Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
here, can provide you with a completely adequate system for your
needs—without requiring you to spend much more money than nec
essary. With all of the claims by hardware and software vendors, it
is particularly easy to be swept up in a swirl of advertising and hype.
A realistic and careful approach can help you cut through the dis
tractions to obtain something that works for you.
Computers excel in storing and retrieving data, executing de
tailed logical or arithmetic operations at great speed, and presenting
results in textual or graphical form. For this to be helpful to us in
solving problems, however, several properties are needed:
The problem must be translated into careful and precise spec
ifications.
A detailed algorithm must be developed to meet the specifications.
A software package must be tested thoroughly to be sure it
works as desired.
Relevant data must be obtainable and entered into the program.
When problems do not have these properties, computers may be
of limited use in finding solutions. Further, because complex pro
grams normally contain some errors, reliance on results can be trou
blesome. Users should always be thoughtful in monitoring a com
puter's functioning, even when a computer is good at the task, such
as in word processing, databases, spreadsheets, email, and other
Internet communications. Reliance on unverified results may add a
risk—sometimes a high risk—to a task.
In using a computer to help you solve a problem, you can subdi
vide complex problems into relatively simple and manageable prob
lems. This topdown approach provides a convenient mechanism to
manage complexity. Your problem solving focuses on the develop
ment of solutions to pieces of the problem that together help you
solve the original complex problem.
Although computers work at different speeds, have different
CPUs and operating systems, and are connected to different input
and output devices, basic computers share the ability to solve the
