CHAPTER 2

APPLICATION SOFTWARE

APPLICATION SOFTWARE MIGHT BE DESCRIBED AS END USER SOFTWARE.

BASIC APPLICATION

BASIC APPLICATION OR GENERAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION ARE WIDELY USED IN NEARLY ALL CAREER AREAS.

COMMUNICATION DEVICE

A COMMUNICATION DEVICE IS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT OR HARDWARE DESIGNED TO MOVE INFORMATION OR DATA FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, IN OTHER WORDS, ALLOWING ONE COMPUTER DEVICE

COMPACT DISC (CD)

COMPACT DISC (CD) IS A DIGITAL OPTICAL DISC DATA STORAGE FORMAT. THE FORMAT WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED TO STORE AND PLAY SOUND RECORDINGS ONLY (CD-DA), BUT WAS LATER ADAPTED FOR STORAGE OF DATA (CD-ROM).

COMPUTER COMPETENCY

COMPUTER COMPETENCY IS A PROCESS WHEREBY A STUDENT DEMONSTRATES HIS OR HER ABILITY TO PERFORM COLLEGE LEVEL BASIC COMPUTING WORK. THIS PROCESS INCLUDES THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF A COMPUTER COMPETENCY EXAM OR THE COMPLETION OF A SPECIFIED COMPUTER COURSE.

COMPUTER NETWORK

COMPUTER NETWORK IS A GROUP OF COMPUTERS CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER ELECTRONICALLY. THIS MEANS THAT THE COMPUTERS CAN "TALK" TO EACH OTHER AND THAT EVERY COMPUTER IN THE NETWORK CAN SEND INFORMATION TO THE OTHERS.

CONNECTIVITY

CONNECTIVITY, ALLOWS COMPUTERS TO CONNECT AND TO SHARE INFORMATION.

DATA

THE RAW, UNPROCESSED FACTS, INCLUDING TEXT , NUMBERS , IMAGES AND SOUNDS ARE CALLED DATA.

DATABASE FILE

A DATABASE FILE IS AN ORGANIZED COLLECTION OF DATA. THE DATA ARE TYPICALLY ORGANIZED TO MODEL ASPECTS OF REALITY IN A WAY THAT SUPPORTS PROCESSES REQUIRING THIS INFORMATION.

DEVICE DRIVER

IN COMPUTING, A DEVICE DRIVER (COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS SIMPLY A DRIVER) IS A COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT OPERATES OR CONTROLS A PARTICULAR TYPE OF DEVICE THAT IS ATTACHED TO A COMPUTER.

DESKTOP COMPUTER

A DESKTOP COMPUTER IS A PERSONAL COMPUTER IN A FORM INTENDED FOR REGULAR USE AT A SINGLE LOCATION DESK/TABLE DUE TO ITS SIZE AND POWER REQUIREMENTS, AS OPPOSED TO A LAPTOP WHOSE RECHARGEABLE BATTERY AND COMPACT DIMENSIONS ALLOW IT TO BE REGULARLY CARRIED AND USED IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS.

DIGITAL VERSATILE DISC (DVD)

DVD (SOMETIMES EXPLAINED AS "DIGITAL VIDEO DISC" OR "DIGITAL VERSATILE DISC"[5][6]) IS A DIGITAL OPTICAL DISC STORAGE FORMAT, INVENTED AND DEVELOPED BY PHILIPS, SONY, TOSHIBA, AND PANASONIC IN 1995. DVDS CAN BE PLAYED IN MANY TYPES OF PLAYERS, INCLUDING DVD PLAYERS. DVDS OFFER HIGHER STORAGE CAPACITY THAN COMPACT DISCS WHILE HAVING THE SAME DIMENSIONS.

DIGITAL VIDEO DISC (DVD)

DVD (SOMETIMES EXPLAINED AS "DIGITAL VIDEO DISC" OR "DIGITAL VERSATILE DISC"[5][6]) IS A DIGITAL OPTICAL DISC STORAGE FORMAT, INVENTED AND DEVELOPED BY PHILIPS, SONY, TOSHIBA, AND PANASONIC IN 1995. DVDS CAN BE PLAYED IN MANY TYPES OF PLAYERS, INCLUDING DVD PLAYERS. DVDS OFFER HIGHER STORAGE CAPACITY THAN COMPACT DISCS WHILE HAVING THE SAME DIMENSIONS.

DOCUMENT FILE

A DOCUMENT FILE FORMAT IS A TEXT OR BINARY FILE FORMAT FOR STORING DOCUMENTS ON A STORAGE MEDIA, ESPECIALLY FOR USE BY COMPUTERS. THERE CURRENTLY EXISTS A MULTITUDE OF INCOMPATIBLE DOCUMENT FILE FORMATS.

END USER

PEOPLE, END USERS LIKE YOU, MORE PRODUCTIVE.

FLOPPY DISK

A FLOPPY DISK, OR DISKETTE, IS A DISK STORAGE MEDIUM COMPOSED OF A DISK OF THIN AND FLEXIBLE MAGNETIC STORAGE MEDIUM, SEALED IN A RECTANGULAR PLASTIC CARRIER LINED WITH FABRIC THAT REMOVES DUST PARTICLES. FLOPPY DISKS ARE READ AND WRITTEN BY A FLOPPY DISK DRIVE (FDD).

GENERAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION

BASIC APPLICATION OR GENERAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION ARE WIDELY USED IN NEARLY ALL CAREER AREAS. THEY ARE THE KINDS OF PROGRAMS YOU HAVE TO KNOW TO BE CONSIDCAREER AREAS.

HANDHELD COMPUTER

A HANDHELD PC, OR H/PC FOR SHORT, IS A COMPUTER BUILT AROUND A FORM FACTOR WHICH IS SMALLER THAN ANY STANDARD LAPTOP COMPUTER. IT IS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS A PALMTOP. THE FIRST HAND-HELD DEVICE COMPATIBLE WITH DESKTOP IBM PERSONAL COMPUTERS OF THE TIME WAS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO OF 1989. OTHER EARLY MODELS WERE THE POQET PC OF 1989 AND THE HEWLETT PACKARD HP 95LX OF 1991. OTHER DOS-COMPATIBLE HAND-HELD COMPUTERS ALSO EXISTED.

HARD DISK

A HARD DISK DRIVE (HDD)[B] IS A DATA STORAGE DEVICE USED FOR STORING AND RETRIEVING DIGITAL INFORMATION USING RAPIDLY ROTATING DISKS (PLATTERS) COATED WITH MAGNETIC MATERIAL.[2] AN HDD RETAINS ITS DATA EVEN WHEN POWERED OFF. DATA IS READ IN A RANDOM-ACCESS MANNER, MEANING INDIVIDUAL BLOCKS OF DATA CAN BE STORED OR RETRIEVED IN ANY ORDER RATHER THAN SEQUENTIALLY. AN HDD CONSISTS OF ONE OR MORE RIGID ("HARD") RAPIDLY ROTATING DISKS (PLATTERS) WITH MAGNETIC HEADS ARRANGED ON A MOVING ACTUATOR ARM TO READ AND WRITE DATA TO THE SURFACES.

HARDWARE

THE EQUIPMENT THAT PROCESSES THE DATA TO CREATE INFORMATION IS CALLED HARDWARE

INFORMATION

THE PURPOSE OF SOFTWARE IS TO CONVERT DATA INTO INFORMATION.

INFORMATION SYSTEM

AN INFORMATION SYSTEM HAS FIVE PARTS : PEOPLE , PROCEDURES , SOFTWARE , HARDWARE AND DATA.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT), INCLUDING SOFTWARE , HARDWARE AND DATA

INPUT DEVICE

TRANSLATE DATA AND PROGRAM THAT HUMANS CAN UNDERSTAND INTO A FORM THAT THE COMPUTER CAN PROCESS.

INTERNET

THE INTERNET IS A GLOBAL SYSTEM OF INTERCONNECTED COMPUTER NETWORKS THAT USE THE STANDARD INTERNET PROTOCOL SUITE (TCP/IP) TO LINK SEVERAL BILLION DEVICES WORLDWIDE. IT IS AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF NETWORKS THAT CONSISTS OF MILLIONS OF PRIVATE, PUBLIC, ACADEMIC, BUSINESS, AND GOVERNMENT PACKET SWITCHED NETWORKS, LINKED BY A BROAD ARRAY OF ELECTRONIC, WIRELESS, AND OPTICAL NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES. THE INTERNET CARRIES AN EXTENSIVE RANGE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES, SUCH AS THE INTER-LINKED HYPERTEXT DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW), THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT EMAIL, AND PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS FOR FILE SHARING AND TELEPHONY.

KEYBOARD

TRANSLATE DATA AND PROGRAM THAT HUMANS CAN UNDERSTAND INTO A FORM THAT THE COMPUTER CAN PROCESS. THE MOST COMMON INPUT DEVICES ARE THE KEYBOARD.

LAPTOP COMPUTER

ALTERNATIVELY REFERRED TO AS A NOTEBOOK, A LAPTOP IS A PORTABLE COMPUTER THAT WITH THE SAME ABILITIES AS A DESKTOP, BUT IS SMALL ENOUGH FOR EASY MOBILITY. PORTABLE COMPUTERS RUN OFF AC POWER OR BATTERIES, SUCH AS NIMH OR NICAD PACKS, FOR A FEW HOURS.

MAINFRAME COMPUTER

MAINFRAME COMPUTERS (COLLOQUIALLY REFERRED TO AS "BIG IRON"[1]) ARE COMPUTERS USED PRIMARILY BY CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR CRITICAL APPLICATIONS, BULK DATA PROCESSING SUCH AS CENSUS, INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER STATISTICS, ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING.

MEMORY

MEMORY, ALSO KNOWN AS PRIMARY STORAGE OR RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

MICROCOMPUTER

A MICROCOMPUTER IS A SMALL, RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE COMPUTER WITH A MICROPROCESSOR AS ITS CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU).[2] IT INCLUDES A MICROPROCESSOR, MEMORY, AND INPUT/OUTPUT (I/O) FACILITIES.

MICROPROCESSOR

THE MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLS AND MANIPULATES DATA TO PRODUCE INFORMATION.

MIDRANGE COMPUTER

MIDRANGE COMPUTERS, OR MIDRANGE SYSTEMS, ARE A CLASS OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS WHICH FALL IN BETWEEN MAINFRAME COMPUTERS AND MICROCOMPUTERS.

THE CLASS EMERGED IN THE 1960S AND MACHINES WERE GENERALLY KNOWN AT THE TIME AS MINICOMPUTERS - ESPECIALLY MODELS FROM DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION (PDP LINE), DATA GENERAL, HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP3000 LINE AND SUCCESSORS), AND SUN MICROSYSTEMS (SPARC ENTERPRISE). THESE WERE WIDELY USED IN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH AS WELL AS FOR BUSINESS.

MINICOMPUTER

A MINICOMPUTER, OR COLLOQUIALLY MINI, IS A CLASS OF SMALLER COMPUTERS THAT EVOLVED IN THE MID-1960S AND SOLD FOR MUCH LESS THAN MAINFRAMEAND MID-SIZE COMPUTERS FROM IBM AND ITS DIRECT COMPETITORS.

MODEM

A MODEM (MODULATOR-DEMODULATOR) IS A DEVICE THAT MODULATES AN ANALOG CARRIER SIGNAL TO ENCODE DIGITAL INFORMATION AND DEMODULATES THE SIGNAL TO DECODE THE TRANSMITTED INFORMATION.

MONITOR

THE MOST COMMON OUTPUT DEVICES ARE MONITORS.

NETWORK

A NETWORK CONSISTS OF TWO OR MORE COMPUTERS THAT ARE LINKED IN ORDER TO SHARE RESOURCES (SUCH AS PRINTERS AND CDS), EXCHANGE FILES, OR ALLOW ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. THE COMPUTERS ON A NETWORK MAY BE LINKED THROUGH CABLES, TELEPHONE LINES, RADIO WAVES, SATELLITES, OR INFRARED LIGHT BEAMS.

NOTEBOOK COMPUTER

A LAPTOP IS A PORTABLE PERSONAL COMPUTER WITH A CLAMSHELL FORM FACTOR, SUITABLE FOR MOBILE USE.[1] THEY ARE ALSO SOMETIMES CALLED NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS OR NOTEBOOKS. LAPTOPS ARE COMMONLY USED IN A VARIETY OF SETTINGS, INCLUDING WORK, EDUCATION, AND PERSONAL MULTIMEDIA.

OPERATING SYSTEM

OPERATING SYSTEM ARE PROGRAMS THAT COORDINATE COMPUTER RESOURCES, PROVIDE AN INTERFACE BETWEEN USERS AND THE COMPUTER, AND RUN APPLICATION.

OPTICAL DISK

IN COMPUTING AND OPTICAL DISC RECORDING TECHNOLOGIES, AN OPTICAL DISC (OD) IS A FLAT, USUALLY CIRCULAR DISC WHICH ENCODES BINARY DATA (BITS) IN THE FORM OF PITS (BINARY VALUE OF 0 OR OFF, DUE TO LACK OF REFLECTION WHEN READ) AND LANDS (BINARY VALUE OF 1 OR ON, DUE TO A REFLECTION WHEN READ) ON A SPECIAL MATERIAL ON ONE OF ITS FLAT SURFACES.

OUTPUT DEVICE

TRANSLATE THE PROCESSED INFORMATION FROM THE COMPUTER INTO A FORM THAT HUMANS CAN UNDERSTAND.

PALM COMPUTER

PALM HANDHELDS WERE PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDAS) THAT RAN THE PALM OS.ON 28 APRIL 2010 IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT HEWLETT-PACKARD WOULD ACQUIRE PALM FOR AROUND US$1.2BN. ALTHOUGH HP KEPT THE PALM BRAND INITIALLY, ALL NEW PDA DEVICES ANNOUNCED AT PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT ON FEBRUARY 9, 2011, WERE BRANDED AS HP DEVICES, NOT AS PALM DEVICES.

PEOPLE

IT IS EASY TO OVERLOOK PEOPLE AS ONE OF THE FIVE PARTS OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM.

PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT (PDA)

A PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT (PDA), ALSO KNOWN AS A PALMTOP COMPUTER, OR PERSONAL DATA ASSISTANT IS A MOBILE DEVICE THAT FUNCTIONS AS A PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGER. PDAS ARE LARGELY CONSIDERED OBSOLETE WITH THE WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF SMARTPHONES.

PRESENTATION FILE

A PRESENTATION IS THE PROCESS OF PRESENTING A TOPIC TO AN AUDIENCE. IT IS TYPICALLY A DEMONSTRATION, LECTURE, OR SPEECH MEANT TO INFORM, PERSUADE, OR BUILD GOOD WILL. THE TERM CAN ALSO BE USED FOR A FORMAL OR RITUALIZED INTRODUCTION OR OFFERING, AS WITH THE PRESENTATION OF A DEBUTANTE.

PRIMARY STORAGE

MEMORY, ALSO KNOWN AS PRIMARY STORAGE OR RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY, HOLDS DATA AND PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROCESSING THE DATA.

PRINTER

THE MOST COMMON OUTPUT DEVICES ARE PRINTERS.

PROCEDURES

THE RULES OR GUIDELINES FOR PEOPLE TO FOLLOW WHEN USING SOFTWARE , HARDWARE AND DATA ARE PROCEDURES.

PROGRAM

A PROGRAM CONSISTS OF THE STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS THAT TELL THE COMPUTER HOW TO DO ITS WORK.

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

MEMORY, ALSO KNOWN AS PRIMARY STORAGE OR RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY, HOLDS DATA AND PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROCESSING THE DATA.

SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE

SECONDARY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY REFERS TO STORAGE DEVICES AND STORAGE MEDIA THAT ARE NOT ALWAYS DIRECTLY ACCESSIBLE BY A COMPUTER. THIS DIFFERS FROM PRIMARY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, SUCH AS AN INTERNAL HARD DRIVE, WHICH IS CONSTANTLY AVAILABLE.

SERVICE PROGRAM

SERVICE PROGRAM, PERFORM SPECIFIC TASKS RELATED TO MANAGING COMPUTER RESOURCES.

SOFTWARE

SOFTWARE IS ANOTHER NAME FOR A PROGRAM OR PROGRAMS.

SPECIALIZED APPLICATION

SPECIALIZED APPLICATIONS, ALSO KNOWN AS SPECIAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION, INCLUDE THOUSANDS OF OTHER PROGRAMS THAT ARE MORE NARROWLY FOCUSED ON SPECIFIC DISCIPLINES AND OCCUPATIONS.

SPECIAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION

SPECIALIZED APPLICATIONS, ALSO KNOWN AS SPECIAL-PURPOSE APPLICATION, INCLUDE THOUSANDS OF OTHER PROGRAMS THAT ARE MORE NARROWLY FOCUSED ON SPECIFIC DISCIPLINES AND OCCUPATIONS.

SUPER COMPUTER

A SUPERCOMPUTER IS A COMPUTER AT THE FRONTLINE OF CONTEMPORARY PROCESSING CAPACITY – PARTICULARLY SPEED OF CALCULATION WHICH CAN HAPPEN AT SPEEDS OF NANOSECONDS.

SYSTEM CABINET

SYSTEM CABINET OR CHASSIS, IS A CONTAINER THAT HOUSES MOST OF THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS THAT MAKE UP A COMPUTER SYSTEM.

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

SYSTEM SOFTWARE ENABLES THE APPLICATION SOFTWARE TO INTERACT WITH THE COMPUTER HARDWARE.

SYSTEM UNIT

SYSTEM UNIT, ALSO KNOWN AS THE SYSTEM CABINET OR CHASSIS, IS A CONTAINER THAT HOUSES MOST OF THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS THAT MAKE UP A COMPUTER SYSTEM.

TABLET PC

A KIND OF MOBILE COMPUTER, USUALLY HAVING A TOUCHSCREEN OR PEN-ENABLED INTERFACE.

TEMPORARY STORAGE

MEMORY IS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS TEMPORARY STORAGE BECAUSE ITS CONTENTS WILL TYPICALLY BE LOST IF THE ELECTRICAL POWER TO THE COMPUTER IS DISRUPTED.

UTILITY

UTILITY, ALSO KNOWN AS SERVICE PROGRAM, PERFORM SPECIFIC TASKS RELATED TO MANAGING COMPUTER RESOURCES.

VIDEO DISPLAY SCREEN

THE MOST COMMON OUTPUT DEVICES ARE VIDEO DISPLAY SCREEN.

WEB

THE WORLD WIDE WEB (ABBREVIATED AS WWW OR W3,[1] COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE WEB) IS A SYSTEM OF INTERLINKED HYPERTEXT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE ACCESSED VIA THE INTERNET. WITH A WEB BROWSER, ONE CAN VIEW WEB PAGES THAT MAY CONTAIN TEXT, IMAGES, VIDEOS, AND OTHER MULTIMEDIA AND NAVIGATE BETWEEN THEM VIA HYPERLINKS.

WIRELESS REVOLUTION

THE BEST WAY TO EXPLAIN THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION IS THAT IT IS WHEN INTERNET AND NETWORKING WAS BREAKING FREE OF THE CONSTRAINTS OF CABLES. FOR EXAMPLE, MANY OLDER NETWORKS WERE LAN BASED. NOW MOST SMALLER NETWORKS HAVE BECOME COMPLETELY WIRELESS.

WORKSHEET FILE

A WORKSHEET GENERATOR IS A SOFTWARE PROGRAM THAT GENERATES PROBLEMS, PARTICULARLY IN MATHEMATICS OR NUMERACY. SUCH SOFTWARE IS OFTEN USED BY TEACHERS TO MAKE CLASSROOM MATERIALS AND TESTS.

WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)

THE WORLD WIDE WEB (ABBREVIATED AS WWW OR W3,[1] COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE WEB) IS A SYSTEM OF INTERLINKED HYPERTEXT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE ACCESSED VIA THE INTERNET. WITH A WEB BROWSER, ONE CAN VIEW WEB PAGES THAT MAY CONTAIN TEXT, IMAGES, VIDEOS, AND OTHER MULTIMEDIA AND NAVIGATE BETWEEN THEM VIA HYPERLINKS.