Задание 3. Прочитайте текст и обсудите следующие вопросы в группе.

a) What is the Webster's dictionary definition of hardware?

b) What groups of hardware could be defined?

c) What is input hardware? What are the examples of input hardware?

d) What is a mouse designed for? What is a light pen?

e) What is processing hardware? What are the basic types of memory used in a PC?

f) Can a PC-user change the ROM? Who records the information in ROM?

g) What is storage hardware? What is CD-ROM used for? Can a user record his or her data on a CD? What kind of storage hardware can contain more information: CDROM, RAM or ROM?

h) What is modem used for? Can PC-user communicate with other people without a modem?

Task  4. Study this data about storage devices. Then complete the blanks in the following sentences comparing and contrasting the different types.

• You can write to hard disks optical……………………. disks.

• Floppy disks have a capacity…………………………. other devices.

• CD-ROMs and floppy disks are……………………….. low priced.

• DVD-RAM has a capacity other optical disks.

• CD-ROMs cannot be re-recorded some other optical disks can be.

• ………………………..hard disks, you can ………………………..read from and write………………………..   to CD-MO drives.

• ………………………..CD-ROMs, CD-Rs are recordable.

• Magnetic tape is much   other devices.

• ………………………..DVD-RAM and fixed ………………………..hard disks have very………………………..    high media capacity.

• Floppy disks are cheap ………………………..      

Task  5. Study this description of a student’s first term. What questions might the interviewer have asked to obtain the information in italics?

In her first term Pauline studied 6 subjects1. She had classes on 2 four days' each week. On Monday morning she had IT and Information Systems . Tuesday was a free day for home study. On Wednesday she had Systems Analysis in Room 324 . She studied Computer Architecture on Thursdays. Programming happened on Friday mornings. Communication took place once a week on Friday afternoons. She liked Mr Blunt’s classes most. She had a 15-minute coffee break each day and a lunch break from 12.00 to 1.00 .

LESSON 10

Types of Software

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

A computer to complete a job requires more than just the actual equipment or hardware we see and touch. It requires Software — programs for directing the operation of a computer or electronic data. Software is the final computer system component. These computer programs instruct the hardware how to conduct processing. The computer is merely a general-purpose machine which requires specific software to perform a given task. Computers can input, calculate, compare, and output data as information. Software determines the order in which these operations are performed. Programs usually fall in one of two categories: system software and applications software. System software controls standard internal computer activities. An operating system, for example, is a collection of system programs that aid in the operation of a computer regardless of the application software being used. When a computer is first turned on, one of the systems programs is booted or loaded into the computer’s memory. This software contains information about memory capacity, the model of the processor, the disk drives to be used and more. Once the system software is loaded, the applications software can be brought in. System programs are designed for the specific pieces of hardware. These programs are called drivers and coordinate peripheral hardware and computer activities. User needs to install a specific driver in order to activate a peripheral device. For example, if you intend to buy a printer or a scanner you need to worry in advance about the driver program which, though, commonly goes along with your device. By installing the driver you «teach» your mainboard to «understand» the newly attached part.

Applications software satisfies your specific need. The developers of application software rely mostly on marketing research strategies trying to do their best to attract more users (buyers) to their software. As the productivity of the hardware has increased greatly in recent years, the programmers nowadays tend to include as much as possible in one program to make software interface look more attractive to the user. These class of programs is the most numerous and perspective from the marketing point of view. Data communication within and between computers systems is handled by system software. Communications software transfers data from one computer system to another. These programs usually provide users with data security and error checking along with physically transferring data between the two computer's memories. During the past five years the developing electronic network communication has stimulated more and more companies to produce various communication software, such as Web- Browsers for Internet.

Task 2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. What do you think is more expensive — hardware or software?

2. Has anyone in your group ever purchased software?

3. Why do you think piracy (audio, video, computer software) still exists?

Task 3. Read the text “Types of Software” and discuss the following questions in group:

Задание 3. Прочитайте текст и обсудите следующие вопросы в группе.

a) What is software?

b) In what two basic groups could software (programs) be divided?

c) What is system software for?

d) What is an operating system — a system software or application software?

e) What is a «driver»?

f) What is application software?

g) What is application software used for?

h) What is the tendency in application software market in recent years?

i) What is the application of communication software?

Task 4.  Find the answers to these questions in the following text.

1) What is Currie Munce’s main aim?

2) How quickly did the possible areal density of hard disks increase in the 1990s?

3) How long does Munce think magnetic recording technology will continue to make, rapid advances in capacity?

4) What problem does he predict for magnetic storage?

5) What is the predicted limit for discrete bit magnetic storage capacity?

6) What storage technologies might replace current magnetic systems?

7) What is the advantage of holographic storage being three-dimensional?

8) What improvements are predicted due to the fast access rates and transfer times of holographic storage?

9)  What is predicted to be the most important high capacity removable storage media in the next 10 years?

10) What method of software distribution is likely to replace optical disks?

Ready for the Bazillion-Byte

Drive?

Thinking about writing your memoirs - putting your life story down on paper for all eternity? Why not skip the repetitive strain injury and just capture your whole life on full-motion video, 5 putting it all in a device the size of a sugar cube?

It might not be as far off as you think.

Currie Munce, director of IBM’s Advanced HDD Technology Storage Systems Division, has one avowed goal: Build bigger storage. Recently io Munce and his fellow Ph.Ds restored Big Blue's lead in the disk space race with a new world record for areal (bit) density: 35.3 gigabits per square inch - roughly three times as dense as any drive shipping at press time.

15 During the 1990s, areal density doubled every 18 months, keeping pace with the transistor density gains predicted by Moore’s Law. But increasingly daunting technical challenges face those who would push the storage envelope further. ‘I think 20 magnetic recording technology has another good 5 to 10 years,’ says Munce. ‘After that, we’ll see substantial difficulties with further advances at the pace people are accustomed to.

From here on, a phenomenon called 25 superparamagnetism threatens to make densely- packed bits unstable. Provided that new developments continue to thwart superparamagnetic corruption, scientists speculate that the theoretical limit for discrete bit so recording is 10 terabits per square inch (1 terabit = 1,000 gigabits).

Approaching this limit will require new technologies. Two possible contenders are atomic force microscopy (AFM) and holographic storage. I 35 AFM would use a spinning plastic disk, perhaps side a wristwatch, and a tiny, 10-micron cantilever with a 40-angstrom tip (an angstrom represents the approximate radius of an atom) to write data. In theory, AFM will allow densities of 300 to 400 gigabits per square inch.

While AFM is still in the lab, holographic storage is closer to reality. According to Rusty Rosenberger, optical program manager for Imation, ‘We are targeting a 5~ -inch disk with 45 125GB of storage and a 40MB-per-second transfer rate.’ Future iterations of holographic systems should improve substantially.

The three-dimensional nature of holography makes it an appealing storage medium because so ‘pages’ of data can be superimposed on a single volume - imagine transferring a whole page of text at once as opposed to reading each letter in sequence. Hans Coufal, manager of IBM’s New Directions in Science and Technology Research 55 division, predicts that the fast access rates and transfer times of holographic storage will lead to improved network searches, video on demand, high-end servers, enterprise computing, and supercomputing.

Meanwhile, also-ran technologies are thriving.

Tape, first used for data storage in 1951 with the Univac I, has been revitalized by the corporate hunger for affordable archiving solutions. In the consumer arena, says Dataquest analyst Mary 65 Craig, recordable CD-ROMs and DVDs will remain the dominant high-capacity removable storage media for the next decade. Despite their failure to match the areal density gains of hard disks, optical disks are cheap to produce, making 70 them ideal for software distribution (until a mature digital rights management system facilitates online delivery). Finally, solid state options such as flash cards can’t yet match the pricing of hard disks at high capacities.

75 Further out, scientists salivate over the prospect of data manipulation and storage on an atomic level. Because consumer demand for capacity is lagging behind what technology can deliver, bringing new storage options to the masses will so depend on seeing the need for more space.

Task 5.  Mark the following statements as True or False:

• The development of AFM is more advanced than holographic storage.

• The predicted maximum storage density of AFM is 400 gigabits per square inch.

• Flolography works in 3D.

• Univac I was the first computer to use tape storage devices.

• Users want higher capacity storage devices than technology can provide.

LESSON 11

Operating Systems

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

When computers were first introduced in the 1940's and 50's, every program written had to provide instructions that told the computer how to use devices such as the printer, how to store information on a disk, as well as how to perform several other tasks not necessarily related to the program. The additional program instructions for working with hardware devices were very complex, and time-consuming. Programmers soon realized it would be smarter to develop one program that could control the computer's hardware, which others programs could have used when they needed it. With that, the first operating system was born. Today, operating systems control and manage the use of hardware devices such as the printer or mouse. They also provide disk management by letting you store information in files. The operating system also lets you run programs such as the basic word processor. Lastly, the operating system provides several of its own commands that help you to use the computer. DOS is the most commonly used PC operating system. DOS is an abbreviation for disk operating system. DOS was developed by a company named Microsoft. MS-DOS is an abbreviation for «Microsoft DOS». When IBM first released the IBM PC in 1981, IBM licensed DOS from Microsoft for use on the PC and called it PC-DOS. From the user’s perspective, PC-DOS and MS-DOS are the same, each providing the same capabilities and commands. The version of DOS release in 1981 was 1.0. Over the past decade, DOS has undergone several changes. Each time the DOS developers release a new version6, they increase the version number. Windows NT (new technology) is an operating system developed by Microsoft. NT is an enhanced version of the popular Microsoft Windows 3.0, 3.1 programs. NT requires a 386 processor or greater and 8 Mb of RAM. For the best NT performance, you have to use a 486 processor with about 16 Mb or higher. Unlike the Windows, which runs on top of DOS, Windows NT is an operating system itself. However, NT is DOS compatible. The advantage of using NT over Windows is that NT makes better use of the PC's memory management capabilities. OS/2 is a PC operating system created by IBM. Like NT, OS/2 is DOS compatible and provides a graphical user interface that lets you run programs with a click of a mouse. Also like NT, OS/2 performs best when you are using a powerful system. Many IBM based PCs are shipped with OS/2 preinstalled. UNIX is a multi-user operating system that allows multiple users to access the system. Traditionally, UNIX was run on larger mini computers to which users accessed the systems using terminals and not PC's. UNIX allowed each user to simultaneously run the programs they desired16. Unlike NT and OS/2, UNIX is not DOS compatible. Most users would not purchase UNIX for their own use. Windows 2000 & XP are the most popular user-oriented operating systems with a friendly interface and multitasking capabilities.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Why do you think Bill Gates, President of Microsoft Company is one of the richest people on the Earth?

2. Judging from your experience tell if UNIX is used nowadays? What about OS/2?

Task  3. Ask the students in your group who have experience working with Windows (2000 or XP) about the advantages and disadvantages of these operational systems.

Task  4. Read the text “Operating Systems” and discuss the following questions in group: