Publisher's Synopsis
Designed to promote computer literacy, this text provides a non-technical introduction to the computer and information processing. Organized in three sections (societal issues, computer basics, and applications), the book presents an overview of the key social issues of the computer age, emphasizing that human beings in a democracy will make the ultimate decisions about how computers will be put to use.;It explains why computers can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence and familiarizes students with a variety of applications that are likely to be useful to any educated person, such as word processing, spreadsheets, database programs, and graphics. And it also provides understanding of some leading-edge applications: artificial intelligence, telecommunications, robotics, automation, LANs, relational databases, and simulation.;The text also discusses the societal impact of computers and promotes an understanding of the computer and its parts. Coverage of leading-edge applications such as telecommunications and database systems, as well as word and text processing, is included.
