Computer Parts

Two Basic Parts Hardware & Software

Computing Systems Computers have two kinds of components: Hardware, consisting of its physical devices (CPU, memory, bus, storage devices,...) Software, consisting of the programs it has (Operating system, applications, utilities,...)

What is Hardware? Hardware is all the elements or pieces that make up the of physical components of the computer Consider it the physical machine. Hardware is anything that you can touch

Key Hardware Components The parts of the computer can be classified into 3 sections CPU Memory Peripherals & Connectors

Hardware: CPU CPU - Central Processing Unit CPU is often called the brain of the computer because that is where it does all the thinking ­Receives program instructions ­Performs arithmetic and logical operations ­Controls other computer components Consists of millions of transistors on a single microchip that plug into the motherboard Speed of CPU is measured in Hertz – number of cycles/second Today speed is measured in gigahertz (GHz) (billions of cycles per second

Memory There are three main types of memory: 1. Cache Memory 2. Random Access Memory (RAM) 3. Persistent Storage (ROM) Memory is where all the information is stored. Without information the computer would be useless.

Hardware: Cache Cache Memory Temporary memory accessed by the CPU Very fast used at initial startup of computer Stores data and instructions Data is then sent to the other types of memory Stores frequently used instructions and data but quite small Temporary – is not kept once the computer is shut down

Hardware: RAM Random Access Memory (RAM) Stores instructions and data Temporary memory – not kept once the computer is shut down Size is dependent upon the computer The more RAM memory the faster the computer. It is fast, but volatile... analogous to a person’s short-term memory.

Hardware: ROM Permanent Memory – Read Only Memory (ROM) Stores data forever on you Hard-drive or data stick. Older computers store information on magnetic or optical media.PermanyStable storage using magnetic or optical media. Called Read Only Memory because it reads files and saves them (permanently) Analogous to a person’s long-term memory. Slower to access than RAM Cannot execute instructions

Basic Units of Memory ­1 bit (0 or 1) ­1 byte normally consists of 8 bits Is the storage for one character ­2 10 bytes =1024 bytes = 1 kiloByte (kB) ­1024 KB = 1 MegaByte (MB) ­1024 MB = 1 GigaByte (GB) ­Many people approximate in steps of 1000, not 1024 Example: a 20KB file actually has 20,480 bytes, not 20,000 bytes

Bits & Bytes A bit is a 1 or a 0 They are stored in a memory address in groups of eight 8 bits = 1 byte which is the storage of one character one byte, is the smallest unit of information that a computer can process. ­2 10 bytes =1024 bytes = 1 kiloByte (kB) ­1024 KB = 1 MegaByte (MB) ­1024 MB = 1 GigaByte (GB) ­Many people approximate in steps of 1000, not 1024 There are different data types for each of the many forms of data. The data type you choose will affect not only the form in which the data is stored, but also the amount of memory required to store the data.

1-13 Hardware: Peripherals & Connectors Peripherals: Input & Output Devices Input ­Keyboard, mouse, digital pen, modem, wireless Internet connection, touch screen, joy sticks, and more Output ­Monitor, printer, speakers, modem, wireless Internet connection, and more

Hardware: Peripherals & Connectors Connector - The Bus: Connects CPU to other hardware devices. Analogous to a person’s spinal cord. Speed measured in megahertz (like the CPU), but typically much slower than the CPU... The bottleneck in most of today’s PCs.

Hardware: How it Works Putting the pieces together: CPU Bus RAM Memory ROM Memory cache Programs are stored (long-term) in secondary memory, and loaded into main memory to run, from which the CPU retrieves and executes their statements.

What is Software? Software is information that can be stored on the computers You cannot touch software You can only see the result of the information on an output device like a monitor Software is divided into two main categories System Software Application Software

System Software System software is the software that allows you to run the computer It controls and maintains the hardware. It is the interface between the hardware and the programs you use on the computer Types of system software: ­Operating system ­Networking system ­Programming language software ­Web site server ­Data backup Examples of system software: ­Linux, Windows, MacOS

Software: Operating System Operating System (OS) The OS acts as the “manager” of the computer system, making sure that each hardware device interacts with the others. It enables the computer to communicate with software applications like Microsoft Word and you the user. Examples: MacOS, Windows, Linux

Application Software Application software is all the software that allows you to work or play on the computer It is because of this software that we have to use computers You will know this type of software as “program” Types of programs that are commonly used: ­Word processors and spreadsheets (Word, Excel) ­Game programs ­Web browsers ­Photo Editors ­ ­Graphics and Drawing

Networking and Clouds Can you imagine a world without Google? Today computers are all connected together A network is a collection of computers that can talk to each other This world-wide collection of networks is called the Internet The internet makes use of two key pieces of application software: and WWW

Programming Languages Software is a set of instructions How are instructions given to computers? ­With programming languages There are three types of languages 1.Machine Languages Consists only of sequences of 0s and 1s example: Assembly Languages symbolic representation of machine language example: ADD A,B 3.High-level Languages contains English words and phrases and algebraic expressions examples of high level languages: Python, Java, C++, VisualBasic, Fortran