Getting Started With Word 2007

CREATING AND EDITING DOCUMENTS

Introduction

MS Word 2007 is an easy-to-use word processing tool that enables you to create various documents to store your professional and personal data. For example, you can use Word 2007 to create a brochure for promoting a new product of your company or a newsletter for circulating the latest official news among your coworkers. Word 2007 provides several features that help you create, save, and open documents easily.

At the end of this topic, you will be able to:

create a new Word 2007 document.

Creating a Document

Word 2007, you can save different types of documents such as resumes, reports, and create e-mail messages. You can create these documents either from scratch or using predefined templates and wizards. Each method has its advantages. For example, the creation of a document created out of nothing flexibility and ensures accuracy. On the other hand, you can use predefined templates or wizards to create professional documents quickly and easily. After creating a document, you can select the desired text into the document and then save the document for later reference or revision. For more information visit
http://www.teachmeit.com/samplecourse/ms/msa/content.asp

Creating a Document from Scratch

Every time you start Word 2007, a blank document is created by default. You can explicitly create a new document by clicking the Office Button and then selecting the New command. This displays the New Document dialog box. On the Blank and recent page of the New Document dialog box, you have several options to create a blank document.

Creating a Blank Document

In the New Document dialog box, when you double-click the Blank document option, a new document is created. A blinking cursor is displayed in the upper-left corner of the new document. The Home tab is displayed by default. Next, you select the font face and font size for the text from the Font group and start typing.

Creating a New Blog Entry

In the New Document dialog box, when you double-click the new blog post option, a new blog files are created. When you create a blog for the first time documents, sign up for a blog account that displays a message box. This message, you can register a blog service provider. You can also choose to choose to register. Then, you can insert the information you want to publish your document in the blog. Finally, you need to click on the blog post labels issued an order button to publish blog into your site. If you have not registered to a blog service provider, sign up for a blog account, the message box is displayed again. For more information, please visit
http://www.teachmeit.com/samplecourse/ms/msa/content.asp

Creating a Template

To create a template, you first create a document with the settings that you may want to use in future. Then, you click the Office Button and select the Save As command from the menu. This displays the Save As dialog box. Here, you click the Trusted Templates link in the left pane. This opens the default Templates folder for saving the template. Next, you select the Word Template option from the Save as type drop-down list. You can use the File name text box to change the default name, if required. Finally, you click the Save button.

Creating a Document from a Template

To create a document from a template, you click the Office Button and select the New command from the menu. This displays the New Document dialog box. Here, you select the My templates... option from the Templates section. This displays the New dialog box. This dialog box lists the templates that you have created and saved on your computer. You select a template from the My Templates tab and click the OK button. This opens a new document with the settings saved in the selected template.

Creating a New Document from an Existing Document

You may need to create a new Word 2007 document from a template. For example, you want to create a document from a document called Technical training. To create such a document, select New from the existing ... Option in the New Document dialog box. This shows the New from Existing Document dialog box. In this dialog box, browse to the folder that contains the source document with the show in the drop-down list. Then select the source document and click the Create New button. This creates a new document in the folder that contains the source document.
For more information visit
http://www.teachmeit.com/samplecourse/ms/msa/content.asp

Moving Text in a Document

When working in a document, you might need to move certain text in the document within the same document or to a different document. You can use the options provided in the Clipboard group on the Home tab to move or copy selected text. To move the selected text, you click the Cut command button on the Clipboard group. Then, you click at the point where you want the text to appear and click the Paste command button. To move the text to another document, you switch to the new document and click the Paste command button.

Copying Text

You can copy text within the same document or across documents. To copy text, you select the text that you want to copy and then select the Copy command button in the Clipboard group. Next, you click at the point where you want the text to appear in the same document or in another document. Next, you click the Paste command button to paste the selected text at the specified location.

Paste Options

You can access different paste options by using the Paste Special... and Paste as Hyperlink options in the Paste gallery. The Paste Special dialog box is displayed when you select the Paste Special... option. It provides you with different options to paste your text. For example, the Unformatted Text option allows you to paste text without formatting. The Paste as Hyperlink option allows you to paste a hyperlink to a file in another file to link the two files. For this, you first need to save the file, copy the text to use as a hyperlink, click at a location where you want to insert the hyperlink, and then select the Paste as Hyperlink option. For more information visit
http://www.teachmeit.com/samplecourse/ms/msa/content.asp

Saving a Document

In creating and formatting documents, you need to save for future use. To do this, you click the Office button, select Save or Save As command to open the Save As dialog box. In this dialog box, use the Save In drop-down list, browse to your location to save the document. Next, you type your file name of the file name text box. You can choose to save the Save As Type drop-down list in the format of a different file format. Finally, click the Save button to save the file with the specified name and format of the specified location.

Options in the Save As Dialog Box

The Save As dialog box contains a section in which the shortcuts to the Trusted Templates, My Recent Documents, Desktop, My Documents, My Computer, and My Network Places folders are available. You can save your documents in any of these folders.

The Tools button, located at the bottom-left corner of the Save As dialog box, consists of options to delete, rename, and save documents. It also enables you to display the properties of files and folders, use Web options, such as mapping network drives, and set passwords. Additionally, this button enables you to configure save, security, and Web options, compress pictures, and clear document hierarchy. The top panel of the Save As dialog box enables you to perform various tasks, such as moving to the last opened folder, creating a new folder, or deleting a document or a folder.

Saving as a PDF or XPS

At times, you may want to share your documents with users who do not have Word 2007 installed on their computers. To do this, you click the Office Button and select Save As - PDF or XPS menu command. This command enables you to save your documents in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and XML Paper Specification (XPS) formats. Using these formats, you can easily share your Word 2007 documents with other users on the Internet without considering the type of computer or applications that they are using. For more information visit
http://www.teachmeit.com/samplecourse/ms/msa/content.asp

opening a Document

To open a saved document, you click the Office Button and then select the Open command. This displays the Open dialog box. In the Open dialog box, you browse to the folder where you saved the document by using the Look in drop-down list. Next, you select the document that you want to open. Finally, you click the Open button.

The Open dialog box enables you to open a document in different modes, such as read-only or copy. You can select the mode to open a document by clicking the arrow next to the Open button.

Posted in: xml tutorial| Tags: Introduction New example word document creating scratch documents processing editing

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Folderbrowserdialog Unmasked: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Folder Browser Component From .net Framework

Original Article :http://www.ssware.com/articles/folderbrowserdialog-unmasked-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-folder-browser-component-from-dotnet-framework.htm

Introduction

The FolderBrowserDialog, available as part of the .Net framework, provides a folder browser component for your C# and VB.Net applications. The UI consists of a modal dialog which contains a tree control displaying all the files and folders on the system. The user can then browse and select a folder from the tree. The full path of the selected folder is then returned.

Basic Usage

To display a folder explorer UI to the user, a FolderBrowserDialog instance is created and the ShowDialog method is called. This shows the modal dialog containing the folder browser control (tree) and an OK and Cancel button. If the user selects a folder and clicks the OK button, the ShowDialog method returns DialogResult.OK and the SelectedPath property contains the full path of the selected folder. If the user clicks the Cancel button, the ShowDialog method returns DialogResult.Cancel.

Advanced Usage

The FolderBrowserDialog has some additional features such as limiting the view of the file system that is displayed to the user, pre-selecting a folder when the dialog is first displayed and displaying a button to allow the user to create a new folder.

The RootFolder property can be set to the full path of the folder which is to be displayed as the root of the tree control of the folder browser component. For example, if this property is set to Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal, only folders from the 'My Documents' are displayed in the tree, so the user can only select 'My Documents' or its sub-folders.

Prior to displaying the folder browser control, the SelectedPath property can be set to the full path of a folder causing that folder to be pre-selected in the folder browser tree. For example, when this property is set to "c:", the node corresponding to the c: drive is pre-selected in the tree when the dialog is first displayed.

If the ShowNewFolderButton property is set to true, then, in addition to the folder browser tree control, and the OK and Cancel buttons, the folder browser dialog also displays an additional 'New Folder' button which when clicked, creates a new folder under the currently selected folder.

Limitations

While the folder browser component is a handy way to allow the users to browse and select folders, it suffers from many limitations, some of them preventing the component from being of practical use in applications.

Modal Functionality

The folder browser component of the most obvious drawback is that it is displayed in the form of a modal dialog user interface. Displayed, it will prevent the rest of the application until the user selects a folder. As long as the dialog box is displayed, there is no input (keyboard or mouse click) In addition to occur in the dialog box. The user must input may appear before the caller identification or the Cancel button.

This is a very annoying and limited FolderBrowserDialog function. Users are likely to be irritated, and tired when they interact with a modal dialog box each time they want to explore and select a folder. A non-modal user interface controls can be the application itself is a form or dialog box, which is a more user-friendly display of the same user-friendly way.

No Virtual (Non-file system) folders

The FolderBrowserDialog does not allow the user to select virtual (Non-file system) folders such as the Control Panel or My Computer. It only allows the user to select a file system path such as "c:" or "c:windows".

No Files

The component does not allow the user to select files. This is a major drawback since there are many circumstances where the user may need to select a file while still using the tree UI to browse to that file.

Limited Choice of RootFolder

The root folder of the folder browser control can be only set to one of the 'special folders' defined by Windows such as the 'My Documents' or 'My Computer'. This is a major limitation since this means you cannot set the root folder to a path such as the "d:" drive.

No Check Boxes

The folder explorer tree in the FolderBrowserDialog cannot show check boxes next to nodes. Ability to show multi-state check boxes can be a very handle feature for such a control.

No Filtering

The FolderBrowserDialog has no support for filtering. For example, it is not possible to display only network folders or only shared folders or only folders starting with the string "Documents" or files having a particular extension.

No Custom Controls

When using FolderBrowserDialog, you are only limited to the actual folder tree control manager to identify, cancel, and the New Folder button and description tags. This is a can not add custom control dialog box. This will be useful, in many cases, such as when you want to display thumbnails / preview of the selected file / folder, or any other relevant information.

No Appearance Control

The appearance of the FolderBrowserDialog and its constituent controls cannot be changed. Neither can attributes of individual folders show in the folder explorer control be changed. For example, it is not possible to change the background color of the tree control or to set the font and color of individual nodes/folders in the tree.

No Custom items

The FolderBrowserDialog cannot display external/custom items in the folder explorer tree. For example, it may be necessary to display items from an FTP location in addition to the file system items. This is not possible with the FolderBrowserDialog.

No Lockdown

The FolderBrowserDialog operations can freely Folder. The user can rename the folder, go drag

Beyond The FolderBrowserDialog : The FolderView Control

The Folder View Control brings a Windows Explorer-like folder browser component to your applications complete with AutoUpdate, dragdrop, icons, context menus, non-filesystem items, default key-handling, info tips and rename. It features powerful behavior control and customization functionality takes it miles ahead of Windows Explorer by adding features like filtering, checkboxes, custom items, more than one root node, dragdrop control and customization of default context menus, display names, icons and more tips.

The FolderView control is a UI control which can be dropped right inside your own forms and dialogs. A non-modal file & folder browsing/selection experience right inside your own dialogs and forms is something that users will appreciate and find intuitive and simple.

Additionally, FolderView overcomes all the limitations of the FolderBrowserDialog and provides far greater and advanced features and functionality than the FolderBrowserDialog. The following table is a quick comparison of the FolderView Control with the FolderBrowserDialog.

Drop-In Windows Explorer like folder browser functionality.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : Modal UI. The component cannot be dropped in your own form.

• Complete Windows Explorer functionality include a file/folder browsing listview (similar to Windows Explorer's right-side) and a drive selection control (similar to Windows Explorer's address bar)
  FolderView Control : Yes. As part of Shell MegaPack
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Ability to select virtual (Non-file system) folders
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Ability to specify any and all folders as root.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Ability to show files as well as folders.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Multi-state check boxes
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Filtering capabilities
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Custom controls
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Appearance Control
  FolderView Control : Colors and appearance of the control as a whole and of individual folders/files can be changed.
  FolderBrowserDialog : No.
  
  
  
  
  
• Custom Items
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Prevent renaming, drag-drop, context menus
  FolderView Control : Yes. For all folders or on a per-folder basis.
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Multiple root folders
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Change default display names, icons, overlay icons, infotip, etc
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Simply and easy to use API
  FolderView Control : Yes
  Clumsy, inflexible API
  
  
  
  
  
• Access complete information of a file/folder including its displayname, fullpath, checkstate, selection state and attributes like whether it is a shortcut, shared, hidden, readonly, file and folder.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Prevent display of contextmenus for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Prevent dragdrop for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Allow/disallow renaming for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Allow/disallow selection for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Allow/disallow expanding/collapsing on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Change default drag actions during dragdrop (e.g. from Copy To Move)
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Control checking/unchecking on a per-folder basis.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Prevent execution of default shell commands ( e.g. Open, Cut, Properties, etc. in response to keystrokes or through the context menu) for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Show/hide hidden folders using a simple property.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Show/hide virtual folders ( e.g. Control Panel ) using a simple property.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Enumerate all folders shown in FolderView.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Enumerate all folders according to folder hierarchy structure.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Execute shell commands ( e.g. Cut, Delete, etc ) on folders.
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  
• Associate developer defined data with each folder
  FolderView Control : Yes
  FolderBrowserDialog : No
  
  
  
  
  

The FolderView control (and Shell MegaPack ) is available in two editions :

.Net Edition : For use in .Net development using Windows Forms, WPF and ASP.Net

ActiveX Edition : For use in applications developed using Visual C++/MFC/ATL, Visual Basic 6, VBA (Access, Word, Excel, AutoCAD,etc), Borland Delphi and Borland Builder, and HTML/ASP pages.

Posted in: asp.net| Tags: Introduction Component article framework everything browser folder unmasked original folderbrowserdialog

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ASP.Net and Flash Communication

Hello readers, I've covered in this article is just a small and simple overview of the world of Flash development with ASP.NET. I have recently designed a website, which thoroughly covers all of the Flash to ASP.NET communication methods mentioned in this article, as well as a step-by-step introduction to ASP.NET development with C# using Visual Studio.NET coolest IDE and Adobe Flash CS.

Step 1

Open Adobe Flash CS. Create a new document selecting Flash File (Action Script 2.0). You may be interested in Action Script 3 (AS3) but I choose Action Script 2 (AS2) for easier understand. Just step with me and I assure you, you will become a good Flash developer after reading this article. Now you will see a single tab namely ‘Untitled 1’ in the Adobe Flash. After saving the file ‘Untitled 1’ text will replace with your preferred filename. I named it ‘AspFlash.fla’. Remember FLA is a flash source file and your output movie will be SWF, which will need to be embedded in ASP.Net ASPX file later. Adobe Flash split-down with several window, do not confused. You do not need to know the all window features. Start with left called ‘Tools’, in the center top window called ‘Timeline’, next down window called ‘Scene’, next bottom window called ‘Properties’ and the right most window split-down with many window ‘Color’, ‘Align’, ‘Components’ and ‘Library’. Those entire windows can be switched on/off by ‘Window’ menu. Look at the ‘Scene’ window which will be your design area. From the ‘’Properties’ window you can change colors and size as per your requirements.

Step 2

Now add some component from the ‘Components’ window expand ‘User Interface’. Oh! lots of stuff. Drag only one ‘TextInput’ and one ‘Button’ on your ‘Scene’ window and align them correctly. Select ‘TextInput’ and put an instance name (e.g. TextInput1) from ‘Properties’ window. Without instance name, Action Script will not recognize any components. Do same for the ‘Button’ instance name (e.g. SendData) and from the ‘Parameters’ tab change ‘Button’ label (e.g. Send Data).

Step 3

Here we start out main coding part. Select ‘Layer 1’ from ‘Timeline’ window and press F9 (keyboard function key). You will see ‘Actions’ window, where you writes you’re AS code. Type or copy pest the following codes.

//************************************************//

SendData.onPress = function() {
//Declare and Initialize variable
var send_lv:LoadVars = new LoadVars();
//Assigning value to parameter, like Asp.Net QueryString
send_lv.mydata = TextInput1.text;
//Sending data
send_lv.send('default.aspx', '_self', 'GET');
};

//************************************************//

The LoadVars object is used for data exchange between flash memory - the server. The LoadVars object is the data sent to the server for processing load from the server, data or send data to the server and waits for the response from the server to return an operational capability. LoadVars object uses name-value pairs exchanged between the client and server data. The LoadVars object is the best situation, the two-way between the need for the Flash movie and server-side communications logic, but does not require large amounts of data to pass

Step 4

Type or copy the following code to flash pests, QueryString read - Action Script 2. 2 ASP.Net action script is not because it provides such a method, and I coded the following URL to retrieve from the query string._url method returns the URL of the ‘AspFlash.swf’ file that was loaded with ASPX page.

//************************************************//

//Reading QuaryString
myURL = this._url;
myPos = myURL.lastIndexOf("?");
if (myPos > 0) {
var myRawParam = myURL.substring(myPos + length('mydata=') + 1, myURL.length);
myParam = myRawParam.toString().split("'").join("");
if (myParam != undefined){
TextInput1.text = myParam;
}
}

//************************************************//

Step 5

Save your file from File menu. Now we need to make the final SWF move and embed it to ASPX page. From File menu click ‘Publish Settings’ and you will see a new window containing three tabs (Formats, Flash and HTML). In the Formats tab check Flash and HTML types, so that you can get the SWF embedded code in HTML page. Now press button ‘Publish’ to build the final move. If there are no error occurred, flash will provide you to two files (e.g. ‘AspFlash.swf’ and ‘AspFlash.html’) in root folder where source file ‘AspFlash.fla’ located.

Step 6

Now start Visual Studio .Net (VS) and create a new website and name it ‘AspFlash’. VS creates a default page namely ‘Default.aspx’. From solution explorer double click on ‘Default.aspx’ file to view Markup code (also called Inline code) like following.

//************************************************//

//************************************************//

Now copy ‘AspFlash.swf’ and ‘AspFlash.html’ files in to your web root directory. I mean ASPX, SWF files should be located in same directory. Open ‘AspFlash.html’ file and copy the following lines and paste it inside tag of ‘Default.aspx’ file.

//************************************************//

//************************************************//

After pasting the above code little change needed on ‘AspFlash.swf’ parameter like the following. Look at the line ‘AspFlash.swf?mydata='<% =Request["mydata"] %>'’ what we added. Flash read _url- data with mydata which will be supplied by ASP.Net later.

//************************************************//

width="550" height="400" id="AspFlash" align="middle">


'" />


'" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff"
width="550" height="400" name="AspFlash" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
allowfullscreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />

//************************************************//

Finally, add two ASP.net standard controls on ‘Default.aspx’ page (e.g. TextBox and Button). Change Button text property to ‘Send Data’. The full ‘Default.aspx’ will looks like the following.

//************************************************//

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>

width="550" height="400" id="AspFlash" align="middle">


'" />


'" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff"
width="550" height="400" name="AspFlash" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
allowfullscreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />

//************************************************//

Step 7

In this step you need to open ‘Default.cs’ file by clicking ‘View Code’ pointing on ‘Default.aspx’ from Solution Explorer of VS. By default VS added Page_Load event procedure. You need to add some text on Page_Load event procedure along with button1_click event procedure like the following.

//************************************************//

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(!IsPostBack)
if (Request["mydata"] != null)
textbox1.Text = Request["mydata"].ToString();
}
protected void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Redirect("~/default.aspx?mydata=" + textbox1.Text);
}

//************************************************//

Step 8

Now build the website using F5 (keyboard function key) and type some text in Flash movie and click ‘Send Data’ to send Flash data to ASPX page. You will see ASPX ‘TextBox’ text changed with your Flash ‘TextInput’ text.

Same way type some text in ASPX ‘TextBox’ and click ‘Send Data’ Button to send ASPX data to Flash movie.

Enjoy the communication technique between ASP.Net and Flash. If need further assistance, feel free to contact me via email.

Link1 Link2

Posted in: asp.net| Tags: Communication NET Website Introduction flash article world development asp overview

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A Short History of Systems Development

"If they do not have an appreciation of whence we came, I doubt
they will have an appreciation of where we should be going."
- Bryce's Law

INTRODUCTION

I always find it amusing when I tell a young person in this industry that I
worked with punch cards and plastic templates years ago.Its kind of the
same dumbfounded look I get from my kids when I tell them we used to
watch black and white television with three channels, no remote control,
and station signoffs at midnight.It has been my observation that our younger
workers do not have a sense of history; this is particularly apparent in the
systems world.If they do not have an appreciation of whence we came,
I doubt they will have an appreciation of where we should be going.Consequently,
I have assembled the following chronology of events in the hopes this will provide
some insight as to how the systems industry has evolved to its current state.

I'm sure I could turn this into a lengthy dissertation but, instead, I will try
to be brief and to the point.Further, the following will have little concern
for academic developments but rather how systems have been implemented
in practice in the corporate world.

PRE-1950'S - "SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES"

Perhaps the biggest revelation to our younger readers regarding this period
will be that there was any form of systems prior to the advent of the
computer.In fact, "Systems and Procedures" Departments predated the
computer by several years.Such departments would be concerned with the
design of major business processes using "work measurement" and "work
simplification" techniques as derived from Industrial Engineering.Such
processes were carefully designed using grid diagrams and flowcharts.There
was great precision in the design of forms to record data, filing systems to
manage paperwork, and the use of summary reports to act as control
points in systems.For example, spreadsheets have been extensively used
for many years prior to the introduction of Lotus 1-2-3 or MS Excel.There was
also considerable attention given to human behavior during the business
process (the precursor to "ergonomics").

Systems were initially implemented by paper and pencil using ledgers, journals
(logs), indexes, and spreadsheets.We have always had some interesting filing
systems, everything from cards and folders, to storage cabinets.

Perhaps the earliest mechanical device was the ancient abacus used for simple
math (which is still used even to this day).The late 1800's saw the advent of cash
registers and adding machines as popularized by such companies as NCR in
Dayton, Ohio under John Patterson who also introduced sweeping changes in
terms of dress and business conduct.This was adopted by Thomas Watson, Sr.
who worked for many years at NCR and carried forward these practices to IBM
and the rest of the corporate world.Also, Burroughs was a major player in
the early adding machine industry.

The first typewriters were also introduced in the late 1800's which had a tremendous
effect on correspondence and order processing.This was led primarily by Remington
Arms (later to become Remington Rand).

In the early 1900's, tabulating equipment was introduced to support such things
as census counting.This was then widely adopted by corporate America.Occasionally
you will run into old-timers who can describe how they could program such machines
using plug boards.Punch card sorters were added as an adjunct to tabulating
equipment.

As a footnote, most of what IBM's Watson learned about business was from
his early days at NCR.However, he had a falling out with Patterson who fired
him.As a small bit of trivia, after Watson died, he was buried in Dayton on a
hilltop overlooking NCR headquarters, the company he couldn't conquer.

During World War II, both the U.S. military and industrial complex relied heavily
on manually implemented systems.We did it so well that many people, including
the Japanese, contend it gave the Allies a competitive edge during the war.

The lesson here, therefore, is that manually implemented systems have been with
us long before the computer and are still with us today.To give you a sense of
history in this regard, consider one of our more popular Bryce's Laws:

"The first on-line, real-time, interactive, data base system was double-entry
bookkeeping which was developed by the merchants of Venice in 1200 A.D."

One major development in this area was the work of Leslie "Les" Matthies, the
legendary Dean of Systems.Les graduated from the University of California at
Berkeley during the Depression with a degree in Journalism.Being a writer, he
tried his hand at writing Broadway plays.But work was hard to come by during
this period and when World War II broke out, Les was recruited by an aircraft
manufacturer in the midwest to systematize the production of aircraft.Relying
on his experience as a writer, he devised the "Playscript" technique for writing
procedures.Basically, Les wrote a procedure like a script to a play; there was a
To find out the procedure, together with its purpose, a "Setup" section to determine the
the forms and files to be used during it; and an "Operations/Instructions" section
which described the "actors" to perform the tasks using verbs and nouns
to properly state each operation.He even went so far as to devise rules for
writing "If" statements.

For details on "Playscript," see "PRIDE" Special Subject Bulletin
No. 38 - "The Language of Systems" - Aug. 22, 2005
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss050822.pdf

"Playscript" became a powerful procedure writing language and was used
extensively throughout the world.It is still an excellent way to write procedures
today.Ironically, Les did not know what a profound effect his technique would
have later on in the development of computer programs.

1950'S - INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPUTER

Yes, I am aware that the ENIAC was developed for the military at the end
of World War II.More importantly, the UNIVAC I (UNIVversal Automatic Computer)
was introduced in 1951 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.The UNIVAC I
was a mammoth machine that was originally developed for the U.S. Bureau of
the Census.Corporate America took notice of the computer and companies
such as DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware began to lineup to experiment with
it for commercial purposes.The Remington Rand Corporation sponsored the
project, but the company's focus and name eventually changed to "UNIVAC"
(today it is referred to as "UNISYS," representing a merger of UNIVAC with
Burroughs).

The UNIVAC I offered a sophistication unmatched by other manufacturers,
most notably IBM's Mach I tabulating equipment.This caused IBM to invent
the 701 and its 700 series.Other manufacturers quickly joined the fray and
computing began to proliferate.Although UNIVAC was the pioneer in this
regard, they quickly lost market share due to the marketing muscle of
IBM.For quite some time the industry was referred to as "IBM & the
BUNCH" (Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, CDC, and Honeywell).

Programming the early machines was difficult as it was performed in a
seemingly cryptic Machine Language (the first generation language).This
eventually gave way to the Assembly Language (the second generation
language) which was easier to read and understand.Regardless, many of
the utilities we take for granted today (e.g., sorts and merges) simply were
not available and had to be developed.In other words, programming was a
laborious task during this period.

Recognizing both the limitations and potential of the computer, the 1950's
represented the age of experimentation for corporate America.Here, the
emphasis was not on implementing major systems through the computer,
but rather to develop an assortment of programs to test the machine as a
viable product.As such, programmers were considered odd characters who
maintained "the black box," and were not yet considered a part of the
mainstream of systems development.The "Systems and Procedures
Departments" still represented the lion's share of systems work in corporate
America, with an occasional foray to investigate the use of the computer.
The computer people were segregated into "computer departments"
(later to be known as "EDP" or "Data Processing" departments).

1960's - MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Competition between computer manufacturers heated up during this
decade, resulting in improvements in speed, capacity, and capabilities.
Of importance here was the introduction of the much touted IBM 360
(the number was selected to denote it was a comprehensive solution -
360 degrees).Other computer vendors offered products with comparable
performance, if not more so, but the IBM 360 was widely adopted by
corporate America.

The programming of computers was still a difficult task and, consequentially,
Procedural Languages were introduced (the third generation languages).In
actuality, these languages got their start in the late 1950's, but the proliferation
of computers in the 1960's triggered the adoption of procedural languages such
as COBOL, FORTRAN, and PL/1.Interestingly, these languages were patterned
after Les Matthies' "Playscript" technique which made active use of verbs,
nouns, and "if" statements.

The intent of the Procedural Languages was twofold:to simplify programming
by using more English-like languages, and; to create universal languages
that would cross hardware boundaries.The first goal was achieved, the
second was not.If the languages were truly universal, it would mean that
software would be portable across all hardware configurations.Manufacturers
saw this as a threat; making software truly portable made the selection of
hardware irrelevant and, conceivably, customers could migrate away from
computer vendors.In order to avoid this, small nuances were introduced
to the compilers for the Procedural Languages thereby negating the concept
of portability.This issue would be ignored for many years until the advent
of the Java programming language.

The 1960's also saw the introduction of the Data Base Management System
(DBMS).Such products were originally designed as file access methods for
Bill of Materials Processing (BOMP) as used in manufacturing.The "DBMS"
designation actually came afterwards.Early pioneers in this area included
Charlie Bachman of G.E. with his Integrated Data Store (IDS) which
primarily operated under Honeywell GCOS configurations; Tom Richley
of Cincom Systems developed TOTAL for Champion Paper, and; IBM's BOMP
and DBOMP products.In 1969, IBM introduced IMS which became their
flagship DBMS product for several years.

With the exception of IMS, the early DBMS offerings were based on a
network model which performed chain-processing.IMS, on the other
hand, was a hierarchical model involving tree-processing.

Realizing that programming and data access was becoming easier and
computer performance being enhanced, companies now wanted to capitalize
on this technology.As a result, corporate America embarked on the era
of "Management Information Systems" (MIS) which were large systems
aimed at automating business processes across the enterprise.These were
major system development efforts that challenged both management and
technical expertise.

It was the MIS that married "Systems and Procedures" departments with
computing/EDP departments and transformed the combined organization into
the "MIS" department.This was a major milestone in the history of systems.The
systems people had to learn about computer technology and the programmers
had to learn about business systems.

Recognizing that common data elements were used to produce the various
reports produced from an MIS, it started to become obvious that data should
be shared and reused in order to eliminate redundancy, and to promote
system integration and consistent data results.Consequently, Data Management
(DM) organizations were started, the first being the Quaker Oats Company in
Chicago, Illinois in 1965.The original DM organizations were patterned after
Inventory Control Departments where the various components were uniquely
Discovery, sharing and cross-referencing. In order to assist in this regard, these organizations
made use of the emerging DBMS technology.Unfortunately, many DM
organizations lost sight of their original charter and, instead, became obsessed
with the DBMS.Data as used and maintained outside of the computer was
erroneously considered irrelevant.Even worse, the DBMS was used as
nothing more than an elegant access method by programmers.Consequently,
data redundancy plagued systems almost immediately and the opportunity to
share and reuse data was lost.This is a serious problem that persists in
companies to this day.

1970's - AWAKENING

Although the MIS movement was noble and ambitious in intent, it floundered
due to the size and complexity of the task at hand.Many MIS projects suffered
from false starts and botched implementations.This resulted in a period where
a series of new methods, tools and techniques were introduced to reign in these
huge development efforts.

The first was the introduction of the "methodology" which provided a road map
or handbook on how to successfully implement systems development
projects.This was pioneered by MBA with its "PRIDE" methodology in
1971.Although the forte of "PRIDE" was how to build systems, it was initially
used for nothing more than documentation and as a means to manage projects.
Following "PRIDE" was John Toellner's Spectrum I methodology and SDM/70
from Atlantic Software.Several CPA based methodologies followed thereafter.

Also during this time, mainframe based Project Management Systems were
coming into vogue including Nichols N5500, PAC from International Systems,
and PC/70 from Atlantic Software.

The early methodologies and Project Management Systems give evidence of
the orientation of systems departments of that time: a heavy emphasis on Project
Management.Unfortunately, it was a fallacy that Project Management was
the problem; instead people simply didn't know how to design and build
systems in a uniform manner.As companies eventually learned, Project
Management is useless without a clear road map for how to build something.

In the mid-to-late 1970's several papers and books were published on how
to productively design software thus marking the beginning of the "Structured
Programming" movement.This was a large body of work that included such
programming luminaries as Barry Boehm, Frederick P. Brooks, Larry Constantine,
Tom DeMarco, Edsger Dijkstra, Chris Gane, Michael A. Jackson, Donald E. Knuth,
Glenford J. Myers , Trish Sarson, Jean Dominique Warnier, Generald M. Weinberg,
Ed Yourdon, as well as many others.Although their techniques were found
useful for developing software, it led to confusion in the field differentiating
between systems and software.To many, they were synonymous.In reality,
they are not.Software is subordinate to systems, but the growing emphasis
on programming was causing a change in perspective.

The only way systems communicate internally or externally to other systems
is through shared data; it is the cohesive bond that holds systems (and software)
together.This resulted in the introduction of Data Dictionary technology.Again,
this was pioneered by MBA with its "PRIDE" methodology (which included a manually
implemented Data Dictionary) and later with its "PRIDE"-LOGIK product in
1974.This was followed by Synergetics' Data Catalogue, Data Manager from
Management Software Products (MSP), and Lexicon by Arthur Andersen & Company.

The intent of the Data Dictionaries was to uniquely identify and track where
data was used in a company's systems.They included features for maintaining
documentation, impact analysis (to allow the studying of a proposed change),
and redundancy checks."PRIDE"-LOGIK had the added nuance of cataloging
all of the systems components, thereby making it an invaluable aid for
design and documentation purposes.

The Data Dictionary was also a valuable tool for controlling DBMS products
and, as such, several adjunct products were introduced, such as UCC-10,
DB/DC Data Dictionary, and the Integrated Data Dictionary (IDD) from
Cullinet.Unlike the other general purpose Data Dictionaries, these products
were limited to the confines of the DBMS and didn't effectively track data
outside of their scope.

DBMS packages proliferated during this period with many new products
being introduced including ADABAS, Image, Model 204, and IDMS from
Cullinet (which was originally produced at BF Goodrich).All were based
on the network-model for file access which was finally adopted as an
industry standard (CODASYl).

There were a few other notable innovations introduced, including IBM's
Business Systems Planning (BSP) which attempted to devise a plan for
the types of systems a company needed to operate.Several other comparable
offerings were introduced shortly thereafter.Interestingly, many companies
invested heavily in developing such systems plans, yet very few actually
implemented them.

Program Generators were also introduced during this period.This included
report writers that could interpret data and became a natural part of the
repertoire of DBMS products.It also included products that could generate
program source code (COBOL predominantly) from specifications.This
included such products as System-80 (Phoenix Systems), GENASYS (Generation
Sciences), and JASPOL (J-Sys of Japan), to mention but a few.

MBA also introduced a generator of its own in 1979 - a Systems generator
initially named ADF (Automated Design Facility) which could automatically
design whole systems, complete with an integrated data base.Based on
information requirements submitted by a Systems Analyst, ADF interacted
with the "PRIDE"-LOGIK Data Dictionary to design new systems and, where
appropriate modify existing systems.Because of its link to LOGIK, ADF
emphasized the need to share and reuse information resources.Not only
was it useful as a design tool but it was a convenient tool for documenting
existing systems.The only drawback to ADF was that the mindset of the
industry was shifting from systems to software.Consequently, program
generators captured the imagination of the industry as opposed to ADF.

The increase in computer horsepower, coupled with new programming
tools and techniques, caused a shift in perspective in MIS organizations.Now,
such departments became dominated by programmers, not systems people.It
was here that the job titles "Systems Analyst" and "Programmer" were married
to form a new title of "Programmer/Analyst" with the emphasis being on
programming and not on front-end systems design.Many managers falsely
believedthat developers were not being productive unless they were
programming.Instead of "Ready, Aim, Fire," the trend became "Fire, Aim,
Ready."

Data Management organizations floundered during this period with the
exception of Data Base Administrators (DBA's) who were considered the
handmaidens of the DBMS.

The proliferation of software during this decade was so great that it
gave rise to the packaged software industry.This went far beyond
computer utilities and programming tools.It included whole systems
for banking, insurance and manufacturing.As a result, companies were
inclined to purchase and install these systems as opposed to reinventing
the wheel.Among their drawbacks though was that they normally required
tailoring to satisfy the customer's needs which represented modification to the
program source code.Further, the customer's data requirements had to
be considered to assure there were no conflicts in how the customer
used and assigned data.After the package had been installed, the
customer was faced with the ongoing problem of modifying and enhancing
the system to suit their ever-changing needs.

1980's - THE TOOL-ORIENTED APPROACH

As big iron grew during the 1960's and 1970's, computer manufacturers
identified the need for smaller computers to be used by small to medium-sized
businesses.In the 1970's, people were skeptical of their usefulness but
by the 1980's their power and sophistication caused the "mini" computer
to gain in popularity as either a general purpose business machine or dedicated
to a specific system.Among the most popular of the "mini" computers were:

• IBM's System 36/38 series (which led to the AS/400)
• DEC PDP Series (which gave way to the DEC VAX/VMS)
• Hewlett-Packard's HP-3000 series with MPE
• Data General Eclipse series with AOS
• PRIME

The competition was fierce in the "mini" market which resulted in
considerable product improvements and better value to the customer.
Instrumental to the success of the mini was the adoption of UNIX as
developed by Bell Labs, a powerful multi-user, multitasking operating system
that eventually was adopted by most, if not all, mini manufacturers.

But the major development in computer hardware was not the mainframe,
nor the mini; it was the "micro" computer which was first popularized by
Apple in the late 1970's.IBM countered with the its Personal Computer (PC)
in the early 1980's.At first, the micro was considered nothing more than
a curiosity but it quickly gained in popularity due to its inexpensive cost,
and a variety of "apps" for word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, and
desktop publishing.This caught on like wildfire as micros spread through
corporate desktops like the plague.

By the mid-1980's the "micro" (most notably the PC) had gained in power
and sophistication.So much so, that a series of graphical based products
were used for software development in support of the Structured Programming
movement of the 1970's.Such tools were dubbed "CASE" (Computer Aided
Software Engineering) which allowed developers to draw their favorite software
diagramming technique without pencil and paper.Early CASE pioneers
included Index Technology, Knowledgeware, Visible Systems, Texas
Instruments, and Nastec, as well as many others.CASE tools took the industry
by storm with just about every MIS organization purchasing a copy either for
experimental use or for full application development.As popular as the tools
were initially, there is little evidence they produced any major systems but,
instead, helped in the design of a single program.

Recognizing the potential of the various CASE tools, IBM in the late
1980's devised an integrated development environment that included IBM's
products as well as third parties, and entitled it "AD/Cycle."However, IBM
quickly ran into problems with the third party vendors in terms of agreeing
on technical standards that would enable an integrated environment.Consequently,
the product ran aground not long after it was launched.In fact, the
prosperity of the CASE market was short-lived as customers failed to realize
the savings and productivity benefits as touted by the vendors.By the
early 1990's, the CASE market was in sharp decline.

Instead, companies turned to Programmer Workbenches which included
an all-in-one set of basic tools for programming, such as editing, testing,
and debugging.Microsoft and Micro Focus did particularly well in offering
such products.

Data Base Management Systems also took a noticeable turn in the 1980's
with the advent of "relational" products involving tables and keys.The
concept of the "relational" model was originally developed by IBM
Fellow and mathematician Edgar (Ted) Codd in a paper from 1970.The concept
of a relational DBMS was superior to the earlier network and hierarchical
models in terms of ease of use.The problem resided in the amount of
computer horsepower needed to make it work, a problem that was
overcome by the 1980's.As a result. new DBMS products such as Oracle and
Ingres were introduced which quickly overtook their older competitors.There
was an initial effort to convert DBMS mainstays such as TOTAL, ADABAS, and
IDMS into relational products, but it was too little, too late.As for IBM,
they simply re-labeled their flagship product, IMS, as a "transaction processor"
and introduced a totally new offering, DB2, which quickly dominated the
DBMS mainframe market.

Program generators continued to do well during the 1980's but it was during
this period that 4GL's (fourth generation languages) were introduced to
expedite programming.The 4GL was a natural extension of the DBMS and
provided a convenient means to develop programs to interpret data in the
data base.

Another development worth noting is the evolution of the Data Dictionary
into "Repositories" (also referred to as "Encyclopedias") used to store the
descriptions of all of an organization's information resources.One of the
motivating factors behind this was IBM (for AD/Cycle) who realized they
needed some sort of cohesive bond for the various CASE tools to interface.This
is another area pioneered by MBA who introduced their "PRIDE"-Enterprise
Engineering Methodology (EEM) to study a business and formulate an
Enterprise Information Strategy, and their "PRIDE"-Data Base Engineering
Methodology (DBEM) to develop the corporate data base, both logically
and physically.To implement these new methodologies, their
"PRIDE"-LOGIK Dictionary was expanded to include business models, and
data models.By doing so, MBA renamed "PRIDE"-LOGIK the "PRIDE"-IRM
(Information Resource Manager) which complemented their concept of
Information Resource Management.

In terms of the MIS infrastructure, two noteworthy changes occurred;
first was the introduction of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as first
described in the popular book, "Information Systems Management In Practice"
(McNurlin, Sprague) in January 1986.Basically, the MIS Director is elevated
to a higher management level where, theoretically, he/she is operating on the
same level as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) for a company.In reality, this has never truly happened and, in many
cases, the title "CIO" is nothing more than a change in name, not in stature.
The second change is the change in job title of "Programmer" to "Software
Engineer."Again, we are primarily talking about semantics.True, many
of the programmers of the 1980's studied Structured Programming, but
very few truly understood the nature of engineering as it applies to
software, most are just glorified coders.Nonetheless, the "Software
Engineer" title is still actively used today.In contrast, the last of the
true "Systems Analysts" slowly disappeared.Here too is evidence of
the change of focus from systems to software.

During the 1980's we also saw the emergence of MBA's graduating from
the business schools and working their way into the corporate landscape.Although
they didn't have an immediate impact on the systems world, they had a dramatic
effect on the corporate psyche.Their work resulted in severe corporate cutbacks,
downsizing, and outsourcing.This changed the corporate mindset to think
short-term as opposed to long-term.Following this, companies shied away from
major systems projects (such as the MIS projects of the 1960's) and were content
tackling smaller programmer assignments, thus the term "app" was coined to
describe a single program application.

Interestingly, a "quality" movement flourished in the 1980's based on the
works of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran who pioneered quality
control principles in the early part of the 20th century.Unfortunately, their
early work was unappreciated in America and, consequently, they applied
their talents to help rebuild the industrial complex of postwar Japan.It was
only late in their lives did they receive the recognition of their work in the
United States (after Japan became an economic powerhouse).Another
influential factor was the introduction of the ISO 9000 standard for quality
management which was originally devised by the British and later adopted as
an international standard.Little attention would probably have been paid to
ISO 9000 if it weren't for the fact that European businesses started to demand
compliance in order to conduct business with their companies.

Nevertheless, these factors resulted in a reorientation of American
businesses to think in terms of developing quality products which,
inevitably, affected how systems and software were produced.The real impact
of the quality movement though wouldn't be felt in the systems world until
the next decade.

To summarize the 1980's from a systems development perspective, the focus
shifted away from major systems to smaller programming assignments which
were implemented using newly devised CASE tools.This fostered a "tool-oriented
approach" to development whereby companies spent considerably on the
latest programming tools but little on management and upfront systems
work.In other words, they bought into the vendor's claims of improved
programmer productivity through the use of tools.Unfortunately, it resulted
in patchwork systems that required more time in maintenance as opposed to
modifying or improving systems."Fire fighting" thereby became the normal
mode of operation in development.

1990's - REDISCOVERY

As the PC gained in stature, networking became very important to
companies so that workers could collaborate and communicate on a
common level.Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN)
seemed to spring-up overnight.As the PC's power and capacity grew, it
became obvious that companies no longer needed the burden of mainframes
and minis.Instead, dedicated machines were developed to control and
share computer files, hence the birth of "client/server computing" where
client computers on a network interacted with file servers.This did not
completely negate the need for mainframes and minis (which were also
used as file servers), but it did have a noticeable impact on sales.Companies
still needed mainframes to process voluminous transactions and extensive
number-crunching, but the trend was to move away from big iron.

Thanks to the small size of the PC, companies no longer required a big
room to maintain the computer.Instead, computers were kept
in closets and under desks.This became so pervasive that companies no
longer knew where their computer rooms were anymore.In a way, the
spread of computers and networks closely resembled the nervous system
of the human body.

One of the key elements that made this all possible was the introduction
of Intel's 30386 (or "386") chip which allowed 32-bit processing.To effectively
use this new technology, new operating systems had to be introduced, the
first being IBM's OS/2 in the late 1980's.OS/2 provided such things as
virtual memory, multitasking and multithreading, network connectivity,
crash-protection, a new High Performance File System, and a slick object
oriented desktop.Frankly, there was nothing else out there that could
match it.Unfortunately, Microsoft bullied its way past OS/2 with
Windows 95 & NT.By the end of the 1990's, OS/2 was all but forgotten
by its vendor, IBM.Nevertheless, it was the advent of 32-bit computing
that truly made client/server computing a reality.

Another major milestone during this decade was the adoption of the
Internet by corporate America.The Internet actually began in the late
1960's under the Department of Defense and was later opened to other
government and academic bodies.But it wasn't until the 1990's that
companies started to appreciate the Internet as a communications and
marketing medium.

The first web browser was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 which
led to the World Wide Web protocol on the Internet.Early web browsers
included Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer,
among others.The beauty of the Internet was that all computers could
now access the Internet regardless of the operating system, making it a
truly universal approach to accessing data.To write a web page, a simple
tag language was devised, Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), which was
compiled at time of request to display the web page.HTML was nice for
developing simple static web pages (not much interaction, just simply view the
web page).Developers then invented new techniques to make a web page
more dynamic thereby allowing people to input data and interact with files,
which ultimately allowed for the merchandising of products over the Internet.

Wanting to do something more sophisticated through the web browser,
Sun Microsystems developed the Java programming language in 1995.Java
was a universal programming language that could run under any operating
system.Their mantra was "Write once, run anywhere."This was a radical
departure from programming in the past where it was necessary to recompile
programs to suit the peculiarities of a particular operating system.Basically,
Java made the operating system irrelevant, much to Microsoft's chagrin.Further,
Java could be used in small pocket devices as well as in the new generation
of computers powering automobiles.This did not sit well with Microsoft who
ultimately fought the propagation of Java.

By the 1990's the Structured Programming movement had fizzled out.Instead,
"Object Oriented Programming" (OOP) gained in popularity.The concept of OOP
was to develop bundles of code to model real-world entities such as customers,
products, and transactions.OOP had a profound effect on Java as well as the
C++ programming language.

During this time, source code generators faded from view.True, companies were
still using report writers and 4GL's, but the emphasis turned to "Visual Programming"
which were programming workbenches with screen painting tools to layout
inputs and outputs.

The Relational DBMS movement was still in high gear, but the use of Repositories
and Data Dictionaries dropped off noticeably.Of interest though was the
introduction of "Object Oriented Data Base Management System" (OODBMS)
technology.Like OOP, data was organized in a DBMS according to real-world
entities.Regardless, Relational DBMS dominated the field.

Also during this decade "Data Mining" became popular whereby companies were
Provide tools to harvest their own database management system data. Such efforts are basically school
that companies should learn to live with data redundancy and not be concerned
with developing a managed data base environment.

Because of the radical changes in computer hardware and software, companies became
concerned with their aging "legacy" systems as developed over the last thirty years.To
migrate to this new technology, a movement was created called "Business Process
Re-engineering" (BPR).This was encouraging in the sense that companies were
starting to think again in terms of overall business systems as opposed to just
programs.I'm not sure I agree with the use of the term "Re-engineering" though;
this assumes that something was engineered in the first place (which was hardly the
case in these older systems).

Nonetheless, CASE-like tools were introduced to define business processes.Suddenly,
companies were talking about such things as "work flows," "ergonomics," and
"flowcharts," topics that had not been discussed for twenty years during the frenzy of
the Structured Programming movement.Ultimately, this all led to the rediscovery of
systems analysis; that was more than just software systems. But this time,
Either all the old business systems analyst, retired or out to pasture,
leaving a void in systems knowledge.Consequently, the industry started to relearn
the systems theory, with a lot of missteps along the way.

Companies at this time were still struggling with devising a suitable development
environment.Most were content with just maintaining their current systems
in anticipation of the pending Y2K (Year 2000) problem (where date fields were to
change from 19XX to 20XX which could potentially shutdown companies).However,
a few companies began to consider how to apply more scientific principles to the
production of systems.Since people were already talking about "Software
Engineering," why not apply engineering/manufacturing principles to the
development of total systems?

Back in the early 1980's, Japan's Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI)
coordinated a handful of Japanese computer manufacturers in establishing a
special environment for producing system software, such as operating systems
and compilers.This effort came to be known as Japanese "Software Factories"
which captured the imagination of the industry.Although the experiment
ended with mixed results, they discovered organization and discipline
could dramatically improve productivity.

Why the experiment?Primarily because the Japanese recognized there are
fundamentally two approaches to manufacturing anything:"one at a time" or
mass production.Both are consistent approaches that can produce a high
quality product.The difference resides in the fact that mass production offers
increased volume at lower costs.In addition, workers can be easily trained
and put into production.On the other hand, the "one at a time" approach is
slower and usually has higher costs.It requires workers to be intimate with
all aspects of the product.

MBA took it a step further by introducing their concept of an "Information
Factory" in the early 1990's.The Information Factory was a comprehensive
development environment which implemented MBA's concept of Information
Resource Management.Basically, they drew an analogy between developing
systems to an engineering/manufacturing facility, complete with assembly lines,
materials management and production control.These concepts were proven
effective in companies throughout Japan, most notably Japan's BEST project,
which was sponsored by the Ministry of Finance.As background, the ministry
wanted to leapfrog the west in terms of banking systems.To do so, they
assembled a team of over 200 analysts and programmers from four of the top
trust banks in Japan; Yasuda Trust & Banking, Mitsubishi Trust & Banking,
Nippon Trust & Banking, and Chuo Trust & Banking.By implementing MBA's
concepts they were able to deliver over 70 major integrated systems in less
than three years.Further, because they had control over their information
resources using a materials management philosophy, the Y2K problem
never surfaced.

In terms of infrastructure, development organizations essentially went
unchanged with a CIO at the top of the pyramid and supported by
Software Engineers and DBA's.But there was one slight difference,
instead of being called an MIS or IS department, the organization was
now referred to as "IT" (Information Technology).Here again, the name hints
at the direction most organizations were taking.

Finally, the 1990's marked a change in the physical appearance of
the work force.Formal suit and ties gave way to casual Polo shirts and
Docker pants.At first, casual attire was only allowed on certain days
(such as Fridays), but it eventually became the normal mode of dress.Unfortunately,
many people abused the privilege and dressed slovenly for work.This had
a subtle but noticeable effect on work habits, including how we build systems.

2000's - GADGETS

We are now past the halfway point in this decade and there is nothing of
substance to report in terms of computer hardware, other than our machines
have gotten faster, smaller, with even more capacity.Perhaps the biggest innovation
in this regard is the wide variety of "gadgets" that have been introduced, all of
which interface with the PC, including:Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's), iPods,
MP3 players, digital cameras, portable CD/DVD players (and burners), cell phones,
PS2 and XBox game players.These devices are aimed at either communications or
entertainment, giving us greater mobility, yet making us a bit dysfunctional
socially.All of this means the computer has become an integral part of
our lives, not just at work but at home as well.

Shortly after taking the reigns of IBM in 2003, CEO Sam Palmisano introduced
"On-Demand Computing" as the company's thrust for the years ahead and, inevitably,
it will mark his legacy.The concept as described by Palmisano was simple,
treat computing like a public utility whereby a company can draw upon IBM for
computing resources as required."On-Demand Computing" made a nice
catch-phrase and was quickly picked up by the press, but many people
were at a loss as to what it was all about.Some of the early developments
resulting from IBM's "e-Business On Demand" research included balancing the load
on file servers, which makes sense.But IBM is carrying the analogy perhaps
too far by stressing that "on demand" is the manner by which companies should
run in the future.Basically, the theory suggests we abandon capacity planning
and rely on outside vendors to save the day.Further, it implies computers
supersede the business systems they are suppose to serve.Instead of
understanding the systems which runs a business, just throw as much computer
resources as you need to solve a problem.This is like putting the cart before
the horse.

The "on-demand" movement has evolved into "Service Oriented Architectures"
(SOA) where vendors are introducing "on-demand" applications that will take
care of such tasks as payroll, marketing, etc. through the Internet.Again, it all
sounds nice, but as far as I can see, this is essentially no different than service
bureaus like ADP who for years provided such processing facilities.Now,
companies are being asked to swap out their internal programs for third party
products.I fail to see how this is different than buying any other packaged
solution, other than an outsider will be taking care of your software.

The need to build software faster has reached a feverish pitch.So much so,
full-bodied development methodologies have been abandoned in favor of
what is called "Agile" or "Extreme Programming" which are basically
quick and dirty methods for writing software using power programming
tools.To their credit, those touting such approaches recognize this is limited
to software (not total systems) and is not a substitute for a comprehensive
methodology.Agile/Extreme Programming is gaining considerable attention
in the press.

Next, we come to "Enterprise Architecture" which is derived from a paper
written by IBM's John A. Zachman who observed that it was possible to apply
architectural principles to the development of systems.This is closely
related to consultants who extoll the virtues of capturing "business rules"
which is essentially a refinement of the Entity Relationship (ER) Diagramming
techniques popularized a decade earlier using CASE tools.

As in the 1990's, concepts such as "Enterprise Architecture" and "business rules"
is indicative of the industry trying to reinvent systems theory.

CONCLUSIONS

Like computer hardware, the trend over the last fifty years in systems
development is to think smaller.Developers operate in a mad frenzy to
write programs within a 90 day time frame.Interestingly, they all know that
their corporate systems are large, yet they are content to attack them one
program at a time.Further, there seems to be little concern that their work
be compatible with others and that systems integration is someone else's
problem.Often you hear the excuse, "We don't have time to do things
right."Translation:"We have plenty of time to do things wrong."Any shortcut
to get through a project is rationalized and any new tool promising improved
productivity is purchased.When companies attempt to tackle large systems
(which is becoming rare) it is usually met with disaster.Consequently, companies
are less confident in their abilities and shy away from large system development
projects.

Corporate management is naive in terms of comprehending the value of
information and have not learned how to use it for competitive advantage
(unlike their foreign competitors).Further, they are oblivious to the problems in
systems development.They believe their systems are being developed with a high
degree of craftsmanship, that they are integrated, and that they are easy to maintain
and update.Executives are shocked when they discover this is not the case.

The problems with systems today are no different than fifty years ago:

• End-user information requirements are not satisfied.
• Systems lack documentation, making maintenance and upgrades difficult.
• Systems lack integration.
• Data redundancy plaques corporate data bases.
• Projects are rarely delivered on time and within budget.
• Quality suffers.
• Development personnel are constantly fighting fires.
• The backlog of improvements never seems to diminish, but rather increases.

Although the computer provides mechanical leverage for implementing
The system also has a grown-oriented approach to systems development tools. Instead
of standing back and looking at our systems from an engineering/manufacturing
perspective, it is seemingly easier and less painful to purchase a tool to solve a
problem.This is like taking a pill when surgery is really required.What is
needed is less tools and more management.If we built bridges the same way
we build systems in this country, this would be a nation run by ferryboats.

The impact of the computer was so great on the systems industry that it
elevated the stature of programmers and forced systems people to near
extinction.Fortunately, the industry has discovered that there is more
to systems than just programming and, as a result, is in the process of
rediscovering basic systems theory.Some of the ideas being put forth are truly
imaginative, others are nothing more than extensions of programming theory,
and others are just plain humbug.In other words, the systems world is still going
through growing pains much like an adolescent who questions things and learns
to experiment.

I have been very fortunate to see a lot of this history first hand.I have
observed changes not just in terms of systems and computers, but also
how the trade press has evolved and the profession in general.It
has been an interesting ride.

Throughout all of this, there have been some very intelligent people who
have impacted the industry, there have also been quite a few charlatans,
but there has only been a handful of true geniuses, one of which was
Robert W. Beamer who passed away just a couple of years ago.Bob
was the father of ASCII code, without which we wouldn't have the computers
of today, the Internet, the billions of dollars owned by Bill Gates, or
this document.

Posted in: java training| Tags: Introduction computer world industry development history law appreciation procedures whence

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An Introduction To Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the new generation of the World Wide Web, through which Web 2.0 technology joins hands with the Semantic Web, making it possible for humans as well as machines to access and use the information stored in the Web. With Web 3.0, machines will be able to perform tasks requiring human intelligence, reducing our time and effort on the Internet dramatically.

Web 3.0, aiming at making the Internet a better, smarter network, is a precursor to the fully semantic Web, and successor to the Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 specialized in making the net usage collaborative by allowing the people to interact with the data and contribute their views through such things as wiki, blogs, social networking sites, etc. Examples: Wikipedia, Blogger, Digg, Technorati, http://Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, and many more.

But Web 3.0 will give Internet itself intelligence by making the machines-programs that access data (search engine bots, etc.,) -understand what the data itself is. This will make them dig up the best information from the Web for our needs and be able to contribute a lot better than they do now.

Need for Web 3.0

When we search in Google for particular information, most of what we get on the first page are the links to websites without any information useful to us. To obtain the Website that we need, we might have to use different keywords or go to the second or third SERP. Without using our intelligence, we can't get the required result. Programs cannot see what people can.

Google is a dumb machine discharging its bots throughout the Web, scanning for keywords. When it finds a keyword in any site already indexed by it, it will present the link to you. It is up to you to decide if the site is actually useful or not. Hence, most of the time, the first search results of Google are not what you want; they either contain technical jargon allover or advertisements, not the specific thing you want.

With the advent of Web 3.0, this is all going to change. Web 3.0 aims to make the Internet itself a huge database of information, accessible to machines as well as humans. When Web 3.0 becomes popular, we will have a data-driven web, enabling us unearth information faster from the net.

You can help the machine to suit your needs, by searching for, organizing and presenting information from the Web. This means that with Web 3.0, you can be fully automated on the Internet. In addition to this, with intelligent machines, you can achieve tasks like the following very simple: the automation of stock transactions, review and delete unwanted e-mails, creating and updating websites, and booking your tickets, airline tickets, etc.

Web 3.0 is going to be actually the era of artificial intelligence enabled programs sprawling the Web.

Semantic Web Enabling Technologies

Web 3.0 technologies contribute to the Semantic Web by creating a worldwide database of the data that is currently scattered across the Internet. We have millions of data formats for even one simple task. This is because there are too many applications on every genre, and each of them creates its own data format, which is hidden by other applications. The main task of Web 3.0 technologies is to unify all of these formats and a common, extensible format that any application can understand data. Only if the data is not hidden from the machines, the machines can not productive.

The web technologies that will realize Web 3.0 are these.

1. The RDF: resource description framework and RDF are, W3C created by a consortium of HTML, DHTML, SGML is, in general, Web markup languages such as creators of the scheme can be used to describe the resources on . Is, XML syntax is based on the model, primarily, Creative Commons license widget, RDF using the / XML scheme, title, author, Web page changes, etc. For example, such as date, the metadata on the Internet to describe the details of the license is used to describe the information.

2. XML: The Extensible Markup Language is a general-purpose markup scheme that can be used to generate custom markups. XML is such a highly versatile markup scheme that it lets the users define their own elements, enabling seamless compatibility.

3. OWL (Web Ontology Language): OWL is another creation of W3C. It's a knowledge representation scheme, used to script ontologies (the interrelationships between terms in any application document).

Mainly these three technologies, which enable the markup of custom data, are used to author information in machine-accessible form in the Web 3.0. In addition, the derivatives of these technologies and some other extensible markup schemes like XHTML, contribute to it.

Uses of Web 3.0

Web 3.0 contributes extremely to the development of the current Internet. Companies like ZCubes, ZOHO, Google, etc., which specialize in Web 3.0, have built applications to incorporate the semantic revolution of the Web.

Implementation technology, including the Web 3.0 (or Web services, online applications), it can do almost anything. For example, if you go to ZCubes site, you can create a custom Web page can contain text, tables, on-site calculation script, music, pictures, video broadcast, live websites, and so on. You can even hand-written page, and create your own high-quality vector graphics. All these features can be embedded in a single page, drag and drop, the product (a plain HTML file), you can save on your computer or network announced.

Conclusion

Web 3.0 is all about the backend of the Web, about creating extreme machine interfacing. When the Web 3.0 interface becomes more popular, it will entirely change the way we access the Internet. We humans will no longer have to do the difficult tasks of researching on the Internet and finding the exact information. Machines will better do all these tasks. We only will need to view the data, modify it in the way we want, and create whatever new thing we wish to create.

Posted in: dhtml| Tags: Internet Technology Introduction Information web intelligence world wide generation semantic

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Design for the Long Run

In the last three years there has been a great change in the design industry have been. With the introduction of four-color multi-purpose printer, the photo capabilities, anyone with a few dollars to start a design studio. However, there is still something to say, for experience and a record of quality work. What I'm trying to say in a pleasant way, that is the time really is the best teacher. With good luck in the world and all the good intentions, a good designer does not have any time at work and training.

I have seen some new trends on the web and it’s starting to concern me, and it’s getting harder to see the fine line between web junk and good web site design. Let me give a few examples and elaborate this.

1. The online web site "wbees.com auto builder" is a web based application that claims, a beginner can build a professional website. Now don’t be fooled by this one, it’s a very nice business idea but the out come is nothing less than pure up sell. They show you a great site template with all the bell and whistles, and when you get to the 11th hour, you find you just don’t have the knowledge to finish the site. Now for all you hard-core designers with a hankering for detail, I’m sorry to say with this tool you have to stay inside the lines. There is no custom work allowed with most of these web-based tools and you can’t get at the code. The thing that bothers me the most is that they mislead the customer into thinking he or she can develop their website with very little effort.


2. "Buildasign.com" This web site lets you build your own signs; you know magnetic signs, banners, and the like. Now some of these sites really have nice layouts but the actual graphics are clip art and it’s most likely taken from the web. You need to be concerned with copyrights and design infringements. The real killer was that their pricing was pretty much the same as local companies that do all the work for you. A real sign company will help you with the permit process, variances for big signs, and in most cases give you the elevation and color sketch before the sign is even done. I was in the sign industry for over 15 years and let me just say signs are very important to the bottom line. After all it’s the first and the last thing the customer sees, so you want to make a good impression.


3. Have you ever seen the online services that offer a wide selection of graphics designers that sub contract themselves through this web service? Well first thing you have to pay for is the membership. Then you will typically pay a small percentage more on their work because the design service needs a cut as well. Worst of all in some cases you have to pay before you get the product, with out the opportunity to touch and see the item in person you just never know. The real drawback for me is it’s hard to contact a real person though such methods. In design you need to have good communication, to get the project done right and done quickly.

When you take on the task of inventing a concept and developing a website or graphics design it involves at least three different areas of expertise.

1.?A professional web designer to build the graphics elements that will work with the site and its functionality.
2.?Quality web developers with knowledge of Cold Fusion, ASP, Java script & programming, html, xml, and a whole lot more. They can make the graphics interactive or even animated.
3.?A search engine-marketing specialist to create the content for the site text and develop the backend code for search engine relevancy. Content is important for pictures and graphics it builds relevancy.

Here's the bottom line by designing something like websites, drawing, print work or even a company logo. If you make a professional with years of experience to work, you are putting together your experience with the designer, and that works for you in the long run. They have a real chance of something unique and effective.
I have it I had to hire a marketer to promote my business is designer, even all my abilities, there is only experience and its meaning. To see it this way you are a plumber or your children, you may be able to fix the pipe if the doctors perform surgery? Little!

Therefore, I suggest that you are around so many professional people around you than you can afford and use what they are doing so well. In most cases, if the link is in the results, the word Free, Cheep, freeware, clipart, or the like, it is most likely not what you expect. Try it on Google, the search term

The best way to avoid hours on the net and or a whopper of a headache is to find your designer the old fashioned way: the yellow pages. That’s right, let you fingers do the looking! Most people forget this wonderful tool mostly because we don’t want to take the time. Now for all you computer nerds out there, is a website www.yellowpages.com .Go there and check your local area for a site for your state and city.

Here’s my final point and it’s the most important element, when you are trying to pick the right designer. First of all you have to ask yourself what am I trying to achieve and what do I expect the outcome to be when the designer is done? If the answer is more than one paragraph and it keeps getting longer as you go, than you have more than the ‘average’ design project. Take some time a make a list of the key point such as business model, market, subject of each page, graphics and so on. Below is project template that I make before I build a website or intranet which will help you keep things in order.

Web Design Project Specs:

• Website Model such as a full width design, left navigation or right navigation, and finally Top navigation. There are many other sizes, and website types to consider but deciding what type needs to be done first.


• Target Market (General Audience, Adult site 19 or older, Teen site 15 to 19, Kids Site 7 to 15)


• ?Business name (should match the domain name)


• Domain Name (www.something.com) your domain name should contain no more than three words preferable less and use your main key words. Example: www.nywebdesigns.com


• ?List of the web pages you would like, make the names of the pages descriptive like this "New_York_graphics_design_web_development_studio.html "and always use the underscore not spaces.


• The subject of each page (The subject determines the name of the page and the content, links, meta tags, Title, Description and keywords.)?


• One or two paragraphs for each page on the subject


• A picture for each page with a short one line description


• The fonts you intend to use no more than three on any page.


• A list of key words or phrases taken from your text about 50 all together. But remember it is best to only use 1 or 2 keywords for each page and that fallow the subject.


• A detailed description of the business and its intent, about 250 charters long.

One of the elements that is missing most of the projects at the end, the advice is a very often badly made process that was before the designer to be implemented / developer touches a computer. Counseling for any reason, than was expected, and underpaid service up to the last 5 years. For example, if you hire a mechanic to repair, the family car before he even estimate sheet you flood him with questions on issues, and he is expected to offer a professional and sophisticated solution at a moments notice. America has been trained to expect not only the best service, but because of the food chain industry, where offended if we do not get it fast. So, if you good quality advice on the best policy is to pay for it. Advice is from this point on you with updated information and an invaluable business tool.

I have web design and more than 25 years and Albany graphic graphics industry has helped so many people and businesses to develop their own online presence, and to their companies a new level. If you intend to start a new online business or transforming an existing, I would be very happy to help. Now, maybe you just need advice or have a quick question, please feel free to call us.

What most businesses miss is that their business is unique, and it needs an individual and hands on service. Don’t leave the future of your business up to a company when you haven’t even met the designer in person yet. Call us today and make the best business decision of the day.

?

Posted in: java training| Tags: Introduction photo anyone design printer change industry studio run long

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Scope of Artificial Intelligence in Business

Scope of artificial Intelligence in Business

Introduction

Business applications utilize the specific technologies mentioned earlier to try and make better sense of potentially enormous variability (for example, unknown patterns/relationships in sales data, customer buying habits, and so on). However, within the corporate world, AI is widely used for complex problem-solving and decision-support techniques in real-time business applications. The business applicability of AI techniques is spread across functions ranging from finance management to forecasting and production.
In the fiercely competitive and dynamic market scenario, decision-making has become fairly complex and latency is inherent in many processes. In addition, the amount of data to be analyzed has increased substantially. AI technologies help enterprises reduce latency in making business decisions, minimize fraud and enhance revenue opportunities.

Definition of AI

AI is a broad discipline that promises to simulate numerous innate human skills such as automatic programming, case-based reasoning, neural networks, decision-making, expert systems, natural language processing, pattern recognition and speech recognition etc. AI technologies bring more complex data-analysis features to existing applications.
There are many definitions that attempt to explain what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is. I like to think of AI as a science that investigates knowledge and intelligence, possibly the intelligent application of knowledge. Knowledge and Intelligence are as fundamental as the universe within which they exist, it may turn out that they are more fundamental.
One of the aims of AI is said to be the investigation of human cognition and AI is part of Cognitive Science. AI is really an investigation into the creation of intelligence and that there is no reason for the intelligence that is created to be exactly the same as human intelligence.

Importance of AI

Enterprises that utilize AI-enhanced applications are expected to become more diverse, as the needs for the ability to analyze data across multiple variables, fraud detection and customer relationship management emerge as key business drivers to gain competitive advantage.
Artificial Intelligence is a branch of Science which deals with helping machines, finds solutions to complex problems in a more human-like fashion. This generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence, and applying them as algorithms in a computer friendly way. A more or less flexible or efficient approach can be taken depending on the requirements established, which influences how artificial the intelligent behavior appears.
AI is generally associated with Computer Science, but it has many important links with other fields such as Maths, Psychology, Cognition, Biology and Philosophy, among many others. Our ability to combine knowledge from all these fields will ultimately benefit our progress in the quest of creating an intelligent artificial being.

Emergence of AI in business

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used in business applications since the early eighties. As with all technologies, AI initially generated much interest, but failed to live up to the hype. However, with the advent of web-enabled infrastructure and rapid strides made by the AI development community, the application of AI techniques in real-time business applications has picked up substantially in the recent past.
Mechanical calculations to perform basic computer, using a suitable fix rules. To ensure efficient and artificial machine, which allows you to perform monotonous tasks tend to be the best human disease. For more complex problems, things become more difficult ... Unlike humans, computers, to understand the specific situations of failure to adapt to new situations. We aim to improve the operation of the machine in tackling complex tasks such as artificial intelligence.
Together with this, much of AI research is allowing us to understand our intelligent behavior. Humans have an interesting approach to problem-solving, based on abstract thought, high-level deliberative reasoning and pattern recognition. Artificial Intelligence can help us understand this process by recreating it, then potentially enabling us to enhance it beyond our current capabilities.

Applications of AI

The potential applications of Artificial Intelligence are abundant. They stretch from the military for autonomous control and target identification, to the entertainment industry for computer games and robotic pets, to the big establishments dealing with huge amounts of information such as hospitals, banks and insurances, we can also use AI to predict customer behavior and detect trends.
AI is a broad discipline that promises to simulate numerous innate human skills such as automatic programming, case-based reasoning, decision-making, expert systems, natural language processing, pattern recognition and speech recognition etc. AI technologies bring more complex data-analysis features to existing applications.
Business applications using specific technologies just trying to make better use of potentially enormous change awareness (for example, sales data / model is unknown, customer buying habits, etc.). However, in the corporate world, AI is widely used in complex problem-solving and decision support technology, real-time business applications. Business all over the applicability of artificial intelligence from the financial management functions such as forecasting and product

Artificial Neural Networks

An artificial neural network (ANN), often just called a "neural network" (NN), is a mathematical model or computational model based on biological neural networks. It consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons and processes information using a connectionist approach to computation. In most cases an ANN is an adaptive system that changes its structure based on external or internal information that flows through the network during the learning phase. In more practical terms neural networks are non-linear statistical data modeling tools. They can be used to model complex relationships between inputs and outputs or to find patterns in data.


Real life applications of ANN

The tasks to which artificial neural networks are applied tend to fall within the following broad categories:
? Function approximation, or regression analysis, including time series prediction and modeling.
? Classification, including pattern and sequence recognition, novelty detection and sequential decision making.
? Data processing, including filtering, clustering, blind source separation and compression.
Application areas include system identification and control (vehicle control, process control), game-playing and decision making (backgammon, chess, racing), pattern recognition (radar systems, face identification, object recognition and more), sequence recognition (gesture, speech, handwritten text recognition), medical diagnosis, financial applications (automated trading systems), data mining (or knowledge discovery in databases, "KDD"), visualization and e-mail spam filtering.
The proven success of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and expert systems has helped AI gain widespread adoption in enterprise business applications. In some instances, such as fraud detection, the use of AI has already become the most preferred method. In addition, neural networks have become a well-established technique for pattern recognition, particularly of images, data streams and complex data sources and, in turn, have emerged as a modeling backbone for a majority of data-mining tools available in the market. Some of the key business applications of AI/ANN include fraud detection, cross-selling, customer relationship management analytics, demand prediction, failure prediction, and non-linear control.
A majority of the enterprises adopt horizontal or vertical solutions that embed neural networks such as insurance risk assessment or fraud-detection tools, or data-mining tools that include neural networks (for instance, from SAS, IBM and SPSS) as one of the modeling options.
Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing
As the manufacturing industry becomes increasingly competitive, sophisticated technology has emerged to improve productivity. Artificial Intelligence in manufacturing can be applied to a variety of systems. It can recognize patterns, plus perform time consuming and mentally challenging tasks. Artificial Intelligence can optimize your production schedule and production runs. In order for organizations to meet ever increasing customer demands, and to be able to survive in an environment where change is inevitable, it is crucial that they offer more reliable delivery dates and control their costs by analyzing them on a continual basis. For businesses, being capable of delivering high quality goods at low costs and short delivery times is akin to operating in a whirlpool environment like the Devil's Triangle, and this is no easy task for any organization. Managing so that production takes place at the right time, on the right equipment, and using the right tools will minimize any deviations in delivery dates promised to the customer. Utilizing equipment, personnel and tools to their maximal efficiency will no doubt improve any organization's competitive strength. In return, proper utilization of these capabilities will result in lower costs for the organization
Optimal scheduling of work, the equipment did not use computer software, is a truly daunting task. Implementation of the plan to use the "deterministic simulation approach" will provide a timetable for the work load of the display device for you. Even in the limited facilities of a single piece, as the number of job placements for additional equipment found in the "set of possible solutions" has become almost impossible for the correct solution. In the real world, difficult solution set by large-scale due to the work, equipment and products form a recipe, and formed a technical limitations, as well as in finding the ideal solution to close the complex nature is obvious.
Research and studies are being conducted worldwide on the subject of scheduling. Software vendors working in this area follow developments closely, and they are coming out with new products to better meet demands. "Genetic Algorithms", "Artificial Intelligence", and "Neural Networks" are some of the technologies being used for scheduling

Advantages

? View your best product runs and the corresponding settings.
? Increase efficiency and quality by using optimal settings from past production.
? Artificial Intelligence can optimize your schedule beyond normal human capabilities.
? Increase productivity by eliminating downtime due to unpredictable changes in the schedule.


Artificial Intelligence in Financial services

AI has found a home in the financial services industry and is considered as a valuable addition to numerous business applications covered. Sophisticated technologies including neural networks, and business rules with AI techniques, the positive results in the transaction-oriented scenarios for financial services. AI has been adopted extensively in these areas of risk management, compliance, and securities trading and surveillance, with an expansion in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Tangible benefits include reduced risk of AI adoption fraud, which increased sales from existing customers with newer ways of avoiding fines resulting from non-compliance and averted securities business exceptions that could result in delayed settlement, if not proved to be .
Warren Buffet is known as end-investors in this age group. So good he is, in fact, that artificial intelligence software developed at Carnegie Mellon that the stock was forecast named after him. But the machines can really take the place of human traders, much less surpass it them? When Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, chess grandmaster in 1997, AI was catapulted into the limelight. In fact, if a machine whiz through the intricacies of the last game of strategy, why do not they propose in other areas as well - and thus to facilitate the work, decreasing costs and errors and improve productivity and quality. This study focuses on the application of AI in the financial sector, particularly in stock trading. In the area of finance, has used artificial intelligence for some time. Some applications of artificial intelligence are
? Credit authorization screening
? Mortgage risk assessment
? Project management and bidding strategy
? Financial and economic forecasting
? Risk rating of exchange-traded, fixed income investments
? Detection of regularities in security price movements
? Prediction of default and bankruptcy
? Security/and or Asset Portfolio Management
Artificial intelligence types used in finance include neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, expert systems and intelligent agents. They are often used in combination with each other. When AI first appeared a decade ago, it generated mass media hype but delivered inconsistent results. A number of those who praised its ability were paralyzed in the end. One such case is Fidelity Investments. In this paper, we set the stage by describing how traditional stock trading differs from AI-powered stock trading. We define the various AI systems available and also explore the various solutions available in the market, their IT foundations and how salient they are. Then, we move into how AI systems for stock trading will affect traders, companies and individuals. Benefits, risks and competitive strategy will be defined and real-world examples cited, as grounding for our recommendations in the end. Recommendations include getting management buy-in, implementing the system and managing the whole structure to succeed.


Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) eventually could turbo-boost customer analytics to give companies speedier insights into individual buying patterns and a host of other consumer habits.
Artificial intelligence functions are made possible by computerized neural networks that simulate the same types of connections that are made in the human brain to generate thought. Currently, the technology is used mostly to analyze data for genetics, pharmaceutical and other scientific research. It's seeing little use in CRM right now, though it has tremendous potential in the future
AI-enhanced analytics programs also provide survival modeling capabilities -- suggesting changes to products based on use. For example, customer patterns are analyzed to learn ways to extend the life of light bulbs or to help decide the correct dosage for medications.
High-tech data mining can give companies a precise view of how particular segments of the customer base react to a product or service and propose changes consistent with those findings. In addition to further exploring customers" buying patterns, analytics could help companies react much more quickly to the marketplace.
According to Meta Group vice president Liz Shahnam, intelligent agents could let companies make real-time changes to marketing campaigns. "New technologies would have the model refreshed on the fly based on each new incoming piece of customer information -- reaction to the campaign -- for a more targeted offer,"

Artificial Intelligence in HR

It is widely believed that the role of managers is becoming a key determinant for enterprises' competitiveness in today's knowledge economy era. Owing to fast development of information technologies (ITs), corporations are employed to enhance the capability of human resource management, which is called human resource information system (HRIS). Recently, due to promising results of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and fuzzy theory in engineering, they have also become candidates for HRIS. The artificial intelligence (AT) field can play a role in this, especially; in assuring that the fuzzy neural network has the characteristics and functions of training, learning, and simulation to make an optimal and accurate judgment according to the human thinking model. The main purposes of the study are to discuss the appointment of managers in enterprises through fuzzy neural network, to construct a new model for evaluation of managerial talent, and accordingly to develop a decision support system in human resource selection. Therefore, the research methods of reviewing literature, in-depth interview, questionnaire survey, and fuzzy neural network are used in the study. The fuzzy neural network is used to train the concrete database, based on 191 questionnaires from experts, for getting the best network model in different training conditions. In order to let decision-makers adjust weighted values and obtain decisive results of each phase's scores, we adopted the simple additive weighting (SAW) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) methods in the study. Finally, the human resource selection system of Java user interface has been constructed by FNN in the study.


Conclusion

It is difficult for business to see general relevance from AI. This is probably one of the reasons for the compartmentalization of AI into things like Knowledge Based Systems, Neural Networks, and Genetic Algorithms etc. Some of these separate sub topics have been shown to be very useful in solving certain difficult business and industrial problems and consequently funding bodies influence research directions by encouraging work on these more application based areas. This can have a positive effect for business benefit and has lead to some very useful systems that have found their way into the heart of business activity. Business should not lose sight of where AI could go because there are many potential benefits to current and new businesses of future research. The idea of robotic domestic workers is still far fetched but companies are making progress even here. There is already a Robot Vacuum Cleaner marketed by Electrolux and doubtless improved systems with better functionality will follow. .
I would like to close by quoting from Tom Peters, a leading management guru: "When you think you've reached the top, tear down everything and do it all over again. If you don't, your competitor will." To this, I would like to add my own: "If your competitor won't, new investors will enter the market segment who will do the same job better."

Posted in: java training| Tags: Business Introduction science scope decision-making artificial recognition latency knowledge intelligence

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Introduction to Enterprise Library

Benefits of Enterprise Library
Application blocks help address the common problems that developers face from one project to the next. Their design encapsulates the Microsoft recommended best practices for .NET applications; developers can add them to .NET applications quickly and easily. For example, the Data Access Application Block provides access to the most frequently used features of ADO.NET, exposing them through easily used classes. In some cases, application blocks also add related functionality not directly supported by the underlying class libraries.

Goals for Enterprise Library
Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks and services intended for use by developers who build complex, enterprise-level applications. These applications are typically deployed widely and have interdependencies with other application and systems. In addition, they generally have strict security, reliability, and performance requirements.

The goals of Enterprise Library are the following:

Consistency. All Enterprise Library application blocks feature consistent design patterns and implementation approaches.
Extensibility. All application blocks include defined extensibility points that allow developers to customize the behavior of the application blocks by adding their own code.
Ease of use. Enterprise Library offers numerous usability improvements, including a graphical configuration tool, a simpler installation procedure, and clearer and more complete documentation and samples.
Integration. Enterprise Library application blocks are designed to work well together and are tested to make sure that they do. It is also possible to use the application blocks individually.
This section contains the following topics that will help you to understand this release of Enterprise Library and how you use it alongside earlier versions or to migrate your applications to this version. This section includes the following topics:

Posted in: C# and .NET| Tags: NET Introduction Enterprise Library Goals

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