Uses of Computers

    We have been said to live in the computer age and now living in the information technology age. Whatever the age is, computers are the main elements shaping our lives. We use and rely on computers or related services in so many ways than we really realize. Though lagging behind the developed countries, our country has made good progress in using computers. Computers are being used in lots of fields around our lives and society. Below are the few fields that made remarkable use of computers.

1. Education
2. Publication
3. Science
4. Health and Medicine
5. Business
6. Industry
7. Music
8. Communication
9. Entertainment

• Education

    Computers have now become the mandatory tool for education. They are being used in classrooms, library, and laboratory everywhere everyday. The traditional chalk-blackboard classrooms have been replaced with video projectors and computers where multimedia presentations are the means of teaching. Such presentations can have colored texts, graphics, animations, and sounds. These tools are more effective in teaching hard-to-imagine subjects. Teachers can spend more time on teaching than on writing stuff on blackboards. Even students are now taking class notes on laptops in developed countries.

    Multimedia training tools are available for enabling students to learn difficult subjects like Physics and Mathematics. Events that are hard to visualize are now being presented with animation helping medical students and alike. Apart from these, computers are being used to prepare reports, keeping records, processing results etc. Computer assisted evaluation systems have now took place. MCQ (Multimedia Choice Questions) and the OMR (Optical Mark Reader) readable answer sheets have become the form of standardized test like TOEFL, GRE and public examinations like SSC. This technology enables evaluation of a large number of students in very short time, processing the results with minimum errors, issuance of mark sheet and certificate in short time.

    E-books are gaining popularity nowadays. This saves space in library, makes the maintenance easier. E-books are readily search-able, do not get wired after heavy use and have a lifetime of infinity. Searching in a electronic catalog can never be easier. This saves hundreds of hours of library users. Collection of different libraries now can be shared using computer networks making a huge unified library.

    Research works are swamped with computer applications. To search something, to know about that, to perform experiments via simulations which are not possible or feasible in reality- all can be done with computers.

    Kids prefer pictures and sounds to text. In that edge computers are the most suitable tools to teach kids using graphics and sounds. Most schools in developed word have computer facilities for kids who are encouraged to use them. This helps develop their creativity and thoughts. Kindergarten schools in our country have started to follow the trend. Some software makers are producing good software for kids.

• Communication

    Computer and Internet technology have revolutionized the communication industry. Enables are attractive alternative of postal mails at almost no cost. VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology reduced the cost of international telephone calls by several factors. Calls to USA/Canada have now become less than 10 taka a minute which was no less than 100 taka before using the VOIP. With adoption of new laws banks are going online, shops are becoming virtual making lives easier.

• Publication

    Strangely enough, most computers are being used in publishing industries. Before the use of computers, publishing industries used to use mechanical tools. Using these tools, compositors would compose, proof-readers would check the spelling and editors would edit. However, all of these tasks were difficult and would require significant time and skill. Variety of typefaces, symbols were hardly possible. Inserting picture was tedious job. With use of computers all of these publishing tasks are now possible to do on computers. Once the desired output is found final composed material is transferred to high resolution printer to print on transparency. Making plate and then printing from them is common job for printing presses. Computerized publishing has lowered the cost of publishing on one side and improved the quality of printing on the other. Today, most of the newspapers and magazines are composed, designed, and layout on computers. Color printing was extraordinarily hard job before using computers. Now, color adjustment, separation all can be done on computers. With the development of the Internet, publishing takes a new turn. There are newspapers/magazines that publish only electronically on the Internet or on CDs. Some have both the printed and Internet versions.