Application of personal computers

Personal computers have a lot of applications, however, there are some major categories of applications: home and hobby, word processing, professional, educational, small business and engineering and scientific.

Home and hobby. Personal computers enjoy great popularity among experimenters and hobbyists. They are an exciting hobby. All hobbyists need not be engineers or programmers. There are many games that use the full capabilities of a computer to provide many hours of exciting leisure-time adventure.

The list of other home and hobby applications of PCs is almost endless, including: checking account management, budgeting, personal finance, planning, investment analyses, telephone answering and dialing, home security, home environment and climate control, appliance control, calendar management, maintenance of address and mailing lists and what not.

Word processing. At home or at work, applications software, called a word processing program enables you to correct or modify any document in any manner you wish before printing it. Using the monitor as a display screen, you are able to view what you have typed to correct mistakes in spelling or grammar, add or delete sentences, move paragraphs around, and replace words. The letter or document can be stored for future use.

Professional. The category of professional includes persons making extensive use of word processing, whose occupations are particularly suited to the desk-top use of PCs. Examples of other occupations are accountants, financial advisors, stock brokers, tax consultants, lawyers, architects, engineers, educators and all levels of managers. Applications programs that are popular with persons in these occupations include accounting, income tax preparation, statistical analysis, graphics, stock market forecasting and computer modeling. The computer modeling program is widely used by professionals. It can be used for scheduling, planning, and the examination of “what if“ situations.

Educational. Personal computers are having and will continue to have a profound influence upon the classroom, affecting both the learner and the teacher. Microcomputers are making their way into classrooms to an ever-increasing extent giving impetus to the design of programmed learning materials that can meet the demands of student and teacher.

Two important types of uses for personal computers in education are computer-managed instruction (CMI), and computer-assisted instruction (CAI). CMI software is used to assist the instructor in the management of all classroom-related activities, such as record keeping, work assignments, testing, and grading. Applications of CAI include mathematics, reading, typing, computer literacy, programming languages, and simulations of real-world situations.

Notes

exciting leisure-time adventure — увлекательное приключение в свободное время; stock market forecasting — прогнозирование рынка акций; an ever-increasing extent — в возрастающей степени; impetus — толчок, импульс; work assignments — задания; grading — сортировка, распределение