AN INTRODUCTION TO Gg TECHNOLOGY Bide Jeseon introduces Key concepts reluted to Hed! i Compan related terms are defined and basic computer functions are explained. In sane the following topics are as , > © What ig a computer? What are the components of ae Adresse. omputer? = How does a computer work? Tow does the software work? ss information? How does a computer proc memory work? How does the computer's How is data store Why is documentation important? 2 » What are virus “Please remember, th explanation of the te order to introduce y% computerisation introductory lesson is not intended cchnical details of computerisation, ‘ou to key computer concepts 8 ‘The average computer user, as apposed to those p not need to know more than the information provided mation technologiesWraris A COMPUTER? sorts of with the cs | by a computer | data’ refers to mation. “ Computers can be generally classified by size and powst» although there can be wousiderable overlap. Following are descriptions of several different types of computers. Mainframe computers are large-sized, powerful multi-user computers Support concurrent programs. That means, they can perform different act “processes” al the same time. Mainframe computers can be used by as many as ‘or thousands of users at the same ti Large organisatior =scale processes such as prot gen the term ‘raw fmainframe computer ‘organisation's payroll. Miai-computers are mid-sized multi several actions at the same time and can support from 4 to and In recent years the distinction between mini-computers become blurred. Often the distinction depends upon how the manufacturer wants to market its machines. Organisations may use a mini-computer for such tasks as managing the information in a small financial system or maintaining a small database ‘of information about regisirations or applications. i stations arc powerful, sit le-user computers. They have the capacity to store : ‘but they are only used by one psrsonal-a.time. linked together to fo such as staff in an office, i-processing comp small_mainframesshasinformation, oe Networks are discusse module, ful and often comes to a personal computer but is more powerf puting pé ad in more detail later in this microcomputers, are the most popular type of inexpensive computer basically _Personal compu compuler im use today. The designed for an individual user. Tod: the world IBM-compatible and Macintosh-compatible mac! Computers may be ds which are lightwe ‘ ge of tasks, including word processing, accounting, presentations, organisation of n PCs and manufacturers. sare much 4 le distinction between desktop publishing, preparation and delivery 0! spreadsheets and database management. than a few years ago, and today there is workstations. Activity 1 If your office has computers, find out the type or types. computers, mini-computers, workstations or personal computers? What ‘processes’ or actions are the computers used for? Write a brief description of the types of computers in place and their main uses. If your office has more than one type of computer, find out why? What different tasks are the different computers intended to do? If your office does not have computers, try to contact a colleague or friend who has a ha and ask him or her what type he or she lias and what primary functions it is Are they mainframer All compute © central pro * memory ee ‘Memory: An arga within a computer system that holds data waiting to be processed. device: The place where a computer puts data. aput devices : the devices that allow data and instructions to enter» comput keyboard, mouse, scanner) Any resource required for the functioning of a the course of which it will be transformed that allow information to be represented (that is, | display screen or printer)Printers, seanners at also sometimes call It carries out all of the spreadsheet program ) 1BM personal computer A microprocessor is a particular type of chip. computers are designed ssor, Most of _ multi-media applications, and most recen| ‘opportunities provided by access to large volumes of information on 1! pple: Other memnitacturere of chips (such as Cyrix) produce chips of of computer iia are using of Stains what type of ito know that these terms ~ 286, 386, 486, Pentium the vomputer, Newer computers vali cuslie 96ater, Some newer CO! csgors are 100, newer processors. a pro run fophisticated for older software Thi nibel conatnou typ of memory tat most UPI are familiar with is ‘main memory _— or *RAM" (random-aceess men Teen eens = Rn area 1 The word ‘main’ is used to di the hard drive or disk drives. for storing large amaunts of dala; 1A turned off. techniques and devices Fir yauins data even when the cOmPUIcE © Following are Storage is sometimes ‘common storage devices: SS —— Svorage: The aca wil data can be left on a lon} needed for processing. removable, flexible mylar plastic yer of a magnetisable | data can be recorded and ‘Thus mass definitions of hina computer system where fzer term basis while it is not Diskette, A smal disk covered substance, onto which di stored. Also known as a floppy e computer ble to store d disk. Hard drive: ‘The storage area within itself, where megabytes of space are 0) bits of information, Also known as a har ‘A storage device that uses_reflecting— and write data on Optical disk: surfaces-and laser technology to read k. Also known asa laser disk. : sul adisl Magnetic tape: A continuous plastic strip covered with magnetic oxide; the tape is divided into parallel tracks which data may be recorded by selectively snctisi parts of the surface, or spots, in each of ‘racks, The data can then be stored and reused.Activity 2 Gafice hos 2 microcomputer, Jook at the manual Find out what type of microprocessor fs come with it. Review the Ste eenripaier LOO SO jnformation about the your er is turned Fents Jor Ibe suas Ncroprocessor newer oF |* ftware manuals for "The computer performs useful operations, manip ¢ data in many ways. “This manipalation is called processing. Ex: ff processing ‘include _ performing calculations, sorting lists of words or numbers, modifying documents _ gee 2 see BY user instructions, and drawing graphs. A computer ti-TWARE WORK? How DOES THE SOF Frogramming language: An artificial set of rules, Jocabulary and syntax used to instruct the computer to ‘execute certain tasks. Computer program: pies computer actually understands is called machit rs only. This ae is used By oe ST.ed to worry about ftware being that does not 5 and in a way # ‘used to create and use It - Applications software includes users access to carry out work. They tions for the f ns software. The great ad can make changes manipulate and a typewri of word processing over using Word processors make it easy to retyping the entire document. that let people electronically create and Jucs arranged in rows and columns with adsheets are used for mathematical ‘and manipulate data in a database, A database is a collection of retated information that can be manipulated and used 10 sort information, conductdivulge product { By making software publ product, which many manufacturers do not want Activity 4 What operating system does i ‘on the computer? For help, look ‘nd or colleague work with you Choose a computer and swi version? What software app! at the computer and software mat How DOES A COMPUTER PROCESS INFORMATION? so the numbers.or words we tnderstand are data is input into a computer, into a binary numbers system. Binary ge a type, input, output, send, rettieve, ww and so on is, in the end, *¥ — on v fe Samer; some, att Spt p eo he er? ope, pews of amr Seams 4s same Tt be pte O power and De Cw te © quntier DIF wold ted Give 2 Solis 5 as winy ewerything i foe 6* power). 1285 C sysem. the ‘ r . ix2 2 ix3 = 1 ‘ sas gziniieie Ty 1100111 103 yen ~ the Os ad 15 ~ are called “binary digits’ or bits.St Wiis that yopresont one Computer programmers have developed codes for various bytes of information, s° frat they may be read by different computer programs, Por example, one code mieht Jerine the Helter A as 11000001" and the letter 1 as 11000010", The number 6 might Yefined #8 11110110" and the number ® as 11111000", When the person entering, data strikes the A key on the keyboard, the co episters it ay *T1000001". When fe or she enters the 1, the computer reads #95 "11000010", Similarly, the number 6 Pe inderstood by the computer as °11110110° and the number 8s “111 1100". In this fray, he computer can store words and numbers as binary digits nd then retrieve {them back ino words or numbers as required sring, and processing, the data takes jputer's main y. The CPU) consists ister’. them and conv Ag discussed earlier, this work of Jace in the Central Processing Unit, the Fran arithmetic and logic unit, or ALU, « control unit and a set of r ‘Phe arithmetic and logic unit 1s the portion of the CPU. where arithmetic and Jogical operations take place «The control unit is the part of the CPU that supervises the yeneral operations the computer «The registers are devices that hold data inside the computer's memory long ‘enough to execute a particular function, such as indexing, calculating, sorting oF otherwise manipulating data, They are the CPU's own internal memory other through a kind of path known as Data travels from one part of the computer | abus. Bas: The channel or path that lets the parts of a computer, communicate with each other, Similar to a school bus for school children, a computer data bus picks up @ Joad of data from one of the components on the main computer board and then transfers the data to another component on the main computer board, ‘The main circuit board of a microcomputer is also known as the motherboard. ‘The motherboard isthe-prineipal ‘board that has Connectors for attaching devices 10 the bus, ‘Typically, it contains the CPU, memory and basic controllers for the yystem The data bus is really a series of sal circuits that conneet the various electrical elements on the are input into the computer and processed inthe CPU, They travel along the stored in the computer's memory, ‘The amount of memory available is in bytes of information, referring to the “Combination-ol- bits] rhe ¢ higher the’ number of bytes the more memory the computer has. ‘computers hold ‘megabytes’ or even ‘gigabyte of data, A megabyte isa, million bytes; a gigabyte is one billion bytes, and a terabyte is one trillion computer has a memory of 64 megabytes, then it can hold 64 million bytes mnt Weia ‘e) with whieh it seals ely Uiiy ye Se thayitmapbeltransterredjoptsed Tee por eS eae moni Betis taneiecenetnsien other aaa sega Code for Information Interch. SCH code assigns o apecilic by be found, & Brcribe - WscrbeM Bove. Another evde that LMEDICRer [xicnded Binary sor that jLis thee [3M-brand mainframe compu The important point to rem Jable Decimal Intefchange Corte pees pat their main Valuc is to story informwtion as that it is 16 ee puteis. By using ASCH oF EBCDIC i | hls fe poeple oomertaen 0 sonPue else's data using a different type oF a of using ASCH-or PROCDICsthat_ the foematting—ocather special omputcrised informabion may de los. WHAT IS COMPUTER MEMORY? ‘As defined earlier, memory relers to the temporary intemal storage. areas sathinie Gcoputer. The-torm memory is usually used as shorthand Yor ‘physical memory Efers to the octual chips capable of holding data, Some So I memory onto a hard drive piliar to users is random access memory an both write data into Stal memory", which expands phy qhe main type of memory and the most f (BAM). RAM is the main memory. A computer fiMand scad data fiom RAM a se. of operating, instructions Every time a user turns on his or her computer, Phese insiguetions. which help eontic copied from. the hard disk into RAM Most iesaeb in computer functions, remain in KAM until the computer is turned oll ‘olatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its _ contents. As soon as the powel med off, whatever data was i RAM disappertts: The resulls of The contents of RAM are necessary for the computer to process data, the processing are kept temporarily in RAM until they are needed again or until they aw saved onto the hard disk or other storage device MB) r foday the storage capacity of RAM is measured in meg abytes: " (microcomputers) typically have between 16 and 64 MB of RAM, which means they can hold between 16 and 64 million bytes of data (a standard A4 page of text typically holds about 2,000 bytes or characters of text), Otler types of memory include * ROM (read only memory): unlike RAM, ROM is non-volatile and only permits the user to read data. Computers almost always contain @ small amount of id edcnly memory that holds instructions for starting up the computer, itafont cproerammable se prodeern, Gren tas PROM hat GMM malta inioy tie tt fore something else sea " else. Like ROMs, PROMs are non-votatih 2h se itt + [eprom nl type ace ad-on eesble progam lerend-onty memory) an EPROM is @ posing it to ultraviolet Hight able programmable sa? Act ys ‘ Vind yersons responsible for computer manager agk he person oF P , random access memory (RAM) your orpanisation’s computer h ak the computer has enough RAM and why ot why not te oar dT oaasey eae ————— y ARE DATA STORED? that HOV pps very important to Pe) direct Fink to the computer processor, 3 es disks that are not directly inked o the processor Seething that is used to store computer dat Floppy disks, hard Eps and magnetic tapes are all types of stornge device. refers to how data are actua edium for storage is magnetic st Micke. and tape by magnetsing selected particles 91 agnetic orientaon, until that The particles retain theit mag! ieks and tapes are modifiable storage media hard disks and diskettss-- ARPT ISK 1S a NeW ‘ons included earlier Jy refers to the circuitry which refers to media device distinguish between memory, whic and the storage, Remember, a storage d disks, optical disks. disk. The most ally kept on the storage e the With magnetic stot Physical storage ‘commonly used Mm computer stores data_on d oxide-based surface coating. ofientation is changed. Thus magnetic d The two most popular types of magnetic storag Magnetic tape provides a third type of magnetic storage, storage medium. Following is a discussion of each; the definiti ‘ae repeated. Hard drive or hard disk storage prov! jorage, an ¢ media a ides faster access t0 | Jes than a diskette Sirmuriventbe storage arce whine pate re available to store abytes of space & Also known as hard disk, of alypinium-orglass and coated with & slatters and thet read wele from the disk platter into, the Tiara disk platters in itself, where m bits of information disk platter is a flat, rigid disk made ‘oxide, A hard disk consists of one or more P “A read-write head is the device that reads the data ater Tr alse records (or ‘writes’) data onto the plattersiaputers ate typically 344 4 mytaa * itches (a i ee we . 8 diskette 49 centimetres) § My faster than opPy dis! lowever, thee’) in diameter; ity tte than 8 disket Unkg AME: he cea ge ‘spen ee Hrs gata, hard disks are continually ye 8KeMes, which pare OF & hard di ‘ ee peed Like dishetten Yi motion See BSB oot coe yg the read-write head over the weniisks pn 80 there is no delay ar ad-write head over the soc : aT a Saco te Se all, requested dat disk ‘covered. with MOveIe Text ie with sare ‘ylar plastic substance, onto which de layer sme SCH digital dats con ty MaHetisable Wn be recorded and stored. Also nown as a floppy disk di Sp ine etreu cs got another name ~ fo A casing (not recommen int disk = from the thi isk cn ee eee because the di A ee Mone cuts oper Vir disk inside is thin “ ene ine ineee te un ad Sn y use 3% ine ae ass vray still fn sy inch (about 15 centimetre) a sues 10 centimetre) disks, ining. @ disk drive to read 8% inch disks may be vers ay a ee y ery difficult. jos are generally used for transport ceues ave, generally Porting or shippi ‘ copies OF Cuma TI bs shipping data files or for maki ajicate copie be ata files for back-up purposes, The ete ea rin is considerably smaller than that of a hard dig eee ota sete e 1960s, encti C 5 sace the 19608, magnetic tape has been a popular form of mainframe ‘computer ——$—$<$<—$$ << <_______ Magnetic tape: © continious plastic strip covered With magnetic oxide; the tape is divided into parallel tracks onto which data may be recorded by_ selectively magnetising parts of the s wots, in each of the tracks, The data can then be stored and reused pacy of ape Sonn n IBM introduced its first mic peomputer- inst the pe drive, similai to those used for audio mary storage device, however, instead of a tape requires sequential access rather than tinued in the form | cording and playback, Using tape as a pri hud disk is slow and inconvenient because nndoneaccess a sequence of bytes along the ss means that data is stored and read as ‘eoyth of thetape, To find a Tile stored on a THicrocomputer tape storage device; OTe hus o advance the tape 10 the appropriate location of the file, thei wait pa computer to slowly read each byte until it finds the beginning of the file. Like an go through the tape in seq! tudio cassette, for example, a user must Soquential ace’ ence to find the users quickly ab: andoned ss disk drives. Re: d a revival, not as a principal ata stored on hard disks: ~TheFor mare wermsim on Prekectong, ‘mformesiiom Services ia Atcmres Sere me backing op ns ond er Sanctions Veceate fhe most popular types of tape drives for mac recomnpaic. wa use tape carirdiges but gee We devel tape specifications aad carndg: wes A tape canrhdge m8 Pamegnetic tape module similar to s sound o video cassette tape Quarter ach Gp called QIC, is 2 tape cannidy: that conte % inch (appronimach " Jewidle tape. Depending on tape length. (1 ape capacstics ran ps. Digital audio tape. called DAI. was ongunally a au fe mow also used for dats fran wide DA panges from 2 gigaby'cs © |? pe Optical disk: 8 Sore Purfaces and leer © . Also known 25 2 inset © ——w types OF optical disks "ROMS ae the mo Dike Read Only Nae 9PS of part, contains data that hae "comnaer Ch pert conisins data that haa ba computer CDROM BR ca i es on aa HEE CD-ROM ih sat 1 gw ot pits chat represen bytes ena oe he i wily CD-ROMs usually bots, CD-ROM dake No dns reset bytes, CD-RONT weet 3 wht most applications software nee tis a ate Teen es D0 ae is provided on CD-ROM othe Thee __ snow possible for compute OR oe "= Pa UER ML sinks. ich merase ee . which stands for “Write Ones con aan optical dish, ‘Those are pijds up #0 680 megabytes, « Write tes, equivalent 1 over toda ee et 300,000 pages A single CD > of text in character Wrmat, and these disks are quit eerecordable (CD-R). Thei alee gg Cadardtor mes types of WORM disk, lthoagh the rere is a third type of “ais a ype of optical disk eae Which can be o *, (erasabk ) wees jc optical) disks and Cp-RW (CD rewritable) ical disks combine m sk ni C nd CD. d ROM technologies. 1 technologies. Lik they can read an y ead and written to a he pp ss iloppy but slower than a hard drive. ee is ee oe wep opRRoMs and magnet-optical disks are ery eee ean panier ee Marrone space thal dat in characte ermal rn ee Magneto- magnetic media sre over 200 MB of data, They can Sto much mi files. i j a | jinisation? If so, how often | ata in your 0! for backing up 4 don? If the computer su ‘Are there procedures f Gone? What are the data store the organisation be abie to retrieve the data? 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