorite search
engine. You may choose a different one
from the one in the previous exercise.
Search
for JavaScript
There
will be numerous "hits". You should go to the page of hits that
corresponds to the first letter of your last
name. For example, I would go to the 4th
page because "D" is the fourth letter of the alphabet. On that page, explore the possible choices. Pick one of the sites on your page as one you
like. It does not have to be the best
JavaScript site out there, just a JavaScript reference site. You will probably not understand everything
that the site says, but try to pick out a site that is visually appealing and
seems easy to use.
As
before, take a screen capture of the screen that contains the page of
JavaScript sites you have looked at and save it with the name JavaScriptSearch.bmp
in your Lab1 folder. Include the address
of your pick as the last thing in the email to your Teaching Assistant that is
described below.
Sending
and Reading Email
If you
have not yet experienced the addiction known as email, we are about to get you
hooked. On the system in front of you,
probably the easiest way to read and send email is by using Mulberry. You can open Mulberry now, and access your
Inbox. If this is not the first time you
have ever read your email, you will probably have email messages in the
Inbox. If you do not, that is okay. As soon as you learn how to send and read email,
most people find it extremely addictive and usually end up with more email they
can read in a day.
To
show that you have mastered this program, you need to send email to the
Teaching Assistant that corresponds to your recitation section. See the meetings page of the course web site
for your TA's name and tthe People page for their email. Carbon Copy yourself
on the email. The subject of the email
should be "CSE 111 Lab 1". In
the body of the email, you should type your name, your student number, and your
recitation section. You should also
include your pick for a JavaScript reference site from the exercise above. You
should then send the message. You should
receive a copy of the message back.
What
do I need to turn in? When is this
due?
The
email to your TA should be sent by the beginning of lecture on