Studying computer science.

 

During the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020, I have been doing some research on computer science and this is what I have found apart from my own experience of IT.

I was born with disabilities and other problems, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Epilepsy, Anxiety, and Depression. Way back when I was a baby and child it was hard to know and believe I would get anywhere career-wise but even though when I first sat by a pc I slugged at first to get gips with it I soon learned. Like everything really, I believe there are areas that we are good at and areas we are not, but everyone’s weaknesses and strengths are different. One of my areas of work is learning disability awareness, if I had not learned PowerPoint my career would have been anyone’s guess. My work is not full time but where I was over thirty years ago and more, I never excepted to be where I am today. To start with I left school nothing to show for myself and studied a lot to catch up with what a lost, which I am still doing so today at nearly fifty – one.

When I was a child in the seventies, people worked in factories, etc then later IT came in but there are still factories around but not as many as there used to be. However,’ I understand that these changes have cause disadvantages and advantages.  

 

 

 

Whether we are good at maths or not we live in the age now that everyone is computer scientists which we have touched a pc, phone, iPad, etc or not. Even going to the bank, we handy ever use checkbooks now in fact mostly not at all. For a least five years maybe more we have been using cash or and pin machines and we mostly have no choice to do that whether we like it or not.

If we are good at maths, we mostly have the skill to create devices or and device problems such as software, the internet, etc but with or without maths we have the skills. IT is so unavoidable even people disabilities, learning difficulties, etc have had to learn some area of IT one way or the other. Most people say you have to be good at math to know computer science in my view that is wrong because IT is with you every day.

Before such IT as pcs, phones, iPad, etc, it was still around us, but we knew as it was but in my awareness at the time, we did not know the word information teleology. In my early life, there was and even less before that, landlines, telephone boxes, tape recorders. I cannot even remember the family having a washing machine and center heating when I was small.   

The first time I sat by a pc I was scared, and I hated it at first, I was sent on my first computer course from a scheme called Training for work, which I did in centra. First of I thought it was me, to find the computers were hard to work, and little did I know the Word-Perfect program was out of date and the computers were having their day.

 

The computer books were really hard to understand I learned the bases but not a lot because most of the the language was hard to understand I was not really aware of a lot at the time. In about three weeks of the course they changed the computers and program, it was little easier, and I was starting to like it to a point I have had many pcs of my own ever since.

What I am trying to make a point of, I will not say before IT because I have a feeling it has always been there, but we have not always been aware. I would say life and changes in life. Meaning to my understanding right or wrong, there were no pcs let alone mobile phones when I was a small child.  Meaning that IT is life. Where we are good at some things and not in others. I am not good at maths but I have been sitting by pcs since I was twenty – seven years old and a few years after that I was faced with my first mobile phone, which again scarily at first but as they update they make them easier to use least in some areas.

Computer science has always been without us even realizing teaching and learning, it is not just about the maths side of things. The only difference is that IT now has upgraded and updated it enough to make learning and teaching easier to access than it used to be.

 

 

 

 

Lets look at different ways of thinking.

 

Thinking in pictures Visual thinking, creative thinking art, drawing, painting, coloring, writing poetry, short stories, etc. 

Thinking in patterns maths

Abstract thinking, Internet, search engine, images, etc.

Pattern thinking maths, science etc. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677580/

 

 

Other examples of how we learn, how we teach, and how we live our lives without realizing.

 

Algorithms mean planning, which is a step by step instructions for learning how to or teach someone a skill. Think of it trying to build blocks start from the bottom and work your way to the top in order to achieve the goal you want or and encourage someone to achieve a goal they want. If we climb a mountain, we start from the bottom work our way to the top. For eg, following instructions on how to cook spaghetti bononase.

However,’ their code is made up of algorithms. The input is what the data on the pc receives. The output is what the data sends the pc.  Mostly data is covered back to analog format when it comes to output for example sound from pc speakers.

 

For example, a navigation app to directions. Tap in the destination.

The apps use makes up of algorithms. Their code is telling the app what to do as you tap into the destination into the app.  For example, Lowe Hill Wolverhampton. This could be a different site but bring different ways of getting that destination. This could depend on where one is traveling. It uses a different algorithm to check the traffic situation at the time one is looking for the information for the destination, then calculates the best available route. It uses a different algorithm.

Most of it but not all codes were built to the devices, so we do not have to put in codes, etc. We cannot see them because they are inside the devices, but it is possible each time we use a the device they appear without us seeing whether it is Facebook, word document or whatever we may be doing.

 

In early devices without thinking about it, we possibly have in the past had to put in certain things to set up to get into these devices whereas these days in some cases it is getting a little less than what it was but more so in other areas I guess.

 

 

 

Hardware and Software.  What is the hardware? Basically, the devices, display, processor, power supply, video card, this helps the pc function probley.  This includes keyboard, mouse, monitor, disc drive, CD ROM, DVD, floppy discs, Printer, Sound card, speakers. These days hard drives, CDs, etc are built into the pc. Today it is USBs we use mostly.

Software. Operating systems for example PowerPoint, Word, excel spread sheets, email outlook, Database access.

System software, program software, application software, driver software, photoshop, skype, facetime, zoom, teams, etc. Internet browser, google Firefox, etc.

 

Inside the computer and parts of the computer.

CD Rom, Power supply/ PSU, a floppy disk, data cable, hard drive disc, Motherboard, Heat sink, Processor / CPU, fan, memory, Memory RAM, Power cable Molex, Classic case, Data cable IDE SATA, Disc drive – CD Rom or Blu -ply, expansions card, and slots.