Software 1.

Introduction

Software refers to the programs that we run on our computer systems. Software allows the hardware to do something useful; without software, the hardware wouldnt know what it was supposed to do. Software is made up of a series of instructions or computer code. It is these instructions which tell the hardware that it needs to print a document or save a file or display a webpage. This section will look at the different types of software that you need to know about for your exam.

2. Software Categories

There are two main categories of computer software that you need to know about. They are:

1. System software the Operating System, utility programs and drivers 2. Application software the everyday programs that you use such as Microsoft Office, graphics packages and web browsers. We will look at each of these categories in a bit more detail over the next few pages.

3. Operating Systems

The operating system is part of the system software. All computers have an operating system, they cannot function without one. The operating system is a program that allows applications software to communicate with the hardware. Examples of operating systems are Windows Vista, Windows XP, Unix, Linux and MacOS. An operating system has many tasks. Here are just a few of them:

Sorting out where to store data on disk drives Dealing with security - user names and passwords Organising files and folders Managing data transfer from the CPU to the peripherals e.g. printer, monitor Deals with saving, deleting, opening, closing files

To find out more about operating systems, check out the operating system mini-website.

4. Utility Programs

Utility programs are part of the systems software. They are designed to do one or two specific but vital tasks very well. Some utility programs might be supplied as part of the operating system, others are purchased separately. Some common tasks carried out by utility programs are:

File compression File sorting

File renaming File conversion (e.g. convert a sound file to MP3) File repair Disk defragmentation (defragging)

To find out more about utility programs, check out the utility program mini-website.

5. Drivers

A driver is another essential piece of system software

As we said earlier, the operating system acts as a link between the hardware and software enabling both to communicate and do their tasks. A driver is a specially written program which translates the commands from the operating system into commands that the hardware will understand. Each piece of hardware e.g. printer, monitor, scanner, keyboard etc will have its own driver. Printers from different manufacturers work in different ways, so a printer from manufacturer A will need a different driver than printer from manufacturer B. If you try to use a device without the correct driver, then it probably wont work. If you do manage to get your new printer working without installing its driver, it will probably just print you gobbledygook!

This is what comes out of a printer with the correct driver installed: This is a printout This is what comes out of the printer with the incorrect driver installed: Jajshu fuau&(( 89asd 8fa8s9d Can you spot the difference?

When a new operating system such as Microsoft Vista is first released, the software developers will have been working closely with the hardware manufacturers and so the operating system will contain all of the drivers needed for the hardware currently on the market. However, operating systems are only released every 3-4 years and so the operating system will not contain the drivers for any new hardware developed after its release. When you buy a new piece of hardware, it will usually come with an installation disk which will load the new drivers into the operating system. Very often, you can also download the drivers from the internet.

6. Applications Software

Software applications work through the operating system to gain access to the hardware. A software application carries out tasks that the user is interested in doing such as writing a letter, creating graphs, sending an email or downloading a webpage. Application software can be classified under three main categories:

General purpose software Specialist software Tailor made or bespoke software

7. General Purpose Software

A general purpose application, sometimes known as off-the-shelf is the sort of software that you use at home and school. Examples include word processors, spreadsheets, databases, desktop publishing packages, graphics packages etc. This type of software tries to be a jack-of-all-trades. It provides many features that the majority of users will want e.g. formatting text, creating charts, organising tables. But it

does try to be all things to all people and so there will be a vast number of features that you may never use e.g. statistical functions, mail merge. This makes the storage size of these applications fairly large. There are several good reasons for using general purpose software:

It is relatively cheap It is easily available from most computer shops It will have been thoroughly tested so there wont be any serious problems or bugs There will be lots of user support i.e. books, user guides, online help and discussion forums on the Internet

7. Specialist Software

Specialist application packages are generally not available in shops and they often have to be purchased directly from the manufacturer or a specialist firm. These applications are designed to be used for specific tasks such as company payroll, stock control systems, appointment systems, ecommerce sites etc. The applications have not been written for a specific company. They have been developed by a manufacturer to try to provide all of the features that they anticipate a company might need.

Like general purpose software, there may be many features that the company does not need, or the features which are available may not work exactly as they would like in their business. It is possible for developers to adapt this specialist software somewhat and make it more specific for the company needs. However, they are limited in what can be changed.

7. Bespoke Software

Although specialist software might be the answer for many companies, there will be some organisations who find that it just doesnt do exactly what they want or it doesnt work with their current systems. In this case, they might decide to have the software system they need designed and developed specifically for them. This is called tailor-made or bespoke software. The main advantages are:

the company will get the exact software/system that they need the software will work exactly how they want it to work the software will only have the features that they specifically need in their business.

The main disadvantages of this approach are:

it takes a long time to develop such a system, between a few months to years it costs a great deal of money to develop such a system. the company may need to employ a team of people such as business analysts, programmers, testers etc there will be little in the way of user support and online help

7. Integrated Packages

Customers who purchase a word processor often want a spreadsheet and database package as well as a presentation package and a desktop publisher and a few others. But, each package when purchased on its own is fairly expensive and customers may find that to buy them all individually is more expensive than they can afford.

Some manufacturers decided to put a selection of the most popular general purpose software together and sell it as one package at a much cheaper price than buying each package individually. This is called an integrated package. An example of an integrated package is Microsoft Office which contains Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Publisher. Another example is 'Lotus SmartSuite'

1. Introduction

You may have heard the initials CAD or CAM mentioned before. They stand for Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing. Over the next few pages, we will be taking a closer look at what CAD actually is and what CAM does. Use the menu on the left hand side to navigate between the pages. Once you have read through them all, have a go at the quiz at the end.

10. Advantages of CAD

The software makes it very easy to change or adjust parts of the design Different stages or versions of a design can be stored on the hard disk and accessed at any time. Copies of the design can be produced by using a plotter or A3 printer The design can be emailed to another office so that they can give feedback The software can automatically check that the design meets any rules such as the minimum width of any part must be more than 1mm. While creating the design, an error message will display if any part of the design breaks this rule. If one part of the design e.g. an aircraft wing, needs to be joined to another part of the design e.g. the body of an aircraft, then the software can check that both designs will fit together properly.

11. Disadvantages of CAD

You need a computer with a lot of processing power to be able to run CAD packages You need a large, high quality monitor to be able to see the detail clearly on the screen CAD packages can be complex and might the user might need to learn a lot before they can use it competently. Specialist CAD packages can be very expensive

Database

1. Introduction

DEFINITION: A database is a collection of data or information which is held together in an organised or logical way.

- How many of you have ever kept details of your friends or families birthdays in a birthday book? - How many of you have written your friend's addresses into an address book? - How many of you have a copy of the Yellow Pages at home?

If you have answered YES to any of these questions, then you have used a 'paper-based' database. - Birthdays were organised in logical order of 'month' - Addresses were stored in logical order of 'surname' - Telephone numbers were stored in logical order of 'profession' e.g. gardener, builder, plumber.

These examples were of paper-based databases. However, when we use the term 'database' we generally think of a computerised database.

Use the menu on the left hand side to learn about the theory you will need for your examination. At the end, have a go at our quiz and see how much you have learned.

2. Computerised Databases
There are many examples of computerised databases, some of which you will have used at home or school.

In order to find the right web sites for you,. Search engines need a vast computerised database which they search using your entered keywords

Many schools now use electronic registers. These contain a database with records for every student in the school. The database records student's attendance both at school and in lessons.

If you don't want to use the paper-based version, a telephone number can be found using an online database such as yell.co.uk. Type in the category you are looking for e.g. builder, type in the area e.g. Warwick and a search will be performed on all the records in the database before giving you a list of results which match your requirements a second or so later.

Details of every person in the United Kingdom over the age of 18 are kept on local electoral registers (also called the 'electoral roll'). This database records your name, address, date of birth and national insurance number. When an election is imminent, cards are printed for every person who is eligible to vote. The cards are then sent to their home address. The card must be brought along to the polling station in order to vote (once). The police use various databases to help them track criminals and solve crimes. They are able to look for trends or patterns in crimes and this helps them to establish whether a person could be responsible for a series of burglaries or assaults that have been taking place. They are able to co-operate with other police forces and share their information. A library stores details of all their books, in a database. When you want to know if a book is in stock, you can not only look it up, but you can also check when it is due to be returned. The database also records details of all the borrowers, what books they currently have borrowed and when they are due back.

3. Computerised Vs paper-based databases

What is it that makes computerised databases much more popular than paper-based ones? Computerised Vs Paper-Based Computerised Paper-Based Can hold a vast amount of data Limited by physical storage space available Can take a while to manually search through all Very fast to find a specific record of the records Can easily search for a specific Difficult to search for a specific criteria; every criteria e.g. "all of the people record would have to be manually looked at.

Computerised who live in Warwick" Can be used to analyse the data Very difficult to analyse the data e.g. 'most popular selling item' Data can be sorted into ascending or descending order on multiple Difficult to sort data on more than one criteria. criteria Can easily update or amend a Changes have to be done manually. Records can record e.g. customer's address look messy if scribbled out. after moving house Records are stored safely, they Records can be lost or misfiled making it hard to are available when needed find them The database can be kept secure The only security would be locking up the by use of passwords records. Difficult to make a back up because every Easy to make a back-up in case of page/card would have to be re-written or data loss photocopied. This means extra storage space is needed.

Computerised Vs Paper-Based Paper-Based

4. Tables
There are a few terms that you need to understand when learning about databases. These will be explained over the next couple of pages. Databases store data or information in tables, just like the one below:

The table allows you to see all of the records stored in the database. Tables can store many records, from a few dozen for a small database up to millions for a large company database.

5. Records

As you saw previously, each table can store a great deal of data. Each table contains a lot of records. DEFINITION: A record is all of the data or information about one person or one thing. In the table below, all of the information about each cartoon character is stored in a 'row' or 'record'.

1. What information could you find in the record for Cat Woman? 2. What records do you think are stored on the database at your school? 3. How about your school library - what records would be stored on their database?

6. Fields
Each table contains a lot of records. A record is made up of lots of individual pieces of information. Look at Wonder Woman's record: it stores her first name, last name, address, city and age. Each of these individual pieces of information in a record is called a 'field'. DEFINITION: a 'field' is one piece of data or information about a person or thing.

1. What fields can you find about Tweety Bird? 2. What fields do you think would be stored in your student record in the school database? 3. What fields would be stored in a book record in the school library database?

7. Data Types
When you are about to set up a database, you need to think about the 'data type' which you will use for each field. The most common data types are:

Data Types Data Type Alphanumeric or Text This allows you to type in text, numbers and symbols Examples Forename: James Surname: Smith Address: 73, High Street Postcode: CV34 5TR Car Registration: EP06 5TV Telephone Number: 01926 123456* Number 15 This allows a whole number or a decimal number Only numbers can be entered, no letters or symbols Currency 21.35

5.75 This automatically formats the data to have a or $ or Euro symbol in front of the data and also ensures there are two $54.99 decimal places. Date/Time Long Date: 20 February 2006 This restricts data entry to 1-31 for day (28 or 30 in appropriate months) and 1-12 for month. Medium Date: 20-Feb06 It checks that a date can actually exist, for example, it would not allow 31/02/06 to be entered. Short Date: 20/02/06 It formats the data into long, medium or short date/time Long Time: 18:21:35 Medium Time: 06:21 PM Autonumber This datatype will automatically increase by 1 as records are added to the database Logical, Boolean, Yes/No Short Time: 18:21 Record 1: 1 Record 2: 2 Record 3: 3 Yes/No

Data Types Data Type This datatype is often referred to as different things, you may hear it called 'logical', or 'boolean' or 'yes/no'. Examples Male/Female Hot/Cold

All it means is that the data is restricted to one of only two choices On/Off

* You would think that 'telephone number' should be a 'number' data type. However all telephone numbers start with a 0 and you can't put a 0 in front of a 'number' datatype, so telephone number needs to be set as a 'text' datatype.

Here is a database table with the different data types set up for you to see:

8. Primary Key
Imagine what would happen if Mrs Smith telephoned the school to ask the secretary to pass on a message to her daughter Charlotte. If there were nothing to uniquely identify the students' records, the secretary would have to search for all of the 'Charlotte Smiths' in school and then say, 'sorry to keep you waiting Mrs Smith, could you just tell me if your daughter is in year 7, 8, 10, 11 or 13? And if she is in year 7, which one of these five girls is she?' How about a patient going to have an operation. 'Oh hello Mr Jones, I have 4 Mr Joneses having an operation today, can you tell me if yours is to remove your tonsils, your arm, put your leg in a cast or give you a hair transplant?'. I think that would be one very worried patient! Therefore, it is important that every single record in a database has something to uniquely identify it and this is called the 'Primary Key' or sometimes the 'Key Field'.

When you started school, you were given a 'student ID' or an 'office number' (primary key). This enables all of the girls called Charlotte Smith to be recognised.

When patients go into hospital, they are given a patient number (primary key). This means that any treatment can be recorded on their record and they will be given the right operation.

When you go into Argos to buy something, you look at the catalogue and write down the number of the item. You take your order to the till and they enter the number (primary key) and check if there are any items in stock.

When bank customers want to deposit or withdraw money they have to provide their bank account number (primary key). This enables the cashier to access their account details and process their request.

9. Field Lengths

Once you have chosen your datatypes, you need to think about the best 'field length' for each field. Most databases will have a default field length set up, in this case it is 50. This means that each text field is able to store up to 50 letters, numbers or symbols. In some situations, you may need to use all 50, but think about forenames. How long is the longest one you can think of? Probably around 12. What about surname? Even a double-barrel surname is unlikely to need more than 20 letters. The reason that you shouldn't just leave the field length as the default number is because every single character space allowed takes up one byte of storage space in the database, so a field size of 50 would need 50 bytes of storage. On its own, that doesn't sound a lot, but multiply that by all of the fields in the database and then by every single record being stored and you could soon have a large and unwieldy database that becomes a bit slow and sluggish.

What field size do you think would be sensible for the following:

Postcode? Telephone number? Car registration number? Town? County?

10. Validation
As well as choosing the correct data types to try to reduce the number of errors made when entering data into the database, there is another method that can be used when setting up the table. This is called 'Validation'. It is very important to remember that Validation cannot stop the wrong data being entered, you can still enter 'Smiht' instead of 'Smith' or 'Brown' instead of 'Green' or '78' instead of '87'. What Validation can do, is to check that the data is sensible, reasonable and allowable. Some of the types of Validation that you could set up for your database are: Database Validation Validation Technique Type Check If the datatype number has been chosen, then only that type of data will be allowed to be entered i.e. numbers If a field is only to accept certain choices e.g. title might be restricted to 'Mr', 'Mrs', 'Miss' and 'Ms', then 'Dr' wouldn't be allowed. Range Check A shop may only sell items between the price of 10.00 and 50.00. To stop mistakes being made, a range check can be set up to stop 500.00 being entered by accident. A social club may not want people below the age of 18 to be able to join. Notice the use of maths symbols: > 'greater than' < 'less than' = equals Presence check School database:

Example 2, 3, 4 Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms Brown, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red >=10 AND <=50

>=18

Database Validation Validation Technique

There might be an important piece of data that you want to make sure is always stored. For example, a school will always want to DVLA database: know an emergency contact number, a video rental store might Date test passed always want to know a customer's address, a wedding dress shop might always want a record of the brides wedding date. Electoral database: Date of A presence check makes sure that a critcal field cannot be left birth blank, it must be filled in. Vet's database: Type of pet Picture or format check Postcode: CV43 9PB Some things are always entered in the same format. Think about postcode, it always has a letter, letter, number, number, Telephone number, letter and letter e.g. CV43 9PB. There may be the odd number (01926) occasion where it differs slightly e.g. a Birmingham postcode B19 615432 8WR, but the letters and numbers are still in the same order. A picture or format check can be set up to make sure that you can only put letters where letters should be and numbers where numbers should be.

Example Emergency contact number

11. Verification
It was mentioned that validation cannot make sure that data you enter is correct, it can only check that it is sensible, reasonable and allowable. However, it is important that the data in your database is as accurate as possible. Have you ever heard of the term 'Garbage in, garbage out' or 'GIGO'? This means that if you enter data that is full of mistakes (garbage in) then when you want to search for a record you will get data with mistakes presented to you (garbage out). This is where Verification can help to make sure that the data in your database contains as few mistakes as possible. Verification means to check the data that you have entered against the original source data. Think about when you choose a new password, you have to type it in twice. This lets the computer check if you have typed it exactly the same both times and not made a mistake.

The data in your database can be verified or checked twice. Somebody else can check the data on the screen for you against the original paper documents You could print out your table and check it against the original paper documents You could type in the data twice (like you do with your password), and get the computer to check that both sets of data are identical. Other methods of verification include control, batch or hash totals. To find out more about these, visit the mini-website on Validation and Verification.

12. Flat-File Databases

When you first set up your database, you can choose to make a 'flat-file' database or a 'relational' database (see next page). With a flat file database, all of your data is stored in one large table. Take a database that a vet might use. In our example on the right, there is data about the owner of the pet i.e. name, address, phone number, there is data about the pet - name, type of animal, date of brith, and there is also data about any appointments the pet has.

This might seem pretty logical at first. But think about it, is it really as good as it seems? Every single time the pet has an appointment, the customer's title, surname, street, town, county, and phone number have to be entered. Also, the pet's name, type and d.o.b. also have to be entered. That would get fairly tedious having to enter so much data each time and there would be a great risk of making a mistake - remember GIGO. Repeating data unnecessarily like this is called 'data duplication'.

13. Relational Database

On the previous page, we saw that a flat file database wasn't always the best choice as it causes a lot of data duplication. The answer to this is called a relational database. In the database below, the data is split up into sensible groups i.e. customer data, pets data and appointments data. Then a separate table is made for each group.

Customer Table

Pet Table

Appointment Table

Once the tables have been set up, a relationship can be created to link them together - as shown by the lines linking the tables below. This is known as a 'relational database'.

The main benefit of a relational database is that data doesn't have to be duplicated. When a customer books an appointment for their pet, a new record is created on the 'appointment's table' and the relevant Customer and Pet IDs are chosen. Reducing data duplication reduces the amount of data which needs to be stored, thus making the database smaller. It also reduces the risk of mistakes, because every time you have to type the same data in, there is a risk you could mis-spell it.

14. Database Queries

Databases are extremely good at storing data or information. However, they are only any use if we can find specific information from them. Searching the database to find specific information is known as a query. If we wanted to search our Vet's database to find all of the dogs he looks after, we would set up a query and choose the criteria 'dog' as shown below:

We would then 'run' the query and the database would search for all of the records which matched the criteria 'dog'. We would get the following results:

Queries can be used to search for more than one thing, for example, we could search for all of the dogs who don't have any medical conditions:

And we would get the following results:

You can also search for specific things like 'all of the dogs born before 2000' or all of the pets who have had an appointment between 01/01/05 AND 31/12/05.

15. Comparison and Logical Operators

As we saw on the previous page, specific records can be found by using a query. The database can be searched using a comparison operator. This means that you can look for something 'greater than', 'less than', 'before', 'equal to'. The main operators are listed below: Common Operators Comparison Operator > < = <> >= <= Means Example

Greater than Greater than 10 ; After 01/01/2007 Less than Less than 100; Before 01/01/2007 Equal to Exactly 25; A date - 12/09/2006 Not equal to Not 12/09/2006 - find all the days there were appoin Greater than or equal to 10.00 - All values of 10.00 or above (notice this inc Less than or equal to 10.00 - All values of 10.00 or below (notice this inc

As well as 'comparison operators' such as those shown above, there are also 'logical operators' that you can use in your queries to help you find the records you are looking for:

Logical Operator AND OR NOT

Logical Operators Example Find all the dogs AND all the cats Find all the dogs who had an appointment on 30/01/2007 OR on 31/01/2007 Find all the dogs who had an appointment this year but NOT in January

16. Reports
Once you have run a query, the results are displayed in a table like the one shown below:

Whilst this shows all of the data, it isn't very nicely presented. Also, if you had hundreds of results then it might be hard to look at all of the data and pick out specific things. There is a much nicer way of presenting the same data, this is called a report:

This report looks much more professional than a table of data. Note that 'pet name' has been sorted into alphabetical order or ascending order. Databases will let you sort any field in ascending or descending order.

17. Summary

A database is a collection of data or information which is held together in an organised or logical way. Many databases are computerised. Databases store data or information in tables Each table consists of a number of records Each record is made up of a number of fields Every record has an unique identifier called the primary key Validation tries to make sure entered data is sensible, reasonable and allowable Verification means checking the data more than once e.g. typing a new password twice to make sure mo typing mistakes have been made. A flat file database only consists of one table A relational database consists of a number of tables each with a relationship with at least one other table A table in a relational database is linked to other tables by making use of their primary keys. A query is used to extract data from a database Comparison Operators and Logical Operators are used to set up a query Reports present the results of a query in a neat, well laid out format.

Data Logging 1. Introduction

The term 'data logging' refers to collecting or gathering data over a period of time. Over the next few pages, we will be looking at data logging in more detail and finding out what it means. Use the menu on the left-hand side to navigate through the pages. When you have read all of the theory, have a go at the quiz to see how much you have understood.

2. How Data is Collected

Sensors are used to take readings or measurements at regular intervals of their environment.

The sensors could be collecting data on a wide range of thing such as temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, water currents, electrical voltage, pH readings etc. The sensors may be either analogue or digital. If they take analogue readings, an Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) will be needed to convert the signal into digital data which the computer can understand.

As the sensor takes a reading, the data is sent though a cable or wireless link to the data logger. The data logger usually stores the data for a period of time before sending it in a large batch to a computer which will process and analyse it. A data logger is often a hand-held battery-operated device which has a large amount of memory.

3. Data Logging Examples

In a Hospital

When a patient has had a major operation or is very ill, they may be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). While they are in the ICU, they will be constantly monitored to make sure that their condition is stable and not deteriorating. A heart monitor will take readings of their heart rate and pattern of beats. These readings will be displayed as digital numbers on the monitor itself and they will also be output to a continuous graph so that the doctors can pick up any changes over time. Their breathing rate will be monitored and their level of oxygen measured. Alarms will be triggered if their oxygen level goes below a certain amount. Their temperature will be measured at regular intervals to monitor whether they have an infection and if so, whether it is responding to treatment.

Water Companies

Water companies have to constantly monitor the acidity of the water in their reservoirs. They also monitor pollution, chemicals and the number of bacteria in rivers. In order to do this:

The sensors take measurements of the water An ADC converts the analogue signals into digital data The data is sent to the data logger where it is stored until called for by the Water Board's computer. On request, the digital data is transmitted to the Water Board's computer. Special software (data logging software) takes the data and analyses it The results of the analysis are presented as graphs and tables The results are printed out

Racing Cars

Some companies invest millions into developing state-of-the-art racing cars. They want to know every aspect of how their car is performing so that they can ensure the engine is calibrated correctly, the right amount of fuel is being delivered, the best speeds are being achieved etc. Digital electronic dashboards are used inside the cars. They display data collected by the sensors. This data is logged and stored for later analysis by the engineers.

Also, output alarms can be set to alert the driver when certain conditions have been met. Data can also be scrolled through by the driver pushing a button.

4. Remote Data Logging

Data often needs to be collected from places that are nowhere near a nice cosy office. The data might need to be collected at all times of the day and night or during weekends when people might be away from work. Data might also need to be collected from dangerous places such as volcanoes or from places where it is not practical or safe for a human to be, maybe deep in the ocean, in the upper atmosphere or even on other planets. Remote data logging means that the sensors collect data 'out in the field' and pass it to a portable data logger. The data logger then relays the data either wirelessly, by fibre-optic cables or possibly even by satellite, back to a computer ready for analysis.

5. Logging Interval or Period

The 'Logging Interval' is the period of time over which measurements are taken by the sensors. If the measured value changes very rapidly then the time interval needs to be rapid as well, otherwise crucial events will be missed. On the other hand, if the data is going to change very slowly, then you would take readings much less often so that you do not get too much data. Logging Intervals Data Logging Sound recording Typical Interval Thousandth of a second

Logging Intervals Data Logging Heart beat Oven temperature Outdoor temperature Soil dampness Growth of plants Destruction of the Rain Forest Growth of cities Global warming Typical Interval Tenths of a second Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Decades

6. Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Data Logging can be used in remote or dangerous situations Data logging can be carried out 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year Time intervals for collecting data can be very frequent and regular, for example, hundreds of measurements per second can be set up to start at a time in the future No need to have a person present Data logging is often more accurate because there is no likelihood of human error

Disadvantages

If the data logging equipment breaks down or malfunctions, some data could be lost or not recorded Equipment can be expensive for small tasks The equipment will only take readings at the logging interval which has been set up. If something unexpected happens between recordings, the data will not be collected.

Operating System 1. Introduction

A computer is made up of many parts. You have the hardware e.g. monitor, keyboard and mouse and you have the software e.g. word processor, spreadsheet and database. However, the software and the hardware can't work together without something to act as an 'in-between'.

The task of co-coordinating all of the software and hardware is given to the Operating System.

2. What is an operating system?

There are two main categories of software. There is 'application software' with examples such as word processors, spreadsheets and databases. The other main category is called 'system software' which includes the operating system and utility programs. Once your computer has begun booting up using the BIOS instructions in ROM, the operating system will be the first piece of software to be loaded up. The operating system is needed to control everything happening in your computer. It controls the memory, the disks, the peripherals and the application software. Without the operating system your computer would just sit there doing nothing.

3. Tasks of the operating system

An operating system is also responsible for a whole host of other tasks. Do a little bit of research for yourself and find out some of the others:

4. Examples of operating systems

There are a number of operating systems that you could use on your computer.

The one that you are most likely to be familiar with is one of the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Almost all personal computers are loaded with Windows before you purchase them and most schools use a network version.

If you use an Apple Mac computer then you will be familiar with Apple's unique operating system, Mac OS. Many people find this far easier and more intuitive than Microsoft's Windows versions.

Linux is an alternative operating system for most computers.

It has the advantage of being free of charge. This is because it is 'open source' software. Unix A powerful operating system commonly found on large systems such as super-computers and mainframes. It is especially good at allowing many users to use the computer system at the same time.

5. Single user operating system

Many of you will have a computer at home and as mentioned on the previous page, it is likely to have either Microsoft Windows or Mac OS loaded onto it. Whilst you are using your computer it is likely that you don't need to share peripherals e.g. a printer and you probably don't need to share out your processing time with another person in the house. Therefore, the operating system on your computer only has to deal with the tasks you are giving it. It doesn't need to worry about sharing out memory, hardware or processing time. This is called a single user operating system. Examples of such operating systems are Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP and Vista as well as the Mac OS range.

6. Multi user operating system

Large companies often use a mainframe computer system. These are very expensive, powerful machines and it would make no sense at all for only one person to be able to use the computer. However, a mainframe computer can only do one thing at a time - even if it does it very quickly. So, to allow the mainframe to be able to deal with hundreds of people who all want to do something different, multi-user operating systems were developed. Multi-user operating systems work by 'slicing' up the processing time of the CPU into tiny chunks. Each chunk of time is given to a user to deal with their task. See the diagram below to explain.

As you can see, the person on the computer/terminal A gets a little slice of the CPU time before the person on terminal B. Once his time is up, even if the task isn't completed, person B gets a slice of the time. However, this happens so quickly, (billionths of a second) that users don't realise that they are having to share the computer with others.

7. Multi tasking operating system

When you are working on the computer you probably have a web browser open, an email or instant messaging system open and one or more applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet or graphics package open. You are able to do this because your operating system will switch the application modules in and out of RAM as you are using them and return them temporarily to the hard disk when they are open but not being accessed. This is called multi tasking.

8. Real time processing

Real time processing is usually found in systems which use computer control.

This processing method is used when it is essential that the input request is dealt with quickly enough so as to be able to control an output properly. For example, the computer inside the Engine Control Unit in a car has to manage the engine at every moment based on what the driver wants to do.

Real time processing has to be programmed very carefully to ensure that no input events are missed. Note that real-time processing does not have to be 'fast'. For example, a traffic light system is a real-time system but it only needs to process data relatively slowly. On the other hand, controlling a car engine has to deal with input events happening every thousandth of a second so a very fast computer is needed to do this -but both the traffic-light and the car engine computers are carrying out 'real-time' processing. Examples:

Traffic lights Heart rate monitoring Aircraft control Computer games

Some books will tell you that ticket booking systems are an example of real time processing. That is not correct.

9. Transaction processing

Inputs are noted by the computer, but it deals with them after a short delay. It spends that delay handling other inputs and managing data movements. The delay may be so brief that it looks to you as if it has happened straight away. But in terms of 'computer time', where each computer cycle is far less than a millionth of a second, it will have spent many cycles doing other things. For example,

Booking pop concert tickets Ordering books online

Handling bank accounts

10. Batch processing

It is often not desirable to deal with the inputs until a certain number have occurred or a set time has passed. So they are stored until the system comes online to process the data in one 'batch'. Batch processing is usually fully automatic unlike 'real-time' or transaction processing which are interactive. For example

A stock control programme may store records of every item sold in a shop that day. Then, at the end of each day it calculates what needs to be ordered. An online competition stores all the entries until it is time to find the winner. Electricity, gas and telephone bills are usually calculated on a monthly basis.

Programming Languages 1. Introduction

Computers, to be useful, need instructions to tell them what to do. A software application consists of a set of instructions that the computer will run ('execute') when loaded. Each application will do something different for example:

Computer games Word Processing Play Music Calculate Results

They all share something in common - they need someone to write the instructions using a programming language to make them useful and to perform the tasks they are meant to. Over the next few pages, we will be introducing you to programming languages. Use the menu on the left hand side to navigate to the other pages.

2. Types of programming language

There are many programming languages. This is because some are better suited for writing particular types of software applications than others. For example, there are programming languages that are particularly suitable for:

commercial / financial applications scientific problems creating computer games controlling machines such as robots safety critical programs e.g. controlling nuclear reactors

Each language is designed to provide the programmer with the right kind of tools to do the job. These are some of the computer languages available, you might recognise the names of some of them:

BASIC FORTRAN C++ PL/M LOGO C JAVA ADA

3. Low level language

At the most basic level. Computers only understand one 'language' namely a series of binary 1s and 0s which is also known as machine code. A computer program in binary looks like: 0010110101010101010101001010100001111111010101011 This looks like gibberish to a person, but the computer could be playing some music or running a computer game - its all the same to the machine. Machine Code is a 'Low Level Language'. A low level language creates instructions that directly control the CPU of a computer.

Advantages of Machine Code

Runs very fast compared to the code created by other types of programming language Controls the computer directly Each instruction only does one thing

Disadvantages of Machine Code

It is specific to the CPU: each computer chip type has its own machine code Very difficult for a person to read machine code and understand the purpose of what it is doing

Very slow to program in machine code as it instructs the CPU in hte most minute nitpicking detail

4. Assembly language
As you have seen, Machine code is quite difficult to work with as a programmer. So to make things a bit easier, a language called Assembly Language was developed. This uses English-like commands that are easier to use. For example the instruction to Add is ADD A,B The instruction to Subtract is SUB A,B and the instruction to move data from one part of the CPU to another is MOV AL, EX

It is still a 'Low Level Language' because most of the instructions translate into only one Machine Code instruction. Before instructions written in Assembly Language can be used, they must be translated into machine code by a programme called an Assembler.

Advantage over Machine Code

Easier to remember the commands Easier to fix (debug) when the wrong instructions are written The same computer programme written in Assembly Language can be used over a range of computers as an Assembler for each type of computer chip is available.

5. High level language

Assembly language is only one step up from Machine Code - it is a bit easier to use, but it is still difficult to see what each part of programme is meant to be doing. For example have a look at this set of Assembly Language instructions that may be a small part of a computer programme: ADD A,B MOV B,C LDA C It is still hard to understand what the program is meant to be doing overall. Plenty of comments within the program help but things could be easier. This is where 'High Level Languages' come in. A high level language is designed to have all the handy things that a programmer needs to write code quickly and correctly. It has commands such as PRINT, GOTO, IF IF Time = 3pm THEN PRINT MyPaper.doc GOTO END A high level language is far easier to write than Assembly Language. It is also easier to fix because it is more obvious when a mistake has been made.

Advantages of high level languages:

Easier to understand what the program is meant to be doing Easier to fix (debug) mistakes Has commands such as "Print" to cut down on the amount of code that has to be written. Independent of the computer it needs to run on

A high level language has to be translated into Machine Code. This is the job of a program called the 'Compiler'. The next page explains more. Examples of high level languages Name of language BASIC C++ About A good language to learn programming as it contains most of the main commands used in all other languages. (Can be a bit slow to run though) Used by professionals to create all kinds of applications. Takes a lot of

Examples of high level languages Name of language FORTRAN JAVA HTML About effort to learn well. Engineers and scientists love to use this language because it has some very powerful mathematical commands Very popular with programmers designing for the Internet. This is the most popular code used to create Web sites. Strictly speaking this is not a computer language as the CPU does not run the code directly. A web browser interprets the commands to create the web page being viewed.

6. Translation programs
Eventually every computer programming language has to be converted into Machine Code so that the computer can carry out instructions. There are two ways of carrying out this translation.

1) One line at a time.

With this kind of computer program, the high level program is loaded and then each instruction is converted into Machine Code and then run one line at a time. This type of language is called an Interpreted Language. It is the job of a program called the Interpreter to carry out this translation. BASIC is an interpreted language.

Advantage over a compiled language:

You can write one line of code and it can be immediately translated and run

Disadvantage over a compiled language

Slow to run, as every single line has to be translated as you work

Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you Click on this link: Interpreter

2) Translate all the instructions in one go

The idea behind this is to take the high level language computer program and translate it into machine code in one go. All the translated machine code is stored in a file called the 'object code' file. It is the job of the 'Compiler' to convert a high level language into Machine Code

Advantage:

It runs much faster than an interpreter because all the translation has been done before hand.

Disadvantage

Any changes to the program means that the whole thing has to be compiled once again

Robotics Introduction

Robots are basically machines, but they have fascinated people even before it was possible to build one in real life. The reason for this, of course, is that they appear to have 'human' qualities rather than being a lifeless machine.

Movies are full of robots that can do everything humans can do and more. Films such as the 'Terminator' or "AI - Artificial Intelligence" portray them as totally lifelike, intelligent, motivated creatures. In reality they are far more limited, but they are still fascinating machines to explore. This web site will introduce you to the world of robots.

2: What is a robot?

This is not so easy to answer! Websters Dictionary says: A machine that looks like a human being and has the capacity to perform human tasks. So the classic Robot would look like the famous Honda Asimo (pictured right) On the other hand not all robots need to look human... consider these machines (real or otherwise!) :-

Dalek

Battle Bot

Robot Pet

Bomb disposal

They all look different, but they share one thing in common.. They are able to take in information from their surroundings and make decisions based on that information. So a Robot has a number of sensors to provide the information. That information is processed by its computer and then it moves or acts in some way. There is endless variety in the size, shape and jobs of robots. Some robots are used day after day in factories, while others are highly experimental and use artificial intelligence to behave more and more like living creatures. Some robots are being designed to perform surgery that requires great precision, explore space, the ocean, other dangerous areas.

3: Why use robots?

Robots have qualities that make them very useful for certain jobs:

They can repeat tasks in exactly the same way each time As long as they have power, they never tire They can survive in places where people can't They can carry out tasks too dangerous for people They never get bored when they repeat the same task over and over They have many types of sensors to gather and process data

Mars Rover

Underwater Robot

4: History of robots

This was one of the first robots - the robot's name was Elektro and his dog's name was Sparko. They appeared at the New York World's Fair in 1939. While plugged in, Elektro could say 77 words and move backwards and forwards. The word "robot", a Czeck term for forced labour or serf, was introduced by a man called Karl Capek in the 1920s. He needed a term to call the "artificial workers" in a play that he was writing. Hence, the word 'robot' came into common usage.

6: Robots in the real world

9 out of 10 robots in existence today are Industrial robots. This means that robot are working for people in many places such as:

factories laboratories warehouses energy plants hospitals

Several years ago, the majority (90%) of robots that '"worked" were used in car manufacturing companies. These robots worked on assembly lines doing a variety of tasks. Now only half the robots in the world are busy building cars. The other half are spread out among the other industries listed above.

What are some of the tasks that robots can do?

assemble products handle dangerous materials spray paint onto cars inspect parts to check quality cut out materials into the correct shape for making clothes disarm bombs collect samples from other planets gather data from inside volcanoes

Spreadsheets

1. Introduction

Throughout the ages, people have always needed to calculate things. Tools such as the abacus were invented by the early Chinese to help keep track of large numbers. It is probably hard for you to imagine, but as little as thirty years ago students only had pen, paper, slide rules and log books to help them in their maths exams. There were no such things as calculators and certainly no personal computers.

Calculators eventually became commonplace tools and certainly helped to speed up calculations and improve accuracy. But even they weren't really good enough to solve complex problems or deal with large amounts of repetitive work. And so, once the technology was available, spreadsheets were developed. Find out a little more about spreadsheets by using the menu on the left-hand side.

2. What is a spreadsheet?

sA spreadsheet is a piece of software which is used to work out calculations. But if you learn a little bit about spreadsheets and have a play with them, you will soon find out that they can do a whole lot more than simply add up a column of numbers. Spreadsheets can handle all of the financial calculations for a large business, they can be used to work with statistics and to calculate probability or other statistical information, they can do complex trigonometry. Not only that, they can also make pretty snazzy graphs and charts that you can use to impress people. Spreadsheets can also be used as a simple flat-file database. But, at the end of the day, a spreadsheet really is just a glorified calculator - albeit a pretty amazing one!

3. Parts of a spreadsheet
You need to know the names of some parts of a spreadsheet although you probably are already familiar with most of them. Have a go at the activity below. Check that you can recognise different parts of a spreadsheet. Make sure that you can explain the different terms e.g. 'value', 'cell'

4. Formulae

A formula is used to do every single calculation in the spreadsheet. A formula can be as simple as adding up two numbers in different cells or it can be as complex as working out a statistical result from millions of pieces of data collected over months. The reason that formulae are so important is that once you have set them up, they will track any changes that you make in the spreadsheet. So for example, your teacher might set up a formula to work out the percentages marks students got in a test. After going through the test with the students, maybe a couple of extra marks were given for some questions or some scores had been added up wrong. Instead of having to work out the percentages again, the teacher simply enters the new score into the spreadsheet and the percentage is automatically recalculated. A spreadsheet formula must start with an equals sign (=). It is the trigger to tell the spreadsheet that a calculation is needed.

5. Functions
A function does a very specific job within a spreadsheet. For example, SUM will add up a set of numbers for you. AVERAGE is another common one which will give you the average of a set of numbers. There are hundreds of functions available for you to make use of within a spreadsheet package. Some are going to be useful to you now, some you will probably never use. All of these functions can be combined in a formula, for example =SUM(A1:A5) is a formula which is making use of the SUM function.

6. Charts & Graphs

Some spreadsheets can become very large and complex, especially ones which are used to keep track of projects or company finances. Most people find a large table of data such as the one on the right, hard to analyse. It is almost impossible to tell at a glance what is happening over a period of time and trends are happening. For example, is the profit going up each month, is it decreasing? Are there any peaks and troughs in sales throughout the year? How does this year compare to last year. And so on. It is much easier for humans to see patterns in data when it is in a picture format for example a graph or a chart. Have a look at the chart below which shows ice-cream sales during the year (figures are made up). See how much easier it is to spot trends in the chart than the table? You could instantly spot which months had the highest and lowest sales.

7. Modelling
A model allows you to try out different scenarios to see what would happen if you made a change without any of the risks of actually having to do them in real life.

The spreadsheet above is a simple model for a shop selling CDs. It could be used to test out things like:

what would happen to the total profit if the number of 'Back to Bedlam' CDs rose to 3,000? what would happen to the profit per item if the commission on 'Keys to the World' rose to 2.50? what would happen to the total profit if the commission on 'Keep on' dropped to 0.75?

The shop wouldn't want to try these things out for real until they were sure of the effects. Spreadsheets are excellent for modelling because of the following features:

Formulas Goal Seek Regression analysis Graphs and charts

8. Who uses spreadsheets?

Accountants

Accountants need to keep track of all of the money coming into the business and all of the payments going out. They need to be able to calculate profits and forecast how well they think the business will do during the next year. They also need to calculate the wages of all the staff each month.

Teachers
Teachers can use spreadsheets to keep track of marks given for homework and recording exam results.

Engineers

Engineers need to perform thousands of calculations when designing bridges, buildings, aeroplanes, cars etc. They need to make sure that bridges will be able to support themselves and will not collapse under the weight of traffic or the force of strong winds. They need to work out how deep the foundations of a house need to be in order to support the walls and roof. They need to make sure that the aerodynamics of a plane will enable it to take off and fly.

Sales people
Sales people use spreadsheets to keep track of the items they sell, the value of the items, the profit made on each item and more importantly, the commission they have earned!

Scientists

Scientists need to be able to keep track of their results from experiments. They use spreadsheets to help them to analyse what happened with the experiment and also to predict what might happen if they were to change one variable.

Supermarkets
Supermarkets use spreadsheets to keep track of finances i.e. sales, losses and money spent. They also use spreadsheets to work out queuing times and what are the best number of checkouts to have open at any one time during the day.

Market researchers

Market researchers collect data from shoppers about their spending habits and their awareness of different brands. All of this data has to be collated and analysed in order to provide the company with a detailed report of what customers think about their products.

User Interface 1. Introduction

People need a way of interacting with machines if they are to be useful. Think of a vending machine - you want a drink, but how do you get the machine to give it to you? Well, you will have to read the display and follow the instructions, put your money in the slot, press the right buttons and eventually your drink will pop out (hopefully!). You got the machine to give you a drink by interacting with it via its 'user interface'. Think about all of the other machines that you interact with on a daily basis. You have to do certain things and make choices to get them to work. We will be looking at different types of user interface over the next few pages. Navigate by using the menu on the left hand side.

2. Command Line Interface (CLI)

A Command Line Interface allows the user to interact directly with the computer system by typing in commands (instructions) into a screen which looks similar to the one below:

You cannot just type in any kind of instruction of course, because the computer will only react to a definite set of words. These command are very specific, for example in DOS you could type in: copy c:\item.txt d:\ That tells the machine to copy the file 'item.txt' that resides in the root directory of drive C: into the root directory of drive D:\ Before Windows was developed, this type of user interface was what most people used to get the computer to follow instructions. Nowadays, very few people have the knowledge to be able to use a command line interface. An example of this type of interface is DOS (Disk Operating System).

3. Advantages of a CLI

- If the user knows the correct commands then this type of interface can be much faster than any other type of interface. - This type of interface needs much less memory (RAM) in order to use it than other user interfaces. - This type of interface does not use as much CPU processing time as the others do. - A low resolution, cheaper monitor can be used with this type of user interface. - A CLI does not require Windows to run.

4. Disadvantages of a CLI

- For someone who has never used a command line interface it can be very confusing. - Commands have to be typed in precisely, if there is a spelling error the command will fail. - If you mis-type an instruction, it is often necessary to start all over again.

- There are a large number of commands which need to be learned - in the case of Unix, it can be hundreds. - You can't just guess what the instruction might be and you can't just 'have a go'

5. Menu Driven Interface

This type of interface lets you interact with a computer or device by working your way through a series of screens or menus. Think about your iPod or mobile phone, they both use a menu driven interface. You are presented with a menu, you make a choice and then the next menu appears on the screen. You make another choice and so on. Cashpoint machines (ATMs) are another good example of a menu driven interface. Menu driven interfaces can also be verbal rather than visual. Have you ever made a telephone call and been asked to 'press 1 for abc, press 2 for def, press 3 for a ghi' ? Most of the software that you use have menu interfaces. You can use many features of the software by working your way through the menu options. Have a look at the menus in your word processor or spreadsheet package and see how many different choices you are given. A well designed menu interface is simple to use, you just follow the instructions and make your choices.

6. Advantages of a menu interface

- They are extremely easy to use, someone who has never seen the interface before can work out what to do. - There are no commands to learn or remember. - Step-by-step options are given so that the user doesn't have to remember anything. - Even if you don't know what to do, you can usually guess you way around the options - Menu interfaces don't have to be visual, they can be spoken - good for telephones or for visually impaired people. - They don't need huge amounts of processing power or memory.

7. Disadvantages of a menu interface

- A poorly designed menu interface may be slow to use - It can be irritating if there are too many menu screens to work through - users get annoyed or bored if it takes too long. - You often can't go to the exact place you want right at the start. You have to work your way through the menu screens even if you know where you want to get to.

- The menu can take up a large part of the screen so you have to keep flicking back and forwards between applications - If the menu is poorly designed it might be hard to read e.g. writing is too small for people with poor sight, colours might clash and be difficult to read, font style might be hard to read.

8. Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A graphical user interface is the most common type of user interface seen today. it is a very 'friendly' way for people to interact with the computer because it makes use of pictures, graphics and icons - hence why it is called 'graphical'. A GUI (pronounced gooey) is also known as a WIMP interface because it makes use of: Windows - a rectangular area on the screen where the commonly used applications run Icons - a picture or symbol which is used to represent a software application or hardware device Menus - a list of options from which the user can choose what they require Pointers - a symbol such as an arrow which moves around the screen as you move your mouse. Helps you to select objects.

All modern operating systems have at least one type of GUI. For example Microsoft Windows is a GUI, Apple Macintosh has another. Linux has a number of Graphical User Interfaces available.

Many programs that run in Windows are known as WYSIWYG - this stands for What You See Is What You Get. In the early days of word-processors, you typed your essay or letter on the screen, but it could look completely different on the printer. A GUI normally tries to ensure that whatever you create on the screen will be very similar to what appears on the printer or world-wide-web.

9. Advantages of a GUI

- This type of user interface is extremely easy to use, especially for a beginner - It is easy to explore and find your way around the system using a GUI - You do not have to learn complicated commands - There are usually good help facilities provided with GUIs - You get the benefit of WYSIWYG - They let you exchange data between different software applications

10. Disadvantages of a GUI

- GUI take up a much larger amount of hard disk space than other interfaces - GUI need significantly more memory (RAM) to run than other interface types - GUI use more processing power than other types of interface - GUI can be slow for experienced programmers to use, they find CLI interfaces much faster to use

11. Design of user interfaces

It is the job of a user interface to make a program easy to use. A good user interface should: - Be attractive and pleasing to the eye - Be easy to use - Ensure all screens are consistent - Have all options clearly shown - Have clear warning messages when someone makes a mistake - Have online help and support

Utility Programs

1. Introduction

A Utility program is designed to do one or perhaps two tasks very well and nothing else. For example, you may want to compress a file to let you save it on to a floppy disk. For this task you would choose to use a file compression utility program. Quite often, a Utility program is built right in to the operating system. For example Windows XP has a built in 'Zip' compression utility you can use to compress a file or folder. (In Windows Explorer Right Click over the file so a menu pops up, then select "Send To" and you should see "Compressed (zipped) folder" as an option)

NOTE: in your exam, you must refer to the term 'compression' rather than 'zipped'

2. Things that utility programs can do

Here are some very common tasks that are carried out by various Utility programs

File sorting File renaming File conversion (e.g. convert a sound file to MP3) File repair Disk monitoring and defragmentation (defragging) Printing jobs Backing up data. Anti-Virus

Note that a utility program only does one or perhaps two of these. The picture below shows some very handy utility programmes you can download from the internet.

These programmes are most often Shareware. With shareware, you can download and use the software straight away, but eventually you need to pay the person who created the software if you want to continue using it. There are many shareware sites you can use to explore the hundreds of utility programmes available.

Validation and Verification

1. Introduction

You will come across the terms Validation and Verification throughout your GCSE. You will need to learn the theory about it and you will need to use it within your coursework as part of the systems that you set up. Questions come up on most papers about Validation and Verification and unfortunately it is very easy to get the two confused or not to understand exactly what they do. Over the next few pages, we will be looking at the difference between the two and providing you with clear, simple explanations. Go through each of the pages by using the menu on the left hand side. When you have read through the theory, have a go at the quiz to check whether you understood it.

2. Validation

When you are entering data into a database or spreadsheet, it is vital that the data is as accurate as possible. You have probably heard the term Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO). Basically it means, if you put data into your database with lots of mistakes and errors, then when you need to search for some data, the results that you get back will contain lots of mistakes and errors i.e. rubbish! Validation techniques can be used to try to reduce the number of errors in the data being entered. The validation is performed by the computer at the point when you enter data. It checks the data against the set of validation rules which you set up when developing your new database or spreadsheet system. DEFINITION: Validation aims to make sure that data is sensible, reasonable and allowable. It is critical that you understand what this definition means and can repeat it when asked in an examination question. Students regularly say in exam answers that validation checks that the data is correct. It does NOT!! If you enter Smithe instead of Smith or 07/08/07 instead of 08/07/07 no amount of validation in the world will pick up that human error. So while validation can help to reduce the number of errors when entering data, it cannot stop them be very clear about that.

3. Types of Validation
Some of the types of Validation that you could set up are: Validation Techniques Validation Type Check Sometimes you only want data of a certain type entered into a field. For example, in a clothes shop, dress sizes may range from 8 to 18. A number datatype would be a suitable choice for this data. 2, 3, 4 By setting the datatype as number, only numbers could be entered and you would prevent anyone trying to enter ten or ten and a half. 14/05/07 Some data types can perform an extra type check. For example, a date data type will ensure that a date you have entered can actually exist e.g. it would not allow you to enter the date 31/02/07. Range Check A shop may only sell items between the price of 10.00 and 50.00. To stop mistakes being made, a range check can be set up to stop 500.00 being entered by accident. Another example might be that a social club may not want people below the age of 18 to be able to join. Notice the use of maths symbols: > 'greater than' < 'less than' = equals Presence check There might be an important piece of data that you want to make sure is always stored. School database: Emergency contact number >=10 AND <=50 Example

>=18

For example, a school will always want to know an emergency DVLA database: contact number, a video rental store might always want to know Date test passed a customer's address, a wedding dress shop might always want a record of the brides wedding date. Electoral database: Date of A presence check makes sure that a critcal field cannot be left birth blank, it must be filled in.

Validation Techniques Validation

Example Vet's database: Type of pet

Picture or format check Some things are always entered in the same format. Think about postcode, it always has a letter, letter, number, number, number, letter and letter e.g. CV43 9PB. There may be the odd occasion where it differs slightly e.g. a Birmingham postcode B19 8WR, but the letters and numbers are still in the same order. A picture or format check can be set up to make sure that you can only put letters where letters should be and numbers where numbers should be. Check Digit This is used when you want to be sure that a range of numbers has been entered correctly for example a barcode or an ISBN number: ISBN 1 84146 201 2 The check digit is the final number in the sequence, so in this example it is the final 2. The computer will perform a complex calculation on all of the numbers and then compare the answer to the check digit. If both match, it means the data was entered correctly. ISBN 1 84146 201 2 Postcode: CV43 9PB Telephone number (01926) 615432

4. Verification

It was mentioned earlier that validation cannot make sure data that you enter is correct, it can only check that it is sensible, reasonable and allowable. However, it is important that the data in your database is as accurate as possible.

Verification can be used to help make sure that the data in your database contains as few mistakes as possible. DEFINITION: Verification means to check the data that you have entered against the original source data. It can be done in a number of ways: Entering the data twice. Think about when you choose a new password, you have to type it in twice. This lets the computer check if you have typed it exactly the same both times and not made a mistake. It verifies that the first version is correct by matching it against the second version. Whilst this can help to identify many mistakes, it is not ideal for large amounts of data.

It would could take a person a lot of time to enter the data twice. They could enter the same mistake twice and so it wouldn'tt get picked up. You would end up with two copies of the data.

Checking the data on the screen against the original paper document This saves having to enter the data twice. It can help pick up errors where data has been entered incorrectly or transposed. However, it isnt always that easy to keep moving your eyes back and forth between a monitor and a paper copy. Printing out a copy of the data and comparing the printout to the original paper document. This is probably the easiest of the verification methods because you can have both copies side by side and scan both for mistakes. However, it can be time consuming if there is a large amount of data to check and if you do it too quickly, mistakes could be overlooked.

9. Simulations

Computer simulations use computer models to also predict how a system will behave given a set of conditions. Again, they are created through mathematical formulas. The difference between a model and a simulation is that a simulation also uses something physical to mimic the system. A very good example of a simulation is a flight simulator. Another exampleof a simulation is a thrill ride simulator somewhere like Disneyland. Another form of simulation is Virtual Reality. Try to come up with some reasons as to why using a simulation is a good idea.

10. Advantages of models

- No equipment is damaged - People aren't put in any danger - Expensive prototypes don't need to be built

- Time can be sped up or slowed down - Models can be run and re-run over and over - Modifications can easily be made and re-tested quickly

11. Disadvantages of models and simulations

- The results depend on how good the model is and how much data was used to create it in the first place. - Models and simulations can't ever completely re-create real-life situations. - Not every possible situation may have been included in the model. - The equipment and software are expensive to purchase. - Staff need to be trained how to use the software and equipment.