General Computer Science

The course introduces the basic concepts of Informatics and its application in particular in the context of the census and conservation of cultural heritage.

MODULE I
The first module introduce the basic concepts and topics of Informatics.:
- Introduction to informatics:
o binary coding of information;
o the concept of algorithm;
o software components of a computer: operating system and application programs;
o organizational models of data stored in digital format;
o computer networks.
- Most useful application programs:
o advanced usage of spreadsheets;
o advanced usage of a relational database.

MODULE II
The second module introduces the programming languages and the fundamentals of programming in R language:
o Algorithms and programming languages, low and high level languages.
o The R language and environment as an interactive system for data analysis and visualization.
o Types of elementary data in R; operators, expressions and instructions.
o Basic data structures in R
o Execution flow control structures
o Functions and scripts. I/O operations. The graphic environment of R
o Application of R for statistical analysis of data

MODULE III
The module is an introduction to spatial computing and to spatial data handling through an open source software. The main topics are:
- Position, geographic and projected coordinate systems
- Raster and vector models for the representation of spatial objects
- Basic operations for querying and manipulating spatial objects
- Introduction to the QGIS system: visualization operations, classification, querying and data analysis