User (IT) – Wikipedia

In computer science, the term user (Formerly a operator or one computer scientist with the possibility of feminization) is used to designate a person which uses a computerized system (computer or robot) but which is not necessarily a computer scientist (as opposed to the programmer for example). The user can also be an automatic machine (mainly represented by a computer bot) which can have different degrees of autonomy.

1. The human user who has no computer skills, who uses the system as part of his leisure time, he can then have a behavior close to random entrance. It is also this type of user that must be convinced in the context of commercial dissemination of a system to the general public. It can adopt user behavior in the commercial sense.
2. The professional user who approaches the system in the context of constraints related to his activity, the constraints on the use of the system can therefore be very elaborate and arbitrarily inhuman. For the purpose of improving the efficiency of this user, the massive use of results from IHM experiences is widely recommended.
3. The advanced user, who knows several operating details of his system, awaits specific reactions and knows several limits. This category essentially brings together humans who are immersed all day long in new technologies. This type of user is practical insofar as it can provide an analysis of the operation of a system (bug report, interface assessment, etc.).
4. The Human System User: This category is a matter of system and system administrator. At this level of use of a system, we see the emergence of one or more forms of specialization on given systems. The user can have very specific knowledge of a system and master all aspects. In return, it is very rare that he can have this level of knowledge for a large category of systems. (For example, the TAL system designer probably should not have the same level for the design of a car construction chain.).
5. “System user” machine: this is almost always very specialized, with a formally defined mission, it is often built to replace level 2 users, or unload them from arbitrary constraints. This user is often an abstraction of other forms of user used to simulate, model the behavior of an unconscious or malicious user.
6. The object, function, font or predicate of higher order: they can all be defined as users of resources or results provided by other users of the same level. Often, in order to be able to operate them separately, these users have a formal interface summarizing how they can (use/or be used) (one/by one) (resource/user).

We also oppose the simple user to the administrator or the technician.

The user according to his activity from an application and/or system point of view [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The user who uses a computer system is not necessarily permanently in front of his screen submitting transactions to the application, which on the application side and system has consequences on the effective induced load. Thus, several user profiles are defined according to their activity, especially in performance tests:

• current users : these are users who commonly register with the system or for which the system has current sessions;
• potential users : these are declared users or not, likely to use the application at one time or another;
• simultaneous users : these are the potential users currently present in the application for which there is at least one session in one of the technical components of the application;
• Active users/competitors : these are simultaneous users for whom the system performs a treatment composed of at least one request in progress;
• synchronous users : these are competing users for which the system performs the same treatment at the same time.

The user in systems safety [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In multi-users [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The user can be seen as an identification element. For a system, a person’s identification capacity allows improvement in safety. It is then possible for the system to react to contradictory orders. If there is no difference between two users then the system cannot be robust to contradictions.

Example: connection to a train reservation site makes it possible to resolve the case of the allocation of the last place, the system manages different users, and will attribute the last place to a single user.

See also the multi-user in the general case.

Mono-user [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The user can be seen as a dialogue partner. For a system, the ability to dialogue with a user is important. The dialogue begins even before the person is connected to the software. It is established between the connection system and the person. At this level, competition on the connection interface cannot be managed by the system.

Example: from the software point of view, several users connect to the money withdrawal system. From a material point of view, it is a unique person. As part of an integrated solution, it is the computer system that must take this dilemma into account. Although in practice there is often only one camera and stars in place of the secret code to verify that there is only one person (without external constraints).

The user concept can also be deployed to protect the machine from nonsense. In this case we then speak of user space. The concept of user space assumes that for a given user, there is a user of a more advanced level. This user of a more advanced level or not authorizes the actions of the first user according to a rights management system.

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]