In the name of

ALLAH
Most merciful and beneficent.
Basics of IT
VENUE:
Computer Room
Senior School
The Fazlehaq College, Mardan
Day ONE:
We will Cover the following terms/topics today:

 What is COMPUTER?

 What are SOFTWARE and HARDWARE?

 Types of SOFTWARE
 Constituents/Components of Computer System.

 How Computer STORE or PROCESS human

understandable DATA?

 COMPUTER MEMORY and its UNITS?

1st Topic for today:
What is COMPUTER?
What you say … what really computer is?

Should I tell you …

OK ..
Computer is nothing else but a human without
feelings/emotions/tiredness/pains/boredom ….

Now let’s have some technical answer for this …..

COMPUTER is an Electronic device that …….
 Receives

 Process

 Store and

 Retrieves

the DATA given to it by we humans.

Now, lets think over this definition of computer in respect
of humans.

Human listen to some word with EAR

(Receives/Input Data)

Human then think over that word to recognize by BRAIN.

(Processing Data)

Human can then memorize that word in Memory for

future.
(Storing Data)

Human can then pickup that same word from Memory to

pronounce/say,
if asked or needed later on.
(Retrieving/Output Data)
Point to note here is that in each and
every function of Computer, Processing
is involved.
i.e. No function of computer can be
performed without the help of
Processor (BRAIN) of computer.

End of Topic Assessment

6. What is computer?
7. Main functions of Computer?
8. How computer is different from
humans?
2nd
Topic of today:
What are SOFTWARE and HARDWARE?
Software and Hardware cannot be well
defined without giving example of a human
being.
So,
A Human Soul is what we can call
SOFTWARE and Human Body is what can say
is its HARDWARE.
Both SOUL and BODY are interdependent
and are must for a life to exist. If one of
them is not there, we say XYZ is dead.
Same is the case with Computer, if there is
no software then hardware is of no use.
Now the technical definitions:
HARDWARE: All the physical parts of a
computer which we can touch and see
are called Hardware of a computer
system e.g. Mouse, Keyboard, Printer,
Monitor, Scanner, Printer etc.
SOFTWARE: All those parts of a
computer which we can only see but
cant touch are called Software of a
computer system e.g. Windows,
Media Player, Google Earth, Ms. Word
etc.
3rd
Topic of today:
Types of Software
There are mainly two types of Software:
System Software
Application Software
System Software: This is the type of software that is specially
designed for the computer itself i.e. the user (We humans) don’t
needs it directly but the Computer needs it for providing an
environment in which we can use it for our own projects/works.
The best example of such software is:
Microsoft Windows
LINUX
UNIX etc
Other name used for System Software is Operating System.
All the Hardware needs such type of Software for their
functionality and they are also referred as HARDWARE DRIVERS.
Application Software: Now such type of Software are
designed for USERS (All those people who use
computer for their work/projects etc). But again I
have to say that before using these software one
must have to INSTALL System software because that
is the soul of Computer System without which it will
not be able to provide us the environment for doing
our work in Application Software.
Some examples of Application software are here:
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Yahoo Messenger
Media Player etc.
Other name used for Application Software is Utility
Programs.
4th Topic of today:
What are constituents/components of COMPUTER?
As we now know that Computer performs
four main functions. So based on these
functions different parts or components of
computer are defined for performing these
functions as:
 Input Unit

 Output Unit

 Storage Unit

 Processing Unit
 Storage Unit
RAM ROM

Input Unit Output Unit

Processing Unit
CU ALU

Block Diagram of Computer System

As we all know the basic definition of
SYSTEM….
Collection of different equipments
connected together to perform individual
jobs for achieving a specific common
objective.
e.g. Educational System, Health System,
Respiratory System, Digestive System etc.
Maybe a System can be made up of Sub
Systems i.e. in human body there are
different sub systems working together in
collaboration with each other and their job
is to make it sure that Body is ALIVE…
Constituents/Components of COMPUTER

 Input Unit:
This is the Unit which is responsible for
all the Input/receiving of DATA from outer
world. All the Input devices are connected
through this Unit to computer.
This unit is not directly connected to the
PROCESSOR (Brain) of Computer but
through RAM i.e. All the inputted DATA first
go to RAM and afterward travel towards
PROCESSOR for further any actions.
All devices which are used for INPUT of
DATA are connected to this INPUT unit which
is further connected to RAM while RAM is
connected to PROCESSOR.
We have different Input devices i.e.
 Mouse
 Keyboard
 Scanner
 Microphone
 Bar Code Reader
 Touch Screens etc
 Output Unit:
The Unit which is responsible for all the
Output/retrieving of DATA from inside of the
computer is called Output Unit and all the Output
devices are connected through this Unit to computer.
This unit is also not directly connected to the
PROCESSOR (Brain) of Computer but through RAM
i.e. All the outputted DATA first go to RAM and
afterward travel towards Output Devices.
Different Output devices are:
 Monitor/Screen/Projectors

 Printer

 Speakers etc.
 Storage Unit:
As it is clear from its name, this Unit is responsible for the overall
storage of DATA in computer. This storage maybe Temporary or on
Permanent basis.
Basically we have two types of Storage:
Primary Memory
 RAM
 ROM
Secondary Memory
RAM (Random Access Memory): This is the memory which is not
permanent and vanished as computer shuts down, that’s why
called Random Access Memory. To better understand this memory
here is an Example …… …. ….
(Example in class)
ROM (Read Only Memory): This type of memory is fixed/permanent
in nature and is written by the manufacturer of the computers.
(Example in class)
Secondary Memory:

Hard Disk (HD)

Floppy Disk
Compact Disk (CD)
Digital Video Disk (DVD)
Flash Disk etc
All these devices are used for storing the data on
permanent basis means one can wash it out only if he
intends to do so otherwise the computer power failure
cannot harm the data.
 Processing Unit:
This is the most important unit of the
computer. It is also called Central
Processing Unit (CPU). Because of its so
much importance people normally use the
word CPU for the BOX/Casing in which it is
fixed with all other parts of computer i.e.
Hard Disk, CD Drive, RAM etc.
Parts of CPU:
 Control Unit

 Arithmetic and Logic Unit

Last Topic for today:
Basic Unit of Computer Memory
Come on ….
What do you think ….how computer keeps all your
data…. Your documents …. Your pictures…. Your
sounds….. Your videos …..

Oh …there is a WRITER/INTERPRETER sitting inside

that BOX who is continuously obeying your orders
and keeps record of your each and every single click
and press of button fromkeyboard ….WOOWOWooo
No ….its not like that ….
Then ……… ?
 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Here you can see set of 8 Cells/Boxes, each cell individually is
called BIT. I have marked them as 0 to 7 as addresses of these
cells.
BIT stands fro Binary Integer, means the contents of these cells
can only be either 0 or 1.
Computer Memory has millions trillions of such cells in groups of
8 BITS called BYTE and all our DATA is written/stored in these
cells.
BUTTTTT how…………
ASCII CODES:
American Standard Codes for Information Interchange

These are the codes which are stored permanently in

computer memory (ROM).
Each alphabet (for example) has a code, and the computer
understands it because of that particular code.
For example:
ASCII code for A is 65.
Now as I told you that computer can only understand 0 and 1 so
here we need to represent 65 which is code for A in 0 and 1 format.
 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
20 = 1
21 = 2
22 = 4 Code for A = 65
23 = 8 Now 64 + 1 = 65
24 = 16 So Cells No 0 and 5 will be ON (1) while the
25 = 64 rest of Cells will be Off (0) to represent A in
26 = 128 Memory of Computer.
27 = 256 00100001 = 65 = A
In computer Memory A looks like 00100001 while we human see
it as A
THANK YOU All…….