NASARAWA STATE POLYTECHNIC, LAFIA

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

STUDENTS PRACTICAL MANUAL
COURSE TITLE:

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER
COMPUTER

COURSE CODE: COM 111

STUDENTS NAME: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REGISTRATION NUMBER: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PROGRAMME: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SEMESTER / SESSION: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------LECTURER / INSTRUCTOR:

INSTRUCTOR: OKE, AFEEZ ADESHINA

TOTAL MARKS

LAB #1: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

INTRODUCTION:
A Computer is a device that accepts information (in the form of digitalized data) and manipulates it for some
result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.

It performs the following three operations in sequence.

1. It receives data & instructions from the input device.
2. Processes the data as per instructions.
3. Provides the result (output) in a desired form.
QUESTIONS
1. Copy and complete the following table
Generations of Computer Year
Component used

Language used

Examples

LAB #2: COMPUTER HARDWARE CONFIGURATION

INTRODUCTION:
Computer hardware equals the collection of physical elements that comprise a computer system. Computer
hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as monitor, keyboard, computer data
storage, hard drive disk, mouse, printers, CPU (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips) etc
all of which are physical objects that you can actually touch.

Information flows between you and your computer through input and output devices. An input device is used
to enter the data and instructions into the computer. Output devices relay the response from the computer in the
form of a visual response (monitor), sound (speakers) or media devices (CD or DVD drives). The central
processing unit (CPU) is the brain of any computer. It carries out all the processing in the computer.
CPU has to implement four basic functions during instruction cycle: fetch, decode, execute, store.
QUESTIONS
1. Define Computer Hardware. _______________________________________________________________
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2. What is the difference between an input device and an output device? ______________________________
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3. List 5 examples of Input devices
i. ____________________________________________
ii. ____________________________________________
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iii. ____________________________________________
iv. ____________________________________________
v. ____________________________________________
4. List 4 examples of output devices.
i. ____________________________________________
ii. ____________________________________________
iii. ____________________________________________
iv. ____________________________________________

5. _____________________________ is the brain of any computer.

6. Give the full meaning of the following acronyms.
i. CPU _______________________________________________________________________________
ii. ALU _______________________________________________________________________________
iii. CU ________________________________________________________________________________
iv. CD ________________________________________________________________________________
v. DVD _______________________________________________________________________________
vi. ENIAC _____________________________________________________________________________
vii. UNIVAC ___________________________________________________________________________

7. Write the functions of the devices listed below

i. Scanner _____________________________________________________________________________
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ii. Printer ______________________________________________________________________________
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iii. Keyboard ___________________________________________________________________________
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iv. Mouse ______________________________________________________________________________
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v. Motherboard _________________________________________________________________________
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LAB #3 AUXILIARY STORAGE AND UNITS OF STAORAGE

INTRODUCTION:
Auxiliary memories also known as secondary memory or external memory are used to store huge amount of
data at lesser cost per byte than primary memories. Also Secondary storage does not lose the data when the
device is powered downit is non-volatile.
In computing and telecommunications, a unit of information is the capacity of some standard data storage
system or communication channel, used to measure the capacities of other systems and channels. Storage
capacity refers to how much disk space one or more storage devices provides. It measures how much data a
computer system may contain.
The units of storage include:
Bit - Bit or binary digit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount
of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct
states. A bit can only have two values: either 1 or 0
BYTE - The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that consists of 8 bits.
NIBBLE - A nibble consists of 4 bits which is half of a byte.
Other units of storage:
1024 bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB);
1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB)
1024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte (TB)
QUESTIONS
1.

List five (5) common Auxiliary memory devices

i. ________________________________________________________
ii. ________________________________________________________
iii. ________________________________________________________
iv. ________________________________________________________
v. ________________________________________________________

2.

A network server has an available or free disk space of 5.35TB and a used disk space of 3.1TB. What is
Storage capacity of the network server.____________________________________________________
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For each of the questions below, show your workings clearly
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3.

Convert the following to nibbles (a) 32bytes (b) 8 bytes (c) 64 bytes (d) 16 bytes
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4.

Convert the following to bytes (a) 128 bits (b) 32 bits (c) 16 bits (d) 1024 bits
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5.

Convert 1.44MB to (a) Kilobytes (b) bytes

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6.

Convert the following to bytes (a) 128KB (b) 8KB (c) 4KB
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LAB #4 COMPUTER SOFTWARE

INTRODUCTION:
Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions. Computer software, or
just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a
computer what to do and how to do it. Computer software is a program that tells a computer what to do. These
instructions might be internal commands, such as updating the system clock, or a response to external input
received from the keyboard or mouse.
Software is created with programming languages and related utilities, which may come in several of the above
forms: single programs like script interpreters, packages containing a compiler, linker, and other tools; and large
suites (often called Integrated Development Environments) that include editors, debuggers, and other tools for
multiple languages. Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions, often
broken into two major categories: system software that provides the basic non-task-specific functions of the
computer, and application software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks.
QUESTIONS
1. Give 5 examples each of System and Application Software
i. __________________________________________________
ii. __________________________________________________
iii. __________________________________________________
iv. __________________________________________________
v. __________________________________________________

2. __________________ Software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual
hardware components of a computer system.

3. Windows 7 Ultimate is an example of __________________________software.

4. CorelDrawX5 is an example of _________________________ software.

5. There are basically two types of programming languages namely:

i.
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ii.
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LAB #5 IDENTIFICATION AND USES OF COMPONENTS

INTRODUCTION:
The term computer hardware refers to the physical components of a computer, namely Keyboard, Monitor,
Mouse, and Printer, including the digital circuitry. Computer hardware is an integral part embedded in all
modern day automobiles, microwave ovens, electrocardiograph machines, compact disc players, and other
devices. The hardware of a computer is not changed frequently, in contrast with software and data.
Hardware can be inside or outside the computer:

The CPU and hard drive are inside the computer.

The keyboard, monitor, and printer are outside the computer and must be connected by cables.

The figure below is a Monitor, otherwise known as Visual Display Unit

(VDU). Its an output device (peripheral) whose job is to display the
output result and to select options of the computer.

QUESTIONS
Identify the following component, their uses and state whether they are input, output or storage device.
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LAB #6 TRANSLATORS
INTRODUCTION
Translator translates program written in one programming language into (equivalent) program written in
another language. For example, Java to C# translator would translate Java program into (equivalent) C#
program. This is similar to as if you would translate some text in English into Spanish or vice versa.
A translator is a computer program that translates a program written in a given programming language into a
functionally equivalent program into a different language.
There are three different types of translator.

QUESTIONS
1. What is the function of a language translator?
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2. What is the role of a compiler in program translation?
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3. List three (3) advantages of an interpreter
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LAB #7 COMPUTER DATA PROCESSING\

INTRODUCTION
Computer data processing is any process that uses a computer program to enter data and summarise, analyse
or otherwise convert data into usable information. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising,
calculating, disseminating and storing data. Because data are most useful when well-presented and actually
informative, data-processing systems are often referred to as information systems.
Data Processing (data processing) is a data collection, storage, retrieval, processing, transformation and
transmission. Data is facts, concepts, or instructions of a form of expression, can be manual or automated device
for processing.
Any processing which takes place independently of the central processing unit is an offline processing. Online
processing generally involves direct interaction with one or more users and some sort of user interface
(graphical or text-based).
QUESTIONS
1. Highlights five (5) modes of electronic data processing
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2. List five (5) examples of Real-Time processing.
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3. Highlight five (5) examples of Batch processing.

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4. What is the major advantage of Batch Processing.

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5. What are the requirements for distributed data processing.
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LAB #8 OPERATING THE COMPUTER SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
Booting your computer is the process of powering it on and starting the operating system. Booting is restarting a
computer or its operating system software. When we start our Computer then there is an operation which is
performed automatically by the Computer which is also called as Booting. In the Booting, System will check all
the hardwares and Softwares those are installed or Attached with the System and this will also load all the
Files those are needed for running a system.
It is of two types (1) Cold booting: when the computer is started after having been switched off. (2) Warm
booting: when the operating system alone is restarted (without being switched off) after a system crash or
'freeze.'
QUESTIONS
1. List the steps in booting a computer system (desktop) running Windows XP
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LAB #9 - INITIALISATION AND FORMATTING OF STORAGE MEDIA

INTRODUCTION
The hard disk drive in your system is the "data center" of the PC. It is here that all of your programs and data
are stored for future retrieval. Your hard disk (or disks) is the most important category of permanent storage
used in PCs (the others being floppy disks and other storage media such as CD-ROMs, tapes, removable drives,
etc.)
In order for storage media, such as a hard drive or flash drive to be recognized by your computer, it first needs
to be initialized, or "formatted."
QUESTIONS
1. Highlights four (4) examples of storage media.
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2. What is Disk formatting?
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3. What is Disk partitioning?

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4. A HP Pavillion DV6 has the following hard disk allocation;
Local Disk (C:) 115GB
New Volume (D:) 104GB
New Volume (F:) 85GB
Recovery (E:) 13GB.
What is the storage capacity of the hard disk?
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Local Disk (C:), New Volume (D:), New Volume (F:), Recovery (E:) are referred to as:
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