Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers
FALL 2023
NOTE: This is an older version of the course website. The current version can be found here.
Logistics
Lectures
Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:00am - 11:50am at 3081 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)
Labs
Fridays, 11:00am-12:50am at 3081 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg(ECEB)
We will use Wolfram Notebooks in the labs. You can access notebooks directly at www.wolframcloud.com by logging in with your netID and password. Or you can download and install Mathematica from here (again using your netID and password).
Office Hours
Instructor: Abrita Chakravarty
MW 11:50 AM-12:20 PM or by appointment
TA: Sattwik Basu
Monday 3:00-4:00 PM, ECEB 2036
Recent Announcements
Welcome to the new edition of ECE 101, Fall 2023!
We are excited to start the new semester. Profs. Roy Choudhury and Lumetta put this course together a year back with the hope of helping students (from all departments) understand and ponder about modern technologies that have changed and will continue to change people's lives in the coming decade.
As you may already know, we have made some major changes to the course content and structure, so please ignore any old descriptions that you might find online—this page and our introductory lecture will tell you about the plans for this and coming semesters.
If you have friends who you think might also be interested in joining our class, please encourage them to do so this semester (or next). We're also interested in hearing how you learned about our class, as we do want to attract more students.
Sincerely,
The ECE 101 Course Staff
Calendar
Introduction
- Mon, Aug 21
-
- Course Introduction & Landscape
Logistics, topics, grading, prerequisites, etc.
10 thousand foot view (Internet) to 100 feet view (programming) - Video/ Part 1 Slides/ Part 2 Notebook
- Course Introduction & Landscape
- Wed, Aug 23
-
- History, Map of Keywords
- Video/ Slides
- Fri, Aug 25
-
- Lab 1
Introduction to Wolfram Notebooks - Notebook
- Lab 1
Past & Present — Connecting the World
- Mon, Aug 28
-
- Wi-Fi
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Aug 30
-
- Cellular
- Video /Slides
- Fri, Sep 1
-
- Lab 2
WiFi and Cellular - Video / Notebook
- Lab 2
- Mon, Sep 4
- Labor Day
- Wed, Sep 6
-
- Internet (1/2)
Connectivity, Forwarding, and Routing - Video / Slides
- Internet (1/2)
- Fri, Sep 8
-
- Internet (2/2)
HTTP, DNS, TCP, and Layering - Video / Slides
- Internet (2/2)
- Mon, Sep 11
-
- Client-Server
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Sep 13
-
- Distribution and Streaming
- Video / Slides
- Fri, Sep 15
-
- Lab 3
- Notebook
- Mon, Sep 18
-
- Social Networks
- Video / Notebook
- Wed, Sep 20
-
- File Systems
- Video / Notebook
- Fri, Sep 22
-
- Lab 4
- Video / Notebook
-
- Mon, Sep 25
-
- Exam 1 Review
- Video / Resources
- Wed, Sep 27
-
- Exam 1
- Study Guide
Intelligence & Implications
- Fri, Sep 29
-
- Introduction to Machine Intelligence (No Lab; Exam questions discussed at end of lecture)
- Video / notebook
- Mon, Oct 2
-
- Search Engines and Google
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Oct 4
-
- Recommendation Systems
- Video / Slides
- Fri, Oct 6
-
- Lab 5
- Video / Notebook
- Mon, Oct 9
-
- Machine Learning (1/2)
- Video / Notebook
- Wed, Oct 11
-
- Machine Learning (2/2)
- Slides
- Fri, Oct 13
-
- Lab 6
- Video / notebook
- Mon, Oct 16
-
- Ethics & Privacy
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Oct 18
-
- Authentication
- Video / Notebook
- Fri, Oct 20
-
- Lab 7
- Notebook
- Mon, Oct 23
-
- Physical Security & Fairness
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Oct 25
-
- Exam 2 Review
- Study Guide
- Fri, Oct 27
-
- Exam 2
Future
- Mon, Oct 30
-
- Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (1/2)
- Video / Notebook
- Wed, Nov 1
-
- Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (2/2)
- Video/ Slides
- Fri, Nov 3
-
- Lab 8
- Video / Notebook
- Mon, Nov 6
-
- Speech & Natural Language Processing
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Nov 8
-
- Computer Vision.
- Video / Slides
- Fri, Nov 10
-
- Lab 9
- Notebook
- Mon, Nov 13
-
- Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Nov 15
-
- Self Driving
- Video /Slides
- Fri, Nov 17
-
- Lab 10
- Video /Slides/ Notebook
- Sat, Nov 18
- Fall Break Begins
- Sun, Nov 26
- Fall Break Ends
- Mon, Nov 27
-
- Working with Data
- Video / Slides
- Wed, Nov 29
-
- Exam 3 Review
- Study Guide
- Fri, Dec 1
-
- Exam 3
Fun Week
- Mon, Dec 4
-
- TBA
- Wed, Dec 6
-
- TBA
Course Staff
Instructors
Abrita Chakravarty
Teaching Assistant
Sattwik Basu
Syllabus
This course will give students from outside of Engineering an under-the-hood view of 12 important technologies that will impact their daily lives in the next decade. For each technology, students will
- understand the core technical challenges in realizing the technology,
- gain intuition on how the challenges are being solved,
- appreciate how such technologies translate to business and revenue, and
- identify implications in areas such as privacy, fairness, policy, ethics, and other paradigm shifts.
Technical subjects to be considered include basics of sensing, computing, communication, and control, the 4 pillars of technology. To help students better relate to the topics discussed in the course, each technology will be highlighted using one or more well-established companies (e.g., Comcast, ATT, Google, Facebook, ADT, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Verisign).
Exam Information
The course has three midterm exams. There will not be any final exam. More information on midterm logistics, format, and grading will be released soon.
Exam 1
Exam 1 will be on Sep 27. The exam will be 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Past & Present module.
Study Guide
Here are some resources to help you prepare for Exam 1:
- Professor Lumetta's Study Guide
- Professor Roy Choudhury's Study Guide
- Exam 1 Review Session Video
Exam 2
Exam 2 will be on Oct 27. The exam will be approximately 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Intelligence & Implications module.
Study Guide
Please have a look at the Exam 2 Study Guide to prepare for the exam.
Exam 3
Exam 3 will be on Dec 1. The exam will be approximately 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Future module.
Study Guide
Here are some resources to help you prepare for Exam 3:
- Professor Lumetta's Study Guide
Grading Information
- Midterm exams: 3 x 20%
- Hands-on exercises / Labs: 30%
- Participation: 10%
All Announcements
Welcome to the new edition of ECE 101, Fall 2023!
We are excited to start the new semester. Profs. Roy Choudhury and Lumetta put this course together a year back with the hope of helping students (from all departments) understand and ponder about modern technologies that have changed and will continue to change people's lives in the coming decade.
As you may already know, we have made some major changes to the course content and structure, so please ignore any old descriptions that you might find online—this page and our introductory lecture will tell you about the plans for this and coming semesters.
If you have friends who you think might also be interested in joining our class, please encourage them to do so this semester (or next). We're also interested in hearing how you learned about our class, as we do want to attract more students.
Sincerely,
The ECE 101 Course Staff