12.BASIC enables the user to interact with the program while it ……

a)is being executed

b)is executed

c)has been executed

II.Read the text and fill in the gaps using the list of words below.

The Graphical User Interface Problem

Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) use icons, 1) ……, windows and other non-textual devices to enhance communication between 2) …… and the people who are using them. 3) ……, such as the mouse, are an integral part of the GUI. Such interfaces, as found on Macintoshes, PCs running Windows and OS/2 and almost all of the more 4) …… workstations, have proven to be a boon for many computer users including those with many types of 5) ……. Blind users, however, are an exception. For them, rather than improving access, the GUI has made computers less 6) …… than they were before. Screen reading programs for 7) …… computers are mature products which do a good job of automatically transcribing text from the screen into 8) …… or Braille. Similar screen access programs for Windows-based computers are still in the early stages of 9) …… and are not yet able to provide comparable performance or ease of use.

Screen reading programs for Windows 3.1 took more than four years to develop. Soon after they became 10) ……, many businesses moved to Windows 95, requiring another lengthy round of development to catch up. While there are many 11) …… for translating text-based screens into alternative sound or tactile 12) ……, strategies for representing GUI screens are still quite primitive and difficult to use, and keeping up with GUI innovations is a never-ending cycle. The scope of the GUI problem for blind computer users increases as 13) …… become standard not only for computers, but for 14) …… of all sorts, video access to telephones, the Internet and interactive 15) …….

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h.development

III.Mark if the following definitions or explanations of the terms are correct (T) or not (F):

1.Automated teller machine is a machine which you connect to your telephone to answer your calls and record any message left by the person calling.

2.Command line interface is a method of interaction with a computer whereby the user types specific commands in order to achieve his requirements.

3.Desktop is the main graphical user interface background screen that displays icons for other programs.

4.Database management system refers to software that allows the user to store, update and retrieve information held in a computer.

5.XML is a programming language that allows developers to create their own set of customized tags that identify the meaning and structure of data.

6.External schema concerns the way that the data is physically held.

7.Metalanguage is a language that is used for describing the structure of other languages

8.Pop-up menu is a list of choices that appear below a menu title on a display screen when the user clicks on the menu title using a mouse

9.XML processor is a software module that is used to read XML documents and provide access to their content and structure

10.SQL is a language used for searching databases.

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V.Translate the text about XML into Russian. You may use the dictionary if it is necessary.

XML Takes on HTML

Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the language that spawned both HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and XML (eXtensible Markup Language). SGML is not a true language, it is a metalanguage, which is a language from which you can create other languages. In this case, it is the creation of a markup language (a system of encoded instructions for structuring and formatting electronic document elements).

HTML is an application-specific derivation of SGML. It is a set of codes, generally used for webpages, that creates electronic documents according to rules established by SGML. HTML is a language that is all about the presentation of your information, not what the actual data is. You can, therefore, say that HTML is a presentation language.

XML is a subset of SGML, but it is also, like SGML, a metalanguage. XML defines a specific method for creating text formats for data so that files are program independent, platform independent, and support internationalization (able to read different languages, etc.) In fact, because XML is an extensible language, you don’t even have to have a browser to interpret the page. Applications can parse the XML document and read the information without any human intervention.

XML, unlike HTML, is concerned with the identity, meaning and structure of data. XML is extensible because it lets website developers create their own set of customized tags for documents. This ability to define

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your own tags is the main feature of XML, and it is what gives developers more flexibility.

XML will do to the Web and e-commerce what HTML originally did to the Internet. XML and its associated applications have the potential to blow the roof off the Internet and how we do business.

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Listening Script

Unit 1. Computer Programming. Task 2.

The circle is a CONNECTOR symbol. It appears when two separate paths through a process come together. It is always empty. You don’t find any text, numbers, or symbols in it. Just the circle.

The parallelogram is the INPUT or OUTPUT symbol. It looks like a rectangle with two sloping sides. We use it when data has to be input or output. It contains words like Input or Print.

The ellipse is the START or STOP symbol. It looks like a rounded rectangle. It’s used at the beginning and end of a flowchart, so it will contain the word Start or the word Stop.

The diamond shape is the DECISION symbol. It’s used whenever a decision has to be made. Often it contains comparison functions such as less than or greater than. It has a Yes or True branch at one corner and a No or False branch at another.

The ordinary rectangle is the OPERATION or PROCESS symbol. It indicates the kind of operation. It will contain words like add, subtract, multiply, divide or make equal to.

Unit 1. Computer Programming. Task 7.

INTERVIEWER: Is programming quite stressful?

COLIN: Very. But I’m often asked to fix something on the network. So that gives me a break. We never spend a whole day, 9 to 5, programming. It’s impossible.

INTERVIEWER: Do you work on paper at all?

COLIN: Yes, at the design stage it’s better to get as far away from computers as you can. We’ve got a canteen and we go through to the canteen with a pad of paper and cup of coffee and work it out.

INTERVIEWER: You say ‘we’. Do you work as part of a team?

COLIN: Yes, there’s myself and three developers, and two who work on graphics. Dante would have been impossible for one person to write. It took us six months to develop it properly. It was quite a good project because it was easy to divide up the work. There were the modules to do, the database design, and the database access. There was the client interface and the students interface so people were assigned to different sections.

INTERVIEWER: How many computer languages do you normally work in?

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COLIN: Normally? C plus plus, we’re using Active Server pages which involves HTML and JavaScript. You can use VB, Visual Basic, but if you use Visual Basic you’re tying yourself to Microsoft and we want anybody to be able to run our programs. And Dante was written in Delphi.

INTERVIEWER: How do you keep up? Things are changing amazingly quickly.

COLIN: Well, I subscribe to two magazines, PCPro and Byte. I also pick up Dr Dobb’s Journal when I can. Oh, and at work we subscribe to Microsoft Developer. We get two CDs from them four times a year. It’s basically an electronic library with manuals, articles, and everything you need.

INTERVIEWER: This must take up your free time as well as work time. COLIN: Yeah, it does, but I enjoy it, especially at the end of the day when things are beginning to go well. I hate it when you’ve got to go home, because you might lose it the next day.

Unit 2. Program Design. Task 10. Dictation.

First of all, you have to understand exactly what the problem is, and define it clearly. This means you have to decide in a general way how to solve the problem.

The next step is to design an algorithm, which is a step-by-step plan of instructions used to solve the problem. You do this in a flowchart. You use special symbols to show how the computer works through your program

– where it makes decisions, where it starts and ends, and things like that. Then you translate the steps in the flowchart into instructions written

in a computer language. You usually write these in a high-level language like BASIC or Pascal. You have to then use something called a compiler which translates the instructions into machine code, which is the only language understood by the processor.

Once you’ve written your program you have to test it with sample data to see if there are any bugs or errors. Usually there are, so the program has to be cleared of them or ‘debugged’.

And then last of all you have to write instructions explaining to people how to use it. A great program is not much use unless people know how to use it.

Unit 3. Programming Languages. Task 4.

Good day! Today I am going to talk about programming languages – in particular, those which are known as High Level Languages.

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In this talk several programming languages will be named, Assembly Language, FORTRAN, COBOL, and BASIC. In each case the attributes of the language will be identified, advantages and disadvantages of each will be given and some typical uses of the languages will be suggested.

Complete the worksheet as you listen.

First we must understand the basic features of a computer program. A computer program is a sequence of instructions which are carried out one after the other. These instructions may cause data to be either input or output, carry out some arithmetic operation, control the sequence in which the instructions are obeyed, move data around the computer’s store, carry out comparisons or format the input or output.

The instructions executed by the computer must be in a form called machine code. However, this form of coding is difficult to understand and so the computer scientists have developed languages which enable users to write their own programs in a form which is as far as possible independent of the computer they are using and may be ‘read’ by another programmer or user. Such languages are said to be high-level.

Before discussing some high-level languages I will give an example of a low-level language. Most computers have a language which uses symbolic notation to represent machine code instructions. These languages, known as assemblers, are closely related to the machine language and the hardware of the computer.

An assembly language is very efficient in term of execution time and memory requirements. However, it is machine dependent, requires a lot of instructions to carry out a given task and is more difficult to write, read and modify than a program written in a high-level language. Assembly languages are used when fast execution times are required. For example, when graphics are required in an interactive package such as a computer game.

Let us now discuss three high level languages – one scientific, one business and one general purpose.

The FORTRAN language developed by IBM in 1955 was designed to be used by mathematicians, scientists and engineers. The language is particular suitable for processing mathematical expressions. A single FORTRAN statement can cause many machine code commands to be executed and the program can be read by another user fairly easily. In its origin form it was not possible to write structured programs in FORTRAN but over the years the language has been developed and the form most commonly implemented today, FORTRAN-77, allows highly-structured programs to be written.

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FORTRAN does not have the flexibility or speed of an assembly language in the manipulation of data characters. Nor is it suited to the type of applications required in a business environment.

COBOL, the first language designed specifically for business, was introduced in 1959. COBOL statements are close to the written form of the first English language but with a very precisely defined set of words. It is self-documenting and machine independent. COBOL has very good filehandling capabilities and is easily understood by other programmers, enabling modifications to be made by someone other than the originator of the program. COBOL instructions are longer than the equivalent code in FORTRAN and the language is not suited to complicated mathematical expressions.

The BASIC language was developed in 1965 for use in education. It is a language which can be learned quickly and students can write programs after only a short course of instructions. When micro-computers were introduced in the 1970s, nearly all manufacturers chose BASIC as the highlevel language provided with the computer and it is now probably the most widely used language in the world. Over the years the language has been extended and a modern BASIC will include extensive file-handling capabilities as well as a full set of mathematical and text functions. Recently versions of BASIC which encourage structured programming have become available. However, most of these extensions have been developed by manufacturers and so programs tend to be machineor at least manufacturer-dependent.

Unit 6. Object Oriented Programming. Task 10.

Java is a Class based language that was originally designed for programming embedded systems. Because of this, the ideas of speed, platform independence, and run time safety are crucial in its design.

In one of their early papers about the language, Java is described as a simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded, and dynamic language.

Sun acknowledges that this is quite a string of buzzwords, but in fact is that, for the most part, they aptly describe the language. In order to understand why Java is so interesting, let’s take a look at the languages features behind the buzzwords.

Java is an object-oriented programming language. As a programmer, this means that you focus on the data in your application and methods that manipulate that data, rather than thinking strictly in terms of procedures. If you’re accustomed to procedure-based programming in C, you may find

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that you need to change how you design your programs when you use Java. Once you see how powerful this new paradigm is, however, you’ll quickly adjust to it.

In an object-oriented system, a class is a collection of data and methods that operate on that data. Taken together, the data and methods describe the state and behavior of an object. Classes are arranged in a hierarchy, so that a subclass can inherit behavior from its superclass. A class hierarchy always has a root class; this is a class with very general behavior.

Java comes with an extensive set of classes, arranged in packages, that you can use in your programs. For example, Java provides classes that create graphical user interface components (the java.awt package), classes that handle input and output (the java.io package), and classes that support networking functionality (the java.net package). The Object class (in the java.lang package) serves as the root of the Java class hierarchy.

Unlike C++, Java was designed to be object-oriented from the ground up. Most things in Java are objects; the primitive numeric, character, and Boolean types are the only exceptions. Strings are represented by objects in Java, as are other important language constructs like threads. A class is the basic unit of compilations and of execution in Java; all Java programs are classes.

While Java is designed to look like C++, you’ll find that Java removes many of the complexities of that language. If you are a C++ programmer, you’ll want to study the object-oriented constructs in Java carefully. Although the syntax is often similar to C++, the behavior is not nearly so analogous.

Java is an interpreted language: the Java compiler generates bytecodes for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), rather than native machine code. To actually run a Java program, you use the Java interpreter to execute the compiled byte-codes. Because Java byte-codes are platform-independent, Java programs can run on any platform that the JVM (the interpreter and run-time system) has been ported to.

One of the most highly touted aspects of Java is that it’s a secure language. This is especially important because of the distributed nature of Java. Without an assurance of security, you certainly wouldn’t want to download code from a random site on the Internet and let it run on you computer. Yet this is exactly what people do with Java applets every day. Java was designed with security in mind, and provides several layers of security controls that protect against malicious code, and allow users to comfortably run untrusted programs such as applets.

At the lowest level, security goes hand-in-hand with robustness. As we’re already seen, Java programs cannot forge pointers to memory, or

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overflow arrays, or read memory outside of the bounds of an array or string. These features are one of Java’s main defenses against malicious code. By totally disallowing any direct access to memory, an entire huge, messy class of security attacks is ruled out.

The second line of defense against malicious code is the byte-code verification process that the Java interpreter performs on any untrusted code it loads. These verification steps ensure that the code is well-formed – that it doesn’t overflow or underflow the stack or contain illegal byte-codes, for example. If the byte-code verification step was skipped, inadvertently corrupted or maliciously crafted byte-codes might be able to take advantage of implementation weaknesses in a Java interpreter.

Unit 7. Databases. Task 4.

A database is an electronic filing system that allows you to keep files and records on a computer. The advantages of such a system are that a great deal of data and information can be stored, collected and manipulated automatically. Many of the labourious procedures often associated with card indexing and filing cabinet storage are thus eliminated.

There are many different levels of program available. The easier-to- use products emulate a card system and don’t require any specialist knowledge to set up and operate. At the other end of the scale are very comprehensive data managers that often form the basis of dedicated or customized packages sold by other software houses. Such programs often incorporate their own query language. This is used by the programmer to set up the package, but is invisible to the eventual end user.

The ability to quickly scan stored information and produce reports, either to screen or print, is one of the main features of any database. For example, imagine a doctor wished to find out how many of his patients had received a particular type of inoculation. It would probably take his secretary days to look at the hundreds of record cards and produce an appropriate list or report. A computer-based database could simply be instructed to look at each patient record for the required information, collate this data and print out the requested report. Totally, unattended!

When setting up the database, most programs allow you to design the screen layout and decide on the text to be displayed. Let us imagine that you wished to catalogue a collection of books. One screen of information for each book might contain the book title, the author, the subject matter, the date printed and the ISBN number. Each of these individual pieces of information is referred to as a field, the screen of information is called a

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record and the complete catalogue is called a file. The file is usually given an appropriate name. In this case, it could be called ‘books’.

A working database may contain more than one file. The person that created the books catalogue may have done so to assist with the running of a mail order rare-book business. He would also be likely to keep a file of his customers and their purchasing inquiries, possibly called ‘customer’. The fields could contain information such as surname, initial or Christian name, title, address lines, telephone number and subject matter requested. It would also be possible to include a field titled miscellaneous. As the name implies, this could include any other useful items of information.

To make a simultaneous search through a number of different files requires the capabilities of what is known as a relational database. This would allow our fictional character who’d just acquired a rare book on flora to request a report or print-out of all customers who had expressed an interest in this subject. The print-out could be in the form of an address list printed directly onto self-adhesive labels to be stuck onto envelopes ready for mailing. Stationary designed to fit onto the sprockets of a printed tractor feed is known as continuous or fan fold. Large companies would probably use continuous envelopes and print directly onto them, this would eliminate the cost of employing personnel to stick printed address labels onto the envelopes.

Finally, many database programs would allow the export of data into other programs such as word processors, spreadsheets and graphics programs. The ability to represent data in a graphical way is a great advantage when making statistical presentations, thus data from a database may be illustrated in a form of a line graph, bar chart or pie chart with some utilities allowing three-dimensional bar charts and exploded pie charts.

Unit 8. Database Management Systems. Task 7.

INTERVIEWER: What size is the database at Grovemount Hospital? ALEX COLLINS: Pretty big! To give you some idea: over a five-day period of care for one patient, somewhere in the region of 25,000 characters of data might be generated. That would include matters relating to the patient’s medical history, laboratory reports, medical treatment, invoices, and so on. Now, if we have an average of, say, 300 occupied beds, that means well in excess of 500 million characters of stored data per year. INTERVIEWER: And that is presumably only data relating to patients? ALEX COLLINS: Precisely. We also have data relating to the administration of the hospital – em, for example, information on staff, bed occupancy, that sort of thing.

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INTERVIEWER: So how exactly is the database organized?

ALEX COLLINS: Well, our database is organized in the same way that any other database is organized. The basic component is a named collection of data called a file. The file called PATIENT, for example, contains the name, address, date of birth, National Health Service number, etc. of each patient. Within each file there is a collection of records of the same type. So, in the case of the patient file, each record relates to a single patient. Each record must obviously have a unique identifier so that it can be accessed in the database.

INTERVIEWER: You mean a name or number?

ALEX COLLINS: Yes, usually a combination of the two. INTERVIEWER: Right. So each file contains an organized collection of records. Does that mean that each individual record has an internal structure, too?

ALEX COLLINS: No, not necessarily. I’ve already said that all records in a given file must be of the same type. Well, all the patient records do have an internal structure – or fixed format, as we call it. This means that each component – name, date of birth, etc. – is stored separately and can be accessed separately. However, some files contain free-format records, and in those cases each record simply contains a long string of text.

INTERVIEWER: You mean letters, reports, that kind of things? ALEX COLLINS: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: I see. Now, can you tell us what happens when the database is updated?

ALEX COLLINS: Yes. Each input message is called a transaction. When a transaction enters the system for processing, the computer must retrieve related data from the database. At the end of the processing, the computer stores updated data to reflect the changes caused by the transaction.

INTERVIEWER: Could you give an example?

ALEX COLLINS: Yes, of course. Each time a patient is admitted to the hospital, the database must be updated to show his or her details. This is obvious. However, the database must also be updated to show that there is one less bed available. This will, in turn, affect summary operational data, such as bed occupancy for the month, and so on.

INTERVIEWER: OK. But you have lots of different people accessing the database at the same time, don’t you?

ALEX COLLINS: It’s a multi-access system, yes.

INTERVIEWER: Right. But what happens if two people access the same data at exactly the same time?

ALEX COLLINS: It can’t happen. In that situation, the database management system would grant access to one of the users only. The other

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user would have to wait until the first transaction was processed and the data updated.

Unit 9. Graphical User Interface. Task 3.

The term user interface refers to the standard procedures the user follows to interact with a particular computer. A few years ago, the way in which users had access to a computer system was quite complex. They had to memorize and type a lot of commands just to see the content of a disk, to copy files or to respond to a single prompt. In fact, only experts used computers, so there was no need for a user-friendly interface. Now, however, computers are used by all kinds of people and as a result there is a growing emphasis on the user interface.

A good user interface is important because when you buy a program you want to use it easily. Moreover, a graphical user interface saves a lot of time: you don't need to memorize commands in order to execute an application; you only have to point and click so that its content appears on the screen.

Macintosh computers - with a user interface based on graphics and intuitive tools - were designed with a single clear aim: to facilitate interaction with the computer. Their interface is called WIMP: Window, Icon, Mouse and Pointer and software products for the Macintosh have been designed to take full advantage of its features using this interface. In addition, the ROM chips of a Macintosh contain libraries that provide program developers with routines for generating windows, dialog boxes, icons and pop-up menus. This ensures the creation of applications with a high level of consistency.

Today, the most innovative GUIs are the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2 Warp. These three platforms include similar features: a desktop with icons, windows and folders, a printer selector, a file finder, a control panel and various desk accessories. Double-clicking a folder opens a window which contains programs, documents or further nested folders. At any time within a folder, you can launch the desired program or document by double-clicking the icon, or you can drag it to another location.

The three platforms differ in other areas such as device installation, network connectivity or compatibility with application programs.

These interfaces have been so successful because they are extremely easy to use. It is well known that computers running under an attractive interface stimulate users to be more creative and produce high quality results, which has a major impact on the general public.

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Unit 11. Website Design. Task 3.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of people want websites and why do they want websites?

NATHAN WARD: People who feel they have to be on the Web because competitors are on the Web. They feel that not having a website is a sign of being behind the times.

INTERVIEWER: So other people have got a website and therefore they have to have one, too?

NATHAN WARD: Yes. The better reason is people who have information they would normally provide free – like brochures, application forms, anything that would normally be sent out by mail.

INTERVIEWER: So it saves fax, postage…

NATHAN WARD: Printing costs. I think it’s particularly useful for colleges and universities.

INTERVIEWER: Why is that?

NATHAN WARD: Because they tend to have a large amount of information to distribute.

INTERVIEWER: If a client comes to you and asks you for a webpage, how do you set about designing a page for a client?

NATHAN WARD: The first thing I would ask for is all the printed promotional material. I would look at all that material and then discuss with the client how much of it to put on the Web. The most important thing is to decide who is the audience for this website, who’s it aimed at.

INTERVIEWER: Is there a danger of putting too much on?

NATHAN WARD N: There’s certainly a danger of putting too much on it. Also, the client has to make a clear decision about how much time or money they are going to keep the pages updated.

INTERVIEWER: Aha, so it’s not enough simply to have a page, you need regular maintenance of that page.

NATHAN WARD: Right, so these are the first two questions – who is it aimed at and how often will it be updated?

Unit 11. Website Design. Task 4.

NATHAN WARD: Once we’ve decided what materials should be put on, there are a couple of basic principles to follow. One is that there should never be any dead ends, you should never reach a page which has no… INTERVIEWER: Ah, which doesn’t go anywhere?

NATHAN WARD: …Which has no links to take you back to somewhere else. So, that’s one principle. And the other principle is to try to limit the

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number of steps that have to be taken from the main home page to any other page. I would normally aim for a maximum of four steps.

INTERVIEWER: Do people give up if there more than two or three links, they simply give up, is that a problem?

NATHAN WARD: Some people will give up. Others will just never find the information, there too many diversions. Another principle is not to have too many links to scroll through on one page. If you have a page which has 150 links and you have to keep scrolling through them, people will give up … they’ll never find the links at the bottom.

INTERVIEWER: What about graphics, sound and animations, and all these multimedia features? What’s your feeling about these?

NATHAN WARD: Always ask why is it there? That’s the first thing. And if it’s there simply because it makes the page look nicer, think quite carefully about whether to put it there or not. The more of that sort of thing you have, the more time it will take to download the pages. Another factor to bear in mind is that there are still a lot of users with less sophisticated browsers than Netscape or Microsoft Explorer, and if you make the use of the page dependent on graphics and so on, you’ll exclude these users.

INTERVIEWER: So no dead-ends, no more than four steps from home, and pictures have to serve a serious purpose.

NATHAN WARD: Another aspect of designing pages is to break the information into relatively small sections.

INTERVIEWER: Is that just because of the size of the screen, what you can see at one time?

NATHAN WARD N: It’s partly that, but it’s also to do with download time and printing. People can find they’re printing forty pages of a document, most of which they don’t want.

INTERVIEWER: Is it a big temptation to add links to similar organizations? Is there strength in that, or is there a danger in that? NATHAN WARD N: In most cases it’s a big strength. Browsers who come across your page, if they discover that your page is a very good gateway to all sorts of interesting sites, will bookmark your page because they know it’s a good way to get to all the other sites. If they’re coming back to it, they’re exposed to your message every time. One final point: it is useful to have on the front page something brief which catches the reader, which says ‘that is who we are’.

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Glossary

A

algorithm – a set of unambiguous rules to solve a problem in a definite number of steps

analyst programmer – a person whose job is a combination of systems analysis and computer programming

applet – a very small self-contained computer program

application (program) – a computer program written in a high-level language, designed to perform a specific function

assembly language – a human-readable representation of machine-code programs

asynchronous – not synchronized, i.e. occurring at irregular intervals automated teller machines (ATM) – the type of machines used by banks for enabling customers to withdraw money from their bank accounts

B

backup – 1. the process of storing a copy of data on a storage device to keep it safe; 2. the term used for the copied data

BASIC – acronym for Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code binary – a number system that only uses two digits, i.e. 1 and 0

(data) block – a collection of data stored together and treated as a single unit

browse – to move from webpage to webpage using a Web browser program browser – a program used for displaying webpages

bug – a problem or error in a computer program or system

C

character – a distinctive significant mark or feature

class – 1. a facility introduced in the programming language SIMULA. It provides a form of abstract data type; 2. the prototype for an object in an object-oriented language, analogous to a derived type in a procedural language. A class may also be considered to be a set of objects which share a common structure and behaviour. The structure of a class is determined by the class variables which represent the state of an object of that class and the behaviour is given by a set of methods associated with the class.

COBOL – acronym for Common Business-Oriented Language code – a general term for computer programming instructions

command line interface – a method of interaction with a computer whereby the user types specific commands in order to achieve his

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requirements. This is generally regarded as not very user-friendly, although it is often the most efficient way of communicating with the computer comment – a computer programming language statement or part of a statement that the computer does not use. This allows the programmer to add an explanation of the program to the statement that will be executed

Common Business-Oriented Language – a high-level computer programming language. It is the principal transaction processing language used to process the records of large organisations on mainframe computers. compatible – able to operate on the same type of system or run the same software

compilation – the rate of translating a high-level language into machine code

compile – to translate a high-level computer language into machine code so that it can be understood by the computer

compiler – a program that converts source programs into machine code. Each high-level language has its own compiler

compress – to reduce to a much smaller size

compression – the process used for reducing a file to a much smaller size computer – a general purpose machine that can be programmed to process data in a variety of ways

computer consultant – a person who is paid to advise on computing system issues

computer engineer – a person who designs and develops computer systems computerized – changed so that it can be operated or controlled using a computer

computer language – a language used for writing computer programs computer program – a set of instructions that can be understood by a computer and perform a certain task or function

computer programming – the process of writing and testing programs for computers

computer science – the study of computers and their use computing – the theory and practice of computers conceptual schema – the logical design of the database

cursor – a symbol on the monitor screen that indicates the point on the screen that is being used

cut and paste – to remove some data from a file and temporarily store it in the computer’s memory then insert a copy of the data in another position in the same or in another file

cycle – one of the basic steps in a process that repeats over and over again

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D

data – the information processed by a computer

database – a store of facts and information held in a computer

database management system – software that allows the user to store, update and retrieve information held in database

data flow diagram – a graphical notation used to describe how data flows between processes in a system. Data flow diagrams are an important tool of most structured analysis techniques.

data model – the product of the database design process which aims to identify and organize the required data logically and physically

debugging – the process of correcting errors in a program or system decision table – a type of grid used in computer program design to show what actions should be taken by the programmer under different conditions declaration statement – a statement in a computer programming language that tells the software translator how much storage the data will need, the data structures used, or the type of data held in named variables

dedicated – (of software and hardware) that is only used for one particular task or purpose

description – a statement that explains what something looks like, or how it behaves

desktop – the main graphical user interface background screen that displays icons for other programs

developer – a person or organization that designs or improves hardware or software

development life cycle – the phases a software product goes through from when it is first thought of until it becomes obsolete. This typically includes: requirements analysis, design construction, testing (validation), installation, operation, maintenance and retirement.

digital – an electronic system that has only two states, e.g. off or on directory – a storage area used for grouping files so that they can be easily located. A directory is sometimes called a folder.

documentation – the information that explains how to use software or hardware

drag and drop – to move data from one location to another with a mouse. Holding down the mouse button while moving the mouse moves the selected data. Releasing the mouse button drops the data in the new location.

E

encapsulation – 1. a restriction on access to an object’s internal properties; 2. the technique of keeping together data structures and the methods

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(procedures) which act on them; 3. the ability to provide users with a welldefined interface to a set of functions in a way which hides their internal workings

encode – to write information in a coded form

entity – in programming, any item, such as data item or statement, that can be named or denoted in a program

executable – containing instructions that can be run or executed by the processor

execute – to run a program in a computer

expert system – an artificial intelligence program that collects and uses human expertise to allow non-experts to solve specialized problems extensible – able to be added to, e.g. in an extensible language a developer can add their own terms

extensible markup language – a metalanguage that allows developers to create their own set of customized tags that identify the meaning and structure of data. It is used for creating files that are program-independent, platform-independent and able to be used with different languages. external schema – the user’s permitted view of the data

F

fetch – to go and get the next instruction or piece of data from memory field – an item of data such as a number, a name, or an address

file – a collection of data in electronically recorded form, which is the basic unit of storage in a computer system. A file can be a program, a document created by a user or data used by a program, etc.

flowchart – a kind of diagram used by programmers to show the logical steps in a program or by systems analysts to show logical steps in the design of a system

format – the layout of a document, including page numbers, line spaces, margins, paragraph alignment, headers and footers, etc.

formula – a series of letters, numbers or symbols that represent a rule or law

FORTRAN – acronym for Formula Translator. A high-level computing language that was designed by scientists in 1954 and is oriented toward manipulating formulas for scientific, mathematical and engineering problem-solving applications.

freeware – computer programs that are made available to anyone who wants to use them at no cost to the user

G

general-purpose language – a computer language that can be used to write different types of programs

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graphical user interface – a style of interaction between the user and the computer involving a graphics screen, icons, and some form of pointing device such as a mouse

H

hierarchical database – a kind of database management system that links records together like a family tree such that each record type has only one owner, e.g. an order is owned by only one customer. Hierarchical structures were widely used in the first mainframe database management systems. However, due to their restrictions, they often cannot be used to relate structures that exist in the real world

high-level language – a language in which each instruction represents several machine code instructions, making the notation more easily readable by the programmer

hover – to hold a cursor over an icon for a short period of time

HTML – abbreviation for hypertext markup language. A page description language that uses a system of tags for creating web pages.

hypertext markup language – a page description language that can be inserted into a document to make it act as a webpage. The tags determine how the document is displayed on the screen and marks the position of hyperlinks.

I

icon – a visual symbol or a picture on a screen that represents a program, an option or a file

implementation – the act of starting to use a plan or computer system inheritance – a key feature of object-oriented programming that allows specific instances of a class to inherit all the properties of the class

input – data put into a system

instruction – part of a computer program, which tells the computer what to do at that stage

interface – 1. the equipment including hardware and software that allows two devices to be connected so that they can operate together; 2. a common boundary between systems, devices and programs

internal schema – the way that the data is physically held

iteration – a process that is repeated as long as certain conditions remain true

K

keyboard – the main electronic input device that has keys arranged in a similar layout to a typewriter

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L

library – a collection of subroutines and functions stored in one or more files, usually in compiled form, for linking with other programs. Libraries are one of the earliest forms of organised code reuse. They are often supplied by the operating system or software development environment developer to be used in many different programs. The routines in a library may be general purpose or designed for some specific function such as three dimensional animated graphics.

link – to combine two separate programs, etc. to make a single executable program

linkage editor – a system program which fetches required systems routines and links them to the application program object module

load module – the program which is directly executable by the computer logical record – the collection of data relating to one subject

low-level language – a language such as assembly language in which each instruction has one corresponding instruction in machine code

M

machine code – the 0s and 1s (binary-coded command) that are loaded and executed by a computer. Machine code is the only language the computer understands, and it is obtained by compiling assembly language or any high-level language

markup – a method of adding information to the text indicating the logical components of a document, or instructions for layout of the text on the page markup language – a set of tags that can be inserted into a document to indicate its layout and appearance

menu – a list of program commands. The user can select a command by clicking on it, or by using keys on the keyboard

metadata – data about data in a document

metalanguage – a language that is used for describing the structure of other languages

mouse – a common cursor control input device used with a graphical user interface. It commonly has two or three button switches on top and a ball underneath that is rolled on a flat surface.

multiprogramming – a way of executing two or more programs together. Each program is executed for a short amount of time

N

namespace – a set of names in which all names are unique

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network database – a kind of database management system in which each record type can have multiple owners, e.g. orders are owned by both customers and products. This contrasts with a hierarchical database (one owner) or relational database (no explicit owner).

O

object module – see object program

object-oriented programming – a programming technique that combines data, abstraction, inheritance, and dynamic type binding

object program – the result of converting source code into machine code using a compiler

output – the processed data or signals that come out of a computer system

P

package – an application program or collection of programs that can be used in different ways

page-description language – a type of programming language that uses tags to define the layout of a document, e.g. HTML is a page-description language used to design webpages

paradigm – a type of smth, a model

parameter – information, which is passed to a program subroutine

parse – to separate a high-level programming language statement into parts that will be processed as individual units when it is converted into machine code

physical record – the collection of data transferred as a unit

platform – a type of computer or program used as a standard for a particular computer system

pointer – a symbol on a screen, such as an arrow, that is controlled by a pointing device

polymorphism – a key feature of object-oriented programming by which different objects can receive the same instructions but deal with them in different ways

portability – the ability to use hardware in different places or software on different types of computer

portable – describing programs which can run on a variety of hardware or under a variety of operating systems

procedural language – a computer programming language that enables programs to be written using sections of code known as procedures. Each procedure performs a specific task.

procedure – a way of performing a task that usually does not change each time the task is performed

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program – a set of instructions that can be understood by a computer and perform a certain task or function

programmer – a person who writes or designs programs for a computer programming – the process of writing and testing programs for computers programming language – a language that can be used for writing instructions that a computer can process and execute

property – a quality or characteristic that something has

pseudocode – a code that contains a combination of a programming language such as C, and natural language such as English

pull-down menu – a list of choices that appear below a menu title on a display screen when the user clicks on the menu title using a mouse

Q

query – a request that is made by a user to a database asking it to provide a list of the records that match certain conditions

query language – a language in which users of a database can interactively formulate requests and generate reports. The best known is SQL.

R

record – a part of a data file that holds related data about one item RDF – acronym for Resource Description Framework

relational database – a database based on the relational model developed by E.F. Codd. A relational database allows the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations and integrity constraints. In such a database the data and relations between them are organised in tables. A table is a collection of rows or records and each row in a table contains the same fields. Certain fields may be designated as keys, which means that searches for specific values of that field will use indexing to speed them up.

Resource Description Framework – an XML text format that supports resource description and metadata applications

runtime – the period of time during which a program is executed

S

scroll – to move the information displayed on a screen in a vertical or horizontal direction

scrollbar – the part of a graphical user interface window that allows the user to move through a document by clicking or dragging with the mouse selection – the control structure allowing choice among different directions sequence – the control structure that refers to the line-by-line execution as used in your programs so far.

SGML – abbreviation for Standard Generalised Markup Language

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software house – a company that invents, writes and sells computer programs

source code – a computer program written in a high-level language that must be translated into object code before it can be executed

specification – a detailed description of how something is, or should be, designed or made

SQL – abbreviation for structured query language. A language used for searching databases.

Standard Generalised Markup Language – the complex metalanguage from which both HTML and XML were created

statement – the smallest executable part of a program

structured language – a computer programming language that requires the programmer to write programs made up of self-contained units or procedures

structured programming – a method of designing a computer program so that it is easy to understand, change and maintain. This is usually done by making each part of the program an individual procedure, which is programmed separately

subdirectory – a directory that is inside another directory

submenu – a list of choices that is displayed when the user clicks on an item in a menu

support – the help offered to the user by a company who makes or sells a computer

syntax – the rules that state how words and phrases must be used in a computer language

system tray – a section at the far right of a Microsoft Windows task bar that holds icons for the clock and other programs that run constantly in the background

systems analyst – a person who designs or modifies information systems to meet users’ requirements. This includes investigating feasibility and costproducing documentation and testing prototypes of the system.

systems programmer – a person who specializes in writing systems software such as operating system programs

T

tag – a label used in a markup language such as HTML. It is attached to a piece of text to mark the start or the end of a particular function.

taskbar – a Microsoft Windows desktop component that indicates what programs are currently being used and allows the used to switch between them

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teller machine – a machine used for taking payments in large shops and supermarkets

terminal – a network device used to input and output data (usually a basic computer)

token – a code used in a high-level language for reserved words or other program statements

tool – a program that is used by a programmer to write other programs toolbar – a panel that contains different tools

tooltip – a label that appear on the screen when the user holds the mouse pointer over an icon in a Microsoft Windows system

transaction – 1. a single item of data that can be processed on its own; 2. any single activity inside a computer or system

U

undo – to restore a file to the condition it was in before the last change was made

update – to bring up to date, i.e. to change into the latest version

upgrade – to add components to improve the features or performance of a system

URL – abbreviation for uniform (or universal) resource locator user – the person using a computer

user interface – the boundary between a user and a computer or a program user-friendly – connected with a program, computer or system, etc. that is easy to use, especially for someone with little technical knowledge

V

variable – the name used in a programming language for a set of locations in the computer's memory, which can hold one data item. Data is stored in a variable by using an assignment statement

verify – to check for accuracy

W

walkthrough – a product review performed by a formal team. A number of such reviews may be held during the lifetime of a software project, covering, for example, requirements specification, program specifications, design, and implementation.

webpage – a hyperlinked document in a web network system website – a set of related pages on the World Wide Web

window – a rectangular screen area containing a program folder or file in a WIMP system

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(Microsoft) Windows – a graphical user interface operating system frontend to MS-DOS developed by the Microsoft Corporation. It has been gradually developed into a full operating system.

Windows Explorer – a Microsoft Windows program that allows the user to see the files and folders on all the disks attached to the computer. It can be used for general housekeeping such as moving or deleting files. workstation – a powerful desktop computer used by power users for work that requires a lot of processing, e.g. graphic design

World Wide Web – an information service on the Internet that allows document pages to be accessed using hyperlinks

X

XML – abbreviation for extensible markup language

XML processor – a software module that is used to read XML documents and provide access to their content and structure

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