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Software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software is a general term used to describe the role that computer programs, procedures and documentation play in a computer system. It's the intangible part of the computer system, meaning it cannot be touched. The term includes:

Application software, such as word processors which perform productive tasks for users. Firmware, which is software programmed resident to electrically programmable memory devices on board mainboards or other types of integrated hardware carriers. Middleware, which controls and co-ordinates distributed systems. System software such as operating systems, which interface with hardware to provide the necessary services for application software. Software testing is a domain dependent of development and programming. Software testing consists of various methods to test and declare a software product fit before it can be launched for use by either an individual or a group. Testware, which is an umbrella term or container term for all utilities and application software that serve in combination for testing a software package but not necessarily may optionally contribute to operational purposes. As such, testware is not a standing configuration but merely a working environment for application software or subsets thereof.

Software includes things such as websites, programs or video games, that are coded by programming languages like C or C++. "Software" is sometimes used in a broader context to mean anything which is not hardware but which is used with hardware, such as film, tapes and records.

Perangkat lunak, peranti lunak, atau piranti lunak adalah program komputer yang berfungsi sebagai sarana interaksi antara pengguna dan perangkat keras. Perangkat lunak dapat juga dikatakan sebagai 'penterjemah' perintahperintah yang dijalankan pengguna komputer untuk diteruskan ke atau diproses oleh perangkat keras. Perangkat lunak ini dibagi menjadi 3 tingkatan: tingkatan program aplikasi (application program misalnya Microsoft Office), tingkatan sistem operasi (operating system misalnya Microsoft Windows), dan tingkatan bahasa pemrograman (yang dibagi lagi atas bahasa pemrograman tingkat tinggi seperti Pascal dan bahasa pemrograman tingkat rendah yaitu bahasa rakitan). Perangkat lunak adalah program komputer yang isi instruksinya dapat diubah dengan mudah. Perangkat lunak umumnya digunakan untuk mengontrol perangkat keras (yang sering disebut sebagai device driver), melakukan proses perhitungan, berinteraksi dengan perangkat lunak yang lebih mendasar lainnya (seperti sistem operasi, dan bahasa pemrograman), dan lain-lain.

Computer "instruction.html" instructions or "data.html" data. Anything that can be "store.html" stored electronically is software. The "storage.html" storage "device.html" devices and display devices are "hardware.html" hardware. The terms software and hardware are used as both nouns and adjectives. For example, you can say: "The problem lies in the software," meaning that there is a problem with the program or data, not with the computer itself. You can also say: "It's a software problem." The distinction between software and hardware is sometimes confusing because they are so integrally linked. Clearly, when you purchase a program, you are buying software. But to buy the software, you need to buy the disk (hardware) on which the software is recorded. Software is often divided into two categories:

systems software : Includes the "operating_system.html" operating system and all the "utility.html" utilities that enable the computer to function. applications software : Includes programs that do real work for "user.html" users. For example, "word_processor.html" word processors, "spreadsheet.html" spreadsheets, and "database_management_system_DBMS.html" database management systems fall under the category of applications software.

DOS
1) Acronym for disk operating system. The term DOS can refer to any operating system, but it is most often used as a shorthand for MS-DOS (Microsoft disk operating system). Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM, MS-DOS was the standard operating system for IBM-compatible personal computers. The initial versions of DOS were very simple and resembled another operating system called CP/M. Subsequent versions have became increasingly sophisticated as they incorporated features of minicomputer operating systems. However, DOS is still a 16-bit operating system and does not support multiple users or multitasking. For some time, it has been widely acknowledged that DOS is insufficient for modern computer applications. Microsoft Windows helped alleviate some problems, but still, it sat on top of DOS and relied on DOS for many services. Even Windows 95 sat on top of DOS. Newer operating systems, such as Windows NT and OS/2 Warp, do not rely on DOS to the same extent, although they can execute DOS-based programs. It is expected that as these operating systems gain market share, DOS will eventually disappear. In the meantime, Caldera, Inc. markets a version of DOS called DROpenDOS that extends MS-DOS in significant ways. (2) See DoS attack.

Windows
When spelled with a capital W, Windows is short for Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft Windows
A family of operating systems for personal computers. Windows dominates the personal computer world, running, by some estimates, on 90% of all personal computers. The remaining 10% are mostly Macintosh computers. Like the Macintosh operating environment, Windows provides a graphical user interface (GUI), virtual memory management, multitasking, and support for many

peripheral devices.

OS/2
An operating system for PCs developed originally by Microsoft Corporation and IBM, but sold and managed solely by IBM. OS/2 is compatible with DOS and Windows, which means that it can run all DOS and Windows programs. However, programs written specifically to run under OS/2 will not run under DOS or Windows. Since its introduction in the late 80s, OS/2 has traveled a particularly rocky road. The first releases were hampered by a number of technical and marketing problems. Then Microsoft abandoned the project in favor of its own operating system solution, Microsoft Windows. That break spawned a feud between the two computer giants that is still being played out in many arenas.

program
(n) An organized list of instructions that, when executed, causes the computer to behave in a predetermined manner. Without programs, computers are useless. A program is like a recipe. It contains a list of ingredients (called variables) and a list of directions (called statements) that tell the computer what to do with the variables. The variables can represent numeric data, text, or graphical images. There are many programming languages -- C, C++, Pascal, BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and LISP are just a few. These are all high-level languages. One can also write programs in low-level languages called assembly languages, although this is more difficult. Low-level languages are closer to the language used by a computer, while high-level languages are closer to human languages. Eventually, every program must be translated into a machine language that the computer can understand. This translation is performed by compilers, interpreters, and assemblers. When you buy software, you normally buy an executable version of a program. This means that the program is already in machine language -- it has already been compiled and assembled and is ready to execute. (v) To write programs.

programming language

A vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks. The term programming language usually refers to high-level languages, such as BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, Ada, and Pascal. Each language has a unique set of keywords (words that it understands) and a special syntax for organizing program instructions. High-level programming languages, while simple compared to human languages, are more complex than the languages the computer actually understands, called machine languages. Each different type of CPU has its own unique machine language. Lying between machine languages and high-level languages are languages called assembly languages. Assembly languages are similar to machine languages, but they are much easier to program in because they allow a programmer to substitute names for numbers. Machine languages consist of numbers only. Lying above high-level languages are languages called fourth-generation languages (usually abbreviated 4GL). 4GLs are far removed from machine languages and represent the class of computer languages closest to human languages.

Regardless of what language you use, you eventually need to convert your program into machine language so that the computer can understand it. There are two ways to do this:

compile the program interpret the program

See compile and interpreter for more information about these two methods. The question of which language is best is one that consumes a lot of time and energy among computer professionals. Every language has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, FORTRAN is a particularly good language for processing numerical data, but it does not lend itself very well to organizing large programs. Pascal is very good for writing well-structured and readable programs, but it is not as flexible as the C programming language. C++ embodies powerful object-oriented features, but it is complex and difficult to learn.

The choice of which language to use depends on the type of computer the program is to run on, what sort of program it is, and the expertise of the programmer.

data
(1) Distinct pieces of information, usually formatted in a special way. All software is divided into two general categories: data and programs. Programs are collections of instructions for manipulating data. Data can exist in a variety of forms -- as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits and bytes stored in electronic memory, or as facts stored in a person's mind. Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, a single piece of information. In practice, however, people use data as both the singular and plural form of the word. (2) The term data is often used to distinguish binary machine-readable information from textual human-readable information. For example, some applications make a distinction between data files (files that contain binary data) and text files (files that contain ASCII data). (3) In database management systems, data files are the files that store the database information, whereas other files, such as index files and data dictionaries, store administrative information, known as metadata.

dari D:\HeriBIT\Ngajar\STIE BEI AnalisEfek PM\H5&6 OS ProgramApli Error System\TM_2+3-Software_OS Contoh ALU.DOC halaman 8/30 *&**&**&*

Bit-byte-field-record
Computer data storage

KOMPUTER

computer
MACHINE A programmable machine. The two principal characteristics of a computer are:

It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner. It can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).

Modern computers are electronic and digital. The actual machinery -- wires, transistors, and circuits -is called hardware; the instructions and data are called software. All general-purpose computers require the following hardware components:

memory : Enables a computer to "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/store.html" store, at least temporarily, data and programs. mass storage "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/device.html" device : Allows a computer to permanently retain large amounts of data. Common mass storage devices include "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/disk_drive.html" disk drives and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/tape_drive.html" tape drives. input device : Usually a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/keyboard.html" keyboard and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/mouse.html" mouse, the input device is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a computer. output device : A "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/display_screen.html" display screen, "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/printer.html" printer, or other device that lets you see what the computer has accomplished. central processing unit (CPU): The heart of the computer, this is the component that actually executes instructions.

In addition to these components, many others make it possible for the basic components to work together efficiently. For example, every computer requires a bus that transmits data from one part of the computer to another.

Computers can be generally classified by size and power as follows, though there is considerable overlap:

personal computer : A small, single-"http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/user.html" user computer based on a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/microprocessor.html" microprocessor. In addition to the microprocessor, a personal computer has a keyboard for entering data, a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/monitor.html" monitor for displaying information, and a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/storage_device.html" storage device for "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/save.html" saving data. workstation : A powerful, single-user computer. A workstation is like a personal computer, but it has a more powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor. minicomputer : A "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/multi_user.html" multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds of users simultaneously. mainframe : A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously. supercomputer : An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions of instructions per second.

memory
Internal storage areas in the computer. The term memory identifies data storage that comes in the form of chips, and the word storage is used for memory that exists on tapes or disks. Moreover, the term memory is usually used as a shorthand for physical memory, which refers to the actual chips capable of holding data. Some computers also use virtual memory, which expands physical memory onto a hard disk. Every computer comes with a certain amount of physical memory, usually referred to as main memory or RAM. You can think of main memory as an array of boxes, each of which can hold a single byte of information. A computer that has 1 megabyte of memory, therefore, can hold about 1 million bytes (or characters) of information. There are several different types of memory:

RAM (random-access memory): This is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the term "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/RAM.html" RAM refers to "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/read.html" read and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/write.html" write memory; that is, you can both "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/write.html" write data into RAM and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/read.html" read data from RAM. This is in contrast to "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/ROM.html" ROM, which permits you only to read data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM is lost. ROM (read-only memory): Computers almost always contain a small amount of read-only memory that holds instructions for starting up the computer. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot be written to. PROM (programmable read-only memory): A PROM is a memory chip on which you can "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/store.html" store a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/program.html" program. But once the PROM has been used, you cannot wipe it clean and use it to store something else. Like ROMs, PROMs are non-volatile. EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory): An EPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light. EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory): An EEPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to an electrical charge.

Memory
Magnetic core memory was popular main memory for computers through the 1960s until it was completely replaced by semiconductor memory. A computer's memory can be viewed as a list of cells into which numbers can be placed or read. Each cell has a numbered "address" and can store a single number. The computer can be instructed to "put the number 123 into the cell numbered 1357" or to "add the number that is in cell 1357 to the number that is in cell 2468 and put the answer into cell 1595". The information stored in memory may represent practically anything. Letters, numbers, even computer instructions can be placed into memory with equal ease. Since the CPU does not differentiate between different types of information, it is up to the software to give significance to what the memory sees as nothing but a series of numbers.

In almost all modern computers, each memory cell is set up to store binary numbers in groups of eight bits (called a byte). Each byte is able to represent 256 different numbers; either from 0 to 255 or -128 to +127. To store larger numbers, several consecutive bytes may be used (typically, two, four or eight). When negative numbers are required, they are usually stored in two's complement notation. Other arrangements are possible, but are usually not seen outside of specialized applications or historical contexts. A computer can store any kind of information in memory as long as it can be somehow represented in numerical form. Modern computers have billions or even trillions of bytes of memory. The CPU contains a special set of memory cells called registers that can be read and written to much more rapidly than the main memory area. There are typically between two and one hundred registers depending on the type of CPU. Registers are used for the most frequently needed data items to avoid having to access main memory every time data is needed. Since data is constantly being worked on, reducing the need to access main memory (which is often slow compared to the ALU and control units) greatly increases the computer's speed. Computer main memory comes in two principal varieties: random access memory or RAM and read-only memory or ROM. RAM can be read and written to anytime the CPU commands it, but ROM is pre-loaded with data and software that never changes, so the CPU can only read from it. ROM is typically used to store the computer's initial start-up instructions. In general, the contents of RAM is erased when the power to the computer is turned off while ROM retains its data indefinitely. In a PC, the ROM contains a specialized program called the BIOS that orchestrates loading the computer's operating system from the hard disk drive into RAM whenever the computer is turned on or reset. In embedded computers, which frequently do not have disk drives, all of the software required to perform the task may be stored in ROM. Software that is stored in ROM is often called firmware because it is notionally more like hardware than software. Flash memory blurs the distinction between ROM and RAM by retaining data when turned off but being rewritable like RAM. However, flash memory is typically much slower than conventional ROM and RAM so its use is restricted to applications where high speeds are not required.[14] In more sophisticated computers there may be one or more RAM cache memories which are slower than registers but faster than main memory. Generally computers with this sort of cache are designed to move frequently needed data into the cache automatically, often without the need for any intervention on the programmer's part.

Input/output (I/O)
Hard disks are common I/O devices used with computers. I/O is the means by which a computer receives information from the outside world and sends results back. Devices that provide input or output to the computer are called peripherals. On a typical personal computer, peripherals include input devices like the keyboard and mouse, and output devices such as the display and printer. Hard disk drives, floppy disk drives and optical disc drives serve as both input and output devices. Computer networking is another form of I/O. Often, I/O devices are complex computers in their own right with their own CPU and memory. A graphics processing unit might contain fifty or more tiny computers that perform the calculations necessary to display 3D graphics[citation needed]. Modern desktop computers contain many smaller computers that assist the main CPU in performing I/O.

Multitasking While a computer may be viewed as running one gigantic program stored in its main memory, in some systems it is necessary to give the appearance of running several programs simultaneously. This is achieved by having the computer switch rapidly between running each program in turn. One means by which this is done is with a special signal called an interrupt which can periodically cause the computer to stop executing instructions where it was and do something else instead. By remembering where it was executing prior to the interrupt, the computer can return to that task later. If several programs are running "at the same time", then the interrupt generator might be causing several hundred interrupts per second, causing a program switch each time. Since modern computers typically execute instructions several orders of magnitude faster than human perception, it may appear that many programs are running at the same time even though only one is ever executing in any given instant. This method of multitasking is sometimes termed "time-sharing" since each program is allocated a "slice" of time in turn. Before the era of cheap computers, the principle use for multitasking was to allow many people to share the same computer. Seemingly, multitasking would cause a computer that is switching between several programs to run more slowly - in direct proportion to the number of programs it is running. However, most programs spend much of their time waiting for slow input/output devices to complete their tasks. If a program is waiting for the user to click on the mouse or press a key on the keyboard, then it will not take a "time slice" until the event it is waiting for has occurred. This frees up time for other programs to execute so that many programs may be run at the same time without unacceptable speed loss.

Multiprocessing Cray designed many supercomputers that used multiprocessing heavily. Some computers may divide their work between one or more separate CPUs, creating a multiprocessing configuration. Traditionally, this technique was utilized only in large and powerful computers such as supercomputers, mainframe computers and servers. However, multiprocessor and multi-core (multiple CPUs on a single integrated circuit) personal and laptop computers have become widely available and are beginning to see increased usage in lower-end markets as a result. Supercomputers in particular often have highly unique architectures that differ significantly from the basic stored-program architecture and from general purpose computers.[15] They often feature thousands of CPUs, customized high-speed interconnects, and specialized computing hardware. Such designs tend to be useful only for specialized tasks due to the large scale of program organization required to successfully utilize most of a the available resources at once. Supercomputers usually see usage in large-scale simulation, graphics rendering, and cryptography applications, as well as with other so-called "embarrassingly parallel" tasks.

Networking and the Internet

Visualization of a portion of the routes on the Internet. Computers have been used to coordinate information in multiple locations since the 1950s. The

U.S. military's SAGE system was the first large-scale example of such a system, which led to a number of special-purpose commercial systems like Sabre. In the 1970s, computer engineers at research institutions throughout the United States began to link their computers together using telecommunications technology. This effort was funded by ARPA (now DARPA), and the computer network that it produced was called the ARPANET. The technologies that made the Arpanet possible spread and evolved. In time, the network spread beyond academic and military institutions and became known as the Internet. The emergence of networking involved a redefinition of the nature and boundaries of the computer. Computer operating systems and applications were modified to include the ability to define and access the resources of other computers on the network, such as peripheral devices, stored information, and the like, as extensions of the resources of an individual computer. Initially these facilities were available primarily to people working in high-tech environments, but in the 1990s the spread of applications like e-mail and the World Wide Web, combined with the development of cheap, fast networking technologies like Ethernet and ADSL saw computer networking become almost ubiquitous. In fact, the number of computers that are networked is growing phenomenally. A very large proportion of personal computers regularly connect to the Internet to communicate and receive information. "Wireless" networking, often utilizing mobile phone networks, has meant networking is becoming increasingly ubiquitous even in mobile computing environments.

systems software

Refers to the operating system and all utility programs that manage computer resources at a low level. Software is generally divided into systems software and applications software. Applications software comprises programs designed for an end user, such as word processors, database systems, and spreadsheet programs. Systems software includes compilers, loaders, linkers, and debuggers.

operating system

The most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It is like a traffic cop -- it makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system.

Operating systems can be classified as follows:

multi-user : Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users. multiprocessing : "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/support.htm" Supports running a program on more than one "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/CPU.htm" CPU. multitasking : Allows more than one program to run concurrently. multithreading : Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently. real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such as "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/DOS.htm" DOS and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/UNIX.htm" UNIX, are not real-time.

Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run. The application programs must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. Your choice of operating system, therefore, determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs, the most popular operating systems are DOS, OS/2, and Windows, but others are available, such as Linux. As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through a set of commands. For example, the DOS operating system contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line interpreter. Graphical user interfaces allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking at objects that appear on the screen.

platform
The underlying hardware or software for a system. For example, the platform might be an Intel 80486 processor running DOS Version 6.0. The platform could also be UNIX machines on an Ethernet network. The platform defines a standard around which a system can be developed. Once the platform has been defined, software developers can produce appropriate software and managers can purchase appropriate hardware and applications. The term is often used as a synonym of operating system. The term cross-platform refers to applications, formats, or devices that work on different platforms. For example, a cross-platform programming "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/environment.html" environment enables a programmer to develop programs for many platforms at once.

command
An instruction to a computer or device to perform a specific task. Commands come in different forms. They can be: special words (keywords) that a program understands.

function keys choices in a menu buttons or other graphical "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/object.html" objects on your "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/display_screen.html" screen

*&*Every program that interacts with people responds to a specific set of commands. The set of commands and the syntax for entering them is called the user interface and varies from one

program to another. The DOS operating system makes a distinction between internal and external commands. Internal commands are commands, such as COPY and DIR, that can be handled by the COMMAND.COM program. External commands include the names of all other COM files, as well as EXE and BAT files. Another word for command is directive.

function keys
Special keys on the keyboard that have different meanings depending on which program is running. Function keys are normally labeled F1 to F10 or F12 (or F15 on Macintoshes). On older PCs, for example, 10 function keys are grouped on the left side of the keyboard; new PCs have the enhanced keyboard, with twelve function keys aligned along the top of the keyboard.

graphical user interface (GUI)

Abbreviated GUI (pronounced GOO-ee). A program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages. On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command language. Graphical user interfaces, such as Microsoft Windows and the one used by the Apple Macintosh, feature the following basic components:

pointer : A symbol that appears on the "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/display_screen.html" display screen and that you move to "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/select.html" select "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/object.html" objects and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/command.html" commands. Usually, the pointer appears as a small angled arrow. "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/text.html" Text processing "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/application.html" applications, however, use an "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/I_beam_pointer.html" I-beam pointer that is shaped like a capital I. pointing device : A "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/device.html" device, such as a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/mouse.html" mouse or "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/trackball.html" trackball, that enables you to select

objects on the display screen. icons : Small pictures that represent commands, "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/file.html" files, or "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/window.html" windows. By moving the pointer to the icon and pressing a "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/button.html" mouse button, you can "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/execute.html" execute a command or "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/convert.html" convert the icon into a window. You can also move the icons around the display screen as if they were real objects on your desk. desktop : The area on the display screen where icons are grouped is often referred to as the desktop because the icons are intended to represent real objects on a real desktop. windows: You can divide the screen into different areas. In each window, you can run a different program or display a different file. You can move windows around the display screen, and change their shape and size at will. menus : Most graphical user interfaces let you execute commands by selecting a choice from a menu.

The first graphical user interface was designed by Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s and the emergence of the Apple Macintosh that graphical user interfaces became popular. One reason for their slow acceptance was the fact that they require considerable CPU power and a high-quality monitor, which until recently were prohibitively expensive. In addition to their visual components, graphical user interfaces also make it easier to move data from one application to another. A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. Because the formats are well-defined, different programs that run under a common GUI can share data. This makes it possible, for example, to copy a graph created by a spreadsheet program into a document created by a word processor. Many DOS programs include some features of GUIs, such as menus, but are not graphics based. Such interfaces are sometimes called graphical character-based user interfaces to distinguish them from true

pointer

Please wait

Please wait

(1) In graphical user interfaces, a pointer is a small arrow or other symbol on the display screen that moves as you move the mouse. You can select commands and options by positioning the tip of the arrow over the desired choice and clicking a mouse button. Many text processing programs use an I-beam pointer. Pointers are often referred to as mouse pointers. (2) A variable that contains the address of a location in memory. The location is the starting point of an allocated object, such as an object or value type, or the element of an array.

Icon

Desktop
(1) In graphical user interfaces, a desktop is the metaphor used to portray file systems. Such a desktop consists of pictures, called icons, that show cabinets, files, folders, and various types of documents (that is, letters, reports, pictures). You can arrange the icons on the electronic desktop just as you can arrange real objects on a real desktop -- moving them around, putting one on top of another, reshuffling them, and throwing them away. (2) Short for desktop model computer. Norton Utilities 6.01 (1991). Note the graphical widgets and the arrow pointer in Text mode.

Tampilan proyeksi sinar pada tahun 1960s developed the On-Line System (NLS), On-Line System (1968). MOUSE BELUM DITEMUKAN.

Tampilan from SRI to Xerox PARC in the early 1970s. Xerox 8010 ('Star') system in 1981

Beginning in 1979, at Apple Computer. Macintosh Desktop (1984).

the Apple IIgs was launched, The Apple GS/OS desktop (1986).

The Amiga computer was launched by Commodore in 1985

Digital Research (DRI) created the Graphical Environment Manager, GEM on the Atari ST (1985).

Microsoft modeled the first version of Windows, released in 1985, on the GUI of the Mac OS[citation needed]. Windows 1.0. Windows 1.01 (1985).

Windows 3.11 (1993)

Windows 95 and "a computer in every home" (the 32-bit versions) Windows 95 desktop (1995).

A recent trend in desktop technology is the inclusion of 3D effects in window management, based in experimental research in User Interface Design. Compiz running on Fedora Core 6 with AIGLX.

file
(n.) A collection of data or information that has a name, called the filename. Almost all information stored in a computer must be in a file. There are many different types of files: data files, text files , program files, directory files, and so on. Different types of files store different types of information. For example, program files store programs, whereas text files store text.

filename
The name of a file. All files have names. Different operating systems impose different restrictions on filenames. Most operating systems, for example, prohibit the use of certain characters in a filename and impose a limit on the length of a filename. In addition, many systems, including DOS and UNIX, allow a filename extension that consists of one or more characters following the proper filename. The filename extension usually indicates what type of file it is.

Within a single directory, filenames must be unique. However, two files in different directories may have the same name. Some operating systems, such as UNIX and the Macintosh operating system, allow a file to have more than one name, called an alias. (In Unix, aliases are called links or symbolic links.) See the Data Formats and Their File Extensions page in the quick reference section of Webopedia for a list of file extensions and the programs they coincide with.

name
A sequence of one or more characters that uniquely identifies a file, variable, account, or other entity. Computer systems impose various rules about naming objects. For example, there is often a limit to the number of characters you can use, and not all characters are allowed. Names are sometimes called identifiers.

character
In computer software, any symbol that requires one byte of storage. This includes all the ASCII and extended ASCII characters, including the space character. In character-based software, everything that appears on the screen, including graphics symbols, is considered to be a character. In graphicsbased applications, the term character is generally reserved for letters, numbers, and punctuation.

ASCII
Acronym for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Pronounced ask-ee, ASCII is a code for representing English characters as numbers, with each letter assigned a number from 0 to 127. For example, the ASCII code for uppercase M is 77. Most computers use ASCII codes to represent text, which makes it possible to transfer data from one computer to another. For a list of commonly used characters and their ASCII equivalents, refer to the ASCII page in the Quick Reference section. Text files "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/store.html" stored in ASCII "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/format.html" format are sometimes called "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ASCII_file.html" ASCII files. "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/editor.html" Text editors and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/word_processor.html" word processors are usually capable of storing data in ASCII format, although ASCII format is not always the "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/default.html" default "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/storage.html" storage format. Most data "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/file.html" files, particularly if they contain numeric data, are not stored in ASCII format. Executable "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/program.html" programs are never stored in ASCII format. The standard ASCII character set uses just 7 bits for each character. There are several larger character sets that use 8 bits, which gives them 128 additional characters. The extra characters are used to represent non-English characters, graphics symbols, and mathematical symbols. Several companies and organizations have proposed extensions for these 128 characters. The DOS operating system uses a superset of ASCII called extended ASCII or high ASCII. A more universal standard is the ISO Latin 1 set of characters, which is used by many operating systems, as well as Web browsers. Another set of codes that is used on large IBM computers is EBCDIC.

Characters and ASCII Equivalents

Here are some of the more commonly used characters and their ASCII equivalents. To use a character just copy and paste the ascii symbol into the formatting of your Web page at the spot where you want the character to show up. Description space exclamation mark (double) quotation mark number sign dollar sign percent sign ampersand apostrophe open parenthesis close parenthesis asterisk plus sign comma minus sign/hyphen division sign period, decimal point slash, virgule, solidus digit 0 digit 1 digit 2 digit 3 digit 4 digit 5 digit 6 digit 7 digit 8 digit 9 colon semicolon less-than sign equal sign greater-than sign Char ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > HEX 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D F7 2E 2F 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E ASCII 032; 033; 034; 035; 036; 037; 038; 039; 040; 041; 042; 043; 044; 045; 247; 046; 047; 048; 049; 050; 051; 052; 053; 054; 055; 056; 057; 058; 059; 060; 061; 062;

question mark commercial "at" sign capital A capital B capital C capital D capital E capital F capital G capital H capital I capital J capital K capital L capital M capital N capital O capital P capital Q capital R capital S capital T capital U capital V capital W capital X capital Y capital Z left square bracket backslash, reverse solidus right square bracket spacing circumflex accent spacing underscore, low line spacing grave accent small a small b small c small d small e small f small g

? @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` a b c d e f g

3F 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

063; 064; 065; 066; 067; 068; 069; 070; 071; 072; 073; 074; 075; 076; 077; 078; 079; 080; 081; 082; 083; 084; 085; 086; 087; 088; 089; 090; 091; 092; 093; 094; 095; 096; 097; 098; 099; 100; 101; 102; 103;

small h small i small j small k small l small m small n small o small p small q small r small s small t small u small v small w small x small y small z left brace (curly bracket) vertical bar right brace (curly bracket) tilde accent delete letter modifying circumflex per thousand (mille) sign capital S caron or hacek left single angle quote mark left single quotation mark right single quote mark left double quotation mark right double quote mark round filled bullet en dash em dash small spacing tilde accent trademark sign inverted exclamation mark cent sign pound sterling sign
yen sign

h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ ^?

68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F 88 89 8A 8B 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 A1 A2 A3
A5

104; 105; 106; 107; 108; 109; 110; 111; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 120; 121; 122; 123; 124; 125; 126; 127; 136; 137; 138; 139; 145; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150; 151; 152; 153; 161; 162; 163;
165;

broken vertical bar section sign copyright sign logical not sign soft hyphen registered trademark sign degree sign plus-or-minus sign micro sign paragraph sign, pilcrow sign inverted question mark capital A grave capital A acute capital A circumflex capital A tilde capital A dieresis or umlaut capital A ring capital AE ligature capital C cedilla capital E grave capital E acute capital E circumflex capital E dieresis or umlaut capital I grave capital I acute capital I circumflex capital I dieresis or umlaut capital N tilde small sharp s, sz ligature small a grave small a acute small a circumflex small a tilde small a dieresis or umlaut small a ring small ae ligature small c cedilla small e grave small e acute small e circumflex

A6 A7 A9 AC AD AE B0 B1 B5 B6 BF C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 CA CB CC CD CE CF D1 DF E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 EA

166; 167; 169; 172; 173; 174; 176; 177; 181; 182; 191; 192; 193; 194; 195; 196; 197; 198; 199; 200; 201; 202; 203; 204; 205; 206; 207; 209; 223; 224; 225; 226; 227; 228; 229; 230; 231; 232; 233; 234;

small e dieresis or umlaut small n tilde

EB F1

235; 241;

ASCII

ISO Latin 1
Officially named ISO-8859-1, a standard character set developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO Latin-1 is a superset of the ASCII character set and is very similar to the ANSI character set used in Windows, though the two are not identical. Both the HTTP and HTML protocols used on the World Wide Web are based on ISO Latin-1. This means that to represent non-ASCII characters on a Web page, you need to use the corresponding ISO Latin-1 code. DECIMAL, ASCII, BINER .. HEXA

ASCII
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) atau Kode Standar Amerika untuk Pertukaran Informasi merupakan suatu standar internasional dalam kode huruf dan simbol seperti Hex dan Unicode tetapi ASCII lebih bersifat universal, contohnya 124 adalah untuk karakter "|". Ia selalu digunakan oleh komputer dan alat komunikasi lain untuk menunjukkan teks. Kode ASCII sebenarnya memiliki komposisi bilangan biner sebanyak 8 bit. Dimulai dari 0000 0000 hingga 1111 1111. Total kombinasi yang dihasilkan sebanyak 256, dimulai dari kode 0 hingga 255 dalam sistem bilangan Desimal.

Tabel Karakter ASCII

Nilai ANSI ASCII (desimal) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Karakter NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK

Nilai Unicode (heksadesimal) 0000 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 0006

Keterangan Null (tidak tampak) Start of heading (tidak tampak) Start of text (tidak tampak) End of text (tidak tampak) End of transmission (tidak tampak) Enquiry (tidak tampak) Acknowledge (tidak tampak)

BEL BS HT LF VT FF CR SO SI DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US SP ! " # $ % & ( ) * + , .

0007 0008 0009 000A 000B 000C 000D 000E 000F 0010 0011 0012 0013 0014 0015 0016 0017 0018 0019 001A 001B 001C 001D 001E 001F 0020 0021 0022 0023 0024 0025 0026 0027 0028 0029 002A 002B 002C 002D 002E

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

Bell (tidak tampak) Menghapus satu karakter di belakang kursor (Backspace) Horizontal tabulation Pergantian baris (Line feed) Tabulasi vertikal Pergantian baris (Form feed) Pergantian baris (carriage return) Shift out (tidak tampak) Shift in (tidak tampak) Data link escape (tidak tampak) Device control 1 (tidak tampak) Device control 2 (tidak tampak) Device control 3 (tidak tampak) Device control 4 (tidak tampak) Negative acknowledge (tidak tampak) Synchronous idle (tidak tampak) End of transmission block (tidak tampak) Cancel (tidak tampak) End of medium (tidak tampak) Substitute (tidak tampak) Escape (tidak tampak) File separator Group separator Record separator Unit separator Spasi Tanda seru (exclamation) Tanda kutip dua Tanda pagar (kres) Tanda mata uang dolar Tanda persen Karakter ampersand (&) Karakter Apostrof Tanda kurung buka Tanda kurung tutup Karakter asterisk (bintang) Tanda tambah (plus) Karakter koma Karakter hyphen (strip) Tanda titik

/ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V

002F 0030 0031 0032 0033 0034 0035 0036 0037 0038 0039 003A 003B 003C 003D 003E 003F 0040 0041 0042 0043 0044 0045 0046 0047 0048 0049 004A 004B 004C 004D 004E 004F 0050 0051 0052 0053 0054 0055 0056

47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86

Garis miring (slash) Angka nol Angka satu Angka dua Angka tiga Angka empat Angka lima Angka enam Angka tujuh Angka delapan Angka sembilan Tanda titik dua Tanda titik koma Tanda lebih kecil Tanda sama dengan Tanda lebih besar Tanda tanya A keong (@) Huruf latin A kapital Huruf latin B kapital Huruf latin C kapital Huruf latin D kapital Huruf latin E kapital Huruf latin F kapital Huruf latin G kapital Huruf latin H kapital Huruf latin I kapital Huruf latin J kapital Huruf latin K kapital Huruf latin L kapital Huruf latin M kapital Huruf latin N kapital Huruf latin O kapital Huruf latin P kapital Huruf latin Q kapital Huruf latin R kapital Huruf latin S kapital Huruf latin T kapital Huruf latin U kapital Huruf latin V kapital

W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { } ~

0057 0058 0059 005A 005B 005C 005D 005E 005F 0060 0061 0062 0063 0064 0065 0066 0067 0068 0069 006A 006B 006C 006D 006E 006F 0070 0071 0072 0073 0074 0075 0076 0077 0078 0079 007A 007B 007C 007D 007E

87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

Huruf latin W kapital Huruf latin X kapital Huruf latin Y kapital Huruf latin Z kapital Kurung siku kiri Garis miring terbalik (backslash) Kurung sikur kanan Tanda pangkat Garis bawah (underscore) Tanda petik satu Huruf latin a kecil Huruf latin b kecil Huruf latin c kecil Huruf latin d kecil Huruf latin e kecil Huruf latin f kecil f Huruf latin g kecil Huruf latin h kecil Huruf latin i kecil Huruf latin j kecil Huruf latin k kecil Huruf latin l kecil Huruf latin m kecil Huruf latin n kecil Huruf latin o kecil Huruf latin p kecil Huruf latin q kecil Huruf latin r kecil Huruf latin s kecil Huruf latin t kecil Huruf latin u kecil Huruf latin v kecil Huruf latin w kecil Huruf latin x kecil Huruf latin y kecil Huruf latin z kecil Kurung kurawal buka Garis vertikal (pipa) Kurung kurawal tutup Karakter gelombang (tilde)

DEL

IND NEL SSA ESA

PLD PLU SS2 SS3 DCS PU1 PU2 STS CCH MW

CSI ST OSC PM APC

007F 0080 0081 0082 0083 0084 0085 0086 0087 0088 0089 008A 008B 008C 008D 008E 008F 0090 0091 0092 0093 0094 0095 0096 0097 0098 0099 009A 009B 009C 009D 009E 009F 00A0 00A1 00A2 00A3 00A4 00A5 00A6

127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 158 160 161 162 163 164 165 166

Delete Dicadangkan Dicadangkan Dicadangkan Dicadangkan Index Next line Start of selected area End of selected area Character tabulation set Character tabulation with justification Line tabulation set Partial line down Partial line up Reverse line feed Single shift two Single shift three Device control string Private use one Private use two Set transmit state Cancel character Message waiting Start of guarded area End of guarded area Start of string Dicadangkan Single character introducer Control sequence introducer String terminator Operating system command Privacy message Application program command Spasi yang bukan pemisah kata Tanda seru terbalik Tanda sen (Cent) Tanda Poundsterling Tanda mata uang (Currency) Tanda Yen Garis tegak putus-putus (broken bar)

00A7 00A8 00A9 00AA 00AB 00AC 00AD 00AE 00AF 00B0 00B1 00B2 00B3 00B4 00B5 00B6 00B7

167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183

Section sign Diaeresis Tanda hak cipta (Copyright) Feminine ordinal indicator Left-pointing double angle quotation mark Not sign Tanda strip (hyphen) Tanda merk terdaftar Macron Tanda derajat Tanda kurang lebih (plus-minus) Tanda kuadrat (pangkat dua) Tanda kubik (pangkat tiga) Acute accent Micro sign Pilcrow sign Middle dot

file management system

Also referred to as simply a file system or filesystem. The system that an operating system or program uses to organize and keep track of files. For example, a hierarchical file system is one that uses directories to organize files into a tree structure. Although the operating system provides its own file management system, you can buy separate file management systems. These systems interact smoothly with the operating system but provide more features, such as improved backup procedures and stricter file protection.

application

A program or group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software and applications software. Systems software consists of low-level programs that interact with the computer at a very basic level. This includes operating systems, compilers, and utilities for managing computer resources. In contrast, applications software (also called end-user programs) includes database programs, word processors, and spreadsheets. Figuratively speaking, applications software sits on top of systems software because it is unable to run without the operating system and system utilities.

Software
Software refers to parts of the computer which do not have a material form, such as programs, data, protocols, etc. When software is stored in hardware that cannot easily be modified (such as BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible), it is sometimes called "firmware" to indicate that it falls into an uncertain area somewhere between hardware and software. Computer software UNIX System V, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS), IRIX, List of Unix/BSD BSD operating systems GNU/Linux List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux distributions Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows CE Operating system DOS 86-DOS (QDOS), PC-DOS, MS-DOS, FreeDOS Mac OS Mac OS classic, Mac OS X Embedded and realList of embedded operating systems time Experimental Amoeba, Oberon/Bluebottle, Plan 9 from Bell Labs Multimedia DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL Library Programming C standard library, Standard template library library Protocol TCP/IP, Kermit, FTP, HTTP, SMTP Data File format HTML, XML, JPEG, MPEG, PNG Graphical user Microsoft Windows, GNOME, KDE, QNX Photon, CDE, GEM User interface (WIMP) interface Text user interface Command line interface, shells Word processing, Desktop publishing, Presentation program, Office suite Database management system, Scheduling & Time management, Spreadsheet, Accounting software Browser, E-mail client, Web server, Mail transfer agent, Instant Internet Access messaging Design and Computer-aided design, Computer-aided manufacturing, Plant manufacturing management, Robotic manufacturing, Supply chain management Raster graphics editor, Vector graphics editor, 3D modeler, Graphics Animation editor, 3D computer graphics, Video editing, Image processing Application Digital audio editor, Audio playback, Mixing, Audio synthesis, Audio Computer music Compiler, Assembler, Interpreter, Debugger, Text Editor, Software Integrated development environment, Performance analysis, Engineering Revision control, Software configuration management Educational Edutainment, Educational game, Serious game, Flight simulator Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Simulation, First-person shooter, Games Platform, Massively multiplayer, Interactive fiction Artificial intelligence, Antivirus software, Malware scanner, Misc Installer/Package management systems, File manager

LIST OF ITEM LIST OF SOFTWARE LIST software komputer computer software

Contents 1 Technologies and practices o 1.1 Software engineering topics 1.1.1 Programming languages 1.1.2 Programming paradigm, based on a programming language technology 1.1.3 Databases 1.1.4 Graphical user interfaces 1.1.5 Programming tools 1.1.6 Libraries 1.1.7 Design languages 1.1.8 Patterns, document many common programming and project management techniques 1.1.9 Processes and methodologies 1.1.10 Platforms 1.1.11 Other Practices 1.1.12 Other tools o 1.2 Computer science topics o 1.3 Mathematics topics o 1.4 Life cycle phases o 1.5 Deliverables o 1.6 Business roles o 1.7 Management topics o 1.8 Business topics 2 Community topics o 2.1 Pioneers o 2.2 Notable publications o 2.3 Professional topics 3 Influence on society o 3.1 Applications o 3.2 Disasters 4 Other terms o 4.1 Related fields o 4.2 Different languages o 4.3 Miscellaneous

Programming languages List of programming languages Scripting language Assembly programming language Ada APL B heet COBOL Pascal C C++ C# Clojure Common Lisp D ColdFusion Delphi Dylan Eiffel Erlang Fortran F# Groovy Java Lasso ML OCaml Perl PHP PL/SQL Prolog Haskell Python Ruby Scala Scheme Smalltalk Tcl T-SQL Visual Basic Visual Basic .NET Verilog VHDL

Programming paradigm, based on a programming language technology Aspect-oriented programming Functional decomposition Object-oriented programming Post-object programming Structured programming Rule-based programming Databases Hierarchical Object Relational SQL/XML SQL Graphical user interfaces wxWidgets Qt toolkit GTK+ GIMP Toolkit FLTK Programming tools Configuration management and source code management o CVS o Subversion o Git o Mercurial o RCS o GNU Arch o LibreSource Synchronizer Build tools o Make o Rake o Cabal o Ant o Nant o Maven o Final Builder o Visual Build Pro Editors o IDEs o text editors o word processors Parser creation tools o Yacc/Bison

Programming languages Programming languages provide various ways of specifying programs for computers to run. Unlike natural languages, programming languages are designed to permit no ambiguity and to be concise. They are purely written languages and are often difficult to read aloud. They are generally either translated into machine language by a compiler or an assembler before being run, or translated directly at run time by an interpreter. Sometimes programs are executed by a hybrid method of the two techniques. There are thousands of different programming languagessome intended to be general purpose, others useful only for highly specialized applications. Programming Languages Timeline of programming languages, Categorical list of programming languages, Generational list of programming languages, Alphabetical list of programming languages, Non-English-based programming languages

Lists of programming languages Commonly used ARM, MIPS, x86 Assembly languages Commonly used BASIC, C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, Java, Lisp, Pascal High level languages Commonly used Bourne script, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl Scripting languages

Professions and organizations

As the use of computers has spread throughout society, there are an increasing number of careers involving computers. Following the theme of hardware, software and firmware, the brains of people who work in the industry are sometimes known irreverently as wetware or "meatware". Computer-related professions Electrical engineering, Electronics engineering, Computer engineering, Telecommunications engineering, Optical engineering, Nanoscale engineering Computer science, Human-computer interaction, Information technology, Software engineering, Scientific computing, Web design, Desktop publishing

Hardwarerelated Softwarerelated

The need for computers to work well together and to be able to exchange information has spawned the need for many standards organizations, clubs and societies of both a formal and informal nature. Organizations ANSI, IEC, IEEE, IETF, ISO, W3C ACM, ACM Special Interest Groups, IET, IFIP Free Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Apache Software Foundation

Standards groups Professional Societies Free/Open source software groups

database

(1) Often abbreviated DB. A collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data. You can think of a database as an electronic filing system. Traditional databases are organized by fields, records, and files. A field is a single piece of information; a record is one complete set of fields; and a file is a collection of records. For example, a telephone book is analogous to a file. It contains a list of records, each of which consists of three fields: name, address, and telephone number.

An alternative concept in database design is known as Hypertext. In a Hypertext database, any object, whether it be a piece of text, a picture, or a film, can be linked to any other object. Hypertext databases are particularly useful for organizing large amounts of disparate information, but they are not designed for numerical analysis. To access information from a database, you need a database management system (DBMS). This is a collection of programs that enables you to enter, organize, and select data in a database. (2) Increasingly, the term database is used as shorthand for database management system.

database management system

A collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database. There are many different types of DBMSs, ranging from small systems that run on personal computers to huge systems that run on mainframes. The following are examples of database applications: computerized library systems

automated teller machines flight reservation systems computerized parts inventory systems

From a technical standpoint, DBMSs can differ widely. The terms relational, network, flat, and hierarchical all refer to the way a DBMS organizes information internally. The internal organization can affect how quickly and flexibly you can extract information. Requests for information from a database are made in the form of a query, which is a stylized question. For example, the query SELECT ALL WHERE NAME = "SMITH" AND AGE > 35 requests all records in which the NAME field is SMITH and the AGE field is greater than 35. The set of rules for constructing queries is known as a query language. Different DBMSs support different query languages, although there is a semi-standardized query language called SQL (structured query language). Sophisticated languages for managing database systems are called fourth-generation languages, or 4GLs for short. The information from a database can be presented in a variety of formats. Most DBMSs include a report writer program that enables you to output data in the form of a report. Many DBMSs also include a graphics component that enables you to output information in the form of graphs and

charts.

word processor
A program or computer that enables you to perform word processing functions. As a TYPEWRITER AND SO

word processing
Using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To perform word processing, you need a computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer. A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer. The great advantage of word processing over using a typewriter is that you can make changes without retyping the entire document. If you make a typing mistake, you simply back up the cursor and correct your mistake. If you want to delete a paragraph, you simply remove it, without leaving a trace. It is equally easy to insert a word, sentence, or paragraph in the middle of a document. Word processors also make it easy to move sections of text from one place to another within a document, or between documents. When you have made all the changes you want, you can send the file to a printer to get a hardcopy. Word processors vary considerably, but all word processors support the following basic features:

insert text: Allows you to insert text anywhere in the document. delete text: Allows you to erase characters, words, lines, or pages as easily as you can cross them out on paper. cut and "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/paste.html" paste : Allows you to remove ("http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/cut.html" cut) a section of text from one place in a document and insert ("http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/paste.html" paste) it somewhere else. copy : Allows you to duplicate a section of text. page size and margins : Allows you to define various page sizes and margins, and the word processor will automatically readjust the text so that it fits. search and replace : Allows you to direct the word processor to search for a particular word or phrase. You can also direct the word processor to "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/replace.html" replace one group of characters with another everywhere that the first group appears. word wrap : The word processor automatically moves to the next line when you have filled one line with text, and it will readjust text if you change the margins. print: Allows you to send a document to a printer to get hardcopy.

Word processors that support only these features (and maybe a few others) are called text editors. Most word processors, however, support additional features that enable you to manipulate and format documents in more sophisticated ways. These more advanced word processors are sometimes called full-featured word processors. Full-featured word processors usually support the following features:

file management : Many word processors contain file management capabilities that allow you to create, delete, move, and search for files. font specifications: Allows you to change fonts within a document. For example, you can specify "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/boldface.html" bold, italics, and underlining. Most word processors also let you change the font size and even the "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/typeface.html" typeface. footnotes and cross-references: Automates the numbering and placement of footnotes and

enables you to easily cross-reference other sections of the document. graphics graphics: Allows you to embed illustrations and graphs into a document. Some word processors let you create the illustrations within the word processor; others let you insert an illustration produced by a different program. headers , "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/footer.html" footers , and page numbering: Allows you to specify customized headers and footers that the word processor will put at the top and bottom of every page. The word processor automatically keeps track of page numbers so that the correct number appears on each page. layout : Allows you to specify different margins within a single document and to specify various methods for indenting paragraphs. macros : A "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/macro.html" macro is a character or word that represents a series of "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/keystroke.html" keystrokes. The keystrokes can represent text or commands. The ability to define macros allows you to save yourself a lot of time by replacing common combinations of keystrokes. merges: Allows you to merge text from one file into another file. This is particularly useful for generating many files that have the same format but different data. Generating mailing labels is the classic example of using merges. spell checker : A "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/utility.html" utility that allows you to check the spelling of words. It will "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/highlight.html" highlight any words that it does not recognize. tables of contents and indexes: Allows you to automatically create a table of contents and index based on special codes that you insert in the document. thesaurus: A built-in thesaurus that allows you to search for synonyms without leaving the word processor. windows : Allows you to edit two or more documents at the same time. Each document appears in a separate "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/window.html" window. This is particularly valuable when working on a large project that consists of several different files. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): With "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/WYSIWYG.html" WYSIWYG, a document appears on the display screen exactly as it will look when printed.

The line dividing word processors from desktop publishing systems is constantly shifting. In general, though, desktop publishing applications support finer control over layout, and more support for full-color documents.

spreadsheet
A table of values arranged in rows and columns. Each value can have a predefined relationship to the other values. If you change one value, therefore, you may need to change other values as well. Spreadsheet applications (sometimes referred to simply as spreadsheets) are computer programs that let you create and manipulate spreadsheets electronically. In a spreadsheet application, each value sits in a cell. You can define what type of data is in each cell and how different cells depend on one another. The relationships between cells are called formulas, and the names of the cells are called labels. Once you have defined the cells and the formulas for linking them together, you can enter your data. You can then modify selected values to see how all the other values change accordingly. This enables you to study various what-if scenarios. A simple example of a useful spreadsheet application is one that calculates mortgage payments for a house. You would define five cells:

1. total cost of the house 2. down payment 3. mortgage rate 4. mortgage term 5. monthly payment

Once you had defined how these cells depend on one another, you could enter numbers and play with various possibilities. For example, keeping all the other values the same, you could see how different mortgage rates would affect your monthly payments. There are a number of spreadsheet applications on the market, Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel being among the most famous. The more powerful spreadsheet applications support graphics features that enable you to produce charts and graphs from the data. Most spreadsheet applications are multidimensional, meaning that you can link one spreadsheet to another. A three-dimensional spreadsheet, for example, is like a stack of spreadsheets all connected by formulas. A change made in one spreadsheet automatically affects other spreadsheets.

N-Tier Application Architecture

N-tier application architecture provides a model for developers to create a flexible and reusable application. By breaking up an application into tiers, developers only have to modify or add a specific layer, rather than have to rewrite the enitire application over, if they decide to change technologies or scale up. In the term "N-tier," "N" implies any number -- like 2-tier, or 4-tier; basically, any number of distinct tiers used in your architecture. Application architectures are part of Layer 7 of the OSI model.

For an introduction to application architecture, see Robert Chartier's article, "Application Architecture: An N-Tier Approach," on 15Seconds.

personal computer
A small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user. In price, personal computers range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. All are based on the microprocessor technology that enables manufacturers to put an entire CPU on one chip. Businesses use personal computers for word processing, accounting, desktop publishing, and for running spreadsheet and database management applications. At home, the most popular use for personal computers is for playing games. Personal computers first appeared in the late 1970s. One of the first and most popular personal computers was the Apple II, introduced in 1977 by Apple Computer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, new models and competing operating systems seemed to appear daily. Then, in 1981, IBM entered the fray with its first personal computer, known as the IBM PC. The IBM PC quickly became the personal computer of choice, and most other personal computer manufacturers fell by the wayside. One of the few companies to survive IBM's onslaught was Apple Computer, which remains a major player in the personal computer marketplace. Other companies adjusted to IBM's dominance by building IBM clones, computers that were internally almost the same as the IBM PC, but that cost less. Because IBM clones used the same microprocessors as IBM PCs, they were capable of running the same software. Over the years, IBM has lost much of its influence in directing the evolution of PCs. Many of its innovations, such as the MCA expansion bus and the OS/2 operating system, have not been accepted by the industry or the marketplace. Today, the world of personal computers is basically divided between Apple Macintoshes and PCs. The principal characteristics of personal computers are that they are single-user systems and are based on microprocessors. However, although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, it is common to link them together to form a network. In terms of power, there is great variety. At the high end, the distinction between personal computers and workstations has faded. High-end models of the Macintosh and PC offer the same computing power and graphics capability as low-end workstations by Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and DEC.

utility
A program that performs a very specific task, usually related to managing system resources. Operating systems contain a number of utilities for managing disk drives, printers, and other devices. Utilities differ from applications mostly in terms of size, complexity and function. For example, word processors, spreadsheet programs, and database applications are considered applications because they are large programs that perform a variety of functions not directly related to managing computer resources. Utilities are sometimes installed as

resource
(1) Generally, any item that can be used. Devices such as printers and disk drives are resources, as is memory. (2) In many operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh operating system, the term resource refers specifically to data or routines that are available to programs. These are also called system resources.

device
Any machine or component that attaches to a computer. Examples of devices include disk drives, printers, mice, and modems. These particular devices fall into the category of peripheral devices because they are separate from the main computer. Most devices, whether peripheral or not, require a program called a device driver that acts as a translator, converting general commands from an application into specific commands that the device understands.

disk drive
A machine that reads data from and writes data onto a disk. A disk drive rotates the disk very fast and has one or more heads that read and write data. There are different types of disk drives for different types of disks. For example, a hard disk drive (HDD) reads and writes hard disks, and a floppy drive (FDD) accesses floppy disks. A magnetic disk drive reads magnetic disks, and an optical drive reads optical disks. Disk drives can be either internal (housed within the computer) or external (housed in a separate box that connects to the computer).

floppy drive
Short for floppy disk drive (FDD), a disk drive that can read and write to floppy disks.

hard disk drive

The mechanism that reads and writes data on a hard disk. Hard disk drives (HDDs) for PCs generally have seek times of about 12 milliseconds or less. Many disk drives improve their performance through a technique called caching. There are several interface standards for passing data between a hard disk and a computer. The most common are IDE and SCSI.

Hard disk drives are sometimes called Winchester drives, Winchester being the name of one of the first popular hard disk drive technologies developed by IBM in 1973. Also see What's Inside a Hard Drive? in the Did You Know . . . ? section of Webopedia. Also see "Formatting a Hard Disk Drive" in the "Did You Know...?" section of Webopedia.

read
(v.) To copy data to a place where it can be used by a program. The term is commonly used to describe copying data from a storage medium, such as a disk, to main memory. (n.) The act of reading. For example, a fast disk drive performs 100 reads per second.

write
To copy data from main memory to a storage device, such as a disk.

main memory
Refers to physical memory that is internal to the computer. The word main is used to distinguish it from external mass storage devices such as disk drives. Another term for main memory is RAM. The computer can manipulate only data that is in main memory. Therefore, every program you execute and every file you access must be copied from a storage device into main memory. The amount of main memory on a computer is crucial because it determines how many programs can be executed at one time and how much data can be readily available to a program. Because computers often have too little main memory to hold all the data they need, computer engineers invented a technique called swapping, in which portions of data are copied into main memory as they are needed. Swapping occurs when there is no room in memory for needed data. When one portion of data is copied into memory, an equal-sized portion is copied (swapped) out to make room. Now, most PCs come with a minimum of 32 megabytes of main memory. You can usually increase the amount of memory by inserting extra memory in the form of chips.

storage device
A device capable of storing data. The term usually refers to mass storage devices, such as disk and tape drives.

hard disk
A magnetic disk on which you can store computer data. The term hard is used to distinguish it from a soft, or floppy, disk. Hard disks hold more data and are faster than floppy disks. A hard disk, for example, can store anywhere from 10 to more than 100 gigabytes, whereas most floppies have a maximum storage capacity of 1.4 megabytes. A single hard disk usually consists of several platters. Each platter requires two read/write heads, one for each side. All the read/write heads are attached to a single access arm so that they cannot move independently. Each platter has the same number of tracks, and a track location that cuts across all platters is called a cylinder. For example, a typical 84 megabyte hard disk for a PC might have two platters (four sides) and 1,053 cylinders. In general, hard disks are less portable than floppies, although it is possible to buy removable hard disks.

Also see What's Inside a Hard Drive? in the Did You Know . . . ? section of Webopedia.

Formatting a Hard Disk Drive

When installing a hard disk drive (commonly called a hard drive) for the first time, attempting to remove errors from your drive, getting rid of a nasty virus, or even cleaning a hard drive because you are selling or donating your computer -- those are just a few of the many reasons why one might consider formatting their hard drive. Format actually means to prepare a
Key Terms To Understanding Hard Disk Formatting format To prepare a storage medium, usually a disk, for reading and writing. hard drive A magnetic disk on which you can store computer data. The term hard is used to distinguish it from a soft, or floppy, disk. volume A fixed amount of storage on a disk or tape. partition To divide memory or mass storage into isolated sections. In DOS systems, you can partition a disk, and each partition will behave like a separate disk drive.

"http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/f/storage.html" storage "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/media.html" medium, usually a disk,

for reading and writing. When you format a disk, the

"http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/operating_system.html" operating
system erases all bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to make sure all "sector.html" sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (that is, those that are scratched or otherwise damaged), and creates internal "http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/address.html" address tables that it later uses to locate information. You must format a disk (floppy or hard disk) before you can use it. When you take a disk that has been formatted and run it through the format process again, it is referred to, logically, as "reformatting". Key Steps to Formatting Back it Up! Before the format process, you want to make sure that if your goal is hard drive recovery, you back up as much personal data and information from your hard drive as you need. In some instances where a virus has caused serious system damage, this may not be possible, but if your format is planned ahead of time you certainly can copy and archive data off your hard drive before you start the format process.

How to Format If you purchased your computer from systems vendor such as a Dell , HP Compaq or Gateway system, you most likely will have a set-up or a restore-and-recovery CD (also referred to as a master CD) which came with the system. If this is the type of system you use, then a format is an easy process as the master CD will format the hard drive, reinstall your Windows operating system, and install any software and programs which came with the system. If you no longer have your master set-up CD, you should contact the manufacturer to get a replacement. If you aren't using this type of mass-market system, then a hard drive format will consist of you formatting the hard drive manually, installing your Windows OS from CD, then installing your software programs and hardware drivers. Before you begin the formatting process, it is important to make sure you have all your driver CDs located, Windows CD and your software CDs to ensure a smooth set-up. It's also important to know about your operating system before you format. For example, if you're going to be reinstalling Windows 98 or Windows Me then you should have a Windows 98

or ME start-up disk to complete the procedure. In this instance, you would restart the system with the start-up floppy in the drive. Upon system boot, you will choose to have CD-ROM support. Once the files load you can then choose to run the format command on your main drive (usually C drive). If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, the Windows installation process offers "format your hard drive" as an option. Here you would ensure your computer is set to boot from CD-ROM (a setting in your system BIOS), insert the Windows CD and restart the computer. From there you will be on your way to reformatting. The Format Command Format is a Microsoft DOS command. It's a command line you can run to remove information from a computer disk, floppy disk or hard disk. It is an external command found in many of the Windows Operating systems. Hard drive formatting is done in three steps:
(1) Low-level

formatting creates the physical structure on the hard drive. Partitioning divides the hard drive into logical pieces that become volumes. High-level formatting defines the logical structures on the partition and places at the start of the disk any necessary operating system files. The format command syntax is the following: FORMAT drive: [/parameters] - where drive: specifies the volume to format (the hard disk letter followed by a colon) example format c: where [parameters] formats the disk with different options example format c: /s will copy system files to the formatted disk or format c: /q performs a quick format. The syntax used between Windows 95, 98 and ME differ slightly from Windows 2000 and XP. To see the available Format command parameters for your operating system, you can type FORMAT /? at the DOS command line.

What's Inside a Hard Drive?

All hard drives share a basic structure and are composed of the same physical features. However, not all hard drives perform the same way as the quality of the parts of the hard drive will affect its performance. Following is a description of the common features of the hard drive and how each part works in relation to the others. Hard drives are extremely sensitive equipment and the internal workings of a hard drive should not be handled by anyone other than an experienced professional. The Platters The platters are the actual disks inside the drive that store the magnetized data. Traditionally platters are made of a light aluminum alloy and coated with a magnetizable material such as a ferrite compound that is applied in liquid form and spun evenly across the platter or thin metal film plating that is applied to the platter through electroplating, the same way that chrome is produced. Newer technology uses glass and/or ceramic platters because they can be made thinner and also because they are more efficient at resisting heat. The magnetic layer on the platters has tiny domains of magnetization that are oriented to store information that is transferred through the read/write heads. Most drives have at least two platters, and the larger the storage capacity of the drive, the more platters there are. Each platter is magnetized on each side, so a drive with 2 platters has 4 sides to store data. The Spindle and Spindle Motor The platters in a drive are separated by disk spacers and are clamped to a rotating spindle that turns all the platters in unison. The spindle motor is built right into the spindle or mounted directly below it and spins the platters at a constant set rate ranging from 3,600 to 7,200 RPM. The motor is attached to a feedback loop to ensure that it spins at precisely the speed it is supposed to. The Read/Write Heads The read/write heads read and write data to the platters. There is typically one head per platter side, and each head is attached to a single actuator shaft so that all the heads move in unison. When one head is over a track, all the other heads are at the same location over their respective surfaces. Typically, only one of the heads is active at a time, i.e., reading or writing data. When not in use, the heads rest on the stationary platters, but when in motion the spinning of the platters create air pressure that lifts the heads off the platters. The space between the platter and the head is so minute that even one dust particle or a fingerprint could disable the spin. This necessitates that hard drive assembly be done in a clean room. When the platters cease spinning the heads come to rest, or park, at a predetermined position on the heads, called the landing zone. The Head Actuator All the heads are attached to a single head actuator, or actuator arm, that moves the heads around the platters. Older hard drives used a stepper motor actuator, which moved the heads based on a motor reacting to stepper pulses. Each pulse moved the actuator over the platters in predefined steps. Stepper motor actuators are not used in modern drives because they are prone to alignment problems and are highly sensitive to heat. Modern hard drives use a voice coil actuator, which controls the movement of a coil toward or away from a permanent magnet based on the amount

of current flowing through it. This guidance system is called a servo. The platters, spindle, spindle motor, head actuator and the read/write heads are all contained in a chamber called the head disk assembly (HDA). Outside of the HDA is the logic board that controls the movements of the internal parts and controls the movement of data into and out of the drive.

How computers work

A general purpose computer has four main sections: the arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), the control unit, the memory, and the input and output devices (collectively termed I/O). These parts are interconnected by busses, often made of groups of wires. The control unit, ALU, registers, and basic I/O (and often other hardware closely linked with these) are collectively known as a central processing unit (CPU). Early CPUs were composed of many separate components but since the mid-1970s CPUs have typically been constructed on a single integrated circuit called a microprocessor.

Control unit - CPU

The control unit (often called a control system or central controller) directs the various components of a computer. It reads and interprets (decodes) instructions in the program one by one. The control system decodes each instruction and turns it into a series of control signals that operate the other parts of the computer. Control systems in advanced computers may change the order of some instructions so as to improve performance. A key component common to all CPUs is the program counter, a special memory cell (a register) that keeps track of which location in memory the next instruction is to be read from.

Diagram showing how a particular MIPS architecture instruction would be decoded by the control system.

The control system's function is as followsnote that this is a simplified description, and some of these steps may be performed concurrently or in a different order depending on the type of CPU: 1. Read the code for the next instruction from the cell indicated by the program counter. 2. Decode the numerical code for the instruction into a set of commands or signals for each of the other systems. 3. Increment the program counter so it points to the next instruction. 4. Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in memory (or perhaps from an input device). The location of this required data is typically stored within the instruction code. 5. Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register. 6. If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to complete, instruct the hardware to perform the requested operation. 7. Write the result from the ALU back to a memory location or to a register or perhaps an output device. 8. Jump back to step (1).

Since the program counter is (conceptually) just another set of memory cells, it can be changed by calculations done in the ALU. Adding 100 to the program counter would cause the next instruction to be read from a place 100 locations further down the program. Instructions that modify the program counter are often known as "jumps" and allow for loops (instructions that are repeated by the computer) and often conditional instruction execution (both examples of control flow). It is noticeable that the sequence of operations that the control unit goes through to process an instruction is in itself like a short computer program - and indeed, in some more complex CPU designs, there is another yet smaller computer called a microsequencer that runs a microcode program that causes all of these events to happen.

Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)

The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: arithmetic and logic. The set of arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to adding and subtracting or might include multiplying or dividing, trigonometry functions (sine, cosine, etc) and square roots. Some can only operate on whole numbers (integers) whilst others use floating point to represent real numbersalbeit with limited precision. However, any computer that is capable of performing just the simplest operations can be programmed to break down the more complex operations into simple steps that it can perform. Therefore, any computer can be programmed to perform any arithmetic operationalthough it will take more time to do so if its ALU does not directly support the operation. An ALU may also compare numbers and return boolean truth values (true or false) depending on whether one is equal to, greater than or less than the other ("is 64 greater than 65?"). Logic operations involve Boolean logic: AND, OR, XOR and NOT. These can be useful both for creating complicated conditional statements and processing boolean logic. Superscalar computers contain multiple ALUs so that they can process several instructions at the same time. Graphics processors and computers with SIMD and MIMD features often provide ALUs that can perform arithmet

Arithmetic logic unit

A typical schematic symbol for an ALU: A & B are the data (registers); R is the output; F is the Operand (instruction) from the Control Unit; D is an output status In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit that performs arithmetic and logical operations. The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one for purposes such as maintaining timers. The processors found inside modern CPUs and GPUs have inside them very powerful and very complex ALUs; a single component may contain a number of ALUs. Mathematician John von Neumann proposed the ALU concept in 1945, when he wrote a report on the foundations for a new computer called the EDVAC.

*&* Early development In 1946, von Neumann worked with his colleagues in designing a computer for the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS). The IAS computer became the prototype for many later computers. In the proposal, von Neumann outlined what he believed would be needed in his machine, including an ALU. Von Neumann stated that an ALU is a necessity for a computer because it is guaranteed that a computer will have to compute basic mathematical operations, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.[1] He therefore believed it was "reasonable that [the computer] should contain specialized organs for these operations."[2] Numerical systems An ALU must process numbers using the same format as the rest of the digital circuit. For modern processors, that almost always is the two's complement binary number representation. Early computers used a wide variety of number systems, including one's complement, sign-magnitude format, and even true decimal systems, with ten tubes per digit. ALUs for each one of these numeric systems had different designs, and that influenced the current preference for two's complement, as this is the representation that makes it easier for the ALUs to calculate additions and subtractions.[citation needed]

Practical overview A simple 2-bit ALU that does XOR, AND, OR, and addition

This ALU is a 2-bit ALU with two inputs (operands) named A and B: A[0] & B[0] is the leastsignificant bit and A[1] & B[1] is the most-significant bit Each bit of this ALU is identical with the exception of the handling of the carry bit. The handling of one bit is explained below. The A & B inputs lead into the four gates on the left (from top to bottom): XOR, AND, OR, and XOR. The top three gates perform XOR, AND, and OR operations on A & B. The last gate is the initial gate into a full adder. The final step to each bit is the multiplexer at the end. The 3-bit OP input (from the control unit) determines which of the functions is outputted:

OP = 000 XOR OP = 001 AND

OP = 010 OR OP = 011 Addition

Clearly, the last four inputs of the multiplexer are free for other functions (subtraction, multiplication, division, NOT A, NOT B, etc.). Although OP[2] is not currently used (though it is included and connected), it will be needed in order to use more than the 4 operations listed above. The carry in and carry out are typically connected to some form of a status register. Most of a processor's operations are performed by one or more ALU. An ALU loads data from input registers, executes, and stores the result into an output register. A Control Unit tells the ALU what operation to perform on the data. Other mechanisms move data between these registers and memory.[3] [edit] Simple operations Most ALUs can perform the following operations:

Integer arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, and sometimes multiplication and division, though this is more expensive) Bitwise logic operations (AND, NOT, OR, XOR) Bit-shifting operations (shifting or rotating a word by a specified number of bits to the left or right, with or without sign extension). Shifts can be interpreted as multiplications by 2 and divisions by 2.

[edit] Complex operations An engineer can design an ALU to calculate any operation, however complicated it is; the problem is that the more complex the operation, the more expensive the ALU is, the more space it uses in the processor, and the more power it dissipates, etc. Therefore, engineers always calculate a compromise, to provide for the processor (or other circuits) an ALU powerful enough to make the processor fast, but yet not so complex as to become prohibitive. Imagine that you need to calculate the square root of a number; the digital engineer will examine the following options to implement this operation: 1. Design an extraordinarily complex ALU that calculates the square root of any number in a single step. This is called calculation in a single clock. 2. Design a very complex ALU that calculates the square root of any number in several steps. But--and here's the trick--the intermediate results go through a series of circuits that are arranged in a line, like a factory production line. That makes the ALU capable of accepting new numbers to calculate even before finished calculating the previous ones. That makes the ALU able to produce numbers as fast as a single-clock ALU, although the results start to flow out of the ALU only after an initial delay. This is called calculation pipeline. 3. Design a complex ALU that calculates the square root through several steps. This is called interactive calculation, and usually relies on control from a complex control unit with builtin microcode. 4. Design a simple ALU in the processor, and sell a separate specialized and costly processor that the customer can install just besides this one, and implements one of the options above. This is called the co-processor. 5. Tell the programmers that there is no co-processor and there is no emulation, so they will have to write their own algorithms to calculate square roots by software. This is performed

by software libraries. 6. Emulate the existence of the co-processor, that is, whenever a program attempts to perform the square root calculation, make the processor check if there is a co-processor present and use it if there is one; if there isn't one, interrupt the processing of the program and invoke the operating system to perform the square root calculation through some software algorithm. This is called software emulation. The options above go from the fastest and most expensive one to the slowest and least expensive one. Therefore, while even the simplest computer can calculate the most complicated formula, the simplest computers will usually take a long time doing that because of the several steps for calculating the formula. Powerful processors like the Intel Core and AMD64 implement option #1 for several simple operations, #2 for the most common complex operations and #3 for the extremely complex operations. That is possible by the ability of building very complex ALUs in these processors. [edit] Inputs and outputs The inputs to the ALU are the data to be operated on (called operands) and a code from the control unit indicating which operation to perform. Its output is the result of the computation. In many designs the ALU also takes or generates as inputs or outputs a set of condition codes from or to a status register. These codes are used to indicate cases such as carry-in or carry-out, overflow, divide-by-zero, etc.[4] [edit] ALUs vs. FPUs A Floating Point Unit also performs arithmetic operations between two values, but they do so for numbers in floating point representation, which is much more complicated than the two's complement representation used in a typical ALU. In order to do these calculations, a FPU has several complex circuits built-in, including some internal ALUs. Usually engineers call an ALU the circuit that performs arithmetic operations in integer formats (like two's complement and BCD), while the circuits that calculate on more complex formats like floating point, complex numbers, etc. usually receive a more illustrious name.

Control unit From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A control unit is the part of a CPU or other device that directs its operation. The outputs of the unit control the activity of the rest of the device. A control unit can be thought of as a finite state machine. The control unit is the circuitry that controls the flow of data through the processor, and coordinates the activities of the other units within it. In a way, it is the "brain within the brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor, which in turn controls the rest of the PC. Contents [hide]

1 hardwired control 2 microprogram control 3 functions of the control unit 4 See also

[edit] hardwired control It has been suggested that hardwired control be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) At one time control units for CPUs were ad-hoc logic, and they were difficult to design. [edit] microprogram control It has been suggested that control store be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Main article: microcode Now they are often implemented as a microprogram that is stored in a control store. Words of the microprogram are selected by a microsequencer and the bits from those words directly control the different parts of the device, including the registers, arithmetic and logic units, instruction registers, buses, and off-chip input/output. In modern computers, each of these subsystems may have its own subsidiary controller, with the control unit acting as a supervisor. [edit] functions of the control unit The functions performed by the control unit vary greatly by the internal architecture of the CPU, since the control unit really implements this architecture. On a regular processor that executes x86 instructions natively the control unit performs the tasks of fetching, decoding, managing execution and then storing results. On a processor with a RISC core the control unit has significantly more work to do. It manages the translation of x86 instructions to RISC micro-instructions, manages scheduling the micro-instructions between the various execution units, and juggles the output from these units to make sure they end up where they are supposed to go. On one of these processors the control unit may be broken into other units (such as a scheduling unit to handle scheduling and a retirement unit to deal with results coming from the pipeline) due to the complexity of the job it must perform.

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Help Aritmatik Operator = x : + - <> > < : X Log x Sin Cos Logika =# OR AND NOR XOR Artificial Intelligent

Flowcharting Programming

Software, CPU, storage, program, F-keys, hard Disk, Drive, file or document, printer types.