1.
Keyboard shortcut
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In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a series of one or several keys that invoke a software or operating system operation when triggered by the user. The meaning of term keyboard shortcut can vary depending on software manufacturer, keyboard shortcuts are generally used to expedite common operations by reducing input sequences to a few keystrokes, hence the term shortcut. To differentiate from general keyboard input, most keyboard shortcuts require the user to press, unmodified key presses are sometimes accepted when the keyboard is not used for general input - such as with graphics packages e. g. Adobe Photoshop or IBM Lotus Freelance Graphics. Other keyboard shortcuts use function keys that are dedicated for use in shortcuts, for simultaneous keyboard shortcuts, one usually first holds down the modifier key, then quickly presses and releases the regular key, and finally releases the modifier key. This distinction is important, as trying to all the keys simultaneously will frequently either miss some of the modifier keys. Sequential shortcuts usually involve pressing and releasing a dedicated key, such as the Esc key. Mnemonics are distinguishable from keyboard shortcuts, in most GUIs, a programs keyboard shortcuts are discoverable by browsing the programs menus – the shortcut is indicated next to the menu choice. There are keyboards that have the shortcuts for an application already marked on them. These keyboards are used for editing video, audio, or graphics. There are also stickers with shortcuts printed on them that can be applied to a regular keyboard, reference cards intended to be propped up in the users workspace also exist for many applications. This highlights a difference in philosophy regarding shortcuts, some systems, typically end-user-oriented systems such as Mac OS or Windows, consider standardized shortcuts essential to the environments ease of use. These systems usually limit a users ability to change shortcuts, possibly even requiring a separate or third-party utility to perform the task, other systems, typically Unix and related, consider shortcuts to be a users prerogative, and that they should be changeable to suit individual preference. For Microsoft Windows, multiple software programs exist like Hotkeycontrol which allow deeper customization of keyboard shortcuts performing advanced tasks, the motivations for customizing key bindings vary. Users new to a program or software environment may customize the new environments keybindings to be similar to another environment with which they are more familiar. More advanced users may customize key bindings to better suit their workflow, adding shortcuts for their commonly used actions, hardcore gamers often customize their key bindings in order to increase performance via faster reaction times. The original Macintosh User Interface Guidelines defined a set of keyboard shortcuts that would remain consistent across application programs and this provides a better user experience than the situation then prevalent of applications using the same keys for different functions. This could result in user errors if one program used ⌘ Command+D to mean Delete while another used it to Duplicate an item, Help Later environments such as Microsoft Windows retain some of these bindings, while adding their own from alternate standards like Common User Access. The simplest keyboard shortcuts consist of one key
2.
Computing
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Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating a mathematical sequence of steps known as an algorithm — e. g. through computers. The field of computing includes computer engineering, software engineering, computer science, information systems, the ACM Computing Curricula 2005 defined computing as follows, In a general way, we can define computing to mean any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computers. For example, an information systems specialist will view computing somewhat differently from a software engineer, regardless of the context, doing computing well can be complicated and difficult. Because society needs people to do computing well, we must think of computing not only as a profession, the fundamental question underlying all computing is What can be automated. The term computing is also synonymous with counting and calculating, in earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, but long before abstractions like the number arose, there were mathematical concepts to serve the purposes of civilization. These concepts include one-to-one correspondence, comparison to a standard, the earliest known tool for use in computation was the abacus, and it was thought to have been invented in Babylon circa 2400 BC. Its original style of usage was by lines drawn in sand with pebbles, abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today. This was the first known computer and most advanced system of calculation known to date - preceding Greek methods by 2,000 years. The first recorded idea of using electronics for computing was the 1931 paper The Use of Thyratrons for High Speed Automatic Counting of Physical Phenomena by C. E. Wynn-Williams. Claude Shannons 1938 paper A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits then introduced the idea of using electronics for Boolean algebraic operations, a computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions called a computer program. The program has a form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its source code form, enables a programmer to study. Because the instructions can be carried out in different types of computers, the execution process carries out the instructions in a computer program. Instructions express the computations performed by the computer and they trigger sequences of simple actions on the executing machine. Those actions produce effects according to the semantics of the instructions, computer software or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms, program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software
3.
User interface
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The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. Examples of this concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machinery operator controls. The design considerations applicable when creating user interfaces are related to or involve such disciplines as ergonomics and psychology. Generally, the goal of user interface design is to produce a user interface makes it easy, efficient. This generally means that the needs to provide minimal input to achieve the desired output. Other terms for user interface are man–machine interface and when the machine in question is a computer human–computer interface, the user interface or human–machine interface is the part of the machine that handles the human–machine interaction. Membrane switches, rubber keypads and touchscreens are examples of the part of the Human Machine Interface which we can see. In complex systems, the interface is typically computerized. The term human–computer interface refers to this kind of system, in the context of computing the term typically extends as well to the software dedicated to control the physical elements used for human-computer interaction. The engineering of the interfaces is enhanced by considering ergonomics. The corresponding disciplines are human factors engineering and usability engineering, which is part of systems engineering, tools used for incorporating human factors in the interface design are developed based on knowledge of computer science, such as computer graphics, operating systems, programming languages. Nowadays, we use the graphical user interface for human–machine interface on computers. There is a difference between a user interface and an interface or a human–machine interface. A human-machine interface is typically local to one machine or piece of equipment, an operator interface is the interface method by which multiple equipment that are linked by a host control system is accessed or controlled. The system may expose several user interfaces to serve different kinds of users, for example, a computerized library database might provide two user interfaces, one for library patrons and the other for library personnel. The user interface of a system, a vehicle or an industrial installation is sometimes referred to as the human–machine interface. HMI is a modification of the original term MMI, in practice, the abbreviation MMI is still frequently used although some may claim that MMI stands for something different now. Another abbreviation is HCI, but is commonly used for human–computer interaction
4.
Directory (computing)
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In computing, a directory is a file system cataloging structure which contains references to other computer files, and possibly other directories. On many computers, directories are known as folders, or drawers to provide some relevancy to a workbench or the traditional office file cabinet, files are organized by storing related files in the same directory. In a hierarchical filesystem, a directory contained inside another directory is called a subdirectory, the terms parent and child are often used to describe the relationship between a subdirectory and the directory in which it is cataloged, the latter being the parent. The top-most directory in such a filesystem, which not have a parent of its own, is called the root directory. In modern systems, a directory can contain a mix of files and subdirectories, a reference to a location in a directory system is called a path. In many operating systems, programs have an associated working directory in which they execute, typically, file names accessed by the program are assumed to reside within this directory if the file names are not specified with an explicit directory name. Some operating systems restrict a users access to only their home directory or project directory, in early versions of Unix the root directory was the home directory of the root user, but modern Unix usually uses another directory such as /root for this purpose. In keeping with Unix philosophy, Unix systems treat directories as a type of file, folders are often depicted with icons which visually resemble physical file folders. There is a difference between a directory, which is a file system concept, and the user interface metaphor that is used to represent it. Many operating systems also have the concept of smart folders that reflect the results of a file system search or other operation and these folders do not represent a directory in the file hierarchy. Many email clients allow the creation of folders to organize email and these folders have no corresponding representation in the filesystem structure. If one is referring to a container of documents, the folder is more appropriate. The term directory refers to the way a structured list of document files, operating systems that support hierarchical filesystems implement a form of caching to RAM of recent path lookups. In the Unix world, this is usually called Directory Name Lookup Cache, for local filesystems, DNLC entries normally expire only under pressure from other more recent entries. For network file systems a coherence mechanism is necessary to ensure that entries have not been invalidated by other clients, definition of directory by The Linux Information Project
5.
Command-line interface
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A program which handles the interface is called a command language interpreter or shell. The interface is implemented with a command line shell, which is a program that accepts commands as text input. Command-line interfaces to computer operating systems are widely used by casual computer users. Alternatives to the line include, but are not limited to text user interface menus, keyboard shortcuts. Examples of this include the Windows versions 1,2,3,3.1, and 3.11, DosShell, and Mouse Systems PowerPanel. Command-line interfaces are preferred by more advanced computer users, as they often provide a more concise. Programs with command-line interfaces are generally easier to automate via scripting, a program that implements such a text interface is often called a command-line interpreter, command processor or shell. Under most operating systems, it is possible to replace the shell program with alternatives, examples include 4DOS for DOS, 4OS2 for OS/2. For example, the default Windows GUI is a program named EXPLORER. EXE. These programs are shells, but not CLIs, application programs may also have command line interfaces. When a program is launched from an OS command line shell, interactive command line sessions, After launch, a program may provide an operator with an independent means to enter commands in the form of text. OS inter-process communication, Most operating systems support means of inter-process communication, Command lines from client processes may be redirected to a CLI program by one of these methods. Some applications support only a CLI, presenting a CLI prompt to the user, Some examples of CLI-only applications are, DEBUG Diskpart Ed Edlin Fdisk Ping Some computer programs support both a CLI and a GUI. In some cases, a GUI is simply a wrapper around a separate CLI executable file, in other cases, a program may provide a CLI as an optional alternative to its GUI. CLIs and GUIs often support different functionality, for example, all features of MATLAB, a numerical analysis computer program, are available via the CLI, whereas the MATLAB GUI exposes only a subset of features. The early Sierra games, like the first three Kings Quest games, used commands from a command line to move the character around in the graphic window. Early computer systems often used teleprinter machines as the means of interaction with a human operator, the computer became one end of the human-to-human teleprinter model. So instead of a human communicating with another human over a teleprinter, in time, the actual mechanical teleprinter was replaced by a glass tty, and then by a smart terminal
6.
Desktop environment
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The desktop environment was seen mostly on personal computers until the rise of mobile computing. Desktop GUIs help the user to access and edit files. Instead, the traditional command-line interface is used when full control over the operating system is required. A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, a GUI might also provide drag and drop functionality and other features that make the desktop metaphor more complete. While the term desktop environment originally described a style of user interfaces following the desktop metaphor and this usage has been popularized by projects such as the Common Desktop Environment, K Desktop Environment, and GNOME. On a system offers a desktop environment, a window manager in conjunction with applications written using a widget toolkit are generally responsible for most of what the user sees. The window manager supports the user interactions with the environment, while the toolkit provides developers a software library for applications with a unified look, a windowing system of some sort generally interfaces directly with the underlying operating system and libraries. This provides support for hardware, pointing devices, and keyboards. The window manager generally runs on top of this windowing system, applications that are created with a particular window manager in mind usually make use of a windowing toolkit, generally provided with the operating system or window manager. A windowing toolkit gives applications access to widgets that allow the user to interact graphically with the application in a consistent way, the first desktop environment was created by Xerox and was sold with the Xerox Alto in the 1970s. The Alto was generally considered by Xerox to be an office computer, it failed in the marketplace because of poor marketing. With the Lisa, Apple introduced a desktop environment on a personal computer. The desktop metaphor was popularized on commercial personal computers by the original Macintosh from Apple in 1984, Microsoft Windows dominates in marketshare among personal computers with a desktop environment. Among the more popular of these are Googles Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, Intels NUC, on tablets and smartphones, the situation is the opposite, with Unix-like operating systems dominating the market, including the iOS, Android, Tizen, Sailfish and Ubuntu. Microsofts Windows phone, Windows RT and Windows 10 are used on a smaller number of tablets. On systems running the X Window System, desktop environments are more dynamic. All these individual modules can be exchanged and independently configured to suit users, not all of the program code that is part of a desktop environment has effects which are directly visible to the user. Some of it may be low-level code, KDE, for example, provides so-called KIO slaves which give the user access to a wide range of virtual devices
