Nick Chapman

10256

Ram

Storage

Linux

Bibliography

Meaningful Topics I learned in CISB11

 

            I must admit that going into this class I was not expecting to learn very much. I consider myself to be very computer savvy, and I expected this class to be a breeze. I was pleasantly surprised to be exposed to many new tools in the computer world. With every new topic I learned something new, even the ones that I felt I had already mastered, like Excel. Below are a few specific examples of information I have acquired from this class.

            I have been an avid user of Microsoft Excel for almost ten years now. I can do pretty much anything with Excel, from conditional formatting, to writing formulas and macros. Going into the Excel homework assignments I was not expecting to learn anything. I was shocked to find out that there was a way to reference the same parent cell when copying a formula. That is a problem I had dealt with for years in Excel without ever knowing it was fixable. I was also shocked to discover that you can have formulas transfer across sheets, with one sheet relying on another for information. These new tools that I have learned will greatly improve my proficiency in Excel, which may in turn make me more valuable to a future employer.

            Similarly related to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access is a very powerful tool. I didn’t have Access on my computer so I had to use my dad’s. Even he had never used it before, and so I had no idea what it even was. It turns out Access is quite useful if you are trying to keep track and document lots of information. It seems to me like the perfect program to use if you were planning to open your own business. It conveniently creates reports and even allows you to quickly retrieve valuable information using queries. I’m happy that I can now say I’ve used Microsoft Access, and I am comfortable navigating within the program.

            As comfortable as I am in the whole Microsoft Office package, I was completely unaware that Google offered their own versions of office programs known as Google Documents. Although I can not imagine myself using Google documents all that often, I recognize that they can be a very useful and powerful tool to someone who perhaps does not have Microsoft Office. Google Docs offers its own versions of pretty much every program you could possibly need. Whether its word processors or spreadsheets, Google has them, and best of all, they are free!

            I could not complete this assignment without mentioning the use of web page uploading. Creating web pages and even writing code have always been topics within the computer world that have scared me. This class has sort of opened my eyes as far as how simple things can be with the assistance of software. Web page editing and uploading really is not that scary anymore, and in reality is actually kind of fun and interesting. I am only disappointed that it took me this long to gather up the courage to expose myself to it.

            In conclusion, I went into this class thinking I knew way more about computers than I actually did. This class was a constant eye opener when it comes to the power of software and computers. I highly recommend it to anyone that thinks they have it all figured out.