Different Data Types

There are different types of General Purpose Package. Each has been developed to handle particular data types. The most common of the different data types are:-

	Type of data	Main package
	1. Text	Word processing – you can use your other packages to store text: databases can store text items like names and addresses, spreadsheets and graphics packages use text to label columns of figures and drawings.
	2. Numbers	Spreadsheet (eg Excel) – spreadsheets are designed for storing numbers and performing calculations on them using formulae. Other packages can store numbers: for example a database can store numbers and use formulae; word-processing packages have page-numbering features.
	3. Graphics	Drawing and painting packages – you can, of course, find graphics in the other packages: word processing, spreadsheet and database packages can all contain graphics.
Some other increasingly common data types.
	4. Audio	Multimedia and web page creation packages can handle sound files ( eg. Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Powerpoint).
	5. Photographic	Graphics packages, multimedia and presentation packages (eg. Macromedia Fireworks, Dreamweaver and Powerpoint.)
	6. Animation	Word processing, presentation and multimedia, web page creation, graphics. (eg. Macromedia Fireworks, Flash, Powerpoint)
	7. Video	Multimedia and web page creation packages.

What you have to do!

1. Create a 2 column table in your "Data & File Types" document that you created earlier. Under suitable headings.
   1. In the left column list the different data types, and;
   2. In the right column match to each data type to the General Purpose Package used in school for processing that data. eg. for processing text we use Microsoft Word.

What you should be able to do!

1. Match each data type to a suitable General Purpose Package.