Information class
fislal
is_3003_chapter_5b.pptxIS 3003
Chapter 5B
1
Programming languages for business
Tools for Business applications are embodied in various programming languages
COBOL – was originally developed specifically for business applications in the 1960s; it is referred to as a legacy language because there are many better-supported, more capable, and faster languages available for these purposes
C, C++ - starting in the early 1970s, C and its variants have been available; these languages are extremely flexible and efficient for business apps;
Algol, Pascal – these languages have features that are far beyond COBOL, but have not been widely adopted, because they were mostly used in the academic, and scientific communities, and not thought of as business tools
Visual Basic – this language runs on MS Windows platforms, and is an all round tool for business as well as other areas; Basic is an interpretative language which runs a bit slower than executable object code (compiled software
JAVA – this language is operating system independent (it can run on any O/S); it was developed by Sun Micro; it allows programmers to create code applets that can be downloaded and run on CPUs that have the JAVA client software
2
Desktop tools
Software package – this is pre-written, pre-coded, commercial/private software that eliminates the need for companies to write their own software using any of the languages just discussed
Word processing software – stores input characters representing letters or symbols, and expresses them on command to a display, printer, or document
Oriental languages are pictogram-based meaning words are expressed as pictures; more recently, words have been broken down into sounds (syllables), again represented by pictures, analogous to the old short hand dictation systems
3
Productivity software
Spreadsheet software – this is valuable for applications where calculations using pieces of data, embedded in the frame, are used, and numerical results displayed; these systems use grids of rows and columns to organize such information
Data management software – although spreadsheet programs are powerful tools, data management software is better for creating and manipulating lists, and for merging files
Presentation graphics – is the use of software to convert numerical data into charts, and other types of graphs; also included could be sound, animation, photos, and video
4
Productivity software
Software suites – the archetypical suite is MS Office of various years
Web browsers – used for the display of web pages and other content, accessing the web; browsers are used to display all multimedia (voice, print, video, graphics)
HTML/HTML5 – these are page description languages, meaning they specify, through instructions provided by a programmer, where the text, pictures, video, and graphics will go on a web page; they also allow one to link to outside pages via embedded URLs
5
Web services
XML (extensible markup language) – is the foundation technology for web services; XML allows a programmer to specify the presentation, communication, and storage of data, all in the same programming scheme
SOA (Service oriented architecture) – a collection of web services that are used by firms to build an SOA; this is a set of self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a larger software application; all large software vendors, e.g., IBM, HP, MS, Oracle, etc. provide platforms that support SOA frameworks
6
