ASHFORD L.

THOM CHEMISTRY MAJOR UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

CARIBBEAN SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SECTION 1 FUNDAMENTALS OF HARDWARE AND

SOFTWARE
PART A
Importance of Information Technology
Information technology represents the storage, protection, processing,
securing, transmitting, receiving and retrieval of information. The
advancement of the IT sector has resulted in the;
Automated administration of entire systems
Easy production and manipulation of sensitive information
Cultural development and communication
Streaming of business processes and timely upgradation
Reduction in communication services costs
Improvement in the delivery of healthcare and other services
Reduction of criminal enterprises and immigration issues
What is a Computer?
A computer is an electronic device that can accept data, process the data
and produce results, and store the results for future use.
Data and Information
Computer process data into information. Data is a collection of unprocessed
items, which can include text, number, images, audio, and video.
Information conveys meaning and is useful to people, it is the output after
data is processed.
Components of a Computers
A computer contains many electric, electronic, and mechanical components
known as hardware (It is the physical components of the computer). These
components include input devices, output devices, a system unit
(processing), storage devices, and communication devices.
Functions of the Major Hardware Components
- Central Processing Unit
The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is a piece of hardware
that carries out the instructions of a computer program. The CPU is like
the brains of the computer - every instruction, no matter how simple,
has to go through the CPU. The CPU is sometimes also referred to as
the central processor unit, or processor for short. Consists of the CU
and ALU
Control Unit
Arithmetic and Logic Unit
- Main Memory/ Immediate access storage

ASHFORD L. THOM CHEMISTRY MAJOR UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

CARIBBEAN SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Secondary Storage
Input/Output devices