Introduction to Information and
the application of scientific knowledge.
Communication Technology (ICT)
What is ICT?
Information
● facts provided or learned about something
or someone.
● refers to the knowledge obtained from
reading, investigation, study or research.
● We need information to make decisions and
to predict the future.
● Information is knowledge and helps us to
fulfill our daily tasks.
Communication
● The imparting or exchanging of information
or news.
● Communication is an act of transmitting
messages.
● It is a process whereby information is
exchanged between individuals using
symbols, signs or verbal interactions.
● Previously, people communicated through
sign or symbols, performing drama and
poetry.
● with the advent of technology, these ‘older’
forms of communication are less utilized as
compared to the use of the Internet, e-mail
or video conferencing.
● Communication is important in order to gain
knowledge. With knowledge, we are more
confident in expressing our thoughts and
ideas.
THE EVOLUTION OF
COMMUNICATION
Communication has improved and evolved to
facilitate our daily activities.
● In the 21st century, everything related to
communication utilizes technologyto ‘send
out’ or disseminate information to a wider
audience.
● Information can be ‘sent out’ in many ways.
● The inventions of cellular phones, television
and other electronic devices are important
in enhancing communication.
Technology
● machinery and equipment developed from
● Technology is the use of scientific
knowledge, experience and resources to
create processes and products that fulfill
human needs.
● Technology is one of the most powerful
agents of change in our society.
● Change comes with technology and it is
now moving at a faster pace than ever.
● Technology is a body of knowledge devoted
in creating tools, processing actions and
extracting of materials.
● We apply technology in almost everything
we do in our lives, we use technology at
work, communication, transportation,
learning, manufacturing, creating artifacts,
securing data, scaling businesses and so
much more.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF
TECHNOLOGY?
Aiding Communication
● Telephone and fax machines are the
devices used in extending communication.
Spreading Information
● To broadcast information such as news or
weather reports effectively. Radio,
television, satellites and the World Wide
Web (www) are powerful tools that can be
used.
SO WHAT IS ICT?
● ICT is the technology required for
information processing, in particular, the use
of electronic computers, communication
devices, and software applications to
convert, store, protect, process, transmit,
and retrieve information from anywhere,
anytime.
It consist of 3 technologies
1. Information Technology
2. Computer Technology
3. Communication Technology
History of Computer
What is a Computer?
● A computer is an electronic device that
manipulates information, or data.
● It can store, retrieve, and process data.
● You may already know that you can use a
computer to type documents, send emails,
play games, and browse the web.
● You can also use it to edit or create
spreadsheets, presentations, and even
videos.
History of Computers: A brief timeline
● The history of computers began with
primitive designs in the early 19th century
and went on to change the world during the
20th century.
● The history of computers goes back over
200 years.
● At first, theorized by mathematicians and
entrepreneurs, during the 19th century
mechanical calculating machines were
designed and buit to solve the increasingly
complex number-crunching challenges
● The advancements of technology-enabled
over more complex computer by the early
20th century, and computer became larger
and more powerful.
History of Computers: A Brief
timeline( early 19th century)
1801
● Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French merchant
and inventor invents a loom that uses
punched wooden cards to automatically
weave fabric designs. Early computers
would use similar punch cards.
1821
● English mathematician Charles Babbage
conceives of a steam-driven calculating
machine that would be able to compute
tables of numbers. Funded by the British
government, the project, called the
"Difference Engine" fails due to the lack of
technology at the time, according to the
University of Minnesota.
1848
● Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician
and the daughter of poet Lord Byron, writes
the world's first computer program.
● According to Anna Siffert, a professor of
theoretical mathematics at the University of
Münster in Germany, Lovelace writes the
first program while translating a paper on
Babbage's Analytical Engine from French
into English.
1853
● Swedish inventor Per Georg Scheutz and
his son Edvard design the world's first
printing calculator. The machine is
significant for being the first to "compute
tabular differences and print the results,"
1890
● Herman Hollerith designs a punch-card
system to help calculate the 1890 U.S.
Census. The machine, saves the
government several years of calculations
History of computers(Early 20th
century)
1931
● At the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), Vannevar Bush invents
and builds the Differential Analyzer, the first
large-scale automatic general-purpose
mechanical analog computer, according to
Stanford University.
1936
● Alan Turing, a British scientist and
mathematician, presents the principle of a
universal machine, later called the Turing
machine, in a paper called "On Computable
Numbers”.
● Turing machines are capable of computing
anything that is computable
1937
● John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of
physics and mathematics at Iowa State
University, submits a grant proposal to build
the first electric-only computer, without
using gears, cams, belts or shafts.
1939
● David Packard and Bill Hewlett found the
Hewlett Packard Company in Palo Alto,
California. The pair decide the name of their
new company by the toss of a coin, and
Hewlett-Packard's first headquarters are in
Packard's garage
1941
● German inventor and engineer Konrad Zuse
completes his Z3 machine, the world's
earliest digital computer
● Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford
Berry, design the first digital electronic
computer in the U.S., called the Atanasoff-
Berry Computer (ABC). This marks the first
time a computer is able to store information
on its main memory, and is capable of
performing one operation every 15 seconds
1945
● Two professors at the University of
Pennsylvania, John Mauchly and J. Presper
Eckert, designed and build the Electronic
Numerical Integrator and Calculator
(ENIAC). The machine is the first
"automatic, general-purpose, electronic,
decimal, digital computer,
1946
● Mauchly and Presper leave the University of
Pennsylvania and receive funding from the
Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the
first commercial computer for business and
government applications.
1947
● William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter
Brattain of Bell Laboratories invent the
transistor. They discover how to make an
electric switch with solid materials and
without the need for a vacuum.
1949
● A team at the University of Cambridge
develops the Electronic Delay Storage
Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), "the first
practical stored-program computer,"
History of Computers(Late 20th
century)
1953
● Grace Hopper developed the first computer
language, which eventually became known
as COBOL, which stands for COmmon,
Business-Oriented Language.
● Hopper is later dubbed the "First Lady of
Software" in her posthumous Presidential
Medal of Freedom citation.
1954
● John Backus and his team of programmers
at IBM publish a paper describing their
newly created FORTRAN programming
language, an acronym for Formula
Translation,
1958
● Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the
integrated circuit, known as the computer
chip. Kilby is later awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physics for his work.
1968
● Douglas Engelbart reveals a prototype of
the modern computer at the Fall Joint
Computer Conference, San Francisco. His
presentation, called "A Research Center for
Augmenting Human Intellect" includes a live
demonstration of his computer, including a
mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI)
1969
● Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and a
group of other developers at Bell Labs
produced UNIX, an operating system that
made "large-scale networking of diverse
computing systems — and the internet —
practical,
1970
● The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel
1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory
(DRAM) chip.
1971
 ● A team of IBM engineers led by Alan
Shugart invents the "floppy disk," enabling
data to be shared among different
computers.
1972
● Ralph Baer, a German-American engineer,
releases Magnavox Odyssey, the world's
first home game console, in September
1972 , according to the Computer Museum
of America. Months later, entrepreneur
Nolan Bushnell and engineer Al Alcorn with
Atari release Pong, the world's first
commercially successful video game.
1973
● Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research
staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other
hardware.
1977
● The magazine cover of the January issue of
"Popular Electronics" highlights the Altair
8080 as the "world's first minicomputer kit to
rival commercial models." After seeing the
magazine issue, 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 co-found
Apple Computer on April Fool's Day. They
unveil Apple I, the first computer with a
single-circuit board and ROM (Read Only
Memory),
1977
● Radio Shack began its initial production run
of 3,000 TRS-80 Model 1 computers —
disparagingly known as the "Trash 80" —
priced at $599, according to the National
Museum of American History.
1977
● The first West Coast Computer Faire is
held in San Francisco. Jobs and Wozniak
present the Apple II computer at the Faire,
which includes color graphics and features
an audio cassette drive for storage.
1978
● VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet
program is introduced.
1979
● MicroPro International, founded by software
engineer Seymour Rubenstein, releases
WordStar, the world's first commercially
successful word processor. WordStar is
programmed by Rob Barnaby, and includes
137,000 lines of code
1981
● "Acorn," IBM's first personal computer, is
released onto the market at a price point of
$1,565, according to IBM. Acorn uses the
MS-DOS operating system from Windows.
Optional features include a display, printer,
two diskette drives, extra memory, a game
adapter and more.
1983
● The Apple Lisa, standing for "Local
Integrated Software Architecture" but also
the name of Steve Jobs' daughter,
according to the National Museum of
American History (NMAH), is the first
personal computer to feature a GUI.
1983
● The machine also includes a drop-down
menu and icons. Also this year, the Gavilan
SC is released and is the first portable
computer with a flip-form design and the
very first to be sold as a "laptop."
1984
● The Apple Macintosh is announced to the
world during a Superbowl advertisement.
The Macintosh is launched with a retail
price of $2,500, according to the NMAH.
1985
 ● Tim Berners-Lee, a British researcher at
the European Organization for Nuclear
Research (CERN), submits his proposal for
what would become the World Wide Web.
His paper details his ideas for Hyper Text
Markup Language (HTML), the building
blocks of the Web
1993
● The Pentium microprocessor advances the
use of graphics and music on PCs.
1996
● Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the
Google search engine at Stanford
University.
1997
● Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple,
which at the time is struggling financially.
This investment ends an ongoing court case
in which Apple accused Microsoft of copying
its operating system.
1999
● Wi-Fi, the abbreviated term for "wireless
fidelity" is developed, initially covering a
distance of up to 300 feet (91 meters) Wired
reported.
History of Computers (20th
century)
2001
● Mac OS X, later renamed OS X then simply
macOS, is released by Apple as the
2010
● The iPad, Apple's flagship handheld tablet,
is unveiled.
2011
● Google releases the Chromebook, which
runs on Google Chrome OS.
2015
● Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft
releases Windows 10.
2016
● successor to its standard Mac Operating
System. OS X goes through 16 different
versions, each with "10" as its title, and the
first nine iterations are nicknamed after big
cats, with the first being codenamed
"Cheetah,"
2003
● AMD's Athlon 64, the first 64-bit processor
for personal computers, is released to
customers.
2004
● the Mozilla Corporation launches Mozilla
Firefox 1.0. The Web browser is one of the
first major challenges to Internet Explorer,
owned by Microsoft. During its first five
years, Firefox exceeded a billion downloads
by users,
2005
● Google buys Android, a Linux-based mobile
phone operating system
2009
● Microsoft launches Windows 7 on July 22.
The new operating system features the
ability to pin applications to the taskbar,
scatter windows away by shaking another
window, easy-to-access jumplists,
History of Computers(21st
Century)
● The first reprogrammable quantum
computer was created. "Until now, there
hasn't been any quantum-computing
platform that had the capability to program
new algorithms into their system.
2017
● The Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) is developing a new
"Molecular Informatics" program that uses
molecules as computers.
2019
● A team at Google became the first to
demonstrate quantum supremacy —
creating a quantum computer that could
feasibly outperform the most powerful
classical computer — albeit for a very
specific problem with no practical real-world
application. The described the computer,
dubbed "Sycamore" in a paper that same
year in the journal Nature.
2022
● The first exascale supercomputer, and the
world's fastest, Frontier, went online at the
Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility
(OLCF) in Tennessee.
● This machine ushered in the era of exascale
computing, which refers to systems that can
reach more than one exaFLOP of power –
used to measure the performance of a
system
HARDWARE VS SOFTWARE
Hardware
● Hardware is any part of your computer that
has a physical structure, such as the
keyboard or mouse. It also includes all of
the computer's internal parts, which you can
see in the image below.
What is an Input device? (hardware)
● An input device is a piece of hardware that
allows the user to put data into a computer
system.
Keyboard
● A most common input device
● Accepts letters, numbers, and commands
from the user
Mouse
● It lets user select options from on- screen
menus
● Used by moving it on a flat surface,
pressing its two buttons and scrolling the
wheel in between
Trackball or tracpad
(alternatives to using a mouse)
● Has the ball that can rotate using a finger on
the palm of a hand to move the pointer.
● A touch-sensitive pad that lets the user
move the pointer by touching and dragging
the finger on the pad.
Microphone
● Allow users to speak into the computer to
input data and instructions.
Flatbed Scanner
● is an optical scanner which makes use of a
flat surface for scanning documents. The
scanner is capable of capturing all elements
on the document and does not require
movement of the document
Barcode Scanner
● It is capable of reading a barcode using a
laser
Digital Camera
● Allows one to take pictures then transfer the
photographed images to the computer
PC video camera
● Enables users to create a movie or take still
photographs electronically
● Users can see each other as they
communicate via the computer
What is an output devices?
(hardware)
● An output device is a piece of hardware that
allows the user to receive data from a
computer system.
Printer
● Produces text and graphics on a physical
medium such as paper.
There are 2 types of printer
1. Impact Printer
2. Non-Impact Printer
Impact Printer
● work by pressing a head or needle against
an ink ribbon to make a mark on the paper
Non-Impact Printer
● does not operate by striking a head against
a ribbon
Monitor
● Displays text, graphics, and videos on a
screen and looks like a television
CATHODE RAY TUBE (CRT)
● a specialized vacuum tube in which images
are produced when an electron beam
strikes a phosphorescent surface.
● A stream of intense high-energy electrons is
used to form images on a fluorescent
screen.
LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY (LCD)
● a flat-panel display that consists of a layer
of color or monochrome pixels
LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE (LED)
● a flat-panel display that uses light-emitting
diodes for backlighting
● Use much lesser power than CRT and LCD,
considered as environment-friendly.
Speaker
● Allows one to hear music, voice, and other
sounds.
Projector
● can take images generated by a computer
or Blu-ray player and reproduce them by
projection onto a screen, wall, or another
surface.
What is a Storage device?
● This allows a user to install programs and
save their files on a computer
● The device retains this information when the
power is switched off, this means it is a
permanent storage
● There are three categories of storage
devices.
Magenetic (categories of storage device)
● Works by magnetising and demagnetising
the surface of a spinning disk.
Optical(categories of storage device)
● Works by altering parts of a disc that can or
cannot reflect a laser beam.
Solid state (categories of storage device)
● Uses flash memory and has no moving
parts.

SOFTWARE
WHAT IS A COMPUTER SOFTWARE?
● It is a combination of Instructions, Data, and
Programs that the computer needs in order
to do a specific task.
● Another term used for computer software is
computer programs.
TWO TYPES OF SOFTWARE
1. System Software
2. Application Software
System software
● is a platform comprised of Operating
System (OS) programs and services,
including settings and preferences, file
libraries and functions used for system
applications.
● System software also includes device
drivers that run basic computer hardware
and peripherals.
Examples of System Software
● The BIOS (basic input/output system) gets
the computer system started after you turn it
on and manages the data flow between the
operating system and attached devices
such as the hard disk, video adapter,
keyboard, mouse and printer.
● The boot program loads the operating
system into the computer's main memory or
random access memory (RAM).
● An assembler takes basic computer
instructions and converts them into a
pattern of bits that the computer's processor
can use to perform its basic operations.
Application software
● It is a program or group of programs
designed for end users. Applications
software (also called end-user programs)
include such things as database programs,
word processors, Web browsers and
spreadsheets.
● Application software may simply be referred
to as an application.
Examples of application software
1) Word processing software -
● This tool is used to create letters, word
sheets, type papers etc
Eg: MS Word, MS Works, AppleWorks
2) Spreadsheet Software -
● A tool used to compute number intensive
problems like forecasting, budgeting etc.
Eg: MS Excel, Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, MS Works
3) Desktop Publishing Software -
● This tool is used to create illustrative
worksheets, banners, newsletters, signs, gift
cards etc.
Eg: MS Word, MS Publisher, Adobe PageMaker
4) Database Software -
● Used to store data like text information,
memberships, address etc. which helps
users to sort information accordingly.
Eg: MS Access, FileMaker Pro
CLASSIFYING COMPUTERS
SUPERCOMPUTER
● Supercomputers are the biggest, fastest,
most powerful, and most expensive
computers for processing data types; they
are designed to process an immense
amount of data.
● A supercomputer can treat trillions of
instructions/directions in a second. It has
thousands of interconnected processors.
● Supercomputers are especially used in
scientific and engineering applications such
as weather forecasting, quantum
mechanics, climate research, scientific
simulations, nuclear energy research, etc
where a high level of performance is
required.

MAINFRAMES
● Mainframe computers, also known as
mainframes, are the most commonly used
type of digital computer in large industries
for controlling processes as well as in
offices for maintaining networks and
providing access to shared resources.
● IBM is estimated to control two-thirds of the
mainframe market.
● They are far more suitable for intensive
operation than supercomputers.
● Many modern computers can multitask;
however, they are typically limited to eight
or fewer processors.
● Megaflops (millions of floating-point
arithmetic operations per second) are used
to measure processor speed.
MINICOMPUTER
● These computers came into the market in
mid 1960s and were sold at a much
cheaper price than the main frames, they
were actually designed for control,
instrumentation, human interaction, and
communication switching as distinct from
calculation and record keeping, later they
became very popular for personal uses with
evolution.
EXAMPLE: LAPTOP, PC (PERSONAL
COMPUTER), IPad, Tablets, Smartphones
MINICOMPUTER : TABLET PC
● Some people consider tablet PCs to be the
best handy solution; as while being small in
size, they can run any operating system.
● Tablet PC’s are one of the first
minicomputers and are often costlier than a
standard laptop because of the touch
screen technology.
● On the contrary, to suffice the need of this
external hardware, tablet PC’s have a
touchscreen which you can use for typing
on the screen, and for navigating instead of
typing on a keyboard or clicking on a
mouse.
MINICOMPUTER : SMARTPHONES
● A smartphone is a mobile device that
combines the functionality of a traditional
mobile phone with advanced computing
capabilities.
● There are mobile versions of your desktop
operating systems like Android, Windows
Mobile, and iOS, which often come as an
inbuilt feature in high-end cell phones.
● It can conveniently update them and
perform all your tasks on the smartphones
without the need for any laptop or desktop.
MINICOMPUTER : NOTEBOOK/LAPTOPS
● A netbook is as capable as a laptop, and
any operating system that you can run on
the latter can be used in a notebook, thus
enabling you to perform all the tasks that
you earlier used to carry out on your laptop.
● The only single feature that you will not get
in it is an optical drive, but that is also not
going to disrupt anything as you can
conveniently connect an external drive
using the USB ports.
MINICOMPUTER : TOUCH SCREEN PADS
● Touch Screen Pads are built explicitly for
graphic designers and aim at making their
lives easier.
● If you are a graphic designer or have an
interest in sketching and drawing, you must
try out this type of minicomputer.
● Without a mouse and keyboard, they save a
lot of space and are perfectly potable. They
are easily manageable and highly
compatible with software like Adobe
Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
MINICOMPUTER : PERSONAL COMPUTER
 ● A desktop computer, also known as a PC
(Personal computer), is the most common
type of microcomputer. It have CPU
(Central Processing Unit), a keyboard and a
mouse for input, and a monitor or display
unit for output.
● The CPU is made up of a microprocessor,
main memory, secondary storage unit such
as a hard drive or optical drive, and a power
supply unit all housed in a single cabinet.
WORKSTATION
● They are similar to PCs but with more
memory and a high-speed processor
● They are intended to support network
operating systems and network
applications.
● They are used in architectural design, video
editing, animations, et
SERVERS
● A server is a computer or system that
provides resources, data, services, or
programs to other computers, known as
clients, over a network.
● A server is one for which many PCs are
connected.
● It has large capacity secondary storage and
more memory
● They host, workstations, network servers,
and operating systems
● They avoid duplicate installation of
applications and all users will have access
to a common copy of the program
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS
OF FUNCTIONALITY
01
Servers
● Servers are nothing but dedicated
computers which are set up to offer some
services to the clients.
● They are named depending on the type of
service they offer.
● Eg: security server, database server.
02
Workstation
● Those are the computers designed to
primarily to be used by single user at a time.
● They run multi-user operating systems.
● They are the ones which we use for our day
to day personal / commercial work.
03
Information Appliances
● They are portable devices that are designed
to perform a limited set of tasks like basic
calculations, playing multimedia, browsing
internet etc.
● They are generally referred as mobile
devices.
● They have very limited memory and
flexibility and generally run on “as-is” basis.
04
Embedded computers
● They are the computing devices which are
used in other machines to serve limited set
of requirements.
● They follow instructions from the non-
volatile memory and they are not required to
execute reboot or reset.
● The processing units used in such device
work to those basic requirements only and
are different from the ones that are used in
personal computers- better known as
workstations.
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS
OF DATA HANDLING
01
Analog
● An analog computer is a form of computer
that uses the continuously-changeable
aspects of physical fact such as electrical,
mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model
the problem being solved.
● Any thing that is variable with respect to
time and continuous can be claimed as
analog just like an analog clock measures
time by means of the distance traveled for
the spokes of the clock around the circular
dial.
02
Hybrid
● A computer that processes both analog and
digital data, Hybrid computer is a digital
computer that accepts analog signals,
converts them to digital and processes them
in digital form.
03
Digital
● A computer that performs calculations and
logical operations with quantities
represented as digits, usually in the binary
number system of “0” and “1”, “Computer
capable of solving problems by processing
information expressed in discrete form. from
manipulation of the combinations of the
binary digits, it can perform mathematical
calculations, organize and analyze data,
control industrial and other processes, and
simulate dynamic systems such as global
weather patterns.