SUBMITED BYMAYANK YADAV

Introduction to Computers

What is a computer? An electronic device, operating under the control of

instructions stored in its own memory unit, that can accept data, manipulate the data according to specified rules, produce information from the processing, and store the results for future use.

Devices that comprise a personal computer.

Inside a computer

Information Processing Cycle—four general operations

Input

Processing

Output

Storage

What are the components of the computer?

Input devices

Central processing unit (CPU)

Output devices

Memory

Storage devices

Input Devices Keyboard

Mouse

Digital camera

Scanner

Microphone

Keyboards

Mouse Devices

Digital Cameras

Scanners

Microphones

Central Processing Unit Made up of the control unit and arithmetic/logic unit

The brains of the CPU is the processor. There are different brands and speeds

Pentium made by Intel

Celeron made by Intel

Athlon made by AMD

Memory

RAM—also called Random Access Memory

Processors & Memory

Data RepresentationByte—one character of data

Kilobyte—one thousand bytes of data

Megabyte—one million bytes

Gigabyte—one billion bytes

Terabyte—one trillion bytes

Petabyte—one quadrillion bytes

Exabyte—one quintillion bytes

Zettabyte—one sextillion bytes

Yottabyte—one septillion bytes

Output Devices Printers

Impact printers

Dot matrix printers

Nonimpact printers

Ink jet

Laser

Color

B & W

Monitors

CRT’S

LCD’S

STORAGE DEVICES Floppy Disks

3.5-inch disks store 1.44M of data

Must be formatted

Tracks

sectors

Hard Disks

Spins at 5,400 – 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute)

Can store anywhere between 10G – 250G+ of data

CD’s—Compact Discs

Available in a variety of formats—CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW

A typical CD holds about 650 MB of data

DVD’s

Available as DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW

Can hold 4.7 GB of data

Zip Drives—high capacity floppy disk drive; has lost popularity

Zip disks can hold from 100 MB – 250 MB of data

USB Flash Drive

Storage capacity between 32 MB – 4 GB

STORAGE DEVICES

Software—Can be categorized into four types

System software

Application software

Educational software

Entertainment software

System SoftwareControls the operations of computer

equipment

Operating System software tells the computer how to:

Load

Store

Execute

OS is loaded into memory when the computer is turned on

This process is called booting

Most OS’s use a Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Provides visual cues such as icons

Each icon represents an application

Application Software Programs that tell a computer how to produce

information

Commonly used applications

Word processing

Spreadsheet

Database

Presentation

Financial

Email

Taxing

Educational Software Software that can be used for learning purposes

Examples include:

Jump Start Series

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

Reader Rabbit

Encarta or World Book

Math Blaster

Rosetta Stone Spanish

Entertainment SoftwareSports games

Madden NFL

MLB

The Sims

World of Warcraft

Rollercoaster Tycoon

Final Fantasy

Halo

Myst

Half Life

Barbie Fashion Show

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