Computer Science Revision

Lesson 1 – Components of a computer

 Computer systems are a combination of both hardware and software working
together. Hardware is the physical components of a computer and software is the
programs that run on a computer.
 Computer systems consist of hardware and software. Hardware is the physical
components of the computer, such as the central processing unit (CPU), hard
disk, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Software is the programs that run on a
computer.
 A computer system requires both hardware and software to function. Aside from the
internal components of a computer, additional hardware allows the user to
communicate with the system through inputs and outputs.
 An input device is any piece of computer hardware used to provide data to a
computer system
 keyboard
 mouse
 scanner
 digital camera
 webcam
 microphones
 An output device is any piece of computer hardware used to communicate the
results of data that has been processed.
 monitor
 printer
 Speaker/headphones
 A storage device is a piece of computer equipment which can be used to store data
 hard disk drive
 DVD/CD/Blu-Ray
 USB stick
Lesson 2 – Internal components of a computer and their functions
 The Motherboard is the main circuit board in the computer
 It contains many components like the RAM, CPU, expansion slots and the heat
sink
 The motherboard connects all the peripherals together.
 The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the part of a computer system that is commonly
referred to as the "brain" of a computer. The CPU is also known as the processor or
microprocessor.
 The CPU is where processes such as calculating, sorting, and searching take
place. Whatever is done on our computers, such as checking emails, playing
games, and doing homework, the CPU has processed the data we use.
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 RAM is the main memory that stores programs and data currently being used by the
computer
 RAM is a type of volatile memory which means that it requires electricity to
store data, so when the computer is powered down all the memory is wiped
 The BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, is the built-in core processor software
responsible for booting up your system. Typically embedded into your computer as
a motherboard chip, the BIOS functions as a catalyst for PC functionality action.
 The BIOS is non-volatile means that its contents cannot be changed and it
retains its memory after the computer is turned off.
 The power supply unit supplies all the computer components with electricity
 On the motherboard, there are expansion slots. In these expansion slots go several
printed circuit boards, or adapter cards as they are most commonly known.
 The sound card is an adapter card that allows the computer to have extended
sound capabilities, and for sound components to be used, for example,
headphones.
 The video or graphics card is an adapter card that allows the computer to
show graphics on the monitor.
Lesson 3 – Peripherals
 Peripherals are the input, output, and storage hardware for computers. Touchscreens
are both inputs and outputs. Innovation in peripherals has great benefits for gaming,
science, and medicine.
 Peripherals are devices that are not the computer's core architecture involved
in memory and processing. Peripherals include input hardware, output
hardware and storage devices.
Lesson 4 – Operating Systems
 An operating system is known as system software. It is responsible for
 Managing all connected devices (like keyboards)
 Managing RAM and virtual memory
 Managing running programs
 Managing the file system
 Managing security
 Managing network and internet connections
 Proprietary software (sometimes referred to as closed source software) is software
that legally remains the property of the organisation, group, or individual who
created it.
 The organisation that owns the rights to the product usually does not release
the source code and may insist that only those who have purchased a special
licence key can use it.
 Open source software is free and openly available to everyone.
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 People who create open source products publish the code and allow others to
use and modify it.
 Communities of programmers often work together to develop the software
and to support users.
 Allowing anyone to inspect the source code in this way has many advantages.
Those with sufficient technical knowledge can customise the OS and fix
problems as they arise by exploring into the source code.
Lesson 5 – System Software
 A computer is controlled by systems software. Operating systems provide this
control, while utilities help to maintain the system.
 Systems software is software that governs the computer system. It:
 controls the hardware, including any peripherals
 allows other programs (applications) to run
 provides an interface for the user to interact with the computer
 maintains the system
 There are two kinds of systems software to consider:
 operating systems
 utilities
 Utility software helps maintain the system. Utility software includes:
 encryption software
 defragmentation software
 data compression software
 backup software
 Applications software is used to carry out tasks on a computer, such as writing an
email, making a poster, doing homework and messaging friends.
 Some of the applications we might use to do this include a word
processor, web browser and graphics software.
 Some software, such as word processors, spreadsheets and desktop publishers are
called general purpose software because it is possible to carry out lots of different
tasks using that application.
 Some software is called special purpose software because it performs one specific
task. This might include a flight simulator, payroll software or an application for
revising maths.
 Applications are also used on smartphones to do lots of things, such as social
networking, listening to music and messaging.
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Lesson 6 – Utility Software

 Utility software helps maintain the system. It is part of system software. Utility
software includes:
 computer security (antivirus, anti-malware, anti-spyware, and firewalls)
 disk management (formatting, file transfer, and defragmentation), back up
system maintenance (system information and diagnosis, system clean-up tools,
automatic updating)
 Utility software helps maintain the computer system. They tend to run in the
background or be used by applications in order to get tasks done. The operating
system will use them to keep the system healthy. They can also be used directly
by the user should the need arise.
 For example Anti-virus software is a utility. On its own it is not very useful.
However when combined with a web browser it becomes essential to protect the
end user from viruses.
 There are a number of key security utilities –
 Anti-virus software
 Anti-spyware
 Firewall
 Anti-virus software will scan through your system looking for infected files. An
infected file will contain a virus which could cause damage to the PC.
 The virus scan works by looking at every file in your system. It looks for
patterns in each file which could suggest a virus. It will compare each file
against a large database of known viruses. If a virus is found then the file
is moved into a safe area known as a quarantine zone. The virus can no
longer cause a threat to the system and can be deleted. The user may
wish to salvage part of the infected file or just delete it.
 Viruses can be attached to almost any file.
 Anti-spyware software works the same as anti-virus.
 Spyware can be benign (pop adverts) or malicious (record keystrokes).
Spyware tends to use the internet in order to download adverts or upload
user behaviour. As such you can detect spyware by monitoring your
network traffic. Good anti-spyware and firewall software will do this
automatically for you.
 A firewall will sit in between your PC and the internet. It will monitor all network
traffic and only allow traffic which has been enabled by the user. By default
applications do not have access to the internet unless the user allows them.
 Encryption software allows a user to apply an algorithm to files so that they are
‘locked’
 Encryption could be used on removable devices so that if they are lost or
stolen the contents of the drives are more difficult to read
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 Full back up: all files are copied, usually onto an external device. This provides an
identical copy of files if disaster strikes.
 Boot drive backup: Essential system files in case OS becomes corrupt.
 Incremental backup: only new files or files that have changed are backed up.
 Useful on a daily basis
 Archive: old or infrequently used files are REMOVED. They are stored on a
device normally.
 Formatting a hard drive will delete all files on that disk. Yes all files! It is much more
common on secondary storage rather than primary storage. The only time it would
be used on a hard drive was if you were doing a new install of an operating system.
For example, if your system was corrupted by a virus attack.
 When a disk is formatted it will perform a high level format. This means that
all sectors on the disk are made available. This means data may be recovered
using special software. A high level format is also known as a quick format.
 A low level format will overwrite areas of the disk. This will destroy any
previous data. This will take a long time to perform on a hard drive (a few
hours at least) so it is rarely used. If you were going to sell a device you may
decide to perform a low level format on it.
 Typically, hard drives, or HDDs, are fastest at the beginning (the outside edge) of the
drive and slowest at the end (or inside). New data is usually written on the outside of
the drive, slowly working its way in as other data is added.
 The issue is that the data doesn't move back outwards to take any available
space, so holes start to develop with lots of reads and writes. As well as this
thing can become out of order, meaning the heads have to travel all over the
drive to load files or programs, making the system slower on the whole.
 Simply put, defragmenting a drive traditionally moves everything back in
order and fills any holes that have appeared during its use.
 System clean-up deletes temporary files, cached copies of files and unused files that
can be removed safely to free up disk space.
 The storage drive is divided into a number of clusters. The table of contents
serves as an address book, keeping a record of each file and the clusters used
to store that file. When a file is deleted, the address to the location on the
disk is removed.
 System information and diagnosis is used to test a computer system for the purpose
of identifying weak points, determining the cause of a problem, or assisting with
setup. Many operating systems come with built in system diagnostics for the
convenience of their users and it is also possible to obtain software which offers
additional diagnostic options.
 One common reason to run a system diagnostic is because something
appears to be going wrong with a computer.
Computer Science Revision

 The diagnostic runs through a series of checks which are designed to identify
problems areas, ranging from corrupted areas of the hard drive to programs
which might be conflicting with each other.
 A basic diagnostic will simply report any problems it finds during a diagnostic
scan.
 As problems are found with software programs, they get updated by the developer.
 Automatic updates allow users to keep their software programs updated
without having to check for and install available updates manually.
 The software automatically checks for available updates, and if found, the
updates are downloaded and installed without user intervention.
Lesson 7 – Types of application in different contexts
 Types of application
 Word processors and desktop publishing software
 Spreadsheet and database software
 Multimedia software
 Presentation and slideshow software
 Photo-editing and graphics manipulation software
 Video-editing software
 Communications software
 Gaming software
 Web browsers
 Apps for portable devices
 General purpose software
 Word processor, spreadsheet, graphics software etc
 Special purpose software
 Fingerprint scanning systems, booking systems, accounts software.
 Could be bought off the shelf or tailor-made and written specifically.
Lesson 8 – Primary Storage
 Cache is a small amount of memory which is part of the CPU – closer to the CPU than
the RAM. It is used to temporarily hold information and data that the CPU is likely to
reuse. The CPU control unit automatically checks cache for instructions before
requesting data from the RAM. These saves fetching the instructions and data
repeatedly from RAM – a relatively slow process which might otherwise keep the
CPU waiting. Transfers to and from cache take less time than transfers to and from
RAM. The more cache there is, the more data can be stored closer to the CPU.
 RAM is the type of memory used in the computer’s main memory.
 Many people say “RAM” when they mean main memory.
 When a program is running it has to be loaded from the hard disk into the
main memory so the processor can access the instructions. Any data needed
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for that program to run is also loaded into main memory while the program is
running.
 The main purpose of RAM is to act as temporary storage for programs and
data, just while it is running. Once the program has finished and is closed, it is
no longer in main memory.
 The processor doesn’t get instructions straight from the disk because it’s
about access speed. Reading from and writing to a hard disk is very slow
compared to the speed of the processor. Just as we used the high speed
cache between the processor and main memory we need main memory to
store the programs currently in use or the computer would be really slow
 The computer needs to get the basic start-up routine from somewhere that is not
volatile! The operating system and all your programs will be stored on the hard disk
but these need to be loaded into RAM to run. This is ROM.
 The computer has a piece of software called the bootstrap loader. This is a
small program that loads the operating system.
 You cannot write over the contents once it has been created.
 It is also non-volatile; you can leave the computer switched off for months
and it will still start up as soon as it has power again.
 RAM, on the other hand, is only used for temporary storage of programs
when they are running. RAM is read-write and volatile.
Lesson 9 – Secondary Storage
 What is secondary storage
 Long term storage of data, files, software, OS.
 Why do we need to store these things?
 to access it again later
 to use software
 to interact with the computer.
 What would happen without secondary storage?
 software would need to be installed each time we use it
 you couldn’t save any files, data, images, videos etc.
 Types of storage
 Optical
 Magnetic
 Solid State
 Optical media can roughly be described as “anything that is read using a laser “.
These are usually types of disc.
 CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray are all examples of types of optical storage.
 A laser light creates marks in a pattern on the disk.
 A laser light detects where the marks are and translates this into a readable
format.
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 Magnetic storage uses a magnetic charge to store binary on the media.

 This can then be read with positive indicating a one, and negative indicating a
zero.
 Hard disk drives (HDD), floppy disks, and magnetic tape are all examples of
magnetic storage.
 Solid state devices come in a number of formats, with many being built on flash
memory technology.
 Solid state media has no moving parts, and as such is less prone to damage
whilst being moved about. It is for this reason that solid state storage is used
in so many portable devices.
 SSDs, USB sticks, and SD cards are all examples of solid state storage.
 This is made of microchips (switches).
Lesson 10 – Secondary Storage
 Capacity
 how much data can it store?
 Speed
 how fast can it access the data?
 Portability
 how easy is it to move it from one place to another
 Cost
 how much does it cost per KB, MB, or GB?

Type of device Capacity Speed Portability Cost

Optical 3 3 2 2

Magnetic 1 2 3 1

Solid State 2 1 1 3

Extra Information
 Data fragmentation occurs when a collection of data in memory is broken up into
many pieces that are not close together
 If an excessively large file can’t fit into empty spaces on a hard drive,
fragmentation occurs.
 Slower performance, disorganized, broken up into pieces to fit onto disk