APPLICATION AND USES OF COMPUTER

The advent of every technology may have its imp[acts that greatly change the life styles of people living in a human society. This is due to the reason that as science and technology are concerned, their development i.e. new discoveries and inventions have brought dramatic improvement in the way certain tasks were performed before. Thus we can give the example of atomic technology that can be used in a number of fields like atomic power houses to generate power, agricultural experiments to introduce with new highly productive seeds for certain crops, medical purposes like X-Rays and many other beneficial purposes.

As IT is a computer based technology that makes the latest information available to people almost about every field of their social, economic, political and cultural activities, it has been proven to be a great horizon in bringing the nations close to each other on global level. Like the two sides of a coin, each technology may have most of its merits alongwith more or less demerits and IT may also have the same. Now we discuss the basically concerned with various IT factors that may play their vital role for the betterment of human society.
Opportunities:

The uses of computers are so many that no one can deny from their opportunities for overcoming daily life problems. Yet we can talk about some areas in which computers are offering their major opportunities. Computer may have their opportunities in the following areas:

1. Computer Based Training:
   Computer Based Training may be abbreviated at CBT and it means training through computer system. This may be a business PC or a terminal linked with a mini or mainframe computer system. It may be used to train people in several hundreds different skills from using a word processing package to learning how to fly a jumbo jet.
   Benefits of CBT: CBT may be having a lot of benefits few of which are given below:
• A major benefit of CBT for an employer is cost. The employers don't have to pay for accommodations, traveling or salaries for the trainers while the staff attends a course. The investment in the suitable training package may quickly pay for itself especially in case when suitable hardware is already available.
• An advantage from the staff members' point of view is that staff can train when they want, often at their own desks on the computer, which they will eventually be using. Without CBT, when the new members of staff join a company, they may have to wait until there are sufficient members to justify a course for them. With CBT, they can start on their training immediately.
• Another advantage for students is that they can study at their own pace and repeat sections of materials that they find difficult. Some CBT products have build-in checks so that they can monitor the individual performance of each student.
• Real life situations can be simulated and the student or trainee can learn without the danger of performing live experiments such as Aircraft simulator. Particular dangerous but rare situations such as the effects of ice forming on the wings in the sub-zero temperature can be modeled to give pilots experience without being in life threatening situation.
2. Computer Aided Learning:
   Computer Aided Learning (abbreviated as CAL) packages are increasingly being used in schools, colleges and industry. These packages generally fall into one of the following categories:
   *     Tutorials
   *     Drills and Practice
   *     Simulation
   *     Games
   *     Test
   Many software packages have their tutorial disks which help users to learn the using of a software e.g. a spreadsheet tutorial disk puts a simple spreadsheet on the computer screen and instructs the users where to enter the given figures or labels and informs them in case when he/she is going wrong. A series of lessons guide the users through basic features of the spreadsheet.
   No amount of explaination in this case can act as a substitute for experience so the user has to look for the tutorials options on the spreadsheet, word processor or database and try them out. Some other tutorial packages include software to teach mathematics, languages, computing and certain other skills from dentistry to driving a car. 
3. Authoring Software:
   Authoring packages such as Authorware Professional and Tencore are available which allow courseware designers to write sophisticated Interactive Multimedia Training System (abbreviated as IMTS). The term multimedia implies that the coursware will include some or all of the text, graphics, animated graphics sequences, video clips, scanned photographs and sound either tapped or synthesized. Authoring software allow to the programmer to:
   *     Quickly design screen layout and user-friendly interfaces including push buttons and 'hotspots' that the user can p[oint to using a mouse.
   *     Incorporate questions and IF-THEN-ELSE structure according to the answers given by the eventual users.
   *     Import graphics, sounds and video clips.
   *     Design animated graphics sequences.
   Designing and implementing such courseware is a length and expensive process, requiring a team of people including a subject matter expert, an instructional designer, graphics designer, a programmer and a project manager. An example of such a courseware may be a periodic table of elements using which the user can get chemistry related information about different elements and can also have a view over the atomic structure in a graphical form.
   Note:
   In order to implement an IMTS, a multimedia PC' is needed. This implies PC with a large hard disk ( as graphic images and sound use up huge amounts of disk space), lots of memory at least 8MB RAM, a sound card such as Sound Blaster and speakers for playing back sound, a high resolution screen with the ability to display about 32,000 colours and usually CD-ROM driver. Software such as Windows Media Player or video for Windows allows video clips to be replayed. In order to capture the video and digitize it, a video recorder needs to be connected to a computer with a video capture card, but no special hardware is required to replay the stored video clip.
4. 
   
   Computer in Education:
   Computer are increasingly being used in schools and educational institutions in five main areas
   *     As a teaching aid in many different subjects.
   *     To access the Internet and get information almost on any subject.
   *     In monitoring the progress and testing pupils.
   *     For Electronic Mailing purpose both inside the organisation and also to communicate with other organisations.
   *     For career advice or helping to find a place of admission in a college or university.
   *     Online results that can be highly useful for the students.
5. Computer and the Disabled:
   New computer technology can dramatically improve the quality of life of disable people in order to enable them to communicate and increase their opportunities for independence and employment. Today there are systems based on PCs that can talk, listen, teach, communicate and translate. People with control over just an eyelid or a toe, for example can communicate by means of proper equipments attached to a PC. Some of such equipments are
1. Voice Synthesizer:
   These are special equipments manufactured which those people can use to learn how to speak? who are either unable to speak or have become profoundly deaf from an early age. IBM's Speech Viewer software runs on a PC and consists of twelve modules accessible from a main menu. It is a tool for speech therapists and teachers of the deaf. It provides visual feedback on a screen for elements of speech such as loudness, pitch and timing. This enables people who have speech disorders or impaired hearing to see visual representations of their speech. Patterning modules use graphical displays so that the students can match their speech with the correct patterns.
   For people who are unable to speak, a wide variety of speech synthesizers have revolutionized their ability to achieve and communicate their full potential. A different type of device called "Touch Talker" is available to help disable people of all ages and abilities. It consists of portable computer in the form of a 'table' about 13 by 9, onto which different picture overlays can be placed. The computer enable the users to store information their choices and recall it at will to be spoken by the voice synthesizer.
2. Computer for People with Severely limited movements:
   Devices such as 'Touch Talkers' are also designed for people without capabilities who have a simple body movement that can be utilized e.g. head movement, brow wrinkle or the raising of a finger or a knee. Letters from the users of these devices testify to the dramatic improvement they can bring to a disabled person's life.
   Special word processing packages are available for the people who can not easily type at a keyboard. In one such package, a cursor moves down a grid of letters and the user indicates when it is opposite of the row with the desired letter. The cursor then moves along this row until the user selects a letter, which is then displayed in the different area of the screen. At this point, the computer starts to gusess the word or phrase. If "th" has been typed, the computer might guess "thank you" or "the" or "they" etc and the user can confirm it or select the next character.
3. Computer for the Blind:
   There are some interesting system for enabling the blind and visually impaired people to read screens and written text. One such device is called 'Optacon' which is a compact, portable reading system which converts images of the printed letter or symbol into a tactile form that can be felt with one's finger.
   Different types of styles, symbols and languages can be read into the Optacon because it reproduces exactly what is printed in enlarged vibrating form, which is felt as a "buzzing" sensation by a user. A special attachment on a type-writer enables a blind person to read what is being typed and other lens modules allow a VDU screen or a calculator to be read. Access to terminals by blind people has opened up an enormous number of job opportunities, as well as enabling them to carry out everyday tasks such as reading a bill or bank statement, recipe book or telephone directory.
6. Telecommunication Equipment:
   Electronic mail and chatting are useful alternatives to the telephone for deaf people. Profoundly deaf people can also communicate using the text terminals, typing a message to another person with similar equipment and seeing both the incoming and outgoing messages displayed on the screen. Fax (facsimile transmission is another example of visual image transmission.
   A system in which a video camera and digitiser is connected to a telephone line, so that a person can communicate over the p[hone with someone who has the similar equipment using sign language or lip-reading. The digitised picture of the person's hand or face is sent down the telephone line and displayed on the receiver screen.
7. Computer Aided Design and Manufacture:
   Computer Aided Design (abbreviated as CAD) systems generally consist of complete hardware and software packages, ranging from microcomputers to sophisticated systems used in aircraft. These system act as tools for the designers, not replacing their skills but aiding them in the fast and accurate production of drawings. The benefits of CAD can be summed up as accuracy, repeatability, speed and flexibility of production. In the similar fashion, Computer Aided Manufacture (abbreviated as CAM) packages may be used to control and monitor the automatic manufacturing processes like assembling the parts of arms in an ordinance factory.
8. Computers in Industry:
   Special purpose computers are used in industry to control all of the manufacturing process. These computers are specified for the only purpose for which they are made. Special purpose computers not only monitor all the manufacture process but also check the quality and accuracy of the manufactured process but also check the quality and accuracy of the manufactured products. In case of industry based, on robot system, all of the robotic controls are given to these computers. These computers have been found very efficient where they are under usage. 
9. Computer in Office:
   The advent of personal computers PCs has brought about a revolution in office life. Following are some important features of an electronic office:
• Word processing and Desktop publishing allows easy editing and retrieval of documents as well as the production of high quality newsletters, brochures or manuals within the organisation where previously the work would have to have been sent out to a printer for layout and typesetting. Scanners may be used to capture graphics, photographs or text from other resources.
• Database have largely replaced manual filing systems, providing fast and easy access to information that in the past would have been time consuming or impossible to obtain.
• Spreadsheets, accounting software, job scheduling software and numerous other application packages have made the job of planing, budgeting, monitoring and accurate record keeping far easier.
• Local Area Networks means that people can share software, data and hardware such as MODEM, LASER printers and so on.
• Wide Area Networks allow people to communicate across the world via electronic mail and access online databases any where in the world.
• Video Conferencing enables people in different location perhaps on the other side of the world to hold meetings and be able to see each other on their PC screens. A video camera at each end captures the image and transmits it to the person at the other end via a MODEM and a phone link, while a microphone captures the sound and transmits it simultaneously. Compression Techniques and ISDN or DSL lines are needed to be able to send the video images in the real time.
10. The Impacts of Internet:
    Several social benefits of Internet are:
• Electronic Mail and Chatting to send instant images quickly.
• Newsgroups providing latest news providing latest news on almost any topic.
• Files of software, photographs, games etc can be download one's own hard disk.
• Electronic shopping and Banking called E-Business & E-Commerce respectively.
• Access to online databases all over the world via a "Web Browser" like "Internet Explorer".

Impacts of IT on Society:

Nos one it the modern society is unaffected by the computer. In the supermarkets, banks, libraries, hospitals, travel agencies and so one, we have their presence for granted. Computerised bills and statements, personalised letters inviting us to participate in the different activities of live both nationally and internationally reminds us that our names are store on computer databases all over the world. Different types of computised system are encountered in every day life such as.
*     PCs used in homes and small offices or business.
*     Portable Laptops that can be very easily kept in a brief case and used anywhere.
*    Mini and  Mainframe computers used in larger and commercial business and offices such as stock exchange.
*     Different special-purpose and general-purpose computers used in industry for production, monitoring, control and efficient record keeping.
*     Internet is used in education, business, research and many other fields.
*     Super Computers can perform very amount of tedious computation in the least span of time usually Pico second. These computers are mostly used by government agencies for very sensitive operation like firing a Missile, Rocket-space mission and so on.

These computers are not used to replace the employees at all rather they are used to assist their users as they can::
*     Produce accurate results without time-consuming.
*     Provide greater security to stored data or information.
*     Repeat a tedious process over and over for any number of times.
*    Greatly help the users to decrease their burden of work.

Computer Assistance in Simplifying our work practices:

Now a days a field may hardly be found in existence where computer is not applicable. Computers are intelligent amplifiers that perform operations on data in a more efficient, faster and accurate manner. Thus it makes humans free to use their times in activities involving creativity and making decisions. Computers are capable to simplify our work practices in day-to-day tasks due to their certain characteristics that are listed one by one below:

1. Speed:
   Computer was initially invented as a very high speed calculator and its further improvements helped in completing many scientific projects that were previously impossible. In normal life for example, we would have taken a lot of time in making the arrangements for our flights abroad if computers were not there to book our seats so fast and easily. This ability of getting our needed result so fast makes one capable to take action according to the circumstances in real time due to which real time computing is possible. Electrical pulses travel at incredible speeds and the computer being an electronic machine works on these pulses, so its speed is virtually instantaneous. When we are talking about speed of computations, we actually mean nano (10^-9) second. A computer can add and subtract numbers, compare letters to determine alphabetical sequences, move and copy numbers and letters, store and retrieve data or information efficiently in the shortest span of time.
   As such there is nothing profound in computation operation. What is significant is the speed with which computers carry out these operations. One can imagine very well about the speed of the computers by fact that a computer can add two 18-digits long number in 3 to 4 nanoseconds. This means that it is capable of doing 3 million calculations per second. A small computer is capable to evaluate thousand of machine operations within a second.
2. Accuracy:
   Computers are highly accurate in their operations. They seldom make mistakes. This accuracy is because of their physical circuits and due to the reason that their circuits have no mechanical parts. Even if the computers make mistakes, it might be due to bugs in programs or due to feeding incorrect data or poorly designed systems. The highly efficient error detecting techniques may be implemented to prevent it from producing inaccurate result.
3. Storage:
   A human mind acquires some knowledge and after it has used it, it might keep it in its subconscious mind or might even forget it after some time.However computers are capable to store massive amounts of information. This information can be used and reused again and again for several years unless something goes wrong with the hardware or one erase it. Today computers have such disks that have the capacities of storing billions of characters. This is big enough to store a very huge encyclopedia, dozens of computer programs or applications, thousand recitations of the Holy Quran, huge databases, all the projects we have ever done in our life and much more. all types of necessary updating for the stored information are also facilitated in a computer system.
4. Versatility:
   This means that computers are capable of performing any type of task, provided that the activity could be put into valid logical steps. It can be used in numerous application ranging from a simple world processor to huge business information systems. In today's world, it is difficult to imagine even a single field in which computer is not playing its key role.
5. Automation:
   A computer is much more than just a calculator in which we need to give the instruction at every step. It is an intelligent electronic system which when programmed for any type of activity it keeps on doing it till it finishes without any human intervention.
6. Diligence:
   Computer being a machine never shows any signs of fatigue, tiredness, lack of concentration or lost of interest during its computation operations. The speed, accuracy and quality would be absolutely the same in first and last calculation, even in case when a computer performs millions of calculation. Computers will never complain even once that they are bored of the over and over repetitive operation as humans do. Thus it is the best especially for monotonous and voluminous work to assist humans in performing their tedious task.
7. Reliability:
   Generally the computer output is highly reliable subject to the condition that the input given to the computer is correct and the program of instruction is also reliable and correct. Incorrect data input and unreliable programs gives us computer errors and wrong result. These qualities of computers make them reliable and also make us too dependent on them. They can be run for years without any loss of data or any other problem.
   Although there are many characteristics of computers, the only limitation one could find is that computers are not creative by themselves. They are designed and run by human only. They might make the exact copy of Picasso's paintings but actually can't give the world their original creations. They might printout numberless books of Shakespeare but can never write anything on its own. They might replicate the Taj Mahal, seventh wounder of the world but will never be able to create architecture like that without being operated by humans. Thus we must be happy for that as human beings, we are still superior to computers because of our God gifted qualities.