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Week03 Operation and Components of Computer Systems 20022024 030048pm
Week03 Operation and Components of Computer Systems 20022024 030048pm
FUNDAMENTALS
[CSC110]
Lecture No. 03
Operation and Components of
Computer Systems
Computer Technology
Computers – Kinds of computers
▪ Mainframe Computer
It is high capacity and costly computer. It is
largely used by big organizations where many
people can use it simultaneously.
▪ Supercomputer
This category of computer is the fastest and
very expensive. A typical supercomputer can
solve up to ten trillion individual calculations per
second.
▪ Workstation Computer
The computer of this category is a high-end and
expensive one. It is exclusively made for
complex work purpose.
Software
▪ Tell the computer what to do
▪ Also called a program Users
▪ Thousands of programs exist
▪ People operating the
▪ Majority of people who computer
purchase computers do so ▪ Most important part
because of software. They want ▪ Tell the computer what to
to email, or type letters. Nearly do
every reason given to purchase
a computer is based on
software needs.
▪ Trackball/ touchpad
▪ Joystick
▪
OPTICAL MOUSE: It is an BALL MOUSE: An input device
Scanner advanced computer pointing
device.It uses Light-Emitting
operated by rolling its ball across a
flat surface. The mouse is used to
▪ Digital camera Diode(LED) in place of the
traditional mouse
control the on- screen pointer by
pointing and clicking, double-
Secondary Memory
Non-volatile memory
2) Contents are retained in storage when computer is switched off, not in memory
(volatility)
▪ For example, you can think of the letters of an alphabet as data. Taken individually, they do not mean
a lot; however, when grouped into words, they make sense---that is, they become information.
▪ The computer reads and stores data of all kinds, whether words, numbers, images, sounds– in the
form of numbers. Consequently computer data is digital, meaning it has been reduced to bits or
numbers.
▪ Computer data is different from information, and also from programs. Like data, the instructions of a
program exists as strings of numbers so the computer can use them. Data is for people to use,
programs are for computers to use.
▪ Within the computer, data is organized into files. A file is simply data that has been given a name. A
file that the user can open and use is often called a document. A computer document can be a text
file, a group of numbers (such as a budget), a video clip (which includes images and sounds), or any
combination of these. Programs are organized into files as well; these programs contains the
instructions and data that a program needs in order to run and perform tasks.