LESSON 1: COMMPUTER HARDWARES AND SOFTWARE

Types of Computers

Types of computer Number of user at Size Typical

one time user/Purpose
Personal computer One Fits on a desk, on Used by individuals
(PC) (microcomputer) a lap, or in a for organizing
hand information,
creating products,
and entertainment
Minicomputer Several to Occupies part of Used by small to
hundreds a room medium-sized
organization, such
as schools
Mainframe (super Thousands Room-sized Used by large
computer) corporations and
government
agencies

PCs and Macs

Personal computers are grouped by the software they use:
 PC – uses the Microsoft windows operating system
 Mac – uses the macintosh operating system
Examples of personal computers are:
 Desktops
 Laptops
 MP3 players
 Personal digital assistants (PDAs)

How does computer works?

The “brain” of a computer is the central processing unit (CPU). When the CPU received
and carries out an instruction, it has completed one cycle.
Central processing unit (CPU)
 A microprocessor or tiny computer chip, that receives and carries out all the
instructions given to a computer
Computer’s speed = number of cycles completed in one second
Cycles are measured in:
 Megahertz (MHz) = millions of cycle per second
 Gigahertz (GHz) = billions of cycle per second

Bits, bytes, and binary numbers

Bits – the smallest unit of computerized data
Byte – the building block for all information that flows through a computer
Bits and bytes are small pieces of computerized data that communicate commands to a
computers CPU:
 A bit is either a 1 or a 0 (binary digits)
 A byte contains eight bits
Each letter in the English language is represented by one byte
How big is a terabyte?
Common storage units:
 Kilobyte (KB) = 1,000 bytes
 Megabyte (MB) = 1, 000 KB or 1 million (1,000,000)
 Gigabyte (GB) = 1,000 MB or 1 billion (1,000,000,000) bytes
 Terabyte (TB) = 1,000 GB or 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) bytes

Similarities of mainframe computer and personal computer

 Both have a central processing unit (CPU)
 Both read only 1s and 0s
 Both recognize and process bits and bytes
 For both, speed is determined by cycles per second
Differences
 Mainframes are very large. PCs can be very small
 Mainframes can be used by thousands of people at once. PCs can only be
used by one person at a time
 Mainframes are used by corporations and government agencies. PCs are
used by individuals, like students
Hardware basics
Hardware – the collection of physical pieces or components that make up a computer
Your computer may use hardware like the components shown there
1. Speaker
2. Cable / DSL modem
3. Microphone
4. RAM
5. CPU
6. Keyboard
7. Mouse
8. Drives (CD)
9. Flappy disk (1.44 mb)
10. Hard drives
11. Printer
12.Monitor
13.Video cards
Hardware can be inside or outside the computer:
 The CPU and hard drive are inside the computer
 The keyboard, monitor, and printer are outside the computer and must be
connected by cables
Input and output devices
Input – information that is entered into a computer
Output – information that a computer produces and delivers back to the user
Information flows between you and your computers through input and output devices.
Examples of input devices are:
 Keyboard
 Mouse
 Scanner
 Digital camera
 Joystick
 Microphone
 Touch screen
 trackball
Examples of output devices are:
 Monitor
 Printer
  Speakers
 Projector

Computer memory and storage basics

When do I use ram and rom?
Read-only memory (ROM)
 Memory that permanently stores data and that cannot be erased or changed.
 Works when you turn a computer on or off
 Stores data even when a computer is turned off
Random-access memory (RAM)
 Temporary memory that a computer uses to store data and process information
while working in a program. It is erased when the computer is turned off
 Works when you start and use software
 Stores data only while a computer is on
When you use your computer to perform any type of task, you are using two types of
memory:

Type of memory What does it do? When is it used?

Read-only memory (ROM) Stores permanent When you turn a computer
information like telling the on or off
computer how to start up
Random-access memory Stores temporary When you start and use
(RAM) information when you are software
working in a file

How is information stored?

When you save a file, you move the information from RAM to a storage device. The
type of storage device depends on how much space is needed. Music and video files
require more storage space that text files.
Storage device – computer equipment used store data. Examples of storage devices are
hard drive, network server, floppy disk, CD, DVD, and USB flash drive
Types of storage devices

Storage device What it does size

Hard drive this is the major storage 40 Gb to 100 GB or more
device inside your
 computer. It is also known
as the hard disk. External
hard drive are also
available
Floppy Disk This portable device stores Floppy disk = 1.44 MB
smaller files such as text Zip disk = 100 MB to 750
documents MB
CDs and DVDs These portable devices CD = 700 MB
store larger amounts of DVD = 4.7 GB to 17 GB
information such as video
Flash drives These portions devices 32 MB to 256 MB or more
plug directly into a
computer’s USB port.
Some are as small as a
pen or a keychain

Software basics
Software – a set of instructions, also called program or application, that tells a
computer how to perform tasks
Operating system (OS) – software that controls all the other software programs and
allows a computer to perform basic tasks
Software is a set of instructions that lets you “talks” to your computer. Software
translates commands into bits and bytes. Different types of software have different
functions:
 Operating system (OS) software – makes your computer work
 Application software – lets you do different tasks on your computer
 Utility software – helps you maintain your computer and keep it in good running
condition
How do I use software?
It is important to choose the right software program for the type of task you want to
do:
Types of application software:

Type of software What it lets you do Examples

Web browsers Visit web sites on the Microsoft internet explorer,
internet apple safari, netscape
e-mail Exchange messages and Microsoft outlook, Eudora
files with other computers
users
 Word processing Create letters, term Microsoft word, corel
papers, reports, wordperfect
newsletter, etc
Spreadsheet Work with numbers and Microsoft excel, lotus 1-2-3
calculations to create
tables, charts, and graphs
Database Organize and retrieve large Microsoft access, filemaker
amounts of information pro
Presentation Create a slide presentation Microsoft powerpoint,
to show a group of people apple keynote

What is operating system?

The operating system (OS) controls all other software and allows the hardware devices
to work properly. Some popular operating system are:
 Microsoft windows – for PCs
 Mac OS – for apple computers
 Linux – for very large network computers
 Handheld operating systems – for PDAs, MP3 players, and cell phones
What is GUI?
Nearly all modern operating systems use a graphical user interface (GUI). This lets
users click on images or text on the screen instead of having to type commands
Types of software and sample task:

Type of software Sample task

Web browser Conduct internet research
Instant messaging Communicate with friends
E-mail Send a file to your teacher
Word processing Write a letter, paper, or essay
Presentation Create a slide show
Spreadsheet Make calculations
Database Organize and access large amounts of
information such as at a library

Computer network basics

Network – a group of computers connected together, often through a central server,
using telephone lines, cables, satellites links, radio, and/or other communication
devices.
a computer network is a group of computers connected together. Network allow people
to share:
 Information
 Hardware
 Storage devices
 Internet connections
A network allows you to send data back and forth between different computers,
servers, storage devices, and shared output devices:
Server to scanner, client, client, client

The internet is the biggest network there is. Types of networks are:
 Local-area network (LAN) – covers a small area, such as a school or office
 Wide-area network (WAN) – covers a large geographic area, such as an
international corporation
 Intranet – lets people within an organization or business share information

LESSON 2: SOFTWARE
SOFTWARE
 The general term applied to the instruction that direct the computer’s hardware
to perform work.
o The hardware consists of physical components, whereas software consists
of instructions communicated electronically to the hardware.
Software is needed for two purposes:
1. Computers do not directly understand human language, and software is needed
to translate instructions created in human language into machine language.
2. Packaged or stored software is needed to make the computer an economical
work tool. Users could create their own software every time they needed to use
the computer.
Types of software
 System software – “boots up” (starts up and initializes) the computer system;
controls input, output, and storage; and controls the operations of the
application software
  Application software – includes the various programs that users require to
perform day-to-day tasks. They are programs that support the actual work of the
user.
 Utility programs – are programs that are used to help maintain the system, clean
up unwanted programs, protect the system against virus attacks, access the
World Wide Web (WWW), and the like.
o Some users claim a third type of software called utility programs

System Software
 Consists of a variety of programs that control the individual computer and make
the user’s application programs work well with the hardware. Helps speeds up
computer’s processing, expands the power of the computer by creating cache
memory, reduces the amount of confusion when multiple programs are running
together, “clean up” the hard drive so that storage is managed efficiently, and
performs other such system managed tasks.
Levels of system control
Basic input and output system (BIOS)
 First level of system control that stored on a read only memory (ROM) chip on
the motherboard.
 The software on the BIOS chip is the first part of the computer to function when
the system is turned on
 Given that the BIOS consists of a set of instructions permanently burned onto a
computer chip, it is truly a combination of hardware and software
 Programs on chips are often called “firmware” because they straddle the line
between hardware and software
Operating system (OS)
 OS are actual software, loaded from the hard drive into RAM as soon as the
computer is turned on
 While the firmware cannot be upgraded without changing the hardware chip, the
OS can be upgraded or entirely changed through software
 The user simply deletes OS files from the hard drive and installs a new OS from a
CD-ROM or floppy diskettes or perhaps downloads if from the web or another
site.
2 types of OS user interface
 Disk operating system – were first designed for mainframe computers and
replicated the procedures programmers used under manual OS
  Graphical user interface – provided by OS such as Microsoft windows. This was
the “computer for everybody,” and the PC market exploded
o Although the GUI did not eliminate the need for users to spend time
learning new programs, it did bring closer to reality the ideal that
computers could become “self-teaching” device. People could begin to use
computers with minimal training using built-in tutorials and online answers
to common question.

o A GUI OS supports use of graphic images called "icons" to represents

commands to the computer. Each icon image is designed to look like the
physical representation of the operation the user wishes to employ. GUI
Oss also support the operation of menus. Similar to menus in restaurants,
the GUI menu provides a narrative list of common commands, or
operations that the computer can execute.
o In complex programs that have hundreds or thousands of commands, the
GUI supports nested menus.
o NESTED MENUS- are submenus and sub-submenus; that is, the user clicks
on a menu item, and instead of executing a command, the computer
presents another menu of choices.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE:

 includes the various programs people use to do work, process data, play games,
communicate with us, or watch multimedia programs on a computer are written
by or for system users.
 Application programs are written in a particular programming language. Then
the program is "compiled” (or translated) into machine language so the
computer can understand the instructions and execute the program.

UTILITY PROGRAMS
 In addition to the operating system, there are a variety of other system
programs available to the user. Some are called utility programs, and are
designed to enhance the functions of the OS or perhaps to add facilities that the
basic OS does not offer.
 These include programs that provide algorithms for efficiently sorting a large set
of numbers or character-based items, copying files or parts of files, security
programs, and the like.

Language Translation Utilities

  People and computers do not speak the same language. At the same level,
computers only understand binary. Human beings do not speak binary.
Consequently, it is very difficult to write a program in the machine's language.
Translation programs are needed to convert instructions written in an English-like
language.

The World Wide Web and Web Browser

 The WWW is a sort of network system utility program for the internet. It
provides a protocol for document transfer across the internet.
 A Web browser is a utility program that allows the user to access the Web and
the materials available through the Web.
 The internet is a system of data and voice lines routed through dedicated servers
to create a network of networks; that is, it consists of linkages that allow users
from one computer network to access the documents and files available on one
another network.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES:
 A programming language- is a means of communicating with the computer.
 Actually, of course, the only language a CPU can understand is binary or machine
language.
 While it is certainly possible for programmers to learn to use binary-some highly
sensitive defense applications are still written in machine language - the
language is painfully tedious and inefficient of human resources, and its
programs are virtually impossible to update and debug.

GENERATIONS AND LEVELS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

 MACHINE LANGUAGE -is the true language of the computer. Any program must
be translated into machine language before the computer can execute it. The
machine language consists only of the binary numbers 1 and 0, representing the
on and off electrical impulses. All data numbers, letters, and symbols-are
represented by combinations of binary digits.
 ASSEMBLER LANGUAGE -is far more English-like, but it is still very close to
machine language. One command in machine language is a single instruction to
the processor. Assembler language instructions have a oneto-one
correspondence with a machine language instruction. -is still used a great deal
 by system programmers and whenever application programmers wish to
manipulate functions at the machine level.
 THIRD GENERATION LANGUAGE - include the procedural language and were the
beginning of the second level in programming languages.
1. PROCEDURAL LANGUAGES require the programmer to specify both what
the computer is to do and the procedure for how to do it. These
languages are far more English-like than assembly and machine language.
2. VISUAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES -as the popularity of GUI technology
grew, several languages were developed to facilitate program
development in graphics-based environments. Microsoft Corporation has
marketed two very popular such programs: Visual BASIC (Beginners.
Allpurpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and Visual C11. These programs
and their "cousins" marketed by other companies have been used for a
variety of applications, especially those that allow users to interact with
electronic companies through the internet.
 FOURTH GENERATION LANGUAGES - are specialized application programs that
require more involvement of the user in directing the program to do the
necessary work. Procedural languages include programs such as spreadsheets,
statistical analysis programs, and database query languages. In Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), a statistical analysis program, the user
enters a command (from a menu of commands) that tells the computer to
compute a chi-square statistic on a particular datasheet.
 FIFTH GENERATION LANGUAGES -or the third level languages are called natural
language. In these types of programs, the user tells the machine what to do in
the user's own natural language or thoughts use of a set of very English-like
commands.
o True natural language recognition, in which any user could give
understandable commands to the computer in his or her own word style
and accent is being performed at the beginning of the twenty first
century.
COMMON SOFTWARE PACKAGES FOR MICROCOMPUTERS
 The most common package sold with computers is a standard office package.
 The standard office package includes a word processing program, a spreadsheet,
a presentation graphics program, and some form of database management
system.
 The two most commonly used programs are e-mail systems and word processor.
Another very common product is a desktop publisher. Most of these common
programs have to be written in two versions: one for the IBM PC platform and
one for the Macintosh.
COMMON SOFTWARE USEFUL TO NURSES:
 In most hospitals, software used by nurses includes admission, discharge, and
transfer (ADT) systems that help with patient tracking, and medication
administration record (MAR) software.
 CHAT ROOMS -are like electronic conference calls. Multiple users can send and
receive messages at the same time. The strengths of chat room technology
include the ability of many people to "meet" without having to leave their homes.
The person the user is "chatting with can be at another computer in the same
room, or halfway around the world.
ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS
An early form of computer conferencing involved electronic bulletin boards. As with chat
rooms, some are public and some private; however, most are private. They are called
by different names, depending on the terminology used by the software creator. They
may be called discussion boards, listservs, or electronic forums but they all work in
similar ways. This technology creates space where users can post a message. Electronic
discussion boards or forums are important technology in distance courses offered
through the internet.
LISTSERVS
The least powerful version of an electronic bulletin board is listserv. This program
functions more like an electronic mailing list than a true discussion board. When a user
posts a message to the board, it is merely e-mailed to all members of the conference.
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
Computer Programming - refers to the process of writing a computer program, which is
a series of instructions written in proper sequence to solve a specific problem. A
program primarily encompasses the program instructions and is generally written by a
computer programmer

5 MAJOR STEPS IN WRITING ANY COMPUTER PROGRAMS

PROBLEM DEFINITION OR FUNCTIONS SPECIFICATION
Defining the problem to be solved or the functions to be performed by the program is
the most critical step in programming. It requires that the problem or task be very
precisely defined and the procedures to be performed by the program be perfectly
understood.
PROGRAM DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
Once the problem/task is precisely specified, the process for solving the problem must
be designed. There two types of specifications involved in program creating. The first is
the set of functional specifications that identifies all the functions the program is to
perform. This include a narrative description of the functions of the system and a
graphical representation of the system's process flow. The second set of specifications
(called “specs") is thee design specifications. The design specs are the instructions
given to the programmer. Design specs may be highly technical and are not typically
viewed by the costumer.
PROGRAM PREPARATION
Program preparation, the actual writing (or coding) of the program, entails translating
the design specifications into the programming language to be used. The program
instructions (algorithms) must be coded in detail and in logical sequence so that the
program can process data correctly.
DOCUMENTATION
Two types of documentation must be produced during programming. First, the program
itself should be designed in a highly structured, top-down manner, and the lines of code
should be liberally sprinkled with explanatory statements. The second type of
documentation that must be produced is the user’s manual. The user’s manual provides
clear directions and examples of how to make the program work as intended. It should
also provide suggestions for how to proceed when users cannot get the program to
function as they expect.
PROGRAM TESTING
Alpha testing Program testing occurs during and after coding. Two types of testing are
performed. First, the programming team and system analysts carefully desk check the
program in a process called "alpha testing". This process is also called "desk checking".
The purpose of alpha testing is to see if all the processes appear to be functioning as
specified in the flow charts, functional specifications, and design specs.
Beta Testing, The second level of testing is called "beta testing ". In beta testing, the
program is installed in the actual user environment, and further programming of screen
formats and other user interface functions is performed. Users begin the final testing
phase by entering real data and checking that the system products are accurate and
complete.