ENVS 1500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Operand, Microsoft Excel, Spreadsheet
13 May 2018
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ENVS 1500 Chapter 11 Notes – Summary
Introduction
• Most operating systems also allow the user to specify one or more operands that can be
passed to the program as arguments.
• The operands might be the name of data files, or they might be parameters that modify
the behavior of the program.
• To the typical end user, the smooth loading and execution of programs are nearly the
sole purpose for the operating system.
• Many operating systems treat program execution the same as they treat nonresident
operating system commands.
• The name of the program is treated as a command
• Loading and execution begin when the command is typed or, equivalently for a
windowing system, when the mouse double-clicks on the graphical icon.
• Alternatively, the user may click on a data file icon.
• The program associated with the data file is executed with the data file as an operand.
• Since the operating system treats application and user programs in the same way as it
treats nonresident commands, it is conveniently impossible to tell the difference.
• Most of the programs that you have used are not part of the operating system
• Since they are initiated the same way, you cannot tell the difference.
• This provides a consistency that is convenient to the user.
• Microsoft Excel, Quicken, Firefox, and Adobe Acrobat, to name just a few, are all
independent
• No operating system programs that share this common behavior, look, and feel.
• Application programs perform their operations on a user-specified data file.
• Spreadsheet programs, for example, require a file of spreadsheet data
• Word processors use a file of formatted text.
• The command interface provides a method for specifying the data file to be used when
the program is executed.
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