Week 5: Muddy

This week's lesson was all about Excel. To begin, I would like to say that my personal journey with Excel has not been a easy one. My journey begins in high school when I first learned the basics of Excel in my computer class.

My computer teacher did not spend much time on Excel and sped up the process. Because of this, I never learned the basics of Excel. I then built up an aggression towards it and always set myself up for failure. However, I am more willing now to catch up on what I missed in high school and become an Excel pro.

In doing research for this blog, I found that excel really isn't as "muddy" as I thought it was. Commonly known, Excel is a spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft. The application features calculation, graphing tools and pivot tables. 

I also researched and found that there are several tutorials out there for individuals like me who need Microsoft Excel tutorials. This link provides you with the basics to get started with Excel. Excel Tutorial.

The muddiest past of Excel for me was the differentiating between relative and absolute cell references.

Relative cell reference is the most widely used type of cell reference in formulas.  Relative cell references are basic cell references that adjust and change when copied or when using AutoFill.

Example:

=SUM(B5:B8), as shown below, changes to =SUM(C5:C8) when copied across to the next cell.

  

Situations arise in which the cell reference must remain the same when copied or when using AutoFill. This is when absolute cell reference comes into play. Dollar signs are used to hold a column and/or row reference constant. 

 

Example:

In the example below, when calculating commissions for sales staff, you would not want cell B10 to change when copying the formula down.  You want both the column and the row to remain the same to refer to that exact cell.  By using $B$10 in the formula, neither changes when copied.

After researching these concepts more in depth they slowly but surely became more clear for me.

(Examples taken from this link)

Week4:Muddy

After doing all the required reading on applications, I came across a concept that was still unclear to me at the end of the chapter.

In the objectives at the beginning of the chapter, it stated that upon completion of this section, I should be able to explain what a EULA is and how it works. In doing research on my own, I found a clear and concise definition of what EULA means.

"Short for End-User License Agreement, the type of license used for most software. An EULA is a legal contract between the manufacturer and/or the author and the end user of an application. The EULA details how the software can and cannot be used and any restrictions that the manufacturer imposes."

In doing research, I also learned that, as in typical legal contracts, the EULA protects both parties from liability if the software is used in a way not intended by the manufacturer or author.

I also found that it is extremely critical that consumers read the End-User License Agreement before just clicking through it and agreeing with what is stated.

Take a look at this article "Do you own that software?" It drives home the point of EULA's.

Week 3: Clear

USB Flash drive


The one part of the storage lecture that I understood clearly was the USB flash drives. I have been using a USB for storage since high school. In doing more research on USB’s I read that they were first launched almost ten years ago.


USB flash drives have essentially revolutionized the way we transfer files in-between computers. What I like most about flash drives is the speed. The fastest flash drive currently on the market is a USB 2.0. This flash drive is able to reach speeds of up to 34 and 28 megabytes per second respectively. A faster flash drive means less time waiting to transfer flies.


Currently everyone in the flash drive world is really looking forward to the USB 3.0. The manufacture Super Talent has already released three USB drives that takes advantage of the new faster interface.


According to an article by the Web site “everything USB,” another big development with flash drives is how hardware encryption is becoming more of a commodity than a luxury.


I love using USB’s. They are small, convenient and easy to use. I love that it’s the market for USB’s is expanding and becoming more accessible for everyone to use.

Watch this video about the new USB flash drive

Week 2: Muddy

 

After doing the required reading for week two and watching the assigned lectures, I was very confused on a lot of the concepts.

To begin with, I am not a very technology savvy individual. So, all the specific terms and concepts were difficult for me to understand. Upon completion of the lecture, we should have been able to explain the differences between application and system software, identify a particular program as either application or system software, provide a high-level explanation of the function of an operating system, understand the difference between the operatig system itself and system utilities.

However, I was still not able to successfully achieve all these objectives; mainly understanding system software. So, to grasp a better understanding of the concept I researhed the term and came across this definition:

System software refers to the files and programs that make up your computer's operating system. System files include libraries of functions, system services, drivers for printers and other hardware, system preferences, and other configuration files. The programs that are part of the system software include assemblers, compilers, file management tools, system utilities.

 
 As I now understand it, software is essentially a set of instructions that tells your computer what to do.

Like the lecture said, without software your computer is just an expensive collection of electronic parts