A2-MY FIRST CLOSE LOOK AT DESK TOP COMPUTER

 

 

By pragyansharma polavarapu

I recall the time when I purchased a personal computer(the “Micro”) for my daughter’s use about 20 years ago. I did not dare even to go near the keyboard even though I was a physics graduate -- having a general idea about the electrical/electronic aspect of the computer. In such situations science graduates will be really more careful than others. I feared that if I touch any key the entire digital circuitry inside the costly computer would be damaged!

Being a physics graduate I read now and then simple technical books on computer operation with great pleasure and interest .I would read sections of the books again and again and found them quite easy to understand. I felt as if I was myself a student of computer science. I continue to read simple computer science books even now . I purchased a book on PASCAL computer language . It was interesting like high school algebra .PASCAL is so perfect, mathematical and elegant like algebra.

Being immensely interested in the subjects like radio transmission and current electricity (i.e. about electricity flowing in wires) I purchased Dr.Andrew Tannenbaum’s bulky but extremely interesting book on Networking— networking of computer systems and telephone systems . I liked the subject immensely .The theories and ideas were presented in a easy non-mathematical way.I could understand many sections. I read several sections repeatedly for months ,perhaps for two or three years. In the beginning I could not fully understand the meaning of the terms like logic gates, registers etc .

I realized that computer science is entirely different from the physics which I studied ---though both have the same mathematical base. The terms "Constants" and "Variables" in computer science have a similar meaning as in algebra. However in computer technology we may compare "Constants " to hotel rooms and "Variables" to the persons who stay in them for a day or two and go away!

THE WONDERS OF THE “WORD” PROGRAM

After two or three months I could with my daughter's help confidently open a file in the "Word" program! I typed a few English rhymes. I could not believe my eyes when what I typed ( the steps in the familiar nursery rhymes) appeared on the computer screen! The “Word” program is readily available at our service the moment the computer’s “desktop screen” opens .

If we just “right click” anywhere on the blank screen of the computer ,a “drop down” list( hanging flag- like ) appears. If we click the word “New” appearing in that menu , still another dropdown list appears beside the first list. We select “Microsoft Word Document” in the second dropdown menu . Immediately a huge white sheet spreads over entire computer screen. It is the white page of the Microsoft “Word” file equivalent to a sheet of white paper .

On the “WORD” file page there are at the top and bottom long “bars” containing tiny half centimeter size “toggle” buttons---the switch on/switch off operations combined in single button. We can use many such buttons in the WORD window like push buttons.

The entire top bar containing many such buttons is called “TOOL BAR”( just like the tool box of a TV/computer mechanic ). There is another such bar at bottom called “TASK BAR” containing other push buttons . There may be more than one bar at both top and bottom.

When we do not use the “WORD” program the blue colored" HOME SCREEN " reappears . It is filled with many little pictures the “ICONS” . They too are tool buttons but are far more powerful than the toggle push buttons of task bar and title bar . In fact each ICON button opens the entrance door of a giant proffessional program---like PHOTO STUDIO,SOUND STUDIO,BOOK SHOP ,PRINTING PRESS ,TELEPHONE EXCHANGE etc.

These icons on the blue main screen too are like “tools” of a TV/computer repairer ( the screw drivers ,wrenches and little hammers). So the computer’s screen, on which all the computer’s “electronic tools” are shown, is aptly named as the “DESK TOP” ! It reminds us of the mechanic’s table on which all his tools lie scattered.

Now let us return to the "WORD " program.I observed to my great delight that whatever I typed through the key board was printed on the computer screen .After seeing my little essays on the computer I felt as if I became a master of all computer science . After a few months I could compose little science articles for children in my computer files. I could find my articles listed among the search topics on the GOOGLE SEARCH page of Internet !

My slowness in going to the computer was deliberate .Being a science student I created some small word files of five or ten sentences and studied the actions of different toggle buttons. I tried ,by trial and error way, some “safe” buttons of the “tool bar” and the “task bar”. Being a physics and mathematics graduate I could see that a software program is just like the working steps in a big algebra problem . This view helped me in understanding several simple software programs in PASCAL and C .I always firmly believed (and believe now) that it is mathematics coupled with electric circuit theory that is behind everything happening on the computer.