Fundamentals of Computers

Part 1(1 mark questions)

1.The mechanical devices that make up the computer are called............ Ans. Hardware. 2. ................ is a set of electronic instructions consisting of complex codes that make up the computer perform tasks. Ans. Software. 3. ............... is the brain of computer that carries out instruction that come from user or software. Ans. Processor. 4.The ............. is a rigid rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects the processor to other hardware. Ans. Motherboard. 5.The most common type of memory is...................... Ans. Random Access Memory. 6.Any computer is controlled by............... Ans. Instructions. 7. .......................... are ideal for handling large and highly complex problems that require extreme calculating power. 1

Ans. Supercomputers. 8. ......................... are built to process huge amount of data. Ans. Super computers. 9. ........................ Computers are used in large organizations such as insurance companies and banks, where many people frequently need to use the same data. Ans. Mainframe. 10. ............offers secured transactions over internet. Ans. Mainframe. 11. ........... Computers are commonly used as servers in network environments. Ans. Mini computers. 12. ..............computers are used by scientists, engineers, graphic artists, animators and programmers. Ans. Workstations. 13. ..................... computers work on alternating current or special batteries. Ans. Laptop. 14. .................... Computers are computing devices small enough to fit in your hand. Ans. Handheld. 15. ................ is used as pointing devices to select commands. Ans. Stylus. 2

16................. are used in environment where dirt or weather would render keyboard and mouse useless. Ans. Touch screen. 17................ it creates an image by pressing an ink ribbon against paper using pins or hammers to shape the image. Ans. Impact printers. 18. in dot matrix printers, speed is measured in ............... Ans. CPS (character per second) 19. ................ manages the way information is stored and retrieved from disks. Ans. Operating system. 20. The coloured area on the screen is called .............. Ans. Desktop. 21. ................. are pictures that represents the parts of the computer you work with. Ans. Icons. 22. ................is an area at the bottom of the screen whose purpose is to display the buttons for the programs you are running. Ans. Taskbar. 23. .................. displays the title. Ans. Title bar. 24. The window that is currently in use is called ............ Ans. Active window. 3

25. The special purpose windows that appear when we need to tell a program what to do next is called ................. Ans. Dialog box.

Part 2( 2 mark questions)

1. List the characteristics of computers. Ans. A computer is an electronic device used to process data, converting the data into information that is useful to people. A complete computer system consists of 4 parts: hardware, software people and data. 2. What are optical input devices? Ans. The tools such as Bar code reader and Image scanners and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) fall under the category of optical input devices. A bar code reader converts a barcode which is a pattern of printed bar on products into a code the computer can understand. An image scanner converts any printed image into electronic form by shining light on to the image. An optical character recognition software is used to translate the image into edible text. 3. Define operating system. Ans. An operating system is a software program that provides the user with tools to interact with the PC. 4. What are functions of operating system? 4

Ans. it provides the user interface. -it loads the program into computers memory for use. - it coordinates how the program work with CPU,RAM and other hardware and software. - it manages the way information is stored and retrieved from disks. 5. Define multitasking operating system. Ans. Multitasking operating system is an operating system that allows multiple users to use the programs that are simultaneously running on a single network server called terminal server. 6. Define processor. Ans. The processor is the brain the computer that carries out instructions that come from the user or software. It consists of one or more microprocessor. 7. Differentiate between memory and storage. Ans. MEMORY Data used by the program is loaded into the memory. E.g. Random Access Memory. STORAGE The purpose of storage is to hold data. E.g. Compact Disk, Floppy Disk

8. What are the different categories of computers? Ans. There are five different categories of computers. Supercomputers 5

Mainframe computers Mini or Mid range computers Workstations Micro computers or Personal computers.

9. What are the different categories of personal computers? Ans. The different categories of personal computers are: Desktop computers Laptop computers or Notebook computers Network computers 10. What are audio visual inputs? Ans. Microphones and Speech recognition come under the category of audio visual inputs. Microphones are used for audio conferences over internet. Speech recognition is capability of translating voice to text. 11. What is the purpose of digital camera? Ans. Digital cameras digitize the image, compress it and store it in memory card or special disk. They are portable. 12. What are the different categories of monitors? Ans. A monitor can be categorized by the way they display colours into following categories: Monochrome monitors. Gray scale monitors. Colour monitors. 13. Compare CRT monitors and Flat Panel monitors. 6

14. What are the different categories of printers? Ans. Printers are classified into two: Impact printers- it creates an image by pressing an ink ribbon against paper using pins or hammers to shape the image.e.g Dot matrix printers Non impact printers- it uses other means to create images. E.g Laser printers and Inkjet printers. 15. Define dot matrix printers. Ans. Dot matrix printers are commonly used in workplaces where physical impact with the paper is important such as when the printer is printing to carbon copy or pressure-sensitive forms. 16. Define desktop. Ans. The coloured area seen on the screen is called the desktop. Desktop is the background where we have the graphical tools and within which we can store our work. 17. Define icons. Ans. Icons are the pictures that represent the parts of the computer we work with.... files, folders etc..... 18. Define taskbar. Ans. The taskbar is an area at the bottom of the screen whose purpose is to display the buttons for the programs we are running. 19. Define window. Ans. A running program may take up the whole screen or it may appear in the rectangular frame called a window. 7

20.Define clipboard. Ans. The clipboard is a temporary holding space for the data that is being copied or moved. 21. Define task switching. Ans. The process of moving from one open window to another is called task switching. 22. Define command line interface. Ans. Some of the older operating systems and some current versions of UNIX and LINUX feature a command line interface, which uses type written commands rather than graphical objects-to execute tasks. 23. Define multitasking. Ans.Multitasking means being able to perform two or more procedures simultaneously. It refers to the capability to load multiple programs into memory. 24. Define hierarchical file system. Ans. Hierarchical file system is a structured file system in which a folder can contain other files and folders. 25. Define driver. Ans. The drivers allow the operating system and other programs to activate and use the hardware device.

Part 3(14 marks)

1. Explain in detail Evolution of computers. 2. Explain organisation of modern digital computers. 8

3. Explain in detail features of Graphical user interface. 4. Explain basic of operating system and any 2 types of operating system.