COMPSCI 093 History of Computing, Cryptography, and Robotic Devices

Lectures - Teaching Assistants 

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Date

Topics and Lecture Notes

(Required Readings and Lectures in Bold)
(See below for parenthesis for credits for lecture notes)

Required Readings in Bold 

Tues, Aug 29

Lecture 1 by Prof John Reif

0.1 Course Motivation and Overview

0.2 Course Outline

Thurs, Aug 31

Lecture 2 by Prof John Reif

1.1 MechDigitalCalc1 - Abacus

1.2 MechDigitalCalcr2 - John Napier's Bones & Schickard’s Calculator

1.3 MechDigitalCalc3 – Pascal's Pascaline Calculator

[Williams]: 2.3, 2.6, 3.1-3.3

[O’Regan]: 2.2

Monday, Sept 4

Labor Day – no Recitation

Tues, Sept 5

Lecture 3 by Prof John Reif

1.4 MechDigitalCalc4 – Leibniz's Calculator & Arithmometers

[Williams]: 3.4-3.7

[O’Regan]: 2.2 and 11.6

Thurs, Sept 7

Lecture 4 by Prof John Reif

1.5 MechDigitalCalc5 – Babbage's Difference Machines

[Williams]: 4.1-4.6

[O’Regan]: Chapter 12

Mon, Sept 11

Recitation by TA

Tues, Sept 12

No Lecture – Reif on Travel

Thurs, Sept 14

No Lecture – Reif on Travel

Monday, Sept 18

Recitation by TA

Tues, Sept 19

No Lecture – Reif on Travel

Thurs, Sept 21

Lecture 5 by Prof John Reif

1.6 MechDigitalCalc6 – Babbage's Analytical Machine

[Williams]: 4.7-4.8

[O’Regan]: Chapter 12

Monday, Sept 25
(Makeup) Lecture 6 by Prof John Reif

1 page Summary of Final Project due

Assignment of HM#1

2.1 History of Mechanical Storage Technology

2.2 History of Vibrational, Static Electric & Magnetic Storage Technology

[Williams]: 1.1-1.7, 2.2, 8.2

[O’Regan]: Chapter 3

Tues, Sept 26

Lecture 7 by Prof John Reif

3.1 History of Binary Logic & Logical Inference Machines

3.2 History of Relay Logic, Switching Devices & Electromechanical Computers

[Williams]: Chapter 6 and 10.6

[O’Regan]: Chapter 3 and 12

Thurs, Sept 28

Lecture 8 by Prof John Reif

3.3 Claude Shannon's Information Theory

4.1 1st Generation Electronic Tube Computers

[Williams]: Chapter 8

[O’Regan]: Chapter 2.4

Monday, Oct 2

Recitation by TA

30 min Quiz #1: administrated by TA

Tues, Oct 3

Lecture 9 by Prof John Reif

4.2 Alan Turing’s Universal Computing Machine & Church-Turing Thesis

4.3 2nd Generation Electronic Tube Computers with Stored Programs

[Williams]: Chapter 8

[O’Regan]: Chapter 11.7,14, 2.4.1

Thurs, Oct 5

Lecture 10 by Prof John Reif

5.1 History of IBM's Computers

5.2 History of Supercomputers and Parallel Computers

[Williams]: Chapter 9

[O’Regan]: Chapter 6 and 11.5

Monday, Oct 9

(Makeup) Lecture 11 by Prof John Reif

HM#1 due

3 page Draft of Final Project due

Assignment of HM#2

5.3 History of Transistors & Microprocessors

5.4 History of Personal Computers & WYSIWYG

5.5 History of Time-Sharing, the Internet & Web

[O’Regan]: Chapters 6 and 8

Tues, Oct 10

Lecture 12 by Prof John Reif

6.1 History of Operating Systems

6.2 History of Computer Hacking

[O’Regan]: Chapter 7

Thurs, Oct 12

Lecture 13 by Prof John Reif

6.3 History of Algorithms

6.4 History of Software Engineering

 [O’Regan]: Chapter 10 and 11.7

Monday, Oct 16

Fall Break – No Recitation

Tues, Oct 17

Fall Break – No Lecture

Thurs, Oct 19

No class – Reif on travel

Monday, Oct 23

Recitation by TA

Tues, Oct 24

Lecture 14 by Prof John Reif

6.5 History of Programming Languages

6.6 History of Software Applications

[O’Regan]: Chapter 9 and 10

Thurs, Oct 25

Lecture 15 by Prof John Reif

7.1 Ancient Cryptography

7.2 History of Substitution Ciphers

7.3 History of Steganography

Monday, Oct 30

Recitation by TA

HM#2 due

5 page Initial Draft of Final Project due

Assignment of HM#3

30 min Quiz #2: administrated by TA

Tues, Oct 31

Lecture 16 by Prof John Reif

7.4 History of Electromechanical Coding Machines Including the Enigma Machine

[O’Regan]: Chapter 14.3

Thurs, Nov 2

Lecture 17 by Prof John Reif

7.5 History of One Time Pads Used by Spies

7.6 Modern History of Cryptography & Digital Currency

  [O’Regan]: Chapter 13.4

Monday, Nov 6

(Makeup) Lecture 18 by Prof John Reif

8.1 Analog1 - Introduction to Ancient Mechanical Devices

8.2 Analog2 - Ingenious Ancient Mechanical Devices

Tues, Nov 7

Lecture 19 by Prof John Reif

8.3 Analog3 - Zoo of Basic Mechanisms

Thurs, Nov 9

Lecture 20 by Prof John Reif

8.4 Analog4 - Analog Mechanical Astronomical Instruments

 [Williams]: 5.1-5.2

Monday, Nov 13

(Makeup) Lecture 21 by Prof John Reif

8.5 Analog5 - Ancient Mechanical Computers for Orbit & Eclipse Prediction

8.6 Analog6 - The Ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism

 [Williams]: 5.3

Tues, Nov 14

Lecture 22 by Prof John Reif

8.7 Analog7 - The Ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism Continued

  [Williams]: 5.3

Thurs, Nov 16

Lecture 23 by Prof John Reif

HM#3 due

10 page Initial Draft of Final Project due

Assignment of HM#4

8.8 Analog8 - The History of Analog Calculators

8.9 Analog9 - Integrators, Harmonic Analyzers & Differential Analyzers

 [Williams]: 2.3-2.8, 5.4-5.5

Monday, Nov 20

(Makeup) Lecture 24 by Prof John Reif

8.10 Analog10 - History of Analog Control Computers & Cybernetics

8.11 Analog11 - History of Electrical & Electronic Analog Computers

Tues, Nov 21

Recitation by TA

Thurs, Nov 23

Thanksgiving Recess – No Class

Monday, Nov 27

Recitation by TA

30 min Quiz #3: administrated by TA Dan Fu

Tues, Nov 28

Lecture 25 by Prof John Reif

9.1 Automata1 - Robots Made by Gods: Mythology of Automata in Classical Greece

9.2 Automata2 - History of Automata (Mechanical Robots) in Classic Greece

Thurs, Nov 30

Lecture 26 by Prof John Reif

9.3 Automata3 - Automata (Mechanical Robots) of the Islamic Golden Age

Monday, Dec 4

Lecture 27 by Prof John Reif

9.4 Automata4 - Automata (Mechanical Robots) of Western Europe

9.5 Automata5 - Modern Robots and Science Fiction Robots

Tues, Dec 5

Lecture 28 by Prof John Reif

 10.1 History of AI, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, & ChatGPT

[O’Regan]: Chapter 14.5 and 15

Thurs, Dec 7

Recitation by TA HM#4 due

30 min Quiz #4: administrated by TA Dan Fu

Friday Dec 10

Final Project due

NO FINAL EXAM