Elements of

Computer
 Elements of Computer
Computers are deeply ingrained in
every part of our lives. It has been
used at different sectors in our
society. With this, there is a need to
understand the elements of computers
and how it works. This lesson will cover
all necessary things you need to know
about elements of a computer.
 ELEMENTS

• HARDWARE
• SOFTWARE
• DATA
• PEOPLEWARE
 Hardware
• It includes all physical devices and
materials in a computer system.
 Hardware
➢ Computer systems
➢ Computer peripherals
➢ Telecommunications
networks
 Hardware Components

✓ Input devices
✓ Output devices
✓ Storage devices
✓ The Central Processing Unit
 Input devices
• These are designed for data entry
operations.
• Translate data into a form that the
computer can process.
• They read and transmit data to the main
memory of the computer.
• It allows direct human or machine
communications while other require data
to be recorded on an input medium.
Keyboard versus Direct Entry
Keyboard entry devices ~ input comes
by typing a “source document” into
the computer.
Direct entry devices ~ input comes in
directly in machine-readable form, no
keyboard.
 Keyboard
• The most widely used device for
entering data and text into computer
systems.
• It is a peripheral modelled after the
typewriter keyboard. Keyboards are
designed for the input of text and
characters, and also to control the
operation of the computer.
Keyboard
 Electronic Mouse
• A mouse is an input device used to
move cursor on the screen, as well as
to issue commands and make icon and
menu selections.
• It is called a mouse primarily because the
cord on early models resembled the
rodent's tail, and also because the motion
of the pointer on the screen can be mouse
like…
Computer Mouse
 Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device
consisting of a ball housed in a socket
containing sensors to detect rotation
of the ball about two axes—like an
upside-down mouse, but with the ball
sticking out more. The user rolls the
ball with their thumb, fingers, or the
palm of their hand to move a cursor.
trackball
 Joystick
• These are often used to control
games, and usually have one or more
push-buttons whose state can also be
read by the computer.
• They look like a small gear shift level
set in a box.
joystick
 Touch Sensitive Screen
• Are devices that allow you to use a
computer by touching the surface of
its video display screen.
• Such screen emit a grid of infrared
beams, sound waves, or a slight
electric current, which is broken
when the screen is touched.
Touch Sensitive Screen
 Light pen
• A light pen is a device similar to a
touch screen, but is facilitated by
use of a special light sensitive pen
instead of the finger. The advantage
of using a pen is that more accurate
screen input is possible than with a
touch screen.
Light pen
 Graphics tablet
• A graphics or digitizing tablet
consists of a tablet connected by a
wire to a stylus or puck. A stylus is a
pen-like device with which the user
"sketches" an image.
• Digitizing tablets are used primarily
in design and engineering.
Digitizing Tablet
 Voice Recognition
• It converts a person's speech into digital
code by comparing the electrical patterns
produced by the speaker's voice with a set
of prerecorded patterns stored in the
computer.
• Operators train the system to recognize
their voices by repeating each word in the
vocabulary about ten times.
Voice-Recognition Technology
 Scanner
• Converts text, drawings, and photographs
into digital form that can be stored in a
computer system and then manipulated,
output, or sent via modem to another
computer. The system scans each image--
color or black and white--with light and
breaks the image into light and dark dots
or color dots, which are then converted to
digital code.
Image Scanners
 Bar-code reader
• Photoelectric scanners that translate
the bar-code symbols into digital
code.
• Another scanning device reads bar
codes, the vertical zebra-striped
marks you see on most manufactured
retail products.
Bar-code Readers
 Optical Character
Recognition
• Uses a device that reads preprinted
characters in a particular font (typeface
design) and converts them to digital code.
• Examples of the use of OCR characters
are utility bills and price tags on
department-store merchandise, billing
operations of credit card companies, banks
and oil.
Optical Character Recognition
 Mark-Recognition & Character-
Recognition Devices
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
(MICR)
• It reads the strange-looking numbers
printed at the bottom of checks.
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
• It uses a device that reads pencil marks
and converts them into computer-usable
form.
 Magnetic Stripe
• A form of magnetic data entry that
helps computer reads credit cards.
The dark magnetic stripe on the back
of the credit and debit cards is the
same iron oxide coating as on
magnetic tape.
 Other Input devices

• Digital camera, PC camera, Web cam

• Sensor
• Human Biology systems
 Output devices
• The component of computer system that
gives out to the user the results of the
processed data.
• The Information is transmitted from the
CPU to this output device, where is then
printed or recorded.
 Softcopy versus Hardcopy
Softcopy ~ data that is shown on a display
screen or is in audio or voice form. This
kind of output is not tangible; it cannot be
touched.
Hardcopy ~ Printed output. The principal
examples are printouts, whether text or
graphics, from printers.
 Display Screens
• also variously called monitors, CRTs,
or simply screens--are output devices
that show programming instructions
and data as they are being input and
information after it is processed.
Types of Display Screen

• A CRT or cathode-ray tube

• Flat-panel displays
 Types of Display Screen
• A CRT for cathode-ray
tube, is a vacuum tube used
as a display screen in a
computer or video display
terminal.
Types of Display Screen
• Flat-panel displays are made
up of two plates of glass with a
substance in between them,
which is activated in different
ways.
 Flat Panel Display
Technology
• Liquid crystal display (LCD).
• Plasma display
• Electroluminescent
• Gas-plasma display
Flat-panel displays
 Screen Clarity
• Whether CRT or flat-panel
display, screen clarity depends
on three qualities: resolution, dot
pitch, and refresh rate.
 Resolution
• The image sharpness of a display
screen is called its resolution;
the more pixels there are per
square inch, the finer the level
of detail attained.
 Dot Pitch
• Is the amount of space between
the centers of adjacent pixels;
the closer the dots, the crisper
the image.
 Refresh rate
• is the number of times per
second that the pixels are
recharged so that their glow
remains bright.
 Printer
• An output device that prints
characters, symbols, and perhaps
graphics on paper or another
hardcopy medium.
 Classification
• According to the amount of information
printed at a time.
– Character serial printer
– Line printer
– Page printer
• According to operation
– Impact
– Non-impact
• According to style
 Examples of Printer
• Impact printers can produce a page, a line,
or a character at a time. Large computers
use line printers. The main drawback to
line printers is that they can produce only
text--no graphics.
– A dot-matrix printer contains a print head of
small pins, which strike an inked ribbon against
paper, forming characters or images.
Dot Matrix Printer
 Examples of Printer
• Non-impact printers form characters
and images without making direct
physical contact between printing
mechanism and paper.
• Two types of non-impact printers
often used with microcomputers are
laser printers and ink-jet printers.
 Types of Non-Impact
• Laser printer uses the principle of
dot-matrix printers of creating
images with dots. These images are
created on a drum, treated with a
magnetically charged ink-like toner
(powder), and then transferred from
drum to paper.
 Types of Non-Impact
• Ink-jet printers spray small,
electrically charged droplets of ink
from four nozzles through holes in a
matrix at high speed onto paper.
• Thermal printers use colored waxes
and heat to produce images by
burning dots onto special paper.
Examples of Printers
 Plotter
• Is like a printer, produces hard-copy
output. Plotters, which produce high-
quality color graphics, are usually
categorized by whether they use
pens or electrostatic charges to
create images.
• They are used in applications such as
architecture and engineering.
Plotter
 Audio Speaker
• Audio speaker is a second type of soft
copy. New computer systems have such
good audio systems that it is possible to
listen to music while you work, have the
computer tell you when the printer needs
paper, play games that include sound, or
compose music on the computer.
Audio Output/Speaker
 Storage Devices
Computer systems have two main
types of storage devices –
primary and secondary.
 Primary Storage
• memory, main memory, internal memory, or
RAM.
• working storage that holds (1) data for
processing, (2) instructions for processing
the data, (3) processed data that is
waiting to be sent to an output or
secondary storage device.
• temporary and volatile (contents are lost
when power is turned off).
 Capacity
• The amount of information that can
be stored on the medium.
Unit Description Approximate Size
1 bit 1 binary digit
1 nibble 4 bits
1 byte 8 bits 1 character
1 kilobyte 1,024 bytes ≈1/2 page, double spaced
1 megabyte 1,048,576 bytes ≈500,000 pages
1 million bytes
1 gigabyte 1,073,741,824 bytes ≈5 million pages
1 billion bytes
1 terabyte 1 trillion bytes ≈5 billion pages
 Primary Storage
Types of Primary Storage
• RAM (non-permanent)
– Programs and data can be stored here for the
computer’s use.
– Volatile: All information will be lost once the computer
shuts down.
• ROM (permanent)
– Contents do not change.

• CMOS (Complimentary MetalOxide Semiconductor)

– Special type of RAM, which uses less power than
normal.
 Secondary Storage
• Is use when there is a need to keep
information for later use. It can
store large amounts of data and
retain even when the computer is
turned off.
– Hard disk, Diskette, CD-ROM, Magnetic
tape
 The CPU
• Central Processing Unit ( CPU )
– Often referred to as the “brain” of
the computer.
– Responsible for controlling all
activities of the computer system.

Motherboard ~ The place where most

of the electronics including the CPU
are mounted.
 Major Components
1. Arithmetic and Logic Unit (Computations
performed)
Accumulator (Results of computations
kept here)
2. Control Unit (Has two locations where
numbers are kept)
Instruction Register (Instruction
placed here for analysis)
Program Counter (Which instruction
will be performed next?)
3. Instruction Decoding Unit (Decodes the
instruction)
 SOFTWARE
It includes all sets of information
processing instructions. This generic concept
of software includes not only the sets of
operating instructions called programs, which
direct and control computer hardware, but also
the sets of information processing instructions
needed by people, called procedures. So even
information systems that don’t use computers
have a software resource component.
 SOFTWARE RESOURCES
• Systems Software -enables the applications to
interact with the computer and manage its internal
resources. It consists of several programs, the most
important of which is the operating system or OS. The OS
is the master control program, which gives the user an
interactive control over the computer.

• Application Software -used to perform a general or

specific task, such as word processing.

• Procedures – which are operating instructions for the

people who will use an information system. Examples are
instructions on using a software package or user’s manual.
 DATA
Data is more than the raw material of
information systems. The concept of data
resources has been broadened by managers and
information systems professionals. They
realized that data constitute a valuable
organizational resource.
 FORMS OF DATA
❖ Alphanumeric data - composed of numbers and
alphabetical and other characters that describe business
transactions and other events and entities.
❖ Text Data, consisting of sentences and paragraphs used
in written communications,
❖ Image data such as graphic shapes and figures, and
❖ Audio data, the human voice and other sounds, are also
important forms of data.
 PEOPLEWARE
- are required for the operation of all information systems.
These people resources include end users and Information
system specialists.
 DATA PROCESSING

Input Process Output Storage

Have a nice day!
From
Mam Kat