Living in the IT Era Topic 1

The World of Computers

INTRODUCTION
Computers are everywhere: at work, at school, and at home. People use all types
and sizes of computers for a variety of reasons and in a range of places. Computers are a
primary means of local and global communication for billions of people. Computers are
used to correspond with businesses, employees with other employees and customers,
students with classmates and teachers, and family members and other family members.

Looking back, computer began as a mere calculating too. It all started from the
abacus and up to the 1990’s computing devices can perform the four (4) basic operations
of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers. During the late 20th century
showed an expansion of the computers function but not departing from its original place.

As Technology continue to advance, computers have become part of everyday life.

Thus, many people believe that computer literacy, involves having a current knowledge
and understanding of computers and their uses.

1. What is a computer?

A computer is an electronic device; operating under the control of instructions

stored in its own memory, that can accept, process the data according to specified rules,
produce results, and store the results for future use. Computers process data into
information.

Figure 1. Personal Computer

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

2. History of Computers: A Brief Timeline

The computer was born not for entertainment or email but out of a need to solve
a serious number-crunching crisis. By 1880, the U.S. population had grown so large that
it took more than seven years to tabulate the U.S. Census results.

1801: In France, Joseph Marie Jacquard invents a loom that uses punched wooden cards to
automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch cards.

1822: English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine

that would be able to compute tables of numbers. The project, funded by the English
government, is a failure. More than a century later, however, the world's first computer was
actually built.

1890: Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census, accomplishing
the task in just three years and saving the government $5 million. He establishes a company that
would ultimately become IBM.

1936: Alan Turing presents the notion of a universal machine, later called the Turing machine,
capable of computing anything that is computable. The central concept of the modern computer
was based on his ideas.

1937: J.V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, attempts
to build the first computer without gears, cams, belts or shafts.

1939: Hewlett-Packard is founded by David Packard and Bill Hewlett in a Palo Alto, California,
garage, according to the Computer History Museum.

1941: Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design a computer that can solve 29
equations simultaneously. This marks the first time a computer is able to store information on its
main memory.

1943-1944: Two University of Pennsylvania professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, build
the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). Considered the grandfather of digital
computers, it fills a 20-foot by 40-foot room and has 18,000 vacuum tubes.

1964: Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse and a
graphical user interface (GUI).

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

1970: The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory (DRAM)
chip.

1971: Alan Shugart leads a team of IBM engineers who invent the "floppy disk," allowing data to
be shared among computers.

1973: Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other hardware.

1975: The January issue of Popular Electronics magazine features the Altair 8080, described as
the "world's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models." Two "computer geeks," Paul
Allen and Bill Gates, offer to write software for the Altair, using the new BASIC language. On April
4, after the success of this first endeavor, the two childhood friends form their own software
company, Microsoft.

1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April Fool's Day and roll out the
Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board, according to Stanford University.

1978: Accountants rejoice at the introduction of VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet
program.

1979: Word processing becomes a reality as MicroPro International releases WordStar. "The
defining change was to add margins and word wrap," said creator Rob Barnaby in email to Mike
Petrie in 2000.

1981: The first IBM personal computer, code-named "Acorn," is introduced. It uses Microsoft's
MS-DOS operating system.

1983: Apple's Lisa is the first personal computer with a GUI. It also features a drop-down menu
and icons. It flops but eventually evolves into the Macintosh.

1985: The first dot-com domain name is registered on March 15, years before the World Wide
Web would mark the formal beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics Computer Company, a
small Massachusetts computer manufacturer, registers Symbolics.com.

1986: Compaq brings the Deskpro 386 to market. Its 32-bit architecture provides as speed
comparable to mainframes.

1990: Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, the high-energy physics laboratory in Geneva,
develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), giving rise to the World Wide Web.

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

1993: The Pentium microprocessor advances the use of graphics and music on PCs.

1994: PCs become gaming machines as "Command & Conquer," "Alone in the Dark 2," "Theme
Park," "Magic Carpet," "Descent" and "Little Big Adventure" are among the games to hit the
market.

1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the Google search engine at Stanford University.

1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which was struggling at the time, ending Apple's
court case against Microsoft in which it alleged that Microsoft copied the "look and feel" of its
operating system.

1999: The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the computing language and users begin connecting to the
Internet without wires.

2001: Apple unveils the Mac OS X operating system, which provides protected memory
architecture and pre-emptive multi-tasking, among other benefits. Not to be outdone, Microsoft
rolls out Windows XP, which has a significantly redesigned GUI.

2003: The first 64-bit processor, AMD's Athlon 64, becomes available to the consumer market.

2004: Mozilla's Firefox 1.0 challenges Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the dominant Web browser.
Facebook, a social networking site, launches.

2005: YouTube, a video sharing service, is founded. Google acquires Android, a Linux-based
mobile phone operating system.

2006: Apple introduces the MacBook Pro, its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer, as well
as an Intel-based iMac. Nintendo's Wii game console hits the market.

2007: The iPhone brings many computer functions to the smartphone.

2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7.

2010: Apple unveils the iPad.

2011: Google releases the Chromebook, a laptop that runs the Google Chrome OS.

2012: Facebook gains 1 billion users on Oct 4.

2015: Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft releases Windows 10.

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

2016: The first reprogrammable quantum computer was created.

2017: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a new "Molecular
Informatics" program that uses molecules as computers.

Information Processing Cycle

Computers process data (input) into information (output). Computers carry out
processes using instructions, which are the steps that tell the computer how to perform
a particular task. A collection of related instructions organized for a common purpose is
referred to as software. A computer often holds data, information, and instructions in
storage for future use. Some people refer to the series of input, process, output, and
storage activities as the information processing cycle.

Figure 2. Information Processing Cycle

• Data collection of unprocessed items which can include a text, numbers, images, audio
and video.
• Information – conveys meaning and is useful to people.

Activity 1.1:
Select an activity either from home or other institution in your community which
involves information processing cycle. How does it relate to living in the IT Era? Send a
voice note of your answer in our GC and don’t forget to introduce yourself. (25 points)

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

3. Basic Computer Operation

Computers do all the things they do because they are able to perform four basic
operations.

Figure 3. Cycle of Basic Computer Operation

• Input. Any data that is being put into a computer.

• Processing. The manipulation of the information.
• Output. The information produced by a computer.
• Storage. It holds information for a later use.

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

4. Major Parts of a Computer

MOTHERBOARD

A motherboard is one of the most essential parts of a computer system. It holds

together many of the crucial components of a computer, including the central processing
unit (CPU), memory and connectors for input and output devices. The base of a
motherboard consists of a very firm sheet of non-conductive material, typically some sort
of rigid plastic. Thin layers of copper or aluminum foil, referred to as traces, are printed
onto this sheet. These traces are very narrow and form the circuits between the various
components. In addition to circuits, a motherboard contains a number of sockets and
slots to connect the other components.

Figure 4. Motherboard

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 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

CPU (CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT)

The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is a piece of hardware that carries
out the instructions of a computer program. It performs the basic arithmetical, logical,
and input/output operations of a computer system. The CPU is like the brains of the
computer - every instruction, no matter how simple, has to go through the CPU.

Figure 5. CPU

HARD DRIVE

The hard drive of a computer is a device that stores all the software installed on a
computer, as well as all the data files created and used by this software. This includes any
documents you have created and downloaded, such as photos and music. The hard drive
is a form of permanent storage, rather than temporary memory such as random-access
memory (RAM). This means that when you turn off the computer, the files remain safely
stored on the drive so you can use them again the next time you start your computer.

Figure 6. Hard Drive

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 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

MEMORY

Computer memory is technically any type of electronic storage. Without it and

without access to it, a computer is just a useless box. From startup to shutdown, and all
processes in between, a computer relies on several types of memory in order to function.

Figure 7. Memory

MONITOR

Monitors come in many sizes and descriptions. They are created with LCD (liquid crystal
display) or LED (light-emitting diode). LCDs have layers of glass, polarized film and liquid
crystals. You get electrical impulses sent through, and this causes the color to be shown
and image to be displayed. LED monitors take the LCD one step further. They put a diode
on the back that forces light through the layers for a sharper picture and better colors. It
is said that LED monitors will last longer than LCD monitors.

Figure 8. Monitor

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 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

5. Capabilities of a Computer

STRENGTHS OF COMPUTERS

• Automatic. Computers are automatic machines because once started on a job,

they carry out the job without human assistance until it is finished. However,
computers being machine cannot start themselves. We need to instruct a
computer using coded instructions that specify exactly how it will do a particular
job.

• Speed. Many computers process billions or trillions of operations in a single

second.

• Accuracy. Accuracy of computers is consistently high and the degree of its

accuracy depends upon its design. A computer performs even calculations with the
same accuracy.

• Diligence. Unlike human beings, a computer is free from monotony, tiredness, and
lack of concentration. It can continuously work for hours without creating any error
and without grumbling.

• Versatility. Versatility is one of the most wonderful thigs about a computer. One
moment it is preparing results, next moment it is busy preparing electricity bills,
and in between. It may be helping an office secretary to trace an important letter
in seconds.

• Storage or Power of Remembering. A computer can store and recall any amount
of information because of its secondary storage capability.

• Communications. Capability to share any of the four information processing cycle

operations – input, process, output, and storage – with another computer or user.

WEAKNESS & THREATS OF COMPUTER

• Health Risk. Prolonged or improper computer use can lead to injuries or disorders
of the hands, wrists, elbows, eyes, neck, and back.

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

• Violation of Privacy. Nearly every life event is stored in a computer somewhere...in

medical records, credit reports, tax records, etc. In many instances, where personal
and confidential records were not protected properly, individuals have found their
privacy violated and identities stole.

• Public Safety. Sharing important information specifically online is exposure to

hackers.

• Impact on the Labor Force. Although computers have improved productivity in

many ways and created an entire industry with hundreds of thousands of new jobs,
the skills of millions of employees have been replaced by computers.

• Impact on the Environment. Computer manufacturing processes and computer

waste are depleting natural resources and polluting the environment. When
computers are discarded in landfills, they can release toxic materials and
potentially dangerous levels of lead, mercury, and flame retardants.

Activity 1.2:
In a short bond paper, draw your future computer and indicate the name of your
design. Indicate the parts and specifications. You may add notes or story behind
your future computer. Take a photo and submit via google classroom or GC.

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines

 Living in the IT Era Topic 1
The World of Computers

6. References

E-books

• Deborah Morley - Understanding Computers in a Changing Society. -Cengage Learning

(2014)
• Pradip Dey, Manas Ghosh - Computer Fundamentals and Programming in C, Oxford, 2013
• ET – Innovative Training Works, Inc. 1st Edition, 2012
• Shelly.Cashman, Discovering.Computers Complete, Cengage Learning, ISBN-13: 978-1-
4390-7926-3, 2011

Websites

• https://study.com/academy/lesson/computer-
• https://whirlpool.net.au/
• https://www.techwalla.com/
• https://www.google.com/search?

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines