There are hundreds of other programming language and neither one is better than the other. Most of them are capable of performing the same tasks and achieving the same goals. A programmer chooses one language by a simple preference. Each of these languages differ by the way they communicate with a computer however, and the commands that they follow are very specific. zip or .sit file and have the program extract its contents into a new folder for you. Compressing Files When you want to upload a file or email a collection of files to a friend, it's best to archive it as a .zip or .sit file first. This will decrease the time it takes for your computer to send it elsewhere, and it will also decrease the time it takes for someone else to download it. For fun, let's investigate just how little knowledge these thousand-dollar machines actually require. Can an absolute newbie operate a computer without knowing how to use a mouse or keyboard? Assuming that a computer is set up to operate on voice command - sure! Voice command software allows users to tell a computer what to do and the computer responds by fulfilling the user's commands. The only way to get an MS-DOS computer to do something was to type a command at this prompt and if you can imagine, it was a rather cumbersome way to use a computer. As an example, to load up Microsoft's simple editing program, you had to type the name of the drive that the program was on, the directory that the program was in, and then the name of the program. The following list defines some of the most common extensions that you'll find on your computer. .au - This extension indicates a sound file. Most sound players will load up and play this kind of file. .art - This extension indicates an image file that was compressed with AOL (America Online) technology. One of the easiest and least expensive things you can do to extend the life of your computer is to get rid of unnecessary programs, folders, and files. A disk drive that's clogged with unnecessary and unused files is disk drive that works harder than it has to. Although Window's defrag system can ease some of the stress that these files place onto the drive, it doesn't do much to get rid of the problem in the first place.