Parts 1 and 2 are due Thursday, January 26, before class. The rest is due next Tuesday, January 31.

1. Apply for a cs410 account on the CS Department's unix system. Apply for that account even if you already have a unix account, so that you are put on the proper mailing lists.

2. Register at the cs410 wiki at http://cheetah.cs.umb.edu:6481/twiki/bin/view/CS410/WebHome. Be sure to choose a WikiName that honors the wiki convention: first name followed by last name, each starting with an upper case letter. Mine is EthanBolker.

3. One of the goals of this course is to polish your presentation skills. That will call for oral presentations later - for now we'll start with how you present yourself when you apply for a job. (That's probably something that interests you. If so, you should check the Career Services information on the course links page.

   A prospective employer will want to see your resume, of course. If the resume looks promising, he or she will look at your home page to find out a little more about how you see yourself. So your assignment is to prepare an up to date resume, write a home page, and post the resume there.

   Turn in hard copy of your resume as well.

   I will not specify a format or a style for either the resume or the home page. Anything tasteful will do. The resume should be reasonably compact, and easy to view on line and to print (Microsoft word is OK, but pdf is better. There are free services on the web that will convert .doc to .pdf.). The home page should show a photo of yourself as well as a link to the resume. It may contain other stuff too. Links to UMB and the UMB CS Department would be appropriate. Links to other sites (particularly professional ones) that you visit often will provide a viewer with feeling of how you approach your work. You may also include more personal information if you wish.

   If you need a photo, ask a friend with a digital camera to take on for you.

   When you create a publicly readable public_html directory in your unix home directory and put a publicly readable file index.html there then the cs department web server will find it and make it available the next day, at http://www.cs.umb.edu/Directories/ugrad.html.

   This is not a competitive exercise (although job searches sometimes are) so you should feel free to look at what your classmates are doing.

   Your resume and web site must be completely free of errors in spelling and grammar and contain no broken links. (Such errors can cost you an interview!) I recommend that you get proofreading help - even if you are a native speaker of English.

   If you already have a home page (many of you do) take this opportunity to update it (proofread, and test all links).

   Note: this part of the assignment isn't due until next Tuesday. But if you submit a hard copy of your draft resume by noon this Thursday I will read and comment on it in time for you to make improvements before the final draft is due.

4. Read rapidly through the Forward and the Preface of the Bruegge text. Write a few paragraphs of response to the material. Don't just summarize - I'm interested in your thoughts triggered by the reading. Sample questions you might answer: Did you find it interesting? Easy? Did it remind you of any experience of your own?

5. Skim Chapter 1 of Bruegge (don't try to read it in detail). Pay particular attention to the discussions of rationale on pages 9-10 and 22 and the brief description of the TicketDistributor system on page 11. Then answer Exercise 1-5 on page 25, which asks you to imagine a rationale for each of three design decisions. Remember that a rationale isn't a decision - it's a description of the reasons for a decision, including an analysis of alternative choices considered and rejected.

6. Watch this space. I may add work after the first class.