NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF

LESOTHO
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CS1311A
COMPUTER APPRECIATION,
AWARENESS AND SKILLS
Morolong KJ (Mr.)
CMP 207
kj.morolong@nul.ls
 Course Objectives
Computer Literacy Computer System Computer Hardware

What you will learn? What you will learn? What you will learn?
Computer literacy definitions Basic functions of Tangible components of a
and benefits. computers and categories. computer.

Computer Software Computer Networks Computer Security

What you will learn? What you will learn? What you will learn?
How to communicate with a Basic computer networking, The internet and basic
computer through programs. together with common computer security.
networking devices
 COMPUTER HARDWARE

Hardware defines all the physical and tangible parts of a computer system.

Hardware components are grouped into different categories according to functions of a computer
system.
Input Devices - provide humans with a way to input data into the computer
Processing Devices - process data into information
Output Devices - provide the computer with a means of displaying information
Storage Devices - responsible for storing of data, instructions and results for future use
Communication Devices - responsible for communication between computers and other
peripheral devices.
 INPUT DEVICES
Input is any data or instructions entered into the memory of a computer.

An input device is any hardware component that allows a user to enter data
and instructions into a computer.

Most common input devices:

 INPUT DEVICES (QWERTY KEYBOARD)

Qwerty Keyboard.
• A keyboard contains keys that allow a user to enter data and instructions into the computer.

Computer Keyboard
 INPUT DEVICES (QWERTY KEYBOARD)

 Advantages of using keyboards  Disadvantages of using keyboards

• It is not necessary to buy additional • It takes a lot of time to practice in
equipment because most computer order to type quickly and accurately.
systems are normally supplied with • Typing speeds are still very slow when
keyboards. compared with computer speeds.
• Entering data and instructions with
keyboards is generally faster than
with pointing devices.
 INPUT DEVICES (COMPUTER MOUSE)

Mouse
• A mouse is the most widely used pointing device with a GUI environment on personal
computers.

Computer Mouse
 INPUT DEVICES (COMPUTER MOUSE)

 Clicking
The act of pressing and releasing a button on a mouse, with a purpose of
selecting or activating the pointed area on the screen.

 Left click – clicking on the left side button of the mouse

 Right click – clicking on the right side button of the mouse, usually used for
more advanced functions Right mouse button (for
right click)
 INPUT DEVICES (TRACKBALL)

TrackBall
• A trackball is a stationary pointing device with a ball mechanism on its top.
 INPUT DEVICES (TOUCHPAD)

Touchpad
• Is a small pressure and motion-sensitive area on a portable computer that you can use to
move the pointer.
 INPUT DEVICES (TOUCHSCREEN)

Touchscreen
• A touch screen is an input/output touch-sensitive display.
 INPUT DEVICES (BARCODE READER)

 Barcode reader
• An input device capable of reading a barcode using a laser beams.

Barcode reader

Barcode
 A set of lines representing data

Barcode Image
 INPUT DEVICES (BARCODE READER)

Advantages Disadvantages

• The process of data entry is • A bar code reader may misread a

fast and accurate. bar code if there is any dirt or mark

• Bar codes can be printed by on the code.

normal printing methods. • Only numbers can be coded

 INPUT DEVICES (SCANNER)

Scanner
• The scanner is a device that transfers printed text and images to a computer
 PROCESSING DEVICES

Processing devices in a computer are parts of the computer hardware responsible for:

 controlling the storage and retrieval of information.

 Processing data into information meaningful to users

The information is processed by the computer processor (CPU), which performs data
calculations, data comparisons, and data copying with the information from the input
devices. The CPU then saves that information to the computer memory (RAM).
 PROCESSING DEVICES (CPU)

The two main parts of the Central Processing Unit.

 ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit) – The part of the CPU where arithmetic and logic
operations are performed. Sometimes called the arithmetic unit.

 CU (Control Unit) - That part of the computer, which accesses instructions in

sequence, interprets them and then directs their implementation.
 PROCESSING DEVICES (CPU UNITS)

ALU Control Unit

• Performs the actual operation on • Gets the instructions from memory Fetch
Execute
the data. • Decides what the instruction means
• The result of the operation is stored and directs the necessary data to be Decode
Store
in memory or a register. moved from the memory to the ALU

• It manages and coordinates all the

units of the computer.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE CPU (FETCH)

 Fetch
• All the instructions are stored in memory. Each instruction has its address.
The processor takes this address number from the program counter.
Program counter is responsible for tracking what instructions CPU should
execute next. So fetching basically means taking the instruction from the
memory.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE CPU (DECODE)

 Decode
• CPU understands instructions that are written in Assembly programming
language. All the programs, that must be executed, are translated to
Assembly instructions. Different CPUs understand different instructions, so
Assembly code must be decoded into binary instructions which are
understandable to your CPU.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE CPU (EXECUTE)

 Execute
• During the procedure of instruction execution, three things can be done.
1. CPU can do some calculations. To execute calculations, ALU is used.

2. CPU can move data from one memory location to another.

3. CPU can jump to different address if it is needed.

So basically, one of those three options is executed during this step.

 FUNCTIONS OF THE CPU (STORE)

 Store
• CPU must give some feedback after executing the instruction. The output
data is written to the memory. In this phase program counter is
incremented.
 PROCESSING DEVICES

Measurement of the CPU speed

• The speed that a CPU works at is measured in "hertz", "Hz“. Hertz
basically measures the number of operations that can be done per
second. However modern processors run so fast that "Gigahertz", "GHz",
is used. One gigahertz is one billion hertz. Earlier we had “Kilohertz “,
“KHz” and “Megahertz”, ”MHz”. Each kilohertz is one thousand hertz and
each megahertz is one million hertz.
 OUTPUT DEVICES

After processing the input, the computer will give its output.

This output can be in two different formats:

• Softcopy: Visual (monitor) or Sound (speakers).

• Hardcopy: Output on tangible such as a printer printout.

 OUTPUT DEVICES

 An output device is any hardware component that conveys information to

one or more people.

 Output devices communicate the results of data processing.

 The following is a list of output devices examples.

Monitor or Visual Display Unit (VDU)

Printer

Speaker

Projector
 OUTPUT DEVICES (MONITOR)

• Monitor

• A monitor (or screen) is the most commonly used output device

• It is an electronic visual display for computers

• They come in many different shapes, sizes and forms

 OUTPUT DEVICES (MONITOR)

• Different types of monitors  Light-Emitting

• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT): Diodes(LED)

• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD):

 OUTPUT DEVICES (PRINTER)

• Printer

• A device that produces a permanent human-readable text or graphic document.

• Some printers are able to print directly on to CD or DVD disks with a suitable holder.

• Printers are broadly categorized into two types

• Impact Types

• Non-Impact Types
 OUTPUT DEVICES (PRINTER)

• Impact types

• Create text or image by physically making the print head to press the ink ribbon and cause
the ink deposition on the paper.

• Normally they are quite louder in nature when compared to other types of printers.

• Non-Impact printers

• Produce text or images on paper without striking the paper physically.

• They are not louder when compact to impact printers.

 COMMON EXAMPLES PRINTERS

Impact Types Non-impact types

• Dot-Matrix Printers • Thermal Printers

Uses a print head that use heat as a mechanism

runs in an up & down to print information
motion & prints by force character by character

• Daisy Wheel Printers • Laser printers

Uses laser lights to

Fitted with exchangeable produce dots needed to
print heads called daisy form the characters to be
wheels printed on a page
 OUTPUT DEVICES (SPEAKER)

• Speaker

• A device that is connected to a computer’s sound card which outputs the

sound generated by the card

• The sound card is installed in the tower case of the computer. Its role is to
convert the signal coming out of the computer to a format that can be
reproduced by the external speakers. Speakers

Sound Card
 OUTPUT DEVICES (PROJECTOR)

• Projector

• A device with which an image and text is projected onto a flat screen.

• Image data is sent to the video card by the computer which is then
translated into a video image and sent to the projector.

• A projector is often used in meetings or to make presentation as it allows

the display to be visible to a larger audience.
 STORAGE & MEMORY DEVICES

 Storage holds data, instructions, and information for future use.

 A computer keeps data, instructions, and information on storage media.

 Memory can be divided into

• Primary memory

• Secondary memory
 STORAGE & MEMORY DEVICES

• Primary memory

• Alternatively referred to as internal memory is contained on memory chip mounted on

motherboard.

• Memory capacity is important because it determines how much data can be processed at once.

Types of primary memory

o Random Access Memory (RAM)

o Cache memory

o Read Only Memory (ROM)

 TYPES OF PRIMARY MEMORY

 Random Access Memory (RAM)

• It is a form of data storage that can be accessed randomly at any time, in any order and
from any physical location, allowing quick access and manipulation.

• It is volatile.

• It is the main 'working' memory used by the computer. When the operating system loads
from disk when you first switch on the computer, it is copied into RAM.
 TYPES OF PRIMARY MEMORY

• Cache memory

• Most of today’s computers improve processing time with cache.

• Two types of cache are memory cache and disk cache. We focus on memory cache

• Memory cache

• Helps speed the process of the computer because it stores frequently used instructions
and data.

• It has two types, L1 cache build directly in the processor chip with very small capacity
and L2 cache which is slightly slower but has much larger capacity.
 TYPES OF PRIMARY MEMORY

• Read Only Memory (ROM)

• It is non-volatile and retains instructions when the power to the computer is turned off.

• As the name suggests, it is a special type of memory chip that holds software that can be
read but not written to.

• The types of ROM include PROM, EPROM and EEPROM.

 SECONDARY MEMORY
• Secondary storage is designed to store very large amounts of data for extended periods of time.

• Secondary storage can have memory capacity of several terabytes or more and only small portions of that
data are placed in primary storage at any one time.

• Secondary storage has the following characteristics

• It is non-volatile.

• It takes much more time to retrieve data from secondary storage than it does from primary memory.

• Secondary storage devices can be categorized in three main groups:

• Magnetic

• Optical

• Electronic
 MAGNETIC STORAGE

• Floppy disk

• Floppy disks store small amount of data typically not larger than 1.44MB.

• These small diskettes are used mainly to transport small files from one computer to

another.

• Hard disk

• Hard disks are built with metal or glass platters covered with a substance that allows data
to be held in the form of magnetized spots.

• Today hard disks are composed of more than one disk (also named as platter), which are
stacked on each other.
 OPTICAL STORAGE

• Optical disks write data with a high power laser beam, which records data by burning tiny pits
onto the surface of the disk.

• In order to read data, a low power laser beam reads data by reflecting smooth areas, which are
interpreted as 1 bits, and not reflecting pitted areas which are interpreted as 0 bits.
 EXAMPLES OF OPTICAL STORAGE
CD-ROM (Compact Disk – Read Only Memory)
• This is an optical disk where information is stored at the
time of manufacturing.
• Examples of CD-ROM are Music CD’s and software that
one buys from computer shops such as games.
CD-RW (Compact Disk – Rewritable)
• This type of media allows users to copy and erase data.
Thus, this disk can be used over and over again.
CD-R (Compact Disk – Recordable)
• It is a CD format that allows users to use a CD-R drive to
write data, only once, onto a specially manufactured disk
that can then be read by a standard CD-ROM drive.
DVD-ROM (Digital Video Disk or Digital Versatile Disk)
• This optical disk looks like a normal CD but in fact, it can
store much more data than a CD.
• Much faster than CD-ROM drives but not as fast as hard
disks.
 ELECTRONIC STORAGE

• Electronic memory is the latest technology in secondary storage media.

• This is also referred to as Flash memory.

• Flash memory is non-volatile solid-state computer memory storage that can be electrically
erased and reprogrammed.

• It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives for general
storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products.

• It is a specific type of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory)

 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• A communication device is a piece of equipment or hardware designed to move information

or data from one place to another, in other words, allowing one
computer devices to communicate with another.

• There are many examples of communication devices and we will look at a few below.
• Network interface card
• Network hubs
• Network switch
• Modem
• Network router
 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Network interface card

• Computers on a network need be able to communicate with the server and with other
computers. In order to do this, a network interface card(NIC) is required or a built-in
network chip is included on a motherboard.

• The hardware handles all the physical network signals.

• The NIC allows data to be communicated to and from a networked computer.

 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Network hub

• A hub, in the context of networking, is a hardware device that relays communication data.
A hub sends data packets (frames) to all devices on a network, regardless of any MAC
addresses contained in the data packet.
 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Network Switch

• A network switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within
one local area network (LAN).

• A switch is different than a hub in that it keeps a record of all MAC addresses of all
connected devices. Thus, it knows which device or system is connected to which port.
When a data packet is received, the switch immediately knows which port to send it to.
 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• MODEM

• A modem is a device used to convert digital data to analogue data in order to transmit it
over the telephone network (MODulation).

• It will also convert the analogue data back into digital data when the computer is receiving
data from the telephone line (DEModulation).

• So together the device MODulates and DEModulates, MODEM

 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Network router

• It is responsible for sending network traffic to it’s correct destination. It works by reading the
destination network address within each data packet and sends it along it’s way. We can
have a number of routers on a network.

• Switches create a network. Routers connect networks. A router links computers to the
Internet, so users can share the connection. A router acts as a dispatcher, choosing the
best path for information to travel so it's received quickly.
 COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Network router vs. switch

 DATA REPRESENTATION IN COMPUTERS

• A computer stores data as a string of 0’s and 1’s called bits.

• Bits is an abbreviation of binary digits.

• Binary is a type of a number system.

• A bit is the smallest unit of information that can be stored or manipulated on a computer.

• The bits are bunched together so the computer uses several bits at the same time, such as for
calculating numbers.

• When a “bunch” consists of eight bits then it is called a byte. i.e. Byte = 8 bits
End of Lecture 2