15502 - Computer Skills

Learning outcomes

Use of personal productivity tools: word processor, spreadsheet, database. We will address several applications for each class.

Course contents

Word processor: main applications and their basic functions. Main typographical objects managed by means of a word processor. Common commands available word processor applications; especially those related to document visualization. Page composition and accurate tuning of the resultant document. Among the others, page footer and header, notes, bulleted and numbered lists,  syllabication. Some advanced features in typography, such as the keep properties, widows and orphans. Special tools to speedup the formatting of long text and to automate repetitive tasks. Spreadsheet: presentation of the spreadsheet applications. The graph paper metaphor and basic operations. Addressing methods of cells, formulas to compute value, graph generation. Data management. Advanced tools to manage spreadsheets and 3-D graphs.
Database: data collection and acquisition. Data storing and archival. Data management. Data distribution and exchange. Data relational model. Query language SQL. Schema definition in an object oriented database. Data update. Database query.
Internet and the World Wide Web: Client-server architecture. HTTP protocol. HTML documents. Multimedia documents. Browsers and plug-in. More protocols. Web 2.0. Blog.  RSS. Podcast. Wiki. Virtual communities and social networks. Security of the Web. Cookies.

Readings/Bibliography

http://a3.unibo.it
Needs subscritpion, contact the teacher by e-mail.

Teaching methods

E-learning course

Assessment methods

Computer based tests on theory and practice.

Teaching tools

E-learning course. The lessons are available on a Web site, and can be accessed anytime.

Links to further information

http://www.cs.unibo.it/~amoroso

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Amoroso