Computers today. Гурьянова В.И. - 8 стр.

or inconsistencies in your first programs were revealed and the difficulties you
sometimes had when you were trying to correct the programs? You knew that
something was wrong, but you had no idea what it was.
      Computers are fascinating because they are fast, powerful, and extremely
versatile machines, and because they are programmable. They will obey our
most whimsical commands, provided they can interpret them. It is really magic:
They do exactly what we tell them to do. But, of course, we have to think and
express ourselves clearly; we have to be careful with our words.
      We can use computers to play with texts and immediately see the conse-
quences. It is easy to reuse text and to experiment with different formulations
and the sequence in which we present our argument. There is no guarantee, of
course, that texts produced on computers are better in quality, or clearer and
richer. Nevertheless, computers are extremely effective tools for producing,
modifying, and combining texts, and they offer us fascinating opportunities to
play and to experiment, while we try to be convincing, clear or even poetic.
      We can also use computers to explore the world without having to suffer
real-world consequences. Kids fight monsters without ever getting hurt. Pilots
are trained in flight simulators without the hazards and high costs. Investments
are evaluated without running the risk of losing fortunes. And bridges and high-
ways are designed and tested without the risk of collapses or the inconvenience
of traffic jams.
      In general, we use computers to process, communicate, store, and keep
track of information. Computers also provide us with new and useful opportuni-
ties, and they liberate us from many laborious and boring tasks.
      It is not surprising that the development of computer systems raises diffi-
cult questions. We use computers to automate administrative tasks and to
mechanize and automate production processes. But how can we make sure that
the good qualities of the traditional manual way of doing things are not lost?
And what about the people who lose their jobs because of the computer?
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