Task 7. Tick the modal verbs that complete each of the sentences in this passage. One, two or all of them may be possible.

There shouldn’t / might not / ought not (1) be a comma before the ‘who’ in this sentence, Kostas. Oh yes, you may well / might well / will well (2) say that writing English is not important for you. But you could / may / might (3) have to write a dissertation in English one day. Punctuation and spelling should / could / may (4) be quite a serious problem for you. But it can / should / could (5) always be possible for you to get full stops in the right place. And it can’t / shouldn’t / mustn’t (6) be that difficult to spell most short words more or less correctly. You may / must / might (7) not have realised how flexible English is. For example, you may / should / can (8) find ‘organisation’ spelt with an ‘s’ or ‘z’. It makes life easier, doesn’t it?

Task 8. Complete the sentences using modal verbs.

1. Before you start to make a web site, you ….. decide how to organize the content.
2. A source program …… be directly processed by the computer until it has been compiled.
3. The documentation …… include a statement of the purpose of the program, a description of the solution logic, a listing of the program instructions, and sample outputs from the completed programs.
4. …… I use your laptop? I need to print out this report.
5. With a web page editor you …… create a web document easily.
6. If I knew the Java language, I …… include some attractive banners on my web page.
7. I …… to make a back-up copy.
8. The logical structure of the data …… be different from the way it is physically represented on backing store media.
9. No goto statements …… to be used in writing code.
10. A graphical user interface saves a lot of time: you don't need to memorize commands in order to execute an application; you only …… to point and click so that its content appears on the screen.
11. The instructions …… follow the steps of the program logic plan.
12. Organizations using data base management systems …… choose to generate programs using the query language of the DBMS.
13. Computer consultants …… specialize in too narrow a field.
14. Programmers …… to know a range of up-to-date languages.
15. Before IBM set the standard for PCs, software houses …… write different versions of their programs for every make of computer.
16. When he was a schoolboy, Bill Gates …… write programs in BASIC.
17. Most website designers …… use HTML and XML.
18. You …… learn COBOL unless you want to work with business software.
19. To gain access to the Internet you …… first open an account with the Internet service provider or a commercial online service provider.
20. Your computer …… be infected by many different viruses.

 

Reading & Speaking

Task 9. Work in pairs, Student A and Student B.

1. What can you recommend to a person who wants to start studying programming?

 

2. Student A read ‘Best Programming Language to Start with’ on page 90 and find out the answers to these questions.

a) Why do technical universities choose C as the first programming language to teach their students?

b) Why do other universities insert computer programming as a part of the required student curricula?

c) Why isn’t C always the best choice?

d) What should one take into account when choosing a programming language to study?

 

Student B read ‘Alice Teaches Kids to Program’ on page 93 and find out the answers to these questions.

a) Where was Alice developed?

b) What is special about Alice?

c) How does this software work?

d) Who is this program aimed at?

 

3. Cover the article. Student A tell Student B about ‘Best Programming Language to Start with’. Student B tell Student A about ‘Alice Teaches Kids to Program’.

 

4. Read the text that you didn’t read before. Did your partner leave out any important information?

 

5. Do you think these articles provide valuable information?

Speaking

 

Task 10. Work in pairs and both look at the pictures on pages 94 and 95.

 

1. In this activity, Student A and Student B will each talk about different pictures showing a process of creating a computer program.

 

· Describe the scene in the picture fairly briefly, suggesting what problem might occur.

· Comment on the steps in computer program development, different types of errors and ways to avoid or deal with these kinds of errors.

 

Student A should talk about picture A on page 94.

Student B should talk about picture B on page 95.

 

1. When you have both finished speaking, you should comment on what your partner has said, saying if you agree or disagree.