Notes Functional English B.

com Part 1
What is Mood? The mood of a verb is the manner in which the action or condition is conceived or intended. In English there are three verb moods. 1. Indicative, a verb stating an apparent fact or asking a question. This is the way verbs are normally used in English. 2. Imperative, a verb stating a command or request. 3. Subjunctive, a verb expressing a doubt, desire, supposition, or condition contrary to fact. Imperative Sentence An imperative sentence asks, requests, or commands someone to do something. An imperative sentence drops the subject. Sometimes when simply the verb of an imperative sentence is referred to, it is said to be in the imperative mood. Examples: Go away! Please go away. John, come here please. (John is not the subject but a direct address.)
There are Different Types of Pronouns For detailed explanation and examples of the types of pronouns refer to Pronouns page.

Demonstrative Pronouns - point out a specific persons, animals, places, things or ideas. Personal Indefinite Intensive Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns stand replace in nouns for people, places, which or things noun and they ideas. replace. pronoun. sentences. relationship. the sentence.

without (intensify) begin show

specifying a or

emphasize used point to

noun introduce a

another

Interrogative Reciprocal Reflexive

interrogative mutual

back

to

the

subject

of

Relative Pronouns - begin a subordinate clause and connect it to another noun that precedes it.

Reflexive Pronoun An reflexive pronoun "reflects" a noun or pronoun by taking the place of its antecedent when the noun or pronoun is doing something to itself. In English reflexive pronouns are formed just like intensive pronouns--by adding -self or selves to the root pronoun. Examples: We underrated ourselves before the race.
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The cat washed herself carefully with her tongue. The only reflexive pronouns in modern English are the following: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves

CONJUNCTIONS and PREPOSITIONS

Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, or clauses and Prepositions are those connecting words that show the relation of a noun or pronoun to other words in a sentence. 1) CONJUNCTIONS - used in connecting words, phrases, or clauses: a) Coordinate Conjunctions such as and and but are placed next to the words and ideas they connect. Examples: y He was strong in body and mind.

y She was strong mentally but not physically. b) Subordinate Conjunctions are used when one idea in a sentence is dependent upon another idea. The subordinate conjunction is used to connect the dependent to indicate with the main (i.e. thought. even if, Examples: though)

concession

although,

y Though some of the volunteers never showed, we still packed a great number of boxes. to y show He was cause (i.e. now because that, of his because, excessive as, since)

terminated

absenteeism.

to express a condition (i.e. if only, provided that, except that, unless) y The whole project will be delayed unless that shipment arrives today. to indicate purpose (i.e. in order that, so that)

y He called in a replacement so that she could go home and get some rest. to fix a time (i.e. as long as, ever since, until, after, when, now that, before)  y Ever since we installed that new software, tracking our shipments is easier. c) Correlative Conjunctions are those used in pairs (i.e. neither/nor, either/or, not only/but also) and should be placed next to the words they connect. Examples: y y Either we meet the budget or downsizing will be the alternative. She is respected by neither her clients nor her colleagues.

y They not only finished the project on time but also came in below budget. 2) PREPOSITIONS are used to show the relation of a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence:
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Examples: y The defendant was shocked by the verdict from the jury.

(preposition by shows the relation of the noun verdict to the verb shocked. Care must be taken with the use of prepositions. Often there is confusion using the following prepositions: at, with y y  y My colleagues were angry with me. (not at me)

He was angry at the decisions being made. The contractor was impatient at the delays.

(not with the decisions) (not with the delays)

y She was impatient with her children. (not at her children) among, between y The proceeds were divided among the team members. (not between the team members) y The proceeds were divided between the two participants. (not among the two participants) in, into y Tommy ran in the gym. (within its walls) y Tommy ran into the gym. (entered the gym) agreed to, on, with y He agreed to the terms of the contract. (not agreed with the terms)

y The board members agreed on implementing a hiring freeze. (not agreed with implementing) y She agreed with Tom to share in the responsibilities.

What is Gender?
Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as the relations between women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They are context/ time-specific and changeable.

What is an antonym?
An antonym of a particular word is one that has the opposite meaning.

An antonym is usually an adjective or adverb, but can include verb forms such as "coming / going", "leading/ following", and "heeding / ignoring". Example: The antonym of up is down.
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Other examples: Small is an antonym of big The antonym of smart would be unintelligent. Walk can be an antonym of run Happy is an antonym of sad (or possibly angry) Catch is an antonym of throwBlack can be an antonym for white Deny antonym Agree Gentle antonym rough

What is a synonym and a homonym?

A synonym (from Greek syn "with" + onoma "name") is a word that has the same meaning as another word. "Couch" and "sofa" are synonyms. A homonym is a word that is pronounced like another word. "Pare," "pair," and "pear" are homonyms. Homonyms, from Greek homo "same" + onoma "name," are sometimes

Parts of speech: Part 1

Words are divided into different classes on the basis of their grammatical behavior. These different classes of words are called the Parts of Speech. Languages differ from one another in the parts of speech they possess. English, for example, has eight parts of speech: 1. Noun 2. Pronoun 3. Adjective 4. Verb 5. Adverb 6. Conjunction 7. Preposition 8. Interjection Note that determiners and degree modifiers are also sometimes recognized as parts of speech.
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Noun A noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing. Examples are: boy, tree, India, Paris, James, elephant, country, beauty etc.
y y y y y

Solomon was a wise king. The lion is the king of beasts. Honesty is the best policy. India is the largest democracy in the world. London is on the river Thames.

Adjective An adjective is a word used to add something to the meaning of a noun. Examples are: kind, beautiful, careful, ignorant, clever, brave, ten, twenty, first etc.
y y y y

He is a clever boy. She is a nice girl. Twenty people were present at the meeting. He won the first prize.

Pronoun A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. Examples are: he, she, it, them, somebody, anything etc.
y

John didnt come because he was ill. (Here the pronoun he is used to avoid the repetition of the noun John.)

Parts of speech: Part 2

Verb A verb is a word like ask, make, wait, go and work. Most verbs refer to actions or states.
y

I want to go.
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y y y y

She made a cake. He works in a factory. I asked him a question. She wrote a letter.

Adverb An adverb is a word used to add something to the meaning of a verb. Examples are: carefully, well, quickly, now, then, today etc.
y y y y

She can speak English well. He finished his meal quickly. He worked hard. I want to go now.

Preposition A preposition is a word used with a noun or a pronoun to show how the person or thing denoted by the noun or pronoun stands in relation to some other word in the sentence. Examples are: in, out, of, to, for, under, above, from, between etc.
y y y

He sat under the tree. The lion is in the cage. He sat on the table.

Conjunction A conjunction is a word used to join words or sentences. Examples are: and, but, or, because, since, as, though etc.
y y y

James and Alice are cousins. He is very hardworking but his brother is lazy. You can have tea or coffee.

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Interjection An interjection is a word which expresses some sudden feeling. Examples are: alas, hurrah etc.
y y

Alas! We have lost the match. Hurrah! We have won the match.

Parts of speech: Exercise

Name the part of speech of each italicized word in the following sentences. 1. Alice is very intelligent. 2. Still waters run deep. 3. We searched for him adjective (modifies the noun Alice) 2. still: adjective (modifies the noun waters), run: verb 3. everywhere: adverb of place to 4. they: pronoun, soon: adverb (modifies the verb arrived) 5. cleanliness: noun 6. better: comparative adjective, riches: noun 7. recognized: verb 8. match: noun 9. each: adjective (modifies the noun hand), five: adjective

everywhere. 4. They arrived soon after. 5. Cleanliness is next

godliness. 6. Widsom is better than riches. 7. I recognized his face at once. 8. He could not win the match. 9. Each hand has five fingers. 10. He has little intelligence. 11. He lost all his wealth. 12. Few cats like cold water. Answers 1. very: adverb (modifies intelligent:

(modifies the noun fingers) 10. little: intelligence (modifies the noun intelligence)

intelligent),

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11. all: adjective (modifies the noun wealth)

12. few: adjective (modifies the noun cats), water: noun

Notes
Strictly speaking, the words few, all, some, any, this, that, each, one, two, both etc., are not adjectives. They are actually determiners which determine or limit the meaning of the nouns that follow. However, in traditional grammars these words are classified as adjectives.

Adjectives
Adjectives are words like clever, beautiful, kind, old, intelligent and smart. An adjective may denote a temporary or permanent quality associated with a noun. Study the following sentences:
y

Alice is a nice girl. (Here the adjective nice shows what kind of girl Alice is.)

He gave me three apples. (Here the adjective three answers the question how many mangoes.)

I dont like that boy. (Here the adjective that answers the question which boy)

As you may have noticed an adjective is a word used with a noun to describe a temporary or permanent quality associated with the noun. Position of adjectives Most adjectives can go in two main places in a sentence. a) attributive position (before a noun)
y y

The lazy boy was punished. He is a clever boy.

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b) predicative position (after be, seem, look, become and other copular verbs)
y y

She looks happy. That dress is beautiful.

Kinds of adjectives
Adjectives may be divided into the following categories: Adjectives of quality (also called descriptive adjectives)

Adjectives of quality denote the kind or quality of a person or thing modified by the adjective. Examples are: kind, nice, clever, intelligent, brave, modest, decent, attractive, efficient etc.
y

She is an attractive woman. (Here the adjective attractive shows a certain quality associated with the noun woman.)

y y y y

He is an efficient guy. Mumbai is a large city. She is a nice girl. A clever fox once invited a stork to dine with him.

Adjectives of quantity Adjectives of quantity denote how much of a thing is meant. Examples are: some, few, little, much, all, any, no, whole etc.
y y y y y

He has little intelligence. Are you getting enough sleep? He ate some rice. He has lost all his wealth. He did not eat any rice. of number (also called numeral adjectives)

Adjectives

Adjectives of number show how many persons or things are meant.

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They may also indicate in what order a person or thing stands. Note that numbers (both cardinal and ordinal) come under this category. Examples are: one, two, three, first, second, tenth, last etc.
y y y y

Each hand has five fingers. Sunday is the first day of the week. I bought two apples. Alice was the last person to arrive.

Kinds of adjectives Part 2

Proper adjectives Adjectives formed from proper nouns are often called proper adjectives. Examples are: Indian, British, Persian, Turkish etc.
y y y

Indian flag Persian carpet French wine

Distributive adjectives Distributive adjectives refer to each one of a group of people or things. Examples are: each, every, either, neither etc.
y y y y

Each hand has five fingers. Every man must do his duty. Either method is right. Neither answer is correct.

Note that distributive adjectives are followed by singular nouns and singular verbs.
y

Neither girl was able to solve the problem. (NOT Neither girls were able to solve the problem.)

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Each boy was given a medal. (NOT Each boys were given a medal.)

Demonstrative adjectives Demonstrative adjectives point out the person or thing that is meant. Examples are: this, that, these, those.
y y y

This boy is taller than that boy. These mangoes are sweeter than those mangoes. These girls are going to school.

Demonstrative adjectives answer the question which? It should be noted that this and that are used with singular nouns and these and those are used with plural nouns. Interrogative adjectives Interrogative adjectives are words like which, what and whose. They are used with nouns to ask questions.
y y y

Whose pen is this? Which boy won the prize? What time is it?

Adjectives worksheet
Pick out the adjectives in the following sentences and state to which class each of them belongs. 1. The car sustained heavy damage in the accident. 2. Every dog has his day. 3. He has written several stories. 4. A dead man cant walk. 5. He is a man of few words. 6. Neither answer is quite right. 7. What time is it? 8. Which color do you like? 9. He is first person to climb Mt. Everest. 10. Nice guys finish second.
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11. There I met an old woman with a crooked nose. 12. He died a glorious death. Answers 1. Adjective of quality: heavy 2. Distributive adjective: every 3. Numeral adjective: several 4. Adjective of quality: dead 5. Adjective of quantity: few

6. Distributive adjective: neither 7. Interrogative adjective: what 8. Interrogative adjective: which 9. Numeral adjective: first 10. Adjective of quality: nice 11. Adjectives of quality: old, crooked 12. Adjective of quality: glorious

Articles
A or an
Before a vowel, the article a changes to an. Compare: A dog A cat An elephant An orange An apple Note that the choice between a and an depends on pronunciation, not spelling. We use an before a vowel sound, even if it begins with a consonant. An hour (NOT a hour) An MP (NOT

The indefinite article

We use a/an to talk about a particular person or thing when the listener/reader does not know which one is meant. He is going out with a Russian girl. (The listener does not know which Russian girl.) She works in a pub. A/an can be used to talk about any one member of a class.

Noun
Definition:

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The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name or identify a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Adjective: nominal.

Types of Nouns
There are several ways to classify the types of nouns that exist in the English language. In traditional grammar, nouns are taught to be words that refer to people, places, things, or abstract ideas. While modern linguistics find this definition to be problematic because it relies on non-specific nouns such as thing to specifically define what a noun is, much of our social understanding of what nouns are defers to the traditional definition.

Proper Nouns
Proper nouns are nouns that refer to specific entities. Writers of English capitalize proper nouns like Nebraska, Steve, Harvard, or White House to show their distinction from common nouns.

Common Nouns
Common nouns refer to general, unspecific categories of entities. Whereas Nebraska is a proper noun because it signifies a specific state, the word state itself is a common noun because it can refer to any of the 50 states in the United States. Harvard refers to a particular institution of higher learning, while the common noun university can refer to any such institution.

Countable Nouns
To linguists, these count nouns can occur in both single and plural forms, can be modified by numerals, and can co-occur with quantificational determiners like many, most, more, several, etc. For example, the noun bike is countable noun. Consider the following sentence: There is a bike in that garage. In this example, the word bike is singular as it refers to one bike that is presently residing in a particular garage.
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However, bike can also occur in the plural form. There are six broken bikes in that garage. In this example, the noun bikes refers to more than one bike as it is being modified by the numeral six. In addition, countable nouns can co-occur with quantificational determiners. In that garage, several bikes are broken. This sentence is grammatical, as the noun bike can take the modification of the quantificational determiner several. Uncountable Nouns or Mass Nouns Conversely, some nouns are not countable and are called

uncountable nouns or mass nouns. For example, the word clutter is a mass noun. That garage is full of clutter. This sentence makes grammatical sense. However, the following example does not. That garage is full of clutters. Mass nouns can not take plural forms, and therefore a sentence containing the word clutters is ungrammatical. Substances, liquids, and powders are entities that are often signified by mass nouns such as wood, sand, water, and flour. Other examples would be milk, air, furniture, freedom, rice, and

intelligence.

Collective Nouns
In general, collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of something in a specific manner. Often, collective nouns are used to refer to groups of animals. Consider the following sentences. Look at the gaggle of geese. There used to be herds of wild buffalo on the prairie. A bevy of swans is swimming in the pond. A colony of ants live in the anthill.
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In the above examples, gaggle, herds, bevy, and colony are collective nouns.

Concrete Nouns
Concrete nouns are nouns that can be touched, smelled, seen, felt, or tasted. Steak, table, dog, Maria, salt, and wool are all examples of concrete nouns. Can I pet your dog? Please pass the salt. Your sweater is made of fine wool. Concrete nouns can be perceived by at least one of our senses. Abstract Nouns More ethereal, theoretical concepts use abstract nouns to refer to them. Concepts like freedom, love, power, and redemption are all examples of abstract nouns. They hate us for our freedom. All you need is love. We must fight the power. In these sentences, the abstract nouns refer to concepts, ideas, philosophies, and other entities that cannot be concretely perceived. Personal pronouns are types of nouns that take the place of nouns when referring to people, places or things. The personal pronouns in English are I, you, he, she, it, and they. Amy works at a flower shop. She works at a flower shop. The Greeks invented democracy. They invented democracy. These pronouns take on other forms depending on what type of function they are performing in a sentence. For example, when used to signify possession of another noun, pronouns take on their possessive form such as mine, ours, hers, and theirs. That pizza belongs to Marley. That pizza is hers. When used as the object of a preposition, pronouns take on their objective case. Examples include him, her, me, us, and them. Hand the money over to Jennifer. Hand the money over to her. The police are on to John and Ray. The police are on to them.
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Compound noun
Definition: Two or more nouns combined to form a single noun. Compound nouns are written as separate words (grapefruit juice), as words linked by a hyphen (sister-in-law), or as one word (schoolteacher).

Abstract noun
Definition: A noun (such as courage or freedom) that names an idea, event, quality, or concept. Contrast with concrete noun. Etymology: From the Latin, "drawn away"

NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

Transform the following sentences into the negative and the interrogative. 1 Example: I can dance. I cant dance/I cannot dance. Can I dance? a She can swim. b They can help you. c We can ride a horse. d He can drive a lorry. e It can fly.

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Computer Application B.com Part 1 What is ALU

ALU stands for the Arithmetic logic unit and it is an internal part of the processor which is used for all the mathematical and logical operations. The operations of the ALU includes multiplying the binary values and performing the logical operations such as AND, OR and XOR, integer arithmetic operations and Bit-shifting operations etc. ALU is the fundamental building block of the processor

Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable is the kind of copper cable used by cable TV companies between the community antenna and user homes and businesses. Coaxial cable is sometimes used by telephone companies from their central office to the telephone poles near users. It is also widely installed for use in business and corporation Ethernet and other types of local area network.

Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a remote service on another computer system, known as a server, by way of a network.[1] The term was first applied to devices that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers via a network. These dumb terminals were clients of the time-sharing mainframe computer. The clientserver model is still used today. Client and server can run on the same machine and connect via Unix domain sockets. Using Internet sockets a user may connect to a service operating on a possibly remote system through the Internet protocol suite. Servers set up listening sockets, and clients initiate connections that a server may accept. Web browsers are clients that connect to web servers and retrieve web pages for display. Most people use email clients to retrieve their email from their internet service provider's mail storage servers. Online chat uses a variety of clients, which vary depending on the chat protocol being used. Multiplayer online games may run as Game Clients on each local computer.

Setting Tab Positions in Microsoft Word

A Tab in word processing terms is the jump your cursor makes from one position to another when you press the tab key on your keyboard.
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Your tab key looks like this:

Advantages of internet
There many advantages to using the internet such as: y Email. Email is now an essential communication tools in business. It is also excellent for keeping in touch with family and friends. The advantages to email is that it is free ( no charge per use) when compared to telephone, fax and postal services. y Information. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support. y Services. Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking and applications, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line or cost more. y Buy or sell products.

The internet is a very effective way to buy and sell products all over the world. y Communities. Communities of all types have sprung up on the internet. Its a great way to meet up with people of similar interest and discuss common issues.

Disadvantages Internet

of

the

Theft of Personal information: Electronic messages sent over the Internet can be easily snooped and tracked, revealing who is talking to whom and what they are talking about. If you use the Internet, your personal information such as your name, address, credit card, bank details and other information can be accessed by culprits. If you use a credit card or internet banking for online shopping, then your details can also be stolen. Negative effects on family communication: Although there are conflicting research findings on this topic, an article published by Science Daily reported that time spent on the Internet was associated with later declines in within house family communication and a decrease in the number of friends and acquaintances with which they kept ties.

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Internet addiction: There is some controversy over whether it is possible to actually be addicted to the Internet or not. Some researchers, claim that it is simply people trying to escape their problems in an online world and cannot be classified as an addiction. Other psychologists, believe that Internet addiction is a true psychological disorder with definable symptoms. The symptoms are comparable to any addiction, withdrawal, loss of relationships or job and significant time consumption. Children using the Internet has become a big concern. Most parents do not realize the dangers involved when their children log onto the Internet. When children talk to others online, they do not realize they could actually be talking to a harmful person. Moreover, pornography is also a very serious issue concerning the Internet, especially when it comes to young children. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detriment to letting children use the Internet. Virus threat: Today, not only are humans getting viruses, but computers are also. Computers are mainly getting these viruses from the Internet. Virus is is a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache. Spamming: Is often viewed as the act of sending unsolicited email. This multiple or vast emailing is often compared to mass junk mailings. It needlessly obstruct the entire system. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.

Precis Writing: A precis is a short summary. It is not a paraphrase, which merely says in different and simpler words exactly what the passage being paraphrased has to say. A paraphrase may be a long as the passage itself. A precis rarely is more than one-third the length of the original selection and may be only one-fourth as long. A precis gives only the "heart" of a passage. It omits repetition and such details as examples, illustrations, and adjectives unless they are of unusual importance. A precis is written entirely in the words of the person writing it, not in the words of the original selection. Avoid the temptation to lift long phrases and whole sentences from the original. A precis is written from the point of view of the author whose work is being summarized. Do not begin with such expressions as "This author says" or "The paragraph means." Begin as though you were summarizing your own writing. In writing a precis proceed as follows: y Read carefully, sentence by sentence, the passage to be summarized. Try to grasp the writer's main point. Spotting the topic sentence will help. Look up in the dictionary

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y y

any words whose meaning is not absolutely clear. As you read, take brief notes to be used in your writing. When you have finally decided what the author's main point is, write it out in your own words. Do not use the wording of the original except for certain key words which you may find indispensable. If you cannot translate the idea into language of your own, you do not understand them very well. Be especially careful not to rely too much on the topic sentence. Do not add any opinions or ideas of your own. Revise your writing until you are sure that you have given an accurate summary. Usually you will find your precis is too long, if it is more than one-third the length of the original. Continue your revision until you have reduced the precis to the proper length. In this careful revision lies the principal value of the precis as a composition exercise.

APPROACH TO PRECIS WRITING A precis should reduce the length of the original passage by at least two - thirds. Every important idea must be retained, preferably in the order in which it appears in the original.

Unimportant points, including details, illustrations and anecdotes, should be discarded. A first draft of the precis should be written, then checked to see that it contains the main ideas of the passage.

Although you should be as brief as possible. Guard against being so condensed that you obscure the point of passage. Try to capture the tone or feeling of the original, particularly if it is deliberately humorous, ironic or biased.

Check the draft for expression errors, repetition or vague phrasing; then write a smoother final version.

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Computer Basics
What is A Computer
A computer is an electronic machine that accepts information, stores it until the information is needed, processes the information according to the instructions provided by the user, and finally returns the results to the user. The computer can store and manipulate large quantities of data at very high speed, but a computer cannot think. A computer makes decisions based on simple comparisons such as one number being larger than another. Although the computer can help solve a tremendous variety of problems, it is simply a machine. It cannot solve problems on its own.

History of Computers
Since civilizations began, many of the advances made by science and technology have depended upon the ability to process large amounts of data and perform complex mathematical calculations. For thousands of years, mathematicians, scientists and businessmen have searched for computing machines that could perform calculations and analyze data quickly and efficiently. One such device was the abacus. The abacus was an important counting machine in ancient Babylon, China, and throughout Europe where it was used until the late middle ages. It was followed by a series of improvements in mechanical counting machines that led up to the development of accurate mechanical adding machines in the 1930s. These machines used a complicated assortment of gears and levers to perform the calculations but they were far to slow to be of much use to scientists. Also, a machine capable of making simple decisions such as which number is larger was needed. A machine capable of making decisions is called a computer. The first computer like machine was the Mark I developed by a team from IBM and Harvard University. It used mechanical telephone relays to store information and it processed data entered on punch cards. This machine was not a true computer since it could not make decisions. In June 1943, work began on the world's first electronic computer. It was built at the

University of Pennsylvania as a secret military project during World War II and was to be used to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells. It covered 1500 square feet and weighed 30 tons. The project was not completed until 1946 but the effort was not wasted. In one of its first demonstrations, the computer solved a problem in 20 seconds that took a team of mathematicians three days. This machine was a vast improvement over the mechanical calculating machines of the past because it used vacuum tubes instead of relay switches. It contained over 17,000 of these tubes, which were the same type tubes used in radios at that time. The invention of the transistor made smaller and less expensive computers possible. Although computers shrank in size, they were still huge by todays standards. Another innovation to computers in the 60s was storing data on tape instead of punch cards. This gave computers the ability to store and retrieve data quickly and reliably.

Classification of Computers
Mainframe Computers

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Minicomputers Microcomputers Supercomputers

Mainframe computers are very large, often filling an entire room. They can store enormous of information, can perform many tasks at the same time, can communicate with many users at the same time, and are very expensive. . The price of a mainframe computer frequently runs into the millions of dollars. Mainframe computers usually have many terminals connected to them. These terminals look like small computers but they are only devices used to send and receive information from the actual computer using wires. Terminals can be located in the same room with the mainframe computer, but they can also be in different rooms, buildings, or cities. Large businesses, government agencies, and universities usually use this type of computer.

Minicomputers are much smaller than mainframe computers and they are also much less expensive. The cost of these computers can vary from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. They possess most of the features found on mainframe computers, but on a more limited scale. They can still have many terminals, but not as many as the mainframes. They can store a tremendous amount of information, but again usually not as much as the mainframe. Medium and small businesses typically use these computers.

Microcomputers are the types of computers we are using in your classes at Floyd College. These computers are usually divided into desktop models and laptop models. They are terribly limited in what they can do when compared to the larger models discussed above because they can only be used by one person at a time, they are much slower than the larger computers, and they can not store nearly as much information, but they are excellent when used in small businesses, homes, and school classrooms. These computers are inexpensive and easy to use. They have become an indispensable part of modern life.

Computer Tasks
Input Storage Processing Output

When a computer is asked to do a job, it handles the task in a very special way. 1. 2. It accepts the information from the user. This is called input. It stored the information until it is ready for use. The computer has memory chips, which are designed to hold information until it is needed. 3. It processes the information. The computer has an electronic brain called the Central Processing Unit, which is responsible for processing all data and instructions given to the computer. 4. It then returns the processed information to the user. This is called output.

Every computer has special parts to do each of the jobs listed above. Whether it is a multimillion dollar mainframe or a thousand dollar personal computer, it has the following four components, Input, Memory, Central Processing, and Output.

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The central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic brain of the computer. The CPU in a personal computer is usually a single chip. It organizes and carries out instructions that come from either the user or from the software. The processor is made up of many components, but two of them are worth mentioning at this point. These are the arithmetic and logic unit and the control unit. The control unit controls the electronic flow of information around the computer. calculations and logical comparisons. The arithmetic and logic unit, ALU, is responsible for mathematical

The processor is plugged into the computers motherboard. The motherboard is a rigid rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects the processor and all the other components that make up your personal computer. In most personal computers, some of the components are attached directly to the motherboard and some are housed on their own small circuit boards that plug into the expansion slots built into the motherboard.

Input Devices
A computer would be useless without some way for you to interact with it because the machine must be able to receive your instructions and deliver the results of these instructions to you. Input devices accept instructions and data from you the user. Some popular input devices are listed below.

Keyboard Mouse Scanner Microphone CD-ROM Joystick

Memory
A personal computer must have a means of storing information (data) and instructions so that it can perform processing tasks on the data. Personal computers have two types of memory. These are discussed below.

Read Only Memory (ROM) ROM is a small area of permanent memory that provides startup instructions when the computer is turned on. You can not store any data in ROM. The instructions in ROM are set by the manufacturer and cannot be changed by the user. The last instruction in ROM directs the computer to load the operating system.

Every computer needs an operating system. This is a special computer program that must be loaded into memory as soon as the computer is turned on. Its purpose is to translate your instructions in English into Binary so that the computer can understand your instructions. The operating system also translates the results generated by your computer into English when it is

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finished so that we can understand and use the results. The operating system comes with a computer.

Random Access Memory (RAM) This is the area of memory where data and program instructions are stored while the computer is in operation. This is temporary memory. NOTE: The data stored in RAM is lost forever when the power is turned off. For this reason it is very important that you save your work before turning off your computer. This is why we have peripheral storage devices like your computers hard disk and floppy diskettes.

Permanent Memory (Auxiliary Storage) Your files are stored in permanent memory only when saved to your disk in a: drive or saved to your computer's hard disk, Drive c: In the Floyd College labs, you can also save your work to a network drive. We will discuss this in class.

To better understand how a computer handles information and to also understand why information is lost if the power goes off, lets take a closer look at how a computer handles information. Your computer is made of millions of tiny electric circuits. For every circuit in a computer chip, there are two possibilities:

1. 2.

an electric circuit flows through the circuit or An electric circuit does not flow through the circuit.

When an electric current flows through a circuit, the circuit is on. When no electricity flows, the circuit is off. An on circuit is represented by the number one (1) and an off circuit is represented by the number zero (0). The two numbers 1 and 0 are called bits. The word bit comes from binary digit. Each time a computer reads an instruction, it translates that instruction into a series of bits, 1s and 0s. On most computers every character from the keyboard is translated into eight bits, a combination of eight 1s and 0s. Each group of eight bits is called a byte.

Byte The amount of space in memory or on a disk needed to store one character. 8 bits = 1 Byte

Since computers can handle such large numbers of characters at one time, metric prefixes are combined with the word byte to give some common multiples you will encounter in computer literature.

Kilo means 1000 Mega means 1,000,000 Giga Means 1,000,000,000

Kilobyte (KB) = Megabyte (MB) = Gigabyte (GB)

1000 Bytes 1,000,000 Bytes = 1,000,000,000 Bytes

At this point it would be good to point out why information stored in RAM is lost if the power goes off. Consider the way the following characters are translated into binary code for use by the computer.

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A B C X Z 1 2

01000001 01000010 01000011 01011000 01011010 00110001 00110010

Consider the column at the right, which represents how the computer stores information. Each of the 1s in the second column represents a circuit that is on. If the power goes off, these circuits can NOT be on any more because the electricity has been turned off and any data represented by these circuits is lost. This is why we can not overemphasize the importance of saving your work often.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The central processing unit is one of the two most important components of your microcomputer. It is the electronic brain of your computer. In addition to processing data, it controls the function of all the other components. The most popular microprocessors in IBM compatible computers are made by Intel. The

generations of microprocessors are listed below.

1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2000

8088 80286 80386 80486 Pentium P-6 Pentium III Pentium IV

Your computer has a Pentium IV processor.

Output Devices
Monitor Speakers Printer Impact Dot Matrix Non-Impact Ink Jet

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Laser

Storage Devices
Hard disk Floppy disk Tape drive CD-ROM

Telecommunications
Telecommunications means that you are communicating over long distances usually using phone lines. This enables you to send data to and receive data from another computer that can be located down the street, in another town, or in another country. Telecommunications requires a communication device called a modem, A modem converts the digital signals that your

which connects your computer to a standard phone jack.

computer uses into analog signals that can be transmitted over the phone lines. To use a modem, you must also have communication software to handle the transmission process.

Computer Software
System Software System software will come provided with each computer and is necessary for the computers operation. This software acts as an interpreter between the computer and user. It interprets your instructions into binary code and likewise interprets binary code into language the user can understand. In the past you may have used MSDOS or Microsoft Disk Operating System which was a command line interface. This form of system software required specific commands to be typed. Windows 95 is a more recent version of system software and is known as a graphical interface. This means that it uses graphics or "icons" to represent various operations. You no longer have to memorize commands; you simply point to an icon and click. Program Software Program software is software used to write computer programs in specific computer languages. Application Software Application software is any software used for specified applications such as: Word Processing Spreadsheet Database Presentation Graphics Communication Tutorials Entertainment, Games

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