Specialized training is a matter of professional survival in the world where the methods of handling information are changing rapidly. The secretary will be increasingly involved with office automation and needs to be familiar with the concept and the technology. The responsibilities of the secretary are multifunctional: typing/keyboarding; transcribing; processing mail; telephoning; scheduling appointments; greeting visitors; composing and editing documents; researching; coordinating meetings, conferences, and teleconferences; making travel arrangements; handling reprographics; and organizing time and work. Supervisor and management education and advanced technical and professional education are available to those who are interested in moving ahead in the organization. The director of education at a nationwide insurance company states that one of the great benefits of a well-developed education and training program is that people on the secretarial level can move into supervisory, administrative, and managerial positions if they have the desire and the ability to do so. Secretaries are encouraged to develop career paths and life plans just as executives do. The secretary's projected work life is just as long as the executive's. These years will be more pleasant if the individual takes steps to examine what kind of job will be the most personally satisfying now and in the future. This kind of examination also benefits the organization, because it keeps personnel from changing companies when a change in work responsibility would be more satisfying. The secretary's time is a valuable and perishable commodity. All duties are performed as quickly as possible so that the unexpected may be dealt with. A sense of the relative urgency of activities is developed with experience, so that it is possible to distinguish the important from the trivial. A long-distance caller does not distract the secretary from the necessity to transcribe an urgent letter. The unexpected visitor is started on his or her way courteously and firmly, rather than being allowed to waste company time. Business calls are evaluated for length, and they are not continued beyond the time that is absolutely essential for courtesy and the exchange of information. The secretary should structure the business call in the form of a business letter. It should be planned ahead and should have a beginning, middle, and end. If one is making a call, a clear statement of purpose should open, followed by details, questions, or whatever the call must accomplish. The call should be completed by thanking the person on the other end, stating the action you or your boss expect to be taken, or getting a firm commitment for future action or the time of a return call. Remember that this is a business call and avoid those verbal ticks like "you know" and slang that would be appropriate in a personal call. The secretary's filing system gets the same careful attention given to other duties. The employer must have an accurate record of what has happened in the past in order to take future action. For highly confidential matters or the employer's personal correspondence, a system consistent with filing rules but responsive to the needs of the office should be set up. If the company has a central files department, the secretary works closely with the assigned file clerk, whose expertise should be recognized. Filing is a historical recording of events that have occurred in a given aspect of company development. Filing requires intelligence, an intimate knowledge of the subject matter, and an organized method of recording. The secretary should work with the file clerk. All material should be carefully marked to indicate whether there has been any previous correspondence on the subject. If the previous reference could not be easily identified by the file clerk, a notation indicating the subject with which it should be filed is a courtesy that will save time, prevent confusion, and contribute to a helpful attitude in the office, which will be to everyone's benefit. If a subject is especially important or unusually complicated, an exchange of ideas may enable the file clerk to set up the file intelligently. A sense of history on the part of the secretary and the file clerk will enable them to build up a file coherently, so that a person reading it will be able to determine the sequence of events and the actions taken. When the secretary recognizes the complexity of the file clerk's job, the employer will get the file or information sought, not an excuse. Accuracy and speed are the hallmarks of the legal secretary in the one-lawyer office or the large firm with a national reputation. The work of a law office is exacting; an inaccurate record can be extremely expensive to the firm. Terminology is precise. Since many legal procedures have to follow an initial action in exact sequence, timing and organization are essential. Typing/keyboarding, shorthand, transcription skills, and a knowledge of legal documents and legal terminology are important. Verbal and writing ability are essential because the legal secretary's work is very exacting. The work is also highly varied and involves extensive contact with clients. The legal secretary must, of course, refrain from answering legal questions. Word-processing systems and microcomputers have been added to most law offices to aid in the preparation of legal documents. The secretary who wishes to remain in the field should take advantage of every opportunity to learn the newest automated equipment. The legal secretary's job is not easy, because there is a lot of pressure and there usually are long hours of work. However, it is one of the most lucrative jobs in the secretarial field. The fringe benefits are generally excellent, and the vacation periods are usually generous. Medical secretaries may be employed in a physician's office, medical clinic, hospital, public health facility, health maintenance organization, nursing home, research center, foundation, laboratory, insurance company, pharmaceutical company, government-related health service agency, private agency, publishing company, medical department of a business organization, business that manufactures medical supplies and equipment, or medical transcription service company. Each job requires keyboarding skills, machine transcription, and a knowledge of word processing, computers, and software programs in addition to familiarity with medical terminology. The medical secretary may need to know how to perform certain medical tasks, how to complete insurance claim forms, how to take a patient's medical history, how to handle the doctor's billings, and how to perform other clerical duties peculiar to a doctor's office. In addition, the secretary may need to deal with people who are ill, a task requiring patience, sympathy, and tact. Regardless of the setting--a one-doctor office or a large facility--the medical secretary must observe medical ethics. Cases should not be discussed except in the context of office business, and no comments or questions regarding a patient's condition or ailments should be made in the presence of other persons. Desktop publishing is used to create newsletters, manuals, forms, reports, proposals, flyers, etc. The development of page layout software and the availability of affordable easy-to-use laser printers are responsible for the growth in this area. Using a page layout program, the user can program text to flow around graphics according to the instructions given. Different type styles or fonts can be used in several sizes. A scanner can be used to convert pictures and drawings into electronic images. Once this is done, the images can be made larger or smaller or can be otherwise modified. More control of a job is obtained since work does not have to be sent out to achieve professional quality. A setup for desktop publishing generally requires a PC, preferably an Apple Macintosh or IBM XT or AT compatible, with at least 640K memory, a 20-megabyte hard disk, a graphics monitor, a laser printer, and desktop publishing software. A wide variety of desktop publishing software exists. In some the capabilities are limited to a few different type fonts and the ability to mix text and line art and produce multi-column formats; these programs work best with short, preferably one-page, documents. More sophisticated packages include those whose strength is multi-page documents and whose end product is ready for typeset output. Templates, which are predesigned formats, have made it possible to create professional-looking pages without design training. Electronic mail is the popular term for many of the new forms of communication that use computer and telecommunications technology. Also sometimes called electronic data communication, it is the noninteractive communication of text, data, voice, and image messages between a sender and a recipient using system links. There are two advantages to electronic mail. One is the high speed with which large amounts of data can be sent from one place to another. The second is that data can be distributed to a specific location and stored in electronic form until it is needed by the recipient. Electronic mail is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in communications. Not only do companies use electronic mail for inhouse communication but also for many employees who work at home from computer work stations and terminals. With the use of public access network, such as Tymnet, Telenet, and other digital systems, it is possible to link host computer facilities simply, through a local phone call from almost anywhere in the world. Electronic mail is implemented with several different technologies, among them facsimile transmission, telex, communicating word processors, microcomputers and other computer-based networks, electronic document distribution systems, and voice technologies. We shall discuss briefly a few of these means. Telecommunications is the process of transmitting information over a distance, or "at a distance," by electromagnetic or electrical systems. (The prefix tele is derived from a Greek root meaning "at a distance.") Telecommunicated information may be in several forms, including voice, data, image, or message. The transmission systems include telephone lines, cables, microwaves, satellite transmission, and light beams. The caller at the other end of the phone cannot see the person who is talking. This should be remembered at all times, for it means that the caller has no visual image on which to base impressions. The telephone caller's attention is focused entirely upon the audio impressions coming over the wires. If these sounds are jarring or unpleasant, a busy executive may quickly lose patience and discontinue association with the firm in question. On the other hand, a pleasant and understanding voice coming over an inanimate instrument can accomplish wonders. The power of the spoken word can and does exert a great impact upon the listener. The telephone is not a nuisance instrument designed to interrupt the secretary in the midst of some important or complicated task. It is, rather, a vital business communication facility that assists the employee in carrying out duties and responsibilities owed to the employer. In order to enhance one's telephone personality, it is necessary to inject variety and flexibility into the voice, so as to convey mood and attitude in telephone conversations. These qualities can be obtained through pitch, inflection, and emphasis. The development of these qualities is individual. A high-pitched voice may convey an impression of childishness and immaturity or of impatience and irritability. On the other hand, a voice that is well modulated carries the impression of culture and polish. "Pitch" in speaking, like "pitch" in music, refers to the key in which one speaks. Everyone has a range of tone within which a pleasant speaking voice is possible, and it can be consciously controlled. Each person must be conscious of his or her own range and practice utilizing it effectively. An individual is said to speak in a "modulated" voice when the pitch is in the lower half of the possible range. This tonal range carries best and is easiest to hear over the telephone. In cultivating an interesting individual telephone personality, voice development alone is insufficient; it is essential also that the speaker enunciate clearly and distinctly. A garbled and indistinct speech pattern will annoy the listener who cannot understand what is being said. Do not be afraid to move the lips. One cannot form rounded vowel sounds or distinct consonants unless the lips accomplish their function. It is not necessary to exaggerate or to become stilted; clear enunciation and pronunciation should be made a part of the secretary's natural, daily speech pattern, because it is just as important in face-to-face conversations as in telephone conversations. Above all, be sure that your voice reflects your personality, that it transmits alertness and pleasantness, and that it is natural, distinct, and expressive, and neither too loud nor too soft. Avoid repetitious, mechanical words and phrases, and try to enunciate in a manner that it neither too fast nor too slow. There are several types of numeric filing systems, some used only in highly specialized businesses. Straight numeric. This system has records filed according to strict numeric sequence. Folder number 1 is given to the first client or account; folder number 2 is given to the second, and so forth, in strict numeric order. Terminal digit. In this system, numbers on a file are read from right to left. Usually, the last, or terminal, two digits are the drawer number, the next two digits are the folder number, and any other numbers indicate the sequence within the folders. For example, an insurance policy numbered 567,123 would be stored in drawer 23, folder 71, and the 56 would refer to its sequence in the folder. Triple digit. This system is similar to the terminal-digit system, except that the numbers are read in three digits instead of two. The terminal three digits of a number are called the "primary" numbers, and the remaining digits refer to the sequence of the papers in the folders bearing the primary numbers. For example, the insurance policy numbered 567,123 would be found in folder 123, and 567 would refer to its sequence in the folder. Middle digit. The third and fourth digits from the right are separated from the last two digits on the right. For example, in the insurance policy number 567,123, the policy would be filed in folder 71, and 23 would refer to its sequence in the folder. Decimal system. The decimal system is used only in highly specialized businesses. The system may be based on the Dewey decimal system, which is the system commonly used by public libraries, though many are switching to the Library of Congress Catalog card system. The raw material to which the secretary applies these skills is the English language. A command of and a respect for the English language, both in writing and in speaking, are essential. A good dictionary, a thesaurus, and a grammar book must be kept handy for immediate checking of spelling, end-of-line division, usage, and sentence construction. In the automated office, equipment may have a built-in spell checker or a software program with a dictionary or grammar component. Work still has to be proofread, however, because the equipment and programs cannot distinguish between homonyms, nor can they determine if the transcript omitted a word. Letters, whether the secretary composes them or transcribes them, represent the company, the employer, and the professional secretary. The recipient of a letter must never get the impression that any one of the three is less than first rate. Most executives have a good speaking command of the language. This asset is often one of the reasons why an individual reaches a top management position. However, it is the secretary's responsibility to check details of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. An employer with an excellent command of English presents a double challenge to the secretary. Transcribed letters must be absolutely perfect, and letters composed for the executive must match them in composition, tone, and clarity. The most important phase of preparing minutes is the accurate recording and reporting of the actions taken. The record should report what was said. At times, it is difficult to report what is done. For informal meetings, the minutes are compact and simple; for formal meetings, the minutes are complex. If you find that grouping the minutes around a central theme is clearer, do so. On the other hand, the executive may prefer chronological order. Corporate minutes (official minutes of a formal nature) must be prepared in the order of occurrence, showing details and the exact wording of motions, resolutions, and so forth. By law, corporations are required to keep minutes of stockholders' and directors' meetings. These minutes are legal records and should be protected from tampering. It is good practice to keep a written record of all incoming calls, particularly when the executive is away from the office. In recording the call, the secretary should indicate the time the call was received; the name, business affiliation, and telephone number of the caller; and the message. The note may be signed with the secretary's initials. If the message is from an out-of-town caller, the area code or the telephone operator's number should also be recorded, so that the executive can return the call in a short time and without confusion. It is best when taking a message to read it back to the caller in order to avoid errors or misunderstandings. Messages should always be taken verbatim. Be patient and pleasant but persistent. Ask the caller to spell out both first and last names if necessary. If numbers are involved, repeat the sequence for verification. Taking a telephone message accurately often saves calling back to check information. Then again, if a message is completely garbled, it may be impossible to call back and a valuable contact could be forever lost. The sundial may be the oldest device for measuring time, going back to the Fertile Crescent of about 2000 B.C. Its operation is based on the fact that the shadow of a fixed object will move around it from one side to the other as the sun moves from east to west. Naturally, the duration of the hours marked off by a sundial changes according to the seasons of the year. Along with sundials, ancient peoples used water clocks that measured time by a constant rate of flow of water through a bowl-like device with an outlet. Sand flowing from one compartment into another also was used in late medieval Europe to measure time. These last two methods could be used at night; they also counted more uniform units of time. With the invention of mechanical clocks, the hours became uniform. The first mechanical clocks appeared in Europe in the thirteenth century (mechanical timepieces existed in China at least two centuries earlier, though the Chinese never developed them highly). The earliest ones were driven by weights strung around a drum. As the weight fell, the mechanism was activated. Next came spring-driven clocks, through they had the disadvantage of running differently when the spring was just wound and at its most tense position and after it had unwound somewhat. The workings of all clocks depend on a motion or vibration that is constant and regular. In 1583 the great Italian physicist Galileo (1564-1642) observed that the time it took for a pendulum to complete one total swing (called the period of oscillation) was almost independent of its magnitude, that is, how far it swung from side to side. He understood that this could be used as a frequency mechanism for regulating a clock. In 1656 a Dutch inventor, Christian Huygens (1629-95), working independently, constructed the first pendulum clock. Pendulum clocks remained the most precise means of measuring time into the twentieth century. Pendulums could be constructed to oscillate at specified frequencies once such factors as latitude, the pull of gravity, and weather and its effect on the materials out of which the clock was made had been compensated for. Quartz clocks, introduced in the 1930s, improved on the pendulum, through only after years of development. By controlling the frequency of an electric circuit through the regular mechanical vibration of the quartz crystal, high degrees of constancy in vibration can be achieved, making a quartz clock even more accurate than a pendulum. In the 1940s atomic clocks were introduced. Their frequencies are based on the vibrations of certain atoms and molecules that vibrate the same number of times per second. Atomic clocks are constant to within a few seconds every 100,000 years. Daylight Saving Time is attained by forwarding the clock one hour. In 1967 the Uniform Time Act went into effect in the United States. It proclaimed that all states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions were to observe Daylight Saving Time starting at 2 A.M. on the last Sunday in April and ending at 2 A.M. on the last Sunday in October. Any state could exempt itself by law and a 1972 amendment to the act authorized the states split by time zones to consider that split in exempting themselves. Arizona, Hawaii, part of Indiana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa are now exempt. The Department of Transportation, which oversees the act, has modified some local zone boundaries in Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and Texas over the last several years. Daylight Saving Time was extended by Congress during 1974 and 1975 to conserve energy, but the country then returned to the previous end-of-April to end-of-October system until 1987, when new legislation went into effect. The new bill, signed by President Reagan on July 8, 1986, moved the start of Daylight Saving time up to the first Sunday in April, but it did not change the end from the last Sunday in October. On most ships, a day consists of six 4-hour watches. The watches change at 8 A.M., noon, 4 P.M., 8 P.M., midnight, and 4 A.M. A chime indicates each half-hour. During a 4-hour watch, one bell chimes at the first half-hour, two bells at the second, and so on up to eight, when the next watch begins and the sequence starts over again. On many vessels the ship's whistle is blown at noon. On some ships a lightly struck 1 bell announces 15 minutes before the change of watch. Scientists have divided the natural world into three kingdoms: the animal kingdom, the mineral kingdom, and the plant kingdom. Natural objects, as opposed to man-made objects, all fall into one of those kingdoms. The animal kingdom is classified by zoologists into groups of related animals. Each of the largest groups is called a phylum. Each phylum includes several classes. Each of these classes is divided into orders, which themselves are further divided into families, genera, and species. There are more than 1 million different species of animals in the world, including about 4,000 species of mammals. Mammals are vertebrates, which means they have backbones. They are warm-blooded and have hairy skin. They are called mammals because they nourish their young by giving milk from their mammary glands. There are 19 orders of mammals in the world. Ten of these live in North America. Some orders include a wide range of animals; for example, shrews, lemurs, marmosets, monkeys, apes, and humans are all primates. Other orders are made up of only one sort of creature; Order Chiroptera, for example, consists of several families of bats. The proper names of orders of animals are given in Latin, a convention that allows scientists who speak different languages to discuss them. big bang model A theory that describes the beginning of our universe as a titanic explosion. This explosion did not occur at a particular point in space, according to the theory, but rather was a transition from enormous density and temperature throughout all space to conditions of even lower density and lower temperature as space itself expanded. After the hypothetical explosion, the universe was swamped with energy in the form of radiant energy and various atomic particles. This phase was followed by a cooling and thinning out of the universe. It is believed that the universe is still expanding at this time. time sharing A computer function of handling two or more tasks simultaneously, as when a mainframe computer is used to process operations of several remote terminals at the same time. Such a system depends on buffering and switching inputs and outputs for each terminal. This is done at such a high rate of speed that operators of individual terminals are unaware that others are sharing the same central processing unit. Abstract Expressionism A movement in painting, also called action painting, originating in New York City in the 1940s. Propelled by the work of Arshile Gorky, its focus is on surface qualities and on the act of painting itself, with the admission of the accidental. It was the first important school of American painting to develop independently of European styles. Latrobe, Benjamin Henry (1766-1820). British-American architect. Considered the first professional architect in the United States, Latrobe produced some of the best monumental architecture of his time in Classical Revival style. His works include the Bank of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (1799); the Bank of the United States, now the old Philadelphia Custom House (completed by William Strickland, 1819-24); the Roman Catholic Cathedral, Baltimore, the first cathedral built in the United States (1805-18); and St. John's Church in Washington, D.C. (1816). The colon represents the next closest thing to the full stop indicated by a period. It can mark the separation of an enumerated list or extract from the rest of a text (The Ten Commandments are:) or the introduction of an appositive (She wanted only one thing: sleep) or series (It's easy to list the things money won't buy: love, health, happiness, and peace). The colon also precedes an illustrative or explanatory phrase; many style guides recommend beginning such phrases with capital letters if they can function as sentences in and of themselves (His Excellency demands satisfaction: He will expect you on the dueling field at dawn). Colons are frequently used in contexts other than sentences. They can separate book titles from their subtitles (Curious Customs: The Stories Behind 296 Popular American Rituals), set off the salutation in business correspondence (Dear Mr. President:) and the labels in memoranda (To:), and separate the elements of time (8:45), ratios (a 3:5 mix of boys to girls), and biblical references (Deuteronomy 1:5). Like business phone calls, business letters should be brief and to the point. The first line below the letterhead should bear the date, with the name, company, and address of the recipient appearing two lines below it at the left margin. Two lines below the address, the salutation is given. If the recipient is known personally, he or she can be greeted by first name ("Dear Fred:"). If the recipient is known casually or not at all, use Mr. or Ms. ("Dear Mr. Burrows:" or "Dear Ms. Johnston:"). When the addressee is unknown, "Dear Sir or Madam" or something like "Dear Sales Manager" can be employed. The first paragraph of a business letter should clearly explain the purpose of writing. It should be straightforward and concise. If the letter is being written at the suggestion of someone else, this should be stated in the first paragraph along with the reason for writing. The length of a business letter is determined by what needs to be said. If a reply is desired, the last paragraph should simply state, "I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience." A response by a specific date should not be demanded unless there is a good reason for doing so. Appropriate closings for a business letter include "Best wishes," "Sincerely," "Sincerely yours," or "Yours truly." Informal closings like "Yours" or "Cheers" should not be used. The signature can either be your full name ("Henry Wiggins") or, if the writer and the recipient are well acquainted, a first name alone ("Henry"). The writer's full name and company title should be typed below the signature unless they appear at the top of the letterhead. When you are evaluating the risks to which you are regularly exposed, driving a car is one that must be considered. The possibility of an accident involving your car is so great that many states have made at least limited automobile insurance mandatory. Automobile insurance covers three broad risk categories. Liability insurance covers personal injuries and property damage resulting from ownership, maintenance, and use of a vehicle. Separate limits for payments apply to each person involved in an accident and to property damage incurred. Medical insurance covers the medical costs incurred in an accident up to a set amount per person per accident. Collision insurance pays the costs of having a car repaired after it has been damaged in an accident. Additional automobile insurance is also available to pay for damages resulting from an uninsured driver, for towing and labor, and for transportation needed while a damaged car is being repaired. Many states mandate the inclusion of no-fault personal injury insurance in any automobile insurance policy; this provides benefits for those injured in an accident regardless of who was responsible for the accident. The types of coverage and the monetary limits of the policy, the driver's age, the frequency of use of the vehicle, the driver's accident history, and the place where the vehicle is kept are considered in determining the cost of liability insurance. Costs for coverage of damage to a vehicle are calculated on the purchase price of the vehicle and its age. When evaluating insurance policies, it is important to compare what is not covered by a given policy--its exclusions--as well as what is covered and how much it will cost. Comparative shopping and a trustworthy insurance agent can help automobile owners to choose wisely when buying insurance for use of their vehicles. While a U.S. passport is not required by U.S. laws for travel to or in most countries in North, South, or Central America or adjacent islands, except Cuba, a passport is required under the laws or regulations of some of those countries and a valid U.S. passport is the best travel documentation available. Persons who travel to a country where a U.S. passport is not required should be in possession of documentary evidence of their U.S. citizenship and identity to facilitate reentry into the United States. Those countries that do not require a passport to enter or depart frequently require the traveler to have documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship and identity. Documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship may be a previously issued U.S. passport, birth certificate, certificate of naturalization, certificate of citizenship, or report of birth abroad of a citizen of the United States. Documentary evidence of identity may be a previous U.S. passport, certificate of naturalization, certificate of citizenship, valid driver's license, or government (federal, state, or municipal) identification card or pass. Persons traveling in countries having requirements for evidence of citizenship and identity are cautioned that they may experience serious difficulties or delays if they do not have the necessary documents. Inquire before departure at the Embassy in Washington, D.C. or the local consulate of the country to be visited for specific requirements. The "Stars and Strips" as we know it today, with its blue field of 50 white stars and 13 red and white stripes representing the original 13 colonies, underwent several transformations. The first flag raised in the United States was hoisted by John Cabot in 1497; it flew the banners of England and St. Mark. As settlers populated the colonies, each territory adopted its own flag. By 1707, each colony had its own state flag, the forerunners of the individual state flags today. The first colonial flag representing all the colonies, however, was believed to have been raised on Prospect Hill in Boston at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The "Continental Colors" bore the cross of the British flag in the upper left corner with 13 alternating red and white stripes extending horizontally. In 1777 the first Continental Congress "Resolved, that the Flag of the United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars white on a blue field, representing a constellation." As the new Union grew, Congress voted in 1794 to add two stripes and two stars to represent the two new states of Vermont and Kentucky. This flag is believed to be the one nicknamed the "Star-Spangled Banner." By 1818 five more states had joined, and on April 4 Congress voted to keep the number of stripes at 13 and to add a star to the field for every new state, the stars for the new states being added the July 4th after each state's admission to the Union. Artemision at Ephesus, the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis (also the Roman goddess Diana), was begun in 541 B.C. at Ephesus (now a site in Turkey) and completed 220 years later. The temple was 425 feet long and 220 feet wide with 127 marble columns, each 60 feet tall. The gates were made of cypress and the ceiling of cedar. The temple was destroyed by the Goths in 262 A.D. The Colossus of Rhodes, a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of the sun god Helios, was erected between 292 and 280 B.C. in the harbor at Rhodes. According to legend, it appeared to stand astride the harbor but was actually on a promontory overlooking it. The statue was toppled by an earthquake around 224 B.C. and lay in ruins until 653 A.D., when the remains were sold as scrap metal. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a series of five terraces of glazed brick, each 50 feet above the next, was erected by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Amytis, in 562 B.C. The terraces, featuring rare and exotic plants, were connected by a winding stairway. A pumping device supplied water so the gardens could be irrigated by fountains. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, a 140-foot-high white marble structure, was built in 352 B.C. at Halicarnassus (now a site in Turkey) in memory of King Mausolus of Caria. Its massive base contained a sarcophagus and supported 36 columns crowned with a stepped pyramid on which was constructed a marble chariot. It was destroyed for the use of stone to build a castle for the Knights of Saint John in 1402. Olympian Zeus, a statue of the supreme god in Greek mythology, was executed in gold and ivory for the temple at Olympia. The figure of the seated Zeus was 40 feet tall and rested on a base that was 12 feet high. The portions of the statue representing the flesh of the god were covered in marble and his cloak was made of gold. Golden lions rested near his feet. The Pyramids of Egypt were started by Khufu (Cheops) around 2700 B.C. as tombs for the ancient kings. The three largest and finest were erected during the Fourth dynasty at Gizeh, near Cairo. The largest of the group is the Khufu Pyramid, built of limestone blocks from a base 756 feet wide on each side and covering an area of 13 acres. It is 482 feet high. Smaller pyramids were built for wives and other members of the royal families. The Tower of Pharos was a great lighthouse built on the island Pharos, at Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 285 B.C. Also called The Pharos, it was 500 feet tall with a ramp leading to the top. Light was produced with a fire and reflectors and could be seen from a distance of 42 miles. Reduced to its fundamental principles, the microprocessor is not difficult to understand. It's simply the electronic equivalent of a knee-jerk. Every time you hit the microprocessor with an electronic hammer blow--the proper digital input--it reacts by performing a specific something, always the same thing for the same input. For example, the bit pattern 0010110 tells an Intel 8086-family microprocessor needs to know what to subtract from what, and it needs to know what to do with the result. The first question is handled by variations of the subtract instruction, of which there are about seven (depending on what you regard as subtraction because each particular instruction tells the microprocessor to take numbers from differing places and compute the difference in slightly different manners). The numbers to be worked on can be located in one of three places--in one of the microprocessor's registers, in ordinary RAM memory, or in the code of the instruction itself. The result is always stored in a register. (If the information to be worked on is stored on disk it must first be transferred to RAM.) Other microprocessor instructions tell the chip to put numbers in its registers to be worked on later and to move information from a register to somewhere else, for example to the memory or an output port. The example instruction tells the microprocessor to subtract an immediate number from the accumulator, a particular microprocessor register that is favored for calculations. Everything the microprocessor does consists of nothing more than a series of these on-step-a-time instructions. Simple subtraction or addition of two numbers may entail dozens of steps, including the conversion of the numbers from decimal to binary (ones and zeros) notation that the microprocessor understands. Computer programs are complex because they must reduce processes that people think of as one step in itself--adding numbers, typing a letter, moving a block of graphics--into a long and complex series of tiny, incremental steps. The Intel family comprises four principal numeric coprocessor chips, the 8087, the 80287, the 80387, and 80387SX. Each is designed to work with a particular microprocessor in the Intel 8086 family. Each of this quartet shares some common traits. Beyond the 8-, 16-, and 32-bit processors you're used to dealing with, the Intel coprocessors work 80 bits at a time. Each uniformly has eight 80-bit registers in which to perform their calculations. They work with 32-, 64 or 80 bit floating point numbers, 32 or 64-bit integers, and 18-digit binary coded decimal (BCD) numbers. (Binary Coded Decimal numbers simply use a specific four-bit digital code to represent each of the decimal digits between zero and nine.) The Intel numeric coprocessors also add new abilities to those native to the host microprocessor, such as tangent and logarithmic functions. Instead of simply working with the resident microprocessor in your computer,the Intel coprocessors work as an extension of it. They connect to the address and data lines of your PC and execute the instructions meant for them as they arise within programs. They can carry out their calculations at the same time as the microprocessor, so both chips can be thinking at the same time. Because they read their instructions directly from the bus, they impose no microprocessor overhead to set them rolling on problem. Computer memory systems are often divided into two types, primary storage and secondary storage. Primary storage is that which is immediately accessible by the computer or microprocessor. Anything kept in primary storage is immediately accessible and ready to be used. This form of memory is called on-line storage because it is always connected to the computer. It may be directly accessible through the address lines of a microprocessor or through I/O ports of the computer. Because any specific part of this memory, any random byte, can be instantly found and retrieved, primary storage is often termed Random Access Memory or RAM. Regardless of its name, primary storage is, in effect, the short term memory of the computer. It's easy to get at but tends to be limited in capacity. Long-term computer memory is termed secondary storage. Not only does this form of memory maintain information that must be kept for a long time, but it also holds the bulk of the information the computer deals with. Secondary storage may be tens, hundreds, or thousands of times larger than primary storage, and because of its bulk is often termed mass storage. These data are held off-line and is not directly accessible by the computer. To be used, it must be transferred from secondary storage into primary storage. Not all memory must be endowed with the ability to be changed. Just as there are many memories that you would like to retain--your first love, the names of all the stars in the Zodiac, the answers to the chemistry exam--a computer is better off when it can remember particularly important information without regard to the vagaries of the power line. Perhaps the most important of these more permanent recollections is the program code that tells a microprocessor that it is actually part of a computer and how it should carry out its duties. In the old-fashioned world of relays, you could permanently set memory in one position or another by careful application of a hammer, and with enough assurance and impact, you could guarantee the system would never forget. In the world of solid-state the principle is the same, but the programming instrument is somewhat different. All you need is switches that do not switch--or, more accurately, switch once and jam. This permanent kind of memory is valuable in computers that a whole family of devices called Read-Only Memory or ROM chips has developed. They are called read-only because the computer that they are installed in cannot write or rewrite new code and store it in them. Only what is already there can be read from the memory. In contrast, the other kind of memory, to which the microprocessor can write as well as read, is logically termed Read-Write Memory. This term is, however, rarely used. Instead, read-write memory is generally called RAM even though ROM also allows random access. If ROM chips cannot be written by the computer, the information inside must come from somewhere. In one kind of chip, the mask ROM, the information is built into the memory chip at the time it is fabricated. The mask is a master pattern used to draw the various circuit elements on the chip during fabrication. When the circuit elements of the chip are grown on the silicon substrate, the pattern includes the information that will be read in the final device. Nothing, other than a hammer blow or its equivalent, can alter what is contained in this sort of memory. Mask ROMs are not common in personal computers because they require their programming be carried out when the chips are manufactured; changes are not easy to make and the quantities that must be manufactured to make production affordable are daunting. One alternative is the Programmable Read-Only Memory chip or PROM. This style of circuit consists of an array of elements that work like fuses. Normally, the fuses conduct electricity. However, like fuses, these circuit elements can be blown, which stops the electric flow. PROM chips are manufactured and delivered with all of their fuses intact. A special machine--called a PROM programmer or PROM burner--is used to blow the fuses one-by-one according to the needs of the software to be coded inside the chip. This process is usually termed "burning" the PROM. As with most conflagrations, the effects of burning a PROM are permanent. The chip cannot be changed to update or revise the program inside. PROMs are definitely not something for people who can't make up their minds--or a fast changing industry. Happily, technology has brought an alternative, the Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory chip or EPROM. EPROMS are almost self-healing semiconductors because the data inside an EPROM can be erased and the chip reused for other data or programs. EPROM chips are easy to spot because they have a clear window in the center of the top of their package. Invariably, this window is covered with a label of some kind, and with good reason. The chip is erased by shining high-intensity ultraviolet light through the window. If stray light should leak through the window, the chip could be inadvertently erased. (Normal room light won't erase the chip because it contains very little ultraviolet. Bright sunshine does, however, and can erase EPROMs.) Because of their versatility, permanent memory, and easy reprogrammability, EPROMs are ubiquitous inside personal computers. The evolution of the RAM chip has closely followed the development of the personal computer. The success of the small computer fueled demand for memory chips. At the same time, the capacity of memory chips has increased and, except for a temporary rise following the plummet of the dollar, their price has tumbled. At the time the first PC was introduced the standard RAM chip could store 16 kilobits of information, that is, 16,384 bits or 2048 bytes. The memory cells (where each bit is stored) was assigned its own address so bits were individually retrievable. These were the smallest capacity memory chips used by any PC-compatible computer. Besides the original IBM PC, they were also used on some accessories, such as memory expansion boards and video adapters. Today these chips are expensive because relatively few new devices use them and their rarity has made manufacturing, distributing, and storing of these chips uneconomical. By the time the XT was introduced, about a year later, chips with a larger capacity proved to be more cost-effective. Although able to store four times the data, 64-kilobit chips then began to cost less than four times the price of 16-kilobit chips. The PC system board was revised to accommodate the better memory buy and the XT was designed to accept them. In a few years, 64-kilobit chips became so popular that their price fell below that of 16-kilobit chips. By 1984, the best value in memory had become the next step larger, the 256-kilobit chip, and RAM chips of this size were chosen for the original AT. Now chips with one megabit capacity are becoming popular. Memory beyond the megabyte addressable by the 8088, which can be accessed through the protected mode of the 80286 and 80386 microprocessors, is generally termed extended memory (although IBM sometimes calls it expanded memory, a term reserved by most writers for another type of memory). Up to 15 megabytes of extended memory can be added to an 80286-based computer, four gigabytes to an 80386. The most important distinguishing characteristic between extended and base memory is that programs that run in real mode cannot execute in extended memory. DOS is written for the real mode, so it is limited to base memory. This is not to say extended memory is inaccessible in real mode. Programs don't know how to address its extra bytes. Although extended memory can be used for data storage, software must be particularly written to take advantage of it. Few DOS-based programs are. The primary example of a program that is the VDISK floppy-disk emulator included with DOS 3.0 or later. Although the program code for VDISK executes in normal DOS memory in real mode, it can use extended memory for data storage. Because OS/2 can operate in protected mode, it can take full advantage of extended memory. Note, however, that when its compatibility box is used to run old-fashioned DOS applications, OS/2 shifts back to real mode and is constrained by the 640K memory limit in executing them. In April, 1985--months after the AT was introduced with its multiple megabytes of extended memory range--a major software publisher, Lotus Development Corporation, and a hardware maker, Intel Corporation, formulated their own method for overcoming the 640K limit of older DOS computers based on the 8088 microprocessor. A few months later they were joined by Microsoft Corporations, and the development was termed the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Expanded memory Specification (for its originators), or LIM memory, or EMS, or simply expanded memory. The initial Version was numbered as EMS Version 3.0 to indicate its compatibility with then-current DOS 3.0. When Microsoft joined, the spec was slightly revised and denominated as Version 3.2. The new memory system differed from either base memory or extended memory in not being within the normal address range of its host microprocessor, instead, it relied on hardware circuitry to switch banks of memory within the normal address range of the 8088 microprocessor switching, was neither novel nor unusual, for it has been applied to CP/M computers based on the Z80 microprocessor to break through their inherent 64K addressing limit. Only the cooperative effort at standardization by oftentimes competing corporations was surprising. The original EMS specification dealt with its expanded memory in banks of 16 kilobytes. It mapped out a 64K range in the non-DOS memory area above the bytes used for display memory to switch these banks, up to four at a time, into the address range of the 8088. Up to eight megabytes of 16K banks of expanded memory could by installed in a system. The Expanded Memory Specification included the definition of several function calls--predefined software routines contained in special EMS software called the Expanded Memory Manager--that were to be used by programs to manipulate the expanded memory. Because the memory areas beyond the DOS 640K range had been assigned various purposes by IBM, were the bank-switching area assigned an arbitrary location, it could potentially conflict with the operation of other system expansion. Consequently, the specification allows several address locations for the bank-switching area within the range 784K to 960K. Because programs had to be specially written to include the function calls provided by the EMS drives, expanded memory does not allow ordinary software to stretch beyond the DOS limit. Moreover, the original Expanded Memory Specification put a burdensome limit on the uses of this additional memory because it could only be used for data storage--program code could not execute in the EMS area. Adding EMS memory to your system also necessitated special expansion boards with the required bank switching hardware built into them. You couldn't just buy a handful of AST Six-Paks and expect to put all their bytes to work. The introduction of the AT and its potential of 16 megabytes of addressability overshadowed EMS until the hard reality of the inaccessibility of extended memory hit home. Even the few available programs that could take advantage of EMS were more useful than the VDISK driver, which was the only DOS-compatible product to use extended memory. In fact, until the announcement of OS/2, the most valuable application for the extended memory of the AT was as expanded memory using an expanded memory emulation driver, such as V-EMM from Fort's Software. These software-only EMS products can be divided into two classes, those that take advantage of the paged-virtual memory-mapping abilities built into the 80386 microprocessor and those that copy 16K banks of memory from extended into base memory. Although both types of software have been used effectively, Lotus claims the 80386-based systems are truly compatible with EMS and the block-copying programs cannot provide full, correct EMS functionality. The IBM BIOS is designed to work through a system of software interrupts. To activate a routine, a program issues the appropriate interrupts, a special instruction to the microprocessor. The software interrupt causes the microprocessor to stop what it is doing and start a new routine. It does this by suspending the execution of the code that it is working on, saving its place, and looking in a table held in memory that lists interrupt vectors. Each interrupt vector is pointer telling the microprocessor the location where the code associated with the interrupt is located. The microprocessor reads the value stored in the vector. The table of interrupt vectors begins at the very start of the microprocessor's memory, address 00000(Hex). Each vector comprises four bytes, and all vectors are stored in increasing order. The default values for each vector are loaded into RAM from the ROM containing the BIOS when your computer boots up. Programs can alter these vectors to change the meaning of software interrupts. Typically, terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs are pop-up programs like SideKick, and background programs like Pro-Key) make such modifications for their own purposes. Because there are many fewer interrupts available than functions you might want the BIOS to carry out different functions are available for many of the interrupts. These separate functions are identified by parameter passing. That is, information is handed over to the BIOS routine as a parameter, a value held in one or more of the registers at the time the software interrupt is issued. The BIOS routine may also achieve some result and pass it back to the program. When mounting a new drive you'll need rails for it. Many products come with the rails already installed, Others come with loose rails left for you to install. Some come without rails, leaving you to find a pair of your own. All sorts of rails are available. Official IBM rails are different for the right and left side of the drive and have only two installation holes. Point the tapered end of the rail toward the rear of the drive. The screws to hold the rails in place then go into the lower pair of the two sets of mounting holes on the drive. Third-party mounting rails are usually made to be interchangeable between the left and right sides of the drive. They have four holes, which combined with the four mounting holes in the drive it self, give you four installation permutations, only one of which will work. Only two screws should be used to hold the drive to the rail. In general, the lower holes on the rail (when its tapered is pointed toward the rear of the drive) should mate with the lower holes in the drive. Note that some odd rails may have holes in different positions. If you install rails on a new drive, make sure that the drive lines up in the proper vertical position before you secure its mounting brackets and try to reinstall the lid of the case. A legend surrounds the QWERTY arrangements. According to the common myth, QWERTY came about because typists pounded on keys faster than the simple mechanisms of the first typewriters could handle the chore. The keys jammed. The odd QWERTY arrangement slowed down the typists and prevented the jam. Sholes left no record of how he came upon the QWERTY arrangement, but it certainly was not to slow down speedy typists. High typing rates imply modern-day touch typing, ten fingers flying across the keyboards. This style of typing did not arise until about ten years after Sholes had settled on the QWERTY arrangement. Other arguments about the QWERTY placement also lead to deadends. For instance, breaking a strict alphabetic order to separate the keys and prevent the type bars (the levers which swing up to strike letters on paper) from jamming doesn't make sense because the arrangement of the typebars has no direct relationship to the arrangement of keys. ˇ
