Computer fundamentals

1. Explain the concept of information technology.

The concept of information technology is about using a computer to manipulate digital
data to create information. This information is used by people or sometimes machines
to complete a task.

2. distinguish among the major types of computer systems in terms of processing

speed, storage and portability.

i. Supercomputers
A super computer is designed to process more data at much higher speeds than other
computers. They must also store large amounts of data. They are very expensive. The
maintenance and running of the computer is much more costly. Super computers are
usually built for the government and large corporations. It usually costs around $50 to
$100m to build and the power needed to run a single supercomputer costs $5 to $10m
every year.

ii. Mainframe computers

Mainframes are housed in special rooms and have large amounts of storage. The
processes carried out by mainframes are usually quite simple so the processing speed
is less important than reliability.

iii. Desktop computers

Desktop computers are general use computers used in offices, schools and home. The
desktop computer can be customized to suit the needs of an individual needs you can
install a better graphics card or an extra disk drive.

iv. Mobile devices

This includes laptop computers, tablets and smartphones.
These devices either have a keyboard and screen built into the case or use a touch
screen.

v. embedded devices
Computer processors are now small and light they are built into many personal and
household devices from smart watches to cars.
An embedded microprocessor makes another device more powerful and useful.
( microprocessor the CPU of a modern computer. They are very small and it supports
small light mobile devices)

3. explain the functions of the major hardware components of a computer system

i. Input
It means turning data and instructions into electronic form so they can be processed by
the computer.

ii. Central processing unit

The computer processes input data according to input instructions this happens
electronically in the CPU

iii. RAM (random access memory)

The RAM stores the current instructions and data that the computer is using.
RAM is read-write memory which means it can store new data and RAM is volatile
which means if the computer is off the data stored will be lost.

iv. ROM (read only memory)

ROM stores the instructions to start up the computer system. Rom is read only which
means the instructions cannot be changed and its also non-volatile so these instructions
are not lost when the computer is off.

PROM (programmable read only memory)

PROM is blank when it leaves the factory and the instructions are added later by a
programmer but they are fixed and cannot be changed.

-EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory)

If EPROM is exposed to ultraviolet is wiped clean, so it can be reused to store new
instructions.

v. Output
Usually means turning the results of the processing into a form that people can
understand or use.

4. Storage media
i. Magnetic tape
It stores data on magnetism on plastic tape. The features are sequential access is slow,
read-write access and removable from the computer. There are many sizes and types
of tape but tape is rarely used in modern computer systems.

ii. Hard disk

It stores data on magnetism on a stack of metal disks inside the computer case. The
feature are direct access read write access and usually fixed in on machine high
capacity they are HDD and SSD types of disks.
iii. Optical disks
It stores data on microscopic pits burned into a smooth surface by a lase they are
invisible to normal vision. The features are direct access, read only access unless you
have the software to burn new data on to the disk removable and high capacity. The
main types are CDs used to store music and large data flies.
DVDs have even higher capacity and are used to store very large amount of data such
as movies. Blu-ray is an optical disc format like CD and DVD. Blu-ray discs can hold
more information than other optical media, because of the blue lasers that the disc
drives use. A single Blu-ray disc can hold up to 25GB of data.

5. Units of storage
i. Bit
A single on and off signal (a single 1 or 0) is called a bit; this is short for binary digit.
ii. Byte
A group of bits big enough to store one letter is called a byte. And the exact value is 8
bits.
iii. Kilobyte
A group of bytes is enough to store a thousand characters and the storage value is
1024 bytes.
iv. Megabyte
A group of bytes is enough to store a million characters and storage value is 1048567
bytes.
v. Gigabyte
A group of megabytes is enough to store a billion characters and the storage value is
1000 mb
vi. Terabyte
A group of gigabytes is enough to store a trillion characters and the storage value is
1000gb

6. explain how the major hardware components of a computer system interrelate;

Input processing output storage (IPOS) cycle.

Input - processing - output - storage

Data is input to the computer —-- data is processed into information —-- information is
output to the user in various forms —- data or information is stored for a short or long
time.

7. evaluate the relative merits of cloud storage and local storage

Definition of cloud and local storage.Assessment criteria: capacity, cost,accessibility;
security issues.
Local storage allows quick access and large file processing, providing faster data
access and processing than cloud storage.