How People Use PCs - Basic Classes

In this lesson you will learn:

Introduction to PCs (Personal Computers)

In the short span of only a few decades the pc has revolutionized the way our entire society works learns and entertains itself. By beginning this course you are entering into a field that is continually changing and generating more and more jobs, even as the economy has occasionally stalled and job growth has slowed to a standstill.

To see some of the computer related jobs in your area go to your state Worksource website and search under any of the job titles listed under each area.

The continual job growth has occurred in several main areas:

Business and Commerce

We begin this section by considering a few common business applications for computers. The same essential principals apply for these applications on any computer platform-Mainframe- Mini- or PC (Micro). The most widespread use of computer technology has been in the area of business applications. By the late 1960s, sophisticated programs had been developed on mainframe and minis to handle many of the repetitive tasks of large business organizations. These tasks include such crucial functions as payroll, inventory control, data entry, billing, and accounting functions and database management. Some of these positions are still being filled in today's businesses. Some are now incorporated into Web sites for On-Line processing and the trend seems to be more in that direction with every passing year. That means that web site management and web application development are also assets to a resume.

Manufacturing and Engineering:

Some job titles include Hardware Creation, Bench Testing, Clean Room, Solder Techs, Quality Assurance (or Quality Control) and Assembly.

Installation, Service and Repair

Wire Installation, Computer Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Repair. This skill set would includes Computer Stores, Software Vendors and Various Hardware Component (parts stores) and Software Marketing.

Programming, Software and Web development

PC Programming as trained programmers create customized software for businesses, commercial internal development, government, use in schools, and for entertainment. Application Development includes PC Integrated Applications, (using more than one office suite application, like Spreadsheets with Word Processing) where trained individuals (like yourself soon) use existing PC software to perform:

I'm sure you can think of more examples.

Communications

PC Communications includes the use of modems, routers and switches to communicate with Wide Area Networks (WANS), Local Area Networks (LANS) and On-Line services (Internet). This includes either internal networks, as in this school, or International networks, as in the Internet. Help Desk is included here.

Data communications is the transfer of coded data from one point to another. The coded data might represent news and weather information, stock prices, an address book or database of names and addresses, E-Mail, or another computer program.

Any data that can be saved on a PC can be communicated to another computer. Computers are better communication devices than mere computer terminals. They store and retrieve their own data and execute programs that monitor the state of the data communication itself. Until recently the modem was the most widely used device for communicating programs and data between computers. Now there are both land line devices such as Cable modems, Ethernet networks and DSL Modems, as well as wireless devices utilizing Microwave and Satellites. Early modems were almost all external, with cradles for the telephone receiver to lay in. The faster modems were internal cards that boosted speeds to 56k.

Most recent modems up until now have been internal, but now there are outside devices like DSL Routers, Cable and Satellite modems that plug into the existing computer hardware through Cables or USB. It is impossible to discuss PC communications without mentioning the Internet. In fact, if it weren't for the Internet most people would not need the communication aspect of computers at all.

Yet communication is the main thing computers are good at, other than computation of vast amounts of information in short time. There will be more discussion about the Internet when you set up your E-Mail account. Using a Browser, you can explore different computers all over the world and share information in a nice window that always stays the same no matter where you go on the Internet. This 'standardization' of Browsers and how people actually see the data is what has made the Internet the valuable tool it is today.

ISPs or Internet Service Providers are businesses that rent out fast and secure Internet connections, known as Backbones, and then divide up the 'bandwidth' among their clients and rent out the use of a small piece of the connection to you. Some service providers, like AOL, do not allow clients directly onto the World Wide Web (WWW). They are a 'service' that sits between your computer and the WWW, and all of the information both to and from the web goes through their computers. Most other ISPs merely log you into their computer to verify that you have paid your bill to them, and then you are on the Web directly with no intervention or filtering or other 'services'.

Electronic Mail (E-Mail) has become an important feature of most ISPs. Individuals can be addressed uniquely all over the world by sending and receiving messages with a specific name. This is usually the name of their service, like Qwest, AT&T or Compuserve etc. or group of users. Coupled together with a username that you choose, it makes a name that is unique, meaning only you have that name anywhere on the Internet. Most all of the ISPs have E-mail as a service, and there are other e-mail services that may or may not be ISPs, such as Yahoo!!, Hotmail, Juno etc. MSN e-mail, Hotmail and Microsoft Chat belong to Microsoft, for example. Microsoft Chat was discontinued forever in October of 2003.

LAN (Local area network) and WAN (Wide area network) are other communication technologies. Local area networks, such as this school, use intranets that have all of the computers connected to several central locations within the organization, while Wide area networks, like the Internet, have computers connected outside of the organization. The Internet is governed by different organizations on the International level, whereas the LAN intranets are governed by the rules of the organization that created it.

Education

As PC technology gets more powerful and easier to use, more and more applications are being created. From the beginning, uses of computers in education have been on the forefront of pioneering efforts. Besides interactive programs that give real time responses to input and can project several moves ahead, sophistication has progressed to the level that the computer can now learn a game and get progressively better at it, 'learning' from its own mistakes. Sound, CD / DVD, Streaming Video and various Media Players enhance the interactive experiences, as human attention span demands responses within 3 seconds or they get bored and move on to something else!

Early use of PCs in education took the form of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). CAI involves the use of software to guide the student through a course of study with specific instructional goals. The student interacts with the software by answering and asking questions and responding to the programs' directives. The program accepts or rejects the responses after analyzing them and then provides feedback. Early forms of CAI used the drill and practice approach to supplement classroom instruction.

Later forms have been more tutorial and interactive in form, presenting new material to the student and responding in a supportive way to the particular interactions the student makes. Whether incorporated into web sites or as stand alone programs, simulations leverage the multi-media advantages and revolutionize learning. Rather than endless drill practices with the yes / no format, graphics and sound can now hit you over the head! Call it Edutainment Software Experiences.

Entertainment

Games, Animation and more Web Sites for young and old. Need I say more? Most of the technology came from the scientific and military communities that were working on decision-making, logic and robotic technologies. The color and graphic rendering became a science unto itself, and by the time computer generated graphics were sophisticated enough to replace pinball and mechanical gaming machines, PCs were approaching the Gigaherz level in speed and consumers were ready for virtual reality. In a mere 10 years, the gaming and graphic enhancements went from Pac Man (revolutionary in its time) to advanced video rendering blended into the graphics for virtual reality, and gaming software that operates well in a cell phone.

Where from here? There will probably be a blending of the Entertainment and Educational markets. The electronic calculator was invented when I went to school, but was still too expensive to own at first. Your children will probably grow up with virtual classrooms and instructors that can interact with the class. Voice recognition and speech recognition were integrated into Widows beginning with the XP operating systems and XP Office.

One of the new features to look forward to is voice recognition being standardized, made 'smarter' and incorporated into the Office Programs. As you speak, the words are displayed on the screen where you would normally type, and errors are flagged for keyboard corrections. When you want the program to print, for example, you simply say 'FILE - PRINT'. As the technology and the accuracy progresses, keyboards and mice may be a thing of the past, as far as being the main input devices as they are today. Simply tell the computer what you want to do. Can you say File - Print?

Your interest is probably a direct result of this explosion in PC technology, and more is coming within your lifetime.