Geoscience after IT: Part E. Familiarization with IT background

The geoscientist who wishes to move beyond basic techniques and day-to-day IT applications must know something of the underlying concepts and vocabulary of IT. Communication is vital, linking your desktop to the world. Generic computing tools, widely used in geoscience, can handle documents, geographic information and database management. More basic tools, including long-established programming languages like Fortran, retain an important niche. Recent developments, such as Java and a range of markup languages, bring new flexibility and precision to the geoscience record