Chapter 1B

Looking Inside the

Computer System

McGraw-Hill Technology Education Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Chapter Outlines
– Different Parts of Computer
– Information Processing Cycle
– Essential Computer Hardware
– Software system
– Computer Data
– Computer user

1B-2
 Parts of the Computer System

1B-3
 Parts of the Computer System
• Computer systems have four parts
– Hardware
– Software
– Data
– User

1B-4
 Parts of the Computer System
• Hardware
– Anything that can be touched
– Interconnected Mechanical and electronic devices
in the computer
– Used to controls the computer’s operation, input
and output
• Software
– Tell the computer what to do
– Also called a program
– Perform tasks and manage its own resources
– Thousands of programs exist

1B-5
 Parts of the Computer System
• Data
– Pieces of information
– Event of Consequences
– Facts without a context, generally do not make any
sense on its own
– Computer organize and present data in the form of
Information
– Data can be Text, number, sounds, and image which
computer manipulate
• Users
– People operating the computer
– Most important part
– Tell the computer what to do
1B-6
 Information Processing Cycle
• Computer convert data into useful information
by mathematical or logical operation on data
• Steps followed to process data
– Input
– Processing
– Output
– Storage

1B-7
 Essential Computer Hardware
• Computers use the same basic
hardware
• Hardware categorized into four types
 Processing devices
 Memory devices
 Input and output devices
 Storage devices

1B-8
 Parts of the Computer System

1B-9
 Essential Computer Hardware
• Processing devices
– Brains of the computer
– Transform raw data into useful information
– Carries out instructions from the program
– Manipulate the data
– Most computers have several processors
– Central Processing Unit (CPU)
– Secondary processors
– Processors (called Microprocessors or Chips)
made of sliver of silicon and other semiconductor
materials plugged into the mother board

1B-10
 Essential Computer Hardware

1B-11
 Essential Computer Hardware
Units of Measure for Computer Memory
and storage

Unit Approximate value (bytes) Actual Value (bytes)

KB 1,000 103 1,024

MB 1,000,000 106 1,048,576

GB 1,000,000,000 109 1,073,741,824

TB 1,000,000,000,000 1012 1,099,511,627,776

1B-12
 Essential Computer Hardware
• Input and output devices
– Allows the user to interact
– Input devices accept data
• Keyboard, Mouse, Camera, Mic, Trackball, Scanner, Lan Card,
HDD, Barcode Reader, Pen drive, CD ROM….

– Output devices deliver data

• Monitor, speaker, Printer, CD ROM, Pen drive, LAN card, HDD…

– Some devices are input and output

• Touch screens
– Communication(Input/Output) Devices
• Modem - to communicate trough tel lines
1B-13
• NICs – to connect with networking
 Essential Computer Hardware
• Storage devices
– Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
– Hold data and programs permanently
– Different from RAM
– Contain more data
– Non-volatile
– Much slower but cheaper
– Magnetic storage
• Floppy and hard drive
• Uses a magnet to access data
– Optical storage
• CD –upto 700MB, and DVD drives-17 GB
• Uses a laser to access data
1B-14
 Software Runs The Machine

1B-15
 Software Runs The Machine

1B-16
 Software Runs The Machine
• Application software
– Accomplishes a specific task
– Most common type of software
• Word Processing-MS Word
• Spreadsheets- MS Excel
• Database - MS Access
• Presentation- MS PowerPoint
• Graphics
• Multimedia
• Web Design
– Covers most common uses of computers
1B-17
 Computer data
• Data is piece of information or fact that, taken
by itself, may not make sense to a person
• Stored using the binary number system
• Data are number, words, image, sound but
computer read those in the form of binary
number
• Data can be organized into files
• Computer manipulates data by calculating,
comparing or arranging bits of information and
convert into information to make sense and
useful to the users
1B-18
 Users’ Role

1B-19
 Chapter Sumery
– Four Parts of Computer- Hardware,
Software, data and user
– Information Processing Cycle- Input,
Processing, Output and Storage
– Essential Computer Hardware- CPU,
Memory(ROM,RAM), I/O and Storage
– Software system- System Software
( Operating, Network, Utility), Application ( Word
Processing, Spread sheet, DataBase).
– Computer Data
– Computer users role
1B-20
 Chapter 1B

End of Chapter

McGraw-Hill Technology Education Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.