The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 26, 1985 -Page 5 COMPUTERS New course takes a different look at computing By EVE BECKER In continuing its push for computer education, the University has established a new computer literacy course which will start experimen- tally winter term. This course, Introduction to Com- puter Systems (CS 181), will differ from other existing computer courses since it will not place its emphasis on programming, but rather on under- standing computer systems and the impact of the computer in our society. In CS 181 students will examine issues such as morality and ethics in computing, the history of computers, software packages, and the effect of computers on industry. Chess is The class is intended for students, mainly freshmen, who have had no background in computers. EECS Prof. Bernard Galler, who will teach the course, said he plans to limit enrollment to freshmen "so I can see what can be accomplished with such students." After his first term, the course will be opened to all students with little background in computers. Galler hopes that after a year, half of the in- coming freshmen will take the com- puter literacy course. GALLER SAID the course is "not going to make experts out of people," but rather it will give students an idea of how computers work. 1 breeze mnachine He won the World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1968. He sen- sed Hitech was destined for greatness when it tied him recently. Most compiter courses have as a goal to teach programming. This is not our goal.' -Bernard Galler, EECS professor "The course may disappear after five to ten years," Galler said, as students come to the University with a stronger background in computers. The first four weeks of the course will be spent on learning program- ming, but, Galler said, "most com- puter courses have as a goal to teach programming. This is not our goal." The literacy course will examine packaged programs, such as word processing software, to give students an idea of what is inside these storebought programs. Most of the coursework will utilize the Apple Macintosh computer, and students will be taught to use such programs as MacWrite, MacPaint, and MacPascal, Galler said. The class will also provide some exposure to the University's main- frame computer system, MTS. A special Macintosh lab in Angell Hall will be set up specifically for the class. The students are required to spend three hours in lecture, one hour in recitation, and five hours in lab each week. There is an introductory computer course in the College of Engineering, but last year a LSA faculty committee saw the need for a course different from other standard computing classes. The faculty committee then asked the EECS department to teach the introductory computer literacy for this PITTSBURGH (AP) - While two Soviet chess masters were playing a 72-match struggle over 14 months for the world championship, a souped-up chess computer was earning the elite Srank of master in just five months of play and achieving the highest rating ever given a machine. The electronic chess whiz is called Hitech, capable of analyzing 175,000 moves per second, which its creators sey is 50 percent faster than any other chess-playing machine. It beats other computers and holds its own against humans. "IT'S BOTH smart and fast. It's very, very strong in tactics and the ability to calculate sequences," said Dr. Hans Berliner, a computer scien- ce professor at Carnegie-Mellon University who helped create Hitech. "What sets it apart from other computers is we're able to evaluate a position with a high degree of sophistication very, very quickly," said Berliner. "I think we have a real chance to penetrate the very top levels. We'll be in the top 50 players in the country by the end of next year." IN THE GRUELING championship -contest in the Soviet Union, Garri Kasparov finally defeated Anatoly Karpov earlier this month, making him the youngest chess champion in history at the age of 22. On this side of the Atlantic this mon- th, Hitech whipped two human masters at a local tournament and drew a third. It also established supremacy over all other machines by winning the North American Com- puter Chess Championship in Denver. The victories earned Hitech the rank of master, based on a numerical formula that weighs won-lost records and the level of competition. Hitech's ranking is about 2,250. The best human is near 2,000. "HITECH IS the highest rated computer we ever had," said David Gertler of the U.S. Chess Federation and assistant editor of "Chess Life" magazine. A computer named Belle was the first machine to earn the master's rank in 1983, but it has since slipped to expert. Of 30,902 players rated by the U.S. Chess Federation, only 766 are 'masters and Hitech is the lone machine. According to a recent Gallup poll, 20 million Americans know how to play chess. Berliner, himself a chess master, was once one of the nation's top 12 players and played former world champion Bobby Fischer four times. PASS IT AROUND! ' THE BEST COMPUTER BUY IN THE U.S.A. 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