Syllabus Focus: Unit 2 Module 2 Content 2
Specific Objective 2: explain the functions and uses of the major types of software tools;
Content: Examples of different types of software packages and their function and uses.
Including Financial Packages, Software Development Tools, Statistical tools, Word Processors,
Spreadsheets, Presentation Tools, and Database Management Tools, Desktop publishing,
graphics and personal information management.
Productivity tools
Within the category of general purpose software is a set of application tools known as
productivity tools. These software tools were originally designed for use in businesses. The most
popular productivity tools that are available on the market today are

Word processing – produce documents such as letters, memos, newsletter and reports

Spreadsheet – process numerical data and formulae to produce tabulated information or
graphs. Also perform what is scenarios
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Desktop publishing – combine text and graphics such as photographs and line drawings to
create visually appealing, high quality pages for books, magazines etc. Example of DTP
include PageMker, Ms. Publisher, Pageplus

Presentation packages and DBMS – prepare great looking visual such as slide show for
presentation, especially to large audience.
Other software tools include:

Financial or accounting packages – track income and expenses and produce financial
reports and statements. Examples of this type of software include ACPAC and Quicken

Software development tools
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Statistical tools – perform statistical function of variance, regression, correlation and
distribution. Examples of this type of software include SPSS, RATS
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a program that is designed to create tables and financial schedules by allowing you
to enter data into rows and columns arranged as a grid.
Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankson invented the first practical spreadsheet for microcomputers.
They called it VisiCalc. It was released for the Apple II computer in 1979. Prior to this,
spreadsheets had to be manually re-calculated each time one cell was changed. With Visicalc,
work that might take a week could be done in minutes. Several years after VisiCalc's release, the
inventors sold the program to Lotus Development Corporation, who renamed it Lotus 1-2-3 and
upgraded the software to run on an IBM-PC or compatible computer.
Significance
 VisiCalc was one of the first "killer" applications for microcomputers. It became a best-seller
and led not only to more involved and better spreadsheets, but also a valid microcomputer selling
point for the business community. While financial calculator programs existed before VisiCalc, it
qualifies as the first electronic spreadsheet because it mimicked the look and feel of paper
spreadsheets but was far more sophisticated and speedy. The microcomputer used an interface
that was truly WYSIWYG---What You See Is What You Get---and intuitive in its use.
Function
Spreadsheets can do more than perform simple arithmetic calculations. A spreadsheet can
translate complicated data and reports into a combination of numbers and graphs. Modern
versions include an extensive list of financial calculators, such as interest calculations, loan
amortization, even calculations for Treasury bill rates. Statistical functions from common
calculations (Chi Square, Pearson Coefficient of Correlation and Standard Deviation) to abstruse
functions like the Hypergeometric Distribution and the Poisson distribution return needed values
with no pain. There are at least 100 of these formulas included in contemporary spreadsheets.
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Features
Spreadsheets can function as basic databases. By inserting data and number in different columns,
the results can be sorted, searched or filtered. What-if analysis can run using data from cells in a
spreadsheet. There are mathematical and trigonometric functions as well. A user can create a
simplified mailing list in a spreadsheet by entering names and addresses in individual columns.
There are even word processing features offering control over fonts, bold or italic typeface, size,
color and page formatting.
Warning
Because of the complexity of how a spreadsheet works and the potential to develop complicated
and interrelated calculations, the potential for error increases exponentially with the size of the
spreadsheet. Audit controls are limited and often what is possible in this area is under-utilized.
All too often not enough planning goes into the development of spreadsheets, particularly when
designed for other users. Because it is so easy to change values in the spreadsheet, easy mistakes
have unintended consequences.
This package allows the user to enter data and to perform calculations on them. A typical use might
be to keep simple accounts. Spreadsheet are used primarily by persons who work with numbers.
They are ideally suited for fats, accurate number crunching and forecasting.
Examples of spreadsheet on the market are Ms. Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro.
Spreadsheet hide mathematical formulae “under” the numbers, so that some of the numbers that you
are seeing on the screen are actually generated by the underlying formulae.
Built in functions allow you to quickly and easily create complex formulae. The capabilities to
recalculate complex tables of number makes spreadsheets ideal for what if scenarios.
You can create a variety of graphs and charts by using the program’s built in wizard.
The data are organised into cells that can contain data or formulae. The formulae can use numbers
or the contents of other cells to perform the calculations. Typical features of a spreadsheet package
are:
• Enter numerical data or text.
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• Enter formulae that contain numerical operations.
• Functions to perform mathematical or statistical calculations.
• Sorting of data into sequence.
• Charts of various types.
• Automatically perform a series of operations using a macro.
Importing and exporting capabilities
 Electronic spreadsheets allow for calculation across multiple spreadsheets whereas paper
spreadsheets make this task very difficult and time consuming.
Electronic spreadsheets can be sent to numerous recipients via email and shared across different
locations in a matter of minutes. Paper spreadsheets need to be faxed or mailed; this would take
more time to distribute. Additionally, parts of the spreadsheets can be locked to prevent data
from being modified.
What Are the Main Parts of a Spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is a grid, like a paper ledger, made up of columns and rows. But unlike a paper
ledger, spreadsheets are on the computer and have more components and functions.
Row
1.
The horizontal strips of the spreadsheet are called rows. They are identified by
number at the far left hand side of the spreadsheet. This is called the row header.
Columns
2.
The vertical strips of the spreadsheet are columns. They are identified by letters
across the top of the spreadsheet. This is called the column header.
Cell
3.
The point where the rows and columns intersect is called a cell. To activate a
cell, simply click on it.
Formula Bar
4.
Data or formulas can be entered directly into the active cell or entered into
the formula bar. If you click on a cell that already has data in it, the formula used will
show in this bar.
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Name Box
5.
The name box is located at the upper left corner before the formula bar and
lists the location of the active cell you are working on.
Shortcomings of spreadsheet
While spreadsheets are a great step forward in quantitative modeling, they have deficiencies. At
the level of overall user benefits, spreadsheets have four main shortcomings.

Spreadsheets have significant reliability problems. Research studies estimate that roughly
94% of spreadsheets deployed in the field contain errors, and 5.2% of cells in unaudited
spreadsheets contain errors

The practical expressiveness of spreadsheets is limited. Several factors contribute to this
limitation. Implementing a complex model requires implementing detailed layouts, cellat-a-time. Authors have difficulty remembering the meanings of hundreds or thousands of
cell addresses that appear in formulas
Collaboration in authoring spreadsheet formulas is difficult because such collaboration
must occur at the level of cells and cell addresses. By comparison, programming
languages aggregate cells with similar meaning into indexed variables with names that
indicate meaning. Although some spreadsheets have good collaboration features,
authoring at the level of cells and cell formulas remains a significant obstacle to
collaboration in authoring spreadsheet models. On the other hand, many people
collaborate on entering numerical data and many people can use the same spreadsheet.
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Productivity of spreadsheet modelers is reduced by the cell-level focus of spreadsheets.
Even conceptually simple changes in spreadsheets (such as changing starting or ending
time or time grain, adding new members or a level of hierarchy to a dimension, or
changing one conceptual formula that is represented as hundreds of cell formulas) often
require large numbers of manual cell-level operations (such as inserting or deleting
cells/rows/columns, editing and copying formulas, re-laying out worksheets). Each of
these manual corrections increases the risk of introducing further mistakes.
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These four deficiencies in high-level benefits have deeper causes that, ironically, flow directly
from the signature strength of spreadsheets (that they capture the structure of models in terms of
WYSIWYG sheet layout for authors and report users).

Spreadsheets capture model logic in terms of sheet layout, especially contiguous layout
of cells in a table. Spreadsheets have weak or nonexistent methods to capture higher level
structures such as named variables, segmentation dimensions, and time series.

Formulas are subordinated to the cell layout. This forces the sheet layout to carry the
structure of the model, not variables and formulas that relate variables. This also causes a
large proliferation of cells, formulas and cell-level tasks even when only a few basic
concepts are involved in a model. This forces authors to think and work at the level of
cells instead of at the level of the natural concepts and structures of the model.

Formulas expressed in terms of cell addresses are hard to keep straight and hard to audit.
Research shows that spreadsheet auditors who check numerical results and cell formulas
find no more errors than auditors who only check numerical results
Proliferation of error-prone manual cell-level operations contributes to all four of the
high-level problems listed above.

Other problems associated with spreadsheets include:
Some sources advocate the use of specialized software instead of spreadsheets for some
applications (budgeting, statistics)
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Many spreadsheet software products, such as Microsoft Excel (versions prior to 2007)
and OpenOffice.org Calc have a capacity limit of 65,536 rows by 256 columns. This can
present a problem for people using very large datasets, and may result in lost data.
Lack of auditing and revision control. This makes it difficult to determine who changed
what and when. This can cause problems with regulatory compliance. Lack of revision
control greatly increases the risk of errors due the inability to track, isolate and test
changes made to a document.
Lack of security. Generally, if one has permission to open a spreadsheet, one has
permission to modify any part of it. This, combined with the lack of auditing above, can
make it easy for someone to commit fraud.
Because they are loosely structured, it is easy for someone to introduce an error, either
accidentally or intentionally, by entering information in the wrong place or expressing
dependencies among cells (such as in a formula) incorrectly.
The results of a formula (example "=A1*B1") applies only to a single cell (that is, the
cell the formula is actually located in - in this case perhaps C1), even though it can
"extract" data from many other cells, and even real time dates and actual times. This
means that to cause a similar calculation on an array of cells, an almost identical formula
(but residing in its own "output" cell) must be repeated for each row of the "input" array.
This differs from a "formula" in a conventional computer program which would typically
have one calculation which would then apply to all of the input in turn. With current
spreadsheets, this forced repetition of near identical formulas can have detrimental
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
consequences from a quality assurance standpoint and is often the cause of many
spreadsheet errors. Some spreadsheets have array formulas to address this issue.
Trying to manage the sheer volume of spreadsheets which sometimes exists within an
organization without proper security, audit trails, the unintentional introduction of errors
and other items listed above can become overwhelming.
While there are built-in and third-party tools for desktop spreadsheet applications that address
some of these shortcomings, awareness and use of these is generally low. A good example of this
is that 55% of Capital market professionals "don't know" how their spreadsheets are audited;
only 6% invest in a third-party solution
Database
This package stores and manipulates large quantities of data. It allows the user to enter the
data and provides reports that allow the data to be viewed in different forms. Most modern
database packages store the data in tables and allow the data in different tables to be related in
various ways. Typical features of a database package are:
• Forms to enter the data.
• Queries that allow the data to be selected and sorted in various ways.
• Tabular reports.
Software development tool
A programming tool or software development tool is a program or application that software
developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications.
The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to
accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.
History
The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers,
loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like
grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software
tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.
Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have
been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These
environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and
productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is
routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text
editors like Vim and Emacs.
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The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple
databases (such as a file containing a list of important values) all the time as tools. However a
full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.
For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after.
Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and
architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.
The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.
Categories
Software development tools can be roughly divided into the following categories:
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performance analysis tools
debugging tools
static analysis and formal verification tools
correctness checking tools
memory usage tools
application build tools
integrated development environment
Word processor and Desk Top Publishing
Both packages assist you in creating documents; but end result and the way you get there can be
quite different. WP is designed for textual document processing i.e you first enter the text, then
added images, border and shading around the text. .
In DTP you first task is to determine the layout followed by the text and graphics. The page
layout capabilities, combined with its precision make the DTP ideal for professionally printed
documents such as books and magazines.
Spreadsheet and DBMS
Both packages allow you to work with data in rows and columns. The SS uses worksheets and
the DBMS uses tables, which consist also of rows and columns. Both packages are also used for
storing and analyzing data.
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SS give greater flexibility in building formulae, performing what if analysis, generating charts
and graphs, and in the manipulation of rows and columns of data. DBMS are ideal for data entry,
building queries, generating formatted reports and developing information systems.
Word processor
This package allows the user to produce documents of various types. It can produce reports, letters,
essays, and so on. Modern word processors have all the features necessary to produce newspapers
and magazines. Typical features of a word processor are:
• Type and correct text, delete text, move text.
• Produce various layouts, set margins, organise into columns, and so on.
• Set fonts and special effects, italic, bold, underline.
• Insert pictures and diagrams.
• Create indexes and table of contents.
• Find and replace text.
• Check spelling and grammar.
• Automatically produce personalised letters (mail merge).
• Charts of various types.
Wordprocessing packages are the most popular type of computer software. For many people a word
processing package is the only software they use. It is hard to think of a single job where some use
for word-processing d not be found.
Many people now type their own documents directly into a computer rather than give them to a
typist. This saves time, if people can type quickly. Because the text is stored in memory once it is
typed, people can alter their text before finally saving and print.
Now, even printing letters is becoming out-of-date because electronic mail is often to send word
processed documents in electronic form from one place to another. There is no need for an
envelope or a stamp and the recipient may store the letter on disk for future reference, thus saving
valuable storage space.
Hardware and software for word processing
The most common hardware arrangement is:
• a microcomputer
• a high quality printer (a laser or ink-jet printer)
a mouse (necessary if the word processor I uses Windows or the Macintosh operating r/stem)
• a keyboard.
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Apart from the operating system, the only Software needed is a word-processing package. This
can be a separate package which just does word-processing or part of an integrated package, where
wordprocessing is one part of the complete package.
You can also use special voice recognition software to dictate straight into a word-processor.
The advantages of word processing
Word processing has several advantages compared with typing.
1. Much more professional results can be obtained by everyone and not just those who are
experienced typists, because typing mistakes are easily altered on the screen before printing out.
2. Fewer resources are used, provided that material is carefully proofread on the screen before
finally printing. Since we can edit and correct mistakes before printing, this reduces the amount of
paper used. Most large companies now send all their internal letters and memos using electronic
mail. The widespread use of electronic mail will help to conserve valuable resources.
3. More people are able to produce their own documents rather than pass them to someone else to
type. This can save both time and money.
4. More word processors are becoming like simple desktop publishing packages. These extra facilities
enable people to produce notices, posters, tickets, etc. with very little training.
What can you do with word processing software?
Word-processing software is software that is able to store, edit and manipulate text. All wordprocessing software allows you to enter text then edit and rearrange it before storing it and
printing it out. Some word processor are 'WYSIWYG' ('what you see is what you get'). This means
that you are able to see on the screen exactly what the page will look like when it is printed out.
Most word processors allow you to change the fonts (type styles and sizes).
Spell checkers
Nearly all word processors have a dictionary against which the words in a document canj compared
to check their spelling. Most allow you to add words to the dictionary which is useful if you use
special terms in subjects such as law or medicine. It is important to note that spell checking a
document will not remove all the errors. For instance, if you intended to type 'the' and typed 'he'
instead, then the spell checker will not detect this since 'he' as a word is spelt correctly. After using a
spell checker it is still necessary to of read a document.
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is useful for creative writing (perhaps for English GCSE coursework). It allows you to
highlight a word in a document and the computer lists words with similar meanings (called
synonyms)
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Mail merge
Merging involves combining a list of say, names and addresses, with a typed letter, that a series of
similar letters is produced, each addressed to a different person. The list is either created using the
word processor or by importing data from a database of names and addresses. The letter is typed,
using the wordprocessor, with blanks where the data the list is to be inserted.
Indexing
It allows you to highlight words that you would like to use in an index. The wordprocessor keeps
a record of the words, and creates an index when instructed to.
Macros
Macros allow you automatically to produce a sequence of keystrokes so that, for example, you can
just press one key or a combination of keys and have your name and address printed at the top of
the page. You can also insert dates just by pressing a couple of keys. Macros are very useful for
things that need to be done repetitively.
Grammar checkers
Some of the more sophisticated word processors have a feature called a grammar checker. This is
useful if your English is not so good. If the word processor you use does not have this facility,
then you can buy a separate grammar checking package to use with it. Figure 28.5 shows a
grammar checker being used. Because of the complexities of the English language, grammar
checkers do have their limitations. As yet they find only a few faults and do tend to provide an
incorrect analysis of the grammar of writing. You need to exercise care when using them.
Other features found in most word-processing packages
Here are just some of the many features you will find as part of a professional word-processing
package such as Microsoft Word.
Print preview - using the print preview you can see the whole page (as a smaller version) before
you print it out. This can save time and paper.
Templates and wizards - here the framework of the document (fonts, sizes, headings, etc.) is laid
out for you. You do not need to worry about the layout. All you have to do is supply the text.
Save in different file formats - this means you can transfer your wordprocessed material to almost
any other package.
Word-count - this counts the number of words in a document or part of a document. This is
useful if you have to write essays or course work of a certain number of words.
On-line help - you can search for help by entering a keyword or by selecting a topic from a list.
Good on-line help is particularly important as a lot of software is supplied without manuals.
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Drawing tools - these tools allow you to produce arrows, shapes, boxes, etc. without having to use
a special graphics package.
Zooming in and out - particularly useful if you have difficulty seeing small text on the screen.
Tables - rather than use a spreadsheet you can use the tables function in the wordprocessor. If there
are numbers in the tables you can even perform simple calculations on them.
Ability to import clip art/other files - documents can be made much more attractive by importing
pictures (clip art) or photographs from pre-stored files.
Choosing a word processing package
Ideally you should choose the software you want to run and then choose hardware to suit
software. However, since many people using existing hardware, their choice of word processing
package may, to some extent be dictated by the hardware.\
Most people's favourite word processor is the one they are used to, but there are many new and
useful features in the newer packages to tempt you. How do you decide which ONE TO USE? You
may like to ask yourself the following questions to help you decide.
1. If you are a fast typist you would look for a wordprocessor that could keep up with
your typing speed. Windows word-processors can be slow on older computers, so a DOS
based package might be better.
2. you would like to do simple desktop publishing, then many of the Windows,
Macintosh or Windows 98-based word processors would be suitable. Many of have some of
the features you used find only in DTP packages.
3) If you need to send out a number of letters to lots of different people, it would be best to go for
a word processor with a mail merge facility. Mail merging allows you to create standard
letters and link them to a database of names and addresses so that you can make it appear
that the letters are all tailor made.
4) If you use a variety of word processors, then you should check whether you can transfer the
files between the different packages. With some it is easy, but with others you may find that
one word processor is unable to read files from a different word processor.
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