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CHAPTER ONE: THE OVERVIEW OF COMPUTER BASICS
 Introduction
 Data vs. Information
 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
 Information Technology (IT)
 Sources of Information
1. Documentary Sources
2. Non- Documentary Sources
 Measurement of Information
 Characteristics of a Computer
 Limitations of a Computer

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Introduction
 Today’s world is an information rich world and it has
become a necessity for everyone to know about
computers.
 Purpose of this course is to introduce you about
computer systems and its fundamentals.
 Functionalities of a computer any digital computer
carries out five functions in gross terms:
o Takes data as input.
o Stores the data/instructions in its memory and can
use them when required.
o Process the data and convert it into useful
information.
o Output the information.
o Control all the above four steps.

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Cont.

 Definition:- Computer System is an electronic data

processing device which does the following:
o Accept and store an input data.
o Process the data input.
o And output the processed data in required format.

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Cont.
Data vs. Information
 The frequency of the use of the words data and
information are very high in our daily lives.
 Both data and information are types of knowledge or
something used to attain knowledge.
o Data is consists of the raw facts and figures that
are processed into information.
o Information is summarized/processed data that is
useful for decision-making.
Data Information
It is a collection of facts and figures. It is a collection of final results.
It is in an unorganized (raw) form. It is in an organized form.
It is not in directly useful form. It is in directly useful form.
It needs processing. It does not need any processing.
It is also termed as input. It is also termed as output.
It requires observations and recordings. It requires analysis.
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Cont.
What is Information?
 Information is organized or classified data so that it
has some meaningful values to the receiver.
 Information is the processed data on which decisions
and actions are based.
 For the decision to be meaningful, the processed data
must qualify for the following characteristics.
o Timely: Information should be available when
required.
o Accuracy: Information should be accurate.
o Completeness: Information should be complete.

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Cont.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
 ICT refers to technology that provides access to
information through telecommunications.
 It focuses primarily on communication technologies.
This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell
phones, and other communication media.
 ICT is a combination of Computers and
Communications Technologies that merges computing
with high-speed communication links so as to accept,
convert, store, protect, process, transmit and retrieve
information.
 ICT is about the combination of several important
industries dealing with computers, telephones, TV and
communication devices.

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Cont.
Components of ICT
1. Computer Technology: is a technology having
computers as a support of its application.
o Computer is a programmable, multiuse machine
that accepts data, process, into information that
can be used. E.g. Reports
2. Communication Technologies: is a technology consists
of electromagnetic devices and systems for
communicating over long distances carrying data,
sound, and video through the electronic media. E.g.
TV, radio etc

 Note: The whole purpose of both technologies to

produce and transmit usable information.

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Cont.
 Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools,
crafts, techniques, or systems, or methods of
organizations.
o Science is concerned with how and why things
happen.
o Technology focuses on making things happen.
 Now a days, technology is an integrated part of lives of human
beings. For example, the technology in communications such as
mobile phones helps us to connect with the other people easily.
 Information Technology (IT) refers to anything related
to computing technology, such as networking,
hardware, software, the Internet, or the people that
work with these technologies.
 IT is the study, design, development, implementation
support and/or management of any computer based
information systems.
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Cont.
Sources of Information
 Information is not something that we get readily
available. So information can be obtained from
different sources.
 In general the various sources of information are
classified into two categories.
1. Documentary Sources
2. Non- Documentary Sources
1. Documentary Sources - these are documented or
recorded sources of information in different forms.
We can categorized into three groups based on the
sequence they are available for public use. These are:
3. Primary Documentary Sources
4. Secondary Documentary Sources
5. Tertiary Documentary Sources
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Cont.
 That is the primary sources appear first followed by
secondary and finally by tertiary.
1. Primary Documentary Sources: are the first published
records of original research.
o It may also be new interpretation or application of
an old idea.
o In other words if, a document represents unfiltered
and original idea, it is a primary documentary
source of information.
o It constitutes the latest available information and is
difficult to use and get them.
E.g. New researches, periodicals, standards, etc.

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2. Secondary Documentary Sources: these are the
compiled forms of primary source of information.
o The original information in the primary sources is
modified, selected and reorganized to produce
secondary sources of information.
o Unlike the primary sources of information, a
secondary source of information contains filtered,
organized, and digested knowledge rather than
new knowledge.
o It is also very easy to use and get secondary source
than primary sources. Are always produced after
primary sources. E.g. Textbooks, Modules, Tutorials
etc.

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3. Tertiary Documentary Sources: are the refined or
distilled and collected forms of primary and secondary
sources of information.
o Tertiary sources are organized with the aim of
assisting the searcher of information in addition to
the use of primary and secondary sources.

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Cont.
2. Non-Documentary Sources: are sources of information,
which are not intentionally organized and documented
to serve a wide range of actual users.
o These sources provide information that the primary
and secondary sources do not address.
o Can generally be grouped into two.
1. Formal Non-Documentary Sources Information
2. Informal Non-Documentary Sources Information
1.Formal Non-Documentary Sources Information: include
professional societies, industries, and universities.
o User formally consults the formal non-documentary
sources to get the required information.
2.Informal Non-Documentary Sources: includes
conversation with friends, visitors professional, and
meetings. Are live sources that are important in the
process of exchange of information? 14
Cont.
Measurement of Information
 As computers are capable of storing large amounts of
information, it is useful to have a means of measuring
information.
 The smallest amount of binary digital information we
can have is a single value (i.e. either a 0 or a 1). This
is called a bit, or binary digit.
 In computers bits are stored in groups of 8, which are
referred to as a byte.
 Few higher storage Unit Description

units are following 1 byte 8 bits

Kilobyte (KB) 1KB = 1024 bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1MB = 1024 KB
Gigabyte (GB) 1GB = 1024 MB
Terabyte(TB) 1TB = 1024 GB 15
Cont.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER
 Computers are capable of performing highly complex
tasks, which human beings cannot perform efficiently.
 The following are the main characteristics of
computers, which make them so powerful:
1. HIGH SPEED
o Computer is a very fast device (amazing speed)
without any mistakes.
o The computer has units of speed in milliseconds
(10–3 seconds), microsecond (10–6 seconds),
nanosecond (10–9 seconds) & even the picosecond.
o It can perform millions of calculations in a few
seconds as compared to man who can spend many
months for doing the same task.
o The speed of computers is measured in Hertz (Hz)
cycles per second. 1 GHz is 1 billion Hz. 16
Cont.
2. ACCURACY
o A computer performs its task with great accuracy.
o The computer has performed calculations 100%
error free & perform all jobs with 100% accuracy.
o It never commits mistakes in processing the data.
o It produces errors when we enter inaccurate input,
i.e., Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO).
3. STORAGE CAPABILITY
o The computer has much more storage capacity than
human beings. It can store large amount of data.
o It can store any type of data such as images,
videos, text, audio and any other type.
o Modern computers can store many gigabytes of
information (remember that 1GB is equal to
approximately a billion bits).
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Cont.
4. DILIGENCE
o Unlike human beings, a computer is free from
monotony, tiredness and lack of concentration.
o It can work continuously without creating any error
and boredom.
o It can do repeated work with same speed and
accuracy.
5. VERSATILITY
o A computer is a very versatile machine.
o It is very flexible in performing the jobs to be done.
o This machine can be used to solve the problems
relating to various different fields.
o At one instant, it may be solving a complex
scientific problem and the very next moment it may
be playing a card game.
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Cont.
6. RELIABILITY
o A computer is a reliable machine.
o Modern electronic components have failure free
long lives.
o Computers are designed to make maintenance
easy.
7. AUTOMATION
o Computer is a automatic machine.
o Automation means ability to perform the task
automatically.
o Once a program is given to computer i.e stored in
computer memory, the program and instruction can
control the program execution without human
interaction.

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Cont.
8. POWER OF REMEMBRANCE
o The ability of refunding stored information.
9. REDUCTION IN PAPER WORK
o The use of computers for data processing in an
organization leads to reduction in paper work and
speeds up the process.
o As data in electronic files can be retrieved as and
when required, the problem of maintenance of
large number of files gets reduced.
10. REDUCTION IN COST
o Though the initial investment for installing a
computer is high but it substantially reduces the
cost of each of its transaction.

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Cont.
LIMITATIONS OF A COMPUTER
1. NO I.Q
o A computer is a machine and has no intelligence of
its own to perform any task.
o A computer can not take any decision on its own.
2. DEPENDENCY
o It can perform function as instructed by user. So it
is fully dependent on human being.
3. ENVIRONMENT
o The operating environment of computer should be
dust free and suitable to it.
4. NO FEELING
o Computer has no feeling or emotions.
o It cannot make Judgment based on feeling, taste,
experience and knowledge unlike a human being. 21
END OF CHAPTER- ONE

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