Data Input and Output Essay

The methods of input of data may vary consistently. For instance, for printed questionnaires, the traditional method of input implies the use of computers’ keyboard by means of which the information that is supposed to be printed in a questionnaire is input. The same method may be used for long documents, though this may imply the use of different software applications. For instance, for printed questionnaires the simplest word processors may be used, while long documents may use Microsoft Excel, especially if there are a lot of statistical information, and other applications. As for bank checks and telephone surveys, the electronic form of input may also be applied. The electronic form of input information is effective because it is fast and quite reliable. At the same time, retail tags often imply the use of acousto-magnetic systems to input data, in which information is stored in tags made of a strip of amorphous metal and a strip of ferromagnetic material. This method is secure and quite easy to use.

As for data output it is possible to distinguish between printed methods and electronic methods. To put it more precisely, it is possible to use a printer to print color photograph, resume, memorandum, statistical report, and even annual report though it is worthy of mention that the more complicated is the material that is supposed to be printed the more sophisticated the device of the output, printer in this case, should be. Obviously, a resume, a memorandum and a statistical report if it is short do not need the use of the high quality printing, while color photograph needs a high quality of printing. As for annual report and long statistical report, due to their size, it is more convenient to use more productive printers that work should work faster that those that could be used for a resume, for instance, because more information is needed to be printed. Also, it is quite convenient to use electronic devices such as a floppy disc or a flash card from which it is possible to output resume, memorandum, statistical and company annual report, as well as hand held computer information on the screen of a computer or phone. This methods provides an opportunity to output a larger amount of information and is apparently faster than the previous method.

For the storage of information different may be used. Hard disc may be used for the storage of the large amount of information of various sorts: visual, audio, graphics, etc. CD Rom may be used for the storage of data that need fast output and constitute up to 700 Mb. For the same purpose may be used flash/jump drive which traditionally stores some audio-visual information. Floppy disk is traditionally used for the storage of small textual information that also may be processed in a short amount of time. RAM may be used for the current storage of data for a limited time while a computer, for instance, is working and data are used in the running processes while after the end of the work data stored in RAM need to be saved in another device if the further storage is needed. A tape is used for storage of audio information.

In fact, the speed of a computer directly depends on RAM, clock speed, data on hard disc, CD Rom, and floppy disc. The more data is stored and processed in RAM, hard disc, CD Rom and floppy disc and the slower is clock speed, the slower is the general speed of the computer while the contrary situation, i.e. increasing of clock speed, reduction of data stored in RAM, hard disc, CD Rom, floppy disc leads to the increase of the speed of the computer.

References

• Date, C. J. An Introduction to Database Systems. 8th edition. New York: Addison Wesley, 2003.
• Teorey, T. et al. Database Modeling & Design: Logical Design. 4th edition. New York: Morgan Kaufmann Press, 2005.