Prezi for Presentations

 Today was our last laboratory class for IT 1. To start the class, we were taught how to use Prezi as a presentation tool. It is very useful since it can be use for reporting and discussing certain topics in class. Also, it is very easy to use since the features are easy to understand and know. Furthermore, the tools and themes are very user-friendly that can make a common user seem like a professional in creating presentations. I’ve seen some of my friends used this software before and now that I’ve learned how to use it, I will surely use it for my future presentations in class. 

After the demonstration, we were given the chance to explore and create our own presentation using Prezi. For our group, our presentation was about the survey we conducted in our previous exercise. It was about the UPLB-based transporation system wherein we aimed to assessed the current transportation system inside the campus. We were able to present the results using Prezi. It’s a great learning opportunity to know such presentation tool that can be use other than microsoft powerpoint. 🙂 

July 20, 2015July 21, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Document Collaboration

I have always been curious how google drive works. I admit, I’m not a techie person thus, I don’t give myself a chance to use it. That is why I stick to using Microsoft office and also, I find it quite for advance people and I wasn’t able to find time to try it out. It is a good thing that in our laboratory class, we were taught how to use it. It opened my mind that there’s a lot of improvements in technology and I find it quite amazing. 

I was at awe when we looked more into how google drive makes a lot of things easier for us. When we were exploring it out and I find it surprising that it is user-friendly and that is easy to use! Also, editing a document is way better because you can edit it and share it with your friends in an instant and they can edit it anywhere or anytime they want. Furthermore, a lot of features such as the comment box, the chat box makes it more suitable for easier communication between your team members. 

For our laboratory exercise, we were tasked to create a survey form with our group mates and share it within the students of the class. I had fun creating a survey form because we were able to customize it and make it more suitable for the survey that we wanted to conduct. Getting response from respondents were also fast and easy because results are updated quicky thus, we were even able to make a write-up for the survey that we did. I thank google for creating such a useful tool for us and that it will really help me and a lot more people today and in the near future. 

July 16, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Basic CSS

CSS or the Cascading Style Sheet is a way for us to personalize our page and add styles and designs that would make our page more eye catching and worth reading. I enjoyed creating my web page even more after I got to learn some of the basics in HTML and in CSS. Now, I got more open-minded in knowing more about computers and how helpful it is to us. I didn’t know that even an amateur like me can learn more about computers and how it works.

This activity was the most thrilling for me sincethe first time we had an exercise in IT 1. I enjoyed it a lot! Too bad, I don’t have ample time to know more about the basics in CSS and that I only got to know a glimpse of what CSS really does. It’s definitely an interesting thing to work on. I got more chance to create my own site and to personalize my own page.

July 15, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Basic HTML

Today, we learned how to create a basic HTML or the Hypertext Mark-up Language. It shows how webpages are written. It is composed of HTML tags that are used in creating the content of your website. Tools such as the text editor and a web browser were used. It should be taken note that all documents should be saved as filename.html for it to run.

W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium sets the standards on the web. Now, HTML 5 is used with higher capabilities than HTML 4. Furthermore, the HTML or the basic tags were enumerated to us and were used for creating our first webpage. various tags such as table tag, image tag, paragraph tag, head tag were used to illustrate the content of our webpage.

For our mini activity, we created our mid-year term schedule using the HTML tags. the visuals were checked using a web browser. Row span and column span were also used. Afterwards, we created our own page by applying the things we learned from the discussion.

I enjoyed doing this activity. I learned how websites are done. It is quite amazing to know that there’s a story behind every webpages that we see. Now, I realized how hard and tedious it is to create a catchy, informative and meaningful webpage but it is a fun and interesting to learn and understand at the same time.

 

July 13, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Basic Programming

In this exercise, we were taught how to use C programming in solving simple problems using different types of variables. Also, the importance of syntax and semantics were taught to us. Syntax is how the program is written while Semantics is the meaning behind the program. It should be taken note that Semantics should be correct with syntax to have a correct output.

We used the gedit to create our files for c-programming and the terminal to check whether our program is running or not. Various types of format codes and assignment statements were used to run the program successfully.

For our activity, we were tasked to create a program in C that asks for the amount of money and breaks the amount into one thousand pesos, five hundred pesos, one hundred pesos, fifty pesos, twenty pesos, ten pesos, five pesos, and one peso.

It was a fun activity! I was able to run my program. This activity needs a lot of focus and nitpicking to achieve the correct OUTPUT.

July 13, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Computer Problem Solving

Exercise 7 is my favorite laboratory activity so far in IT 1. In this exercise, we were tasked to create algorithms to solve simple problems to solve blockly. We signed in in code.org using our google account and started to do the exercise. It was fun and exciting to do! We were taught how to use different blocks to perform actions. Frozen was the theme of our activity and 20 different tasks were done that involves the use and combinations of blocks to create different shapes such as snowflakes, circles, squares etc. After completing the 20 puzzles, a certificate was awarded to us and I was supper happy. I feel accomplished to have such an achievement.

I enjoyed it alot that’s why I tried another activity which involves more blocks to use and more fun illustrations to see such as plants vs. zombies and angry birds and many more! and suprisingly,I received another certificate. Hooray!

I would definitely try more activities in code.org since it’s a fun way of learning the basic concepts of Computer Science. 🙂

July 6, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Computer Hardware

 

Input-> Process -> Output

It is the common flow or pathway of encoding information (Input) with the use of devices such as keyboards,mouses and the like that is to be processed and/or stored(process) by the computer and then display the result(output) of the action that was done. In a system unit, it contains the basic needed materials for a computer to operate. The parts of a system unit were discussed to us. A sample of an opened system unit was given to groups for further illustration and understanding of the topic. We were also given the free will to use this sample for review and deeper appreciation of the function of a system unit.

It is my first time to see the internal part of a computer housing or also called as “box”. It was quite amazing to know and discover the parts inside a computer housing and how information runs through its different parts to store and process information. 

Also, it is our first hands-on activity in class and we were tasked to connect the parts in a computer housing and briefly discuss its functions and roles in a computer. It was done by group and in this activity, I got to learn more about computers and now I understand how it works and evolves through time since nowadays, laptops,and tablets can now be used similar on how a classic computer desktop works. 

July 6, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Boolean Algebra

For exercise 5, we discussed about Boolean Algebra. Boolean Algebra was made by George Boole. Furthermore, a boolean function or a logic function is a function that results to either 0 or 1 when evaluated.

We further discussed in class about digital logic and computer arithmetic and we learned about the different types of logic gates: The NOT gate, OR gate, AND gate, XOR gate, NAND gate, XNOR gate, NOR gate.  As discussed, these gates are building blocks that are connected to form more complex computers. Thus, we learned how to create logic circuits using gates. Logisim can be used for easier construction of circuits. However, I prefer to draw and sketch a particular circuit than to use Logisim.

Moreover, we were taught how to evaluate a boolean function using the different theorems in boolean algebra and convert it to its simplest form.

Boolean algebra is an interesting topic to be learned in IT 1. It is quite confusing at times thus it requires focus and concentration when evaluating logic functions and creating circuits. I enjoyed drawing logic circuits. However, I had a hard time in evaluating boolean functions and simplifying it because I think this topic needs more practice for it to be mastered and done easily.

July 6, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

Binary Arithmetic

The second part of our laboratory class yesterday was about Binary Arithmetic. We were taught how to add and subtract values using the binary values 0 and 1.

In Binary Arithmetic, values 0 and 1 are the only values used and that the computer only understands the use of these two values. That is why in n-bit representations, only 0 and 1 are used.

The addition operation is easy to understand while in the subtraction operation there are some things that need to be taken note of before doing the process. These are the following: the sign of the subtrahend should be changed and that the most significant bit tells the sign of the number.

Also, the 1’s complement and 2’s complement were discussed in class. I liked this part of the discussion because it is quite tricky but easy to understand and operate. The two operations are quite similar with each other. Only a few steps were added and changed for 2’s complement.

Aside from having a no error in these operations, results of arithmetic operations do not always end up with the answer that the computer understands. There are times wherein the result of the arithmetic operation exceeds the positive limit and also there are times wherein result of the arithmetic operation is less than the negative limit. These situations are called overflow and underflow, respectively.

There are ways to detect and know if the operation resulted to an overflow, underflow and no error. The steps were dicussed in class and that these helps us know if the answers of the operation we used resulted to the correct answer that the computer understands.

June 30, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment

The Number Systems

In our laboratory class yesterday, we discussed about the Number Systems. It is a writing system that uses numbers and letters. We tackled about Decimal (Base 10), Binary (Base 2), Octal (Base 8) and Hexadecimal (Base 16) Values.

Afterwards, conversion of Decimal to Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal and vice versa were taught in class. Various steps were discussed and illustrated in class. Examples were given for further understanding. The exercise was quite confusing at first and that it needs focus and concentration.

Converting Decial to Binary is my favorite part in the exercise. It is quite easy to understand. However, there are conversions that need a lot of thinking such as converting Binary to Octal and Hexadecimal. During the exercise, I got somehow confuse in which steps will I use since there were a lot of steps given to us for computation.

Understanding the number systems needs a lot more practice and review but it is a fun way of understanding more of how computer understands us and also it is a way for us to connect and understand how computers uses these information to connect with us. 🙂

June 30, 2015July 16, 2015 by jcsidiangco248 Leave a comment