Computer Hardware Introduction
Computer System Components Input Keyboard, Mouse, Camera, Touch Pad Processing CPU Output Monitor, Printer Storage Floppy, Hard Drive, CD, DVD, Flash Drive
Generations Gen. Hardware Software 1st Vacuum Tubes machine language 2nd Transistors Assembly language 3rd Integrated Chip (IC) Higher level languages, Application Programs 4th VLSI (Very Large Scale ICs) Object oriented programming, natural language processing
The Binary System Bits – Binary digits, or 0,1. Bytes (8 bits) – ASCII, EBCDIC One byte is the space needed to store one character, like the letter “A”. Kilobyte (KB) – 1000 (actually, 1024) Megabyte (MB) – 1,000,000 Gigabyte (GB) – 1,000,000,000 Terabyte (TB) – 1,000,000,000,000
Processing – CPU components Control Unit Clock cycle regulates all operations Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU) Add Gates – Half adder, full adder AND/OR/NOT gates Memory RAM – Static Dynamic ROM
Output Video Printers - Ink Jet, Laser Sound Controlling Devices (e.g. antilock brakes)
Storage Hard Drive 1 Terabyte and upwards today As low as 256 KB less than 30 years ago. (that is more than a million times greater capacity today!) CD-ROM 600-700 MB DVD-ROM 4 GB - Red Laser, 27 GB- Blue Laser Flash Drives From 4 GB up to 100+ GB, including high end of 1 TB.
Related Fields of Study Computer Science Software development Computer Engineering Hardware design and development Computer Information Systems Management of technology in organizations.