Software Applications

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 agreementslimit your right to: • make copies of software disks • install software on hard drives • transfer information to other users

7. “Ware” s • Shareware • “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. translating files so different software can read them guarding against viruses Utility Programs • 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. A A A A 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 onepoint equal to 1/72 inch. 120 pts 80 pts 40 pts 20 pts

20. About Fonts • 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. Cell C12 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

28. The Spreadsheet Spreadsheets can contain: Valuessuch as numbers and dates Labelsthat 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) SumAverage

30. Type the first value in the series such as Qtr 1 or January or 500 Spreadsheet Features Spreadsheets offer many automatic features such as replication of data 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 absoluteso the formula references never change when they are copied When the formula in column Bis 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 • Macroslet 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? • 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-orientedorvector 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 • 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 drawinggives 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 • http://www.alias.com/eng/etc/fakeorfoto/quiz.html 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 databaseis a collection of one or more files A file is a collection of related information (records)

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