Oracle

What is Oracle Database 10g Express Edition?

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) is a free, downloadable version of the world's most capable relational database. Oracle Database XE is easy to install and easy to manage. With Oracle Database XE, you use the Database Home Page, an intuitive browser-based interface, to administer the database; create tables, views, and other schema objects; import, export, and view table data; run queries and SQL scripts; and generate reports. Oracle Database XE includes Oracle HTML DB 2.1, a declarative, graphical development environment for creating database-centric Web applications. In addition to HTML DB 2.1, you can use popular Oracle and third-party languages and tools to develop your Oracle Database XE applications.

Sinhala Aurudu

NEW CAR

Advantages of Using Oracle

Oracle has many advantages and features that makes it popular and thereby makes it as the world's largest enterprise software company. Oracle comes with new versions with new features implemented in new version while the features of earlier versions still being maintained. One important aspect is Oracle databases tend to be backwards compatible. Also when Oracle releases a new version, their documentation contains a list of all the features new to that version thus makes it user friendly for one to learn thenew features.

Oracle takes a lead role because of some of the following reasons:

Oracle is used for almost all large application and one of the main applications in which oracle takes its major presence is banking. In fact ten of the world’s top 10 banks run Oracle applications this is because oracle offers a powerful combination of technology and comprehensive, pre-integrated business applications, including key functionality built specifically for banks.

Some similar databases like Sybase, SQL-Server one have facilities for using loops, conditions, arrays and so on in a program and also facilities like cursors and temp tables but all this would be used in a convoluted fashion which are very slow and resource consuming operations. The operations are not implemented as inOracle which is efficient enough.

Also with the features available in oracle with the earlier versions in market the oracle company keeps upgrading and releasing new products into market, new versions releases which serves better than the earlier versions and thus the performance is improved much in later versions and thereby retaining the market growth and thus proves greater satisfaction to the customers using this technology. Thus the advantage of a higher version is that one would have more features and better capabilities.

For instance oracle 8i version has many new features which helped users namely like with oracle 8i one could run Java in the database, had features like new features on partitioning to support large database and so on. With the next version 9i oracle had these facilities maintained and had more new facilities added to it namely like new features added to help the DBA to handle change database configuration and so on.

Oracle is a database that responds very well with excellent performance in demanding environments. Oracle is a major database which along with its added features passes the ACID test, which is important in insuring the integrity of data. This is very important because data is the heart of any system in organization. A reliable and adequate database system has the following properties:

Atomicity:
That is Results of a transaction's execution are either all committed or all rolled back.

Consistency:
The database is transformed from one valid state to another valid state. Illegal transactions aren't allowed and, if an integrity constraint can't be satisfied then the transaction is rolled back.

Isolation:
The results of a transaction are invisible to other transactions until the transaction is complete thus increasing the security on data.

Durability:
Once committed (completed), the results of a transaction are permanent and survive future system and media failures and thus ensuring maintenance and protection of data.

All the above are well maintained by Oracle database.

The latest version oracle 10g has many features and one new feature is the introduction of recycle bin. This option when enabled could be used by users just like Windows recycle bin or Mac Trash. Dropped tables go "into" the recycle bin, and can be restored from the recycle bin.

One of the main advantage of oracle over other databases is in its recent version oracle has the concept of Flashback technology. That is we all know that data is the heart of any application or organization and thus this requires careful maintenance. But sometimes application outage can occur and mostly DBA claim the reasons for this as hardware failure and apart from this the reason would be human errors like accidental deletion of valuable data, deleting the wrong data, or dropping the wrong table. So it is very essential to take care of such situation and this is done in oracle's latest technology called flash introduced in its latest version. By Flash technology it helps in recovery by working just on the changed data. Thus Flashback provides an

• Efficient recovery from human errors
• Faster database recovery
• Helps in simplifying the management and administration processes

and so on.

යුනිකෝඩ් වනාහි …

යුනිකෝඩ්

පරිගණක පද්ධතියෙන් ස්වායක්තව,
පරිගණක වැඩසටහනෙන් ස්වායක්තව,
හා භාෂාවෙන් ස්වායක්තව
සෑම අක්‍ෂරයකටම ඊටම අනන්‍ය වූ අංකයක් ලබා දේ.

පරිගණක මූලිකව අංක මගින් එහි කටයුතු සිදු කරයි. ඒවා වචන හා අක්‍ෂරවලට නොයෙකුත් අංක නියම කොට ඒ අංක ගබඩා කිරීම මගින් වචන හා අකුරුද ගබඩා කර ගනී. යුනිකෝඩ් ක්‍රමය සොයා ගැනීමට පෙර මෙසේ අකුරුවලට අංක නියම කිරීමට කේතන පද්ධති ඉතා විශාල ගණනක් පැවතුනි. උදාහරණයක් ලෙස යුරෝපීය සංගමයට පමණක් ඔවුන්ගේ භාෂා කේතන ක්‍රම රාශියක් අවශ්‍ය විය. එසේම එක් භාෂාවක් වන ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාව සඳහා එහි සියලු අක්‍ෂර, විරාම ලකුණු සහ තාක්‍ෂණික සංකේත සඳහා එක් කේතන ක්‍රමයක් නොසෑහුනි. තවද මෙම කේනත ක්‍රම එකිනෙක හා ගැටුනි. එනම් වෙනස් කේතන ක්‍රම 2කට එකම අංකය වෙනස් අක්‍ෂර දෙකකට හෝ වෙනස් අංක දෙකක් එකම අක්‍ෂරයකට යෙදිය හැක. වෙනස් කේතන ක්‍රම භාවිතයේදී ඕනෑම පරිගණකයක් (විශේෂයෙන්ම සර්වර් පරිගණක) වෙනස් කේතන ක්‍රම කීපයක් සමග ක්‍රියා කළ යුතු වේ; එහෙයින් දත්ත වෙනස් කේතන ක්‍රම හෝ පරිගණක පද්ධති හරහා ගමන් ගැනීමේදී කේතන ක්‍රමවල වෙනස හේතුවෙන් එමදත්ත විනාශ වීමට හෝ අපවිත්‍ර වීමට ඉඩ ඇත.

යුනිකෝඩ් ක්‍රමය මේ සියල්ල දැන් වෙනස් ‍කරමින් පවතී!

යුනිකෝඩ් ක්‍රමය පරිගණක පද්ධතියෙන් ස්වායක්තව, පරිගණක වැඩසටහනෙන් ස්වායක්තව හා භාෂාවෙන් ස්වායක්තව සෑම අක්‍ෂරකයකටම ඊටම අනන්‍ය වූ අංකයක් ලබා දේ. තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්‍ෂණ කර්මාන්තයේ පතාක යෝදයින් වන Apple, HP, IBM , Just System, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Sun, Sybase, Unisys සහ තවත් බොහෝ අය විසින් යුනිකෝඩ් ප්‍රමිතිය යොදා ගෙන ඇත. තවද නවීන ප්‍රමිතීන් වන XML, Java, ECMAScript (Java Script), LDAP, CORBA 3.0, WML ආදිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා යුනිකෝඩ් අවශ්‍ය වේ. එසේම ISO/IEC 10646 ප්‍රමිතිය හෙවත් විශ්ව අක්‍ෂර පද්ධතිය සඳහා වූ ප්‍රමිතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට යුනිකෝඩ් ක්‍රමය නිල ක්‍රමවේදය ලෙස යොදා ගැනේ බොහෝ පරිගණක මෙහෙයුම් පද්ධතිවල සියලුම නවීන වෙබ් බ්‍රවුසර සහ වෙනත් පරිගණක නිපැයුම් රාශියක් යුනිකෝඩ් ක්‍රමය හා අනුකූල වේ. යුනිකෝඩ් ප්‍රමිතිය භාවිතය සහ එයට සහාය වන මෙවලම් ඇතිවීම මෑතකදී ඇති වූ ගෝලීය මෘදුකාංග තාක්‍ෂණ ප්‍රවණතා අතුරින් වඩාත්ම කැපී පෙනෙන විකාශනයකි. පැරණි පද්ධතිවලින් උරුම වූ සම්ප්‍රදායික අක්‍ෂර පද්ධති වෙනුවට සේවාදායක - සේවාලාභී (client – server) පරිගණක පද්ධති සඳහා හෝ බහු-ස්ථර (multi-tiered) යෙදුම් හෝ වෙබ් අඩවි සඳහා යුනිකෝඩ් අක්‍ෂර ක්‍රමය යොදා ගැනීම සැලකිය යුතු මුල්‍ය ඉතිරි කිරීමක් උදා කරයි. තනි මෘදුකාංග නිපැයුමක් හෝ තනි වෙබ් අඩවියක් ප්‍රතිනිර්මාණයෙන් තොරව බහු පරිගණක පද්ධති (වේදිකා) බහු භාෂා සහ රටවල් හරහා ඉලක්ක කොට ගලා යාමේ හැකියාව යුනිකෝඩ් විසින් ලබා දේ. එය එකිනෙකට වෙනස් වූ බොහෝ පරිගණක පද්ධති හරහා දත්ත විනාශ වීමකින් හෝ අපවිත්‍ර වීමකින් තොර ව දත්ත ප්‍රවාහනය කිරීමේ හැකියාව සපයයි. මෙය http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html වෙබ් පිටුවේ දැක්වෙන අන්තර්ගතයෙහි පරිවර්තනයකි

Recent Developments

The past few years have seen many new developments in the computer industry. As the years have progressed, computers have become smaller and smaller. Laptops and handheld computers have slowly evolved. Weighing anywhere between 4 ounces and 6 pounds, these laptops and handhelds are the very essence of the computer world today. Have fun exploring some of the new innovations found throughout the world today!

DVD

Although not an extremely new invention, the DVD player has just been coming into popularity recently as more and more movies are coming out in DVD and as more and more of the general public are buying DVD players. Also, it is just recently that DVD players have been being built into computers.

DVD, which stands for Digital Video Disc (or Digital Versatile Disc) is similar to a CD, but it is much faster and bigger (not in physical size, but in storage space and capacity). It can play movies just like the movies seen at the showcase cinemas and at the movie theaters. The movies are played with sharp images and great sounds! The DVD has a realistic picture and it plays on a 16 X 9 Enhanced Cinemascope Panoramic Deluxe Ana orphic Wide screen. In English, this means that the DVD player can play movies on a 16 X 9 screen. This creates an effect similar to the one found at the movie theater! Furthermore, the DVD player can hold computer data. It strives to create a single digital format for all home entertainment systems and computers.

The concept of a DVD player was first developed in 1995. The present-day DVD format is formed as a result of a combination of two DVD proposals. Sony, Phillips, as well as other companies made the first, while the second was made by Toshiba, Matsushita, Time Warner, and various others. With the emergence of the new DVD format, it is now officially decided that the DVD was developed by ten companies: Hitachi, UVC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Thomson, Time Warner, and Toshiba. Now, DVDs are not only played on the television screen, but they are also played on computers. Computers built by companies like Apple, IBM, Compaq, and Dell have built-in DVD players while companies such as Intel and Microsoft provide DVD playback hardware and software!

Pentium 4 Processor

Microprocessors (also known as the central processing unit or CPU) are the very heart of computers. It is up to the microprocessors to interpret and execute instructions and to perform operations. Throughout the years, scientists have found ways to compress more and more information onto the small silicon chip we call a microprocessor. The Pentium 4, developed by Intel, is a new super-fast processor. It is the successor to Intel's other famous processors, the Pentium 1, 2, and 3. Intel's Pentium microprocessors are found in nearly all personal computers! The Pentium 4 is a new microprocessor with amazing capabilities! It can operate at speeds of up to 1.80 GHz, which is extremely fast! It can also convert MP3s extremely fast, and with an enhanced multimedia support, it can additionally encode videos at high speeds. The Pentium 4 allows for realistic 3D affects and smooth animation in computer games. With time, the Pentium 4 will replace the Pentium 1s, 2s, and 3s in personal computers. Computers will be operating at amazing heights!

Intel Wireless Series

The company, Intel, has developed a series of wireless peripherals for computers. All of these allow for easy and comfortable computer usage.

Base Station

The Base Station is at the very heart of the Intel Wireless Series. All the wireless peripherals connect to the computer via the Base Station. This product allows for the connection of up to eight other wireless products to a personal computer and to the Internet.

Wireless Keypad

The Wireless Keypad is a keypad that does not need to be connected to the computer via wires! It can operate anywhere within a 3 meter radius of the Base Station, and it even includes a folding palm rest! The Wireless Keyboard is designed for as much comfort to the user as possible. It allows for more movement and can be placed at a comfortable location. This keyboard also includes special multimedia keys and it connects to the computer via a PS/2 or USB connection.

Wireless Mouse

The Wireless Mouse, like the Wireless Keyboard is specifically designed for comfort and mobility. It can be positioned anywhere within a 3 meter radius of the Base Station. This maximizes the comfort of the user. In addition, the mouse contains a scrolling wheel and three programmable buttons.

Game Pad

The Game Pad consists of controllers that are specially designed for various computer games. Like the mouse and keyboard, it, too, works anywhere within a 3 meter radius of the Base Station and is designed for comfort. Its sleek design and customizable controls allow for the greatest comfort for its users and its target precision and character profile sharing make it easy to use. In addition, the Game Pad allows for multiple players!

Call-Waiting Modem

Have you ever been annoyed by the fact that whenever you go online, you can't receive phone calls? Well, Actiontec Electronics, Inc. designed a call-waiting feature on modems. This feature screens incoming phone calls while you are online. You can either choose to ignore the call if you feel that it is un-important, or you can choose to pick up the phone and talk with whoever is calling. Choosing to pick up the phone will not drop the Internet connection! Previously, there had been a feature on modems that would put the modem on hold. This means that all Internet activity would be paused while you talk with a friend, your parents, your boss, etc. However, with the new call-waiting feature, the Internet connection would not be interrupted at all!

Mac OS X

The Mac OS X is an easy-to-use operating system developed by Apple, Inc. It is fast and has an easy navigation system. It has an interface that includes a custom toolbar, which gives users many options and choices. This allows the user to choose what best suits his or her taste! The Mac OS X also has a UNIX-based foundation called Darwin. Using Darwin, the memory architecture is protected. This means that separate applications have separate areas in the memory, and thus if one application gets messed up, the computer does not need to restart in order to work properly. This makes it easy for multi-tasking.

iTunes, iMovie 2, and iDVD

Apple, Inc. recently designed the new software, iTunes, iMovie 2, and iDVD. These maximize computer experiences by allowing for all sorts of easy-to-use functions and operations. They are the very essence of computers today!

iTunes

iTunes is a software used to operate with all sorts of MP3 functions. It can import music from CDs to MP3s and it can also create libraries of MP3s. It can be used to burn CDs with music specifically designed by the user, and it can also be used to browse radio stations. Using iTunes, the user can listen to radio stations broadcasting anything from country to pop to jazz to classical! Most importantly, iTunes plays all the music smoothly and with a great effect!

iMovies

iMovies is a software used to make desktop movies. Users can make their own movies, and then they can add special visual and sound effects. Once finished, they can share their awesome creations with friends and family!

iDVD

iDVD allows users to make their own DVDs. The DVDs created are not some poor-quality products, but actually have many of the same features as Hollywood created DVDs! The general public can now create their very own high-quality movies!

iMac

The iMac is a user-friendly Macintosh developed by Apple, Inc. It is appealing to the general public because of its availability in spiffy colors, such as Indigo, Flower Power, Blue Dalmatian, and Graphite. In addition, it has some of Apple's software, iTunes and iMovies 2, installed. It also uses Apple's famous operating system, Mac OS X and the Apple Pro Mouse and Apple Pro Keyboard. The Apple Pro Keyboard has 108 keys, some of which include special keys that when pressed, can adjust the audio volume, can mute the speakers, and can eject CDs from the drive. In addition, the keyboard contains a flip-out foot that allows for it to be placed at a comfortable angle. The iMac also comes with a built-in 56K modem.

iBook

The iBook is one of Apple, Inc.'s newest laptop computers! Weighing only 4.9 pounds, it is two pounds lighter than any of Apple's previous laptops! The iBook is also smaller than previous laptops. It is only 11.2 inches wide, 9.1 inches deep, and 1.35 inches thick. The iBook is equipped with three of Apple's new software, iTunes, iMovie, and iTools, and because of this, it brings new dimensions to MP3 players, to CDs, and to digital cameras. The iBook is also extremely powerful with its 500 MHz Power PC processor and with its 256 K on-chip cache. In addition, this laptop has a 1024 X 768 pixel resolution and is on the market for $1,299.

Power Mac G4

The Power Mac G4, designed by Apple, Inc. is one of Apple's most powerful computers. It can operate at speeds of up to 733 MHz and it has an improved system architecture. This laptop has a new 133 MHz system bus that can move data at extremely high speeds-1 gigabyte per second, to be exact. Finally, it has a built-in Gigabit Ethernet. This is used to transport large files across the LAN, or local area network, quickly. Local area networks are groups of personal computers that are connected together so they can share files. With the Gigabit Ethernet, these shares files can be transported from one PC to another quickly.

Powerbook G4

The Powerbook G4 is a small, compact, lightweight laptop. It is only 1 in. thick and weighs a mere 5.3 pounds. It is the first notebook computer to be made of 99.5% commercially pure titanium. It has a built-in DVD player and can operate at speeds of up to 500 MHz. It has 30 gigabytes of RAM and built-in microphone and stereo sound output. In addition, its 15.2 wide screen and 1152 X 768 pixel resolution optimizes video, graphics, and multimedia applications.

IBM ThinkPad

The IBM ThinkPad is an extremely light and portable laptops. It clocks in at only 3.1 pounds and is only 1 inch thick. It is wireless and allows for cable-free Internet connectivity! This laptop computer demonstrates the modern ideology of light and portable personal computers.

Handheld Computers

With more and more information being compressed into one small silicon chip, the only place for computers to go is down-that is, down in size; down in size from the large room-sized computers of the early 1900s to the smaller desktop computers to the portable laptop computers. However, there are still even smaller computers being developed today! These tiny computers are known as handheld computers. They are pocket-sized and can fit in your palm! Most of these tiny products contain many of the same features as desktop computers, but they do not contain all of them. They can be used to check e-mail and to write documents. Some good examples of these computers are the Dell Visor Deluxe, which contain 8 MB RAM for storage and which have great organizational skills, and the IBM Work Pad, which have an advanced monochrome display and 8 MB of storage.

Fourth Generation Computers (1971-Present)

The 4th generation computers are marked by the usage of integrated circuits and microprocessors. As the years passed, computers became smaller and smaller, and their prices became lower and lower. Millions of components could be placed onto a single silicon chip. Computers became more efficient and more reliable, and they could perform more and more operations. They began to catch the eye of the general public, and soon more sophisticated software and equipment were designed. Networks became commonplace, and the whole world was connected by the Internet and by the World Wide Web.

1971: Intel 4004

The Intel 4004 is a 4-bit microprocessor. Microprocessors are integrated circuits that contain thousands and millions of transistors. The Intel 4004 is the essence of a general-purpose computer. It performed many input and output operations and was also able to read and respond to instructions stored in its memory. The microprocessor was able to group all the components of a computer, including the CPU, or central processing unit, the memory, and the input and output controls on a single chip. The Intel 4004 was first used on March 2, 1972 in the Pioneer 10 space probe.

1972: Intel 8008

In November of 1972, Intel came out with a new 8-bit processor, known as the Intel 8008.

1974: Intel 8080

The Intel 8080 is a re-engineered version of the Intel 8008. It had a larger and more versatile instruction set.

1975: Altair 8800

The Altair 8800 is often called the first personal computer. It was developed by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS), a small company centered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Altair 8800 was sold as an electronic hobbyist kit for only $397. The Altair computers were of blue box-shaped machines with dimensions of 17 inches by 18 inches by 7 inches. They were very simple, and so in complex that they did not even have a keyboard or display. These computers did not even have enough memory to perform any useful tasks. The Altair 8800 used an Intel 8080 microprocessor and had switches on the front panel for input and rows of neon light bulbs for the output. These lights were known as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. It is hard to believe, but it is the in-complexity of the Altair 8800 that helped to establish the personal computer industry. Because of its limitations, the Altair allowed for other companies to refine the computer and do develop more software.

One such example of software developed for the Altair 8800 is the development of a version of the programming language, BASIC, for this computer. BASIC was a popular programming language used by many minicomputers and other machines. It was simple and easy to develop. The BASIC programming language designed for the Altair was developed by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the cofounders of the software giant, Microsoft.

Microsoft was not the only company to develop programs and software for the Altair. In fact, more and more companies began entering the software business by developing software and peripherals for the Altair 8800. The personal computer soon became a business machine.

1976: CP/M

Developed in 1976 by Gary Kildall of the company Digital Research, CP/M was a popular operating system that made it possible for one version of a program to run on a variety of computers.

1976: Apple II

Apple Computer was started by Stephen G. Wozniak and Steven P. Jobs. In 1976, the company introduced the Apple II to the personal computer market. The Apple II was appealing to consumers, because of its abundance of appealing software and with its well-written manuals. The computer also was able to be plugged into a standard household outlet.

1979: VisiCalc

VisiCalc, standing for Visible Calculator, is the first personal computer financial analysis tool. This software was developed by Harvard business graduate Dan Bricklin and programmer Bob Frankston. VisiCalc was able to give immediate responses to "what if" questions. It turned personal computers like the Apple II into business machines and was an overnight success.

1981: Osborne I

Invented by Adam Osborne, the Osborne I was the world's first portable computer. By today's standards, it wouldn't exactly be portable because of the fact that it weighed a whopping 24 pounds. The computer had a 5-inch display, 64 kilobytes of memory, a modem, and two 5-¼ floppy disk drives. It sold for $1,795.

1981: DN100

The DN100 was the first workstation. It was developed by Apollo Computers, and it had much more power than some of the minicomputers around at the time. It was also available for a comparatively low price.

1983: Lisa

The Lisa, invented by Apple Computer, was the first PC to use graphical user interface. It had one MB of RAM and had a 12 inch black and white monitor. The Lisa had two 5-¼ floppy disk drives, 5 MB of profile hard drive, and it used a Motorola 680000 microprocessor. Unfortunately, Lisa was never successful because of its high price and slowness.

1983: Microsoft Word

The powerful word processor used in nearly every household today, Microsoft Word, makes its debut as "Multi-Tool Word" in 1983. Microsoft Word can be used for all sorts of word-processing tasks and for creating all sorts of text documents. It is now widely used and widely distributed. Two years after introducing Word to the general public, the company, Microsoft, then introduces its now-famous Microsoft Windows.

1983: Compaq Computer Corporation

In 1983, Compaq Computer Corporation built a portable computer, a clone of the IBM PC. Looking like a sewing machine, Compaq's computer weighed 38 pounds (13 kg). Amazingly, this was considered lightweight at the time! The Compaq personal computer was compatible with the IBM personal computer, and could use software designed for IBM computers. It was an immediate success, bringing in $110 million in its first year of sales.

1984: Apple Macintosh

The Apple Macintosh was designed by Apple Computer and had many of the same features as the Lisa computer, also designed by Apple. The main goal of the Macintosh was to create a computer that would accommodate as many as Lisa's features as possible at a much lower price. It slimmed down on Lisa's high-level languages, and it also used the minimum number of chips and circuit boards needed to operate efficiently. It had graphical user interface and a user-friendly design. The computer contained software in which users could point and click with a mouse. For example, there was MacPaint and MacWrite. The Apple Macintosh used a 32-bit Motorola 68000 central processing unit and had a 9 inch black and white screen. It was first sold for $2,500.

Courtesy of the Computer Museum of America

1985: Microsoft Windows Operating System

Microsoft makes its debut with its first windows operating system. The new Apple Macintosh had shadowed the personal computers, and now the Microsoft Windows Operating System gives PC compatibles the same capacities as the Macintosh. In future years, Microsoft continued to improve its operating system, and the company soon became the dominating software company for PC compatibles.

1985: C++ Programming Language

C++ is a general-purpose programming language that was derived from the C programming language. It had many of the C's capabilities, such as the ability to efficiently deal with objects such as bits, bytes, and words and the ability to efficiently implement user-defined type.

1989: SimCity

In 1989, the popular computer game, SimCity, was developed by Will Wright and Jeff Braun. SimCity was a video game that used simulators. The player starts with a plot of land, and he or she must build houses, buildings, roads, and other objects to ensure the survival of the city. The player must provide health care, education, and public services for the inhabitants of his or her city, and periodically, challenges presented themselves in the forms of natural disasters or monster attacks. The player was forced to make decisions that would best benefit their city.

1990: Windows 3.0

In 1990, the software giant Microsoft released a new version of Windows. Windows 3.0 was the first successful version of the software. It was user-friendly and it sported a new interface with new designs that allowed personal computers to support many images and other graphical applications. Windows 3.0 included programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, and it also allowed for many of these programs to be run simultaneously. It ran on an Intel 80386 microprocessor.

1996: Deep Blue

In 1996, IBM invents a supercomputer named "Deep Blue." Able to compute more than 100 million chess positions per second, Deep Blue challenged the reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov to a chess match. Kasparov wins the match, with 3 wins, 2 ties, and 1 loss. This was the first time ever that a computer has beaten a reigning world chess champion. It brings up the question: will computers soon surpass humans in chess playing and in other aspects of intelligence?