Task 8. Translate the following sentences.
1. Computer information systems may be designed to take care of just one operational area, but today’s more complex systems are more likely to be designed to integrate a variety of operational procedures. 2. New methods are developed to deal with the complex process of designing and maintaining computer systems. 3. A website designer wants to enable the data or his website to be easily processed by a number of different programs. 4. Each element of the system has a particular function and each unit must be designed to interact with the other elements of the system. 5. Although the complexity of the tasks to be performed and the number of the users to be served will help to determine the type of computer to be used, there may be a number of different hardware configurations that will meet the need. 6. When users of a system access the data for some useful purpose, they are accessing the data in order to learn from it or to add it to other types of data for decision making. 7. A computer information system must be seen as a system that is used to transform data into useful information. 8. If the information system is to be successful, it must be designed to provide information in a way that is usable and useful to all management personnel. 9. Using centralised system, computer communications will undoubtedly be used to transmit data electronically between locations. 10. To update or modify an existing system the same procedures can be used. 11. As the process of systems analyses and design has been formalised, a new kind of professionals, known as systems analysts has emerged with the special skill and knowledge required to deal with all aspects of systems development. 12. The systems analysts’ function is to design and implement system that facilitates the storage and processing of data, and methods for accessing that data.
Task 9. What do you know about programming? Answer the Internet Quiz.
1. When creating a computer program, the _____ designs the structure of the program.
a) end user
b) systems analyst
c) programmer
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
2. Checking a computer program for errors is called _____.
a) bugging
b) debugging
c) correcting
d) syntaxing
3. The computer itself uses _____ language.
a) natural
b) assembly
c) machine
d) high-level
e) none of the above
4. The language which is best for mathematical models is _____.
a) FORTRAN
b) BASIC
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c) Java
d) C
e) COBOL
5. The term BASIC is an acronym for _____.
a) Balanced Assembly System Integrated Code
b) Basic All System Internal Code
c) Beginner's Assembly Syntax Instruction Code
d) Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Codу
6. A programming language which looks like normal English is a(n) _____ language.
a) normal
b) high-level
c) natural
d) 4GL
7. The process of writing the computer instructions is called _____.
a) coding
b) compiling
c) debugging
d) interpreting
8. The most widely used language for business programs is _____.
a) FORTRAN
b) BASIC
c) Java
d) C
e) COBOL
9. The _____ must decide what a new program is to accomplish.end user
a) systems analyst
b) programmer
c) supervisor
Task. 10. Work in groups and discuss the following questions.
1. Have you ever had any problems with the computer?
2. What kind of errors do you make with computers?
3. How do you behave when things go wrong with a computer?
Task 11. Read the text on the page below and complete the table.
| Text A | Text B | Text C | |
| Type of error | |||
| Definition | |||
| Example | |||
| Ways to avoid or deal with this kind of error |
System errors affect the computer or its peripherals. For example, you might have written a program which needs access to a printer. If there is no printer present when you run the program the computer will produce a system error message. Sometimes a system error makes the computer stop working altogether and you will have to restart the computer. A sensible way of avoiding system errors is to write code to check that peripherals are present before any data is sent to it. Then the computer would warn you by a simple message on the screen, like ‘printer is not ready or available’.
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Syntax errors are mistakes in the programming language (like typing PRNIT instead of PRINT). Syntax errors cause the program to fail. Some translator programs won’t accept any line that has syntax errors. Some only report a syntax error when they run the program. Some languages also contain special commands such as debug, which will report structural errors in a program. The programming manual for the particular language you’re using will give details of what each error message means.
Logic errors are much more difficult to detect than syntax errors. This is because a program containing logic errors will run, but it won’t work properly. For example, you might write a program to clear the screen and then print ‘hello’. Here is a code for this:
10 Message
20 PRINT ‘Hello’
30 CLS
40 END
The code has a logic error in it, but the syntax is right so it will run. You can get rid of logic errors from simple programs by ‘hand-testing’ them or doing a ‘dry run’ which means working through each line of the program on paper to make sure it does what you want it to do. You should do this long before you type in the code.
Task 12. Read the quotations about ‘programming’ below. Discuss with other students what point you think each quotation is trying to make and whether you agree with it.
· Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. (Rich Cook)
· To understand a program you must become both the machine and the program. (Alan J. Perlis)
· Perhaps if we wrote programs from childhood on, as adults we'd be able to read them. (Alan J. Perlis)
· It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa. (Unknown)
· One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. (Elbert Hubbard)
· Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software. (Anonymous)
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· The most harmful error of any program will not be discovered until the program has been in production for at least six months. (Troutman's programming postulates)
· Real programmers never work from 9 to 5. If any real programmer is around at 9 a.m., it’s because they were up all night. (Some computer geek)
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