ICT Notes

HARDWARE &
SOFTWARE
• All ICT systems consists of two main parts:

– Hardware

– Software
Hardware

• Hardware means those parts of the computer you can

touch.

• This means that they are components such as;

– Printer
– Keyboards
– Memory
– Storage devices etc.

• Even the storage media is classed as hardware.

Software

• Software means the programs that supply the

instructions to the hardware to tell it what to do.

– “the actual programs consisting of instructions that

allow the hardware to do a useful job”.

• For example;

– Operating system
• MS Windows, Apple Mac, Red Hat etc.

– Application Software
• MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc.
Examples of Computer Hardware

• Hardware consists of the physical components of an

ICT system.
– Keyboard
– Monitor
– Processor
– Speakers
– Mouse
– Fixed hard disks
– ROM/RAM
– Printer
– Web cam
Examples of Computer Software

• The software is the set of instructions that tells the

computer hardware what to do.

• Computer software is written in a computer language

and there are quite a few different ones.

• Computer hardware is useless without software.

• There are two main types:

– Operating Systems
– Applications Software
Examples of Computer Software

• Operating systems
• Word-processing package
• Presentation package
• Spreadsheet package
• Web browser
• Database
• CAD
• Web design package
• Photo editing package
Main components of General-Purpose Computer
• The main components of a general-purpose computer
are:

– Input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc)

– Output devices (printer, monitor, speakers, etc)

– Secondary storage devices (DVD-R, Hard disks, etc)

– Processor and Internal memory devices

• The Processor and Internal memory devices include
the;

– Central Processing Unit (CPU),

– Read Only Memory (ROM),

– Random Access Memory (RAM)

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• The CPU, often the Processor, is the brain of the

computer;

– and it consists of millions of tiny circuits on a silicon

chip.
• CPU functions:

– The CPU controls the step-by-step running of the

computer system

– It does all the calculations and

– Perform all the logical operations and

– Deals with the storage of data and programs in

memory.
Internal Memory (ROM / RAM)

• There are two types of memory called ROM & RAM.

• Both these two types of memory are stored on chips

and are available immediately to the CPU.

• Memory (i.e. ROM & RAM) is often called primary

storage.
ROM (Read Only Memory)

• ROM is the fast permanent memory used for holding

instructions needed to start up the computer.

• ROM is:

– Held on a computer chip.

– Called non-volatile memory because it does not lose

its contents when the power is turned off.
– Used to hold instructions to start the computer, which
are called the boot program or BIOS (Basic Input/Out
System).

• It is the job BIOS to find out which devices are connected to

the computer when it is first switched on and also loads the
operating system.

– ROM is used to store data that cannot be altered by

the user.
RAM (Random Access Memory)

• RAM is a fast temporary memory where programs and

data are stored only when the power is supplied.

• RAM is:
– Held on a computer chip

– Called volatile memory because the contents

disappear when the power is turned off.

– Can be written to and read from

– Can be altered by the user

– Holds the software currently in use by the user

RAM
The Importance of ROM & RAM

• Having a large amount of ROM and RAM in a

computer is important, because having more memory
means:

– Applications run faster on their own

– More applications are able to run at the same time

– Users are able to move quickly between applications.

Input devices

• These are used to get raw data into the computer ready
for processing by the CPU.

• Some input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch

screen, microphone, etc are manual and need to be
operated by a human.

• Other are automatic and once they are set up they can
be left to input the data on their own.

– These include optical mark readers, optical character

readers, etc.
Output devices

• Once the raw data has been processed it becomes

information and this information needs to be output
from the computer using an output device.

• Output devices include monitors/screens, printers,

speakers, plotters, etc.
Backing Storage

• Secondary storage devices use removable media.

• Secondary/backing storage is used for the storage of

programs and data that are not needed instantly by the
computer.

• It is also used for long-term storage of programs and

data as well as for backup copies in case the original
data is lost.
• Secondary/backing storage media includes

– portable hard disks,

– magnetic tape,
– memory sticks,
– flash memory cards, and
– optical disks such as CD and DVD.