CSCI-235 Micro-Computer Applications Application Software

Software Software – All the programs that give the computer its instructions Two categories of software: System software Application software © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Application Software Application software refers to programs that enable the user to be productive when using the computer © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Application Software Personal Productivity Internet Home/Education Word Processing Spreadsheets Address Books Web Browsers E-Mail Home/Education Multimedia/Graphics Personal Finance Tax Preparation Reference Games Desktop Publishing Photo Editing 3D Rendering © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Personal Productivity Word Processor Spreadsheet Database © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Word Processor Software for creating text documents (e.g., Microsoft Word) More sophisticated programs for creating large documents (e.g., books) or documents with lots of graphics (e.g., brochures) are often referred as Desktop Publishing Software Most modern word processors allow the integration of graphics with text © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Text Editors A text editor is a program that you can use to create and modify files UNIX systems typically offer a choice of text editors of which the vi editor is the most common © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Text Editors vs Word Processors A text editor is not a word processor A word processor typically does more than a text editor. Besides adding text to a file, most word processing programs allow you to control the appearance of the text (e.g., paragraph styles, typefaces, etc…) when it is printed In contrast, a text editor does just that – edit text © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Spreadsheet Software for working with numeric data, calculations and graphing/charting (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3) Modern spreadsheets include lots of built-in analysis tools and functions © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Databases Software that allows the creating of highly structured containers for storing information (e.g., Microsoft Access) Allows the user to perform queries © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Presentation/Multimedia Software that allows the user to combine several data formats (e.g., text, audio, video) to create presentations (e.g., Microsoft Powerpoint) © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Multimedia/Graphics Desktop Publishing Photo Editing 3D Rendering © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Internet Web Browser E-mail © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Home/Education Personal Finance Tax Preparation Reference Games © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Custom Software Specifically tailored to an organization’s needs Organization hires computer programmers to design, write, test, and implement software Can be extremely complex and take years to write Used for specialized fields Billing programs Inventory tracking programs Point of Sale software © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Custom Software © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Software Suite Individual applications share a common program code Popular office suites offer a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation, and other programs © Prentice-Hall, Inc

System Requirements Sample Minimum System Requirements IBM compatible PC with a 486 PC processor or better (Pentium® recommended) Microsoft Windows® 95 12 MB RAM (16 MB recommended) Hard disk space (standard installation approx. 100 MB) CD-ROM drive (2x or better) Mouse or other pointing device System requirements refers to the minimum level of equipment needed to run a program Platform– PC or MAC Microprocessor Drive– 3.5 Floppy or CD-ROM RAM Available hard disk space © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Software Version Software producers include a version number with their products Version numbers identify the release of the program being used Recent releases have numbers greater than earlier releases (Recent Ver. 6.0; Earlier Ver. 1.0) Whole numbers are major revisions (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.) Decimal numbers refer to maintenance releases or updates and fixes (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.) © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Software Upgrades Software upgrading is the process of keeping the application program current Types of upgrades: Patch – Small changes in the program Service release – Major changes in the program © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Software Licenses and Registration A software license gives the user the right to install and use the program on one computer Organizations purchase a site license to install a program on many computers © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Types of software Most computer software is copyrighted Software piracy – Infringing on a program’s copyright Copyrighted software cannot be: Copied Altered Used on more than one computer Types of copyrighted software: Commercial – Buy before using it Shareware – Try it before you buy it Freeware – Free software, but it can’t be copied and/or sold Public domain software is not copyrighted. There are no restrictions on using, copying, altering, or selling the software http://www.tucows.com Zip, quickzip © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Installing and Managing Application Software Install the software on the hard drive Installation utilities guide you through the process Installation changes the registry of the operating system Use an uninstall utility to remove a program from the hard drive Do not just delete a program from your files Example © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Intelligent Software? The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) attempts to build intelligent entities © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Artificial Intelligence AI is one of the newest sciences (1956) (McCarthy) A truly universal field learning and perception playing chess proving mathematical theorems writing poetry etc … Still has openings for several full-time Einsteins © Prentice-Hall, Inc

How would we decide whether a computer is intelligent? The Turing Test (Alan Turing, 1950) Eliza http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3 © Prentice-Hall, Inc

The Turing Test Proposed by Alan Turing (1950) (the father of AI) Based on indistinguishability from undeniably intelligent entities (i.e., we) Is a computer that passes the test really intelligent? Programming a computer to pass the test provides plenty to work on Natural Language Processing Knowledge Representation Automated Reasoning Machine Learning © Prentice-Hall, Inc

Acting Humanly: The Turing Test Today, AI researchers devote little effort to passing the test More important to study underlying principles of intelligence Turing Test suggested major components of AI Natural Language Processing Knowledge Representation Automated Reasoning Machine Learning Computer Vision Robotics © Prentice-Hall, Inc

AI in the 21st century AI is everywhere Fuzzy logic is used in elevators, washing machines, cars Intelligent agents are used in many software applications Robots explore other worlds, and toy robots play with children (and with some adults) Expert systems diagnose diseases recommend cures Computer games use AI © Prentice-Hall, Inc

State of the Art Which of the following can be done at present? Play a decent game of table tennis Driving in the center of Cairo Buying a week’s worth of groceries at the market Buying a week’s worth of groceries on the web Playing a decent game of bridge at a competitive level Discovering and proving new mathematical theorems Writing an intentionally funny story Giving competent legal advice in a specialized area of law Translating spoken English into spoken Swedish in real time Performing a complex surgical operation © Prentice-Hall, Inc