A
Phew, what a day, you should have seen the pile of work waiting for me at my desk.
But, it's always hard to come back to work after a two week vacation, huh?
Maybe if we sent the kids to the jungle for camp this summer and sold your mother to the
foreign slave traders, it might help our attitude.
Okay.
What did you say about my mother?
Nothing.
I was just trying to get your attention.
You seem so distant, so preoccupied.
What's the matter?
Got the back to the old grime blues?
I wish it were something simple like that, but you know, I love my job.
It's just the problem.
I'm darn good at what I do.
They depend on me, and I have never let them down.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about that job until today, computers.
So what?
You can learn-
I don't know that.
It's a whole new area for me, and there's so much to learn.
I'm intimidated already.
That thing just sits on my desk and stares at me with that idiotic blinking light on the
screen.
It took me all morning to find out that much.
Then my boss asked me to make a copy of his disc.
Well, I didn't know what he meant, so I proceeded to the photocopy machine and I made a copy
of the disc.
He laughed so hard that the entire office came over to see what was so funny.
I just wanted to shrink up and crawl under a rock somewhere.
Why didn't you ask someone for help?
Please just don't dump this kind of thing in your lap without some kind of support,
surely.
I'm not used to asking questions, I'm used to answering them.
I feel like I have to sink or swim on my own.
Everyone has a two-week head start on me.
I don't know how I'll catch up.
I'm especially concerned that Jerk Bosworth might have a chance at my promotion.
He laughed the loudest of everyone.
Come on, they don't base a promotion solely on how you use a computer.
They're here to stay.
The company's made a major investment and a commitment.
The computers are to be integrated into every level of the business.
You can't argue, I guess, that they are something that a competitive growing business needs
to survive in today's marketplace.
All departments are to have computers shortly.
Everyone's job performance is going to be linked to how well we use these machines.
Is this anxiety about job security or is it just panic?
Well, they say if you don't keep up with technology, technology will replace you.
Well, if...
I'm too old for this.
God, what if I punch the wrong button and it burns up right there on my desk?
Maybe.
Why is it that men understand computers so easily and women don't?
Wait.
Just hold on there.
I saw an article about that very thing today.
You're wrong about women not understanding computers.
There was a woman in the 1840s who worked with computers.
The Department of Defense even named a language after her.
I didn't even know machines could talk.
Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, analytical engine.
Hmm, says she was quite a mathematician, too.
Well, I am not.
Still, if a Countess could conceive of computers over a hundred years ago, that should be some
kind of encouragement for you.
Be kind to my wife.
Give yourself a break.
I'll tell you what, let's go out to dinner tonight.
Help take your mind off of this.
Dinner out would be great.
But I'm afraid I won't be able to stop worrying for a while.
What if I do something wrong?
I'm afraid I won't be able to stop worrying for a while.
What if I do something wrong?
I'm afraid I won't be able to stop worrying for a while.
I wish you were here, Ada.
May I offer you some shelter from the storm?
But how?
You called for me.
How could I refuse to respond?
This is like a bad dream.
And now you're here, Lady Ada, her spirit, if you like.
Whether this is a dream or reality for your mind is something you'll have to answer for
yourself.
But why?
No reason, really, I can be, perhaps, a window to help you see better into the computer realm,
or I can let you return to that hideous place you just came from.
Please don't, real or imaginary, you're a much better company.
Those were some gruesome images I just experienced.
I understand why your nightmare was so strong, it sprang from the gravest depths of the mind,
fear of the unknown.
I think things are better already now that you're here.
I guess I need help, but I don't know how to get it.
You weren't around when modern computers were developed.
True, but even computer scientists dream.
Don't forget, computers and mathematics were passions with me.
My spirit still finds them intriguing.
I guess I don't know why I should take the trouble to learn something as complex as computers.
As long as you harbor self-defeating notions like that, learning will be long and difficult, if not impossible.
Let's reflect upon a few things through the mind's eye.
A computer is a tool, like a knife, a wrench, a parasol, a teacup, or any item made to make our lives easier.
Right now you are finding out how important these computer tools are to your professional growth and your job security.
That's interesting.
I'd had this vision of people who work with computers as, well, yes, as some kind of antisocial nerd.
Nerd? The word tastes awful.
I am a computer enthusiast, and I do not consider myself antisocial.
Computers are mechanisms for productivity, not a lifestyle.
Perhaps your term is a label used by those who choose to ridicule rather than learn.
But that's a social science problem.
There are three choices available when faced with the new and the unfamiliar.
You can ignore it and help it goes away before it impacts your life.
You can ridicule it and try and make it less important.
Or you can grow beyond the age of dinosaurs and face the unfamiliar without fear, with clear mind and open eyes.
Simple curiosity can turn ignorance into an adventure.
I admire that attitude.
Perhaps that's how my children see computers in school.
They don't seem to be intimidated.
Still, I had hoped I could work out my days and never operate a computer.
Computers will play an ever-increasing role in your society.
Your children accept them just as commonplace as you accept radio and television.
If you want to stay in touch with your children, it's all the more reason for you to become familiar with the machines.
But how am I supposed to learn something as complex as a computer at my age?
It could take years.
You don't have to learn all the complexities.
You don't have to be a blacksmith to ride a carriage.
Or, in your day, an auto mechanic to drive a car.
You don't have to be a novelist to read a book.
Learn enough to understand the root principles so that your tool is easier to use.
But leave the nuts and bolts to those who have the desire to twist them.
Well, perhaps, but I guess I really doubt that computers are good for anything.
I mean, the world has gotten along without them for a long time.
I didn't like getting along without them.
I envy you, for my flesh will never touch one.
Their potential to science, mathematics, and the arts spoke to me over a hundred years ago.
Now your society amplifies its energy by using them in everything from microwave ovens
to spaceships.
They are in your communication systems from your telephone switching systems
to electronic money transfers and automatic tellers.
They inform you and entertain you.
How about a nice game of chess?
They help save lives in the medical field
and soothe your soul with music from synthesizers and recorders.
Teachers now have a tireless assistant in the classroom,
which never loses patience with the pupil.
Businesses are using computers in ever-growing numbers.
Don't I know it?
Four databases, data communications, and word processors.
I see we need to work on terminology.
I admit it's all very strange to me.
Food processors I can understand, but computers seem to work by magic.
Vivid imagination. Good.
Indeed, your modern computers would make even the most accomplished wizard of my day
turn green with envy.
Most computers, large or small, however, are made of mundane materials.
Metal, plastic, and most importantly, silicon,
one of the most plentiful elements on earth.
Yes, Eve, ordinary beach sand is mostly silicon.
Highly purified silicon is used to make semiconductors,
the computer's version of a nervous system.
I'm afraid the computer's use of electricity is a bit more subtle than that.
Unlike your science fiction image,
the electrical requirement of a computer is relatively small.
The computers, or analytical engine as they were called in my day,
were made of gears, like a clock.
Semiconductor technology has brought your society beyond the age of gears,
past vacuum tubes, beyond transistors,
into the era of the microprocessor chip.
I don't suppose these chips go well with guacamole dip.
No, I'm afraid not.
Computer chips are very, very small electronic parts
whose precisely etched silicon shapes represent millions of transistors,
resistors, and electrical circuits.
It is their compact size that gives them much of their versatility.
Well, if chips are so small,
are all of computers and pocket calculators and alarm clocks the same?
Let's leave the realm of computer-aided appliances
and concentrate on computers used for business.
We can categorize the broad variety of these machines into three general classes.
Micro, or personal computers, used for individual work,
mini computers, for larger jobs distributed between many people,
and mainframes, for central control of very large amounts of information
which must be shared by numerous people in many places.
Well, if computers come in all different shapes and sizes,
I hope I don't have to learn a different set of principles for each type.
By no means.
There are more similarities than there are differences.
Fundamentally, computers vary more in speed and capacity
than they do in operating principle.
I don't think I follow you.
Look, here are two tools you are familiar with.
Both have piston engines,
both roll down the road on rubber tires,
and both have drivers at the wheel.
They differ in size and performance.
Exactly.
But what similarities do computers share?
Computers have two fundamental components.
Hardware, the machine apparatus which you can see and touch,
and software, the intelligence that drives the hardware.
Well, not exactly.
All computers have four basic traits.
They accept information, input,
they process or transform the information,
they provide feedback about the result of the process,
output, and they have a means of storing information.
The power to handle and condense information
is what makes a computer an important tool in your society.
From a business perspective,
information is just as important an asset as cash or equipment.
So a computer is just an information handling machine.
That seems easy enough to understand, I guess.
But it's the putting things in and getting things out
that I have trouble with.
All I have so far at work is a blinking light on a screen
and a pile of manuals that don't seem to have a beginning or an end.
Then let's start to get familiar with what the finished puzzle looks like
by exploring some common parts of the hardware.
In order for a computer to be useful to you,
some means of communication between man and machine must exist.
Input and output devices provide this link
by serving as the human interface to the computer system.
There are a wide variety of input devices,
each designed to place information into the computer for a specific task.
Text and numbers can be entered through keyboards,
which are like typewriters, or with punch cards,
or through scanning devices, like barcode readers.
For pointing, moving, and drawing things,
there are joysticks, which are like flight controls in an airplane.
Many arcade games have those.
Likewise, there are trackballs and something called a mouse,
which, no, you don't have to have a trap for.
There are light pins and touch screens.
All of these allow you to control information
which the computer presents to you
on one of the most common information feedback devices, the video monitor.
This television-like viewing screen displays output from the computer
to reveal results of the transformation of information.
Other output devices include printers and plotters,
which provide paper copies of the computer process results,
whether it is a combination of letters and numbers or a graphic picture.
Musical instrument digital interfaces, or MIDI's,
allow computer processes to bring music to our ears.
Computers can, to some extent, speak and recognize the human voice
as a part of their command and response system.
Hello?
I think that's what I need.
Well, computers are a long ways from being able to carry on intellectual conversation.
Even simple voice commands are difficult
for the few specialized machines that exist to understand.
That figures.
The ones at our office have the keyboard and the monitor
and some things called disk drives.
Disk drives are one type of hardware device
that helps the computer store and retrieve information.
Computer systems use several types of magnetic media to store information
because the information can be created, erased, and changed easily.
Many systems use magnetic tape, similar to music and audio tape,
to record and read information on straight tracks along the length of the tape.
Magnetic disks, whether flexible or hard in structure,
store information in concentric tracks.
External storage not only makes the information easy to reuse,
but also creates a way to organize the information.
You mean the computer remembers where it puts things?
With a little help from you.
Remember, they are only machines.
They need your intervention at some point to do anything at all.
The tapes and disks serve as volumes to hold the information,
and to keep track of what is in the volume, there is a directory.
Well, I don't know.
Think of the magnetic media as a library that has a catalog of all the books inside,
or perhaps as a file cabinet with drawers for specific things
and files of information in the appropriate drawers.
The computer information corresponds to files or documents
listed in the directory, all bound together in a volume.
By changing disks or tapes, it is possible to access a different volume
and thereby different information.
So a computer stores all of its information externally?
No. Besides these semi-permanent ways of storing information on external media,
the computer can store limited amounts of information inside its own electronic components.
Certain types of semiconductors serve as memory chips.
Some, called read-only memory, or ROM chips, store information permanently
and are used to load information into the computer that it needs to enable it
to perform some of its very basic functions and begin operating properly
when it starts up, or boots.
Other chips provide random access memory, or RAM,
which the computer can use and change as necessary to do its calculations.
Sophisticated systems use an elegant combination of RAM and disk space
called virtual memory, to provide the illusion of tremendous amounts of memory.
Wow! Doing calculations in memory? So they really can think.
Even though the word computer comes from the Latin word meaning to reckon,
to consider, or think, computer logic has very little in common
with the miracle of the complex human mind.
All of the computers in the world linked together simultaneously
could not begin to replicate the neural activity of one human brain.
What the computer can do is handle repetitive tasks very quickly
and make calculations very precisely.
All of the information processing is done inside of a very special chip
a central processing unit, or CPU.
The CPU does the work of reading information patterns from input devices
or retrieving it from storage devices,
combining information for accurate calculations by switching information in
and out of memory, and controlling the output devices
so that a human can understand the computer's actions.
And it does this all at the speed of light,
performing millions of operations every second.
That's incredible.
Well, I like to think of the CPU as a maestro of a complex symphony orchestra
where the input, output, and storage devices are the instruments
and the information is the music.
The CPU directs the performance of all the activities
in harmony.
I see. They are very versatile machines.
No wonder they're so popular.
Versatile, yes.
But beneath all the flashy capabilities, for all intensive purposes,
computer hardware is simply an incredibly fast adding machine.
How can that be?
Computer hardware responds to electrical switching controls.
Just like a light switch controls the flow of electricity,
the microchip, circuitry, and a computer controls the flow
of millions of electrical channels.
The switch state of each circuit element represents a number.
Off for zero and on for one.
No wonder it can add fast.
It doesn't have to count very far.
Au contraire.
Just like the ten digits of our hands form the basis
for our common decimal number system,
zero and one form the basis for the binary number system.
By combining these binary digits, or bits,
the computer can count with great accuracy to very high numbers.
By turning switches on and off,
many different kinds of things can be represented.
Our decimal integers, of course, scientific decimal fractions,
the letters of the alphabet, and even colors and sounds.
Most everything that can somehow be arranged into a list or logical order
can be represented in the computer by a number.
With millions of switches needing control,
how does it know when to turn things on and off?
The computer has been told, by a human,
exactly how to handle and interpret a particular binary number value.
How? No one can touch the microscopic switches.
That is where software comes into the picture.
Software is a precise, logical flow control mechanism
that properly defines how electricity is to be channeled
through the computer switches.
The structure for this software control is called a program.
The information which is channeled by the program is called data.
A program is an exact order of events.
Just like the program of events you receive at a concert or a ball game
which tells you what things will happen and who will do them
and when they will take place.
Unlike humans, computers do not have a will of their own.
So a computer does exactly what its electronic switch commands tell it to do.
If bad instructions are given to the switching network,
the computer will perform accordingly,
even if that means things crash into one another.
Computers cannot generally make two decisions at once.
They are not capable, shall we say,
of being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
They can, however, chew gum very fast and afterwards walk very fast.
Well, where does this software exist?
I mean, is it some kind of billowy cloud of gas floating around in the hardware?
I'm afraid it's not even that tangible.
Some of it exists in the area of hardware called ROM, the read-only memory.
Software can be retrieved as magnetic pulses through external storage in disks and tapes
and then copied into RAM, the random access memory, for use by the central processing unit.
The CPU then reads the information, like a musical score or written script,
and performs according to the binary instructions given by the program.
But I can't speak binary.
Fortunately, only a few humans have needed to program computers
in the binary machine language they readily understand.
Now of more common use are translation languages like Pascal, Fortran, Lisp, C,
and even my namesake, Ada, which compile human-level textual language
and convert it into machine language.
So for me to tell a computer what to do, I have to learn one of these foreign languages?
No, dear.
Writing computer programs can be left for the computer engineers who like that sort of thing.
Compilers are only one type of program to control the computer's functions.
Other programs can be purchased from authors who understand the programming languages
to do a vast number of tasks.
Word processor programs instruct the computer to function as a powerful electronic typewriter
for writing and changing reports and letters.
A Morse code type of binary pattern called ASCII is used to represent letters, numbers,
and control characters like the shift key.
With a word processor, not only can words be typed onto the keyboard,
but sections of text can be moved around within a document in a cut-and-paste fashion,
and the computer will even assist in checking the spelling
before a final paper copy is made on the printer.
Database programs are another type of software that can keep lists or records of information.
They can arrange large volumes of information,
so it is easier to understand by such means as sorting or joining.
A telephone directory is an example of the type of information a database is best suited for.
Electronic spreadsheets are software programs that are well suited for handling large volumes of numbers
and performing many types of calculations with them to forecast and show quantitative results.
A business financial balance sheet is an example of the function of a spreadsheet.
Data communication programs allow computers to share information between machines
by sending binary pulses over direct wires
or by using audible carrier signals to communicate over telephone lines
with a device called a modem.
Likewise, computers can pass binary signals over cables to certain types of musical instruments
called MIDI synthesizers and play music.
Graphics programs instruct the computer to draw lines that can be used for things like drafting,
or they can color and move objects on the screen.
Wow, there is a whole spectrum of possibilities.
So with the right software, I can do all these things on one machine?
Quite possibly.
A point to emphasize, however, a computer is only as good as the software written to run on it.
A great computer can be rendered useless by poorly written software.
Skillfully written software, however, can give the computer the illusion of intelligence,
but in truth it is the mind of the programmer shining through.
One very important program is delivered with the hardware, the operating system.
In addition to speed, performance, and capacity, the operating system is the major difference in computers
because it is the fundamental link between the human and the machine.
What does the operating system do?
There are many layers of communication between you and the hardware.
One of the lower levels is occupied by a software program called the operating system.
The operating system is the prime intuition layer which interprets the actions of the mechanical interface devices
which respond to your actions or requests made by higher level programs
and translates them into instructions for the electrical system machinery.
The operating system is the ultimate resource manager for the entire computer.
It schedules the flow of activities, gives priorities to simultaneous actions,
and directs the results of the computer's calculations so proper feedback is provided to the user.
Besides being the fourth basic difference in computer types,
the operating system is probably the single most noticeable difference between computer systems.
I don't follow.
There are almost as many types of operating systems as there are computers,
but there are three general ways that a person can communicate with one.
These are the command language interface, the menu interface, and the graphic interface.
Each has its strong points and weak points.
Basically, there is a tradeoff between ease of use versus ease of programming.
Some people like the command language interface, whereby word-like commands are typed on the keyboard.
There are a variety of command languages also.
For instance, all of these commands instruct some particular machine
to provide information about the contents of the data it currently stores.
So if I use a different machine, I might have to learn a whole new set of commands.
Different brands of machines generally have different operating systems.
Although the language might be different, the function performed by the command is basically the same.
To see the contents of the information on a system which has a menu interface,
one could pick a choice from the screen list.
On a graphic interface, one could use a screen pointer controlled by a mouse
and see the contents with the click of a button.
Needs and preferences enter into the choice of the type of interface one makes.
Graphic interfaces are rather convenient and simple to operate,
because to most people, a picture is worth a thousand words.
However, combining commands in a graphic interface is often difficult, if not impossible.
Command languages and menus generally allow easy combinations.
However, combining word commands into macro commands
is very similar to controlling the computer with a programming language.
Menu systems can be very complex in their hierarchical levels of menu selections,
and the casual user can become easily lost in the layers, as they tend to look much the same throughout.
I don't know how my boss decided to buy the equipment he did.
Hopefully, your employer confronted his computer needs in the proper way
by taking the first three steps towards successful computer solutions.
First, analyze and define the task to be accomplished on the job.
Second, seek out software programs to best perform the job task.
Look for robust software that handles errors with finesse.
Lastly, after these investigations have been accomplished,
find the most efficient hardware to run the chosen software
with an eye on future requirements that the hardware might have to meet.
Well, once I have sorted out all of these concepts,
what kinds of things can I do to ensure that things run correctly?
First of all, remember your computer is an electrical device, just like your refrigerator.
If the electrical power supply is cut off, things spoil very quickly.
In most cases with the computer, the effect is instantaneous.
What can I do to prevent losing everything?
That is what storage devices are for.
Learn how to store information on magnetic media
and copy information from the computer's memory to the media at least every 20 minutes.
That way, if things crash, you will only have lost 20 minutes of work when things return to normal.
Make backup copies of the magnetic media daily,
so if one gets damaged there is another source of the information.
Be aware of the environment the computer and the media has to live in.
They are sensitive to temperature and humidity.
Magnets, food, drink and smoke are all very harmful to machines and media.
Where can I get more help when I need it?
Well, you will never learn about computers through osmosis.
Computer user groups are available in most every community where people meet to discuss their common situations.
Talk with your peers.
The responsible ones will be very willing to help you over the rough places.
No matter how trivial, you may think the situation.
Magazines are bound for particular machines and in general.
Oh, no. I must be starting to wake up.
There are a million more things I'd like to ask you. We don't have time.
I just hope I have been of some help.
Oh, you have. I don't think I'm afraid anymore.
In fact, this is a new journey that will be exciting to explore.
Don't be afraid to ask others for help.
You'll find others are on the same road to adventure just like you.
They'll be glad to have someone who's as enthusiastic as you are.
Thank you, Lady Aida.
Come back again? Perhaps.
You were up early this morning. I hope things go better for you today.
I have a good feeling about it. Thanks for your encouragement last night.
Anytime. You know I'm on your side.
Thanks. Bye-bye.
Good luck.
Bye.