Software unit 12 Flashcards
What are the types of software?
- systems software: permanent component of the computer that controls its fundamental functions.
- applications software: are programs chosen by the user and loaded into the computer to perform specific tasks.
What does the OS?
computer’soperating system(OS) is the systems software which manages the computer’s resources and allows all the various hardware andsoftwarecomponents to work together.
- It controls basic essential tasks.
- It works the whole time that the computer is switched on and parts of it are permanently stored in a computer’s ROM.
- It allows the different application programs to run and make use of the computer’s resources.
What is the role of Windows?
- The applications depend on Windows to communicate with the computer’s hardware.
- It acts as a middleman, it’s not necessary to duplicate basic features into every application. This way every application can focus on it’s own task.
- The RAM memory loads the OS (that is stored into the ROM).
- Less RAM can really be a problem!
What are utilities?
Utilities, special programs designed to carry out specific maintenance tasks to keep the computer operating smoothly: for example, tidying up the hard disc or checking files forviruses.
What are drivers?
Driversare OS programs linked to particular peripheral devices, such as aprinteror a mouse. The driver integrates the device into the computer system so that it can work with all the other elements.
What’s a GUI?
Graphical user interface(GUI) to make programs easier to use. Earlier systems required the user to type in complex coded instructions to make the computer work. A GUI allows the user to control the computer, with the help of amouseor touchpad, simply by moving, and clicking on, images or words on the screen.
What’s the difference between a System Analyst and a Programmer?
The systems analyst studies the particular requirements and objectives of the potential users and decides what the program should do and how it should work.
The programmers then writes the detailed programs based on these guidelines.
Computer programs can be a combination of databases and algorithms.
What are the steps in making a program?
- Interview the professionals responsible for getting the job done.
- Write a complete detailed description of the job.
- Analyse the job in order to break it down into steps.
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Construct a diagram showing the sequence of the most important steps
in the job. - Write the detailed instructions for each stage of the program.
- Test the program to discover any programming mistakes.
- Ask users to test the program to see if it functions in the workplace.
What are the types of computer languages?
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Low-level languages are based on the binary language and are used by the
machine itself (they are also called ‘machine languages’). In fact a computer
‘understands’ only one language: patterns of 0s and 1s. A program consists of thousands of such operations. To simplify the procedure of programming computers, some low-level languages use a system of codes to represent many common instructions. - High-level languages (also called ‘programming languages’) resemble spoken or mathematical languages and are used by programmers to write programs. It would be almost impossible for them to do this job using the highly detailed machine language. High-level languages let the programmer concentrate on the basic ideas of a task. They use easily remembered commands, such as PRINT, OPEN, STOP, GOTO, and INCLUDE, as well as mathematical notations. Special programs called ‘compilers and assemblers’ then translate the programming language into machine language so that the computer can follow the instructions.
Definition of Ciphertext, Cipher, Plain text:
Plaintext → testo in chiaro.
Ciphertext → testo criptato.
Cipher → algoritmo per criptare
What are some examples of high level languages?
| SQL | Structured Query Language used to manage databases in DBMS. |
— | — |
| Java | Object oriented programming. |
| JavaScript | It’s a scripting language used to make websites interactive. |
| C++ | Used to make software, based on C. |
| C# | Used to develop in a wide range of enterprise applications. General purpose language. |
| Python | General purpose languages for mobile apps and websites. Easy and compact. |
| PHP | Hypertext Pre-Processor, it was not intended to be a programming language but it became a server side scripting language. |
| Ruby | General purpose programming language, for websites and mobile apps. Easy to write and user friendly. |
| Swift | Created by Apple for Apple, IOS and OS X, it’s similar to C++. |
| C | Used for implementing operating systems and embedded applications. It’s best for learning. |
What did Alan Turing do:
- He made the first digital computer program: the ‘Turing Machine’. His revolutionary idea was for a machine that would read a series of 1s and Os from a tape describing the steps needed to solve a problem or task.
- He managed to crack the Enigma’s codes and reveal secret Nazi war plans. The story is told in the film The Imitation Game.
- He wrote ‘Computing machinery and intelligence’, which was one of the first to deal with the concept of artificial intelligence. He believed an intelligent machine could be created by following the model of the human brain.
What is the Turing test?
His ‘Turing Test’ has become a standard measure of artificial intelligence. In the test an interrogator asks questions via keyboard to a human being and to an intelligent machine, both unseen. If the interrogator is unable to distinguish the human from the machine, based on their answers, then the machine can be described as ‘thinking’.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing essentially means moving software, both programs and data, out of the computer on the desk and into websites on the Internet cloud.
What advantages does cloud computing give?
Cloud computing offers advantages to individual users but, especially, to businesses which invest large sums of money in information technology. Instead of having to build its own IT system, with all the databases and software kept in is offices and IT staff to manage them, a company can rent the services of a specialist IT provider which makes everything available over the Internet. With cloud computing, information technology begins to resemble a utility, such as electricity or water, to be used and paid for according to consumption.
