Fluency with Information Technology, 6e (Snyder)
Chapter 2 Exploring the Human-Computer Interface: Face It, It’s a Computer
2.1 True/False Questions
1) Feedback is an indication that either the computer is still working or it is done.
2) When the completion time of a computer operation can be predicted, applications typically
show an hourglass icon.
3) A way in which product developers who create technologies minimize learning time is by
creating controls that match our expectations, such as with sliders and dials.
4) When an operation is processing a series of inputs, the “completion count” gives the tally of
the completed instances, or equivalently, the number remaining.
5) Applications, especially from the same vendor (e.g., Microsoft, Google, or Apple), are
consistent.
6) The primary reason for consistency across computer applications is that certain operations are
fundamental to processing information no matter what the application.
7) All digital information is grouped into types, based on the number of binary digits needed to
represent the information.
8) Finding errors in software is easy, but diagnosing the cause is difficult.
9) When we install a new app, we should immediately and intuitively perform two important
activities: “clicking around” and “blazing away.”
10) Relying on 0s and 1s in representing digital information results in a great disadvantage in
creating reproductions.
11) Perfect reproduction is a property of analog information.
12) The Placeholder Technique is used to “hide” part of the text that you don’t want to tamper
with when using Find/ReplaceAll (F/RA).
13) Many desktop applications, regardless of vendor, share basic features, such as a File menu
and an Edit menu, and furthermore, the items within these menus include the same operations.
14) The Alto personal computer, created by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), was
the first computer with a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
15) Because the Xerox’s Alto was targeted at office workers, the metaphor the PARC researchers
chose for the GUI was a desktop.
16) Following the introduction of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, the desktop
metaphor became the universal way most people thought of using a computer.
17) Apple invented the mouse, and the Macintosh first introduced the mouse technology to the
public.
18) The placeholder technique is a two-step process: hide and restore.
19) Metaphors are essential to computer usage because they guide us in learning and using
software.
20) Mobile devices have abandoned the desktop metaphor in favor of the contact metaphor
1) Using only 0s and 1s means the information can be perfectly:
A) reproduced
B) consistent
C) converted to a placeholder
D) turned into a desktop
2) Exiting and relaunching an application after making a mistake is called:
A) getting out and getting back in
B) shutdown
C) fatal abort
D) system interrupt
3) Perfect reproduction is a property of:
A) analog information
B) source information
C) digital information
D) target information
4) Placeholders can be inserted throughout your work for all long, commonly occurring phrases,
and the placeholders can later be changed easily using:
A) Find/ReplaceAll (F/RA)
B) Copy/Paste/Edit (C/P/E)
C) Copy/Paste (C/P)
D) metaphors
5) A structure without any properties or content is:
A) information
B) an instance
C) a shortcut
D) a record
6) Which GUI metaphor features file cabinets and wastebaskets as typical components?
A) office metaphor
B) touch metaphor
C) Windows metaphor
D) desktop metaphor
7) Which of the following is an example of the computer providing feedback to the user?
A) Editing changes become visible on the screen.
B) The cursor changes to indicate an operation is in progress.
C) A progress bar shows how much of the work is done.
D) All of the above
8) The mouse was invented by:
A) Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at Apple
B) Bill Gates at Microsoft
C) Douglas Engelbart and others at Stanford Research Institute
D) Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma
9) A familiar example of the touch metaphor is:
A) a standard keyboard entry
B) a mouse click selection
C) the Cover Flow mechanism
D) all of the above
10) The gesture described as a quick sweep with the finger leaving the surface is known as a:
A) sweep or swipe
B) drag
C) flick
D) tap
11) The gesture that is typically used to launch an application is a:
A) double tap
B) drag
C) flick
D) two-finger sweep
12) The touch metaphor is truly a new metaphor because it:
A) replaces the mouse with a touch-sensitive screen
B) represents the screen differently with content pushed around
C) enables simple navigation techniques
D) all of the above
13) Which of the following is not an advantage of using Copy/Paste/Edit?
A) It is faster.
B) It works well if the copied content is mostly similar to the desired final content.
C) It is more accurate.
D) It allows the user to recreate the formatting from scratch.
14) In relation to Copy/Paste/Edit, which of the following terms refers to information before it is
transformed or edited to a new form?
A) target value
B) source value
C) final value
D) original value
15) In relation to Copy/Paste/Edit, which of the following terms refers to the intended result of
transforming or editing information?
A) target value
B) source value
C) final value
D) original value
16) The placeholder technique:
A) involves a triple substitution using find-and-replace
B) uses a unique token as the placeholder
C) requires the use of #
D) Both A and B are correct
17) The New and Open commands are normally located on the:
A) File menu
B) Edit menu
C) Shortcut menu
D) Main menu
18) When editing, which method allows the user to reproduce content from another location?
A) typing or drawing the content
B) Copy/Paste (C/P)
C) Find/ReplaceAll (F/RA)
D) Find
19) The first successful personal computer with a GUI was the
A) Xerox PARC
B) PC running Microsoft Windows
C) Apple Macintosh
D) Apple iPhone
20) Various programs running on the same computer have consistent commands and interface
behavior
A) because software companies tend to reuse the code.
B) because of the limited number of functions a PC can perform.
C) so what you learn about one application can be reused in another.
D) Both A) and C)
1) Any piece of information of a particular type is called a(n) ________ of that type.
2) ________ refers to exploring the user interface in order to learn more about it.
3) With ________ information, encoding required that all original work had to be kept as a
“master” from which copies were made for the public.
4) Trying out new or unfamiliar features without a clear idea of what they will do is called
________.
5) ________ is information encoded as a sequence of binary digits, 0s and 1s.
6) ________ information comes from or is stored on a continuously variable medium.
7) Digital recordings can be reproduced completely without _________ .
8) The ________ is a searching algorithm in which strings are temporarily replaced with a
special string to protect them from change by other substitution commands.
9) When using Windows applications, ^C (Ctrl+C) is the shortcut for the _______ command.
10) A(n) ________ is an icon or image or a concept used as a representative of or symbolic of a
computation.
11) The ________ metaphor imagines moving information by pushing it with a finger.
12) The ________ command will create a blank instance.