Computer Hardware & Software Session Concepts of Information Technology/ Session 1/ of 53 Computer Hardware Concepts of Information Technology/ Objectives s Discuss “The City Inside” and the components inside the CPU like the – Mother board – Bus – Cards – Ports – Memory – Hard Disk Drive – Floppy Disk Drive – Power Supply Unit – Computer Clock (Real Time Clock) Concepts of Information Technology/ Objectives(Contd.) Classify Computers s Identify a typical PC Configuration of s – An ideal PC – Multimedia – The magic of technology Concepts of Information Technology/ “The City Inside” The city inside shows the s Bus - transports data between the processor and other components s Motherboard - consists of a complex group of circuits s Controllers - controls the input/output work in the computer Concepts of Information Technology/ “The City Inside”(Contd.) Cards - fixed on slots contained in buses to enable the expansion of the computer s Ports - entry and exit points of buses s Concepts of Information Technology/ “The City Inside”(Contd.) s s s s s Memory The hard disk drive The floppy disk drive The power supply unit The computer clock Concepts of Information Technology/ Memory s Memory is classified into two types – Primary Memory • RAM • ROM – Secondary Memory Concepts of Information Technology/ RAM Random Access Memory (RAM) Essentially a read/write memory s While writing new data previous data gets s overwritten s RAM is volatile memory s RAM may be classified as: –Dynamic RAM –Static RAM Concepts of Information Technology/ ROM Read Only Memory s Essential functions are stored on the ROM s Data can be read randomly from the ROM s Data cannot be written onto the ROM s Data is hardwired onto these chips at the time of manufacture s It is part of the computer system s ROM is non-volatile storage s Concepts of Information Technology/ 2nd GL Also called assembly language s Consisted of mnemonics s Common procedures had short cut codes to long commands s Example: used machines like IBM 1401 s Concepts of Information Technology/ 3rd GL Very similar to English language s Also called high-level language s Needs a translator for the computer to understand the language s Examples: BASIC, COBOL, C s Concepts of Information Technology/ 4th GL These languages are tools that allow large amount of data to be collected, stored and processed very easily s Examples: dBase, Oracle, Ingres s Concepts of Information Technology/ Varieties Of Software Word processors - for letter writing s Spreadsheets - for performing mathematical calculations s Database - for keeping records s Graphic packages - for drawing s Networking - for telecom s Games - for fun! s Concepts of Information Technology/ Housekeeping It is a process that facilitates the maintenance of computer hardware, computer software and data Concepts of Information Technology/ Maintaining Hardware Keep the printer free from dust s Clean floppy drives regularly s Switch off the computer properly s Mouse should be cleaned regularly s Disks should be removed before switching off the computer s Concepts of Information Technology/ Maintaining Software Software giving problem should be bought to the notice of the person who developed it s Keep software backups on a set of disks in case the original copy on the hard disk gets erased by mistake s Concepts of Information Technology/ Maintaining data Data loss can occur due to s power failure s power surges s sudden computer break down Concepts of Information Technology/ Avoid data loss by taking s Regular backups Concepts of Information Technology/ The Booting Process The booting process is the loading of the operating system from the hard disk into the RAM This is helped by ROM s This process is also called POST which stands for Power On Self Test s Concepts of Information Technology/ Loading of Operating System Concepts of Information Technology/ Virus, Anti-virus, Vaccine Virus is a destructive program s Anti-virus is a software that protects the computer from a virus attack s Vaccine is a program that removes virus from the computer s Concepts of Information Technology/ Data Compression s Data compression is a technique that allows data to be packed close together so that the data file becomes smaller in size This helps reduce the storage space Concepts of Information Technology/ File Creation s File creation is the result of the user ‘saving’ the data and the data getting copied from the RAM to the hard disk under a name defined by the user Concepts of Information Technology/ Software Manuals Software manuals teach s how to set up the software s how to maintain it s how to use it s how to fix small problems Concepts of Information Technology/ ... Analog Computers s Digital Computers s Hybrid Computers Concepts of Information Technology/ Classification of Computers (Contd.) Components s First generation of computers s Second generation of computers... Technology/ Computers and Software Concepts of Information Technology/ Objectives Define Software s Explain Software with examples s Classify Computer Languages s List varieties of software s... compression – File Creation – Software versions – Software manuals – Software copyrights – Software upgrades Concepts of Information Technology/ What is Software? s Software is a set of instructions