The Wizard Inside The Machine

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developments in programming is integrated software, pioneered by Lotus Development with 1-2-3. Integrated software permits an individual to perform several different tasks with the same program. Someone using a computer to keep track of the family budget, for example, could classify his expenses into a variety of categories, see how the budget might change if, say, interest rates went down and then look at a chart that represents how his money is being spent. All that can be done with just a few keystrokes in less than a minute. In February, Lotus Development launched an expanded version called Symphony, which allows the same kind of information to be inserted into a letter or other document, which can either be printed out or be sent electronically over phone wires to another computer.

Some integrated software, like Symphony, can simultaneously display different programs on a computer screen in separate sections or windows. This allows someone to work on one part of a task while having other parts of it displayed in front of him. Such window programs are expected to become increasingly popular in the next year.

Future software is likely to be much easier to use—if manufacturers master the art of writing intelligible instructions. Many basic programs will probably be available as part of the computer instead of being sold separately. When software is built in, it is faster to use. Several popular lap-size computers, such as Radio Shack's Model 100 and the Workslate from Convergent Technologies, already have built-in software like text editing and financial planning.

There is one drawback to built-in software: a user cannot easily replace an outdated program with a newer one when it is built in. However, silicon chips known as EE-PROMs (electrically erasable, programmable, read-only memory), which can be electronically erased and then reprogrammed, have already begun to reach the market.

Software under development will help link up groups of personal computers to a central computer, thus allowing data to be freely exchanged among them. Other new software will help speed communication between machines. By connecting computers with a videodisc machine, which can store on a single platter all the information in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the amount of data quickly available to the user is greatly increased. In June, Digital Research will introduce a product that will make this possible.

To reach a truly mass audience, however, software producers will have to achieve a major technological breakthrough. Instead of typing often incomprehensible combinations of symbols, letters, numbers and code words, users should be able to give commands to their computers in plain English. That is no simple task. Language by its very nature does not have the mathematical precision that computers deal with so well. English syntax, in particular, is irregular and hard to codify, and many words have several different meanings. Computers, despite their complexity, are not as subtle as the human brain in understanding and interpreting instructions.

This is where artificial intelligence comes into play. Artificial intelligence is software programming that makes computers simulate human reasoning. If machines can be made more like people, then people will not have to obey so rigidly the dictates of machines. A program called Intellect, introduced last