flowchart symbols

oval/ellipse - start/stop
parallelogram - input/output
rectangle - process
diamond- decision box

Find the average of 3 numbers:


Find the product of 3 numbers:

Computer Architecture

Input and output devices:
Input Devices:
- graphics tablets
- cameras
- video capture hardware
- barcode reader
- digital camera

Output Devices:
- monitor
- printers
- projector
- speakers

Both input-output devices:
- modems
- network cards
- touch screen
- headsets
- fax
- audio cards

Fundamentals of Computers

A computer "speaks" in binary, or a series of 1's and 0's. However, they don't actually recognize these numbers like we can recognize numbers and letters, but instead, the 1's and 0's represent power. 1 represents on and 0 represents off. Each 1 or 0 is a bit. Every 8 bits becomes 1 byte. Each byte represents data storage capacity. When writing a program, the programming language needs to be translated into binary, so that the computer can understand it:
Input (Source Code)        Process (depends on the language)             Output (Object Code)
Java                                 Compiler -  entire program                          0,1
Pascal                              Interpreter - line by line                               binary code
etc.

Namecard - Ideate

This is my idea for the namecard

Namecard - Prototype and Test

This is my final namecard.

My Perspective of Computer Architecture

I don't really know anything about programming or the architecture of a computer. I know a little bit of Basic, but that's the only programming language I know and I only know a little bit, since it has been a long time since I learned it.

Name Card - Empathize

1. Name
2. profession
3. qualification
4. what you're good at
5. something unique
6. favorite animal
7. favorite color
8. hobbies
9. something that corresponds to your personality
10. something that represents you

Dig Deeper
1. Name
2. profession / thing you're good at
3. qualification
4. what you're good at
5. unique approach
6. favorite animal?
7. favorite color
8. hobbies?

Example of a System

An example of a system is a school.

School

|

Administration       Kitchen      Science dept.     English dept.     math dept.      language dept.

           |                        |                       |                        |                        |                            |

principal, secretary  kitchen staff  head of dept.  ---------->  

                                                      teachers who teach it

Top-Down Design

The top-down design is where many smaller departments branch down from a wider topic. For example, a school has a top-down design. There are branches like the administration, the kitchen staff, and the various subjects which all work together under the wider topic of a school.

School

|

Administration       Kitchen      Science dept.     English dept.     math dept.      language dept.

           |                        |                       |                        |                        |                            |

principal, secretary  kitchen staff  head of dept.  ---------->  

                                                      teachers who teach it

Design Thinking Process - Week 1

The design thinking process is used to come up with products that satisfy a customer's needs. There are five steps:

1. Empathize
This step is used to find out the customer's preferences. Since the designer's purpose is to satisfy and make a product for that customer, this step is especially important. By interviewing the customer, the designer can get a sense for the requirements the customer puts on the products as well as his or her likes or dislikes. After the designer has a list of the customer's requirements, he or she may not be able to design a product that can incorporate all of them, so the designer would have to ask the customer what the most important requirements are.

2. Define
After looking at the customer's preferences, the designer has to define the problem. Then, when he or she knows what to focus on, the designer would think up solutions to the challenge they have defined.

3. Ideate
In the Ideate phase, the designer comes up with a few rough sketches of the product that they are making, based on both the Empathize and Define phases. In this way, he or she can visualize the product that they are making. After this, the designer shows the customer the sketches and explains his or her ideas. The customer would then give objective feedback based on what they want to accomplish with that product and their own personal preferences.

4. Prototype
In this phase, the designer has to create a small scale version of the product.

5. Test
In this phase, the designer tests the prototype, making sure that all of the user requirements are incorporated.