3.1. Read the hypotheses and complete the reality. Add a sentence.
Example: I wish I lived in the countryside, but I don’t. I live in the town.
I wish our laboratory was provided with the best up-to date machinery, but ….. .
If only the laboratory were provided with all necessary measuring instruments, but…
I wish we managed to solve this problem, but….
I wish our plant were provided with various safety devices, but…
If only the operator didn’t break all the rule of operating the machinery, but…
I wish we got permission to work at the computing center, but….
3.2. Fill in the blanks using the verbs in brackets.
1. If it (to be) no computers there, many achievements of modern science would be impossible.
2. If you observed all the rules of operating the machine, you ( to increase) its productivity.
3. If you (to look) all the machines people had been using up to 1946, you would certainly notice at a glance that they were rather rude and imperfect.
4. He (not to earn) much money if he hadn’t been an experienced worker.
5. You (to solve) this problem if you used a reference-book. But you haven’t used it.
6. If computers (to be classify) according to the purpose they could be divided into general and special-purpose ones.
4. Vocabulary
4.1. Find the words in the text, translate them and write in antonyms for these words. Consult a dictionary if necessary.
Word |
Antonym |
relieve redistribute easy outside include access contain rather commonly request share |
|
4.2. Divide the nouns given in the box into countable and uncountable.
management, activity, application, purpose, service, eccess, network, source, equipment, manipulation, information, combination, skill, environment, folder, degree |
5. Speaking and Writing.
5.1. Name the major types of graphics software and shortly characterize their functions in written form.
5.2. Once more look through the text and list its main points.
Unit 7.
Reading
Programming
Computer programming (often shortened to programming or coding) is the process of writing, testing, debugging/troubleshooting, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in a programming language. The code may be a modification of an existing source or something completely new. The purpose of programming is to create a program that exhibits a certain desired behavior (customization). The process of writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.
Whatever the approach to software development may be, the final program must satisfy some fundamental properties. The following properties are among the most relevant:
Efficiency/performance: the amount of system resources a program consumes (processor time, memory space, slow devices such as disks, network bandwidth and to some extent even user interaction): the less, the better. This also includes correct disposal of some resources, such as cleaning up temporary files and lack of memory leaks.
Reliability: how often the results of a program are correct. This depends on conceptual correctness of algorithms, and minimization of programming mistakes, such as mistakes in resource management (e.g., buffer overflows and race conditions) and logic errors (such as division by zero).
A
Reliability Block Diagram
Usability: the ergonomics of a program: the ease with which a person can use the program for its intended purpose, or in some cases even unanticipated purposes. Such issues can make or break its success even regardless of other issues. This involves a wide range of textual, graphical and sometimes hardware elements that improve the clarity, intuitiveness, cohesiveness and completeness of a program's user interface.
Portability: the range of computer hardware and operating system platforms on which the source code of a program can be compiled /interpreted and run. This depends on differences in the programming facilities provided by the different platforms, including hardware and operating system resources.
Robustness: how well a program anticipates problems not due to programmer error. This includes situations such as incorrect, inappropriate or corrupt data, unavailability of needed resources such as memory, operating system services and network connections, and user’s errors.
Maintainability: the ease with which a program can be modified by its present or future developers in order to make improvements or customizations, fix bugs and security holes, or adapt it to new environments.
Programming languages:
A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that specify the behavior of a machine, to express algorithms precisely, or as a mode of human communication.
Many programming languages have some form of written specification of their syntax and semantics, since computers require precisely defined instructions. Some (such as C) are defined by a specification document (for example, an ISO Standard), while others (such as Perl) have a dominant implementation.
The earliest programming languages predate the invention of the computer, and were used to direct the behavior of machines such as Jacquard looms and player pianos. Thousands of different programming languages have been created, mainly in the computer field, with many more being created every year.
High-level languages:
FORTRAN – used for scientific and mathematical applications
COBOL – popular for business applications
BASIC – used as a teaching language
C – used to write system software, graphics and commercial programs
Java – designed to run on the Web