America Exceptionalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

America Exceptionalism - Essay Example Enthusiasts of the myth of American exceptionalism need a radical change on the conception of the nation and the world around, if any efforts against racism, human right violation, and other ills are to bear fruit. The United States of America has had different descriptions in the past two centuries by some of its prominent leaders, ranging from titles like the indispensable nation, free world leader, and the best last hope of earth, the empire of liberty, and the shining city on a hill. These descriptions constitute the concept of American exceptionalism. This is an ideology that America’s political system, history, and values are unique in the universe (Jacobs). Moreover, enthusiasts of the ideology argue that the US is entitled and destined to play a positive and distinct role in the universe. The concept is an international debate among specialists and experts from all lifestyles, from law to former US government officials. Among them is Ted Bromund, a senior research fellow from Margret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Bromund advocates for the American exceptionalism ideology, mainly basing his arguments on the history of the great nation. On the other end of the debate are individuals like Harold Hongju Koh, a laws specialist and former government official in both Reagan’s and Clinton’s administrations. Koh, argues that the American exceptionalism has two facets, the good, and the bad. This paper focuses on the arguments of Koh and Bromund to assert that the American exceptionalism has both the good side and the bad side. In the article American Exceptionalism and its Enemies, Bromund strongly argues that the US is an exceptional state. Bromund begins his statement by pointing out that America has the oldest and the most capitalistic liberal democracy. He further re-asserts that it was the first nation whose foundation was on the belief of inherent human rights, also the

Marketing 100 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing 100 - Essay Example The Organic care products are consumable products and majority of its products are for young customers. The main differentiation of Organic Care products is its contents which distinguishes it from other products. Organic Care is a hair care product of ‘Natures Organics’. Organic Care is made from natural elements, instead of commonly used synthetic ingredients. This product helps to cleanse the hair and provide much nourishment. General perspective says that other shampoo brands contain chemicals which can damage the hair of the user. But Organic Care from Natures Organics provides best alternatives to chemical based shampoos. The regular chemical based shampoo is harm for hair and can cause damage to the shine. Organic Care provides good substitutes for other chemical shampoo. Organic Care provides wide range of products which provide customer the freedom to choose. The herbs and natural hair oil in organic products made them special and it can lock the soft smell and shine. Moreover, to provide more efficient customer service, the organisation uses the formula titled ‘natural miracle’ which balances the moisturizer and nourishes the health of the users’ hairs. The consumer can feel their hair soft and manageable, by using these products everyday (Buzzle 2011). 1.2 Current Pricing Price is a vital issue in marketing. The pricing of product affects the product sales and distribution. Many factors have to be considered before deciding the pricing strategy of products. At first the cost of making the product is to be identified. The price must be set in a way that it covers the cost of production and the service cost. The cost of operating the business such as variable cost also needs to be considered for example the salaries of employees, financing cost, inventory cost and others. The market research must be conducted before setting the price of product. The price of the competitors must be observed and then the optimum price ha s to be decided. The cost of Organic Care Normal Balance Conditioner 400 ml pack is 3.45 Dollar in Australia. The other hair care products of Organic Care are Normal Conditioner, Nourish Shampoo, Nourish Conditioner, Heat Protect Conditioner, Colour Shampoo, and Colour Conditioner which costs 3.45 AUD on an average (Natures Organics n.d.). Compared to other similar products, Organic Care is much cheaper. For example, the cost of Nature’s Gate Organics Shampoo is 4.8 AUD for 12 fl oz (340 ml) bottles (Organic Shampoo and Conditioner 2011); Chamomile Lemon Shampoo costs 8.07 AUD for 12 Ounce (355 ml) bottles (Vegan Essentials n.d). Avalon Organics Refreshing Shampoo costs 9.59 AUD for 11 Ounce bottles (325 ml) (Avalon Organics 2011). Desert Essence Organics Thickening Shampoo costs 9.12 AUD of 8 fl oz (237 ml). So it can be seen that Organic Care products are very cheap

Recruitment Software Specification Essay Example for Free

Recruitment Software Specification Essay Features Functionalities of Recruitment Automation Software: This is an software for the placement consultants who work for their clients to recruit the best candidate for them. This software will have three different management systems, namely Candidate Management, Client Management and Recruiters Management. Also there will be master admin who can control all these activities. Some optional modules can also be suggested for the better management of the system. The features and functionalities: 1. Candidate Management a. All the candidate’s data can be stored in the database by filling up a form in which the name, phone, email, location, qualification, experiences, keywords and other related details of the candidate can be taken. b. The resume of the candidates can also be browsed and uploaded in the system c. The entire resume and the candidate profiles can also be searched by keyword, experience, location etc. 2. Client Management a. The client details like company name, address, contact person, phone, email, designation and the other related details can be entered in the form and saved to create the master of the clients b. The MOU with a client can be digitally uploaded in the system c. The client’s open positions can be entered and assigned to any recruiter with all the details (desired profile, job responsibilities etc.) d. The shortlisted candidate’s resume can be sent to the clients for final review/interview/written test e. The offer letter format of the client can be managed and it can be given to the candidates who are selected (closed position); similar activity can be done for the notice period agreement also f. When a position is closed, the billing of the same be sent to the client (invoice) g. If the bill is not cleared by the due date, the reminder email will be sent to the client continuously each time after a certain interval till the time the admin changes the billing status as â€Å"Received† 3. Recruiters Management a. Master (name, designation, address, Date of joining, qualification, salary etc.) b. Open position assignment with a deadline  c. Recruiters should be able to update the status of the candidates after any telephonic round of interview with them d. The candidate’s profile must be separated in such a manner that multiple recruiters do not work upon a same profile e. On the log in page the recruiters should be able to see the To Do List; e.g. To Call (23), Offer Letter (7), Joining (4), Open position (3) etc. f. The recruiters should be able to send the Daily Reports (which must not take them much time with no manipulation) to the admin with their remarks g. Recruiters can notify the admin if any position is closed 4. Reports a. Open position status (clients, positions, recruiter handling, update, last date to close etc.) b. Billing status (clients, positions closed, recruiter, amount as per bill, date to clear, received (y/n), etc.) c. Recruiter’s Performance analysis can be analyzed (recruiters, positions handled, open, closed, closing rate, revenue generated, monetary productivity (lifetime revenue / months worked) 5. Optional Features a. SMS alert for i. Billing reminder to client ii. Appointment reminder to candidate b. Flexibility to integrate the consultancy’s own JOB PORTAL keeping this system at the back†end c. Recruiter’s incentive calculation

How Strong Is The Business Case For Diversity Management Business Essay

How Strong Is The Business Case For Diversity Management Business Essay Assignment Question: How strong is the business case for diversity management? Using research evidence and organizational examples, discuss the extent to which diversity-management is and should be applied. Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Defining Diversity 2 Defining Diversity Management 2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity Management 3 Advantages of Diversity Management Program 3 Disadvantages of Diversity Management Program 4 Case Study of Diversity Management 5 Do and Dont in Diversity Management 6 Conclusion 7 References and Bibliography 8 Introduction The worlds increasing globalization trend demands more interaction between people from a vast diverse of cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds than the past. Today, people no longer live and work in an insulated marketplace. The reality is: they are now part of a worldwide (or commonly mentioned as flatten) economy with competition coming from nearly every angle of the globe. For this reason, businesses need to be open to change and accept the concept of diversity to become more creative (Kulik, 1998). The article in this section will be arranged as follow. Firstly, the concept of diversity will be defined. Then, the article further investigates and defines the concept of diversity management. Then, the perceived and often discussed advantages and disadvantages of diversity management program will be discussed. After that, some real life business cases on companies successfully managing diversity and subsequently reaped the benefits of growth, profitability and improved performance from an effective diversity management program will be presented. After the review of academic and research journals regarding the topic, the article proceed to suggest some do and dont for practical diversity management program. The article concludes with some outlook and general direction for managers to follow in implementation of diversity management program. Defining Diversity In daily conversation, the word of diversity has the meaning of differences or variety. However, in the business world and in the business textbook, diversity often refers to the many differences present among people today in workplace as well as marketplace that were not aware of by most people in the past. However, in-depth investigation discovered that different researchers may have different perceptions or definition on the concept of diversity. For example, Mondy (2010) argues that diversity refers to any perceived difference among people, be it from the dimensions of age, race, religion, functional specialty, profession, sexual orientation, geographical origin, lifestyle, tenure with the organization, position in an organization, or any other perceived differences. McShane and Von Glinow (2010), however, divided the concept of diversity into two parts, namely the surface-level diversity and the deep-level diversity. The surface-level diversity is referred to the observable demographic or psychological differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical disabilities. In contrast, the deep-level diversity is referred to those differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes. Whatever the definition employed, all these definitions share a common theme; where the terms of diversity encompasses any sort differences between two or more people from various dimensions of factors that can affect workplace relationships and achievement. Defining Diversity Management According to Mondy (2010), diversity management is often referred to the effort of ensuring that factors are in place to encourage the continuous development of a diverse workforce by melding actual and perceived differences among workers to achieve maximum productivity. Esty et. al. (1995), however, define diversity management as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status for better workplace performance. The definitions of diversity management used by researchers are vast and may vary in the details. However, generally, it is safe to assume that the term diversity management indicates the implementation of strategies or policies to knit a network of varied individuals together into a dynamic work force. Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity Management In recent years, diversity is increasingly perceived as an important issue in the context of business management. This is due to the increasing differences in the U.S. population, globalization process, increasing of international business and cross borders business dealing activities. Many researchers recognize such a trend and highlighted that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that organizational decision makers cannot afford to ignore (Robinson, 2002). In the business community, companies have also tend to pay more focus on diversity and look for ways to reap the opportunities offered by diversity as they acknowledge that diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (Cooke et. al., 2010). Apparently, managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which not only can improve workplace productivity, but also contribute significantly to the strategic objectives of human resource management. Advantages of Diversity Management Program Many researchers and businessmen have been arguing about the importance and roles and contributions of managing diversity nowadays. Generally, they often present the idea that diversity can be a sort of strategy which enables organization to gain competitive advantage in the market competitive landscape. For example, according to researcher, namely, Bledsoe et. al. (2010) claim that: managing cultural diversity is one of the key factors differentiating a particular company at factors such as (1) efficient work practices or procedures, (2) technological innovation or change, (3) product or services related innovation and lastly, (4) client or consumers related services. However, there are more contributions of managing diversity to the strategic objectives of a company. The following paragraph will outline these contributions or benefits of diversity in workplace to an organization in details. Improved and enhanced competencies in terms of customer services. As a matter of fact, diverse workforce will often means diverse expertise, talent, experience and capabilities in the employees. If a manager understands the intricacies and complexity of how to manage diversity effective, he will be able to put the right person into the correct position, by minimizing his weaknesses while enhancing the particular employees strength. From this perspective, a diverse workforce enables a manager to choose the correct candidate for a particular position in the organization. For example, someone with cheering personality and has the ability to build rapport fast with customers can be send to the customer services department. All these means that diversity management will make the company to enjoy higher competencies in providing higher satisfaction to a customer (McMahon, 2010). Able to compile and improve the strength of customer intelligence. As we employ diverse workforce, we can indirectly tap into the knowledge and experience of these workforce. In the era of information, we understand that marketing intelligence or customer intelligence has becoming more and more important. Diversity in workforce in this picture can help a company to compile and collect more relevant and effective data on the market place. Ability to operate effectively as well as efficiently in a global context. As a well known fact, the entire world is a colorful depiction of diversity. Thus, to go global, a diverse workforce is some sort a basis requirement. We simply need the local experts to assist us in managing business units at foreign countries or simply to expand market share in the other countries. Thus, it is not hard for us to understand that a diverse workforce will enable a company to operate more effectively and efficiently (Bledsoe et. al., 2010). Able to produce more satisfied workforce, and thus leading to more productive workforce. If a company can manage diversity in a proper way, then the individual employee will no longer need to clone or purposely changed himself to adaption of the corporate culture. This can often leads to a more satisfied workforce. A more satisfied workforce, will in turn, leads to more productive workforce (McMahon, 2010). Effective managing of diversity enables reduction in industrial disputes. Of course, proper management of diversity can also ensure less industrial dispute or court case arises from employees issues (Cooke et. al., 2010). Diverse workforce can lead to increased creativity and innovation. Diversity can produce synergy and creativity and innovative as well. A group of different people is better than a results produced by a single person. The combined efforts are always much outstanding. Not only that, it is also often mentioned by textbook that: Diverse workforce can produce more diverse perspectives, which in turn is highly beneficial in seeking or implementing solutions to problems (McMahon, 2010). Having better chance to attract higher quality employees from a larger pool of employees (Tatti et. al., 2009). As a company prepare or has already adopted the mindset of having diversity is beneficial, then the company automatically access to a diverse pool of human talents, which means that the company can choose the employees from a larger pool of workforce. As now the choices are enlarged, then we can have access to better talents around the world, or in other words, we can access to the world class talents around the globe (Pitts et. al., 2010).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Avoidance of group-think or cloning. (McMahon, 2010)mentioned that workplace heterogeneity can assist in avoiding groupthink or cloning, which in turn this will lead to increased productivity and reduces costs. To explain further, cost reduction is possible when we can have a reduction in conflict, lower turnover and absenteeism and improved cohesion. Likewise, Tatti et. al. (2009) finds that there is ample evidence to suggest that diverse groups with the skills and support systems to integrate effectively are likely to be significantly more effective than non diverse or homogeneous groups in the same activities. Disadvantages of Diversity Management Program However, the relationship between managing diversity and a particular companys performance from various empirical researches is not always straightforward. A good example by Stephensen and Lewin (1996) indicate that poorly integrated heterogeneous groups can be as damaging to the organization as overly integrated homogeneous groups. Apparently, managing diversity is an art, while although the contribution to a company strategic management picture is bright, the execution is nothing easy. Besides, unfortunately, there are also evidences that diversity can bring disadvantages to companies as well. For example, it is found that teams with diverse employees usually take longer to perform effectively. Besides, diversity also brings numerous communication problems as well as faultiness in informal group dynamics. At some serious cases, diversity can also be a source of conflict, that can cause issues such as reluctant to share information among workforce, employee morale deterioration prob lems, and higher turnover due to degradation of job satisfaction (McShane Von Glinow, 2010). Not only that, it is also mentioned that there can be various drawbacks due to implementation of diversity management program in the short term. For example, if handled insensitively, a diversity management program may invade employee privacy. Also, implementation of the diversity management program may be expensive in the short term. Apart from that, during the implementation process, deep seated prejudices within employees may be brought into the open, causing short-term tension. Particularly for a poorly handled program, conflicts and ill-feeling may be the end results for managers to handle (Tatti et. al., 2009). Case Study of Diversity Management There are various cases or real-life stories showing that diversity management can contribute to improved productivity, sales, market share, or profitability. There are three examples shown in the following section. Case I: Petro-Canada. The first case is about Petro-Canada. Recognizing that diversity management is essential; a Petro-Canada site in Vancouvers Chinese community, started to post signs in both English and Mandarin. The company is interested increase the companys presence within the community. Apart from that, after a team of sales associates found out that they had to be able to speak their customers native language as well, recruitment changes were made accordingly. Soon, the company was able to reap the benefit of diversity with a diverse workforce. The results and outcomes are outstanding, kiosk sales increased by 15 percent, and gasoline sales rose from 2.7 million liters to 3.1 million liters at the Main and Terminal stations, in just a mere four year period, between 1991 and 1994 (Pitts et. al., 2010). Case II: The McGraw Hill Companies. The second example is about a well-known book publishing company. The McGraw-Hill Companies emphasizes diverse workforce management. The reason is to tap into different talents available and critical to enhance the company presence worldwide. One program of the company talent management strategy is called the Associate Development Program (ADP). Since the program began in 1993, it has attracted talented individuals from top MBA business schools who are diverse in race, ethnicity, experience and perspective. All these diversity management programs had enable the McGraw-Hill Companies to leverages talent in global markets, on a worldwide basis. One striking example of using diverse workforce to tackle a foreign market is as follow: recruitment of local talent has enabled The McGraw-Hill Companies to solidify its brand reputation and market share in Latin America due to their expertise, cultural know-how, teamwork, experience and knowledge of the need s of the local market (Tatti et. al., 2009). Case III: Reebok. The well-known sport company has also been benefiting from a diversity management program. In the year of 1980s, a group of women at Reebok complained the fact that they could not find a good aerobics shoe. Listening to that complaint, Reebok began marketing aerobics shoes. The outcome is outstanding within just a period of two years, the company went from a $12 million-a-year shoe company to a $3 billion powerhouse. Since the incident, the company started to be aware of the importance of diversity. According to the CEO, Paul Fireman said that in order to become diverse and compete globally, a company must find people with different stories to tell at every level of employment, and then provide chances and opportunity for them to talk and perform (Pitts et. al., 2010). Case IV: IBM. IBM has a century-long diversity heritage based on the companys belief and philosophy that diversity is the bridge between the workplace and the marketplace. Such a belief and the act of valuing diversity are central to the companys ability to win in the global marketplace. Today, diversity management permeates every corner of IBMs management and technical operations and management style. Statistically speaking a convincing fact showing that the company is embracing diversity management whole-heartedly is this: 57% of IBMs Board of Directors is women, multicultural, and/or non-U.S. born (i.e., they are the minority group). Apart from that, it is also found that 40% of IBMs top 54-member Worldwide Executive Council is women, multicultural, or non-U.S. born. On closer scrutiny, it is not surprising to found that these women and multicultural executives have significant revenue responsibility. Not only that, further investigation also discover that 30 members of IBMs World wide Executive Council are involved in guiding specific corporate-wide diversity initiatives. They are held accountable for recruitment, retention and advancement of all talent and, most important, linking IBMs diversity initiatives to the global marketplace, which is in turn the main reason that IBM has been able to stay on top of the business landscape for decades (Cooke et. al., 2010). Case V: Levi Strauss Co. At Levi Strauss Co., diversity is a core company value being embraced by the companys management and workforce. The diversity management concept permeates throughout the organization the evidence is in the corporate belief that diversity is right for business, communities, and for families. The company senior managers had also argued that diversity creates greater tolerance. To sum up the implementation and philosophy of diversity management program in the company, we can observe the following statement from the companys officers. Specifically, the company officers mentioned that the companys diversity belief system translates into a four-component diversity strategy that has been instrumental in building their business. The four-components are as follow: (1) Sourcing diverse talent, (2) Empathetic marketing: If you are who you serve, [then] you will be a better marketer. (3) Creativity and innovation, and lastly (4) Community involvement. Such a belief sy stem is critical and powerful factors which ensure Levi Strauss Co. sustainable growth and success in the global marketplace (Cooke et. al., 2010). Do and Dont in Diversity Management As we have discussed above, there are perceived advantages and disadvantages of embracing diversity in workplace. It seems that there are evidences and cases indicating that diversity are possible source of competitive advantage and superior performance for businesses, but the implementation and the management of diversity is not an easy one. Apparently, the mismanagement of diversity or inability of the leader or manager to outline and execute and effective diversity management program will cause troubles to the organization with diverse workforce. In fact, for inexperience mangers, diversity indeed looks more like a curse than a blessing. Anyway, this writing has the opinion that it the presence of diversity is well-managed, it can create synergy and improve organizational performances. It is believed that diversity is a powerful strategy as managers can leverage on the strengths of some people in the team while making the weaknesses of some others irrelevant. The strengths in a person can compensate for the weaknesses of others, while his weaknesses are covered by others strengths, and this is essential for a high performing team. Consistent with such a view, this section will outline some do and dont for practitioners to follow. It may serve as a general guideline for managers to refer to in applying the concept of diversity management to daily management tasks (Cooke et. al., 2010). The first thing the manager should perform in managing diversity is that to ensure effectiveness of the diversity management program, the managers should communicate constantly to employees, managers, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders at all stages of the program (Bledsoe et. al., 2010). It is vital to keep people informed as their support is necessary for the successful implementation of a diversity management program. The execution should involve everyone; as such a program is not an issue for only the personnel department or a responsibility of senior managers. Besides, it is also critically important to apply a change management processes to implement the program. The leader driving the changes should be aware that a long term perspective is required in implementation of a diversity management program (i.e., changes involves attitudes and dont happen overnight, and leaders have to expect that the program will last for years rather than a few weeks or months). Last b ut not least, the leaders must also have the correct expectations that resources are required for the program. Leaders must be prepared to invest money, time and resources to achieve successful diversity management program. On the other hand, there are two general dont rules to be aware of by managers. Firstly, managers should not confuse equal opportunities with diversity management. The equal opportunity approach can be part of any diversity initiative, but a successful diversity management program should go far beyond traditional equal opportunity issues. Secondly, managers should not design the diversity goals and policies for them (i.e., referring to the minorities), but they should instead think of us (i.e., everyone involved in the organization) (Bledsoe et. al., 2010). Conclusion This writing takes a critical view on the business case of diversity management. The results from researchers have been mixed. There are both advantages and disadvantages to a diversity management program. Successful cases of diversity management to improve company and workforce performance are also widely available. Apparently, from a review of the many journals related to diversity management, it can be summarized that the program can bring forward many benefits to a firm, but the implementation of the program can be challenging and resources consuming. Perhaps what is relevant for us to consider is how to cope with the increasing trend of workforce diversity in the globalization era. Organizations should recognize the changing workforce and other social pressures that are constantly demanding businesses to cope with diversity. Achieving diversity is not merely to become politically correct; it is more about cultivation of a culture that values individuals and their wide arrays of needs characteristics, nature and contributions. The good news is that correctly promoting and executing a diversity management program can improve company performance and to enhance the corporate reputation among marketplace, even though the implementation of the program is challenging.

The Absurdity of Consumeristic Truth :: Essays Papers

The Absurdity of Consumeristic Truth Imagine a world devoid of a God, where tangible objects and experiences such as clothing and movie watching have come to define and fulfill an entire society. Imagine a culture lacking any philosophical truth, where each individual is running wildly about in their isolated schedules, gleaning comfort and love from any inanimate object that can provide such, in whatever shape or form. Imagine a world where imperfect humans turn to themselves in the search for perfection, and the ultimate source of perfection is blatantly denied for the simple reason that it is too perfect to be understood. Such is the world according to Camus, such is the world that surrounds those that believe in a perfect God, and such is the American world in which you and I live. If one were to understand the purpose and mystery of human life as the coping with ultimate fear, whether it be death, pain, or meaninglessness, then it is possible to discuss the drastically different coping mechanisms that Camus and Christianity set forth. Both present a method in which to approach the phenomenon of fear, yet when it comes to actualizing a solution to the mystery, they turn to very different ends. The result is a society that has been left all the more confused, and has turned to both solutions in order to deal with the overwhelming fear and fundamental lack of truth that is prevalent in today’s post-modernistic philosophy. Of the many themes and philosophies that Camus struggled with during his life and presented to the world through his writings, one of the more prevalent was that of the absurd. According to Camus, the world, human existence, and a God are all absurd phenomenons, devoid of any redeeming meaning or purpose. Through Mersaults’ epiphany in The Stranger, where he opens himself to the â€Å"gentle indifference of the world†, we see how Camus understands the world to be a place of nothingness, which demands and desires nothing from humans. He further explores this philosophy in The Plague, where the world of indifference is understood as a world of fear, which takes a symbolically tangible form in the plague itself. In The Plague the citizens of Oran fear that which they cannot control, understand or fight. They are faced with the most fundamental experiences of life and death, and it is only in the end that a very few find a way to cope with and understand these two ultimatum s.

How Can We Be Sure That What We Are Taught About Jesus Is True And Not :: essays research papers

There are several ways in which we can be assured that what we are taught about Jesus is true and not just made up. These are called our faith sources. These sources, like the Bible and other sources of information about Jesus have accounts of Jesus’ life. The most important part of these faith sources is the Christian Scriptures. Although the Christian Scriptures are one of the most valuable tools we have to learn about Jesus there are also the Gospels, and also other non-biblical, and non-Christian accounts of Jesus’ life that we can consider when trying to answer the question How can we be sure that what we are taught about Jesus is true and not just made up? The Christian Scriptures is the entire Christian Bible. It is composed of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is composed of several books all containing stories about Jesus, and the Christian Testament (New Testament) which contains the stories of Jesus and the earliest Christian Communities. Although these stories cannot confidently prove to us that they are true there are several distinct similarities, which are contained in nearly all of the books. These similarities are so frequent that their constant occurrence seems more than coincidence. Although these similarities occur often in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four short books included in the Christian Testament, which we must rely on to understand Jesus’ ministry and life. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the origin of nearly everything the Christian Church teaches about Jesus. The Gospels, in turn, serve as the scale or test of truth and authenticity of everything the church teaches about Jesus. It is said that the Gospels are the link between Jesus of Nazareth and the people of every age throughout history who have claimed to be his followers. Although the Gospels teach us about Jesus’ life they may not provide concrete evidence that what they speak of is true there are several other sources. Several non-biblical and non-Christian sources are available to help bear out the fact that Jesus actually did exist as a historical person. These sources are of an array of backgrounds: Josephus, a Jewish historian; Tacitus, a Roman writer; Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer; and Suetonius, also a Roman writer, all spoke of Jesus of Nazareth in their records.

Assembly Language

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE An assembly language is a low-level programming language for a computer, microcontroller, or other programmable device, in which each statement corresponds to a single machine code instruction. Each assembly language is specific to a particular computer architecture, in contrast to most high-level programming languages, which are generally portable across multiple systems. Assembly language is converted into executable machine code by a utility program referred to as an assembler; the conversion process is referred to as assembly, or assembling the code.Assembly language uses a mnemonic to represent each low-level machine operation or opcode. Some opcodes require one or more operands as part of the instruction, and most assemblers can take labels and symbols as operands to represent addresses and constants, instead of hard coding them into the program. Macro assemblers include a macroinstruction facility so that assembly language text can be pre-assigned to a name, and that name can be used to insert the text into other code. Many assemblers offer additional mechanisms to facilitate program development, to control the assembly process, and to aid debugging.HISTORY OF ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE Assembly languages date to the introduction of the stored-program computer. The EDSAC computer (1949) had an assembler called initial orders featuring one-letter mnemonics. Nathaniel Rochester wrote an assembler for an IBM 701 (1954). SOAP (Symbolic Optimal Assembly Program) (1955) was an assembly language for the IBM 650 computer written by Stan Poley. Assembly languages eliminated much of the error-prone and time-consuming first-generation programming needed with the earliest computers, freeing programmers from tedium such as remembering numeric codes and calculating addresses.They were once widely used for all sorts of programming. However, by the 1980s (1990s on microcomputers), their use had largely been supplanted by high-level languages, in the search for improved programming productivity. Today assembly language is still used for direct hardware manipulation, access to specialized processor instructions, or to address critical performance issues. Typical uses are device drivers, low-level embedded systems, and real-time systems. Historically, a large number of programs have been written entirely in assembly language. Operating systems were ntirely written in assembly language until the introduction of the Burroughs MCP (1961), which was written in ESPOL, an Algol dialect. Many commercial applications were written in assembly language as well, including a large amount of the IBM mainframe software written by large corporations. COBOL, FORTRAN and some PL/I eventually displaced much of this work, although a number of large organizations retained assembly-language application infrastructures well into the '90s. Most early microcomputers relied on hand-coded assembly language, including most operating systems and large applications.This was because these systems had severe resource constraints, imposed idiosyncratic memory and display architectures, and provided limited, buggy system services. Perhaps more important was the lack of first-class high-level language compilers suitable for microcomputer use. A psychological factor may have also played a role: the first generation of microcomputer programmers retained a hobbyist, â€Å"wires and pliers† attitude. In a more commercial context, the biggest reasons for using assembly language were minimal bloat (size), minimal overhead, greater speed, and reliability.Typical examples of large assembly language programs from this time are IBM PC DOS operating systems and early applications such as the spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3. Even into the 1990s, most console video games were written in assembly, including most games for the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. According to some industry insiders, the assembly language was the best computer language to use to get the best performance out of the Sega Saturn, a console that was notoriously challenging to develop and program games for.The popular arcade game NBA Jam (1993) is another example. Assembly language has long been the primary development language for many popular home computers of the 1980s and 1990s (such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST). This was in large part because BASIC dialects on these systems offered insufficient execution speed, as well as insufficient facilities to take full advantage of the available hardware on these systems.Some systems, most notably the Amiga, even have IDEs with highly advanced debugging and macro facilities, such as the freeware ASM-One assembler, comparable to that of Microsoft Visual Studio facilities (ASM-One predates Microsoft Visual Studio). The Assembler for the VIC-20 was written by Don French and published by French Silk. At 1,639 bytes in length, its author believes it is the smallest symbolic assembler ever written. The assembler supported the usual symbolic addressing and the definition of character strings or hex strings.It also allowed address expressions which could be combined with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logical AND, logical OR, and exponentiation operators. COMPILER A compiler is a computer program (or set of programs) that transforms source code written in a programming language (the source language) into another computer language (the target language, often having a binary form known as object code). The most common reason for wanting to transform source code is to create an executable program.The name â€Å"compiler† is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a lower level language (e. g. , assembly language or machine code). If the compiled program can run on a computer whose CPU or operating system is different from the one on which the compiler r uns, the compiler is known as a cross-compiler. A program that translates from a low level language to a higher level one is a decompiler. A program that translates between high-level languages is usually called a language translator, source to source translator, or language converter.A language rewriter is usually a program that translates the form of expressions without a change of language. A compiler is likely to perform many or all of the following operations: lexical analysis, preprocessing, parsing, semantic analysis (Syntax-directed translation), code generation, and code optimization. Program faults caused by incorrect compiler behavior can be very difficult to track down and work around; therefore, compiler implementors invest significant effort to ensure the correctness of their software.The term compiler-compiler is sometimes used to refer to a parser generator, a tool often used to help create the lexer and parser. INTERPRETER In computer science, an interpreter normall y means a computer program that executes, i. e. performs, instructions written in a programming language. An interpreter may be a program that either 1. executes the source code directly 2. translates source code into some efficient intermediate representation (code) and immediately executes this 3. xplicitly executes stored precompiled code made by a compiler which is part of the interpreter system While interpreting and compiling are the two main means by which programming languages are implemented, these are not fully mutually exclusive categories, one of the reasons being that most interpreting systems also perform some translation work, just like compilers. The terms â€Å"interpreted language† or â€Å"compiled language† merely mean that the canonical implementation of that language is an interpreter or a compiler; a high level language is basically an abstraction which is (ideally) independent of particular implementations.ASSEMBLER Assembler (meaning one that a ssembles) may refer to: It is a computer program that translate between lower-level representations of computer programs; it converts basic computer instructions into a pattern of bits which can be easily understood by a computer and the processor can use it to perform its basic operations Assembly Language Syntax Programs written in assembly language consist of a sequence of source statements. Each source statement consists of a sequence of ASCII characters ending with a carriage return.Each source statement may include up to four fields: a label, an operation (instruction mnemonic or assembler directive), an operand, and a comment. The following are examples of an assembly directive and a regular machine instruction. PORTA equ $0000; Assembly time constant INP ldaa PORTA; Read data from fixed address I/O data port An assembly language statement contains the following fields. Label Field can be used to define a symbol Operation Field defines the operation code or pseudo-op Operand Field specifies either the address or the data.Comment Field allows the programmer to document the software. Sometimes not all four fields are present in an assembly language statement. A line may contain just a comment. The first token in these lines must begin with a star (*) or a semicolon (;). For example, ; This line is a comment * this is a comment too * This line is a comment Instructions with inherent mode addressing do not have an operand field. For example, label clra comment deca comment cli comment inca comment DATA TYPES IN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGEThere is a large degree of diversity in the way the authors of assemblers categorize statements and in the nomenclature that they use. In particular, some describe anything other than a machine mnemonic or extended mnemonic as a pseudo-operation (pseudo-op). A typical assembly language consists of 3 types of instruction statements that are used to define program operations: †¢Opcode mnemonics †¢Data sections †¢Assembly directives Opcode mnemonics and extended mnemonics Instructions (statements) in assembly language are generally very simple, unlike those in high-level language.Generally, a mnemonic is a symbolic name for a single executable machine language instruction (an opcode), and there is at least one opcode mnemonic defined for each machine language instruction. Each instruction typically consists of an operation or opcode plus zero or more operands. Most instructions refer to a single value, or a pair of values. Operands can be immediate (value coded in the instruction itself), registers specified in the instruction or implied, or the addresses of data located elsewhere in storage.This is determined by the underlying processor architecture: the assembler merely reflects how this architecture works. Extended mnemonics are often used to specify a combination of an opcode with a specific operand, e. g. , the System/360 assemblers use B as an extended mnemonic for BC with a mask of 15 and NOP for BC with a mask of 0. Extended mnemonics are often used to support specialized uses of instructions, often for purposes not obvious from the instruction name. For example, many CPU's do not have an explicit NOP instruction, but do have instructions that can be used for the purpose.In 8086 CPUs the instruction xchg ax, ax is used for nop, with nop being a pseudo-opcode to encode the instruction xchg ax, ax. Some disassemblers recognize this and will decode the xchg ax, ax instruction as nop. Similarly, IBM assemblers for System/360 and System/370 use the extended mnemonics NOP and NOPR for BC and BCR with zero masks. For the SPARC architecture, these are known as synthetic instructions Some assemblers also support simple built-in macro-instructions that generate two or more machine instructions.For instance, with some Z80 assemblers the instruction ld hl, bc is recognized to generate ld l, c followed by ld h, b. These are sometimes known as pseudo-opcodes. Data sections There are instructions used to define data elements to hold data and variables. They define the type of data, the length and the alignment of data. These instructions can also define whether the data is available to outside programs (programs assembled separately) or only to the program in which the data section is defined. Some assemblers classify these as pseudo-ops. Assembly directivesAssembly directives, also called pseudo opcodes, pseudo-operations or pseudo-ops, are instructions that are executed by an assembler at assembly time, not by a CPU at run time. They can make the assembly of the program dependent on parameters input by a programmer, so that one program can be assembled different ways, perhaps for different applications. They also can be used to manipulate presentation of a program to make it easier to read and maintain. (For example, directives would be used to reserve storage areas and optionally their initial contents. The names of directives often start with a dot to disti nguish them from machine instructions. Symbolic assemblers let programmers associate arbitrary names (labels or symbols) with memory locations. Usually, every constant and variable is given a name so instructions can reference those locations by name, thus promoting self-documenting code. In executable code, the name of each subroutine is associated with its entry point, so any calls to a subroutine can use its name. Inside subroutines, GOTO destinations are given labels. Some assemblers support local symbols which are lexically distinct from normal symbols (e. . , the use of â€Å"10$† as a GOTO destination). Some assemblers provide flexible symbol management, letting programmers manage different namespaces, automatically calculate offsets within data structures, and assign labels that refer to literal values or the result of simple computations performed by the assembler. Labels can also be used to initialize constants and variables with relocatable addresses. Assembly lang uages, like most other computer languages, allow comments to be added to assembly source code that are ignored by the assembler.Good use of comments is even more important with assembly code than with higher-level languages, as the meaning and purpose of a sequence of instructions is harder to decipher from the code itself. Wise use of these facilities can greatly simplify the problems of coding and maintaining low-level code. Raw assembly source code as generated by compilers or disassemblers—code without any comments, meaningful symbols, or data definitions—is quite difficult to read when changes must be made. MacrosMany assemblers support predefined macros, and others support programmer-defined (and repeatedly re-definable) macros involving sequences of text lines in which variables and constants are embedded. This sequence of text lines may include opcodes or directives. Once a macro has been defined its name may be used in place of a mnemonic. When the assembler p rocesses such a statement, it replaces the statement with the text lines associated with that macro, then processes them as if they existed in the source code file (including, in some assemblers, expansion of any macros existing in the replacement text).Note that this definition of â€Å"macro† is slightly different from the use of the term in other contexts, like the C programming language. C macros created through the #define directive typically are just one line or a few lines at most. Assembler macro instructions can be lengthy â€Å"programs† by themselves, executed by interpretation by the assembler during assembly. Since macros can have ‘short' names but expand to several or indeed many lines of code, they can be used to make assembly language programs appear to be far shorter, requiring fewer lines of source code, as with higher level languages.They can also be used to add higher levels of structure to assembly programs, optionally introduce embedded debu gging code via parameters and other similar features. Macro assemblers often allow macros to take parameters. Some assemblers include quite sophisticated macro languages, incorporating such high-level language elements as optional parameters, symbolic variables, conditionals, string manipulation, and arithmetic operations, all usable during the execution of a given macro, and allowing macros to save context or exchange information.Thus a macro might generate a large number of assembly language instructions or data definitions, based on the macro arguments. This could be used to generate record-style data structures or â€Å"unrolled† loops, for example, or could generate entire algorithms based on complex parameters. An organization using assembly language that has been heavily extended using such a macro suite can be considered to be working in a higher-level language, since such programmers are not working with a computer's lowest-level conceptual elements.Macros were used to customize large scale software systems for specific customers in the mainframe era and were also used by customer personnel to satisfy their employers' needs by making specific versions of manufacturer operating systems. This was done, for example, by systems programmers working with IBM's Conversational Monitor System / Virtual Machine (VM/CMS) and with IBM's â€Å"real time transaction processing† add-ons, Customer Information Control System CICS, and ACP/TPF, the airline/financial system that began in the 1970s and still runs many large computer reservations systems (CRS) and credit card systems today.It was also possible to use solely the macro processing abilities of an assembler to generate code written in completely different languages, for example, to generate a version of a program in COBOL using a pure macro assembler program containing lines of COBOL code inside assembly time operators instructing the assembler to generate arbitrary code. This was because, as wa s realized in the 1960s, the concept of â€Å"macro processing† is independent of the concept of â€Å"assembly†, the former being in modern terms more word processing, text processing, than generating object code.The concept of macro processing appeared, and appears, in the C programming language, which supports â€Å"preprocessor instructions† to set variables, and make conditional tests on their values. Note that unlike certain previous macro processors inside assemblers, the C preprocessor was not Turing-complete because it lacked the ability to either loop or â€Å"go to†, the latter allowing programs to loop.Despite the power of macro processing, it fell into disuse in many high level languages (major exceptions being C/C++ and PL/I) while remaining a perennial for assemblers. Macro parameter substitution is strictly by name: at macro processing time, the value of a parameter is textually substituted for its name. The most famous class of bugs resul ting was the use of a parameter that itself was an expression and not a simple name when the macro writer expected a name.In the macro: foo: macro a load a*b the intention was that the caller would provide the name of a variable, and the â€Å"global† variable or constant b would be used to multiply â€Å"a†. If foo is called with the parameter a-c, the macro expansion of load a-c*b occurs. To avoid any possible ambiguity, users of macro processors can parenthesize formal parameters inside macro definitions, or callers can parenthesize the input parameters.