English for Computer Users

Infotech

English for computer users

Student's Book

Santiago Remacha Esteras

Щ CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

© Cambridge University Press 1996

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1996 Third printing 1997

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

ISBN 0 521 45980 X Student's Book ISBN 0 521 45981 8 Teacher's Book ISBN 0521 459826 Cassette

Contents

Map of the book w

Thanks and Acknowledgements viш

Section 1 Computers today 1

Unit 1 Computer applications 2

Unit 2 Configuration 7

Unit 3 Inside the system 11

Unit 4 -Szfo and bytes 17

Unit 5 Buying a computer 21

Section 2 Input/output devices 26

Unite 6 Type and click! 27

Unit 7 Capture у our favourite image 32

Unit 8 Viewing the output 36

Units 9 Choosing a printer 40

Unit 10 I/O devices for the disabled 45

Section 3 Storage devices 50

Unit 11 Floppies 51

Unit 12 Hard drives 56

Unit 13 Optical breakthrough 60

Section 4 Basic software 65

Unit 14 Operating systems 66

Unit 15 The Graphical User Interface 70

Unit 16 A walk through word processing 74

Unit 17 Spreadsheets 80

Unit 18 Databases 83

Section 5 Creative software 88

Unit 19 Graphics and design 89

Unit 20 Desktop publishing 94

Unit 21 Multimedia 98

Section 6 Programming 102

Unit 22 Program design 103

Unit 23 Languages 109

Unit 24 The PostScript revolution 112

Unit 25 Jobs in computing 116

Section 7 Computers tomorrow 120

Unit 26 Electronic communications 121

Unit 27 LANs and WANs 127

Unit 28 New technologies 132

Notes for Student A 137

Notes for Student В 141

Glossary 145

Acronyms and abbreviations 151

Trademarks 153

Map of the book

UNIT / LISTENING / READING
Section 1 / 1 Computer applications / Using computers at work / What can computers do?
Computers
today / 2 Configuration / Types of computer systems / What is a computer?
3 Inside the system / Describing a computer
system / What's inside a microcomputer? Main memory: RAM and ROM
4 Bits and bytes / Units of memory: bits, bytes, KB, MB, GB; binary system Bits for pictures
5 Buying a computer / Buying a computer in a shop / Computers for particular work situations
Section 2 Input/output / 6 Type and click! / Different input devices / About the keyboard Point and click! (the mouse)
devices / 7 Capture your favourite image / Types of scanners / What does a scanner do? Facts and opinions in advertisements
8 Viewing the output / Health and safety / The monitor
9 Choosing a printer / Ink-jet printers / Types of printers Adverts for printers
10 I/O devices for the disabled / Adaptive technology for the blind / Computers for the disabled
Section 3 Storage / 11 Floppies / Buying disks / Types of disks Technical details
devices
12 Hard drives / Disk fragmentation / When buying a hard disk . . . (drive mechanisms)
1 3 Optical breakthrough / What's a CD-ROM? / Optical disks: pros and cons

IV

SPEAKING / WRITING / GRAMMAR / VOCABULARY
How are/were computers used in your school? / Specific computer applications / Present simple passive Data + 3rd person singular verb / Word fields: computers in education, banks, sports, airports, medicine, factories, entertainment
Basic terminology: hardware, software, peripherals, input/ output devices, central processing unit
Your ideal computer system / Contextual reference Defining relative clauses / Acronyms and abbreviations: CPU, ALU, RAM, ROM, bit, SIMMs
Translation / Prefixes: dm-, hexadeci-, kilo-, mega-,
giga-, mini-, micro-, In-, tn-, mono-, multi-
Role play: buying a computer / Recommending a computer to a friend / Vocabulary tree: terminology
Describing and identifying input devices / Describing a joystick / for + -ing which + verb which/that is used + to + inf. / Word field: input devices Symbols and special keys Mouse actions: click, drag
Comparatives and superlatives / Word building: suffixes Persuasive words in advertisements
Describing your computer screen / Explaining tables / Instructions and advice: imperative, should, ought to / Monitors: resolution, pixels, display, hertz, VGA, LCD, CRT, phosphors
Describing the printer you would like to use / The pros and cons of the printer you use / Discourse cohesion: reference signals and linking devices Comparison: revision / Types of printers: daisywheel, dot-matrk, ink-jet, thermal and laser printers, photosetters
Discussing devices for computer users with vision and mobility limitations / A letter asking for information about I/O equipment for disabled workers / Noun phrases; modifiers / Braille, speech synthesizers, Morse code, optical head pointer, voice recognition
How to protect your disks / Instructions with must/must not / Floppies: track, sector,format, magnetic, read /write heads, directory, DD/HD
Suffixes: -ic, -ism, -ize, -liable, -er
Completing a hard disk advertisement / Hard disks: access time, data transfer rate, password, fragmentation, removable cartridge
Choosing the most suitable storage devices for specific purposes / Completing a table with relevant information about optical disks / Discourse cohesion: reference signals and connectors and modifiers / Acronyms and abbreviations: laser, ms, WORM, CD-ROM, EOD
UNIT / LISTENING / READING
Section 4 Basic / 14 Operating systems / System utilities (screen saver, virus detectors, etc.) / Operating systems
software
-' / 15 The Graphical User Interface / Microsoft Windows operating systems / GUIs
1 6 A walk through word processing / The 'Cut and Paste' technique / Word-processing facilities Writing tools: spell checker, online thesaurus, grammar
checker
17 Spreadsheets / Spreadsheet programs
18 Databases / Mail merging / Basic features of database
programs
Section 5 / 19 Graphics and design / A basic tool palette / Computer graphics
Creative
software / 20 Desktop publishing / Fonts, a necessary part of DTP / What is 'desktop publishing?
2 1 Multimedia / A multimedia system Software: revision / Multimedia magic!
Section 6 Programming / 22 Program design / Steps in producing a program / Programming languages Flowcharts
23 Languages / С language / A short description of BASIC
24 The PostScript revolution / The PostScript language (gap dictation) / What is PostScript?
25 Jobs in computing / A job interview / Job advertisements
Section 7 Computers / 26 Electronic communications / Videotex systems / Channels of communication Hackers!
tomorrow / 27 LANs and WANs / A computer network / Network configurations WANs and worldwide
communications
28 New technologies / How a pen computer works / New products

VI

SPEAKING / WRITING / GRAMMAR / VOCABULARY
What's the function of the operating system? / Answering a quiz / System software Basic DOS commands Acronyms and abbreviations: OS, MS-DOS, IBM
A summary / Ways of reducing sentences / GUIs: windows, icons, pull-down menus, pointer, user-friendly
Comparing word processors / Describing the process of moving text / Sequencers:/»/, now, next, finally / WP programs: edit, format, search, replace, indent, WYSIWYG, clipboard
Visual representations versus spreadsheets / Producing an invoice with a spreadsheet program / Spreadsheets: cell, column, row, formula, invoice, expenses
Writing a standard letter to clients / Plurals / Databases: field, record, file, sort, update
Describing 2D and 3D
graphics / Gerunds (-ing nouns) / Graphics: patterns, primitives, attributes, dithering, zoom, rotation, scaling, rendering
Exchanging information about computers for newspapers / A letter to a newspaper / Affixation, conversion, compounding / DTP packages: layout application, 'imagesetter, service bureau, font software designer, import
A leaflet advertising multimedia products / Conditional clauses / Multimedia PC: built-in sound, stereo speaker, sound card, animation, full-motion video
Making a flowchart / Infinitive constructions / Programming: compiler, debug, flowchart Prefixes and suffixes
Sharing information about computer languages / Describing С language / The passive / Acronyms: BASIC, FORTRAN, LISP, PROLOG, COBOL
Personal experience with / The past simple / Forming new words with script
computers
Discussing personal qualities and professional skills / Letter applying for a job / Far, since and ago Past simple and present perfect / Jobs: programmer, DTP operator, computer operator
Discussing computer crime (hacking, software piracy) / The past simple: revision / Data communication services: fax, BBS, e-mail, modem Prefixes: tele-, auto-, inter-, trans-
Describing two networks connected via satellite / Descriptions of network connections / Prepositional phrases of 'reference' / Networks: local area network, node, transceiver, protocol, token, gateway
Discussing the advantages and limitations of pen computers / Making predictions / will + infinitive The future continuous The future perfect may /might /could + inf. / New technologies: electronic publishing, virtual reality, video teleconferencing

VII

Thanks

The author would especially like to express his gratitude to Мй Paz, Marina and Violeta, without whose support this

book would not have been possible.

My special thanks to Will Capel for his invaluable comments and advice.

Thanks are also due to the following for their comments on the first draft of the book: Anna Maria Bergamini;

Michel Chariot at IUT, Cergy-Pontoise, France; Max Gallo at Insearch, University of Technology, Sydney,

Australia; Magda Hayek; Gisella Lange, Milan, Italy; Terry Wynne at the Fachochschule fur Technik, Esslingen,

Germany.

Angel Benedi for his help and generous advice on technical aspects.

Mary Margaret Michel, Ma Antonia Quinones, Filar Gallego, Manuel Vazquez,

Enrique Artal andj. Antonio Martinez for their ideas and suggestions.

The Department of Mathematics (Zaragoza University).

Vincente Casanova, Tony Galvez, and the staff of Campus Informatico, S.A. for their materials and technical

support.

Students and teachers of Institute Pilar Lorengar, Zaragoza: Javier Latorre, Javier Jimenez and Elena Marco, who

advised me on computer-related topics.

Brigit Viney for editing the typescript.

Joanne Currie for designing the book, Andy Robinson for producing it and Amanda Ogden for researching the

photographs. Thanks also to Peter Ducker for his design assistance.

Acknowledgements

The author and publishers are grateful to the authors, publishers and others who have given permission for the use of copyright material identified in the text. It has not been possible to identify the sources of all the material used and in such cases the publishers would welcome information from copyright owners, (p = page; t = top; с = centre; b = bottom; 1 = left; r = right)

pp 31 and 122-3 reprinted from Your First Computer by Alan Simpson, by permission of SYBEX Inc. ISBN number 0-89588-752-5, Copyright 1992 SYBEX Inc. All rights reserved; p 35 adapted advertisement for Туры Scanner by permission of Caere Corporation; pp 46-7 adapted extract from 'Computers for the disabled' by Joseph J. Lazzaro, reprinted with permission from the June 1993 issue of BTTE Magazine © by McGraw-Hill Inc. New York NY All rights reserved; pp 75, 77, 94—5 and Unit 8 on the cassette reprinted (or reproduced) from Understanding Computers by Nathan ShedroffJ. Sterling Hutto and Ken Fromm, by permission of SYBEX Inc. ISBN number 0-7821-1284-X, Copyright 1993, SYBEX Inc. All rights reserved; p 93 extract from Introduction to Computer Graphics by permission of Hewlett-Packard Limited; p 99 sections 2 and 3 adapted from 'Upgrading to multimedia' courtesy of PC Upgrade Vol 2, No 2,June 1993;p 132 text 1 taken from an article in BYTEMagazine and p 133 text 2 taken from'Electronic publishing' by Andy Reinhardt, both reprinted with permission from the August 1993 and September 1993 issues respectively of BYTE Magazine © McGraw-Hill Inc. New York NY All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce photographs and computer screens:

p 2 tl Barclays Bank pic; p 2 tr John Birdsall; p 2 bl Art Directors; p 2 br Pascal Rondeau/Allsport; p 5 Paul Scheult/Eyc Ubiquitous; p 7 Graham Portlock; p 12 Digital Equipment Corporation; p 15 Taheshi Takahara/ Science Photo Eibrary; p 21 t Byte Computer Superstore Ltd; p 21 bl, br Apple Computer UK Ltd; p 21 1 Digital Equipment Corporation; p 23 r Amstrad pic; p 241 Compaq Computer Limited; p 24 r Apple Computer UK Ltd; p 35 Caere Corporation; p 42 Hewlett-Packard Limited; p 45 tl Hank Morgan/Science Photo Library; p 45 tr Action for Disability, Newcastle-upon-Tyne/Simon Eraser/Science Photo Library; p 45 cjacky Chapman/ Financial Times; p 45 bl Don Kryminec/Science Photo Library; p 45 br The Computability Centre; p 46 1 The Computability Centre; p 46 r Adam Hart-Davis/Science Photo Library; p 47 Chariot Magazine/Output UK; p 51 Paul Seheult/Eye Ubiquitous; p 56 ESS, a subsidiary of Integrated Technology (Europe) Ltd; p 58 screen from SUM Tune-Up by permission of Symantec Corporation; p 60 t Last Resort Picture Library; p 60 b Graham Portlock; p 63 Manning/Times Newspapers; p 67 t Microsoft Corporation; p 67 b Apple Computer UK Ltd; p 68 t IBM United Kingdom Limited; p 68 с AT&T (UK) Ltd; p 68 b Digital Equipment Corporation; p 70 the computer screen is reproduced by kind permission of Apple Computer Inc., Copyright Apple Computer Inc., All rights reserved; pp 72, 74, 76, 77, 78, 80 and 82 screen shots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation; p 94 screen shot of Adobe ® PageMaker ® reproduced with the permission of Adobe Systems Europe Ltd; p 98 Microsoft Corporation; p 99 Graham Portlock; p 110 Microsoft Corporation; pp 117 and 119 Graham Portlock; pp 121 British Telecom/Scope Communications; p 122 IJohn Birdsall; p 122 r Philippe Plailly/Eurelios/Science Photo Library; p 123 1 The Electronic Frontier Ltd (Tel: 01734 810600); p 123 tr Paul Sehcult/Eye Ubiquitous; p 123 br screen from Teletext on ITV and Channel Four by permission of Teletext Ltd; p 125 screen from New Prestel Ltd; p 130 b Nottinghamshire Country Council Leisure Services, photograph by John Birdsall; p 132 tl Philips Communications & Processing Services Ltd; p 132 tr NASA/Science Photo Library; p 132 b University of Sunderland; p 134 Amstrad pic; p 135 Apple Computer UK Ltd; p 136 cartoon by Patrick Blower. Thanks also to Sibelius Software, Cambridge for the use of their premises and equipment for the photograph on P99.

Illustrations by Oxford Illustrators, Paul Collicut and Amanda MacPhail. Facsimile artwork by Kevin McGeoghegan. Cover design by Meta Union Design Limited.