Applications Software

Applications software is about getting software to do useful jobs, like making appointments for a dentist, or stock control for a company.  It can be written specially for the client company (bespoke software).  This can be hideously expensive and in recent high profile cases it has spectacularly failed to do the job.  Otherwise it can be bought off the shelf.  This time it is a lot less, but might not be entirely suited to be requirements of the company.

Some operating systems such as Windows have some simple applications like a very basic word processor (Notepad), and a graphics package.  There are also a couple of simple games.

 Software packages like word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, and CAD fall into the category of general purpose software.  They tend to consist of a CD and a manual to help you get going.  Detailed advice is contained in the help section contained in the program.

Integrated packages allow data to be transferred between different applications, and have features of several different packages in the one.  They are relatively cheap, but can be more limited than the separate packages.  One example is Microsoft Works.

Software suites contain the separate software packages at a price that is much less than the separate articles.  Microsoft Office contains Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.  The programs are entirely compatible, so data can be easily transferred between the different elements.  The programs have the same overall look and feel, and use the same commands and shortcuts.  This makes learning the software easier.

Generic software is a term sometimes applied to general purpose software.  It is not designed for any one given application, but can be used for any purpose.  For example, PowerPoint can be used for a presentation by a sales executive, a teacher, a doctor, or a student.  A program that is used for stock control has a specific purpose, and is called specific software, as it is designed for one particular task.

Generic software for a business might contain a word processor, spreadsheet, database management, and e-mail.  There are many different such packages about and all will have the same general features.

 For a word processor, there would be:

• Spelling and grammar checker which will find out speling mistakes and bad grammer.  However there data bases of valid words do not pick up every miss take and you need to cheque your work carefully, weather their our miss uses of words (especially homophones).

• Import files that allow you to add pictures and sound to your document.

• Word counters

• Import files such as pictures.

• Mail merge to unite standard letters with the names and addresses on a database.

• Creation of templates with pre-set fonts, letterheads etc.

• WISIWYG (what you see is what you get).  Older word processors did not have this capability.  You can see you document in different kinds of view.

Question 5   State three advantages to a user of a WISIWYG word-processor, explaining each advantage.  ANSWER

• Format cells, including text alignment and borders
• Cell editing, copying to other locations, cut and paste, and delete.
• Mathematical functions of varying complexity.
• Use as a simple database
• Ability to write macros to automate common procedures
•  Make charts with the data.

Presentation Graphics such as PowerPoint enable a very slick presentation to be made via a computer and a projector.  Slides can be animated and have transitions between slides, all of which can make the presentation have more of an impact.

Application generators can be used to generate databases without having to do much programming.  Report generators can also be used by people with little knowledge of programming to produce reports based on calculations done by the computer.  To make it easier, there are wizards to help.

 Question 6 

ANSWER

In the exam NEVER use trade-names in your answer:

You will get no marks in the exam for using trade names.  Try this exercise to see if you know what kind of software these common trade names are.

Generic software often has the facility to create macros.  These are small programs, often in Visual Basic. The simplest way to make a macro  is to get the computer to record the key strokes carried out to perform a particular job.  Then when a similar job needs doing the macro is run.  You often associate the macro with a button that performs the function.  Sometimes the macro does not work as intended, and the user can then look at the Visual Basic code.  If the user does not understand the code, then they can end up wasting a lot of time and effort.

Question 7 An office worker has made a macro to import data from one spreadsheet file to another, and then to perform some calculations.  However the macro does not work when used.  (a) What is a macro?                                                                             

          (b) What should have been done to reduce the chance of failure?      ANSWER

Web browsers are software that allow users to access the rich and varied (?) contents of the World Wide Web.  It has several functions:

• Show web pages for which a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address has been entered.  This includes hot links.

• Browsing forwards and backwards between several pages.

• Options such as security levels, including barring unpleasant sites.

• Saving pages for viewing off line.

• Showing animation in Java Script.

• Keeping history of visited sites.

• Downloading files.

• Allowing for on-line forms to be filled and submitted.

There are many other functions performed by Web Browsers.

The key point to be aware of is that generic software will do a variety of things that not every organisation needs.  This is particularly true of databases, and it is common for bespoke or specialist software to be produced that is tailored exactly to the client’s requirements.  This can be done:

• In house, where the company uses its own staff to set up the system.  They are employees of the company.  The advantage is that the people know the way the organisation works.  The disadvantage is that they may not have the relevant expertise, and it might take a long time to get a system going, and it might not be as efficient as it could be.

• Employing a software house.  Here the company buys in the expertise at a vast price.  The advantage is that the software house has experts who are good programmers.  The disadvantage is that it is expensive and the contractors do not always understand the precise requirements of the company.  Therefore the product installed at the user’s site may not be totally effective (or in some high profile cases, utterly useless).

Question 8  Explain two advantages and two disadvantages of using bespoke software compared to generic software for a company.  ANSWER

Software:  Nature, Capabilities and Limitations

Information can be shared amongst different programs by object linking and embedding (OLE).  For example this allows a chart written in a spreadsheet (the object) to be incorporated into a report written in a word-processor (the destination file).

A linked object remains in the source file, and is accessed when it is needed.  If it is updated in the meantime, it will produce the updated version in the report.  It also allows for a smaller file size.  However you need to have the source file available, otherwise you will not be able to access the contents.  This would be a problem if you were to open the file on another computer.

An embedded object is copied into the destination file, and is not updated when changes are made to the source file.  However the embedded file can still be edited at a later date.

Good software is portable, which means that it can be run on a different computer.  The term can also be used in reference to transferring a file from one computer to another.  It is important to be able to transfer data between computers, even if they have different operating system.  This can be done by importing and exporting files of different types.  Software called file transfer protocol (ftp) can achieve this.

However this is not always possible.

• Formatting codes (e.g. for bold) might be different.

• Layout and fonts may be changed.  Page breaks and line spacing may be altered.

• Sometimes the white space characters can be completely different, and dissecting them from the text can be very tedious.

 Good software can handle data from different programs.  A word processor should be able to handle files with different extension names such as .doc, .wps, .htm, .rtf, .txt.

The word-processor layout is well-known and can be described as industry standard.  There are:

• Standard menus.  For example the file and edit menus are on the left.
• There are standardised tool bars to enable you to copy, cut, and paste, for example.
• This word processor has a little animated assistant to help the user by a natural language interface to access the help.
• The text can be copied and pasted to other applications.

Here is the natural language interface help on a spreadsheet.

Question 9  A help section of a generic software package has a natural language interface.

(a)    Explain with examples two advantages of using a natural language interface

(b)   Explain one limitation of the natural language interface.  ANSWER                          

Software can have limitations.  For example the suite from which the word-processor above (MS-Word) is taken has a web-page editor (Frontpage).  This can take text and pictures from the word-processor, but one cannot draw pictures in the web-editor.  To get pictures, you have to draw them in Word and paste them.  Also the web

Upgrades and Reliability

Software is regularly upgraded. Although it is annoying to users, new versions can improve speed, and functionality.  But this can cause problems:

• Documents written in version 6 can be read by version 7.  However when they are saved, they are saved as version 7 and cannot be read properly in version 6.  There is a facility for saving as version 6.

• New features can be lost if the file is saved as version 6.

• Upgraded software can take more memory.

Unreliable software can be irritating to use.  Complex software is difficult to test.  Testing is easier with batch processing, but almost impossible with GUI interfaces and on-line systems.  Databases are particularly prone to unreliability:

• No single well defined series of events at the user interface (operator at the keyboard to you)

• Impossible to restore the database to the way it was before the bug (fault) was detected.

• Large networks have several servers and the data is held in several different places.

• Testing cannot keep pace with development.

• Users use the system in ways not anticipated by the programmers.

• Performance testing is difficult.

There are many criteria for selecting software.  Other than its meeting of the needs, there are many other important criteria:

1.      Compatible with hardware

2.      Compatible with existing software

3.      Documentation

4.      Easy to use and learn

5.      Technical support

6.      Upgrades

7.      Speed.  Some databases are impressively quick with a few records, but grind to a halt with a thousand or so.

8.      Cost.

It is a good idea to evaluate software before buying.  This can be done by:

• Reading reviews.

• Consult others on the software.

• Perform tests on the more difficult functions.

Question 10 The sales director has developed a presentation.  It is planned that the sales team will deliver this as part of a sales talk to large audiences at various locations throughout the country.

(a)    Give three advantages of using presentation graphics over traditional methods such as OHP.                                                                                      

(b)    State three design considerations to be taken into account when developing the presentation.                                                                                             

ANSWER

Back to Topic 11

Now go on to Human Computer Interface