Starting out with Microsoft Word

When WORD is opened you will be presented with a blank page. All what you have to do is start writing. Of course you don’t have to worry about overflowing the text line because the program will take care of breaking it up appropriately. After writing your first document you have to save it; if you don’t and turn off the computer what you have written will be cancelled and nothing will remain. However the program asks you what you want to do of the document the moment you shut off WORD without having saved it first. If you intend to keep the document you will be prompted to tell the computer where you want to save it. By default it will be saved as a file in a folder called My Documents (but if you use the Italian version of Windows and WORD this is called Miei Documenti). Give a name to the document and choose the file’s destination: it will be saved with a .DOC extension, this is to tell Windows that this document is a WORD file. From now on the document you have written will be available for you to do whatever you like: you can open it again and modify it, or print it, or send it via e-mail or fax.

Important editing functions

As you can see in the image above, WORD can be customised with a number of editing functions that appear as icons on th etool bar.

Some of the most frequent editing tools are CUT, COPY, PASTE and COPY FORMAT.

To copy words, protions of text, images, or just about whatever you have in your document, you can click on the COPY icon or hit Ctrl+C; this will memorise what you have copied in the clipboard and you can paste it any place you want by clicking on the PASTE icon or hitting the keys Ctrl+V. However, if you wish to delete something in order to copy it somewhere else, use the CUT command (the scissors icon) or hit Ctrl+X. Finally, clicking on COPY FORMAT (the brush icon) you can format text as you wish: to do so, position your pointer on the word whose format you want to copy; click on COPY FORMAT icon; move pointer to word or text you want to modifyand highlight it with your mouse, and finally release the mouse button. The text will show the new format (font, character size and colour).

45. What is а database? Which tasks can be performed by using а database?

A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies). The term "database" refers both to the way its users view it, and to the logical and physical materialization of its data, content, in files, computer memory, and computer data storage. This definition is very general, and is independent of the technology used. However, not every collection of data is a database; the term database implies that the data is managed to some level of quality (measured in terms of accuracy, availability, usability, and resilience) and this in turn often implies the use of a general-purpose Database management system (DBMS). A general-purpose DBMS is typically a complex software system that meets many usage requirements, and the databases that it maintains are often large and complex.

Database task:

Plan a database, Design a database, Implement a database, Optimize a database, Maintain a database