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Welcome! Computer 101 With Laura Crichton
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Associate of Applied Science Baker College Computer Programming Computer Enthusiast!!
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Agenda for Today: Computers What are they? Hardware Common types of computers—which is right for you? Operating Systems (OS) Programming Languages
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The computer Not a magic box Not the internet Made of hardware (not magic)
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Hardware?
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Hardware! Case PSU Motherboard CPU RAM Expansion cards Graphics Card Modem/Ethernet Fans/cooling Storage Devices Hard Drives USB CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Floppies (long gone)
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Input & Output Input What devices do we use to tell the computer what we want it to do? Output How does it give us information?
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Input & Output Devices Input Devices (Peripherals) Keyboard Mouse/Touchpad Touchscreen Joystick Microphone Image Scanner Webcam Output devices Monitor Display/screen Printer Headphones Speakers Plotter
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Communication The way that the hardware communicates and processes information is through various programming languages
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Desktop Systems Monitor Case Keyboard, Mouse Extras Speaker, printers, joysticks
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Desktop Considerations Advantages Easily upgradable components make it the best investment More USB ports Disadvantages Big Not very portable Can be noisy Can use a lot of power
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Laptops vs Netbooks Laptop = Notebook Larger screen size More powerful hardware Netbook Smaller screen size Smaller keyboard Slower processor Limited USB ports
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Laptop & Netbooks - Considerations Advantages Portable Allow for internet access anywhere there is a Wifi Connection Disadvantages Only a few components are upgradable RAM Hard drive Expensive to fix Prone to being dropped Might not have DVD player Might not have a numeric keypad
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Nettop = MiniPC or MicroPC Advantages Low power consumption Very quiet Price ($200-400) (not including monitor) Great for email Basic interneting Disadvantages Limited processing power
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Tablets Generally operated by touch/finger gestures 5”-10” size Generally Android operating system Ipad runs Mac (iOS7) Windows tablet
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Tablet Considerations Advantages Total portability— under a pound Very small—fit in any bag Loads of free apps Disadvantages Nearly impossible to upgrade hardware = disposable Surface subject to scratches Small amount of storage There are a lot of poor quality, cheap tablets out there
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CPU CPU – Central Processing Unit AMD vs Intel Number of Processors/Cores Parallel processing Intel i5 has 4 cores 3.6GHz ($180-$220) AMD Phenom has 6 cores, 4.1GHz ($139) Intel Xeon, 6 core, 2.6GHz ($649) (specialized for servers) Intel Xeon has 12 cores (not released yet) Measured in Hertz – speed Now measuring in GHz (Gigahertz) Many sites will show benchmarks, which measures performance. http://www.tomshardware.com/t/cpus/
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RAM – Random Access Memory Largely dictates how fast programs will load & how many programs can be running at the same time before things become very slow. Measured in Gigabytes (GB) - Capacity Also measured in speed (MHz) 2x4GB DDR3 1600 ($85)
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Storage Hard drive Capacity Measured in Gigabytes (GB) 1TB is ~ 1000 GB 3TB Western Digital ($135)
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There are many Operating Systems What operating systems do you know of? What versions are you familiar with?
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Operating systems Windows 3.0 (1990) Windows NT, Win 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8 Mac – now on version 10, called OS X Android – Used mainly on phones & tablets Linux distributions – Open source Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix, Chromium, Tin Hat
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Why is an operating system important Provides a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for how you interact with your device.
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Finding a balance CostValue CPU (speed, type) RAM (speed, amount (GB)) Hard Drive (space, GB or TB) Software & OS Battery (Laptops/netbooks) Extended Warranty? Refurbished? Often include manufacturers warranty
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Complex: Assembly language: 0x32c4 : addil 0,dp 0x32c8 : ldw 0x22c(sr0,r1),r26 0x32cc : ldil 0x3000,r31 0x32d0 : ble 0x3f8(sr4,r31) 0x32d4 : ldo 0(r31),rp 0x32d8 : addil -0x800,dp 0x32dc : ldo 0x588(r1),r26 0x32e0 : ldil 0x3000,r31
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Easier: Code written in C: printf("hello, world");
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6 levels of abstraction Level 0 – All data travels in 1’s and 0’s—gate on or off, open or closed. Level 1 – Control – Microcode or Hardwired Level 2 – Machine language Level 3 – System software – Operating system Level 4 - Assembly language Level 5 – C++, Java, Fortran Level 6 – Executable programs, where we interact with the programs with our devices in our native language.
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File Structures Dos/Linux/Mac –all must use file structures to store and access the data. File extensions—common: zip, exe, mp3, mp4, avi, dll
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