1. Software Applications

2. Topics Processing with Programs Licensing and Copyrights
System Software: The Hardware -Software Connection
User interface

3. A Fast, Stupid Machine Computers:
Perform arithmetic and comparison capabilities
Follow precise instructions to perform an operation
Execute instructions quickly and accurately

4. Processing with Programs
Software programs are:
Instructions that tell the computer what to do
Stored in memory
Designed to solve problems

5. The Language of Computers
Machine Language : numeric codes to represent data
1’s and 0’s
High-level language : fall between machine language and natural human language
C++, Java, Visual Basic
Compilers translate high-level language into machine language
Natural Languages include the languages spoken by humans
English, French

6. Licensing
Commercial software is copyrighted so it can’t be legally duplicated for distribution to others.
It grants certain exclusive rights such as the right to copy, to see and distribute, and the right to modify the software.
Buying a copy of the software does not give you these rights!
Licensing agreements limit your right to:
make copies of software disks
install software on hard drives
transfer information to other users

7. “Ware” s Shareware Freeware “Try before you buy” idea.
Software that works on honour system
Limited features Vs a regular edition ($$)
Freeware
Freely available to download and use
Beware of malicious intents.
Netscape browser

8. System Software: The Hardware-Software Connection
System software is a class of software that includes:
Utility programs
The Operating system

9. Utility Programs repairing damaged files
translating files so different software can read them
guarding against viruses
repairing damaged files
copying files from one storage device to another

10. What the Operating System Does?
The operating system controls:
Communication with peripherals
Coordination of concurrent processing
Memory management
Monitoring of resources and security
Management of programs and data
Coordinating network communications

11. Where the Operating System Lives?
Some computers store their operating system entirely in ROM (Read Only Memory)
Other computers include only part of it in ROM
The remaining system is loaded into memory (booting)
Most of the time it works behind the scenes

12. Multiple User Operating Systems: UNIX and Linux
UNIX was developed at Bell Labs
UNIX remains a dominant Internet operating system for Internet servers.
Linux was created by Linus Torvalds and continues to be a work-in-progress
Linux is free for anyone to use or improve
Open source software
Software that is freely distributed, along with its source code
General Public License (copyleft?)
These systems allow a timesharing computer to communicate with several other computers

13. Compatibility
Compatibility allows software to function properly with the hardware, operating system, and peripherals
Programs written for one type of computer system may not work on another!

14. The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection
The user interface is what the user sees on the screen
Two major user interface types:
Character-based interface
MS-DOS, Unix
Graphical user interface (GUI)
Mac, Windows

15. Why WIMP Won Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing devices
They’re intuitive
They’re consistent
They’re forgiving
They’re protective
They’re flexible

16. Word Processors and Spread Sheets

17. Topics The Word Processing Process Formatting the text
Spelling and Grammatical Checkers
The Spreadsheet
Features of Spreadsheet

18. Word Processing Process
Entering text and Editing text
Formatting & proof-reading the document
Saving the document on disk
Printing the document
As you enter text using a word processor, your text is displayed on the screen and stored in the computer’s RAM (Random Access Memory).
Save your work periodically because RAM is not permanent memory.

19. Formatting Text
Formatting refers to how the words look on a page.
WYSIWIG (“What you see is what you get”)
What you see on the screen is a close approximation of what you will see on paper
Types of formatting:
Character, Line & Paragraph, Entire Document
Characters are measured by point size with one point equal to 1/72 inch.
120 pts A
80 pts A
40 pts
20 pts A A

20. About Fonts Arial A font is a size and style of typeface.
Serif fonts have serifs or fine lines at the ends.
Sans-serif fonts have plainer, cleaner lines.
Arial

21. Paragraph Formatting
Formatting for paragraphs involve margin settings, line spacing, indents, tabs and justification.

22. Document Formatting
You can impact the appearance of an entire document through the following:
Style sheets
Headers and footers
Multiple columns
Table of Contents and Indexes
Conversion to HTML for web publishing

23. Spelling Checkers, Grammar & Style Checkers
Spelling checkers compare words in your document with words in a disk-based dictionary.
Words may be flagged; you make the decision to ignore or change the spelling.
A grammar and style checker flags possible errors and makes suggestions for correcting.
It spots the following:
Spelling
Errors of context
Common grammatical errors

24. Form Letter Generators
The Mail Merge feature in word processors generate personalized form letters and mailing labels.
Create a database with names
Create a form letter
Merge the database with the form letter to create a personalized letter

25. Intelligent Word Processors
The bottleneck continues to be in the input side of desktop publishing systems.
In the future:
Speech-recognition software systems that can reliably recognize human speech.
Intelligent word processors that anticipate a writer’s needs, acting as an electronic editor or co-author.

26. Spreadsheets…

27. The Spreadsheet The spreadsheet consists of:
Cells (the intersection of a row and column)
Addresses (column letter and row number, e.g., A1, C12)
Cell A1
Cell C12

28. The Spreadsheet Spreadsheets can contain:
Values such as numbers and dates
Labels that explain what a value means, such as column and report headings

29. The Spreadsheet
Formulas allow you to create instructions using mathematical expressions and commands
+ (plus) - (minus) *(multiplication) / (division) Sum Average

30. Spreadsheet Features
Spreadsheets offer many automatic features such as replication of data
Type the first value in the series such as Qtr 1 or January or 500
and let the software replicate it to other cells.

31. Spreadsheet Features
Formulas can be relative, so they refer to different cells when they are copied
Or absolute so the formula references never change when they are copied
When the formula in column B is copied to column C, it changes relative to the new column.

32. Spreadsheet Features
Functions (e.g., SUM, AVG, SQRT) are used to automate complex calculations
Automatic recalculation
Any time a change is entered into the spreadsheet, all data related to the change automatically updates
Macros let you store keystrokes and commands so they can be played back automatically
Templates offer ready-to-use worksheets with labels and formulas already entered

33. What If? Database capabilities
Spreadsheets allow you to change numbers and instantly see the effects of those changes.
“What if I enter this value?”
Database capabilities
Search for information
Sort the data by a specific criteria
Merge the data with a word processor
Generate reports

34. Spreadsheet Graphics: From Digits to Drawings
Bar charts (use if data falls into a few categories)
Pie charts (show relative proportions to the whole)
Line charts (show relationships or trends over time)

35. Graphics, Multimedia
and Databases.

36. Topics Computer Graphics terminology Pixels Vs. Objects
Software and Animation
What is a Database
Anatomy of a Database
Database Trends

37. Graphics Talk
Pixels are tiny dots of white, black, or color that make up images on the screen.
Palette of tools that mimic real-world painting tools and other tools unique to computers.
Bitmapped graphics (or raster graphics) are pictures that show how the pixels are mapped on the screen.
Color depth is the number of bits devoted to each pixel.
24 bits or 8 bits.
Resolution is the density of the pixels.
Dpi: dots per inch.

38. Drawing: Object-Oriented Graphics
Drawing software stores a picture as a collection of lines and shapes (called object-oriented or vector graphics).
Memory demands on storage not as high as bit-mapped images.
Many drawing tools - line, shape and text tools are similar to painting tools in bitmapped programs.

39. Pixels vs. Objects More control over textures, shading and fine detail
Bit-mapped painting (using pixels) gives you these advantages:
More control over textures, shading and fine detail
Appropriate for screen displays, simulating natural paint media and embellishing photographs

40. Pixels vs. Objects Object-oriented drawing gives you these advantages:
Better for creating printed graphs, charts, and illustrations
Lines are cleaner and shapes are smoother

41. Digital Image Processing: Photographic Editing by Computer
Software that allows the user to manipulate photographs and other high-resolution images with tools such as Adobe Photoshop.
Far more powerful than traditional photo-retouching techniques.
Can distort and combine photos as demonstrated in the tabloids
Create fabricated images that show no evidence of tampering

42. Building a Photo Collage
Combine it with other objects
Make a statement
Take an image

43. Animation: Graphics in Time
Each frame of computer-based animation is a computer-drawn picture and the computer displays those frames in rapid succession.
Tweening-instead of drawing each frame by hand, an animator can create key frames and objects and use software to help fill in the gaps
“Anything you can imagine can be done. If you can draw it, if you can describe it, we can do it. It’s just a matter of cost.”
James Cameron, Filmmaker, ”King of the World”

44. Desktop Video: Computers, Film, TV
Video editing software
such as Adobe Premiere makes it easy to eliminate extraneous footage, combine clips from multiple takes, splice together scenes
Morphs are video clips in which one image metamorphoses into another.
Data compression software and hardware are used to squeeze data out of movies so they can be stored in smaller spaces.
Calculate the space required, for a video clip at 30 frames per second
MP3 MPEG audio layer 3 (Moving Picture Experts Group)

45. Hypertext and Hypermedia
Hypertext refers to information linked in non-sequential ways.
HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Hypermedia combines text, numbers, graphics, animation, sound effects, music and other media in hyperlinked documents.
Useful for on-line help files
Jump between documents all over the Internet

46. Database Applications...

47. The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
A Database is…
a collection of information stored in an organized form on a computer
Database software is…
application software (like word processing and spreadsheet software)
designed to maintain databases (collections of information)

48. What Good Is a Database? An electronic database allows you to:
store large quantities of information
retrieve information quickly
organize and reorganize information
print and distribute information in a variety of ways

49. Database Anatomy A database is a collection of one or more files
A file is a collection of related information (records)

50. Database Anatomy
A record is the information relating to one person, product, or event
A field is a discrete chunk of information in a record

51. Database Anatomy
The view is a display of the information in fields based on a particular layout of field data.
Form View
List View

52. Database Operations
These operations are used to manipulate the information in the database:
Import: receives data in the form of text files
Browse: navigates through information
Query: finds records that match a specific criteria
Sort: rearranges records (alpha or numerically)
Report: printout of an ordered list of records

53. Beyond the Basics: Database Management Systems
Database Management Systems (DBMS)
is a program or system of programs that can manipulate data in a large collection of files
redundant information is stored as a key field
different users see different points of view
may be interactive
SQL Structured Query Language
Select * From Population Where Sex = M
and Age > 18 and Age < 35

54. What Makes a Database Relational?
A database is relational when files are related to each other, such as this Student ID field in the Student file.

55. Database Trends Real-Time Computing Downsizing and Decentralizing
Allows instant access to information
Downsizing and Decentralizing
Using a client/server approach
Data Mining
Allows technology to find valuable information
Databases and the Web
Information is available via a company’s Intranet and the Internet

56. Next Module
Networking and Telecommunications
Internet and the Web