ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM and less expensive to build than a trackball.

• Scanner - a device that can read text or

Computer System is a complete, working computer. illustrations
The printed on paper and translate the
computer system includes not only the computer, but information into a
also any form the computer can use. A scanner
software and peripheral devices that are necessary to works by
make the digitizing an image - dividing it into a grid of
computer function. boxes
and representing each box with either a
1. Hardware
zero or a one,
2. Software
depending on whether the box is filled in.
3. Peopleware / Liveware
Categories of Scanners

HARDWARE 1. Flatbed Scanner - It is a typically scans one

sheet at
It is best described as a device that is physically a time, although some offers an attachment
connected to your for
computer or something that can be physically touched. scanning multiple sheets.
Advantage: It can be used to scan
INPUT DEVICE - any device that allows the person bound
to documents, such as pages from books
communicate information to the computer / gives and
information other bulky items.
to the computer system so that it can perform its
tasks 2. Sheetfeed Scanner - Motorized rollers feed
the sheet
• Bar Code Reader - is an input device used across the scanning head.
to scan a Advantage: It is usually designed to fit
Bar Code Reader pattern of lines using neatly
optical between the keyboard and the monitor.
sensing techniques the line patter is coded
information 3. Handheld Scanner - The least expensive and
about the item to which it relates (e.g. the least
price and reliable of the three, is a handy portable
description of an item of merchandise). option
• Digital Camera - record images in digital Disadvantage: It is often difficult to get a
form. good
• Digitizing Tablet - an input device that scan because the user must move the
enables you scanner in
to enter drawings and sketches into a a straight line and fixed rate.
computer. A
digitizing tablet consists of an electronic • Optical Mark Reader - was designed initially
tablet and a to read
cursor or pen. A cursor (also called a puck) is penciled or graphic information on exam
similar answer
to a mouse, except that it has a window sheets.
with cross • Handheld Electronic Organizers - are small
hairs for pinpoint placement, and it can mobile
have as many computers that accept input through a
as 16 buttons. penlike
• Keyboard - is the most commonly used input instrument called a stylus that is used to write n
device, the
similar to a typewriter keyboard that is a part computer's screen.
of a • Microphone - device for converting sound
terminal that is connected to a computer wave into
elsewhere. electrical energy.
• Mouse - which has a ball on its underside, is • Web Camera - is a camera that is in some way
rolled on connected to the World Wide Web, or
a flat surface, usually the desk on which the Internet.
computer • Trackpad - a small, touch-sensitive pad,
sits / a device that controls the movement usually a
of the couple of inches square, which acts as an
cursor or pointer on a display screen, alternative
originally to a mouse on some notebook/palmtop
designed by Xerox computers. It
• Trackball - it is a variation on the mouse, but works by sensing fingertip pressure.
it is an • Joystick - a manual control consisting of a
upside mouse-you roll the ball directly with vertical
your hand. handle that can move freely in two directions;
• Touchpad - your finger as the pointer/ is a used as
pressure- an input device to computers or to devices
sensitive pad that is smaller, more accurate, controlled
thinner, by computers.
• Touch Screen - a type of display screen that
 has a associated with monochrome monitors.
touch-sensitive transparent panel covering the Plasma
screen. displays are generally more expensive
Instead of using a pointing device such as a than their
mouse or CRT counterparts.
light pen, finger is used to point directly to
objects on • Printer - It is a device that produces
the screen. information on
• Light Pen - an input device that utilizes a light- paper output.
sensitive detector to select objects on a
Types of Printer
display
screen. A light pen is similar to a mouse,
1. Non-Impact Printer - places an image on a
except that
page
with a light pen the pointer can be moved to without physically touching the page.
selects 1.1 Laser Printer - use a light beam to help
objects on the display screen by directly transfer images to paper
pointing to 1.2 Ink-Jet Printer - Which spray ink from a
the objects with the pen. multiple jet nozzles, can print in both black
• Stylus - a pointing and drawing device and
shaped like a white and several different of colors of ink
pen. Stylus is used with a digitizing tablet or to
touch produce excellent graphics.
screen.
• Sensor - is a device, which responds to an
input
quantity by generating a functionally related
output
usually in the form of an electrical or optical
signal.
• Optical Character Recognition - permits users
to
input printed or typewritten documents with a
scanner.
• Pen-Based Computing - involves the use of a
special pen on a monitor surface, as with a
personal
digital assistant.
• Voice Recognition System - activated by
user's
voice after voice has been programmed into
the
computer; currently accepts limited number
of vocal
commands.

^ OUTPUT DEVICE - It is anything that allows the

computer to
communicate information to the user.

• Monitor - It is used to display soft copy

output.

Varieties of Screens
1. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) - It uses a
technology
called raster scanning, a process of
sweeping
electron beams across the back of the
screen.
2. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) - A flat display
often seen on watches and calculators,
sometimes used in laptop computers.
3. Plasma - consists of ionized neon / gas
(plasma)
sealed between two glass plates. One
glass
plate encases a set of horizontal wires and
the
other a set of vertical wires. The images
produced by plasma display are
generally very
clear, detailed, and not subject to the
flicker
 2. Impact Printer - uses some sort of keyboard or
physical monitor, or any peripheral devices.
contact with the paper to produce
an image, • Central Processing Unit (CPU) - it is the brains
physically striking paper, ribbon, and of
print the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as
hammer together. the
2.1 Daisy Wheel Printer processor or central processor, the CPU is
2.2 Dot Matrix Printer where
2.3 Cain Printer most calculations take place
2.4 Band Printer o Control Unit - supervises or monitors the
functions performed by the entire computer
• Voice Output - It is typically used when an system according to conditions set forth by
inquiry is the
followed by a short reply, such as a balance stored program.
or flight o Arithmetic/Logic Unit - the part of a
time. Many businesses have found another computer
creative that performs all arithmetic computations,
uses for voice output over the telephone. such
• Speaker - an output device producing sounds. as addition and multiplication, and all
• Speech Synthesizer - increase a message comparison
as operations. The ALU is one component of the
temporary output that computer users CPU.
hear. o Memory Unit - is somewhat like an electronic
• Microfilm or Microfiche - are reduced sized filing cabinet capable of holding data or
photographic reproductions of printed instructions.
information on
film cards. The cards can be read using • Motherboard - the main circuit board of a
microfiche microcomputer. The motherboard contains
readers and printed using microfiche printers. the
• Plotter - a device that draws pictures on paper connectors for attaching additional boards.
based Typically,
on commands from a computer. Plotters differ the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS,
from memory,
mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel
printers in that they draw lines using a pen. As
ports,
a
expansion slots, and all the controllers required
result, they can produce continuous lines,
to
whereas
control standard peripheral devices, such as
printers can only simulate lines by printing a
the
closely
display screen, keyboard, and disk drive.
spaced series of dots. Multicolor plotters use
Collectively,
different-
all these chips that reside on the motherboard
colored pens to draw different colors.
are
known as the motherboard's chipset.
^ INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES - a piece of hardware that is
used • Ports - an interface on a computer to which
for both providing information to the computer and you
receiving connect a device. Personal computers have
information various
types of ports. Internally, there are several
• Disk Drive - a computer hardware that holds ports for
and connecting disk drives, display screens, and
spins a magnetic or optical disk and reads keyboards. Externally, personal computers
and writes have ports
information on it. for connecting modems, printers, mice, and
• Hard Disk Drive - a rigid magnetic disk other
mounted peripheral devices. Examples: Universal Serial
permanently in a drive unit. Bus
• Optical Disc - a direct-access disk, which (USB), Parallel (PS2), Serial.
has
information recorded on it with a laser • Expansion Slots - a connector in a computer
beam that into
burns pits into its surface. which an expansion card can be plugged.
• Modem - the modem modulates the The
computer output connector supplies power to the card and
to an acceptable signal for transmission and connects it
then to the data bus, address bus and control
demodulates the signal back for computer signals of the
input. motherboard. Examples: ISA (International
Serial
Architecture), PCI (Peripheral Component
SYSTEM UNIT - the main part of a personal computer. Interface),
The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port).
system unit includes the chassis, microprocessor,
main • Bus - a collection of wires through which data
memory, bus, and ports, but does not include the is
 transmitted from one part of a computer to
another.

Registers - are temporary storage areas for

instruction or data
- They are not part of the memory rather they
are
special additional storage locations that offer
the
advantage of speed.

Microprocessor - a miniaturized central

processing
unit can be etched on a chip, a tiny square of
silicon.
- It is usually expressed in megahertz (MHz).

Bus lines - is a set of parallel electrical paths,

usually copper tracing on the surface of the
motherboard, which internally transports data
from
one place to another within the computer
system.

Cache - is a relatively small block of very fast

memory designed for the specific purpose of
speeding up the internal transfer of data and
software
instructions.

• The first two steps together are called the

actual
instruction time, or I-Time or Instruction
cycle
or I-cycle.

1. The control unit fetches the instruction

form the
memory.
2. The control unit decodes the instruction
MACHINE CYCLE
and
directs that the necessary data be moved
from
memory the arithmetic/logic unit.

• Steps 3 and 4 together are called execution

time,
or E-Time or Execution cycle or E-cycle.

3. The arithmetic/logic unit executes the

arithmetic/logical instruction, given as the
actual
operation on the data.
4. The arithmetic/logic unit stores the result
of this
operation in memory or in a register.

^ STORAGE DEVICES

1. Primary Storage - also called as main memory;

a
non-volatile, temporary type of storage.
Examples:
RAM - Random Access
Memory
ROM - Read Only Memory
PROM - Programmable ROM
 EEPROM - Electronic Erasable Examples: payroll, monitoring, registration,
Programmable point of
ROM sales, video rentals, etc.

2. Secondary Storage - also called as 2. Packaged - purchased programs which

auxiliary are required
memory, a volatile, permanent type for common business and personal
of storage applications
Examples: Examples are the following:
Hard disk
Floppy Disk ❖ WORD PROCESSING - it is the most
Optical Disk (Compact Disks) widely used personal computer
software
that used for memos, reports,
correspondence, minutes of
meetings, and
SOFTWARE
anything else that someone can
think of to
type.
It I the planned, step-by-step set of instructions required
Examples: MS-Word, WordStar,
to turn data
WordPerfect, AmiPro
into information-that makes a computer useful.
❖ ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETS - It is
SYSTEM SOFTWARE - consists of programs designed made up of columns and rows of
to numbers
facilitate the use of the computer by the user. Any have been used at business tools for
software centuries.
required supporting the production or execution of Examples: MS Excel, Lotus 1-2-3,
application QuattroPro
❖ DATABASE MANAGEMENT - It is the
programs but which is not specific to any particular
management of a collection of
application.
interrelated
1. Operating System - an important part of the facts-handles data in several ways.
system Examples: DBaseIII, MS Access,
software which tells the computer how to Foxbase,
perform FoxPro
functions such as how to load, store and ❖ GRAPHICS - Visual information is
execute an usually
application program an how to transfer more compelling than a page of
data between numbers.
the input/output devices and main memory. Examples: Adobe Photoshop, Corel
Examples: MS-DOS, MAC-OS, all Draw
versions of
Windows, UNIX ❖ COMMUNICATIONS - It can hook a
phone
2. Programming Languages - software which up to the computer and
are used communicate with
to create software. the computer at the office or
Examples: ADA, LISP, C, Pascal, Basic, etc.
access data
3. Compilers / Translators - is a system program stored in another computer in
that another
location. Examples: Win Popup
converts the English-like instructions used by
computers programmers into the machine- ❖ DESKTOP PUBLISHING - to create
readable personalized cards, business cards,
code used by the hardware. letterheads, etc.
Examples: Assembly, COBOL Examples: Hallmark, Disney's, etc.

4. Utility Program - perform such standard tasks ❖ CAI/CAD/CAM - Computer Aided

as Instructions, Computer Aided
organizing and maintaining data files, Design,
translating Computer Aided Manufacture
programs written in various languages to a
language
acceptable to the computer.
Examples: Text Editor, Defragmenter, File
PEOPLEWARE
Compressor such as WinZip, etc.

^ APPLICATION SOFTWARE - is applied to a real-world This component is made up of the people responsible for
task, maintaining, operating, programming, and analyzing the
it can be used to solve a particular problem or to output
perform a generated by the computer system.
specific task.
> Computer Operator - works in the computer
1. Customized - typically created to perform a room and is
particular responsible for a number of different tasks.
task.
> Data Library- is usually located close to the
computer
room and usually staffed by a data librarian.
> Data Entry Personnel - are responsible for
entering large
volumes of data into the computer system.
> System Analysts - review current or proposed
applications within a company to determine if
the
applications should be implemented using a
computer.
> Computer Programmers - design, write, test and
implement specialized programs that process
data to
computer.
> Database Administrator - an important function
within the
information system department is the
management of data.

Management Information System Department (MISD)

- Management within an information systems
department
varies depending on the size and complexity of
the
department.

Persons inside MISD

1. Systems Manager - overseas the activities in the
system
analysis and design area of the department.
2. Programming Manager - is in charge of all
programmers
within the department.
3. Operation Managers - overseas the
operational aspects
of the department such as scheduling,
maintenance, and
operation of the equipment.
4. Information System Department Manager - is in
charge
of the entire department and may have the
title Vice
President of Information System, or Chief
Information
Officer.

EDP (Electronic Data Processing)

EDP, an infrequently used term for what is today

usually called
"IS" (information services or systems) or "MIS"
(management
information services or systems), is the processing of
data by a
computer and its programs in an environment
involving
electronic communication. EDP evolved from "DP"
(data
processing), a term that was created when most
computing
input was physically put into the computer in
punched card form
and output as punched cards or paper reports.