Introduction to Computer Science: Survey
Discussion Questions - Unit Five

Please answer all of the questions below and submit them to your instructor when you are finished with unit five. You should have read chapter 8, Computers and Work, of your text and viewed the video The Thinking Machine before answering these questions. All written worked should be typed with double-spaced lines. I will not accept answers that are simply copied from the text.

You can get help with definitions at http://www.pcwebopedia.com. Use this site as a resource, not a crutch. Don't simply copy definitions, explain concepts in your own words.

1. Answer question 3 on page 287 of your text.

2. Answer question 4 on page 287 of your text.

3. Answer question 12 on page 287 of your text.

4. Answer question 13 on page 288 of your text.

5. Answer question 14 on page 287 of your text.

6. The tape describes some of the ways in which computer networks change our lives. Robert Lucky describes one change as "...the disappearance of place as an attribute. The passing of remoteness." Can you explain what he means by this?

7. Two different views of social change and control were presented in the tape. One view was exemplified by Singapore and the other by France. Explain the two views and describe how computer networks are used to support both views.

8. What does the term "your electronic presence" mean? Why is your electronic presence important? Who decides exactly what makes up your electronic presence?

9. Several people on the tape tell us that large computer programs are guaranteed to have bug. Why is this so and why doesn't "exhaustive testing” find the bugs so that we can fix them? Why would the average person on the street care about software bugs?

10. Faulty or buggy software on individual systems is bad enough, but faulty software on networks can be disastrous. Why is this so? What were some of the problems caused by the loss of the long-distance telephone network?