Process Improvement Essentials or Fluency with Information Technology

Process Improvement Essentials: Cmmi, Six SIGMA, and ISO 9001

Author: Perss

Today, technology has become too much a part of overall corporate success for its effectiveness to be left to chance. The stakes are too high. Fortunately, the idea of 'quality management' is being reinvigorated. In the last decade process programs have become more and more prevalent. And, out of all the available options, three have moved to the top of the chain. These three are:
The 9001:2000 Quality Management Standard from the International Standards Organization;
The Capability Maturity Model Integration from the Software Engineering Institute; and Six Sigma, a methodology for improvement shaped by companies such as Motorola, Honeywell, and General Electric.

These recognized and proven quality programs are rising in popularity as more technology managers are looking for ways to help remove degrees of risk and uncertainty from their business equations, and to introduce methods of predictability that better ensure success.

The Art of Software Process Improvement combines the foundation needed to understand process improvement theory with the best practices to help individuals implement process improvement initiatives in their organization. The three leading programs: ISO 9001:2000, CMMI, and Six Sigma--amidst the buzz and hype--tend to get lumped together under a common label. This book delivers a combined guide to all three programs, compares their applicability, and then sets the foundation for further exploration. It's a one-stop-shop designed to give you a working orientation to what the field is all about.

Interesting book: Le Désastre de Ruisseau de Buffle :Comment les Survivants d'Un des Pires Désastres dans l'Histoire d'Extraction du charbon le Costume Apporté contre la Compagnie À charbon - et Gagné

Fluency with Information Technology: Skills, Concepts, and Capabilities

Author: Lawrence Snyder

KEY MESSAGE: Fluency with Information Technology: Skills, Concepts, and Capabilities, Third Edition, equips readers who are already familiar with computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web with a deeper understanding of the broad capabilities of technology.

Becoming Skilled at Information Technology: Terms of Endearment: Defining Information Technology; What the Digerati Know: Exploring the Human–Computer Interface; Making the Connection: The Basics of Networking; Marking Up with HTML: A Hypertext Markup Language Primer; Searching for Truth: Locating Information on the WWW; Searching for Guinea Pig B: Case Study in Online Research. Algorithms and Digitizing Information: To Err Is Human: An Introduction to Debugging; Bits and the "Why" of Bytes: Representing Information Digitally; Following Instructions: Principles of Computer Operation; What's the Plan? Algorithmic Thinking; Light, Sound, Magic: Representing Multimedia Digitally. Data and Information: Computers in Polite Society: Social Implications of IT; Shhh, It's a Secret: Privacy and Digital Security; Fill-in-the-Blank Computing: Basics of Spreadsheets; ‘What If’ Thinking Helps: Advanced Spreadsheets for Planning; A Table with a View: Database Queries; iDiary: A Case Study in Database Design. Problem Solving: Get with the Program: Fundamental Concepts Expressed in JavaScript; The Bean Counter: A JavaScript Program; Thinking Big: Programming Functions; Once Is Not Enough: Iteration Principles; The Smooth Motion: Case Study in Algorithmic Problem Solving; Computers Can Do Almost {Everything, Nothing}: Limits to Computation; A Fluency Summary: Click toClose.

For all readers interested in computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, and a deeper understanding of the broad capabilities of technology.

Table of Contents:

Part 1	Becoming Skilled at Information Technology
Chapter 1	Terms of Endearment: Defining Information Technology	3
	Why Know Just the Right Word in IT	5
	Where's the Start Button?	6
	Where is the Computer?	9
	How Soft is Software?	16
	The Words for Ideas	18
	Analytical Thinking	21
	Summary	25
	Exercises	26
Chapter 2	What the Digerati Know: Exploring the Human-Computer Interface	29
	Learning About Technology	31
	Basic Metaphors of Software	33
	Standard GUI Functionality	37
	"Clicking Around"	41
	"Blazing Away"	43
	"Watching Others"	44
	A Basic Principle: Form Follows Function	45
	Searching Text Using Find	47
	Editing Text Using Substitution	51
	Thinking About Information Technology Abstractly	56
	Summary	57
	Exercises	58
Chapter 3	Making the Connection: The Basics of Networking	61
	Networked Computers Change Our Lives	63
	Communication Types: Some Comparisons	66
	The Medium of the Message	68
	The World Wide Web	78
	File Structure	80
	The Internet and the Web	84
	Summary	85
	Exercises	86
Chapter 4	Marking Up with HTML: A Hypertext Markup Language Primer	89
	Marking Up with HTML	91
	Structuring Documents	92
	Marking links with Anchor Tags	97
	Including Pictures with Image Tags	101
	Handling Color	104
	Handling Lists	107
	Handling Tables	110
	HTML Wrap-up	115
	Summary	115
	Exercises	116
Chapter 5	Searching for Truth: Locating Information on the WWW	119
	Searching in All the Right Places	121
	How is Information Organized?	123
	How is Web Site Information Organized?	129
	Searching the Web for Information	130
	Web Information: Truth or Fiction?	137
	The Burmese Mountain Dog Page	140
	Summary	141
	Exercises	142
Chapter 6	Searching for Guinea Pig B: Case Study in Online Research	145
	Getting Started with Online Research	147
	Primary Sources	152
	Chronfile and Everything I Know	159
	Resolving Questions	162
	Secondary Sources	164
	Exploring Side Questions	167
	Case Study Wrap-Up	169
	Summary	170
	Exercises	173
	Interview	175
Part 2	Algorithms and Digitizing Information
Chapter 7	To Err is Human: An Introduction to Debugging	179
	Precision: The High Standards of IT	181
	Exactly How Accurate is "Precise"?	181
	Debugging: What's the Problem?	182
	A Dialog About Debugging	185
	Debugging Recap	188
	Butterflies and Bugs: A Case Study	189
	No Printer Output: A Classic Scenario	196
	Summary	199
	Exercises	200
Chapter 8	Bits and the "Why" of Bytes: Representing Information Digitally	203
	Digitizing Discrete Information	205
	Encoding with Dice	207
	The Fundamental Representation of Information	212
	Hex Explained	216
	Digitizing Text	218
	The Oxford English Dictionary	222
	Summary	227
	Exercises	229
Chapter 9	Following Instructions: Principles of Computer Operation	233
	Instruction Execution Engines	235
	The Fetch/Execute Cycle	237
	Anatomy of a Computer	239
	The Program Counter: The PC's PC	244
	Instruction Interpretation	245
	Cycling the F/E Cycle	248
	Many, Many Simple Operations	251
	Integrated Circuits	255
	How Semiconductor Technology Works	258
	Combining the Ideas	261
	Summary	262
	Exercises	264
Chapter 10	What's the Plan? Algorithmic Thinking	267
	Algorithm: A Familiar Idea	269
	An Algorithm: Alphabetize CDs	274
	Analyzing Alphabetize CDs Algorithm	278
	Abstraction in Algorithmic Thinking	281
	Summary	285
	Exercises	286
Chapter 11	Sound, Light, Magic: Representing Multimedia Digitally	289
	Digitizing Color	291
	Computing on Representations	298
	Digitizing Sound	301
	Digital Images and Video	305
	Optical Character Recognition	306
	Virtual Reality: Fooling the Senses	307
	Bits Are It	309
	Summary	311
	Exercises	312
	Interview	315
Part 3	Data and Information
Chapter 12	Computers in Polite Society: Social Implications of IT	321
	Improving the Effectiveness of Email	323
	Expect the Unexpected	327
	Creating Good Passwords	330
	Viruses and Worms	334
	Protecting Intellectual Property	338
	Ensuring the Reliability of Software	343
	Summary	345
	Exercises	347
Chapter 13	Getting to First Base: Introduction to Database Concepts	351
	Tables: "You Can Look It Up"	353
	Database Tables	353
	Defining a Database Table	357
	Operations on Tables	360
	Join Operation	367
	Summary	370
	Exercises	371
Chapter 14	A Table with a View: Database Queries	375
	Designing the Physical Database	377
	The Database Schema	378
	Queries: Creating Views	382
	A Query Language: SQL	385
	Entity Relationships Diagrams	387
	Summary	389
	Exercises	390
Chapter 15	HAI! Adventure Database: Case Study in Database Design	395
	Strategy for Building a Database	397
	The HAI! Adventure Businesses	398
	Perform a Needs Analysis	400
	Approximate/Revise the DB Design	401
	Implement The Physical DB Design	408
	Design the Logical Database	408
	Implement the Logical Database Design	413
	Implement the GUIs	417
	Extending a Database: Lessons and Tours	417
	Summary	424
	Exercises	426
Chapter 16	Working Online: eCommerce and Interactive Networking	429
	Challenges of eCommerce	431
	The Challenge of Variation	432
	Structure of the Setting	433
	Discrete Events	436
	Transactions Do the Work	442
	The Standards Case	444
	Redundancy is Very, Very, Very Good	447
	Summary	450
	Exercises	451
Chapter 17	Shhh, It's a Secret: Privacy and Digital Security	455
	Privacy: Whose Information is It?	457
	A Privacy Definition	459
	Fair Information Practices	461
	Comparing Privacy Across the Atlantic	463
	The Cookie Monster	466
	Encryption and Decryption	469
	Public Key Cryptosystems	472
	RSA Public Key Cryptosystem	474
	Summary	480
	Exercises	481
	Interview	484
Part 4	Problem Solving
Chapter 18	Get with the Program: Fundamental Concepts Expressed in JavaScript	489
	Overview: Programming Concepts	491
	Names, Values, and Variables	493
	A Variable Declaration Statement	495
	Three Basic Data Types of JavaScript	497
	The Assignment Statement	500
	An Expression and Its Syntax	503
	A Conditional Statement	507
	The Espresso Program	511
	Summary	514
	Exercises	516
Chapter 19	The Bean Counter: A JavaScript Program	521
	Preliminaries	523
	Background for the GUI	525
	Create the Graphical User Interface	529
	Event-based Programming	532
	Critiquing the Bean Counter	536
	Recap of the Bean Counter Application	537
	Summary	539
	Exercises	540
Chapter 20	Thinking Big: Abstraction and Functions	543
	Abstraction	545
	Creating a JS Function: convertC2F ()	546
	Applying Functions	548
	JavaScript Rules for Functions	553
	The Memory Bank Web Page	559
	Improving the Memory Bank Page	564
	Add Final Touches to Memory Bank	569
	Summary	573
	Exercises	575
Chapter 21	Once is Not Enough: Iteration Principles	579
	Iteration: Play It Again, Sam	581
	JavaScript Rules for for Loops	584
	The Fundamental Principle of Iteration	587
	Experiments with Flipping Electronic Coins	588
	Indexing	591
	Arrays	593
	The Busy Animation	594
	Summary	599
	Exercises	601
Chapter 22	The Smooth Motion: Case Study Algorithmic Problem Solving	605
	The Smooth Motion Application	607
	Planning Smooth Motion	608
	Build the Basic Web Page GUI	611
	Animate the Grid	612
	The Best Laid Plans...	619
	Build Controls	619
	Sense the Keys	620
	Staircase Detection	623
	Assemble Overall Design	625
	Primp the Design	626
	Summary	629
	Exercises	631
Chapter 23	Computers Can Do Almost {[square]Everything, [square]Nothing]}: Limits to Computation	635
	Can Computers Think?	637
	Acting Intelligently?	639
	Acting Creatively	644
	The Universality Principle	646
	More Work, Slower Speed	651
	How Hard Can a Problem Be?	653
	Summary	655
	Exercises	656
Chapter 24	Commencement: A Fluency Summary	661
	Two Big Ideas of IT	663
	Fluency: Less is More	664
	Lifelong Learning in IT	666
	Shifting For Yourself	669
	Exercises	670
	Interview	673
Appendix A	Html Reference	675
Appendix B	Javascript Programming Rules	680
Appendix C	Bean Counter Program	687
Appendix D	Memory Bank Code	690
Appendix E	Smooth Motion Program	694
	Glossary	697
	Answers to Selected Questions	709
	Index	721