1. For purposes of this discussion, the committee provisionally distinguishes in a loose and informal way between fundamental concepts, applications of fundamental concepts, and engineering and design principles used in applying concepts. To illustrate, a concept might be "instruction interpretation." An application of that concept might be "Java byte-code interpretation." An engineering principle might be "design under constraint" (e.g., designing a Java interpreter under the constraint of limited memory or bandwidth).

1a. What are the fundamental concepts of information technology that an educated adult should know? (Interpret information technology broadly to include computing and communications.) For each concept:

• Describe it;
• Identify the age or educational level at which you believe it should first be introduced; and
• Explain how it might be introduced.

1b. What are the essential applications of the fundamental concepts?

• Describe it;
• Identify the age or educational level at which you believe it should first be introduced; and
• Explain how it might be introduced.