Microsoft Excel

Source: WIKIPEDIA

Microsoft Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993, and it has almost completely replaced Lotus 1-2-3 as the industry standard for spreadsheets. Excel forms part of Microsoft Office. The current versions are 2010 for Microsoft Windows and 2011 for Mac OS X.

Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets[1], using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors from different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager[2]). And it has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics,[3][4] and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. Finally, it has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer,[5] or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports.[6][7][8] In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule,[9] analyze the results, make a Word report or Power Point slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants.
Use of a user-defined function sq(x) in Microsoft Excel. The named variables x & y are identified in the Name Manager. The function sq is introduced using the Visual Basic editor supplied with Excel.

Subroutine in Excel calculates the square of named column variable x read from the spreadsheet, and writes it into the named column variable y.

Graph made using Microsoft Excel Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.

Microsoft Access

Source: WIKIPEDIA

Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the Professional and higher editions or sold separately. On May 12 2010, the current version of Microsoft Access 2010 was released by Microsoft in Office 2010; Microsoft Office Access 2007 was the prior version.

MS Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases.^[1]

Software developers and data architects can use Microsoft Access to develop application software, and "power users" can use it to build software applications. Like other Office applications, Access is supported by Visual Basic for Applications, an object-oriented programming language that can reference a variety of objects including DAO (Data Access Objects), ActiveX Data Objects, and many other ActiveX components. Visual objects used in forms and reports expose their methods and properties in the VBA programming environment, and VBA code modules may declare and call Windows operating-system functions.

Access stores all database tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules in the Access Jet database as a single file.

For query development, Access offers a "Query Designer", a graphical user interface that allows users to build queries without knowledge of the SQL programming language. In the Query Designer, users can "show" the datasources of the query (which can be tables or queries) and select the fields they want returned by clicking and dragging them into the grid. One can set up joins by clicking and dragging fields in tables to fields in other tables. Access allows users to view and manipulate the SQL code if desired. Any Access table, including linked tables from different data sources, can be used in a query.

Access also supports the creation of "pass-through queries". These snippets of SQL code can address external data sources through the use of ODBC connections on the local machine. This enables users to interact with data stored outside the Access program without using linked tables or Jet.^[23] Users construct the pass-through queries using the SQL syntax supported by the external data source.

When developing reports that are linked to queries placing or moving items in the design view of the report, Access runs the linked query in the background on any placement or movement of an item in that Report. If the report is linked to a query that takes a long time to return records this means having to wait until the query has run before you can add/edit or move the next item in the report (this feature cannot be turned off).

Non-programmers can use the macro feature to automate simple tasks through a series of drop-down selections. Macros allow users to easily chain commands together such as running queries, importing or exporting data, opening and closing forms, previewing and printing reports, etc. Macros support basic logic (IF-conditions) and the ability to call other macros. Macros can also contain sub-macros which are similar to subroutines. In Access 2007 enhanced macros with the inclusion of error-handling and of support for temporary variables. Access 2007 also introduced embedded macros that are essentially properties of an object's event. This eliminated the need to store macros as individual objects. Macros however, are limited in their functionality by a lack of programming loops and of advanced coding logic. Most professional Access developers use the VBA programming language for a richer and more powerful development environment.

The programming language available in Access is, as in other products of the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, which is nearly identical to Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6). VBA code can be stored in modules and code behind forms and reports. Modules can also be classes.

To manipulate data in tables and queries in VBA, Microsoft provides two database access libraries of COM components:

1. Data Access Objects (DAO) (32-bit only), which is included in Access and Windows and evolved to ACE in Microsoft Access 2007 for the ACCDE database format
2. ActiveX Data Objects ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions)

Beside DAO and ADO, developers can also use OLE DB and ODBC for developing native C/C++ programs for Access.^[24] For ADPs and the direct manipulation of SQL Server data, ADO is required. DAO is most appropriate for managing data in Access/Jet databases, and the only way to manipulate the complex field types in ACCDB tables.

In the database container or navigation pane of Access 2007, the system automatically categorizes each object by type. Many Access developers use the Leszynski naming convention, though this is not universal; it is a programming convention, not a DBMS-enforced rule.^[25] It is particularly helpful in VBA where references to object names may not indicate its data type (e.g. tbl for tables, qry for queries).

Developers deploy Microsoft Access most often for individual and workgroup projects (the Access 97 speed characterization was done for 32 users).^[26] Since Access 97, and with Access 2003 and 2007, Microsoft Access and hardware have evolved significantly. Databases under 1 GB in size (which can now fit entirely in RAM) and 50 simultaneous users are well within the capabilities of Microsoft Access. Of course, performance depends on the database design and tasks. Disk-intensive work such as complex searching and querying take the most time.

As data from a Microsoft Access database can be cached in RAM, processing speed may substantially improve when there is only a single user or if the data are not changing. In the past, the effect of packet latency on the record-locking system caused Access databases to run slowly on a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN) against a Jet database. As of 2010^[update] broadband connections have mitigated this issue. Performance can also be enhanced if a continuous connection is maintained to the back-end database throughout the session rather than opening and closing it for each table access. If Access Database performance over VPN or WAN suffers, then a client using Remote Desktop Protocol (such as Microsoft Terminal Services) can provide an effective solution. Access databases linked to SQL Server or to Access Data Projects work well^{[citation needed]} over VPNs and WANs.

In July 2011, Microsoft acknowledged an intermittent query performance problem with all versions of Access and Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 due to the nature of resource management being vastly different in newer operating systems. ^[27] This issue affects query performance severely on both Access 2003 and earlier with the Jet Database Engine code as well as Access 2007 and later with the Access Database Engine (ACE). ^[27] Microsoft has issued hotfixes KB2553029 for Access 2007 and KB2553116 for Access 2010, but will not fix the issue with Jet 4.0 as it is out of mainstream support. ^[27]

Microsoft Access offers several ways to secure the application while allowing users to remain productive.

The most basic is a database password. Once entered, the user has full control of all the database objects. This is a relatively weak form of protection which can be easily cracked.

A higher level of protection is the use of workgroup security requiring a user name and password. Users and groups can be specified along with their rights at the object type or individual object level. This can be used to specify people with read-only or data entry rights but may be challenging to specify. A separate workgroup security file contains the settings which can be used to manage multiple databases. Workgroup security is not supported in the Access 2007 and Access 2010 ACCDB database format, although Access 2007 and Access 2010 still support it for MDB databases.

Databases can also be encrypted. The ACCDB format offers significantly advanced encryption from previous versions.

Additionally, if the database design needs to be secured to prevent changes, Access databases can be locked/protected (and the source code compiled) by converting the database to a .MDE file. All changes to the VBA project (modules, forms, or reports) need to be made to the original MDB and then reconverted to MDE. In Access 2007 and Access 2010, the ACCDB database is converted to an ACCDE file. Some tools are available for unlocking and "decompiling", although certain elements including original VBA comments and formatting are normally irretrievable.

Microsoft Office Word 2007

Source: WIKIPEDIA

Microsoft Office Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.^[1][2][3] Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), the AT&T Unix PC (1985), Atari ST (1986), SCO UNIX, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office software system; it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. The current versions are Microsoft Office Word 2010 for Windows and Microsoft Office Word 2011 for Mac.

In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi, the primary developer of Bravo, the first GUI word processor, which was developed at Xerox PARC.^[4] Simonyi started work on a word processor called Multi-Tool Word and soon hired Richard Brodie, a former Xerox intern, who became the primary software engineer.^[4][5][6]

Microsoft announced Multi-Tool Word for Xenix^[4] and MS-DOS in 1983.^[7] Its name was soon simplified to Microsoft Word.^[1] Free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983 issue of PC World, making it the first program to be distributed on-disk with a magazine.^[1][8] Unlike most MS-DOS programs at the time, Microsoft Word was designed to be used with a mouse,^[7] and it was able to display some formatting, such as bold, italic, and underlined text, although it could not render fonts.^[1] It was not initially popular, since its user interface was different from the leading word processor at the time, WordStar.^[9] However, Microsoft steadily improved the product, releasing versions 2.0 through 5.0 over the next six years.

In 1985, Microsoft ported Word to the Macintosh. This was made easier by the fact that Word for DOS has been designed for use with high-resolution displays and laser printers, even though none were yet available to the general public.^[10] Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Mac added true WYSIWYG features. After its release, Word for Mac's sales were higher than its MS-DOS counterpart for at least four years.^[4]

The second release of Word for Macintosh, shipped in 1987, was named Word 3.0 to synchronize its version number with Word for DOS; this was Microsoft's first attempt to synchronize version numbers across platforms. Word 3.0 included numerous internal enhancements and new features, including the first implementation of the Rich Text Format (RTF) specification, but was plagued with bugs. Within a few months Word 3.0 was superseded by a more stable Word 3.01, which was mailed free to all registered users of 3.0.^[10] After MacWrite, Word for Mac never had any serious rivals on the Mac. Word 5.1 for the Macintosh, released in 1992, was a very popular word processor owing to its elegance, relative ease of use and feature set. Many users say its the best version of Word for Mac ever created.^[10][11]

In 1986, an agreement between Atari and Microsoft brought Word to the Atari ST^[12] under the name Microsoft Write. The Atari ST version was a port of Word 1.05 for the Apple Macintosh^[13][14] and was never updated.

The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989. With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up and Microsoft soon became the market leader for word processors for IBM PC-compatible computers.^[4] In 1991, Microsoft capitalized on Word for Windows' increasing popularity by releasing a version of Word for DOS, version 5.5, that replaced its unique user interface with an interface similar to a Windows application.^[15][16] When Microsoft became aware of the Year 2000 problem, it made Microsoft Word 5.5 for DOS available for download free. As of February 2012, it is still available for download from Microsoft's web site.^[17]

In 1991, Microsoft embarked on a project code-named Pyramid to completely rewrite Microsoft Word from the ground up. Both the Windows and Mac versions would start from the same code base. It was abandoned when it was determined that it would take the development team too long to rewrite and then catch up with all the new capabilities that could have been added in the same time without a rewrite. Instead, the next versions of Word for Windows and Mac, dubbed version 6.0, both started from the code base of Word for Windows 2.0.^[11]

With the release of Word 6.0 in 1993, Microsoft again attempted to synchronize the version numbers and coordinate product naming across platforms, this time across DOS, Macintosh, and Windows (this was the last version of Word for DOS). It introduced AutoCorrect, which automatically fixed certain typing errors, and AutoFormat, which could reformat many parts of a document at once. While the Windows version received favorable reviews (e.g.,^[18]), the Macintosh version was widely derided. Many accused it of being slow, clumsy and memory intensive, and its user interface differed significantly from Word 5.1.^[11] In response to user requests, Microsoft was forced to offer Word 5 again, after it had been discontinued.^[19] Subsequent versions of Word for Macintosh are no longer ported versions of Word for Windows.

Microsoft Word's native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx file extension.

Although the ".doc" extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats:

1. Word for DOS
2. Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 4 and 5 for Mac
3. Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac
4. Word 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010 for Windows; Word 98, 2001, X, and 2004 for Mac

The newer ".docx" extension signifies the Office Open XML international standard for Office documents and is used by Word 2007 and 2010 for Windows, Word 2008 and 2011 for the Macintosh, as well as by a growing number of applications from other vendors, including OpenOffice.org Writer, an open source word processing program.^[35]

Microsoft does not guarantee the correct display of the document on different workstations, even if the two workstations use the same version of Microsoft Word, primarily due to page layout depending on the current printer.^[36] This means it is possible the document the recipient sees might not be exactly the same as the document the sender sees.

Database Preview

Page Source: WIKIPEDIA

A database is an organized collection of data, today typically in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies).

The term database is correctly applied to the data and their supporting data structures, and not to the database management system (DBMS). The database data collection with DBMS is called a database system.

The term database system implies that the data is managed to some level of quality (measured in terms of accuracy, availability, usability, and resilience) and this in turn often implies the use of a general-purpose database management system (DBMS).[1] A general-purpose DBMS is typically a complex software system that meets many usage requirements, and the databases that it maintains are often large and complex. The utilization of databases is now spread to such a wide degree that virtually every technology and product relies on databases and DBMSs for its development and commercialization, or even may have such embedded in it. Also, organizations and companies, from small to large, heavily depend on databases for their operations.

Well known DBMSs include Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, PostgreSQL, MySQL, WebDNA and SQLite. A database is not generally portable across different DBMS, but different DBMSs can inter-operate to some degree by using standards like SQL and ODBC to support together a single application. A DBMS also needs to provide effective run-time execution to properly support (e.g., in terms of performance, availability, and security) as many end-users as needed.

A way to classify databases involves the type of their contents, for example: bibliographic, document-text, statistical, or multimedia objects. Another way is by their application area, for example: accounting, music compositions, movies, banking, manufacturing, or insurance.

The term database may be narrowed to specify particular aspects of organized collection of data and may refer to the logical database, to physical database as data content in computer data storage or to many other database sub-definitions.

The design, construction, and maintenance of a complex database requires specialist skills: the staff performing these functions are referred to as database application programmers and database administrators. Their tasks are supported by tools provided either as part of the DBMS or as stand-alone software products. These tools include specialized database languages including data definition languages (DDL), data manipulation languages (DML), and query languages. These can be seen as special-purpose programming languages, tailored specifically to manipulate databases; sometimes they are provided as extensions of existing programming languages, with added database commands. Database languages are generally specific to one data model, and in many cases they are specific to one DBMS type. The most widely supported database language is SQL, which has been developed for the relational data model and combines the roles of both DDL, DML, and a query language.

The major purpose of a database is to provide the information system (in its broadest sense) that utilizes it with the information the system needs according to its own requirements. A certain broad set of requirements refines this general goal. These database requirements translate to requirements for the respective DBMS, to allow conveniently building a proper database for the given application. If this goal is met by a DBMS, then the designers and builders of the specific database can concentrate on the application's aspects, and not deal with building and maintaining the underlying DBMS. Also, since a DBMS is complex and expensive to build and maintain, it is not economical to build such a new tool (DBMS) for every application. Rather it is desired to provide a flexible tool for handling databases for as many as possible given applications, i.e., a general-purpose DBMS.

Functional requirements

Certain general functional requirements need to be met in conjunction with a database. They describe what is needed to be defined in a database for any specific application.
Defining the structure of data: Data modeling and Data definition languages

The database needs to be based on a data model that is sufficiently rich to describe in the database all the needed respective application's aspects. A data definition language exists to describe the databases within the data model. Such language is typically data model specific.
Manipulating the data: Data manipulation languages and Query languages

A database data model needs support by a sufficiently rich data manipulation language to allow all database manipulations and information generation (from the data) as needed by the respective application. Such language is typically data model specific.
Protecting the data: Setting database security types and levels

The DB needs built-in security means to protect its content (and users) from dangers of unauthorized users (either humans or programs). Protection is also provided from types of unintentional breach. Security types and levels should be defined by the database owners.
Describing processes that use the data: Workflow and Business process modeling
Main articles: Workflow and Business process modeling

Manipulating database data often involves processes of several interdependent steps, at different times (e.g., when different people's interactions are involved; e.g., generating an insurance policy). Data manipulation languages are typically intended to describe what is needed in a single such step. Dealing with multiple steps typically requires writing quite complex programs. Most applications are programmed using common programming languages and software development tools. However the area of process description has evolved in the frameworks of workflow and business processes with supporting languages and software packages which considerably simplify the tasks. Traditionally these frameworks have been out of the scope of common DBMSs, but utilization of them has become common-place, and often they are provided as add-on's to DBMSs.
Operational requirements

Operational requirements are needed to be met by a database in order to effectively support an application when operational. Though it typically may be expected that operational requirements are automatically met by a DBMS, in fact it is not so in most of the cases: To be met substantial work of design and tuning is typically needed by database administrators. This is typically done by specific instructions/operations through special database user interfaces and tools, and thus may be viewed as secondary functional requirements (which are not less important than the primary).
Availability

A DB should maintain needed levels of availability, i.e., the DB needs to be available in a way that a user's action does not need to wait beyond a certain time range before starting executing upon the DB. Availability also relates to failure and recovery from it (see Recovery from failure and disaster below): Upon failure and during recovery normal availability changes, and special measures are needed to satisfy availability requirements.
Performance

Users' actions upon the DB should be executed within needed time ranges.
Isolation between users

When multiple users access the database concurrently the actions of a user should be uninterrupted and unaffected by actions of other users. These concurrent actions should maintain the DB's consistency (i.e., keep the DB from corruption).
Recovery from failure and disaster
Main articles: Data recovery and Disaster recovery

All computer systems, including DBMSs, are prone to failures for many reasons (both software and hardware related). Failures typically corrupt the DB, typically to the extent that it is impossible to repair it without special measures. The DBMS should provide automatic recovery from failure procedures that repair the DB and return it to a well defined state.
Backup and restore
Main article: Backup

Sometimes it is desired to bring a database back to a previous state (for many reasons, e.g., cases when the database is found corrupted due to a software error, or if it has been updated with erroneous data). To achieve this a backup operation is done occasionally or continuously, where each desired database state (i.e., the values of its data and their embedding in database's data structures) is kept within dedicated backup files (many techniques exist to do this effectively). When this state is needed, i.e., when it is decided by a database administrator to bring the database back to this state (e.g., by specifying this state by a desired point in time when the database was in this state), these files are utilized to restore that state.
Data independence
Main article: Data independence

Data independence pertains to a database's life cycle (see Database building, maintaining, and tuning below). It strongly impacts the convenience and cost of maintaining an application and its database, and has been the major motivation for the emergence and success of the Relational model, as well as the convergence to a common database architecture. In general the term "data independence" means that changes in the database's structure do not require changes in its application's computer programs, and that changes in the database at a certain architectural level (see below) do not affect the database's levels above. Data independence is achieved to a great extent in contemporary DBMS, but it is not completely attainable, and achieved at different degrees for different types of database structural changes.