INTRODUCTION

TO
COMPUTER
CONCEPTS

PercivalA.Fernandez
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS

AreasofDataProcessing

BusinessDataprocessing(BDP)

Business data processing is characterized by

theneedtoestablish,retain,andprocessfiles
ofdataforproducingusefulinformation.

Generally,itinvolvesalargevolumeofinput
data, limited arithmetical operations, and a
relativelylargevolumeofoutput.
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS

For example, a large retail store must maintain

a record for each customer who purchases on
account, update the balance owned on each
account, and a periodically present a bill to the
customerformerchandisepurchased.
This type of record keeping requires reading a
customers account number, name, address, and
previousbalance.
Thebillinvolvesafewbasiccalculationsandthe
resultareprintedandmailedtothecustomerfor
collection. Tens ofthousandsofsimilar bills are
commonlyhandledinthesameway.
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS

AreasofDataProcessing

ScientificDataProcessing(SDP)

Inscience,dataprocessinginvolvesalimited
volume of input and many logical or
arithmeticcalculations.

Unlike business problems, most of the

scientific problems are nonrepetitive,
requiringaonetimesolution.
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS

For example, in cancer research, data on cancer

patients (collected over a period of time) are
analyzed by a computer to produce a possible
cure.

Although a final cure is unavailable, computer

analysis of the hundreds of manyears of
computations. It has also brought us a step
closertothefinalanswertothecancerhorror.

Although scientific data may differ from

business data, the processing pattern is quite
similar.
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS

DataProcessingOperations

Adataprocessingprocedurenormallyconsistsof
numberofbasicprocessingoperationsperformed
insomeorder.

The means of manual, electromechanical, or

electronicmethodsareused.

Many businesses find that the best solution to

their processing requirements is to use a
combinationofmethods.
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPUTERCONCEPTS
DataProcessingOperations

A.Recording

B.Verifying

C.Duplicating

D.Classifying
E.Sorting

F.Calculating

G.SummarizingandReporting

H.Merging

I.Sorting
J.Retrieving

K.Feedback
A.Recording

Recording refers to the transfer of data

ontosomeformordocument.Itrelatives
to the documentation of intermediate
figures and facts resulting from
calculations.
B.Verifying

Since recording is usually a manual

operation it is important that recorded
data be carefully checked for any errors.
Thisoperationscalledverifying.
C.Duplicating

Itissometimesnecessaryordesirableto
copy or duplicate data. This operation
consists in reproducing the data onto
many forms or documents. Duplicating
maybe done while the data being
recorded manually, or it may be done
afterwards by some machines.
D.Classifying

This operation separates data into

various categories. Identifying and
arranging items witch like
characteristicintogroupsorclasses
iscalledclassifying
E.Sorting

Arranging data in a specific order is called

sorting. After the data are classified, it is
usually necessary to arrange or rearrange
them in a predetermined sequence to
facilitate processing. Sorting is done in an
alphabeticornumericorderandthedataitem
which determines the sorting is called the
key. Numeric sorting usually requires less
time than alphabetic sorting in machine
based processing systems and it therefore
generallyused.
F.Calculating

Arithmetic manipulation of the data is

known as calculating. It is a crucial
phase of data manipulation, because
the outcome of this operation becomes
partoftheoutput.Inthecalculationof
an employee's pay.
G.SummarizingandReporting

In this operation, a collection of data is

condensed and certain conclusions from
the data are represented in a meaningful
format.Tobeavalue,datamustoftenbe
condensed or sifted so that the resulting
output reports will be clear, concise and
effective. Reducing masses of data to a
more usable form is called summarizing.
H.Merging

Thisoperationtakestwoormoresets
ofdata,allsetshavingbeensortedby
thesamekey,andputsthemtogether
toformasinglesortedsetofdata
I.Storing
Placingsimilardataintofilesforfuturereference
isstoring.Storageisdonebyanyothefollowing
methods;

a.manualsuchasinaledgerbook,
b.electromechanicalintheformofpunched
cards
c.electronicbymagnetictape,disk,andmain
memoryofthecomputer.

Datashouldbestoredonlyifthevalueofhaving
theminthefutureexceedsthestoragecost.
J.Retrieving

Recoveringstoreddataand/orinformation
whenneededistheretrievingstep.Retrieval
methodsrangefromsearchesmadebyfile
clerkstotheuseofquickrespondinginquiry
terminalsthatareconnecteddirectlytoa
computer.
K.Feedback

Feedbackisthecomparisonofthe
outputs.andthegoalsetinadvance;any
discrepancyisanalyzed,corrected,and
feedbacktotheproperstageinthe
processingoperation.