Explain a software package by how it differs from software built from scratch for your own company: cost, time until it can be used, and fit with how the business works.
Follow how cell addresses move when a formula is copied in spreadsheet software, and read formulas that combine conditions inside IF.
Choose between word processing software and presentation software according to what you are making and how it will be shown.
Explain how a web browser gets a page onto the screen as a division of roles between the browser and the web server.
A software package (ソフトウェアパッケージ) is software made in advance for uses that many users share, and sold or provided as a finished product.
Software package
Custom development (built from scratch for your company)
How you get it
Buy a finished product that bundles common functions
Design and develop it around your own business
Cost
Development costs are in effect shared by many users, so it tends to be cheaper
Your company bears the entire development cost
Time until use
Short, since only installation and setup are needed
Long, since work must go from design through testing
Fit with the business
Gaps are covered by adjusting settings or rethinking the work
Can be built to match the business
Office tools (オフィスツール) such as word processors and spreadsheets are part of this group, and once bought and installed they can be put to work fairly quickly. Compared with custom development (個別開発), where software is built from scratch around your own business, a package keeps development cost and time down, though some parts may not match the way the business actually runs.
AnalogyIt is like buying a ready-built house instead of having one custom designed. You skip the effort and expense of planning every room, but any room that does not suit your lifestyle has to be worked around.
How to remember"Package" means a wrapped product. Picture a boxed item sitting on a store shelf, ready to take home.
Exam points
ExamThe main reason a company brings in a software package (ソフトウェアパッケージ) instead of building its own business software is to hold down development costs.
Spreadsheet software (表計算ソフト) lets you put numbers and formulas into cells divided into rows and columns, and then totals, analyzes and charts the data automatically.
Written in the formula as
Copied 1 row down
Copied 1 column right
B2 (no $)
B3 (row shifts)
C2 (column shifts)
$B$2 ($ before column and row)
$B$2 (unchanged)
$B$2 (unchanged)
B$2 ($ before row only)
B$2 (row fixed)
C$2 (only column shifts)
$B2 ($ before column only)
$B3 (only row shifts)
$B2 (column fixed)
A cell is named by its column letter and row number, such as B2, and writing that address in a formula makes the calculation use the value in that cell. An address that shifts by the distance a formula is copied is a relative reference (相対参照), one locked with $ so its column and row stay put is an absolute reference (絶対参照), and one with $ on only the column or only the row is a mixed reference (複合参照). IF takes a condition, a value for when it holds and a value for when it does not, and returns one of the two depending on whether the condition is true, while functions such as conditional count (条件付個数), which counts the cells meeting a condition, can also go into a formula.
AnalogyIt is like a household ledger on graph paper where the total recalculates itself every time you change a number.
How to rememberThe word "spreadsheet" comes from a large accounting sheet spread open across two facing pages.
Exam points
ExamWhen a formula is copied, any column or row without $ shifts by the distance moved, and the side with $ stays as it is. Check which way the formula is being copied and put $ only on the side that must not shift.
ExamA logical AND (論理積) is true only when every listed condition holds, while a logical OR (論理和) is true as soon as any one holds. Putting these inside the condition of IF lets a single formula judge several conditions at once.
ExamConditional count (条件付個数) takes a range and a condition and returns how many cells in that range satisfy the condition. The condition can be a comparison, such as "80 or more".
Word processing software (文書作成ソフト, also called word processors, ワープロソフト) is software for typing and editing text and laying it out into documents such as reports and invitations.
Formatting such as typeface, size and paragraph alignment, replacing words throughout, and inserting tables and images all help produce a page that is easy to read. In Japanese documents, line-breaking rules (禁則処理) automatically move characters that may not stand at the start or end of a line. These programs also offer macros (マクロ), which record a frequently used sequence of operations and replay it automatically in one go.
AnalogyIt is like having a copyist and a print-shop typesetter share one machine on your desk.
How to rememberThe Japanese ワープロ is short for word processor, a tool that processes words.
Exam points
ExamLine-breaking rules (禁則処理) apply to characters barred from certain positions, for example "。", "、" and "）" at the start of a line, or "（" at the end of one.
ExamMacros (マクロ) are found not only in word processing software (文書作成ソフト) but also in spreadsheet software (表計算ソフト), and in both they automate repeated fixed procedures.
Presentation software (プレゼンテーションソフト) is software for creating slides for a talk and showing them one at a time while you explain to an audience.
Each slide holds headings, bullet points, diagrams and charts, and during the talk the slides are shown full screen in order as a slide show. Transition effects between slides can be added, as can animations that bring in text and shapes one by one. Ready-made illustrations pasted onto pages or slides to improve their look are called clip art (クリップアート), and they are usually picked from a collection of such material.
AnalogyIt is like a stack of flip cards you turn over one by one as you speak, except you make them and show them on a screen.
How to remember"Present" means to hold something out in front of someone. Picture material held up in front of the audience for them to see.
Exam points
ExamClip art (クリップアート) is ready-made image material you can use without drawing anything yourself, and it appears in documents as well as slides.
Mix-upEven with the same report content, choose word processing software (文書作成ソフト) for material readers go through on their own, and presentation software (プレゼンテーションソフト) when you will project it on a screen and talk in front of an audience.
A web browser (Webブラウザ) is software that opens web pages on the internet and displays them on screen so they can be viewed.
Enter a URL / choose a link
Request the page from the web server
Receive the page data
Interpret the data and display it
The browser interprets the data it received and lays out the text and images as a page.
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A page is opened either by entering its URL, which serves as its address on the web, or by choosing a link (リンク) on a page. Browsers also keep bookmarks (ブックマーク) for pages you visit often and a history (履歴) of pages you have viewed.
AnalogyIt is like a receptionist who, given an address, fetches the material from that place and spreads it out in front of you.
How to rememberTo browse is to look around a shop or skim through something. Think of a tool for wandering from page to page.
Exam points
Mix-upA web browser (Webブラウザ) is the software that displays pages on the user's device, sharing the work with a web server (Webサーバ), which stores page data and sends it out.
Key points
Office tools are a typical example of a commercial software package, and they can be put to use at lower cost than building software from scratch in-house.
When a formula in spreadsheet software is copied, relative addresses shift and only the columns or rows marked with $ stay fixed.
Combining logical AND or logical OR with IF lets one formula judge several conditions.
Word processing software offers line-breaking rules that adjust where characters fall and macros that repeat operations automatically.
A web browser is viewing software that interprets the data received from a web server and displays it as a page.