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Contents 1 Information Representation and Storage 1 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A Tour of Computer Systems 37 1.1 Information Is Bits + Context 39 1.2 Programs Are Translated by Other Programs into Different Forms 40 1.3 It Pays to Understand How Compilation Systems Work 42 1.4 Processors Read and Interpret Instructions Stored in Memory 43 1.4.1 Hardware Organization of a System 44 1.4.2 Running the hello Program 46 1.5 ...
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A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules, produce information (output), and store the information for future use1. Functionalities of a computer2 Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:
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Touch PCs run your POS and are the most important part of your system. What are the minimum specs for a touch PC? Your POS software determines the mini-mum computing specifications you need. We recommend having at least 4GB of RAM and at least a 1.8GHz processor.
- When you have finished this chapter you will be able to:
- ✪ KEY TERMS
- Hardware components
- KEY TERMS
- What does the CPU do?
- ✪ KEY TERMS
- External hardware devices
- QUESTION 1.01
- Sotware
- System sotware
- KEY TERMS
- General purpose sotware
- QUESTION 1.02
- 1.02 The main components of computer systems
- QUESTION 1.03
- Main or internal memory
- KEY TERMS
- QUESTION 1.04
- Backing storage
- ✪ KEY TERMS
- 1.03 Operating systems
- EXTENSION ACTIVITY 1.02
- Artificial intelligence
- EXTENSION ACTIVITY 1.03
- Computer-assisted translation
- Vision enhancement
define the physical components of hardware for a computer system, including identifying internal hardware devices identify external hardware devices and peripherals define sot ware as programs for controlling the operation of a computer or processing of electronic data define applications sot ware define and describe system sot ware and describe op...
Motherboard: a printed circuit board that allocates power to the CPU, RAM and other hardware components, and allows them to communicate with each other. There are many diferent types of hardware components, even inside a mobile phone. Just because it is inside the phone casing, doesn’t mean that you couldn’t touch it if you took of the case of! The...
The computer case contains many of the other hardware components; it can come in various shapes and sizes, but typically as a tower. The computer case contains the motherboard on which other components are mounted, such as the CPU, the main memory and expansion slots for other hardware components, and the internal hard disk drive, which is a mass s...
Processor: called CPU, short for central processing unit.
CPU is fitted into a socket on the motherboard and it contains various components: the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), where the calculations occur: logical operations, including AND, OR, NOT, etc. bit-shiting operations, which means moving or ‘shiting’ the positions of bits let or right (which is how multiplication is performed) arithmetic operat...
Sound card: this enables the computer to send audio information to an audio device, such speakers or headphones. Video card: this is an internal circuit board for displaying images from a computer onto a screen.
There are many external devices available; the ones usually encountered are keyboard, mouse, trackpad, printer, scanner.
Make a note of all the external hardware devices your group can think of. Now explain what the devices on your list do, and make a note of whether they are input or output devices.
The set of instructions that make a computer system work is called the sotware. However advanced or expensive the hardware of a computer system is, it cannot do anything unless it has instructions that it can follow that make it work. There are two main types of sotware: Systems sotware is essential to keep the computer working. Applications sotwa...
System sotware may be classified as operating system, device drivers and utility sotware.
Device driver: a program that controls devices such as printers. Command line interface: a way of interacting with a computer via keyboard input at a prompt on the screen. Graphical user interface (GUI): an intuitive way of communicating with a computer through a colourful screen by clicking on icons using a mouse or trackpad. An operating system,...
Here are a few examples of general purpose sotware applications that you may use in your daily work, and how they can be used: Word processing applications are used to produce letters, reports and memos. Database programs are used to store and retrieve information. Spreadsheet applications are used for tasks that involve calculations or graphs and...
When you are on the internet, you are using a specific type of sotware. What is its generic name? Make a list of the advantages of custom-made sotware over of-the-shelf sotware.
In this section you will learn the roles that diferent hardware components perform in a basic computer system, in order to understand the diferences between them.
Create two columns with the labels ‘Input’ and ‘Output’. Now enter each of the following devices into the appropriate column. Monitor Projector Digital camera Scanner Touch screen Gamepad Webcam Modem Joystick Touchpad Trackerball Keyboard Microphone Cameras MIDI keyboard Printer Speakers Mouse Plotter Bar code reade Burglar alarm Now you have done...
A very important part of a CPU is the main memory. This is used to store all the data and instructions currently being used. The main memory is sometimes called other names, such as internal memory, primary memory or immediate access store (IAS). The random access memory (RAM) is attached to the motherboard; it is where sotware currently in use and...
Random access memory: known as RAM, stores data and applications while they are being used. It only stores them while the computer is on, but when you turn the computer of , everything in the RAM is lost. This is known as being volatile. Read-only memory: known as ROM, this has data preinstalled onto it that cannot be removed. Unlike RAM, ROM keeps...
ROM and RAM are types of memory found in computers. What does ROM stand for and what does it do? What does RAM stand for and what does it do? What is the main dif erence between ROM and RAM? Write an explanation of the dif erence between volatile and non-volatile computer memory.
A storage device is used to store programs and data when the processor is turned of . The programs and data must be put back into the processor’s memory when needed for use. Storage devices are sometimes called backing store, secondary storage or external storage; these all mean the same thing.
backing store: a secondary storage device for data. External storage device: data storage that is separate from the computer, it usually plugs into a USB port on the computer. Secondary storage device: sometimes called external memory, this is non-volatile memory (does not lose stored data when the computer is switched of ); an example would be a p...
You have read that the sotware programs are what ‘bring the computer to life’ and that the sotware that controls your computer is called the operating system (OS) or system sotware. The OS manages all of the sotware and hardware of the computer system. However, there are many diferent types of OS. The three most common are Microsot Windows for PCs...
Try to find out about some more types of interface. What, for example, is a ‘natural language’ interface? Are the type of user and the job that is to be done the only factors dictating what a computer interface will look like? A washing machine uses a computer processor to control the wash cycle. What does the user interface look like? Why is it no...
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that are able to perform tasks that would normally be carried out by humans or where a task is too dangerous or boring and repetitive to be done by humans. Therefore AI needs to be able to react like humans. Examples of this are voice recognition and language translation, but there are many mo...
Discuss in your class: ‘It may be worrying to trust your safety on the road to a computer, but do the benefits of a self-drive car outweigh the disadvantages?’ In your discussion, consider what it would mean for people with sensory or physical disabilities.
Computer-assisted translation (CAT) is not the same as machine translation! Machine translation is text translation by a computer, without any human involvement. However, human translators can use CAT sotware to support them during translation. A CAT system creates and manages a translation memory (TM) which means that translators can reuse existi...
There is an implant available that can be placed into the retina of a blind person. They then wear glasses that have a video camera mounted on them. Data flows from this 11 camera either to a pocket computer where it is processed or to a visual processing unit mounted on the glasses. The resulting visual information is sent along the optic nerve to...
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•CS111 focuses more specifically on operating systems and how they work •Topics like filesystems, multiprocessing, and multithreading are similar, but covered in slightly different ways, along with some new assignments
Where have you already used a computer? How would you like to use computers in the future? LESSON 1A: Computers and Their Uses • LO1.1 What is a Computer?, p. 4 • LO1.2 Types of Digital Computers, p. 5 • LO1.3 Computers in Society, p. 10 LESSON 1B: Looking Inside the Computer • LO1.4 The Parts of a Computer System, p. 20
