Some Basic Concept of Word Processing

If you are new to personal computing, please take your time to read through these blog post. If you are ready “computer literate”, you might want to shim the next few paragraphs , But by all means, read the next post : Basics Of Wordperfect for Absolute Beginners.

Word Processing in a Nutshell

If someone were to ask me to describe word processing in 25 words or less, I would say Word processing means that you never have to retype, This is, of course, a rash generalisation, but it does get to the kernel of what word processing can do for you.

The implications of the above words are tremendous, Anyone who has spent a great deal of time in front of a typewriter and one can spend a great deal of time there knows that word processing is a new ball game, Sure, you can still apply the basics of typing to word processing. Entering text is “typing.” when you think about it, but not having to retype your work is an amazing breakthrough for the person. Add to that the other things that word processing can do, and you’ve got a very powerful mend and co worker.

Computers and the Perils of Adulthood

Why do kids have so little trouble adjusting to computers? Kids think that computers are fun. We adults, regrettably, are often saddled with maturity, which brings with it a variety of hang-ups. For instance: “The computer is smarter than we are”, “A computer can think”; “If we press the wrong key we’ll break the machine”; “The computer is taking our jobs away from us”; “The computer will laugh at our mistakes.”

Pick a hang-up; pick two, if you wish. Then forget about them because they’re just not true! A computer is just a machine like a hair dryer or toaster, and the term personal computer (or “PC”) should also remind you that this is your machine and that you are the person who is in control. It won’t run itself, and a computer is definitely not as smart as you are. It’s not even as smart as your cat!

Many people have computer phobia: They’re afraid to touch a computer for fear that they’ll make a horrendous mistake. Yet they do something every day that is far more dangerous: They get into their automobiles and drive to the grocery store. Ironically, if you make a mistake on a computer, you can generally correct it, and there’s an end to the matter. What happens if you make even the slightest error of judgement on the road?

I haven’t the foggiest notion how the internal combustion engine works, and yet I can operate one. You, in turn, need not trouble yourself with exactly how a computer works, but you can still use this new contraption, because, like all machines, it’s there to help you. What’s more, a computer cannot think, reason, intuit or even talk back to you. It is a perfect slave! You, however, must know how to harness its power and keep it under control, because, just like Goethe’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” it can’t control itself.

So many new users of computers start off on the wrong foot. They read the documentation that comes with their new machines and wonder if they’ll ever figure out what bits and bytes are. They are the victims of what I call the terminology hassle. I have tried throughout this book to avoid “com-puterese” as much as possible. When I introduce a new term, I explain it in everyday language.

What You Really Must Know About Computers

Even though you may not know how a car operates, it’s still a good idea to have at least an inkling about certain things, such as keeping the gas tank full or making sure that you have antifreeze in the radiator. And if you know a little more about your car, chances are you won’t get stiffed by a heavy repair bill. Similarly, there are only a few things that you really must know about your PC, but they can make working with it that much easier and save you a great deal of potential frustration.

When you type, you automatically get a “hard copy” version of your work. With word processing, you print your work as a separate step, but you don’t have to print after every editing session. This alone can save you a lot of time.

First, a computer is a worthless piece of junk without two things: (1) electricity and (2) the instructions to run it. A computer must have its instructions “fed” into it whenever you use it. The instructions are known as the program (in this case, WordPerfect), and when you give the machine its instructions you’re loading the program.

WordPerfect is actually a subprogram that runs under another (the main) program of the computer. This main program is the disk operating system, PC-DOS or MS-DOS, different names for essentially the same product. Note: A new operating system, OS/2, has not yet achieved currency. In this book, all references to DOS are to PC-DOS or MS-DOS.

The operating system, DOS, controls the flow of information between the various parts of the computer-the keyboard, central processing unit, disk drives, video display, printer, and so on. It acts very much like the hall monitor when you were in school, making sure that everyone moves along in the proper fashion and that order and decorum reign.

DOS is usually “invisible” to you, because you will spend most of your time working within WordPerfect. But, as parts of this book illustrate, learning how to use DOS in tandem with WordPerfect can be a great time-saver. I strongly urge you to be familiar with at least the basic DOS operations before you get too far along in your apprenticeship.

Formatting Disks

Make sure you understand how to format, or initialize, floppy disks before you start working. Unlike blank recording tapes, floppy disks can’t be used right out of the box. Each computer has its own disk formatting command. On the IBM PC, this command is FORMAT.COM, and it’s on the DOS disk.

It’s always a good idea to format all new disks when you get them. That way, you won’t be caught without a prepared disk when you need one. For-tunately, you can format a disk on the fly from within WordPerfect, but you’ll save yourself needless hassle if you prepare all disks before using them.

You can also append a volume label to a disk if you use the /V switch with the FORMAT command (for example, FORMAT B: /V). A volume label can be up to 11 characters long, but should include only alphanumeric char-acters. DOS versions beginning with 3.0 have a separate utility to change volume labels. In DOS 2.0, you must reformat a disk to add a label.

Caution: When you reformat a disk, make sure you’ve copied any work that you want to keep to another disk first!

The Computer’s Work Space

How exactly do you “load the program”? Where does it go? And why? Again, allow me to use an analogy to explain what is happening when you work with your computer. Normally, you work at a desk or other “workplace.” This area contains not only the room for you to do your work but also the tools that you need. On your desk are a telephone, books, pencils, papers, and maybe even (heaven forbid!) a typewriter.

The computer has a workplace, too: memory. (Officially, it’s called random access memory, or RAM.) All the work that you do in your computer is actually done in memory, although you will see your text on the monitor in front of you. (The monitor is only a convenience to you. The monitor is not necessary for the computer itself to function.)

The computer’s memory is a tiny silicon chip that contains millions of little switches. Your words, and the program’s instructions, are there in the form of electrical impulses, stored in certain locations and readily accessible at all times. That’s why it’s called random access memory. The computer would not know what to do when you give it an instruction (a command), or when you type in text from the keyboard if the program were not also in the memory workplace.

You probably work best when all your materials and tools are handy. The computer works only when all its materials and tools are in memory. It must have both its instructions (the program) and the specific work to be done (that is, the file containing your work) in memory at the same time. So, when you load the program the instructions that allow the computer to do word processing are copied into memory from the disk. This copy of the program’s instructions stays in memory as long as you use the program, or until you turn off or reset your computer. The program itself is still on the disk, so you can use it again.

Normally, there are two programs in memory: DOS and WordPerfect. You’d have to exit WordPerfect and load another program from DOS, for instance, PlanPerfect. The WordPerfect Library is a special case. It, too, stays in memory so that it can work with the other programs. That is, the Library keeps track of WordPerfect and other programs and lets you switch between them easily.

Documents, Files, and File Names

WordPerfect refers to your work as documents. A document can be a letter, the chapter of a book, or a report, among other things. Think of a document as a collection of related text that will be printed eventually. A file is a container in which to store a document on the disk. (Actually, many computerists refer to documents and files interchangeably.) The disk, either floppy or hard, is the storage location.

Offices have filing cabinets with manila folders. On a computer, the file is the “folder,” the document is the information in the folder, and the disk is the “filing cabinet.” The folders in your filing cabinet are generally arranged in some kind of order, usually alphabetic. When you want to “pull” a file, you can find it quickly by locating the correct drawer and looking at the little descriptive tags on the folders.

Because it makes finding documents easier, you should set up a different file for each document. DOS, the computer’s filing system, requires that each file be given a name, just like the little tag that is on manila folders. Because you can’t physically see the files on the disk, you would ask the computer to retrieve the file and show its contents on the monitor. (At the same time, it’s loading this file into memory.)

A computer can’t read, so it can only look for a file by matching the letters of the name of the file, in the order that you type them, with the names of all the files on the diskette. No two files can have the same name, because if this were possible the computer would not be able to distinguish the two.
Computers are strictly literal beasts. As many others have pointed out, computers only do exactly what you tell them to do, not what you mean.

They have no facility at guessing a file name. If you ask the computer to find and open a file named, say, TEST, but you type TEXT instead, the computer cannot intuit what you want. All it would do would be to match the letters T-E-X-T in that order and see if these four letters occur in the file directory on the disk.

DOS sees to it that each file has a distinct name, even if the names are as similar as CHAPTER.1 and CHAPTER1. Throughout this book, I give examples of naming files, but the ultimate decision rests with you. Develop your own system and then stick to it. The DOS documentation covers in detail the few and easy rules for file names. These rules are, in brief:

• A file name can have from one to eight characters, but no spaces.
• You don’t have to use all eight characters.
• You can append a period and up to three more characters to any file name (the fle extension).
• You need not use the file extension.
• Don’t include nonalphanumeric characters (such as # or ?) in file names.

A few typical file names, all of which are “legal,” would be: VERSION.1, 95.436, A, EXAMPLE, TT.A. A few “illegal” names would be: WP.##, SS.5437, LOSANGELES, TWO BITS.

Question: Why are these names “illegal”? Answer: The first contains unacceptable characters (##); the second has an extension that’s too long; the third is longer than eight characters; the fourth contains a space. The operating system won’t allow you to use these file names.

Saving Your Work

When you reopen, or retrieve, a document, you’re actually instructing DOS to make a copy of it from the disk where it is stored and put the copy into memory. The original document stays on the disk, while the copy in memory is the one you edit. After you’ve made your changes, you instruct Word Perfect to save the edited document back to the disk, and in the process replace the original document with the revised version. If you wish, you can have Word Perfect keep the original in a separate backup file (Appendix A).

Caution: Never remove a disk from the drive until the current document is safely saved and the drive door light is no longer red.

Under normal conditions you don’t have to worry about losing your work, because the original is always on the disk. But that presupposes that you’ve stored it there in the first place. When you start a new writing project, the new work is not yet stored at all. Any new typing is done in memory and stays there until you save it to disk, you turn off or reset your computer, or the power accidentally goes off. It is therefore important for you to take the necessary precautions to save your work.

My friend, James Howald, uses an interesting analogy to describe the difference between the work in memory and the document that has been saved on the disk. All work in memory is “cash,” and all documents saved on the disk are “traveler’s checks.” If you’re on a trip and you lose cash, it’s gone forever. But if you lose traveler’s checks, you can get a refund. Save your work to disk, and “don’t leave your machine without doing it!”

If you wish, you can have WordPerfect save your text automatically at periodic intervals (say, every 10 minutes) so that even if you fall victim to Murphy’s Laws unexpectedly, you won’t be thrown off guard. But you must still save the entire document when you’ve completed the editing session and before you exit WordPerfect.

File Management and Disk Space

Keeping track of your computer files is just as important as keeping track of the files in your filing cabinets. If you have a hard disk, you’re well advised to learn how to divide your hard disk into directories to keep track of different programs and work files. (If you work only with floppy disks, you don’t normally take advantage of DOS directories.)

If the hard disk is your filing cabinet, then directories are like drawers. with the added plus that you can have drawers within drawers! A directory that contains the WordPerfect program can have many subdirectories, each holding different work files-one for letters, one for reports, and so on. The WordPerfect directory is the “parent,” and the subdirectories are “children.” The main directory on the disk-the “grandparent” of them all-is the root directory.

Figure 1 below presents a graphic representation of a typical hard disk directory structure, with several children directories below the parent WordPerfect (WP50) and Lotus 1-2-3 (LOTUS) directories. See your DOS manual for more information about setting up directories.
Because no disk has an infinite storage capability, you should also keep daily tabs on the amount of available disk space. You can check the amount of free disk space from within WordPerfect.

DOS measures disk space in bytes, one of those nasty words that humbles beginners. A byte is merely the amount of space that the computer needs to store one character of information. Every letter you type thus takes up one byte of storage. That includes spaces and carriage returns, too, by the way. I recommend that you start a new disk if there is less than 10% of space available on the old disk. Hard disk users should periodically delete unused files or archive them onto floppies to free up disk space.

The Modular Approach

Use the modular approach to storing documents in files. WordPerfect works better and faster with smaller documents. Most computer users learn from experience that the most efficient way to maintain large documents is to break them down into smaller, modular files. For example, if you’re writing a book, keep each chapter in a separate file. Develop a naming scheme that relates the files by name, such as CHAPTER.1, CHAPTER 2, and so forth.

A Word to the Wise About Backups

There is one extremely important procedure that you should know about before you work with any microcomputer: how to back up your work and program disks. Every computer book, every manual, stresses this operation, sometimes ad nauseam. But it really is important! I’ll bet dollars to donuts that each one of you out there has (or will have) a horror story to tell about backups, or what happened when there weren’t any backups.

This is a sad but true story. I once knew an administrative assistant at a large urban university who was in charge the word processing for all the professors in the department. She stored all scholarly writing on a hard disk, hard disk are great, but you have to treat them with kid gloves. And when they “expire,” disappear, or are accidentally erased, trouble could develop if there are no backups. Although repeatedly admonished to make backups of the files on the hard disk, the administrative assistant either forgot or never got around to doing it. One day the computer was stolen! All that work may just as well have disappeared into thin air.

Dear Reader, please don’t let this happen to you. You’re too young to be in the loony bin or without a job. Determine from your work volume how often you should make backups, then schedule them as part of your normal routine. Think of it this way: How much work would you care to lose? Probably not too much! I always recommend that people do backups at least once a day. This is the rule that I myself follow. You may find, however, that you may only need to back up files perhaps once a week or once every two weeks.

If you use floppies, why not copy the DOS DISKCOPY.COM file, which lets you copy an entire disk easily, to the second WordPerfect program disk? Whenever you want to make backups, you can issue the Go to DOS command from WordPerfect’s CTRL-F1 Shell key, and you’re ready to go. Or use WordPerfect’s built-in file management feature, the FS List Files key , to copy individual files or groups of files quickly.

Hard disk users should make backups even more often than people with floppy disk-based systems. But they also have an easy way to do them with the special BACKUP utility. The first backup session will take some time, because you will be copying your programs, too. But then the BACKUP command allows you to back up only those files that have been edited since the last backup session, provided that you give the command correctly (the DOS manual tells you how). Note that this command has nothing to do with DISKCOPY, which can be used only to back up floppies.

Ben Franklin to the Rescue

Now for a bit of elementary horse sense. The personal computer is a new tool that is designed for a very old beast, homo sapiens. It did not drop down from the sky, so you can still rely on the age-old, common-sense rules that you’ve undoubtedly applied throughout your life. When people ask me the best way to learn how to use a computer, I tell them to follow Ben Franklin’s advice. Try: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Or: “A stitch in time saves nine.” And remember the most common-sensical adage of all: “Practice makes perfect.” The more you work with your computer, the more you will appreciate its tremendous power as your new productivity tool.