"Computer? Revolutionize the world?" Tiffania repeated the word her brother just said. For her, it was hard to grasp the concept of what Alexander is trying to point out here.
"Yes, and you are sitting in front of it right now. It's one of the major inventions the Imperial Dynamic Systems ever created," Alexander said, waving his hand as if to emphasize each word he speaks. "Let me use it for a second."
Alexander went behind her back and leaned forward as he reached for Tiffania's hand. Tiffania turned around to look at him with confusion. What is he doing? His face is close...! She internally squealed and is beginning to feel dizzy and flustered.
Then, his brother's hands are on top of hers, gently gripping it and moving it to the far right corner of the. Her cheeks began to redden and her focus slowly whittled down until she could only focus on her brother's hands that were enveloping hers.
"Oi Tiffania, don't look at my hands look at the screen," Alexander's voice broke through the silence making her snap out of it.
"Sorry," Tiffania shifted her attention to the screen and found out that the arrow symbol on the screen was nowhere to be seen. "Where is it? The arrow thingy?"
"That's called the cursor and it's on the far right corner of the screen. Geez, you should keep your attention on what's in front of you, and don't be distracted," Alexander sighed loudly.
"I already said sorry brother," Tiffania replied and faced the screen again. "So, what should we do next?"
"The hardware that we are holding right now is called the mouse. It's a movable device that controls the cursor in the graphical user interface. The graphical user interface is what you're seeing in front of you. So, click the left mouse button and see the magic," Alexander instructed after giving a brief explanation.
Tiffania clicked the left mouse button and almost immediately, the computer-aided design application disappeared from the screen, changing to the home screen.
"It disappeared!" Tiffania exclaimed in surprise.
"You can bring it back by clicking on the icon of the application. Simply hover the cursor across the screen and once your cursor is on top of the application, you tap the left mouse button again and it will appear on the screen."
Tiffania did what she was told and to her surprise, the application did return to the screen, though it took twenty seconds to open.
"Now, the application you are looking at is an application called computer-aided design, or CAD for short. It allows engineers and architects to design an array of things such as floor plans and schematics. It is a useful tool but sadly, only a few percent of engineers working in the IDS are capable of using it. It's why I'm investing millions of rubles in seminar programs teaching generations how to operate a computer," Alexander continued. "So what sets it apart from the drafting room is that if you make a mistake or there is some modification, you'll have to redraw it again. On the computer, you don't need that. You can undo what you did. And if they want a modification, they can modify it on the screen."
Tiffania listened attentively as her brother explained all the things that are happening on her screen.
"If you want to send a copy of your work to your chief engineer, you'll simply save your work as a file and send it to him."
After saying that, Alexander released himself and stepped back.
"Wait, how is that possible? You can send a file via computers?" Tiffania asked in shock.
"Yep and we are the first. How come the cables and mainframe connect to the main servers which are located in the basement," Alexander explained but that didn't give her the answer at all.
"Wait, so you save the drawing as a file, how is it that the receiving end will receive the same file?" Tiffania followed another.
"Well, every digital data is expressed as bytes, which are composed of eight binary digits. Bytes represent all sorts of data such as letters, pictures, videos, audio, et cetera. The binary digits are composed of one and zero and..." Alexander trailed off when he noticed his little sister's face contort into a grimace. He knew this expression well and it usually means "I don't understand what you are saying".
"I guess I'll have to include this in our lessons. Logical connectives would be a pain in the ass for you but I believe you."
"Will that be as hard as integration?" Tiffania asked.
Alexander hummed. "Yes, because logic is confusing, literally. Without logic, computer science will not be born and if computer science doesn't exist, so does computer engineering. Without computer science, we won't be facing this computer right now."
"I see," Tiffania murmured and turned her eyes back to her screen. "I must say, this computer stuff, I want to learn more about it. It's as interesting as civil and mechanical engineering."
"You will and when the time comes, this computer will make a debut to the world. Though, it already debuted, in the military that is."
"You mean the military is now using this computer? I thought this was like a secret technology..."
"Yes the military uses it but theirs are years behind compared to this computer," Alexander answered. "Okay, moving forward, in order for you to fully understand this, let's try an example. You are familiar with typewriter machines right?"
"Yes, I use it when I was writing my research papers," Tiffania replied.
"Actually, there is an application that does just that. But instead of loading a piece of paper before writing, in this application, you can have as much paper as you want. Let me open the application first so you can follow what I'm doing."
"Sure," Tiffania nodded and waited patiently while Alexander did his things.
Moments later, a white blank page appeared on the screen.
"The application is called the word processor. Now I want you to write your full name, Tiffania," Alexander instructed. "Just think of the keyboard as the keys of the typewriter. It has similar placement so you won't get confused."
Tiffania wrote her name on the screen by typing in the keys that spell out her name.
"Good," Alexander clapped his hands. "Okay a question to you, if you are writing on a typewriter and misspelled a word, what do you do?"
"Uhm...I use correction fluids and or write it all over again..."
"You can say goodbye to that as there's a handy key that will make that problem go away, forever. Do you see that 'backspace' key in the far right corner? There, I want you to press it."
Tiffania pressed the key and one letter was erased from the screen. "Woah." She pressed it again and another disappeared. And again but this time, without letting go of the backspace key. Her name disappeared on the screen almost in an instant.``
"Wow. This is groundbreaking…!" Tiffania whispered.
"Okay, I think this is enough. We have taken so much time from our man here. Let's go to Tiffania, let's head to another place," Alexander said and glanced at the engineer. "Thank you for your time."
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