27th
04 -
2011
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Computers are a part of today’s bustling world and play a role in everybody’s life, young or old, whether they like it or not. A version of a computer, whether it be highly technologically advanced or not can be found in household appliances such as refrigerators, ovens, toasters and microwave ovens. Cars have their own unique kind of computers, as do televisions, DVD players and so much more. But when we think computer what comes to mind first is generally what is known as a PC (or personal computer). Almost every household has at least one and most companies could not be without one today. So much is done on the computer and over the computer.
A personal computer can mean so many things to so many people and it has a variety of functions. For students it’s great for doing research using the Internet as well as typing up essays and papers for school. The Internet is a tremendous resource for anyone wanting to learn about practically any subject from animals to authors and everything in between. And what of e-mail? Twenty, thirty years ago no one could have conceived of the idea that a person could sit down in front of a computer screen and type a message to someone who is close or far away and then send it to them and have it received almost instantly! It’s quite an amazing development for our world. And for those who enjoy solitary recreational pursuits, there are a variety of games that can be played on computers. One can also watch movies and listen to music via the use of a computer.
A computer is often thought of as a machine that processes information in a timely manner and is very general-purpose in its application. An individual types information into the computer through the use of the keyboard as well as the mouse and watches what he/she is typing materialize on the computer screen. The computer then begins the process of sorting through the data it is receiving and processing it as is necessary. The computer user can then save what he sees in front of him on the hard drive of the computer or onto a floppy disk or CD. If saved to the hard drive then the information cannot be used on any other computer but if saved on a disk that information has now become portable and can be used on other computers and not just that one in particular.
Every computer contains certain elements which in brief include the CPU or central processing unit or the brain of the desktop computer, the memory where information is stored, the motherboard or main circuit board, the power supply which regulates electricity going through the computer, the hard drive, or permanent storage, the operating system, or basic software, the integrated drive electronics controller or IDE, the peripheral component interconnect bus or PCI which allows other items to plug into it, the small computer system or SCSI which allows devices such as scanners to be plugged into it, the accelerated graphics port or AGP which is used by the graphics card which in turn translates visual information from the computer into a format it can read. And last but certainly not least is the sound card, which allows the computer to record as well as play anything with an audio element to it such as a CD that is accompanied by music.
20th
04 -
2011
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If you learned how to type on a typewriter or were taught to type by someone who did, you are probably making a few typographical faux pas when typing on your computer.
Single-Spacing
The most common error is double-spacing at the end of a sentence. Only one is necessary, let me explain why.
The reason why the double-space rule was applied to typewriters is because all typewriters use monotype fonts. Each letter in a monotype font is designed to have the same character width, in other words, an “m” will use the same amount of horizontal space as an “i” or an “l”. There are several monotype fonts designed for the compute, Courier is probably the most well known.
Most fonts used on computers are variable width fonts or proportionally spaced fonts and employ “kerning”. When letters are kerned, the letter spacing is adjusted to take up space relative to their actual width, so that the width between letters and letter pairs create consistent spacing.
So, there is no need for double-spacing at the end of a sentence when typing on a PC as variable width fonts automatically create the correct amount of space between sentences. In fact, double-spacing will create visual holes in a block of text that looks amateurish. If you’ll be sending your work to a graphic designer or publishing house, someone will have to replace all your double spaces with single spaces .. . a tedious job, even with ‘search and replace’.
The double-spacing habit may take some time to break; but the final outcome will be more professional looking documents.
Smart Quotes and Straight Quotes
Another common mistake is using either smart quotes ( ‘ ’ “ ” ) or straight quotes ( ” ‘ ) inappropriately. Smart quotes (also known as curly quotes) are used for dialog and apostrophes while straight quotes are used for feet and minutes (“) and for inches and seconds (‘).
Microsoft Word uses straight quotes as its default; but this feature can easily be turned on or off.
• From the Tools menus, select AutoCorrect
• Click on the AutoFormat as You Type tab
• Under Replace as You Type, check or uncheck “Straight Quotes” with “Smart Quotes”
If you’ve already typed your document with incorrect quote marks, Word can replace the quotes for you.
• Follow the steps above
• Use the Ctrl + H shortcut key to open the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box
• Enter ” in both the Find what and Replace with boxes
• Click Replace All
To manually change your quotes, hold down the ALT key and type the numbers on the numeric keypad
• ALT 0145 and ALT 0146 for the left and right single quotes
• ALT 0147 and ALT 0148 for the left and right double curly quotes.
When using the ALT keystrokes in Windows, use the numeric keypad to the right side of your keyboard, not the row of numbers above the alphabet and make sure Num Lock is turned ON.
Hyphens and Dashes
A typewriter had only one dash choice – while computers offer 3 dash widths. Another mark of professionally set type is the proper use of hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. Each is a different size and has its own proper usage. The width of en and em dashes is usually equal to the width of the lowercase n and m for the typeface in which they are used.
• Hyphens – are used for hyphenating words and to separate characters in a phone number.
• En dashes – are used for showing duration or range as in 11:00–3:00 or January 11th–15th. Create en dashes with ALT 0150
• Em dashes — are the proper dashes to use instead of single or double hyphens — as punctuation.
The em dash is also used to separate clauses in a sentence. Microsoft Word will automatically replace double hyphens with an em dash. Create em dashes with ALT 0151.
Emphasis Text
With the typewriter, underlining text was the only way to emphasize text in a document. With the advent of desktop publishing we can now emphasize text using, bold, italic and bold italic.
Bold text is best used in whole lines of text such as in headings and captions or at the start of a paragraph as a design style. Bold Text shouldn’t be used to highlight words within a block of text, as it is very distracting to the eye. Italics should be used for emphasis instead, as italic text is more harmonious with surrounding text, yet clearly indicates additional importance.
Uderlined text is a hold over from the typewriter days should be avoided altogether as there are more pleasing methods to emphasize words using bold and italic. Underlined text should be reserved for use in website design and in financial or academic publications.
• Ctrl-b for bold
• Ctrl-i for italics
• Ctrl-u for underline
By using the tips above, your documents will look professional rather than amateurish. Some of these habits will take awhile to get used to; but keep trying; the results will be worth it!
10th
04 -
2011
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comment closed
The word ‘computer’ originally implied a person, who, under instructions from a mathematician, performed mechanical calculations. Mechanical calculating devices such as the abacus were often put to use to aid this process.
At the end of the Middle Ages, mathematics and engineering in Europe received a considerable boost, thus leading to the invention of numerous mechanical calculating devices. The technology for clockwork was developed by the early 17th century. The period between the early 19th century and early 20th century saw the development of a number of technologies which would be vital for the development of the digital computer later on. Some examples are the punched card and the valve. Charles Babbage was the first person to design a fully programmable computer as early as 1837. However, he was unable to actually construct his computer due to a variety of reasons.
Analog computers were increasingly used in the first half of the 20th century for a number of scientific computing needs. However, they became obsolete after the development of the digital computer.
The first digital computer was the Atanasoff Berry Computer . It used a binary system of arithmetic, parallel processing, a separation of memory and computing functions and regenerative memory. Binary math and electronic circuits – both of which are used in today’s computers – were first used in the Atanasoff Berry Computer.
In the 1930’s and 1940’s, newer and more efficient computers were continuously developed. Gradually, they came to possess the key features which are present in modern day computers – digital electronics and flexibility of programming.
Among the more important machines to be developed during this time, the American ENIAC was prominent. It was a general purpose machine, but had an inflexible architecture. Later a far superior technique known as the stored program architecture was developed. It is the foundation from which all modern computers are derived.
Throughout the 1950’s, computer design was primarily valve driven. This was later replaced by transistor-driven design in the 1960’s. Transistor-based computers were smaller, faster and cheaper, and hence commercially viable. Integrated circuit technology, adopted in the 1970’s enabled computer production costs to hit a new low, so that even individuals could afford them. That was the birth of the personal computer, as it is known today.