Computer Basics

IS 300 Management Information Systems

College of Business Administration, CSULB

Computer System and How it Works

Microcomputers
Desktop PCs
Laptop and Notebook Computers
Netbooks
Tablet Computers

Computer Hardware
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Primary Storage
Secondary Storage
Input Technologies
Output Technologies
Communication Technologies

Hardware: Input, Processing, Output, and Storage

Computer Software
System software
Application software
Device firmware (semi-permanent software thats
tied more directly to the hardware)

Computer with Applications Loaded

Input Devices
Keyboards
Mouse
Touch Screen
Touchpad
Stylus pen
Joystick
Scanner
Web Camera
Microphone
Optical Character Recognition
Sensors

Output Devices
Video displays
Video projectors
Printers and plotters
Speakers

Primary Storage
Random Access Memory (RAM) or main memory
To store data or instructions to be processed.
To store the results after instructions are executed.

When power is shut off, the contents are lost, so it

is called volatile memory.

Memory Swapping
Memory swapping occurs when there is a request to
the operating system to store data in memory and the
data will not fit because there is not enough free
memory to store the requested data.
In this case, the operating system will have to remove
something to make space.
Little swapping occurs when:
Your computer has a very large main memory.
You use only one or a few programs at a time.
You use small files.

* What happens when memory swapping occurs too often?

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Memory Swapping (Contd.)

You may have a serious problem if:
Your computer has a small memory capacity.
You need to use many programs or process many large data
files.

If your computer is constantly swapping files, adding

more main memory will substantially improve your
computers performance.
In truth, memory is cheap and is often the best way
to get more performance out of a computer.
Your operating system has tools and utilities that
measure main memory utilization

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Secondary Storage
Magnetic Tape
Magnetic Discs (or Hard Disk Drives)
Flash Memory / Solid State Drives (SSD)
Optical Storage Devices
* These are nonvolatile as they maintaining contents
without power.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The CPU is a microprocessor that reads instructions
and data from memory via the data bus, and carries
out the instructions.
It performs the basic arithmetical, logical, and
input/output operations of a computer system.
Inputs usually come into the CPU from random access
memory (RAM)
The maximum speed at which it transfers data is
determined by the speed of main memory, and the
speed and width of the data bus.
A bus that is 16 bits wide can carry 16 bits at a time;
one that is 64 bits wide can carry 64 bits at a time.

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Central Processing Unit (contd.)

Because the data transfer rate depends on both the
width of the data bus and the speed of main
memory, another way to speed up the throughput of
the computer is to obtain faster memory called cache
memory for most frequently accessed data.
The capacity of cache memory is usually less than
RAM because it is much more expensive.
Typically, the CPU stores intermediate results and the
most frequently used computer instructions in the
cache.

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PC Components / Cost Compared

Year

Chip

RAM

Hard Drive

Monitor

Cost

1997

Pentium II

64 MB

4 GB

17-inch

$4,000

2007

Dual-core

1 GB

250 GB

19-inch

$1,700

2013

Quad-core

16 GB

2 TB

27-inch

$1,700

Binary Concepts and Digital Systems

Binary Concepts
Computers register information as the absence or
presence of an electric charge
Since there are only two options (or two states), on
or off, the computer likewise can only distinguish
two different numbers, one for on, and zero for off

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Binary Concepts (contd.)

Because it only reads two numbers 0-1 (instead of 09 like we do in the decimal system), the computer
needs its own numbering system
It uses binary coding, or the creation of codes using
strings of 0 and 1, to represent everything
(alphanumeric symbols, voice, image, audio & video)
Binary code is a language made up of strings of these
1 and 0

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Binary Concepts (contd.)

Each zero or one in the binary code is called a binary
digit, or bit
The binary system is based on powers of two (the
decimal number system we use in everyday life is based
on the power of 10)
For example,11 in binary system is equivalent to 3 in
decimal system, and 100 in binary format is equivalent
to 8.
Bit: digit in a binary number (0 or 1)

1 is a 1-bit number (=1 in base 10)

10 is a 2-bit number (=2 in base 10)

111 is a 3-bit number (=7 in base 10)

10011001 is an 8-bit number (=153 in base 10)

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Binary Concepts (contd.)

1byte=8 bits
1KB (Kilobyte)=1024 bytes
1MB (Megabyte)=1024 KB
1GB (Gigabyte)=1024 MB
1TB (Terabyte)=1000GB
1PB (Petabyte)=1000TB

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Analog vs. Digital System

Analog system
Continuous (non discrete)
Analog system is natural and everywhere (data,
voice, image, and video)
Digital system
Discrete
Digital system is not friendly but efficient
Binary system is a special case of digital system
(which may have more than two distinct states)
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Converting Analog to Digital

If it is not friendly, why go digital?
To take advantage of computers processing power
How do we do it?
Digitize message, voice, image, and video by
representing each alphanumeric symbol, sound
and color by using a number of binary digits

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Converting Analog to Digital (Contd.)

Most natural forms of information (pictures,
sounds) are in analog form--continuous values
E.g.: Color: GRAY . But how GRAY is it?
No precise way in analog world to determine this perfectly
G G G G

Computers: designed to store and process (and

transmit) discrete, on/off signals
So with digital computers, well have to change
imprecise analog signals into precise digital signals
That process is called sampling or digitizing
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Converting Analog to Digital (Contd.)

Representing Data / Message
We use keyboard to enter data / message (a
sequence of alphanumeric symbols)
A number of binary digits will be assigned to each
alphanumeric symbol
The message can be saved as a computer file in
binary format

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Converting Analog to Digital (Contd.)

Digitizing Images
Break image up into small units
More units means more detail
Units called pixels
Use photocell to read each unit, assign value

More pixels=better quality

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Analog Data
Numbers
Text

Process /
Transmission

Input

12 + 8 = 20
Hello!

00001100
00001000
--------------00010100

20

01001000

Hello!

0010000000000000000
0100000000000001001
0110000011000011011
0111111111111001111
1111111111111011111
1111111111100011111

Images

Time

pitch or
volume

Sound
8905

000001000 000001001 000010100

Video

Output

00101010111
11010101010
01010101010
11110100011
00101011011

00101010111
11010101010
01010101010
11110100011
00101011011

00101010111
11010101010
01010101010
11110100011
00101011011

00101010111
11010101010
01010101010
11110100011
00101011011

00101010111
11010101010
01010101010
11110100011
00101011011

Digital Transmission
Speed of light dramatically extends reach
Sound waves: ~670 mph
Light, electricity or radio wave: ~186,000 mps

How do we use electromagnetic or optical signals

to represent and transmit digital data (text, voice,
image and video)?

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Digital Transmission (Contd.)

Uses electromagnetic or optical signals to transmit
digital data
Electromagnetic / optical signals have a few discrete
states
Binary digits can be represented as voltage pulses or
various waves (analog)
The presence of light can be interpreted as 1 and the
absence as 0

Digital transmission offers a number of advantages

(fast, quality, efficient, secure)
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Digitization/Encoding and Digital Signaling

Analog Data
Data must be
Binary
converted to binary
Encoding
(Input Device)
Binary Data
01101010

Modulation
Bits must be covered into signals (Signaling)
(voltage changes, etc.).

Voltage change, etc.

Digital Signals and Decoding (at the receiving end)

Incoming digital signals

Signals are converted

to binary
Demodulation
Binary Data
01101010

Decoding
(Output)

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Analog Data

Creating, Sending and Receiving Messages:

An Example
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Input (Notepad/Paint)
Binary data
Main memory
Display and secondary storage
Digital signals (transmission over circuit)
Binary data
Main memory
Display and secondary storage

What Have We Learned?