CHAPTER 10 DATA TRANFER

Antonis Antoniou

Data Transfer

It is common to transfer files between computers and different software packages. Years ago the was not a common ground to work on. Today file conversion is an important part of computing

File conversion

Files need to be read from newer and older software packages. When you build files or saving data, you need to make sure they will be able to be readable. For example, a company decides to buy a new database software. The 10 year old database supports certain file format. This file format needs to readable by the new database software

ASCII Files

ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Represents

characters, letters, numbers

All computers store ASCII file format. 0100 1000 H 0100 0101 E 0100 1100 L 0100 1100 L 0100 1111 O

Transferring files between word processors

Most common file transferring is between word processors. The only sure way to transfer text is to store everything in ASCII files. When you save everything in ASCII, all the format is lost but the body of the text remains.

Comma Separated Files (CSV)

CSV files are useful as they are very easy to transfer files. Files in this format can be read by most spreadsheets and databases.

Data/File Compression

Compression is used to reduce the size of the picture file. Software are able to reduce the size of files to one quarter of their original file e.g zip Files are often compressed before they are send over the internet. This reduces the transfer time and thus costs.

Analogue and Digital Systems

An analogue signal is one which has a value that varies smoothly. It is easiest to understand this by looking at an example:

Analogue and Digital Systems

Computers (and most other modern electronic devices such as cameras, mobile phones, etc.) are digital devices because they process data in the form of numbers (digits). Computer software is a collection of numeric codes which tell the computer what to do.

Analogue to Digital Convertor (ADC)

If

you want to attach an analogue input device to a digital device such as a computer, you will need an analogue to digital convertor (ADC)

Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC)

If you want to attach an analogue output device to a digital device such as a computer, you will need a digital to analogue convertor (DAC).