BATTARAMULLA

SESSION 01

UNIT 01

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONCEPTS

DAY 01
 WHO AM I ?

A. SHEHAN D. MORAWAKA
BSc. (Hons) in Computer Science (University College – Dublin, Ireland)

HND Programme Coordinator / Assistant Lecturer – IT

ESOFT Metro College BATTARAMULLA
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 1.1 – COMPUTER SYSTEMS

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 A COMPUTER SYSTEM

• SYSTEM: A collection of elements that work together to achieve a common objective.

• A COMPUTER SYSTEM also has a goal of information processing with the help of necessary
HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, FIRMWARE and LIVEWARE.

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 COMPUTER

• A computer is a programmable electronic machine which can take inputs from the outside
environment and prepare (or process) them to make them more valuable and
understandable.

• While data processing being the main purpose, computers also can store data and
information if necessary.

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 DATA

• Data are the raw facts or figures which represent the physical quantities and measurements
which can be seen in the outside world.

Ex: Numbers, Characters, Images, Output from another device, etc.

• Data can be stored inside a computer and later can be processed according to a set of
instructions to make them more meaningful.

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 INFORMATION

• Information is the message received and understood by the necessary audience.

• Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data.
• In contrast with data, information are more meaningful, more valuable and can be used to
make decisions.

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 PROCESSING

• Processing means the way of generating information by manipulating data .

• It is a combination of one more steps of instructions / guidelines
Ex: Finding total marks of students in a term test.
Finding average marks of students in a term test.

Data PROCESSING Information

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 DATA VS. INFORMATION

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 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• IT is related to all the aspects of managing data and processing information. Computer can be
used as an aid to creating and maintaining data and information.

• Typical IT Functions:
• Data capturing and input.
• Data / information representation / storage.
• Data processing.
• Information presentation and output.
• Data transmission.

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 COMPUTER SYSTEM

HARDWARE SOFTWARE FIRMWARE LIVEWARE

• Hardware: Physical components of the computer system.

• Software: Programs that provides instructions to hardware devices.

• Firmware: A special type of software that use to make the hardware devices work with
necessary checks.

• Liveware: The human involvement to the computer system.

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 HARDWARE

• Hardware are the physical and tangible components of a computer system.

• We as humans interact with the computer system using hardware.
E.g. : Keyboard to type letters and characters.
Mouse to point to a particular item or a place.
Monitor to visually display what is going on.
Etc…

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 SOFTWARE

• Software is a collection of programs or applications which contains instructions to make the

computer work.

• Two types of SOFTWARE:

1. System Software:
Category of software directly controls hardware.

2. Application Software:
Category of software designed to fulfill user requirements with the help of
System Software.

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 SOFTWARE (CONTINUED)

System Software can be further categorized as follows:

a) Operating Systems.

b) Utility Software.

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 SOFTWARE (CONTINUED)

a) Operating Systems.
Ex: Microsoft Windows.
Apple Mac OS.
Ubuntu.

b) Utility Software.
Ex: Antivirus software.
Disk Cleaners.
Backup Software.

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 SOFTWARE (CONTINUED)

Application software examples:

• Word Processing Software MS Word, Word Perfect, Word Star
• Spread Sheet Software MS Excel, Lotus 123
• Presentation Software MS PowerPoint, Swish Max
• Database Management Software MS Access, MS SQL Server, Oracle
• Graphic Designing Software Photoshop, Illustrator, Coral Draw
• Accounting Software Quick books, Tally
• Web Authoring Software MS FrontPage, Dreamweaver
• Web Browsing Software Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox
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 FIRMWARE

• A special type of software that use to make the hardware devices work with necessary
checks.

• Developed by computer manufacturers and stores inside ROM chips.

E.g. BIOS: Used to startup the computer system, performing necessary checks before
passing the control to the operating system.

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 LIVEWARE

• Human expertise needed in the field of IT.

• Ex: Software and Hardware engineers, IT Managers, Database Engineers, Network
Administrators, etc.

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 1.2 - TYPES OF COMPUTERS

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 TYPES OF COMPUTERS

• After the invention of the first computer, different types and sizes of computers are
introduced to offer different services.

• In this lesson, we categorize the computer systems depend on their size and performance.
• According to the descending order of the physical size of the computer system, we can make
a list of types like below:

Supercomputer > Mainframe Computer > Minicomputer > Microcomputer

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 SUPERCOMPUTER

• Most powerful and most expensive computers in the world.

• Have the fastest performance and a huge data storage capacity as well and the size is also
huge.

• Used by large organizations for specific tasks such as:

• Space Exploration programs.
• Weather Forecasting.
• Earthquake Studies.
• Nuclear Weapons Testing.

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 MAINFRAME COMPUTER

• Not powerful as supercomputers, but it is a type

which is still expensive and more powerful than the
normal computers we use.

• Used in backgrounds of large-scale organizations

such as insurance companies and banks to process
and store large amounts of data.

• The performance can be distributed among several

PCs or workstations connected to the mainframe
computer and working at the same time.

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 MINICOMPUTER (MIDRANGE COMPUTER / CLASSIC MINICOMPUTER)

• Used by small businesses and firms, and in individual departments of large organizations for
specific purposes.

• Lesser performance and storing capacity compared to first two types.

• Not designed for a single user.

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 MICROCOMPUTER

• Cheapest and most widely used type of computer dedicated for single user environments.
• Designed for general usage like entertainments, education and work purposes.
• Ex:
• PC
• Laptop
• PDA

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 PC (PERSONAL COMPUTERS)

• IBM invented Personal Computer in 1981.

• In the early days, most PCs ran an operating
system called DOS (Disk Operating System).

• These days most PCs are running a version of

Microsoft Windows.

• Used by home users, large and small office

users.

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 APPLE MAC

• Apple Macintosh.
• Introduced in 1984.
• The Macintosh features a Graphical User
Interface (GUI).

• Need only point to a selection on a menu

and click a mouse button.

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 PORTABLE COMPUTERS

• Portable Media Players (PMP).

• Also known as MP3 players.
• Handheld multimedia device that can play
digital music, image, and movie files.

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 SMARTPHONES

• It’s a cell phone that includes advanced functionality beyond making phone calls and sending
text messages.

• Can display photos, play videos, manage emails and surf web.

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 LAPTOP AND PALMTOP COMPUTERS

• Laptops are small portable computers that can run on batteries

• Notebook is a very small laptop
• Palmtops are even smaller computers that can literally fit into the palm of your hand.

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 TABLET PC

• Tablet PC offers all the functionality of a Notebook PC

• Can accept input from a special pen called stylus or digital pen.
• That is used to tap or write directly on screen.

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 BASIC HARDWARE ELEMENTS
PART 01

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 HARDWARE

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 CPU

MEMORY
HARDWARE
INPUT DEVICES

OUTPUT DEVICES

STORAGE DEVICES

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 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM
(VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURE)

CPU
Control Instructions

Control Unit
Output
I Devices
Data / Information / n
p
Program Instructions u Arithmetic & Logical
t Unit

D
e
v
i
c
e Storage
Memory devices

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 CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)

• Brain of the computer.

• Performs most of the computer calculations.
• Responsible for the smooth running of your operating system (Ex: Microsoft Windows) as
well as application programs.

• CPU speed is measured in Hertz (Hz).

• 1 Hz = 1 calculation per second.
• 1 GHz = 1 X 109 Hz.
• G = Giga.

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 WHAT IS INSIDE A CPU?

• Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU): which performs the calculations and comparisons.
• Control Unit (CU): controls the other parts of the computer.
• Registers: very high-speed memory slots used to hold temporary results.
• Cache Memory: high speed buffer memory used to enhance the data transfer from the RAM.

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 MEMORY

• The computer needs a working memory for storing the current programs it runs. That is the
data and instructions it uses. This working memory is called the Main Memory or Primary
Storage.

• RAM
• ROM

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 RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

• It is the main working memory. When the operating system loads from the disk when you
first switched on the computer, it is copied into the RAM.

• Data and programs stored in the RAM are volatile (the information is lost when you switch off
the computer)

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 READ-ONLY MEMORY (ROM)

• This memory chip that holds software that can be read but not be written onto.
• Example
• BIOS chip which contains read only software that starts up your computer.

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 VIDEO GRAPHICS MEMORY

• On-screen pictures are held in a special memory chip called Video Memory Chip.
• These chips are usually located on a video card.

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 COMPUTER MEMORY CAPACITY

• All digital computers work on a binary numbering system.

• They process data in ones (1) or zeros (0).
• Minimum space required to hold a binary digit = 1 bit.
• 8 bits = 1 Byte
• 1024 Bytes = 1 KB (Kilobyte)
• 1024 KB = 1 MB (Megabyte)
• 1024 MB = 1 GB (Gigabyte)
• 1024 GB = 1 TB (Terabyte)

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