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ACCESS A SEQUENTIAL FILE

ACCESS A SEQUENTIAL FILE Data stored in a sequential file can read in order and assigned to variables with the following steps: 1.       Choose a number from 1 through 255 to be the reference number of the file. This number is not necessary to be the same number that was used when the file was recorded. 2.       Execute the statement OPEN filename FOR INPUT AS #n Where n is the reference number. This procedure is referred to as opening a file for input. It establishes a communication line between the computer and the disk drive for reading data from the diskette. 3.       Read data from the file with the INPUT* statement. INPUT* statement assigns data from file to variable. INPUT #n. var1, var2, …… 4.       After the desired items have been found or all the data has been read from the file, close the file with the statement CLOSE #n. 5.       Basic function EOF; it tells us if we have reached the end of a file. For example the condition EOF (n) will be true if the en
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APPLICATION SOFTWARE

APPLICATION SOFTWARE Application software is any tool that functions and is operated by the means of a computer with the purpose of supporting or improving the software user’s work. It is used for the implementation of the computer user’s work.  TYPES OF APPLICATION SOFTWARE It is divided into two which are (i) User application software: User – written software tailors system users to meet the user’s specific needs. This includes spread sheet templates, word processor macros, scientific stimulations, graphics, and animation scripts. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is. (ii) Application packages: This is when multiple applications are bundled together as a package. It is also known as application suite. Examples are Microsoft office, Open office.org, and iwork which bundle together a word processor, a spread sheet, and several other discrete applications. The separate applications in a suite usually have some capability to interact wi
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HANDLING COMPUTER FILES

HANDLING COMPUTER FILES FILE CONTENTS All information in a file is always in binary form or a series of ones and zeros. A document includes any file you have created. It can be a true text document, sound file, graphics, images, or any other type of information the computer can create, store, or size from the internet. PROGRAM FILES They contain instructions for the computer’s microprocessor and tell the computer what to do. DATA FILES: These include all other files on disk that are not exactly programs or documents. These include support files for programs, temporary files, and other random stuff that must be saved inside the computer. SEMANTICS Although the way programs manipulate files varies according to the operating system and file system involved, the following operations are typical: (i) Creating a file with a given name. (ii) Setting attributes that control operations on the file. (iii) Opening a file to use its content. (iv) Reading or updating the con
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COMPUTER SYSTEM SOFT WARE

COMPUTER SYSTEM SOFTWARE Computer software or simply software is a program that enables a computer to perform a specific task as oppose to the physical components of the system (i.e. hardware). TYPES OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE It can be classified majorly into three: system software, programming, and application software. SYSTEM SOFTWARE System software helps run the computer hardware and computer system. It enables other software to run properly by interfacing with hardware and with other software. It includes operating systems, device drivers, diagnostic tools, server, windows utilities etc. PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE Programming software usually provide tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs and software using different programming languages in a more convenient way. The tools include text editors, compilers, interpreters, linkers, debuggers and so on. APPLICATION SOFTWARE Application software enables the computer users to perform a task. It allows human t
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COMPUTER FILES

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FILES A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. Computer files can be considered as the modern counterpart of paper documents which traditionally are kept in offices and libraries’ files, and this is the source of the term. Files are collection of data in a permanent storage media such as hard drive, CD or DVD ROM, floppy disk, memory card, flash drive etc. FUNCTIONS OF FILE (i) It provides machine executable code which is used to run application programs and the operating system. (ii) It stores application programs or operating system configuration information. (iii) It stores used data by the user such as Ms Word. ORGANIZING THE DATA IN A FILE Information in a computer file can consist of smaller packets of information (often called “records” or “lines”) that are individually different but share some trait in common. The way
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OUTPUT DEVICES

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An output device is a peripheral device that allows a computer to communicate information to humans or another machine by accepting data from the computer and transforming them into two categories. (i)                  Output that can be readily understood and used by humans. (ii)                Output to secondary storage devices that hold the data to be used as input for further processing by computer. Output that can be understood by humans can be in the form of hard copy or soft copy. HARD COPY It is output on paper and can be read immediately or stored and read later. This is a relatively stable and permanent form of output. SOFT COPY It is usually a screen – displayed output. It is a transient form of output and is lost when the computer is turned off. Devices confirming to above specifications are classified as follow: (A) Soft copy (i) Virtual; graphic card, VDU (Visual Display Unit)/ Monitor, projector etc. (ii) Sound; sound card, speaker, computer spee
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COMPUTER DATA CONVERSION

REGISTERS Registers are temporary storage area for instructions or data. They are not a part of memory; rather they are special additional storage locations that offer the advantage of speed. It works under the direction of the control unit to accept, hold, and transfer instructions or data and perform arithmetic or logical comparisons at high speed. Most operations are done on the register; the processor can’t directly perform arithmetic in memory. For example, if you want to add 1 to a memory address, the processor will normally do this by loading the initial value from memory into a register, adding 1 to the register, and then saving the value back to memory. The width (in bits) of the processor’s register determines how much data it can compute with at a time. This is sometimes used to label the processor’s size. ADDRESS A memory address is an identifier for a memory location, at which a computer program or a hardware device can store data and later retrieve it. In modern
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