CSCI 110
Diving Into Research
2008 - 2009
| Professor: |
Dr. Jerry Breecher,
(jbreecher at
clarku dot edu) |
|
Office BP 343,
(508)793-7396 |
| Meeting Time: |
Wednesday 12:00
p.m. - 1:15 p.m. |
|
|
Diving Into Research is a chance for First Year Students to engage
in research. So what IS research? It's really a methodology
of thinking, then doing what you thought about, then thinking more
about the success or failure of what you just did. It's about
iteration - applying the process over and over until you reach your
goal. The graphics at the top of the page represent
this. At Clark you will do research (thinking and doing) in order
to build a computer program meeting your goals (the picture is of the
microcontroller we will be using.)
So what are our research goals in this course?
1. By October 30 write a program and modify the microcontroller
so that the computer will speak using YOUR voice the words "Happy
Halloween".
2. By April 1, write a program and modify the hardware so that
the computer can carry on a conversation -
it can "hear" a person via a microphone
and "speak" to that person with a speaker.
3. Develop a class writeup of the project that will be presented
at Academic Spree Day.
If this seems overwhelming to you, I'm not surprised. But
the wonder of a research method is that lots of small steps make
possible a really big goal.
Prerequisites:
It is assumed that along with this course, you are taking a Clark
programming course or that you had a high school programming
course. You should either be planning to be a Computer Science
major, or planning a major close to CS (math, physics, etc.) It
is not REQUIRED that you have high school programming experience.
Nitty Gritty:
This is a two semester course -
it counts for 1/2 credit each semester. The details of how that
all works you REALLY don't want to know at this point - trust me it
works. You can take one of the one-semester one-credit
First Year Seminars along with this one; in essense you will be
taking 4.5 courses. This is OK and is considered quite normal.
This course is supposed to be fun and will not add dramatically to your
overall workload.
How the class runs:
Class meets weekly. You'll
be expected to attend class. You'll be expected to do the "think
and do" inherent in the research method. There are a lot of
people in the class. That's great. But it means that you
will have a Microcontroller available in the lab for your use.
You can program it, and make it say "Happy Halloween". There will
be a series of steps to make this happen.
<>The Series Of Steps:
Here is a list of the topics to be covered in the first sessions -
these are the steps to be followed so that you know how to program the
microcontroller. These steps will include lectures,
demonstrations, and hands-on "do it" components every week. I
realize this is all totally Greek to you at this point. Do not be
dismayed!!
1. The PIC microcontroller 18F2620 and the 28-pin Microchip
demonstration board.
2. MPLAB - the IDE that makes programming simple. Writing a
simple program (in Assembler (gasp!!) )
3. "Hello World" - a simple program in C and it's
equivalent for the microcontroller.
4. Some simple routines. Delay circuits. Preparing
the pins. Digital and Analog.
5. What can this chip do? Programming the microcontroller
to use the LEDs, the A/D potentiometer, and the push button switch.
6. The magic of converting Digital into Analog.
7. Sound: What does it mean electronically? How is it
represented digitally?
8. Recording "Happy Halloween"
9. Writing the "Happy Halloween" program.
10. Amplifiers - getting the hardware so you can hear it.
11. Bringing it all together.