Subject Area: Computer System Architecture, Computer Networks in CIDEC Library.

COMPUTERS : TOOLS FOR AN INFORMATION AGE
4th ed

Publisher : Benjamin/Cummings Pub. Co. - Menlo Park, CA

Bibliographic :

• Paperback
• ISBN: 0-8053-0662-5
• © 1996
• 429 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
• Dewey No.: 004 20

• Computers

FEATURES :

• Planet Internet. Gain hands-on experience using the Internet with these end-of-chapter boxes. Linked with our Web site, these exercises have students explore online job resources, search engines, and more.
• One Jump Ahead. Learn about new directions in computer technology through a brief essay found in each chapter. Examples include how to use the computer to research and buy consumer goods and how robots will complete domestic tasks in our homes.
• Making the Right Connections. Discover obvious and not-so-obvious uses of computers in these in-chapter articles discussing links between computers and people and computers and information.
• Macintosh Boxes. Written for the layperson, these boxes stress the differences in operating systems between the Macintosh and the PC.
• Margin Notes. Entertaining and informational, these notes cover a variety of topics including why "bugs" are called "bugs" and how to connect with famous people via the net.
• Five Photo Galleries. These galleries, Making Microchips, Multimedia, Computers in the Workplace, Graphics, and the Buyer's Guide, vividly convey a diverse selection of computers and their applications.

• Instructors Support Package on CD-ROM. Uses hypermedia to help instructors illustrate complex concepts. Enables instructors to cutomize lecture notes from chapter outlines. All of the material from the AIE and Instructor's Guide/Testbank is included in Acrobat files.
• BC Link Online. A newsletter for instructors and students. Discusses strategies for teaching introductory computing and features information on software, the Internet, and other cutting-edge topics of interest to students. Also available in printed form.
• Annotated Instructor's Edition. Includes chapter outlines with key terms for lecture, lecture objectives, lecture activities, discussion questions, lecture hints, test bank references, transparency references, and class projects.
• Instructor's Guide and Test Bank. Incorporates five types of questions including multiple choice, true/false, matching, and completion.
• Computerized Test Bank. Edit questions and generate multiple tests with this Test Bank available for the IBM PC and the Macintosh. Contains the same items as in the Printed Test Bank.
• Color Transparency Acetates. Illustrate 50 examples of artwork and diagrams from the text.
• Videos. Benjamin/Cummings' library of commercially-produced tapes are available to qualified adopters:
  PBS Video Series: Computer Chronicles
  PBS Video Series: The Machine that Changed the World
  PBS Video Series: The Computer Revolution
  
• How Multimedia Computers Work CD-ROM for the PC. Provides an entertaining way for you to display the remarkable power of the latest multimedia computers.
• Computerworks CD-ROM or diskette for the PC. An exciting interactive package that gives students a look at the inside of computers.
• Benjamin Cummings' IS Web Site. See this site offers and find service to both instructors and students by providing a forum for the latest information on technology, applications, and issues, and links to other relevant Web sites.

VISION OF THE BOOK

The Fourth Edition of Computers: Tools for an Information Age is a substantial revision that has been updated to reflect the many changes that have occurred in computer technology. Coverage of hot topics such as the Internet, multimedia, and object-oriented programming have been expanded, while old data processing coveraged has been de-emphasized or dropped. Furthermore, a general theme of connectivity is reflected throughout the text in new feature boxes, as well as online exercises at the Planet Internet web site in which students students learn first-hand about the Internet and World Wide Web. Through these changes and specifically the use of online technology and the Web, Computers: Tools for an Information Age will enable students to develop their computer literacy using the interactive tools and technology that this innovative text offers.

See also home page of this book at Benjamin/Cummings.

CONTENTS :

PREFACE

PART I: HARDWARE TOOLS. 1.Overview Of A Computer System: Hardware, Software, and People 2.The Central Processing Unit: What Goes on Inside a Computer 3.Input and Output: The User Connection 4.Storage Devices and Stored Data: Just the Facts 5.Communications: Computer Connections

PART II: SOFTWARE TOOLS 6.Programming And Languages: Telling the Computer What to Do 7.Operating Systems: Software in the Background 8.Systems Analysis and Design: The Big Picture

PART III: WORKPLACE TOOLS. 9.Computers in the Workplace: Large, Small, and Networked 10.Management Information Systems: Classic Models and New Approaches 11.Computer Issues in the Workplace: Security, Privacy, and Ethics 12.Modern Trends in the Workplace: Expert Systems, Robotics, and Virtual Reality

PART IV: HANDS-ON COMPUTER TOOLS. 13.Word Processing And Desktop Publishing: Preparing Printed Communications 14.Spreadsheets and Business Graphics: Facts and Figures 15.Database Management Systems: Getting Data Together

APPENDICES The Programming Process: Planning the Solution History and Industry: The Continuing Story of the Computer Age Number Systems