Transcript Software Applications - University of Saskatchewan

Software Applications
Topics
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Processing with Programs
Licensing and Copyrights
System Software: The Hardware Software Connection
User interface
A Fast, Stupid Machine
Computers:
 Perform arithmetic and comparison
capabilities
 Follow precise instructions to perform
an operation
 Execute instructions quickly and
accurately
Processing with Programs
Software programs are:
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Instructions that tell the computer what
to do
Stored in memory
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Designed to solve problems
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The Language of Computers
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Machine Language : numeric codes to
represent data
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1’s and 0’s
High-level language : fall between machine
language and natural human language
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C++, Java, Visual Basic
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Compilers translate high-level language into
machine language
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Natural Languages include the languages
spoken by humans
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English, French
Licensing
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Commercial software is copyrighted so it can’t be
legally duplicated for distribution to others.
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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:
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make copies of software disks
install software on hard drives
transfer information to other users
“Ware” s
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Shareware
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“Try before you buy” idea.
Software that works on honour system
Limited features Vs a regular edition ($$)
Freeware
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Freely available to download and use
Beware of malicious intents.
Netscape browser
System Software:
The Hardware-Software Connection
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System software is a class of software
that includes:
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Utility programs
The Operating system
Utility Programs
 repairing damaged files
 copying files from one
storage device to another
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translating files so
different software can
read them
guarding against
viruses
What the Operating System
Does?
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The operating system controls:
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Communication with peripherals
Coordination of concurrent processing
Memory management
Monitoring of resources and security
Management of programs and data
Coordinating network communications
Where the Operating System
Lives?
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Some computers store their
operating system entirely in
ROM (Read Only Memory)
Other computers include only
part of it in ROM
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The remaining system is
loaded into memory (booting)
Most of the time it works
behind the scenes
Multiple User Operating Systems:
UNIX and Linux
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UNIX was developed at Bell Labs
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UNIX remains a dominant Internet operating system
for Internet servers.
Linux was created by Linus Torvalds and
continues to be a work-in-progress
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Linux is free for anyone to use or improve
Open source software
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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
Compatibility
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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!
The User Interface:
The Human-Machine Connection
The user interface is what the user
sees on the screen
 Two major user interface types:
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 Character-based interface
 MS-DOS, Unix
 Graphical user interface
(GUI)
 Mac, Windows
Why WIMP Won
Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing
devices
• They’re intuitive
• They’re consistent
• They’re forgiving
• They’re protective
• They’re flexible
Word Processors and
Spread Sheets
Topics
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The Word Processing Process
Formatting the text
Spelling and Grammatical Checkers
The Spreadsheet
Features of Spreadsheet
Word Processing Process
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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.
Formatting Text
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Formatting refers to how the words look on a page.
WYSIWIG (“What you see is what you get”)
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Types of formatting:
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What you see on the screen is a close approximation of what
you will see on paper
Character, Line & Paragraph, Entire Document
Characters are measured by point size with one
120 pts
point equal to 1/72 inch.
80 pts
40 pts
20 pts
A
A
A
A
About Fonts
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A font is a size and style of
typeface.
Serif fonts have serifs or fine
lines at the ends.
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Sans-serif fonts have plainer,
cleaner lines.
Arial
Paragraph Formatting
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Formatting for paragraphs involve margin
settings, line spacing, indents, tabs and
justification.
Document Formatting
You can impact the appearance of
an entire document through the
following:
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Style sheets
Headers and footers
Multiple columns
Table of Contents and Indexes
Conversion to HTML for web
publishing
Spelling Checkers,
Grammar & Style Checkers
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Spelling checkers compare words in your document
with words in a disk-based dictionary.
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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.
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It spots the following:
 Spelling
 Errors of context
 Common grammatical errors
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
Intelligent Word Processors
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The bottleneck continues to be in the input
side of desktop publishing systems.
In the future:
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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.
Spreadsheets…
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
The Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets can contain:
Values such as
numbers and dates
Labels that explain
what a value means,
such as column and
report headings
The Spreadsheet
Formulas allow you to create instructions using
mathematical expressions and commands
+ (plus)
- (minus)
*(multiplication)
/ (division)
Sum
Average
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.
Qtr 2
Qtr 3
Qtr 4
Spreadsheet Features
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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.
Spreadsheet Features
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Functions (e.g., SUM, AVG, SQRT) are used to
automate complex calculations
Automatic recalculation
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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
What If?
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Spreadsheets allow you to change numbers
and instantly see the effects of those
changes.
 “What if I enter this value?”
Database capabilities
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Search for information
Sort the data by a specific criteria
Merge the data with a word processor
Generate reports
Spreadsheet Graphics:
From Digits to Drawings
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Bar charts (use if data
falls into a few categories)
Pie charts (show relative
proportions to the whole)
180
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20
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North
West
East
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
15%
20%
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Line charts (show
relationships or trends over
time)
65%
100
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45.9
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46.9
30.6
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34.6
North
West
East
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1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
Graphics, Multimedia
and Databases.
Topics
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Computer Graphics terminology
Pixels Vs. Objects
Software and Animation
What is a Database
Anatomy of a Database
Database Trends
Graphics Talk
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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.
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24 bits or 8 bits.
Resolution is the density of the pixels.
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Dpi: dots per inch.
Drawing: Object-Oriented
Graphics
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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 bitmapped images.
Many drawing tools - line, shape and text tools
are similar to painting tools in bitmapped
programs.
Pixels vs. Objects
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Bit-mapped painting
(using pixels) gives you
these advantages:
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More control over
textures, shading and
fine detail
Appropriate for screen
displays, simulating
natural paint media and
embellishing photographs
Pixels vs. Objects
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Object-oriented drawing
gives you these
advantages:
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Better for creating
printed graphs, charts,
and illustrations
Lines are cleaner and
shapes are smoother
Digital Image Processing:
Photographic Editing by Computer
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Software that allows the user to manipulate
photographs and other high-resolution images
with tools such as Adobe Photoshop.
Far more powerful than traditional photoretouching techniques.
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Can distort and combine photos as demonstrated
in the tabloids
Create fabricated images that show no evidence
of tampering
Building a Photo Collage
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http://www.alias.com/eng/etc/fakeorfoto/quiz.html
Take an image
Combine it with
other objects
Make a statement
Animation: Graphics in Time
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Each frame of computer-based animation is
a computer-drawn picture and the computer
displays those frames in rapid succession.
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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”
Desktop Video:
Computers, Film, TV
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Video editing software
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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.
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Calculate the space required, for a video clip at 30 frames
per second
MP3 MPEG audio layer 3 (Moving Picture Experts
Group)
Hypertext and Hypermedia
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Hypertext refers to information linked in nonsequential ways.
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HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Hypermedia combines text, numbers, graphics,
animation, sound effects, music and other
media in hyperlinked documents.
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Useful for on-line help files
Jump between documents all over the Internet
Database Applications...
The Electronic File Cabinet:
Database Basics
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A Database is…
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a collection of information stored in an organized
form on a computer
Database software is…
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application software (like word processing and
spreadsheet software)
designed to maintain databases (collections of
information)
What Good Is a Database?
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An electronic database allows you to:
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store large quantities of information
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retrieve information quickly
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organize and reorganize information
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print and distribute information in a variety
of ways
Database Anatomy
A database is a collection
of one or more files
A file is a collection of
related information
(records)
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
Database Anatomy
The view is a display of the
information in fields based on a
particular layout of field data.
List View
Form View
Database Operations
These operations are used to manipulate the
information in the database:
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 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
Beyond the Basics:
Database Management Systems
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Database Management Systems (DBMS)
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is a program or system of programs that can
manipulate data in a large collection of files
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redundant information is stored as a key field
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different users see different points of view
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may be interactive
SQL Structured Query Language
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Select * From Population Where Sex = M
and Age > 18 and Age < 35
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.
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Database Trends
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Real-Time Computing
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Downsizing and Decentralizing
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Using a client/server approach
Data Mining
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Allows instant access to information
Allows technology to find valuable information
Databases and the Web
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Information is available via a company’s Intranet and
the Internet
Next Module
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Networking and Telecommunications
Internet and the Web