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CS101 - Intro2Computing - Part 1

This document provides an introduction to computing. It discusses how computing has changed problem solving and permeated nearly all human endeavors. Computing allows for the mechanization of intellectual activities. The document also defines key computing concepts like processes, procedures, algorithms, and computers. It explains that a computer can accept input, execute procedures through processing, and produce output. The history of computing is also briefly outlined, noting early calculating devices and Charles Babbage's work on mechanical computers.

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rayden22
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957 views

CS101 - Intro2Computing - Part 1

This document provides an introduction to computing. It discusses how computing has changed problem solving and permeated nearly all human endeavors. Computing allows for the mechanization of intellectual activities. The document also defines key computing concepts like processes, procedures, algorithms, and computers. It explains that a computer can accept input, execute procedures through processing, and produce output. The history of computing is also briefly outlined, noting early calculating devices and Charles Babbage's work on mechanical computers.

Uploaded by

rayden22
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Intro to Computing

Computing is the ultimate mental amplifiercomputers can mechanize any intellectual activity we can imagine.

Automatic computing radically changes how humans solve problems, and even the kinds of
problems we can imagine solving.
Computing has changed the world more than any other invention of the past hundred years, and
has come to pervade nearly all human endeavors.
There are two reasons why everyone should study computing:
1. early all of the most e!citing and important technologies, arts, and sciences of today and tomorrow are
driven by computing
". #nderstanding computing illuminates deep insights and $uestions into the nature of our minds, our
culture, and our universe.
Processes, Procedures, and Computers
Computer science is the study of information processes.
A process is a se$uence information processes of steps.
%ach step changes the state of the world in some small way, and the result of all the steps produces
some goal state.
Computer science focuses on processes that involve abstract information rather than physical things.
&he boundaries between the physical world and pure information processes.
A procedure is a description of a process.
A simple process can be described procedure 'ust by listing the steps. &he list of steps is the procedure(
the act of following them is the process.
A procedure that can be followed without any thought is called a mechanical procedure.
An algorithm is a mechanical procedure that is algorithm guaranteed to eventually finish.
&o program computers, we need tools that allow us to describe processes precisely and succinctly. )ince
the procedures are carried out by a machine, every step needs to be described( we cannot rely on the
operator having *common sense+
A computer is a machine that can,
Accept input. -nput could be entered by a human typing at a keyboard, received over a network, or
provided automatically by sensors attached to the computer.
%!ecute a mechanical procedure, that is, a procedure where each step can be e!ecuted without any
thought.
.roduce output. /utput could be data displayed to a human, but it could also be anything that effects
the world outside the computer such as electrical signals that control how a device operates
Computer System
A computer system is a collection of related components that have all been designed to work together
smoothly.
Hardware: physical components of computer, including the computer itself and matched peripherals.
Software: programs that run on computer
What computer cant do!yet"
A program can be written from algorithm.
An algorithm is repetitive processing action organized in step by step procedure.
1 # C S $ % $ & Intro' to Computing
. e r c i v a l A . 0 e r n a n d e z
(eed )or Computer
&oday1s student needs computer literacy.
Computer literacy means emphasizing skills like
2nowledge of using personal computers
/perating systems
Application software
-nternet basics
Computer fluency refers the knowledge processed by people who are able to navigate the digital word
Computers are all around us.
What is a computer*
A computer is a machine that, under a program1s direction and control, performs four basic operations
-nput
.rocessing
/utput
)torage
A program is a list of instruction that tells the computer how to perform these four operations in order to
accomplish a task.
History of Computers
&hroughout time, humans have invented ingenious calculating machines. /ne of the earliest was the
a+acus. -t3s about 4,555 years old.
6echanical calculators that could add and multiply 7but not subtract89 were invented in the 1:55s.
-n 1;"5, Charles <avier &homas de Colman invented the arithmometer, a machine that could add,
subtract, multiply and divide.
-t was Charles =abbage though, in the early 1;55s, who designed mechanical calculating machines that
were the true ancestor of today3s computers.
Ada =yron 2ing 7Countess of >ovelace9 was his programmer and today is considered the mother of
computer programming.
=abbage3s design for his ultimate calculator, the Analytical %ngine, was never produced. -t did anticipate
the four components essential to modern computing.
A computer processes information' A toaster processes bread. Although it3s a simpler device, a toaster is
a good way to demonstrate the four components of computer processing, input, storage, processing,
and output.
=read is the input
&he toaster compartment is the storage
&oasting is the process
&oasted bread is the output
" # C S $ % $ & Intro' to Computing
. e r c i v a l A . 0 e r n a n d e z

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