Basic and Specialized Application Software

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A graphical user interface (GUI) is a human-computer interface (i.e., a way for humans to interact with computers) that uses windows, icons and menus and which can be manipulated by a mouse (and often to a limited extent by a keyboard as well). GUIs stand in sharp contrast to command line interfaces (CLIs), which use only text and are accessed solely by a keyboard. A window is a (usually) rectangular portion of the monitor screen that can display its contents.  A major feature is the ability for multiple windows to be open simultaneously. Each window can display a different application, or each can display different files (e.g., text, image or spreadsheet files) that have been opened or created with a single application.

Commands are issued in the GUI by using a mouse, trackball or touchpad to first move a pointer on the screen to, or on top of, the icon, menu item or window of interest in order to select that object. Then, for example, icons and windows can be moved by dragging (moving the mouse with the held down) and objects or programs can be opened by clicking on their icons.



Word Processor
A word processor (more formally known as document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of printable material.
Word processor may also refer to a type of stand-alone office machine, popular in the 1970s and 1980s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated processor (like a computer processor) for the editing of text. Although features and design varied between manufacturers and models, with new features added as technology advanced, word processors for several years usually featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on memory cards or diskettes.

Spreadsheet
A table of values arranged in rows and columns. Each value can have a predefined relationship to the other values. If you change one value, therefore, you may need to change other values as well.
Spreadsheet applications (sometimes referred to simply as spreadsheets) are computer programs that let you create and manipulate spreadsheets electronically. In a spreadsheet application, each value sits in a cell. You can define what type of data is in each cell and how different cells depend on one another. The relationships between cells are called formulas, and the names of the cells are called labels.
Once you have defined the cells and the formulas for linking them together, you can enter your data. You can then modify selected values to see how all the other values change accordingly. This enables you to study various what-if scenarios.

DBMS
DBMS, is a computer software program that is designed as the means of managing all databases that are currently installed on a system hard drive or network. Different types of database management systems exist, with some of them designed for the oversight and proper control of databases that are configured for specific purposes. Here are some examples of the various incarnations of DBMS technology that are currently in use, and some of the basic elements that are part of DBMS software applications.

Utility Suites
Utility software is a kind of system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility (abbr. util) or tool.
Utility software should be contrasted with application software, which allows users to do things like creating text documents, playing games, listening to music or surfing the web. Rather than providing these kinds of user-oriented or output-oriented functionality, utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the compute hardware, operating system, application software and data storage) operates. Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge.Most utilities are highly specialized and designed to perform only a single task or a small range of tasks. However, there are also some utility suites that combine several features in one piece of software.Most major operating systems come with several pre-installed utilities.

Radio Editing Software
Radio edits often shorten a longer song to make it more commercially viable for radio stations. Occasionally, the song will simply fade out earlier, common on tracks with long instrumental endings. For instance, the radio edit of 'Heroes' by David Bowie fades in shortly before the beginning of the third verse and fades out shortly before the vocal vamping at the end of the song. However, many radio edits will also edit out verses, bridges, and interludes, such as the original single edit of Piano Man by Billy Joel which substitutes the end of the third verse for the ending of the second verse.Some songs will be remixed heavily and feature different arrangements than the original longer versions, occasionally even being completely different recordings. Occasionally, very long songs do not have a radio edit, despite being as long as six or seven minutes in length.

Bitmap Image
In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to the similar concept of a spatially mapped array of pixels. Raster images in general may be referred to as bitmaps or pixmaps, whether synthetic or photographic, in files or memory.
In certain contexts, the term bitmap implies one bit per pixel, while pixmap is used for images with multiple bits per pixel.

Desktop Publishing Program

Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local multifunction peripherl output and distribution.
The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to describe page layout skills. However, the skills and software are not limited to paper and book publishing. The same skills and software are often used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs and outdoor signs.

HTML Editor

An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related technologies such as CSS, XML and JavaScript or ECMAScript. In some cases they also manage communication with remote web servers via FTP and WebDAV, and version management systems such as CVS or Subversion.

Image Editor
A graphics program that provides a variety of special features for altering bit-mapped images. The difference between image editors and paint programs is not always clear-cut, but in general image editors are specialized for modifying bit-mapped images, such as scanned photographs, whereas paint programs are specialized for creating images.
In addition to offering a host of filters and image transformation algorithms, image editors also enable you to create and superimpose layers.

The Internet, the web and Electronic commerce.

URL 

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Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." A URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. It cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different directories. The first part of a URL indicates what kind of resource it is addressing. The second part of a URL (after the "://") contains the address of the computer being located as well as the path to the file. 




HTML 
(HyperText Markup Language) The document format used on the Web. Web pages are built with HTML tags, which are codes embedded in the text. The tags define the page layout, fonts and hypertext links to other documents on the Web. Each link contains the URL (the address) of a Web page residing on the same server or any server worldwide, hence "World Wide" Web." The HTML also defines all the graphic elements used on the page, which are separate files on a local or remote server.

Javascript
Java Script is a user interface scripting language developed by Netscape for its Navigator and Communicator World Wide Web browsers. Microsoft has developed a compatible language, called J-Script, for its Internet Explorer browser.

While the syntax of the Java Script programming language resembles that of Java, the two languages are actually unrelated. Java Script source code is embedded in HTML documents, and is interpreted by a World Wide Web browser. Java source code is compiled into a bytecode, stored in a separate file, which the World Wide Web browser downloads and executes separately from an HTML page.

Applets  

A small Java program which is cross-platform compatible and can be embedded in the HTML of a webpage. Web browsers, which are usually equipped with Java virtual machines, can run the applets to perform interactive graphics, games, calculators, etc.  "Applets" differ from "Java applications" in that they are more secure -- they can't access certain resources on the local computer, such as hard drives, modems, and printers; and they can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.

Blogs

A blog (a blend of the term web log)  is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

As of 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.

Wikis 

A wiki is a Web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser. This is made possible by Wiki software that runs on the Web server. Wikis end up being created mainly by a collaborative effort of the site visitors. A great example of a large wiki is the Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit. The term "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian phrase, "wiki wiki," which means "super fast." I guess if you have thousands of users adding content to a Web site on a regular basis, the site could grow "super fast."

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host to another over a TCP -based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server. FTP users may authenticate themselves using a clear-text sign-in protocol but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it.
The first FTP client applications were interactive command-line tools, implementing standard commands and syntax. Graphical user interface clients have since been developed for many of the popular desktop operating systems in use today.

Plug-In

In computing, a plug-in (or plugin) is a set of software components that adds specific abilities to a larger software application. If supported, plug-ins enable customizing the functionality of an application. For example, plug-ins are commonly used in web browsers to play video, scan for viruses, and display new file types. Well-known plug-ins examples include Adobe Flash Player and Quick Time.
Add-on is often considered the general term comprising snap-ins, plug-ins, extensions, and themes.

Filter

Filter (high order-function), a higher-order function that processes a data structure (typically a list) in some order to produce a new data structure containing exactly those elements of the original data structure for which a given predicate returns the boolean value true. A program that accepts a certain type of data as input, transforms it in some manner, and then outputs the transformed data. For example, a program that sorts names is a filter because it accepts the names in unsorted order, sorts them, and then outputs the sorted names.

^{Internet Security Suite}
Internet security software covers a wide variety of potential risks, including hacker intrusions, destruction of data, harmful viruses, Trojan horses and other malicious attacks. Computer security software is available either within the computer's operating system or add-ons freely downloaded or purchased. Computer security software offers peace of mind amid a growing array of risks that increase exponentially as more PCs become accessible through the internet.

 

 

Careers in IT

Webmaster

A webmaster also called a web architect, site author, website administrator, or webmistress for females, is a person responsible for maintaining one or many websites. Duties of a webmaster may include ensuring that the web servers, hardware and software are operating accurately, generating and revising web pages, replying to user comments and etc.
An alternative definition of webmaster is a business person who uses online media to sell products and/or services.This broader definition of webmaster covers management of content, advertising, marketing, and order fullfilment for the Web site.
Webmasters also heavily deal with high volumes of email, often related to important web or computer-related questions.

Computer Support Specialist
Computer support specialists help people use computers. When something goes wrong, support specialists figure out why. Then, they try to fix it.
Many support specialists answer questions over the phone or by e-mail. Others also help people face-to-face. To answer a problem over the phone, the specialist takes the person through the necessary steps to fix the problem using their own computer.
Most computer specialists work in offices or computer labs. They spend a long time sitting in front of computers. This can strain their back, wrists, and eyes.
Computer specialists normally work a 40-hour work week, but that can include being "on call" by phone when they are not on their shift. Some specialists work at night or on weekends.

Technical Writer
Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of writing used in fields such as computer hardware/software, engineering, chemistry, robotics, finance, biotechnology and etc. Technical writers explain  technology and related ideas to technical and nontechnical audiences. This could mean, for example, telling a programmer how to use a software library or telling a consumer how to operate a television remote control. Tehy begin by forming a clear understanding of the purpose of the document they will create. If payment for production comes from a second party, this includes a detailed interview with the party that pays for the document's production.
Technical writing teams or departments are often referred to as Information Development, User Assistance, Technical Documentation, or Technical Publications. Technical writers themselves may be called API Writers, information developers, documentation specialists, documentation engineers, or technical content developers. Advanced technical writers often move into specialized areas such as API writing, information architecture or document management.

Software Engineer
Software engineering (SE) is a profession dedicated to designing, implementing, and modifying software so that it is of higher quality, more affordable, maintainable, and faster to build. It is a "systematic approach to the analysis, design, assessment, implementation, test, maintenance and reengineering of software, that is, the application of engineering to software."
It is the application of Engineering to software because it integrates significant mathematics, computer science and practices whose origins are in Engineering.

Network Administrator

A network administrator oversees computer networks to ensure that they function smoothly. A network consists of a grouping of computers that communicate with each other or a central computer known as a server, on which computer files, programs, and other information are stored. A network may be as small as two or three computers or as large as the Internet, the world's largest computer network. For e.g,

Some network problems may result in the loss or corruption of data stored on the server. For this reason, the administrator must develop, install, and maintain emergency systems to back up the main network server. Administrators keep records of all users' problems and errors as well as the steps taken to solve the problems. This information is used to help solve future problems.

Database Administrator
A database administrator (DBA) is responsible for the performance, integrity and security of a database. Additional role requirements are likely to include planning, development and troubleshooting.
DBA roles are increasingly identified by the databases and processes they administer and the capabilities of the database management system (DBMS) in use.
The work of a database administrator (DBA) varies according to the nature of the employing organisation and the level of responsibility associated with the post. The work may be pure maintenance or it may also involve specialising in database development.

System Analyst
A system analyst is the person who selects and configures computer systems for an organization or business. His or her job typically begins with determining the intended purpose of the computers. This means the analyst must understand the general objectives of the business, as well as what each individual user's job requires. Once the system analyst has determined the general and specific needs of the business, he can choose appropriate systems that will help accomplish the goals of the business.
To summarize, the system analyst's job is to choose the most efficient computer solutions for a business, while making sure the systems meet all the company's needs. Therefore, the system analyst must have a solid understanding of computer hardware and software and should keep up-to-date on all the latest technologies. He must also be willing to listen to the constant needs and complaints of the users he builds systems for.

Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to programming may also be known as a programmer analyst.
The term programmer can be used to refer to a software developer, software engineer, computer scientist, or software analyst.
Programmers also conceive, design, and test logical structures for solving problems by computer. Many technical innovations in programming advanced computing technologies and sophisticated new languages and programming tools have redefined the role of a programmer and elevated much of the programming work done today. Job titles and descriptions may vary, depending on the organization.