How to Become a Computer Scientist

Being a Computer Scientist is not about programming; it is about the study of algorithms (a series of steps, understood by someone or something, in order to complete a task in a given number of steps). Many Computer Scientists don't program at all. Indeed, Edsger Dijkstra once said “Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.”

Steps
1. Being a Computer Scientist is all about learning to be a student. Technology changes, new languages develop, new algorithms are devised: you need to be able to learn new things to stay current.

2. Start with pseudocode. Pseudocode isn't really a programming language, but it is a way to represent a program in a very English-like way. The most familiar algorithm to you is probably on your shampoo bottle: Lather, rinse, repeat. This is an algorithm. It is understandable by you (the "Computing Agent") and has a finite number of steps. Or does it ...

3. The shampoo example isn't a very good algorithm for two reasons: it doesn't have a condition to end on, and it doesn't really tell you what to repeat. Repeat lathering? Or just the rinsing. A better example would be "Step 1 - Lather. Step 2 - Rinse. Step 3 - Repeat steps 1 and 2 and then finish." This is understandable by you, has an end condition (a finite number of steps), and is very explicit.

4. Try writing algorithms for all sorts of things. For example, how to get from one building to another on campus, or how to make a casserole. Soon, you'll be seeing algorithms all over the place!

5. After you've learned how to write algorithms, programming should come naturally to you. Buy a book, and read it entirely to learn the language. Avoid online tutorials as they're written by hobbyists, not professionals. However, feel free to look for help on the internet. Object-oriented languages like Java and C++ are "in" right now, but Procedural languages like C and Python are easier to start with because they deal solely in algorithms.

6. Programming is only the translation of pseudocode into a programming language. The more time before programming you spend planning in pseudocode, the less time you'll spend typing and scratching your head.


Tips
1. A whiteboard is a great place to write algorithms.

2. After learning one programming language, learning another within the same paradigm is easy because you're still only translating the pseudocode into an actual language.

3. The field of computer science branches out to many different fields such as computer design and development, databases, computer security, or computer languages just to name a few. Therefore it would wise to focus on a one or maybe a few more if they interest you( or if your just real nerd.)

Warnings
None

Things You'll Need
1. A whiteboard

2. Patience

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How to Do Computer Yoga

How are your muscles feeling right now? Take a little break. Do computer yoga. It's very easy, and you'll be relaxed in just a few minutes. Computer yoga will help to resolve the tension felt in your body. It will calm your mind through meditation and self-questioning. Computer yoga is the office worker's and writer's answer to remaining positive through the day; ideally, practicing computer yoga daily will help you to remain positive throughout your daily routine.

Steps
1. Move your head and think the mantra "Om" in your head. Turn your head left and right. Forward and backward.

2. Move your shoulders, so that all tensions resolve. Find the way that works best for you. Move forward, and then move another way round. Move with your elbows and think "Om, Om, Om..." And another way round. Think "Om".

3. Move your spine to the right and left side. The head also. Think "Om , Om, Om... " in your spine.

4. Move your feet on the ground. Say "Om" in your belly, in your legs, in your feet and in the earth. Concentrate on the whole earth and think the mantra "Earth".

5. Massage your body from head to feet. Hold your hands together over your head, rub the palms, visualize the sky above you and say the mantra "Heaven". Feel the light that comes down. Massage the light into your face, your eyes, your ears, your whole body and think "Light, Light..." Fill yourself with light. Move your feet, fill light into the earth and think, "Light...".

6. Move your hand and send light to your loved ones and to all people. Say "I send light to... May all people be happy. May all the world be happy."

7. Rub your palms together. Think on the enlightened masters and say, "Om, all enlightened masters, please help me on my way." Now you can ask a question. Think about your life. What are your goals? What is your way? Hear the answer within you. Feel the answer inside. What is the answer?

8. Put your hands on your legs or your belly. Make your mind calm and think the mantra "Om" in your head, your thorax, your belly, your legs, feet, in the earth and in the whole cosmos. "Om Om Om Shanti Om Peace Om Peace Om Shanti Om Peace..."

9. Stop your thinking for one minute. Simply sit there. Don't think.
What do you have to take in your life? Take it.

What is your positive sentence now? What helps you to stay positive through your day and your life? For example, "My positive sentence is: I am optimistic. I follow my way with optimism."

10. Have fun..!

Tips
1. An inspiring tale: Camaripa was a shoemaker. He and his wife had to work from morning to night to earn enough money to live. After many years of daily effort Camaripa got tired of his life as a worker. He longed for a quiet, relaxed and happy life.

2. He asked a yogi, if he knew a yoga path for him and his wife. The yogi advised Camaripa to make his profession to his spiritual path. Camaripa asked how he should do it. The yogi replied that first he had to redefine the goals in his life. Camaripa could not live as a free Yogi. But he could use every space in his job to develop his inner happiness. Outwardly, he should live on as before. But inside, he and his wife should live as yogis.

3. A normal person works for his ego. He works for his pleasure, his career, for worldly wealth and recognition. In this way he strengthened his ego and allowed in more and more tension because of life's general stress. He consumed his inner energy in the course of living.

4. A spiritual man works for his inner happiness and the love in the world. He takes good care of his body and his health. But his mind is mainly concerned with the happiness of his fellow men. Through this method, the ego dissolves and the yogi grows into the light.

5. Camaripa and his wife practiced yoga from this time on, from morning to night. They began the day with a prayer to the enlightened masters. They found a positive vision for the day. They finished the day with a meditation. During the day they took so many little breaks, that their spirit stayed positive. They added so many spiritual practices into their daily life that their tensions grew less and less.

6. They lived as karma-yogis for the goal of a happy world. They worked for the peace and the love in the world. After twelve years, their enlightenment energy woke up and filled them with light. They lived in God and the light worked through them. Now they had so much power that their work was done almost by itself. Their body worked, their mind was thinking and the soul rested in bliss. They lived in the unity of meditation and action. Work is happy, if it happens out of God (unity), peace and love.

Warnings
Don't work too much. Don't rest too much. Find your personal balance to stay healthy and happy. Do some spiritual exercises every day. Do Computer Yoga every day and the day will be yours.

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How to Ground Yourself to Avoid Destroying a Computer with Electrostatic Discharge

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a fancy term for common static electricity. Getting a shock from the doorknob may not hurt you much, but the same kind of shock can put your computer in intensive care. Whenever you open the case to work on your PC's innards, you should be aware of ESD and how to avoid it.

Steps
1. It is a good idea to buy an anti-static wristband, and follow the instructions for use.(They are sold at most electronics stores.) If you are going to do quite a lot of bench work, you might do well to invest in an anti-static mat.

2. If you don't have a wristband, you are not necessarily out of luck. Assuming that your PC is grounded, you can ground yourself by just keeping one hand in contact with the bare metal frame (not a painted or coated surface) of the computer case. Keep the PC power cord plugged in to a (3-prong) grounded outlet and turn off the rocker switch on the back of the power supply. If the power supply does not have a switch on the back, this won't work, however. Never work on a PC with the power on. In that case, you should buy an anti-static band or try another method of grounding.

3. As an alternative, alter a standard 3-conductor power cord by snipping off the two flat blades, leaving only the grounding portion of the plug. Or simply purchase a cord like this from an electronics supply house. This accomplishes the same thing as turning off the rocker switch.

4. You can employ an LCD Static Discharger. As a simple measure, you can hang it on your key ring and just dangle it. This is less reliable, but when it touches a ground, it should discharge the static electricity. Procedure：①Lightly touch the oval button with a finger. ②Make sure that the end of the conductive material touches a grounded conductor. (such as vehicle, human body, computer, metal or other) to release static electricity, and observe the LCD display.

5. Some people claim that damage can be reduced by wearing little or no clothing, it is said that the less cloth that is in contact with your body, the less static is produced, though these claims remain unproven.

Tips
1. The average person can carry up to 25,000 volts of static energy at any given time. This sounds like a lot, but because the current level is low, you usually won't notice it. Just because you touched the dog's nose and he didn't yelp, it doesn't mean you are safe from ESD. Follow safe ESD procedures any time you open a computer.

If the equipment is cold, wait until it has reached room temperature. ESD builds up much faster when it's cold and dry (low humidity).

Warnings
If you don't take steps to prevent ESD, you may regret it. Your computer can sustain serious damage without you knowing it. CPUs and memory chips of any kind are highly vulnerable to ESD. If you fry your PC with static electricity, you may soon start to notice random memory errors, blue screens, and lock-ups. Normally, you can't see (or even feel) ESD, but it is almost always there, so be sure to do the right thing. Your PC will thank you!

Try not to open up computers while on thick carpets, petting long-haired pets, dressing, emptying the dryer, etc. Use common sense; don't do anything that would cause you to get a shock from touching something made of metal.

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How to Stop Your Child's Computer Addiction

While the computer is an incredibly useful tool and can help you get a lot done, wasting time on it seems to be all too easy. Lots of kids have problems with spending too much time on the computer, to the dismay of some parents. Computer addiction, especially to such features like games or instant messaging, has been described as being just as powerful as a drug addiction, and while your child may not be to that point, their excessive computer usage could lead to more serious problems down the road.Note that the steps involving software (such as keyloggers or web history checking) can very easily be circumvented.

Steps
1. Talk with your child about his/her excessive computer usage. Find out if there are any specific reasons that he/she spends so much time on the computer – sometimes the computer functions as an escape from reality. If your child is facing problems that are causing a desire to “escape”, try and address those.

2. Move the computer to an open area if it’s not already in one – sometimes taking it out of the child’s bedroom is sufficient to reduce their computer usage, and it makes it easier to monitor their usage.

(However, sometimes bedrooms may just be temporary whilst rooms are being rearranged, so this is not always so.)

3. Set a password for the computer so that only you can log on to it. Your child will have to ask to be logged on to the computer in order to use it. (However, this is not recommended for older children in the house, who will need this for study etc. reasons).

4. Find out how bad your child's addiction is, and what exactly your child is addicted to – does your child spend most of his/her computer time playing games, chatting online, or just browsing the Web?

5. If he/she is addicted to learning information, as long as it is legal, safe and decent, then that should not be an issue. Using the Internet for education, rather than chatrooms/gaming, is a great use. Programming sites are a useful class of site, and provide a skill that is good to learn, plus they teach a skill which will be beneficial. If your child is addicted to learning information, then that is benign, and useful to his/her education. Praise them for that. If they must use chatrooms, use educational ones where the emphasis is on learning a skill, not socialising, as these are less biased towards who and more about at, when and why (The 5 W's - Who What Where When Why?)

6. Some children go through phases where they like chat room sites, then decide it is no longer of interest, and move on to more educational-related sites, e.g. computer programming, history, cookery etc. These will not cause worry in most cases.

7. Set a time limit on the amount of time your child can spend on the computer each day. In reality, though, time limits seldom work due to the stress of modern life. As a child gets older, they work it out for themselves, in most cases.

First, tell your child his time limit and see if he’s able to stick to the limit himself. This will not work, realistically.

If he can’t control his time on the computer on his own (which, if his addiction is serious, will likely be the case), start using a timer. Once the timer goes off, your child has to get off the computer. However, some children may discover for themselves that an activity can get tedious after a while; computing is no different.

Set a time limit on the amount of time for yourself in order to be a good role model. If your kids see you following your own rules, then they will be more likely to follow.

8. Be aware of what your child is doing on the computer. Check the Internet browser's history to see what websites she's visiting, or install a keylogger to monitor the programs that she uses. See below for why not to use keyloggers or monitoring software.

9. Keylogger use is questionable at best, if only due to concerns about privacy for other individuals and guests who use the computer, so really, don't use one (since tech-savvy individuals and guests can and sometimes do uninstall them. Also, they are considered a privacy infringement. Read Issues For the Nineties:Privacy and its follow-up Issues: Privacy Rights by Craig Donnellan for more on this).

10. Buy or download a program that restricts computer use. Parents often find it difficult to enforce time limits because their kids will put up a fight. If necessary, buy software that will enforce time limits or block use. With some of these programs, parents must take explicit action to add time rather than remove or restrict it. This should not be done with older children. In particular, children aged 20+ find this an inconvenience.

11. Replace the time that your child would normally spend on the computer with other activities – play board games with her, take her to the library, get her together with friends to play sports, etc. Addictions are hard to break, and it’s even harder when your child has nothing to do. However, some children are legitimately lonely or do not have social skills, so computer use is a substitute for such social contact.

12. Assign your child extra chores or take away other privileges if she continues to overuse the computer. However, it's safe to say that overuse of computer can just come to a natural end when the individual decides he gets a boredom factor using it, as with any other activity.

13. If you have more than one computer, you may have to monitor them to make sure that your child is not secretly using them. Look at your Internet’s browsing history to see if there are any websites on there that you’ve never visited (and malware can in many cases be the cause, not an individual. This is hijacking of PCs, a separate topic). You can also install a keylogger, which will record any activity on the computer. Keyloggers however, should not be used, simply for privacy and safety reasons.

Tips
1. If you take away the power cord to the computer, some good places to put it are in your closet (or other part of your room), your car, or even at work. Be warned, however, that the power cord for most computers is a standard plug, and he or she could probably get one off of the TV or another monitor.

2. If your child reveals that there are underlying problems that are driving him to use the computer as a reality escape, don’t dismiss it as a play for sympathy. Your child may be facing genuinely serious issues at school (e.g. depression, lack of friends, only goes there and enjoys coursework but not social side), work (if he is old enough to hold a job), or even at home that are causing him emotional distress.

3. Take note that Internet history can be cleared. The most obvious method is completely emptying the history. However, this may be done for disk-space saving reasons, not privacy, so don't assume the worst. Some deletion utilities make it impossible to retrieve this file, known as index.dat on Internet explorer.

4. If you have a keylogger, those can be turned off as well. If you are looking through it, see if there are any big time gaps - that's a warning sign that your child is turning the logger off. However, it can often be due to program failures, since some keyloggers are installed by non-technical experts. Also, keyloggers are prone to installing additional adware and malware on the system.

5. (Keep in mind that he may not have done it to be sneaky - keyloggers can sometimes cause a computer to run slowly, and he may have just wanted to keep the virtual memory free while playing a game.)

Realistically, keyloggers are not useful except to employers and business-related utilities; in most cases a keylogger is an infringement of privacy. The basic maxim for parents - don't use one, and if one comes equipped - uninstall it.

6. Remember that it is very important to fill your child’s time with other activities. You can’t just forbid her to use the computer and then not give her anything else to do. Some children use the computer if there is nothing else to do in inclement weather - and it is a fairly reasonable expectation to think this.

7. Every child requires different methods to break computer addiction – some may only need time limits, while others might need harsher discipline before they are able to break their bad habit. Harsher discipline should ONLY ever be used for cases where people are deliberately bullying etc. not for normal addiction of computers (advice from C.Jameson, computer addiciton expert, Uk)

Some children may not have good social skills or be good at interacting with people. This does NOT make it an addiction, contrary to popular belief.

Remember, privacy is important. The golden rule maxim applies here.
The golden rule is "do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you" - and unless there are threats of harm, suicide, bullying etc. respect privacy.

Warnings
1. Don’t let your child replace all of his computer time by watching TV or playing video games – addictions to these types of entertainment can be formed, too. However, TV addiction can be considered "benign".

2. Your child might react with anger when you take steps to break her addiction - be prepared to deal with temper tantrums.

Notes
When people are new to the Internet, they will inevitably make mistakes. This is life experience. If your child makes a mistake online, let it pass. Sometimes children do not have the social skills when using online chatroom sites and then lose interest in them. Allow them to make their own mistakes.

If your child wants to meet a public figure (e.g. local celebrity, TV personality, popstar, radio presenter etc.) offline, that is for the most part, very safe, since public figures can easily be verified.

Also, they have verifiable email addresses that prove their identity - e.g. john@johndoe.com, rather than untraceable mynamehere@hotmail.com ones.

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How to Have Fun on a Computer Without Using the Internet

When you are on a computer, it is good to have some computer fun! Sadly, you have no access to your Internet. What do you do if your Internet is unavailable? Here are some things you can do to have computer fun without the Internet.

Steps
1. Personalize your computer. There are many ways you can do this. You can first change your background. If you have a picture on your desktop, you can use that. Otherwise, select one of the custom desktops already on your computer. You can do the same with the screen saver. On some computers, especially if you have Windows 7, you could also change the color of your overall computer. You could change the color of your taskbar or the colors of the windows.

2. Organize your computer. Make folders to put specific files in. You could also change some of the icons on your files. Organize your computer however you want. Make sure you organize it so it is easier for you to get around and find your files.

3. Learn to Program your Computer. Learn to write computer programs. This doesn't use the internet if you get a good book to teach you, and can be extremely fun and rewarding.

4. Clean your computer. You can keep your computer neat and functional! You can't have computer fun when your computer isn't working properly. Start by deleting cookies or defraging your computer. Use programs like CCleaner to do this quicker. Make sure you don't have any viruses. They can certainly mess up your whole computer. It may also help to cleanup your registry every once and a while too.

5. Use paint or another photo editing program. Make some silly and crazy pictures. With photo editing programs you can make almost just about anything! Create whatever comes to your mind. Download a photo to your computer and mess it up a bit. There are endless possibilities you can do with this fun program. You can also use this to help you personalize your computer.

6. Listen to music. Go ahead and upload some music you have on your computer. You can play it and dance around your room. You could just do a little dance in your seat. Edit the song and speed it up or make it slower. Make a slideshow and put music on it.

7. Watch videos. Put some random videos on your computer. This includes taking your favorite DVD movie and watching it on your computer. You can take your videos and edit it on Windows Movie Maker or any other video editing program.

8. Write a story. Open your favorite word processor and start writing! You can write about whatever you want. If you are feeling very creative, make the story as crazy as you like. Read your fantastic story over and over again. Writing a story can be fun. It lets your creative juices flow.

9. Get familiarized with your computer programs. Sometimes you have a programs that you have no idea what they do and why they are there. This is perfect opportunity to find that out. Explore it and do a little research. You may find that the program could help you have some computer fun.

10. Make a virtual diary. Start your own diary on your computer. You won't have to worry about losing your physical diary. Make sure you put a password on it or put it in a place where no one can find it.

11. Become a computer geek. Learn about your computer and how it works. Explore your computer and find more interesting things about it. Learn about the outside of your computer. You could learn how to work command prompt. Do any kind of research you can on your computer. You may find that the computer is very interesting.

12. Play Minesweeper or Solitaire. There are many fun games that come with the computer such as Minesweeper and Solitaire. Both games are very addicting and help to keep your mind active.

Tips
1. There is always something to do on your computer. Just try finding something different.
Keep your computer functional.

2. Invite friends to play on the computer with.

3. If you have some games, install them! Many games don't need internet, and most that do have offline modes. (excluding MMOs.)

Warnings
Don't mess around with anything you aren't too sure about.

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