MICROSOFT OFFICE

Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windowsand Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. 










Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applicationsscripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand.

WORD PROCESSING (MS WORD)

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF MS-WORD

Ms-Word not only supports word processing features but also DTP features. Some of the important features of Ms-Word are listed below:

Ø  Using word you can create the document and edit them later, as and when required, by adding more text, modifying the existing text, deleting/moving some part of it.

Ø  Changing the size of the margins can reformat complete document or part of text.

Ø  Font size and type of fonts can also be changed. Page numbers and Header and Footer can be included.

Ø  Spelling can be checked and correction can be made automatically in the entire document. Word count and other statistics can be generated.

Ø  Text can be formatted in columnar style as we see in the newspaper. Text boxes can be made.

Ø  Tables can be made and included in the text.

Ø  Word also allows the user to mix the graphical pictures with the text. Graphical pictures can either be created in word itself or can be imported from outside like from Clip Art Gallery.

Ø  Word also provides the mail-merge facility.

Ø  Word also has the facility of macros. Macros can be either attached to some function/special keys or to a tool bar or to a menu.

Ø  It also provides online help of any option.

ELECTRONIC SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION (MS POWERPOINT)

PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of individual pages or "slides". The "slide" analogy is a reference to the slide projector. Slides may contain text, graphics, sound, movies, and other objects, which may be arranged freely. PowerPoint, however, facilitates the use of a consistent style in a presentation using a template or "Slide Master".

The presentation can be printed, displayed live on a computer, or navigated through at the command of the presenter. For larger audiences the computer display is often projected using a video projector. Slides can also form the basis of webcasts.

PowerPoint provides three types of movements:

Ø  Entrance, emphasis, and exit of elements on a slide itself are controlled by what PowerPoint calls Custom Animations

Ø  Transitions, on the other hand, are movements between slides. These can be animated in a variety of ways

Ø  Custom animation can be used to create small story boards by animating pictures to enter, exit or move.

NUMERICAL CALCULATION AND COMPUTATION (MS EXCEL)

Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that can be used for storing, organizing and manipulating data.

When you look at the Excel screen you see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns. The intersection point between a column and a row is a small rectangular box known as a cell. A cell is the basic unit for storing data in the spreadsheet. Because an Excel spreadsheet contains thousands of these cells, each is given a cell reference or address to identify it.

            It is very suitable for the students and also in learning this software is not that difficult, the students could learn easily. We chose this excel because has a lot of advantages such as:

Data Types, Formulas, and Functions

The types of data that a cell can hold include numbers, text or formulas. Just as in math class, formulas are used for calculations usually involving data contained in other cells. Excel and other electronic spreadsheets include a number of built in formulas used for common tasks known as functions.

Excel and Financial Data

Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include:

Ø  Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns and rows of figures.

Ø  Finding values such as profit or loss.

Ø  Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages.

Ø  Finding the average, maximum, or minimum values in a specified range of data.

Excel's Other Uses

Other common operations that Excel can be used for include:

Ø  graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends.

Ø  sorting and filtering data to find specific information.

The information garnered in a spreadsheet can easily be incorporated into electronic presentations, web pages, or printed off in report form.

                                            THE INTERNET

Internet Definition

-The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). 

-A means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and received all kinds of information such as test, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs. 

history of the internet

-1957 – 1978 – The advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was created as a direct response to the launch of the Sputnik by the Soviet Union. 

-1964 – RAND Corporation publishes a  report describing a network that divided messages into segments, travelling independency.

-1967 – Donald Davies coined this process “packet-switching”

1969 – ARPANET facilities the first packet-switching between UCLA and SRI International. 

1972 – Email program is written by Ray Tomlison and the @ symbol is introduced

1973 – 75% of all network traffic is E-mail.

1978 – The first Bulletin Board System was created.

1979 – BBS went online to the public, allowing people to use a virtual notice board, exchanging ideas and information.

1984 – The development of Doman Name Services is implemented in order for people to easily identify and locate computers linked to the internet.

1990 – Tim Berners-Lee coined the term “World Wide Web”

1993 – Mosaic was released the first commercial software that allowed graphic access to content on the internet.

The first Internet Web Browser

1996 – Approximately 45 million people using the internet

1999 – 150 million users

2000 – 407 million users

2004 – Between 600 – 800 million

2007 – 1.3 billion people connected to the internet world wide

2011 - more than 2 billion people connected to the internet world wide.

The World Wide Web is deeply ingrained in our culture and everyday lives.

-Source of news, facts and figures.

-Communication tool

-Banking

-Shopping

-An Educational and Entertainment medium.

How the internet works?

1. Transport control Protocol (TCP)

• a protocol that operates at the transport layer and is used in combination with IP by most Internet applications.

2. Backbone

• an internet high-speed, long distance communications links (like a bus; wire that connects nodes)

3. Uniform resource locator (URL)

• an assigned address on th Internet for each computer
• E.g., http://www.yorku.ca/

How to access the Internet?

• Many schools and businesses have direct access to the Internet using special high-speed communication lines and equipment.

• Students and employees can access through the organization's local area networks (LAN) or through their own personal computers.

• another way to access the Internet is through Internet Service Provider (ISP)

• To access the Internet, an existing network need to pay a small registration fee and agree to certain standards based on the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) reference model.

• Each organization pays for its own networks and its own telephone

• The regional Internet companies route and forward all traffic, and the cost is still only that of a local telephone call.

Internet Connection

1. LAN servers

• Local servers can provide access to the Internet through normal connection (e.g., Ethernet)

2. Serial line internet protocol (SLIP) and Point-to-point protocol (PPP)

• Communications protocol software that transmits packets over telephone lines, allowing dial-up access to the Internet

3. Connection via an on-line service provider (ISP)

• Examples are America Online and Microsoft Network. These services usually require sign-up procedures.

Internet Service Provider

What/Who is the Internet service provider (ISP)?

• any company that provides individuals or companies with access to the Internet
• thousands of providers including large communications companies 
• Need an account with the ISP and softwares that links with TCP/IP
• A commercial organization with permanent connection to the Internet that tells temporary connections to subscribers.
• 
  
• Examples:

1. maxis net, Celcom, Jaring
2. America Online
3. Microsoft network
4. AT&T networks etc. 

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INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET

WHAT IS A COMPUTER?
- A programmable machine that carries out what it has been instructed to do.
- It can only do ‘certain’ tasks.
- A Computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions.








COMPUTER OPERATIONS
Basic operations that a computer can perform:

•  Input
•  Processing
•  Output
•  Storage

Others:

•  Communication

The five activities above forms the information processing cycle

Information Processing Cycle

• A computer converts data (from input) to become information (as output).
• Processing requires a set of instructions, known as programs or software.
• A computer holds data, instructions and information in storage for future use.
• Data : a collection of unprocessed items such as text, numbers, images, audio and video.
• Information : meaningful and useful facts to people.

COMPUTER COMPONENTS
- Hardware – physical parts
- The electrical, electronic or mechanical parts of a computer.
Includes:

•  Input devices
•  Output devices
•  System unit
•  Storage devices
•  Communication devices
•  Software – the set of instructions / programs

- Also known as a program - a series of related instructions, organized for a common purpose.
- It tells the computer what task to perform and how to do it.
Includes:

•  System software
•  Application software

Others:

• People
• Data / information

Computer Characteristics
Why we can rely on the computer? Because of its …

•  Speed
•  Reliability
•  Consistency
•  Storage
•  Communication
•  Others???

COMPUTER HARDWARE BASICS:

COMPUTER HISTORY, COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE, SIZE PROCESSING POWER AND TYPES OF COMPUTERS

·         Pre computers and Early Computers (before 1940s)
·         Experts concluded that ancient civilizations had the ability to count and compute.
·         Abacus – earliest recorded calculating device.
·         Others: slide ruler, mechanical calculator, Punch card tabulating machine (by Dr. Herman Hollerith, 1890s) and Sorter
·         Hollerith’s company eventually became IBM (International Business Machine)

First Generation (1940 – 1950) :: Vacuum Tube

·         ENIAC (1945): Designed by Mauchy & Echert, built by US army to calculate trajectories for ballistic shells during Worlds War II. Around 18000 vacuum tubes and 1500 relays were used to build ENIAC, and it was programmed by manually setting switches.
·         UNIVAC (1950): the first commercial computer
·         John Von Neumann architecture: goldstone and Von Neumann took the ideal of ENIAC and developed concept of storing a program in the memory. Known as the Von Neumann’s architecture and has been the basis for virtually every machine designed since then.

Features:

-          Electron emitting devices

-          Data and programs are stored in a single read0write memory

-          Memory contents are addressable by location, regardless of the content itself

-          Machine language/Assemble language

-          Sequential execution

Second Generation (1950 – 1964) :: Transistors

·         William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent the transistor that reduce size of computers and improve reliability. Vacuum \tubes have been replaced by transistors.

·         First operating Systems: handled one program at a time

·         On-off switches controlled by electronically.

·         High level languages (COBOL and FORTRAN)

·         Floating point arithmetic

Third generation (1964 – 1974) :: Integrated Circuits (IC)

·         Microprocessor chips combine thousands of transistors, entire circuit on one computer chip.
·         Semiconductor memory
·         Multiple computer models with different performance characteristics
·         The size of computers has been reduced drastically.

Fourth Generation (1974 – Present) :: VLSI / ULSI

·         VLSI = Very large-Scale Integration
·         ULSI = Ultra Large Scale Integration
·         Combines millions of transistors
·         Single-chip processor and the single-board computer emerged
·         Creation of the personal computer (PC)
·         Use of data communication
·         Massively parallel machine

Fifth Generation (now and the future)

·         Based on artificial intelligence – computers can think reason and learn
·         Primary means of input – voice and touch
·         Different computers construct such as optical computers that utilizes nanotechnology, or as entire general purpose computers

SOFTWARE

WHAT IS SOFTWARE

• The intangible part of a computer.
• It tells what a computer supposed to carry out, and how to do it.
• It drives the hardware.
• A collection of computer programs together with the related data.

CATEGORIES OF SOFTWARE

• Software is divided into three categories:
•                 System software
•                 Application software
•                 Programming software
• System software- controls and maintains the operations of the computer and its devices.
• Application software – makes users more productive and assists them with their tasks.
• Programming language – enables people (called programmers) to communicate instructions to a computer.

HOW DOES COMPUTER KNOW WHAT TO DO?

• It must be given a detailed list of instructions, called a computer program or software that tells it exactly what to do.
• Before processing a specific job, the computer program corresponding to that job must be stored in memory.
• Once the program is stored in memory the computer can start the operation by executing the program instructions one after the other. 

SOFTWARE LAYERS

OPERATING SYSTEM

• OS receives order from the user via application program
• It has programs and routines that control all accesses to hardware
• Higher levels are protected from any issues

Multiple users

Multiple requests for the same resource

Access control

• When the OS determines it’s safe to proceed, direct calls to device drivers are performed

DEVICES DRIVERS

• Device drivers are very low level instructions to a device (e.g., the printer, or the hard drive)
• It can provide interface or communications directly with hardware devices.
• It also allows OS to directly access hardware resources
• Drivers are hardware-dependent and OS-specific

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

The part that typically involved is the BIOS – Basic Input Output System. It provides a small library of basic input/output functions used to operate and control the peripheral devices.
It supports common activities that high level applications need to do, e.g., printing.
Contains library routines and common tools that hide operating system from applications.