The Practice of Basic Informatics 2023

Abstract

Kyoto University provides courses on ‘The Practice of Basic Informatics’ as part of its Liberal Arts and Sciences Program. The course is taught at many schools and departments, and course contents vary to meet the requirements of these schools and departments. This textbook is made open to the students of all schools that teach these courses. As stated in Chapter 1, this book is written with the aim of building ICT skills for study at university, that is, ICT skills for academic activities. Some topics may not be taught in class. However, the book is written for self-study by students. We include many exercises in this textbook so that instructors can select some of them for their classes, to accompany their teaching plans. The courses are given at the computer laboratories of the university, and the contents of this textbook assume that Windows 11 and Microsoft Office 365 are available in these laboratories. In Chapter 16, we include an introduction to computer programming; we chose Python as the programming language because on the one hand it is easy for beginners to learn, and on the other, it is widely used in academic research. To check the progress of students' self-study, we have attached assessment criteria (a ‘rubric’) of this course as an Appendix. Current ICT is a product of the endeavors of many people. The “Great Idea” columns are included to show appreciation for such work. Dr. Yumi Kitamura and Dr. Hirohisa Hioki wrote Chapters 5-6 and 16, respectively. The remaining chapters were written by Dr. Hajime Kita. In revision for 2018 edition and after, Dr. Hiroyuki Sakai has participated in the author group, and Dr. Donghui Lin has also joined for English edition 2019, and Dr. Chenhui Chu has joined for English edition 2023. The authors hope that this textbook helps you to improve your academic ICT skill set. The content included in this book is selected based on the reference course plan discussed in the course development team for informatics at the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences. In writing this textbook, we obtained advice and suggestions from staffs of the Network Section, Information Infrastructure Division, Department of Planning and Information Management Department, Kyoto University on Chapters 2 and 3, from Mr. Sosuke Suzuki, NTT Communications Corporation also on Chapter 3, Rumi Haratake, Machiko Sakurai and Taku Sakamoto of the User Support Division, Kyoto University Library on Chapter 4. Dr. Masako Okamoto of Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education, Kyoto University helped us in revision of 2018 Japanese Edition. We also obtained advices from Prof. Motonori Nakamura of Institute of Information Management and Communication, Kyoto University in the revision of Chapter 3 of the 2022 Edition. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the people who supported them.