Transcript Module 2 - Initial Set Up

Module 2
Software
Outline
 Software
 Copyrights
and licensing
 Operating systems
 Software applications

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Word processors
Spreadsheets
Graphics
Databases
A Fast, Stupid Machine
Computers:
 Perform arithmetic and comparison
operations
 Follow precise instructions to perform
an operation
 Execute instructions quickly and
accurately
Processing with Programs
 Software
programs are:

Instructions that tell the computer what to do
and how to perform tasks
Written using a programming language
Stored in memory

Designed to solve problems

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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 are programs that translate high-level
language into machine language
Natural Languages include the languages
spoken by humans
• English, French
Copyrights, Licensing
and Ownership
Copyrights and Ownership

Copyright:
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a form of legal protection for the creator/owner of a
specific program or piece of software. 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!
Commercial software is copyrighted so it cannot
be legally duplicated for distribution
Licensing
 License Agreement:



A legal contract that defines how you may use
the software purchased.
You obtain the right to use the software within
the boundaries defined by the license.
You do not
• become the copyright owner
• gain the right to copy, share, or modify the
software.
Shareware and Freeware

Shareware:


Works on the “honour system”
“Try-before-you-buy”
• Often has limited features vs. a regular edition ($)
• Install for free but send $ if you decide to continue using it
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Freeware:

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Freely available for anyone to use
Author abandons all rights to the product
Beware of malicious intents
Open-Source Software
 Software
that is freely distributed, along
with its source code
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People are encouraged to modify its code,
enhance it, debug it, distribute it
Software evolves through input from any
interested persons
Becoming increasingly popular
“copyleft”
Operating Systems
Operating Systems
 The
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OS “controls the show” by:
Communicating with hardware components
Allocating/accessing memory and HD space
Multitasking
Starting up and running other programs
Managing data, programs, and hardware
resources
Coordinating network communication
Starting up the computer (booting)
Where does the
Operating System live?

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
Operating Systems

Some common OS:

Windows (98, NT, XP, ME, 2000, etc.)
• GUI

Mac OS
• GUI
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Unix
• Text-based
• Remains dominant operating system for Internet
servers

Linux
• Text-based
• Open-source, continues to be a work-in-progress
User Interfaces:
The human-machine connection

Includes all parts that allow a user to interact
with the computer

Often, the user interface is thought to include only
what the user sees on the screen
• Character-based Interfaces

MS-DOS, Unix
• Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
• Mac OS, 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
Word Processors
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Initially modeled after typewriters
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1964: IBM Selectric (magnetic tape)
1970: display screens
1980s: personal computers, WYSIWIG
Word Processing process
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Entering and editing text
Formatting and proof-reading
Saving document to disk
• As you enter text, it is displayed on the screen and stored
in RAM. Save work often because RAM is not
permanent memory.

Printing the document
Formatting
 Formatting
refers to how the words look on
a page
 Levels of Formatting
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Character / Text
Line & Paragraph
Entire Document
Character formatting
 Font:

Typeface is the style in which each symbol is
drawn or formed (the kind of lettering used)
• Serif fonts have serifs or fine lines at the ends
(tails)
• Sans-serif fonts have plainer, cleaner lines

Font size is usually measured in “points”.
• 72 pts = 1 inch tall
Arial
A
Paragraph Formatting

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:

Style sheets
 Headers and footers
 Multiple columns
 Table of Contents and Indexes
 Sectioning
 Conversion to HTML for web
publishing
Spell Checkers,
Grammar & Style Checkers

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.
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It spots the following:
•
•
•
•
Spelling
Errors of context
Common grammatical errors
Stylistic errors
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets
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Initially modeled after accountant ledgers
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1979: VisiCalc
Dynamic rather than static like ledgers
2000: still using many of the same principles as
20 yrs ago
Spreadsheets
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Worksheets:
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Columns and rows:
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Like sheets in a ledger. Can have
many worksheets in a document
Worksheets are divided into columns
and rows.
Columns are usually enumerated
with letters, rows are numbered
Cell A1
Cells:
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The intersecting of a column and
row.
Named after the specific column and
row. This is called the “cell address”.
Eg. A3 is the cell in column A, row 3.
Cell C12
Types of Data
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Data that can be entered in a cell:
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Labels: text, like headings and notes
Values: actual numerical values (including dates and
times)
Formulas: allow you to create instructions using math
expressions and commands
• start with a special character telling the computer to perform
the following calculation.
• Can reference other cells. E.g. =B4 + C1 would retrieve the
values from cells B4 and C1, add them together, and display
the result in the current cell.
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
Graphing capabilities let you produce charts
representing your data
Spreadsheet Graphics:
From Digits to Drawings
200
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Bar charts (use if data falls
into a few categories)
150
North
West
East
100
50
0
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1st Qtr
Pie charts (show relative
proportions to the whole)
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
15%
20%
65%
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Line charts (show
relationships or trends over
time)
100
90
80
60
40
20
46.9
45.9
30.6
20.4
38.6
45
34.6
North
West
East
27.4
0
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
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?”
 Limited
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database capabilities
Search for information
Sort the data by a specific criteria
Merge the data with a word processor
Generate reports
Graphics
Graphics talk
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Pixels are tiny dots of white, black, or color that make up
images on the screen.
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Palette of tools that mimic real-world painting tools and
other tools unique to computers
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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.
Bitmapped Graphics
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Images are a
collection of pixels.
 The picture is
mapped pixel-by-pixel
 Changes made by
changing the color of
individual pixels
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).
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It remembers things like “there’s a blue circle at coordinates
(100,200)” then, when it wants to display the image, it goes
through all of its instructions and redraws the picture.
Memory demands on storage not as high as bit-mapped
images.
Pixels vs. Objects
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Bit-mapped painting
(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.
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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
For example:
http://www.alias.com/eng/etc/fakeorfoto/quiz.
html
Building a Photo Collage
Take an image
Combine it with
other objects
Make a statement
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”
Desktop Video: Computers, Film,
and TV
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Video editing software such as Adobe Premiere
makes it easy to eliminate extraneous footage,
combine clips from multiple takes, splice together
scenes, create specific effects and other activities.
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Morphs are video clips in which one image
metamorphoses into another.
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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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It took three hours to
render, or digitally paint
in, the effects for each
frame.
 1200 processors
 One frame of the film
converts to roughly 12
MB of storage space.
One second of film takes
up 24 frames.
Databases
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 (DBMS) 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 database files
A file is a collection of
related information (records)
Database Anatomy
A record is the
information relating
to one person, product,
or event (one row in
the table)
A field is a discrete
chunk of information
in a record (one cell
in the table)
Database Anatomy
The view is a display
of the information in
fields based on a
particular layout of field
data.
Form View
List View
Database Operations
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These operations are used to manipulate the
information in the database:
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•
•
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Import:
Browse:
Query:
Sort:
Report:
receives data in the form of text files
navigates through information
finds records that match a specific criteria
rearranges records (alpha or numerically)
printout of an ordered list of records
SQL Structured Query Language
• 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.
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
Database Trends
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Multimedia Databases
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Natural Language Databases
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Serve as an index for art, photographs, maps, video
clips, and other media files
Allows users to ask for data using the same language
used to address humans
Object-Oriented Databases
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Make database construction and usage more flexible
Corresponding Textbook Readings
– 121
 P.130 – 152
 P.156 – 166
 P.178 – 198
 P.210 – 235
 P.100
To Know – Module 2
 Keywords
 How
do copyrights and licensing of
software work?
 What do operating systems do?
 What are the main characteristics of
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Word processors
Spreadsheets
Graphics and Animations
 How
do databases work?