Final Exam Review Guide

Topics

The following is a list of concepts and techniques with which you should be very familiar for the final exam. You can use this as a checklist while studying for the final. Note: The final covers both the material covered in specified chapters of the textbook, as well as the additional material covered in the class lectures.

• Internet, World Wide Web, Basic networking
  • Basic concepts of Internet, WWW, and networking.
  • The client-server model.
  • TCP/IP and "packet-switching" networks.
  • IP addresses and the Domain Name System.
  • Other Internet protocols (http, ftp, telnet, etc.) and what they do.
  • Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
  • Basics of HTTP client-server exchange.
  • Analog versus digital signals.
  • Modem and how it works.
  • Simplex, half- and full-duplex transmissions.
  • Synchronous versus Asynchronous communication.
  • Communication channels and bandwidth.
  • Types of networks; Intranets and Extranets; Firewalls.
  • Components of a LAN.
  • Relevant Material
    • Class Notes: Introduction to the Internet & WWW
    • Class Notes: Communications & Networks

• Hardware and Information Representation
  • The basic computer architecture, the main components, and the CPU.
  • The binary number system and its use for information storage and representation.
  • The number of bits necessary to encode a group of items.
  • Conversion of binary numbers to decimal and vice versa.
  • Basic ideas behind representation of symbols using ASCII encoding scheme (don't need to memorize the ASCII table).
  • Hexadecimal representation of binary numbers (converting from binary to Hex and vice versa).
  • Bit maps and the representation of images in binary (or Hex).
  • Relevant Material
    • Class Notes: Information Representation
    • Class Notes: Computer System Concepts
    • Solutions to Info. Representation problems in Assignment 4
    • Tutorial: Number Systems (binary, hexadecimal, octal)

• Javascript & Dynamic HTML [Note: this material represents apprx. 60% of the Final exam]
  • Basic concepts of client-side scripts, Web applications, dynamic HTML.
  • Structure of Javascript programs and the Javascript execution model.
  • Basic syntax of Javascript statements.
  • Javascript variables, data types, operators, expressions, and assignment statements.
  • Calling built-in functions in Javascript (such as prompt and document.write, etc.).
  • User-defined functions, where they are defined and how they are called.
  • Difference between local and global variables.
  • The use of Javascript libraries.
  • HTML forms, including different types of input elements and types
  • Associating Javascript events with form elements such as buttons and text boxes.
  • Conditional statements, including if-then-else and cascading if statements.
  • Boolean expressions.
  • Loops and repetition statements: "While" loops and "For" loops.
  • Relevant Material
    • Class Notes and examples: See notes and examples from May 11  through June 3 in the Class Schedule.
    • Chapters 4 through 7 of textbook.
    • JavaScript Practice Problems.

Exam Format and Problems

The exam will contain two types of questions: multiple-choice, and short-answer. The short-answer questions will involve analyzing small Javascript code segments or writing small code segments such as a function, an if-then-else statement, or a loop. They may also involve a definition, a description of a concept or process. The final exam will contain a larger number of short-answer questions and fewer multiple-choice questions than the midterm exam.

Other Notes

• You may bring one sheet of paper and on both sides you can write whatever you like. You may wish to include some example Javascript code segments to remind you on how to use various constructs such as conditional statements, functions, form elements, loops, etc.
• You may not use a calculator or other computing devices during the exam.
• The length of the exam will be 1.5 hours.