1. How Computers Work

2. A computer is a machine f or the storage and processing of information. Computers consist of hardware (what you can touch) and software (what you can’t). Today we are going to cover computer hardware. A computer is a machine f or the storage and processing of information. Computers consist of hardware (what you can touch) and software (what you can’t). Today we are going to cover computer hardware.

3. Input Device - Keyboard, mouse, network card, and any other device which feeds data from the outside world to the computer.

4. Output Device - Printer, monitor, speakers, network card, and any other device which allows the computer to feed data to the outside world.

5. Central Processing Unit (CPU) - Computer component that executes commands. The speed of a CPU is measured in Hertz (instructions per second). Today, processors are so fast that they are typically measured in Gigahertz (GHz) or billions of Hertz.

6. Hard Drive (HDD) - the long-term memory of a computer. A hard drive holds all of a computer's data, and stores data after the computer is turned off. Hard drives are measured in bytes, today typically in Gigabytes (GB) or billions of bytes.

7. Random Access Memory (RAM) - short-term memory of a computer. RAM holds data concerning the things a computer is currently engaged in: a program it’s running, documents being edited, images being displayed, etc. RAM is measured in bytes, today typically in Megabytes (MB, millions of bytes) and Gigabytes (GB, billions of bytes).

8. Motherboard - the circuit board that all the internal components of a computer are seated on. It provides connections between the components of the computer.

9. Bus - internal data pathways inside the computer that allow the different parts to communicate with each other.

10. Simple Example of Interaction

11. CPU Bus Input / output devices Input/output devices RAM HDD

12. 1.Program is read from hard drive

13. 2. Program is loaded into RAM Data travels along the system bus to RAM

14. 3. Processor runs the program Data travels along system bus from RAM to CPU

15. 4. Program is running. Data is read and written to the hard drive and RAM. Data is sent to and to output devices.

16. 5. Program executes, etc. Chug-a-lug