102 English for students of  College of Computer Sciences

Prepared & Written By Magda Al Sebai

*Material adopted from the textbooks and reference books.

 Textbook Links: 

 Saving data is essential in carrying out computer operations. Tape drives record information lengthwise in channels or tracks, with one bit per track. Newer models use nine tracks rather than seven as the older models did. In order to store information on a tape, a tape drive is equipped with a set of recording heads, one head per track. One tape drive is distinguished from another by the transfer rate or transfer speed; in other words, by the number of bytes per second a tape drive is capable of transferring from the tape to the memory or vice versa. This speed is usually measured by inches per second, or IPS. So, if a tape drive has a transfer speed of 20 IPS, reading from 2650 bytes per inch (BPI) density tape is like reading about 15, 000 cards in one second. 

How much information is stored on the tape depends on the length of the tape as well as its density. The density is determined by the number of bytes that can be stored on an inch of tape and is measured by bytes per inch or BPI. Some tapes store information at a density of 1600 BPI or even 2650 BPI, which means that at the latter density, 2400 feet of tape would be needed to store approximately 175 million bytes of information. Tapes are, therefore, a fast medium for accessing information. They require small space and they are a convenient way to transfer data from one computer to another. They also facilitate retrieving information by having an automatic access to any saved data. 

 Give short answers to the following questions:

 1. How is the density of the tape determined?

 2. How many tracks do new models of tape drives use?  

Find the synonyms of the following words from the passage

(a) Executing (paragraph 1)  

(b) self-acting, mechanical (paragraph 2) 

 What do the underlined words refer to?

 (a) This ________(b) They__________

What do the acronym IPS and BPI stand for?

  Vocabulary and Technical Terms

Use two-word expressions connected with computing to complete the following:  

a. Computers that try to emulate human intelligence are called ____________________.

 b. ___________________are some mistakes that cause a program to crash. 

 c. __________________is the extra RAM fitted to an IBM PC-compatible that is located above the first 1 Mb,   
    
     but that needs a software driver before it can be used.

 d. The memory device or the file whose stored data cannot be changed is called _______________.

 e. ______________________is a set of data where all items are related.

 f. A ____________ in the computer makes a direct link between a device and the processor.