8/23/10

CE  311K  
Introduc/on  to  Computer  Methods  
Daene  McKinney  

Introduc1on  

[Link]/prof/mckinney/ce311k/[Link]

Introduc)on  
• Course  Introduc1on  and  Housekeeping  
• Computer  Systems  –  Hardware  and  So<ware  
• The  Internet  
• Program  Planning  

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Course  Objec)ves    
• Introduce  computer  methods  for  the  solu)on  of  civil  
engineering  problems,  including:    
– Intro  to  computer  hardware  and  opera1ng  systems,    
– Organiza1on  of  engineering  problems  for  computer  solu1on,    
– Selec1on  of  appropriate  numerical  solu1on  so<ware,  methods,  and  
algorithms,    
– Elementary  numerical  analysis  of  selected  algorithms,    
– Wri1ng,  compiling,  and  execu1ng  Visual  Basic  programs  
– Presenta1on  of  problems  and  their  solu1on,    
– Use  of  the  WWW  to  communicate  and  retrieve  informa1on    

Housekeeping  
• Prerequisites  
– M408C,  Calculus  I,  Co-­‐requisite:  M408D,  Calculus  II  
• Text  
– Required:    
• Schneider,  D.  I.,  An  Introduc1on  to  Programming  Using  Visual  Basic  2008,  2008,  Pren1ce  
Hall  
• Microso<  Visual  Studio  Express  Edi1on  with  VB2008  (CD  in  back  of  the  text  or  
download  from  the  web:    
• hXp://[Link]<.com/express/Downloads/#2010-­‐Visual-­‐Basic  
– Strongly  Suggested:    
• Chapra,  S.  &  R.  Canale,  Numerical  Methods  for  Engineers  
• Homework    
– Due  at  beginning  of  lecture,  due  date  on  web  site  
– Lab  assignments  due  next  lab  period  
– Late  homework  penalized  50%  per  day  late  

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Housekeeping  
• Grading    
– A  >=  90,  B  >=  80,  C  >=  70,  etc  
– Exams:    50%  (2  at  25%  each;  open  book  &  notes)  
– Project:    20%    
– Laboratory:    20%    
– Homework:    10%    
• Exams    
– 2  exams  
– No  makeups  
– Dates:  on  web  site  
– No  Final  –  Project  Presenta1on  and  Report  Instead  

Projects  
• Enable  you  to  explore  in-­‐depth  some  aspect  of  Civil,  
Architectural,  or  Environmental  Engineering  of  interest  
to  you    
• Provide  experience  in  
– use  of  computer  methods  to  solve  engineering  problems    
– formula1on,  execu1on  and  presenta1on  of  an  engineering  
inves1ga1on    
– team  effort  to  produce  a  project,  report  and  presenta1on  that  is  
informa1ve  to  you  and  your  classmates  

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Project  Steps  
• Students  -­‐  sign  up  for  an  area  of  interest  
– Architectural  Engineering  (ArE)  –  [Link]/
areareasofprac1ce/[Link]  
• Structural  Engineering    
• Building  Energy  and  Environments  
• Construc1on  Materials  Engineering  
– Civil  Engineering  (CE)  –  [Link]/ceareasofprac1ce/
[Link]  
• Construc1on  Engineering  and  Project  Management  (CEPM)  
• Environmental  Engineering  (ENV)  
• Geotechnical  Engineering  (GEO)  
• Materials:  Mechanics  and  Construc1on  (MAT)  
• Structures  (STR)  
• Transporta1on  (TRAN)  
• Water  Resources  Engineering  (WR)  

Project  Steps  
• Instructor  -­‐  prepares  teams  in  areas  of  interest  
• Teams    
– Select  project  topic  in  their  area  and  prepare  
proposal  
– Work  on  project  in  teams  
– Present  final  project  in  class  
– Submit  final  report  

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Compu)ng  Systems  
• A  computer  is  a  machine  designed  to  perform  opera1ons  specified  with  a  
set  of  instruc1ons  called  a  program.  

• Hardware  refers  to  the  computer  equipment.  

– keyboard,  mouse,  terminal,  hard  disk,  printer  

• SoCware  refers  to  the  programs  that  describe  the  steps  we  want  the  
computer  to  perform.  

Computer  Hardware  
Display
Memory
Device

Storage RAM
Device
Output

ALU
Input
• CPU  -­‐  Central  processing  unit   Computer
CPU

• ROM  -­‐  Read  only  memory  

– Power  off,  data  saved  
• RAM  -­‐  Random  access  memory  
– Power  off,  data  lost  

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Computer  Systems  

• First  Genera1on  
– 1940-­‐1950    Vacuum  tubes  
• Second  Genera1on    
– 1950-­‐1964    Transistors    
• Third  Genera1on    
– 1964-­‐1971    Integrated  Circuits  
• Fourth  Genera1on    
– 1971-­‐present  Microprocessors  
• Fi<h  Genera1on  
– Future      Massively  Parallel  
• Cloud  
– Current    Internet-­‐based  

[Link]/definition/History_of_computing_hardware

Computer  SoCware  
• Opera1ng  System  
– interface  with  the  user  
– unix,  windows,  linux,  ...  

• So<ware  Tools  
– word  processors  (Microso<Word,  WordPerfect,  ...)  
– spreadsheet  programs  (Excel,  Lotus1-­‐2-­‐3,  ...)  
– mathema1cal  computa1on  tools  (MATLAB,  MathCAD,  ...)  

• Computer  Languages  
– machine  language  
– assembly  language  
– binary  language  
– high  level  languages    
– (C,  C++,  FORTRAN,  VB,  java)  

• Web  Applica1ons   Reed Harvard UT Stanford

– Search  engines  
– Online  shopping  
– VOIP  

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The  Internet  
• Interna1onal  computer  network  
connec1ng  …everybody  
• Computer  networking  and  
communica1ons  technology    
– i.e.,  wires  and  routers,  those  things  that  
connect  computers  
– TCP/IP  (Transmission  Control  Protocol/Internet  
Protocol)  directs  the  flow  of  data  between  
computers  on  the  internet  
• The  Internet  allows  you  to  communicate  
with  computer  users  around  town  and  
around  the  world  

World  Wide  Web  (WWW)  

• An  open  approach  to  informa1on  sharing    

• Providing  a  distributed  “hyper”-­‐media  system  to  easily  
access  informa1on  spread  across  the  world    
• “Hyper”-­‐text    
– A  way  to  link  and  access  informa1on  of  various  kinds  as  a  web  of  nodes  in  which  a  
user  can  browse  at  will  
– Opera1on  of  the  Web  relies  on  hypertext  to  interact  with  users    
– Enables  you  to  read  and  navigate  informa1on  in  a  nonlinear  way  based  on  what  you  
want  to  know  
– Browser  -­‐  programs  which  provide  access  to  hypertext  docs  on  the  web    

• HTML  (Hypertext  Markup  Language)    

– Formasng  standard  for  hypertext  documents  

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How  big  is  the  internet?  

• 1830  million:  individuals  will  use  the  Internet  in  2010  
• >  1  trillion  web  pages  
• 5  million  Tera  bytes  of  data  
• >  500  million  use  the  Internet  at  least  once  a  week  
• Google  Zeitgeist  Search  Queries:  2009    
– Fastest  Rising  (Global)  
– michael  jackson  
– Facebook  
– Tuen1  
– TwiXer  
– Sanalika  
– new  moon  
– lady  gaga  
– windows  7  
– [Link]  
– torpedo  gra1s  

Model  Building  Process  

• Problem  iden1fica1on  
– Important  elements  to  be  modeled    
– Rela1ons  and  interac1ons  between  them  
– Degree  of  accuracy  
• Conceptualiza1on  and  development  
– Mathema1cal  descrip1on  
– Type  of  model    
– Numerical  method  -­‐  computer  code  
– Grid,  boundary  &  ini1al  condi1ons  
• Calibra1on  
– Es1mate  model  parameters  
– Model  outputs  compared  with  actual  
outputs  
– Parameters  adjusted  un1l  the  values  
agree  
• Verifica1on  
– Independent  set  of  input  data  used    
– Results  compared  with  measured  outputs  

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Programming  Process  

Algorithm Design
(underlying logic of program)

Program Composition

Debug & test

(error free & reliable)

Program Documentation

Program Maintenance

First “Bug”
Grace M. Hopper

AL-KHOWARIZMI

Algorithms  
• Example:    
– Write  a  leXer.      
– To  mail  it,  you  must  decide  how  much  postage  to  put  on  the  envelop.  
• Rule  of  Thumb:  One  stamp  for  every  5  sheets  of  paper.  
• Algorithm:  Step-­‐by-­‐Step  procedure  for  solving  a  problem  
1. Input  =  Number  of  sheets  of  paper  in  the  leXer  
2. Divide  Sheets  by  5.    Round  up  to  the  next  highest  whole  number  
3. Output  =  Number  of  Stamps  

INPUT Output
Processing
(16) (4)

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Composing  a  Computer  Program  

High-level Low-level Input data
language Language
Source Machine Executable
Compiler language Link/load Output
code module

• Programmer  
– Writes  program  in  source  code  (VB  or  other  language)    
• Compiler  
– Converts  source  code  to  machine  language  code  
• Linker  
– Combines  machine  language  with  libraries  &  converts  them  to  an  executable  
module  
• Interpreter  
– Converts  source  code  to  machine  language  and  executes  one  line  at  a  1me  

6  Elements  of  Programming  

• 6  things  you  need  to   • VB  

program  in  any   • C,  C++,  C#  
language:   • FORTRAN  
1. Variables  
• Pascal  
2. Input/Output  
3. Selec1on   • Cobol  
4. Subprograms   • Java,  J++  
5. Repe11on   • YouNameItLanguage  
6. Arrays  

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Summary  
• Course  Introduc1on  and  Housekeeping  
• Computer  Systems  –  Hardware  and  So<ware  
• The  Internet  
• Program  Planning  

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