APPENDIX A Hardware and Software Basics The Mc

2 INTRODUCTION § Information technology (IT) - Any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information-processing needs of an organization • Hardware - Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system • Software - The set of instructions that the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks

3 HARDWARE BASICS § Computer - An electronic device operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept, manipulate, and store data § Hardware components include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Central processing unit (CPU) Primary storage Secondary storage Input device Output device Communication device

4 HARDWARE BASICS

5 HARDWARE BASICS

6 HARDWARE BASICS

7 Central Processing Unit § Central processing unit (CPU) (or microprocessor) The actual hardware that interprets and executes the program (software) instructions and coordinates how all the other hardware devices work together § Control unit - Interprets software instructions and literally tells the other hardware devices what to do, based on the software instructions § Arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) - Performs all arithmetic operations (for example, addition and subtraction) and all logic operations (such as sorting and comparing numbers)

8 Central Processing Unit § The number of CPU cycles per second determines the speed of a CPU • Megahertz (MHz) - The number of millions of CPU cycles per second • Gigahertz (GHz) - The number of billions of CPU cycles per second

9 Central Processing Unit § CPU speed factors • Clock speed • Word length • Bus width • Chip line width § Binary digit (bit) - The smallest unit of information that a computer can process § Byte - A group of eight bits representing one natural language character

10 Random Access Memory (RAM) § Random access memory (RAM) - The computer’s primary working memory, in which program instructions and data are stored so that they can be accessed directly by the CPU via the processor’s high-speed external data bus • Volatility • Cache memory

11 Secondary Storage § Secondary storage - Consists of equipment designed to store large volumes of data for long-term storage • Megabyte (MB or Meg) - Roughly 1 million bytes • Gigabyte (GB) - Roughly 1 billion bytes • Terabyte (TB) - Roughly 1 trillion bytes

12 Secondary Storage

13 Magnetic Medium § Magnetic medium - A secondary storage medium that uses magnetic techniques to store and retrieve data on disks or tapes coated with magnetically sensitive materials § Magnetic tape - An older secondary storage medium that uses a strip of thin plastic coated with a magnetically sensitive recording medium § Hard drive - A secondary storage medium that uses several rigid disks coated with a magnetically sensitive material and housed together with the recording heads in a hermetically sealed mechanism

14 Optical Medium § Optical medium types include: • • • Compact disk-read-only memory (CD-ROM) Compact disk-read-write (CD-RW) drive Digital video disk (DVD) DVD-ROM drive Digital video disk-read/write (DVD-RW)

15 Communication Devices § Communication device - Equipment used to send information and receive it from one location to another • • • Dial-up access Cable Digital subscriber line Wireless Satellite

16 COMPUTER CATEGORIES § Computer categories include: • • Personal digital assistant (PDA) Laptop Tablet Desktop Workstation Minicomputer Mainframe computer Supercomputer

17 SOFTWARE BASICS § System software - Controls how the various technology tools work together along with the application software • Operating system software • Utility software • Application software

18 Utility Software § Types of utility software • • • Crash-proof Disk image Disk optimization Encrypt data File and data recovery Text protect Preventative security Spyware Uninstaller

19 Application Software § Types of application software • • • Bowser Communication Data management Desktop publishing Email Groupware Presentation graphics Programming Spreadsheet Word processing