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October 19, 1999 @ 09:40 am·Filed under Books
By Alexis Leon & Mathews Leon, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1999.
"The workers and professionals of the world will soon be
divided into two distinct groups: those who will control
computers and those who will be controlled by computers. It
would be best for you to be in the former group." - Lewis
D. Eigen
This is the information age. He who has the information runs
the show. Everywhere you go, every direction you turn, every book
you read, every magazine that you look into, every newspaper that
you read, every movie or television show that you watch, every
people that you talk to, the most common thing that you hear about
is computers, information explosion, information super highway,
cyberspace, information technology, multimedia, virtual reality,
client-server architecture, on-line transaction processing, and so
on. Most people find it difficult to keep pace with the speed at
which the information technology is growing. Technology is growing
at such a speed that the products and systems become obsolete very
fast. The proverb 'Old is Gold' is not true for the IT industry.
When Charles Babbage invented the 'Analytical engine' in 1822,
nobody knew the impact that it was going to create, the way it was
going to change our way of living and the rate at which it was
going to grow. The rate at which the computer or IT industry has
grown is astonishing. The growth rate is exponential if not
vertical. In the early days since it's inception, the use of
computers was limited to the scientists and science and research
labs. In those days computers were big, cumbersome, expensive and
not at all user-friendly. A great deal of knowledge was required
to operate them. It was beyond the reach of the common man. But
with the introduction of commercial computers, or the production
of computers on a commercial basis, things began to change slowly.
Big companies began to use it, airlines and railways began to use
it, but still they were expensive and difficult to operate. But
then lightning struck, the personal computer was introduced. Even
though the initial personal computers were no where near their
present counterparts, they took the industry by storm. Finally the
computers were accessible to the common man. From then, computers
have become more powerful, more user-friendly, smaller, cheaper
and the trend still continues.
Thus, from a very modest and slow beginning the computer and IT
industry has grown in leaps and bounds and is still growing at an
astonishing pace. If the automobile industry had grown like
computer industry, the cost of a Mercedes Benz today would be
around Rs. 40 and it would run a million miles on a liter of
petrol. People all over the world are struggling to keep up with
this breathtaking pace. The industry has become more and more
competitive and now only the toughest and fittest will be able to
survive. The competition is fierce and companies are doing all in
their power to stay in business. But all these competition has
made the life easy and comfortable and has helped in increasing
the standard of living.
Since the growth rate in the software or IT field has been very
high, it has created a vacuum. By vacuum, we mean lack of
qualified people. Today the number of qualified IT professionals
needed and available is not the same. The demand is very high and
supply is low and the gap between the demand and supply is
widening day-by-day. This is evident from the 'Wanted software/IT
professionals' advertisements in the newspapers, magazines,
television, etc. The scenario is clear. Companies are becoming
more and more aggressive and bringing out more and more products.
More and more multinational companies are already making their
entry into the IT field. Newer companies are jumping into the
fray. These changes have benefited IT professionals. Job prospects
are going up and up. There are more companies to choose from. The
companies are offering fantastic pay packets and working
environments. It is estimated that in India alone there will be a
requirement of more than 100,000 software professionals per year.
These professionals are required by the software houses for
software export projects or government R&D ventures and the
EDP departments of large corporate houses. But there are smaller
software companies and medium and small business houses that also
need the services of software professionals. Thus, the future of
software professionals is very, very bright.
Now, let us take a look into the process how the demand is met
at present, or in other words from where these professionals are
recruited. The requirement is mainly met by students from formal
institutes like IITs and other Engineering colleges. But the IITs
and Engineering colleges cannot alone meet the requirements. The
IT industry needs more people. They need people with backgrounds
as diverse as management, mechanical engineering, mathematics,
etc. Organizations like C-DAC play a vital role in training
professional required for the IT industry. They play a very
important role in fulfilling the dreams of thousands of students,
who do not otherwise have a chance to enter the software
profession. As the C-DAC brochure says, the DAC course is designed
and developed to help you in achieving your dream of a career in
the field of Information Technology. This course is designed to
make you a full-fledged and well equipped IT professional.
This book is for Business Computing - I, which covers Database
concepts, Oracle 8, Developer/2000 and PowerBuilder. The book is
divided into two volumes for easy handling:
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Volume 1 - Database concepts, SQL, Oracle 8, SQL*Plus, PL/SQL,
Developer/2000, etc.
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Volume 2 - PowerBuilder 6
The books assume
nothing. All the topics are explained from the basics to the most
advanced level. There are a lot of examples and screenshots to
improve the understanding.
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