The IBM Personal Computer Made Easy

247 Pages·1983·8.7 MB·English

by  Robert M. Rinder (auth.)

THEIBM
PERsonAL
COMPUTER
MADEEASV
Robert M. Rinder
1')11 Macmillan Education
Copyright © 1983 by Robert M. Rinder
All rights reserved
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form
Published by MONARCH PRESS
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Simon & Schuster Building
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
MONARCH PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Designed by Irving Perkins Associates
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978-1-349-81225-7 ISBN 978-1-349-81223-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-81223-3
M
conTEnTS
Introduction
Part 1 An Introduction to the IBM Personal Computer
Chapter 1 What Is a Personal Computer? 3
Unique Features of Personal Computers 4
How Are Personal Computers Used? 4
Word Processing 8
Electronic Worksheets 9
Small Business Systems 10
The Office of the Present 11
A Personal Computer on Your Desk? 11
Down-loading 13
Up-loading 13
Chapter 2 How Do Personal Computers Work? 15
An Example 15
Input, Processing, and Output 17
Computer Concepts and Terms 20
Memory 21
Bits and Bytes 22
Codes 23
The Processor 23
Words 24
Inside the Micro 25
Addressing Memory 25
Disk Drives 26
Diskettes 26
Power Supply 27
Inside the Computer 27
Operating Systems 28
DOS 28
Functions of DOS 29
Chapter 3 How to Select the Right Equipment 30
What Is Available 30
The Minimum System 30
Optional Equipment 31
Adapters 31
The Selection Process 32
Requirements 32
Programs 32
Equipment 33
Selection 33
Shop Around 33
Equipment Descriptions 33
The System Unit 33
The System Board 34
Expansion 35
Power Supply 35
Disk Drives 36
Displays 37
Printers 38
Game-Control Adapter 38
Other Equipment 39
Using the IBM PC to Communicate 40
Asynchronous Communication Adapter 40
SDLC Communication Adapter 40
SNA 3270 Emulation and RJE Support 40
IBM 3101 Emulation 40
Asynchronous Communication Support 41
Typical Systems and Their Costs 41
A Minimum System 41
A Low-End Word-Processing System 42
A Professional Word-Processing System 42
A Low-End Business System 44
An Expanded Business System 44
A Low-End Professional System 45
An Expanded Professional System 46
A Communication Terminal System 46
Chapter 4 How to Select the Right Program 53
What You Need to Know When Buying Programs
53
Program Reviews 53
Try Out the Program 54
Demos and Manuals 54
Buy It and Try It 54
Work With a Consultant 54
What You Need to Know in All Cases 55
What You Need to Know About Specific Program
Areas 55
How to Select a Word-Processing Program 56
Word-Processing Terms 57
Word-Processing Programs Checklist 58
How to Select an Electronic Worksheet 59
Electronic Worksheets Program Checklist 60
How to Select Graphics Programs 61
Graphics Program Checklist 62
How to Select a Mailing-List Program 63
Mailing-List Program Checklist 64
How to Select a Communication Program 64
Communication Program Checklist 67
How to Select a Program for Business Applications
68
Data Managers and Program Generators 68
Application Programs 69
Business Application Program Checklist 70
Part 2 How to Use the IBM Personal Computer
Introduction to Part 2 72
Chapter 5 Exploring the Territory 73
Turning On 73
Keyboard Calisthenics 73
Us ing the ENTER Key 76
Simple BASIC 77
The CLS Command 77
The PRINT Statement 77
Editing a Line 79
Arithmetic Operations 80
Addition and Subtraction 80
Multiplication and Division 81
Higher Mathematics 82
Exponents 82
Parentheses 82
Trigonometric Functions 83
Logarithm and Exponential Functions 83
Miscellaneous Functions 84
Chapter 6 How to Use BASIC 91
How to Write a Program 91
Direct and Indirect Modes 91
Program Line Numbers 92
How to LIST a Program 93
Renumbering Lines 94
Deleting Lines 94
Function Keys 94
Entering a New Program 95
Coding and Testing 96
Chapter 7 Working With Disks 97
What's on a Disk? 97
Files 97
File Names 98
File Name Extensions 98
Filespec 99
How Disks Are Used 100
DOS 101
Rules for Working With Disks 101
Write-Protecting Disks 102
How to Start DOS 102
The DOS Prompt Message 103
How to Specify a Drive 103
How to Change the Default Drive 103
Copying a Disk 104
How to Use BASIC With DOS 105
Formatting a Disk With FORMAT 106
Copy 106
Finding Files on a Disk 107
The DOS Way Using DIR 107
The BASIC Way With FILES 108
Saving, Loading, and Deleting Files 108
Specifying a Tape Cassette 109
Part 3 Learning the BASIC Programming Language
Chapter 8 BASI~ession I 115
BASIC and BASICA U5
Automatic Line Numbering U6
Variables U7
Numeric Variables U7
Rules for Numeric Variable Names 119
String Variables 120
Substrings 121
LEFT$, MID$, and RIGHT$ 122
Changing Strings to Numbers 123
Changing Numbers to Strings 123
Keyboard Shortcuts 124
How to Format Numbers 124
The PRINT USING Statement 124
Integers, Single-Precision, and Double-Precision
Numbers 125
Chapter 9 BASI~ession II 129
Tapping the Computer's Power 129
Looping and Branching the GOTO Way 129
Looping and Branching the IF ... GOTO Way
130
Relational Operators 131
Examples of the IF ... GOTO Statement 131
Looping and Branching the FOR ... NEXT Way
132
Stepping and Nesting FOR ... NEXT Loops 133
Documenting Programs 134
Using the REM Statement to Document 134
Using the Single-Quote to Document 134
Data Entry 135
Using the INPUT Statement for Data Entries
136
More IF Statements 137
Using the IF Statement to Make Performance
Conditional 137
Chapter 10 BASIC-Session III 139
Subroutines 139
The GOSUB and RETURN Statements 141
The DATA, READ, and RESTORE Statements 142
The DATA Statement 142
The READ Statement 143
The RESTORE Statement 143
Arrays 144
The DIM Statement 146
Arrays With More Than One Dimension 147
The OPTION BASE Statement 148
Part 4 How to Use the Special Features of the IBM PC
Chapter 11 Screen Magic 153
Adjusting the Screen 153
The DOS Adjustment 154
The BASIC Adjustment 154
How to Learn Screen-Related Statements 155
Screen Pages 155
The SCREEN Statement 156
The WIDTH Statement 157
How to Determine the Screen Mode You Are In
158
What Can You Display on the Screen? 158
Text 159
40- and 80-Column Text 159
Graphics in Text Mode 159
A World of Color 160
Colored Text 160
The COLOR Statement in Text Mode 161
COLOR Graphics 162
The COLOR Statement in Graphics Mode 162
Chapter 12 Cut-n-Paste Programming 169
How to Create Your Own Screens 170
The LOCATE Statement 170
The SAVE Command 172
Naming BASIC Files 172
The LOAD Command 173
Creating Your Own Menu 174
More Than One Statement Per Line 174
Editing a Menu 175
Reversing an Image With the COLOR
Statement 176
Reversing the Menu Heading 176
Highlighting Characters Using the COLOR
Statement 176
Turning Line 25 OFF and ON-The KEY
Command 177
Putting the Final Touches on the Menu 177
Resume 178
The LOCATE Statement Revisited 179
The INKEY$ and LEN Statements 179
Chapter 13 Computer Sounds of MUllc 183
BEEPing the Speaker 183
Computer Music 184
The SOUND Statement 184
The PLAY Statement 186
Chapter 14 Computer Graphics 192
Graphics in the Text Mode 192
Graphics in the Graphics Mode 197
The COLOR Statement in the Graphics
Mode 197
Drawing Points 199
The PSET Statement 200
The PRESET Statement 201
Drawing Lines 202
The LINE Statement 203
Line Limits 203
Connecting Lines 204
Coloring Lines 204
Erasing Lines 205
Moving Lines 205
Making Boxes 206
Moving Boxes 206
A Test Pattern 207
Chapter 15 Advanced Graphics 208
The DRAW Statement 208
Scale Factors 209
Locating Objects on the Screen 210
Returning to Square One 210
Rotations 210
Color Control 211
Using Variables With DRAW 211
Using Subroutines With DRAW 212
The CIRCLE Statement 214
Slicing the Pie 216
Ellipses 217
The PAINT Statement 217
Appendix 1 Summary and Index of BASIC Statements,
Commands, and Functions 221
Appendix 2 IBM PC Character Set 228