SEC-1:

COMPUTER BASICS
AND
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

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What is a Computer?
An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be programmed with
instructions. A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a variety of sizes
and configurations.

Hardware: The term hardware refers to the physical components of your computer such as the
system unit, mouse, keyboard, monitor etc.
Software: The software is the instructions that makes the computer work. Software is held either on
your computers hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD or on a diskette (floppy disk) and is loaded (i.e. copied)
from the disk into the computers RAM (Random Access Memory), as and when required.
Types of Computers:
Mini and Mainframe Computers: Very powerful, used by large organisations such an banks to
control the entire business operation. Very expensive!

Personal Computers: Cheap and easy to use. Often used as stand-alone computers or in a network.
May be connected to large mainframe computers within big companies.

Hardware Components:
Input Devices -- "How to tell it what to do“ - A keyboard and mouse are the standard way to interact
with the computer. Other devices include joysticks and game pads used primarily for games.
Output Devices -- "How it shows you what it is doing" - The monitor (the screen) is how the
computer sends information back to you. A printer is also an output device.

INPUT DEVICES
The Mouse: Used to ‘drive’ Microsoft Windows
The Keyboard: The keyboard is still the commonest way of entering information into a computer
Tracker Balls: an alternative to the traditional mouse and often used by graphic designers
Scanners: A scanner allows you to scan printed material and convert it into a file format that may
be used within the PC
Touch Pads: A device that lays on the desktop and responds to pressure
Light Pens: Used to allow users to point to areas on a screen
Joysticks: Many games require a joystick for the proper playing of the game

OUTPUT DEVICES
VDU: The computer screen is used for outputting information in an understandable format
Printers: There are many different types of printers. In large organizations laser printers are most
commonly used due to the fact that they can print very fast and give a very high quality output.
Plotters: A plotter is an output device similar to a printer, but normally allows you to print larger
images.
Speakers: Enhances the value of educational and presentation products.
Speech synthesisers: Gives you the ability to not only to display text on a monitor but also to read
the text to you
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Storage Devices -- "How it saves data and programs“

Hard disk drives are an internal, higher capacity drive which also stores the operating system which
runs when you power on the computer.
"Floppy" disk drives allow you to save work on small disks and take the data with you.

Hard Disks
Speed: Very fast!
The speed of a hard disk is often quoted as "average access time" speed, measured in
milliseconds. The smaller this number the faster the disk.
Capacity: Enormous! Often 40/80 Gigabytes.
A Gigabyte is equivalent to 1024 Megabytes.
Cost: Hard disks costs are falling rapidly and normally represent the cheapest way of storing data.

Diskettes (Floppy Disks)

Speed: Very slow!
Capacity: Normally 1.44 Mbytes.
Cost: Very cheap.

CD-ROM Disks
Speed: Much slower than hard disks. The original CD-ROM speciation is given a value of 1x speed,
and later, faster CD-ROMs are quoted as a multiple of this value.
Capacity: Around 650 Mbytes and more

DVD Drives
Speed: Much faster than CD-ROM drives but not as fast as hard disks.
Capacity: Up to 17 Gbytes.
Cost: Slightly higher than CD-ROM drives.

Main Parts of Computer

Memory -- "How the processor stores and uses immediate data“

RAM - Random Access Memory

The main 'working' memory used by the computer.

When the operating system loads from disk when you first switch on the computer, it is copied into
RAM.

As a rough rule, a Microsoft Windows based computer will operate faster if you install more RAM.
Data and programs stored in RAM are volatile (i.e. the information is lost when you switch off the
computer).

ROM – Read Only Memory

Read Only Memory (ROM) as the name suggests is a special type of memory chip that holds
software that can be read but not written to.
A good example is the ROM-BIOS chip, which contains read only software.
Often network cards and video cards also contain ROM chips.

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How Computer Memory Is Measured:

Bit: All computers work on a binary numbering system, i.e. they process data in one's or zero's.
This 1 or 0 level of storage is called a bit.

Byte: A byte consists of eight bits.

Kilobyte: A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes.

Megabyte: A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes.

Gigabyte: A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes.

Microprocessors -- "The brain of the computer“

- PCs primarily use microprocessors (sometimes called the chip). The older Intel versions include
the 386, 486 and now the Pentium line.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is normally an Intel Pentium (or equivalent) and it is one of
the most important components within your computer.

It determines how fast your computer will run and is measured by its MHz speed.
Thus a 600 MHz Pentium is much faster than say a 400 MHz Pentium CPU.

It is the CPU that performs all the calculations within the computer.

Operating systems software

The operating system is a special type of program that loads automatically when you start your
computer.

The operating system allows you to use the advanced features of a modern computer without
having to learn all the details of how the hardware works

The link between the hardware and you, the user

Makes the computer easy to use without having to understand bits and bytes!

Applications software:
An application program is the type of program that you use once the operating system has
been loaded. Examples include word-processing programs, spreadsheets and databases
Application Software
 Word processing applications
 Microsoft Word
 Lotus Word Pro
 WordPerfect
 Spreadsheets
 Microsoft Excel
 Lotus 123
 Database
 Microsoft Access
 Lotus Approach
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 Payroll
 Sage software
 Presentation tools
 Microsoft PowerPoint
 Lotus Freelance
 Desktop publishing
 Abode Photoshop
 Multimedia applications
 Microsoft's Encarta CD-ROM based encyclopaedias

Information Network
LAN
A LAN (Local Area Network) is a system whereby individual PCs are connected together within a
company or organization

WAN
A WAN (Wide Area Network) as the name implies allows you to connect to other computers over
a wider area (i.e. the whole world).

Uses of Computer
Computers in Daily Life
 Accounts
 Games
 Educational
 On-line banking
 Smart ID cards
 Supermarkets
 Working from home (Tele-working)
 Internet