Computer PDF PA1

Chapter 1
Q1. What is a computer?

A1. A computer is an electronic device used to perform operations on basis of instructions, called programs. It takes
input from the user in the form of data. On receiving the instructions it processes the data and generates output.

Q2. What is hardware?

A2. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts of a computer.

Q3. What is software?

A3. A software is a set of programs necessary to carry out operations for a specific instruction.

Q4. What are the main components of a computer?

A4. Main components of a computer are:

- System unit, consists of various smaller units such as motherboard hard disk ram cpu and sound card.
- Monitor, Displays the output of a computer it is a television like equipment which can be crt lcd or led.
- Mouse, Mouse is a pointing device which fits perfectly in your palm and allows you to perform activities on the
screen such as clicking a button or placing the cursor at a location.
- Keyboard, it contains keys to feed information in computer.

Q5. List some common applications of computers.

A5. Applications of computers are:

- Applications in communications such as email chat web conferencing etc.

- Applications in Healthcare such as handling activities of patients, diagnosing diseases and fixing heart related
problems of a patient.
- Applications in business such as billing budgeting accounting and reporting.
- Applications in research to experiment design and develop projects.
- Applications in advertising to promote businesses at a global platform.
- Applications at home to online shop, bank or play video games and listen to music.

Q6. List qualities of a computer.

A6. Qualities of a computer are:

- Speed, computers perform at a great speed and have capability of processing a lot of information in less time.
- Accuracy, computers provide results with utmost accuracy.
- Storage capacity, a lot of information can be stored in a single computer.
- Reliability, they rarely break or fail.
- Consistency, A computer generates consistent results if same input is provided.
- Versatility, Computers are able to perform different tasks in a variety of domains.
Q7. List limitations of a computer.

A7. Limitations of computers are:

- Computers are unable to take decisions on their own they depend on the input being provided.
- Computers do not have self intelligence they need to be informed time to time regarding task to be formed.
- Computers are not able to learn from their past mistakes, it implies that when a computer commits a mistake
once, it would commit the same mistake again.

Q8. What is a Desktop Computer?

A8. Primarily used in an office or home.

Q9. What is a Personal Digital Assistant?

A9. A PDA is a handheld lightweight computer designed to be used as a personal organizer, it does not contain any
conventional keyboards it relies on recognition of handwritten input through the use of a Stylus ( pen used to write on
LCD screens ).

Q10. What is a laptop?

A10. A laptop is a portable computer with an integrated screen, keyboard, trackball, processor and memory, the entire
machinery is meant to run on a rechargeable battery.

Q11. What are tablets and smartphones?

A11. Tablet is a kind of a microcomputer it is also called the notepad of a 21st century, on the other hand a smartphone is
basically a mobile phone that provides additional features to perform day to day tasks. There is also an inbuilt camera
and a music player included in both.

Q12. What is a Mainframe Computer?

A12. It is a large sized computer requiring huge space. It is designed for multitasking can be used by many users
simultaneously. It has a high processing power and a large storage.

Q13. What is a Supercomputer?

A13. Supercomputers can process trillions of operations per second, it consists of a large number of processors and
requires a huge amount of space.

Q14. Self Destructing Computer?

A14. In an effort to limit the amount of data that can be stolen by thieves, A device is developed that can locate and
necessarily destroy a computer’s hard drive.

Q15. What is a Workstation?

A15. These are similar to personal computers however they have greater memory and more extensive mathematical
abilities, they are also connected to other workstations to exchange data.

Q16. What is an embedded computer?

A16. Embedded computers are the inbuilt preprogrammed computers that perform specific tasks, included in appliances
like washing machines or refrigerators.

Q17. What are communication technologies?

A17. Communication technology means a number of programs and equipment used to process and communicate
information it is also known as information technology.
Q18. List some common communication technologies.

A18. Some communication technologies are:

- Internet, Internet is defined as a worldwide network of computers connected to each other to share information.
- Email, a user can send electronic messages to other users through the Internet.
- Video conferencing, allows two or more users located at different regions around the world to see and
communicate with each other.
- Chart services, chatting is an interactive text based communication process which takes place over the Internet.

Chapter 2
Q1. Write advantages and disadvantages of a keyboard.

A1. Advantages of keyboard are that it is reliable and easy to use, it is available in a variety of formats so you can use it
according to your requirement. Disadvantages of a keyboard are that it is difficult to enter specific type of data such as
pictures diagrams or voice, regular use of a keyboard can cause sprain in wrists and fingers.

Q2. Write advantages and disadvantages of a mouse.

A2. Advantages of a mouse is that it points an icon or object on the computer screen, performs various tasks speedily,
such as opening a file or moving a folder. Disadvantages of a mouse are that requires a flat surface near the computer, it
leads to health problems when used a lot.

Q3. Explain types of mouses.

A3. There are 4 types,

- Mechanical mouse, the movement of cursor on the screen is relative to the movement of the ball at the base of
the mouse.
- Optical mouse, uses light emitting diode to detect the movement of cursor on the screen, it does not work on a
black or shiny surface.
- Laser mouse, uses infrared laser diode for detecting the movement of mouse.
- Blue track mouse, based on blue track technology.

Q4. What is a scanner, mention advantages and disadvantages.

A4. A scanner is an input device that scans images or an object and converts it into a digital image instead of making a
duplicate copy. Advantages of a scanner are that it can produce an image with a very high resolution as compared to a
digital camera and it will convert any paper document into digital format. Disadvantages of a scanner are an image can
occupy a lot of memory space and the quality of the scanned image totally depends upon the quality of the original
document.

Q5. Mention types of scanners.

A5. There are 3 types,

- Hand-held, Not suitable to scan long files but it is less expensive.

- Flatbed, It is particularly useful for bound documents, it produces a high quality image, it is more expensive and
has a flat surface.
- Drum, It is a medium sized scanner which has a rolling drum to scan your document.

Q6. What is a webcam, mention advantages and disadvantages.

A6. Webcam is used to capture real time images. The advantages are that it makes video chatting and conferencing
possible and it provides a cheap mode of communication using sound and video. Disadvantages are that the picture
quality is poor compared to a digital camera, it can be easily accessed by hackers.

Q7. What is a CPU? How does it function with all its components?

The central processing unit is a physical device that controls computer operations, it is also known as the brain of the
computer, it has three components control unit, arithmetic logic unit and the memory unit. The instructions go to the
control unit and the arithmetic logic unit which process the information stored in the memory unit then the information
goes out to the output device.

Q8. Explain types of Monitors.

A8. There are three types of monitors:

- CRT – The Cathode Ray Tube Monitor Is heavy thick and has a picture tube this type of mortar is useful for
displaying images and working with graphics or photographs in which colors play an important role.
- LCD – Liquid crystal display monitor is one of the most widely used flat panel monitors, it is thin it has a higher
resolution and it has an economical power consumption. These monitors use TFT technology to display images
on the screen.
- LED – Light emitting diode monitor is one of the most widely used monitor nowadays, it consumes 40% less
power than a standard lcd monitor.

Q9. What is a printer? Explain types.

A9. The printer is in output device used to print data processed by a computer in the form of documents or pictures.
There are two types of printers:

- Impact Printers

It establishes a mechanical contact between the printer head and the paper, for example align drum or a dot matrix
printer, a dot matrix printer is ideal for printing multi-part documents such as invoices and receipts.

- Non-Impact Printers

It does not establish a contact between the printer head and the paper, eg. Inkjet printer which does not make noise,
has a higher resolution, requires less cost, has a faster speed and has a better printing quality, and the later printer
Which is very fast as a less cost of operation and provides a higher quality printout.

Q10. What is the IAS?

A10. The main memory is also known as the immediate access store which stores only the data that is required by the
cpu at a particular time.

Q11. What is RAM and ROM in Primary Memory?

A11. RAM – Random access memory is the main memory used in a computer system, it stores instructions from the
operating system, application programs and data to be processed so that they can be quickly accessed by the computers
processor. It is also much faster to read from and write to than other kinds of storage.
ROM – Rom is a built in computer memory containing data that normally can only be read but not changed, it also
contains startup instructions for the computer. The data stored in Rom is not lost when the computer power is turned off.
A variation of ROM is programmable.

Q12. Mention types and limitations of RAM.

A12. There are two types of Ram, static ram and dynamic ram, dynamic ram needs to be refreshed thousands of times
per second and static ram does not need to be refreshed which makes it faster however it is more expensive than the
dynamic ram. Some limitations of Ram are as you shut down the computer the data stored in Ram is removed and it only
stores limited amount of data.

Q13. What is a hard disk? Mention elements.

A13. Hard disk is also known as the data center of the pc it is used to store all your programs and data. Elements of a
hard disk are:

- Platters, the actual disks inside the drive that stored data.
- The spindle and spindle motor, the platters in a driver separated by disk spacers and are clamped tour rotating
spindle that turns all the platters together.
- The read/write heads, Read and write data to the platters.
- The head actuator, All the heads are attached to a single head that moves the heads around the platters.

Q14. What is a CD? Mention Types.

A14. A compact disk is an optical media used to store digital data. There are 3 types:

- CD-ROM – Data can only be read by using a drive, the CD-ROM drive.
- CD-R – Data can be written only once, once written, data cannot be changed.
- CD-RW – Data can be written multiple times on a disc. Good for backup.

Q15. What is a DVD? Mention Types.

A15. A digital versatile disk is an optical storage device which was developed in 1995, it can hold up to 4.7 gb of data. A
DVD also known as super density disk can store 17GB of data. There are three types of dvds:

- DVD-R : Uses WORM Technology similar to CD-R. Data can only be written once and the disk can be read by dvd-
rom drives only.
- DVD-ROM : It is capable of storing data from 4.7 GB up to 17GB. Earlier you could play a DVD only on a DVD
player however nowadays computers come with a built in ROM to play dvds.
- DVD-RW : Similar to DVD-R except that you can erase and rewrite information on it.

Q16. What is a blue-ray disk?

A16. A Blu Ray disk is an optical disk storage medium it is used to record store and playback high definition video, digital
audio and computer data it can store up to 25GB to 50GB of data on a dual layer disk.

Q17. Explain the two types of encoding schemes.

A17. Types of encoding schemes are:

- ASCII – Represents a character as a group of 8 bits or one byte.

- Unicode – Represents a character as a group of 16 bits or two bytes.

Q18. What is Portable Memory?

A18. Portable memory devices refer to the memory devices that are portable and used to store data.

Q19. What is a pen drive?

A19. It is a storage device also known as Universal Serial Bus (usb) flash drive, it is typically a small lightweight removable
and rewritable device.

Q20. What is a memory stick?

A20. Memory stick is another memory storage device. It is a removable flash memory card that is used in electronic
products such as mobile phones and digital cameras.

Chapter 3
Q1. Explain types of softwares.

A1. There are two types of softwares:

- System – Control the internal computer operations.

- Application – Carry necessary operations for a specified application to function.

Q2. Explain categories of System Software.

A2. Categories of System Software are:

- Operating S/W – Manages computer hardware and acts as an interface between user and computer.
- Language Processor – Converts programs into machine language.
- Device Drivers – Interface between operating system and hardware. It converts the command given by the OS
into a format that is easily understandable by peripheral devices.
- Utility Software – Performs additional functions such as analyzing, configuring data and maintaining resources.

Q3. Explain categories of Application Software.

A3. Categories of Application Software are:

- General purpose software, used to perform a wide variety of tasks and is commonly used by all types of
computer users.
- Specific purpose software, designed to carry out tasks related to a particular job.
- Customized software, developed as per the requirements of a particular individual or organization.

Q4. Explain the types of language processors.

A4. Some important language processors are:

- Assembler, it is a language processor that translates a program written in assembly language into machine
language program, assembly language is a low level programming language.
- Compiler, Translates high level language into machine language program.
- Interpreter, Translates high level language program line by line into machine language program when it finds an
error in a line it reports it at the very instant the execution of the program cannot be resumed until the error is
fixed.

Q5. Explain the types of Utility Software.

A5. Types of utility software are:

- Text Editor – Assists you in creating an editable text file.

- Backup Utility – Helps to secure data by duplicating the data stored in the permanent storage disk so that it can
be used in case of disk failure.
- Compression Utility – It reduces the size of data by reducing the number of bits and bytes used to store data.
 - Disk Defragmenter – This program tries to minimize the fragmentation of on the disk. The OS fragments a file
when it becomes too large to be stored in a single location on the disk, it splits the file in pieces and stores these
pieces at different locations on the disk, so the disk defragmenter locates the fragmented files and rearranges
them to free space on the disk.
- Antivirus Software: Antivirus software protect your computer from unexpected virus attacks.

Q6. Explain some general purpose app. s/w.

A6. Some general purpose application s/w are:

- Word processing program – Enables you to enter edit format and print text.
- Spreadsheet program – Allows you to do organization analysis and storage of data in a tabular form, it also
provides basic arithmetic and mathematical functions.
- Database program – Database management system (dbms) refers to software that provides important tools to
create and manipulate data in database, it allows you to store sort and retrieve a large amount of data.
- Desktop Publishing S/W – Used to create documents such as brochures and magazines which require more
graphics than textual data.
- Browser – Used to retrieve, explore and present the information available on the WWW.

Q8. Explain customized s/w’s and mention advantages, disadvantages.

A8. The Soviet softwares are made According to the needs of the client therefore it is also known as tailor made or
bespoke software. Advantages of customized software are it possesses only those features which are required by our
organization, it is better to opt for customer software than buy new software because it can be customized to fulfill
different needs of an organization. Some disadvantages are that it takes a lot of time to develop and a lot of money is
needed to develop a customized software. A team of business analysts, programmers and testers are required, they can
also not be directly installed everywhere.

Q9. Explain Mobile Applications with some examples as categories.

A9. While applications are designed to operate and run on handheld devices. Some categories of these are:

- Communication apps
- Entertainment apps
- Gaming apps
- Weather apps
- News apps