CHAPTER 2

Lab Assignment 02—Effective use of the Internet

Title: Effective use of the Internet

Due: Before the start of your Lab 03 session

Aims: This lab explores various technologies used on the Internet, including email,

WWW, forums, blogs and wikis.

2.1 Preparation

Before starting this lab, you should familiarize yourself with Chapter 4 of the online

course reference manual.

2.2 Using the WWW

The World Wide Web is part of the Internet. It consists of information that is

accessed by a system of browsers and servers that can communicate with each

other using HTTP. Today web browsers are used to access and interact with a

variety of other Internet services such as email and FTP. To begin, we will look at

using a web browser to access web pages.

Web Browser basics

A web browser is an application that is used to display pages that are accessed using

the WWW. In this lab, we will use the Google Chrome browser. This is a highly

recommended browser that has a number of features that make it an attractive

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.2. USING THE WWW

option for web browsing. If you want to install Chrome on your computer at home,

you can download a free copy from:

https://www.google.com/chrome/

Navigation toolbar

The navigation toolbar contains the common tools used to navigate through the

WWW. If you hover over a button then you can discover what it is used for.

Page address

The page address shows the location of a page on the Internet (the URL). You

can browse a web site by simply entering the destination location into the address

bar, which is part of the navigation toolbar.

Enter the following url:

https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/courses/compsci111s1c/index.html

to navigate to the main page of the Semester 1 COMPSCI 111 website. This

should now appear in the address bar:

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.2. USING THE WWW

Q1: Using the above URL for the main page of the website, list the names

of the protocol used, the domain, the path on server and the resource file.

Refer to the Lecture 7 slides for help with this question.

Body of the page

The body of the page is displayed in the central area of the web browser. All the

actual content of the page is displayed in this region.

Tabs

One of the nice features of Chrome is the tabs that can be used to display multiple

web pages within the same browser window. Each tab can contain a different web

page. To swap from one tab to another, you simply left-click on the tab. To

create a new tab that you can use to browse, you can either:

• Choose → New Tab , or

• right-click on a link that appears on the current page and choose

Open Link in New Tab

• use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-T

• click on the button next to the current set of tabs

A tab always shows the title of a web page. The title of the page is used as the

name that is recorded when you bookmark a page or look at the browser history.

Q2: What is the keyboard shortcut for bookmarking the page you are

currently viewing?

Q3: How does an incognito Chrome window differ from a regular Chrome

window?

Using a search engine

Since there is no central agency that keeps track of the content on the web, a

search engine is normally the best means of finding the information you are looking

for. We will use the Google search engine in this section, but before we do so we

want to learn how to use the search features effectively, so connect to:

https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//

educators/downloads/Tips˙Tricks˙17x22.pdf

You can also access this document from the COMPSCI111 shared folder. Read the

entire page of tips. Bookmark this page of tips for future reference.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.2. USING THE WWW

Q4: Using the Google advanced search method that allows you to search

within a specific website (site:), what would you type in to search within

the University of Auckland website (auckland.ac.nz) for more information

on scholarships at the university?

Q5: Using the Google advanced search method that allows you to obtain

a words definition (define:), what would you type in to find the definition

of the word algorithm? Use the snipping tool to take a screenshot of the

result of your search and paste it into your lab report.

Q6: Using Google’s ability to do various conversions, find out find out

what 25 degrees Celsius is in degrees Fahrenheit. Use the snipping tool to

take a screenshot of the result of your search and paste it into your lab

report.

Building a library of resources

The WWW contains many excellent resources. However, finding them can often

prove difficult. Using a search engine effectively is an excellent start, but it is also

valuable to collect a list of other sites that provide the resources you use. These

sites can be bookmarked or written down in a book for reference. As you progress

through the course, make a list of the useful websites that you find.

Q7: Which University of Auckland statistician won the Royal Society of

New Zealand’s Pickering Medal in 2008 for their work on the R program-

ming language?

Q8: What is the Maori word for “computer”?

Q9: Where in New Zealand was the father of nuclear physics, Ernest

Rutherford, born?

Using Google Maps

Return to the main Google page: http://www.google.co.nz. Click on the apps

icon at the top right hand corner of the page, choose Maps and get directions

to travel by car from your home street to the Auckland Town Hall. On the left

hand side of the screen click on Directions . Enter your street name as your

starting point and the Auckland Town Hall as the destination. Choose a route by

car and then click on Details to get the directions you would need in order to

follow the route.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.3. EMAIL

Q10: Use the snipping tool to take a screenshot of the window containing

the map, the route and the directions .

Zoom in on the area around the Auckland Town Hall. Drag the pegman icon ( )

found on the bottom right corner of the screen and drop it when the green circle

below the pegman icon is close to the Auckland Town Hall marker on the map.

This will bring up the street view of the Auckland Town Hall (you may have to

wait a few seconds for this to load).

Q11: Use the snipping tool to take a screenshot of the street view of the

Auckland Town Hall.

Using Google Translate

Return to the main Google page: http://www.google.co.nz and click on the

apps icon at the top right hand corner of the page and then choose Translate .

The Google Translate web page provides a free translation service that lets you

translate both text (that you enter) and web pages, and supports 58 different

languages.

The Google Translate web page provides two drop down menus:

• A From menu that lets you select the language that the text (or web page)

you want translated is in.

• A To menu that lets you select the language you want to translate to.

Below the drop down menus and translate button are a text box, on the left,

for entering the text (or the URL for the web page) you want translated, and a

text area, on the right, where the translation is displayed. To make things easier,

Google Translate usually automatically detects the language of the text entered

into the text area and adjusts the selection in the From menu accordingly.

In the box on the left hand side, paste the following URL which links to a web

page with a recipe for the dish “Caneles Bordelais”:

https://www.cuisinedaubery.com/recipe/recette-caneles-bordelais/

This URL will appear in the box on the right hand side; clicking on this will take

you to the web page, with the contents now translated into English.

Q12: Use the Snipping Tool to take a screenshot of the section “Result”.

2.3 Email

Email is widely used in the community today and is a fairly standard way to com-

municate, both formally and informally. Many people keep multiple email addresses

that they share with different groups of people. For example, you might have a

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.4. PIAZZA

work address like ann@cs.auckland.ac.nz, a private email address to share with

friends, and a junk email address to sign up at websites.

All students are provided with a free university student email account. Your email

address is your username characters plus “@aucklanduni.ac.nz”. Please ensure

that you check your student email regularly as it is one of the university’s main

ways of officially communicating with you.

Check your University email account now. You should find at least one Canvas

announcement from the COMPSCI 111/111G course.

Q13: Where else can you see you a list of announcements that have been

sent out previously by COMPSCI 111 teaching staff?

Have a read of the Lecture 5 slides to find out how emails work and then answer

the following questions:

Q14: What protocol is used by an email client like Gmail, Hotmail etc.

to send an email to its destination?

Q15: To receive and view an email, an email client can use one of two

protocols. What are the names of these protocols and how do they differ?

Q16: What is the difference between Cc and Bcc?

Email Etiquette

More information on how to send effective emails is provided here:

https://www.netmanners.com/email-etiquette-tips/

This web page lists a number of email etiquette tips that should be followed when

composing an email. Look through the page and answer the following question:

Q17: Give two examples of things you should avoid when formatting an

email.

2.4 Piazza

Piazza is a question and answer web service that is integrated into Canvas. Piazza

is an Italian word for plaza — a city square where people can come together

to share ideas and knowledge. You can use Piazza to ask questions related to

COMPSCI 111/111G that lecturers and other students can discuss and answer.

To access Piazza you can click on the “Piazza” link at the bottom of the navigation

menu located on the left-hand side of the Canvas COMPSCI 111/111G page.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.4. PIAZZA

Posts in Piazza are organised into different folders. There are folders for each

lab, the mid-semester test, the final exam and for general questions. Links to the

folders can be found at the top of the Piazza window underneath the logo.

To look at the posts in a folder simply click on the folder’s link. The posts will be

listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent post at the top. In the

following screenshot you can see one post - “Compsci111/111G Semester 1 2020

:)”.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.5. GOOGLE DRIVE

To make a post click on the button. You will then be able to choose

three types of posts as shown in the following screenshot.

You will primarily be using Piazza questions. A question can be answered by other

students or by the COMPSCI 111/111G lecturers (referred to as instructors in

Piazza). Lecturers can also endorse a student reply that they deem answers the

question. A screenshot of the Piazza question interface is seen below.

Before making a post in a folder, you should always check whether the topic you

want to discuss has already been posted. This avoids cluttering up a folder with

numerous duplicate posts. You can use the search bar to check whether a topic

is already being discussed in a folder.

Q18: Access the COMPSCI 111/111G Piazza page through Canvas.

Open the General Questions folder and use the snipping tool to take a

screenshot of the posts that have been made. Paste this screenshot into

your lab report.

2.5 Google Drive

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service by Google that gives all

users 5 GB of cloud storage. Users can access all content they have uploaded

to, or created on, their Google Drive from any computer with online access using

their Google account. Storing any work you do at the university on your Google

Drive makes it available for you to access at home using a Web browser. To use

Google Drive follow the steps below:

• Log in to your university webmail account if you have not already done so.

• Go to the Google Drive website: drive.google.com. You will be presented

with a web page that shows you the content of your Google Drive.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.5. GOOGLE DRIVE

Creating a Document

Google Drive lets you create different types of content including documents, pre-

sentations and spreadsheets using Google Docs, a free web-based office suite. To

start Google Docs click on the button on the left hand side of the

Google Drive web page. For this exercise choose “Google Docs”.

This will open a new tab containing a blank document. You will first rename this

document. To do so choose File → Rename. . . and enter the name “Lab02

Exercise”. Next enter the following sentence as content: “The first Google Doc

by” followed by your name. An example of the completed document is shown

below:

Q19: Using the snipping tool, take a screenshot of your document (similar

to the one provided), and paste it into your lab report.

You can now close the tab containing your Google Doc.

Uploading Content

For this exercise you will first have to obtain the files you need to upload to your

Google Drive. Copy the Lab02 folder from CompSci111 folder on the desktop to

your COMPSCI111 folder in your USB drive.

To upload the contents of your Lab02 folder, click on My Drive

→ Upload folder... . This will open a folder browser. Select your Lab02 folder

and click�� ��OK . The upload process will take a few seconds; a small pop-up will

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.6. ACCESSING YOUR HOME DRIVE

appear on the bottom right of your screen displaying your upload progress. Once

your upload is complete an icon for your Lab02 folder should appear in your Google

Drive.

Q20: Double click on the Lab02 folder icon in your Google Drive to view

its contents. Take a screenshot of the contents of this folder using the

snipping tool (an example of which is given in the image below), and paste

it into your lab report.

2.6 Accessing your Home Drive with a web browser

You can also use a Web browser to access your home drive (i.e. your user home

directory/echome). In this way you can access content you have saved in your

home drive from anywhere. First copy the Lab02 folder from your USB drive to

your home drive. To access this folder on your home drive with a web browser you

need to:

1. Open the COMPSCI 111 home page in your browser (www.cs.auckland.

ac.nz/courses/compsci111s1c/).

2. Click on Quick Links at the top right hand side of the page and then

Home Drive . You will need to log in.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.7. BLOGS

You can now navigate your home drive using the interface (pictured above) in your

Web browser.

Q21: Go to your Lab02 folder using the interface. Rename the file

COMPSCI000.txt to username.txt where username is your username,

e.g. abcd001. Use the snipping tool to take a screen shot of your Lab 02

folder as seen in the Web browser after you have completed renaming the

file.

2.7 Blogs

A blog is essentially an electronic journal. It is designed to be easy to set up and

use. It allows the user to post messages that are time stamped and displayed

in a web page. Everyone can read the blog and it is usually possible to provide

feedback to the author in some fashion.

The School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland has a blog located

at the following URL:

http://uoacomputerscience.blogspot.com/

Navigate to the blog and read some of the posts.

Q22: Use the snipping tool to take a screenshot of the most recent post in

the Department of Computer Science blog and paste it in your lab report.

Q23: What are the dangers associated with blogging?

2.8 Communications Protocols

In lectures we discussed the history of the Internet as well as the technology used to

implement it. Central to communication over the Internet are the two protocols IP

(Internet Protocol) and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), commonly referred

to together as TCP/IP. Answer the following two questions about TCP/IP.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.9. WIKI

Q24: Briefly describe what the Internet Protocol (IP) is responsible for.

Q25: Briefly describe what the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is

responsible for.

2.9 Wiki

A wiki is a tool that allows a community of people to develop electronic resources

in a cooperative manner. It is designed to allow people to contribute quickly and

easily.

Reading a wiki

The most well-known wiki on the Internet is Wikipedia. Start a web browser and

have a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Search for topics that we have already covered in the COMPSCI 111 course. You

are expected to refer to Wikipedia on a regular basis.

The Computer Science Department maintains a wiki for the COMPSCI 111/111G

course. Students are encouraged to read and contribute to the wiki regularly.

Connect to:

http://wiki.cs.auckland.ac.nz/stageonewiki

Spend some time browsing the wiki. Once you are ready to investigate deeper,

log in to the wiki. Use your normal NetLogin and password.

Special Pages

The content of a wiki can change quite frequently. A number of special pages

make it much easier to keep up with the changes.

Click on the link to Special pages that appears in the toolbox on the right side of

the wiki. Explore some of the special pages. The page entitled “Recent Changes”

is particularly useful for keeping track of the content.

Articles and discussion

When content is added to a wiki, it is added as an article. The wiki is really just

a database of linked articles with a web-based interface. The content of a wiki

article is created by the community of people that contribute. The convention is

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.10. LAB SUMMARY

that people do not add their names as contributors to an article (if anyone wants

to know who contributed then they can find out from the logs).

Each article has an associated discussion page. This allows people to discuss the

content that appears on any given page. The MediaWiki product that we use does

not automatically state who made a given comment on a discussion page. People

writing comments on the discussion page should manually add their name (using

wiki markup ˜˜˜˜) so readers can keep track of the discussion.

Creating a user page

Every user of the COMPSCI 111/111G wiki has been allocated a “user page”.

This page can be used by each user as their own “home page” within the wiki. If

you want to experiment, then you can use your user page to test anything out.

You can access your user page by clicking on your user name at the top of any

wiki page.

Create some content for your user page. Refer to the online Compsci 111 ref-

erence manual for instructions on wiki markup. Your page should contain some

information about yourself and should include some wiki markup. You must have:

• At least two headings

• At least one word displayed in bold

• At least one list

• At least one link to a page within the wiki (i.e. an internal link)

Q26: Take a screenshot of your user page from the COMPSCI 111/111G

wiki with the snipping tool, and paste it into your lab report.

Contributing to a wiki

The philosophy of a wiki is collaboration and joint ownership of all material. By

adding new and useful information or by correcting or improving existing material,

users can develop a wiki into a more valuable resource. You can begin your contri-

butions by providing a link from the main page of the COMPSCI 111/111G wiki

to your recently completed user page.

Q27: Using the snipping tool, take a screenshot of the link to your user

page, which you have put on the main page of the COMPSCI 111/111G

wiki. Paste the screenshot in your lab report.

2.10 Lab Summary

Q28: Write a brief (paragraph) description of what you did in this lab.

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COMPSCI 111/111G 2.11. WHAT TO HAND IN

2.11 What to Hand In

This lab is worth 10% of the marks for the practical component of the COMPSCI

111/111G course. You must hand in:

• A signed CompSci111 cover sheet/attendance sheet.

• The answers to all the questions asked in this lab (typed with correct spelling

and grammar).

• All printouts required for this lab.

Your lab report should be stapled together and the entire report should be handed

in to the appropriate box no later than 5 minutes before the beginning of your next

lab session.

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