TOPIC: INTRODUCTION TO DATA PROCESSING

DEFINITION OF DATA
The term data means any basic fact which may be input to some processing system.
A processing system isone where computations, comparisons and general
manipulation of data are done. The processing may be people or machine e.g the
computer.Information on the other hand, is the end-result of a processing system. The
information is needed by management for decision making.

WHAT IS DATA PROCESSING?

Data processing is the task of using a collection of basic facts to ptoduce information,
usually it has no value in itself until it is subjected to analysis, validations and
comparisons with other data produce result(information), for example a collection of
weights of individuals do not turn useful information for decision making. However
when the set of data is processed such as searching for individual with a maximum or
minimumweight or the weight of all concerned in the study, information is produced

PROPERTIES OF DATA
1. Collected/Captured
2. Prepared
3. Presented
4. Precise
5. Complete
6. Accurate
7. Purposeful
8. Assigned

DATA PROCESSING CYCLE

The data processing cycle describes the stages of data processing. It involves the
following stages:

1. Data gathering
2. Data collation
3. Input stage
4. Processing stage
5. Storage stage
6. Output stage

DATA PROCESSING ACTIVITIES

Data processing activities involve the following:
1.INPUT: This involves three steps; collection, verification/validation and coding
2.PROCESSING: This involves classification, sorting, calculating, converting and
storing.
3.OUTPUT:This involves retrieving, converting and communication.
TOPIC: HISTORY OF COMPUTING

EARLY MECHANICAL COUNTING/CALCULATING DEVICES

1. Abacus
2. Slide rule

EARLY ELECTRO-MECHANICAL COUNTING DEVICES

1. John Napier bone
2. Blaize Pascal machine
3. Gottfried Leitbnitz machine
4. Joseph Jacquard Loom
5. Charles Babbage analytical machine

EARLY ELECTRONIC COUNTING DEVICES:

1. Herman Hollerith punch card
2. John Von Neumann machine
Man has put in every effort to have better methods of calculations. As a result of
man’s search for fast and
accurate calculating devices, the computer was developed. Essentially, there are three
kinds of calculating devices:manual, mechanical and automatic.

ABACUS
The first calculating device was the Abacus. The Chinese invented it. It is still in use
in some countries because of its simple operation. It is made up of a frame
divided into two parts by a horizontal bar and vertical threads. Each thread contains
some beads. It was used to calculate simple addition and subtraction.

NAPIER’S BONE
The need for a better calculating device was felt as time passed. John Napier, a
Scottish mathematician,invented a set of eleven rods, with four sides each which was
used as a multiplication tool. These rods were made from bones and this was the
reason why they were called Napier Bones. The rods had numbers marked in such a
way that, by placing them side by side, products and quotients of large numbers can
be obtained.

PASCALINE
The first mechanical calculating machine was invented in 1642, by Blaize Pascal, a
French mathematician. Numbers were entered by dialling a series of numbered wheels
in this machine. A sequence of wheels transferred the movements to a dial, which
showed the result.Through addition and subtraction were performed the normal way,
the device could perform division by repeated subtraction and multiplication by
repeated addition.

LEIBNITZ CALCULATING MACHINE

Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibnitz invented a computer that was built in 1694. It could
add and after changingsome things around. it could multiply. Leibnitz invented a
special stepped gear mechanism for introducing theadded digits and this is still being
used.
JACQUARD’S LOOM
Jacquard’s loom was one of the first machines that were run by a program. Joseph
Jacquard changed the weaving industry by creating a loom that controlled the raising
of the thread through punched cards. Jacquard’s Loom used lines of holes on a card to
represent the weaving pattern.

PUNCHED CARD
During the years1920 and 1930, the punched card system developed steadily. A
standard card was dividedinto 80 columns and 12 rows. Only one character could be
represented in the 80 columns, thus providing amaximum of 80 characters per card.
Punching one, two or three holes in any one column represented acharacter. Holes
were punched into a blank card by a punch machine whose keyboard resembled that
of atypewriter.

NUMBER SYSTEM
To effectively use the computer, it is therefore necessary to know how data is
represented and communicatedto. There are different ways of representing data in the
number system, namely:
1.Decimal System
2.Binary System
3.Octal System
4.Hexadecimal Number System.
TOPIC: DIGITALIZATION OF DATA
Digitalization is the process of converting information into digital format. This
information may represent an object, image, sound, document or a signal (usually an
analog signal) organized into discrete set of its points or samples. This is the binary
data that computers and many devices with computing capacity (such as digital
camera and digital hearing aids) can process.Digitalization can also be defined as the
integration of digital technologies into everyday life.

BENEFITS OF DIGITALIZATION
1. Long term preservation of documents
2. Orderly archiving of documents
3. Easy and customized access to information
4.Easy information dissemination through images and text, CD-ROM, Internet,
Intranet andextranets.

TECHNOLOGY OF DIFFERENT AGES

The ages are:
1. Stone age
2. Iron age
3. Middle age
4. Industrial age
5. Electronic age

EARLY COUNTING DEVICES

In the early days of man’s existence on earth, counting and simple arithmetic were
performed using different parts of the body and some other counting aids. The
following are device used by people of ancient times.

1.Fingers and Toes

2.Stone
3.Sticks
4.Pebbles
5.Cowries

DISADVANTAGES OF EARLY COUNTING DEVICES

1. They are difficult to carry about.
2. Counting and calculation takes a lot of time.
3. They are prone to mistakes.
4. They cannot be used to count or calculate arge numbers.
5. Their results cannot be easily remembered.
6. They have no storage facilities.

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM

 Acomputer system consists of three main parts otherwise called components. They
are :
1. Hardware
2. Software
3. People ware

HARDWARE COMPONENT
The computer hardware could be defined as the physical parts of the computer that
we see, feel and handle. It consists of device for input, processing, storage, output and
communications.Hardware can be divided into two sections:
1.System Unit
2.The peripherals

CPU/SYSTEM UNIT
The CPU is the brain of computer system and it can subdivided into:
1.Control Unit
2. Arithmetic and Logic Unit
3. Memory Unit

CONTROL UNIT
This is the unit of the computer system that fetches instructions from the main
storage, interpret them andissue all the necessary signals to the components making
up the system.

ARITHMETIC AND LOGIC UNIT

This part of the CPU is where all arithmetic operations are carried out in the
computer. This unit is alsoinvolved in decision making. Logic functions such as less
than (<), equal (=), greater than (>) etc which areoperations of comparisons are used
for decision making.

MEMORY UNIT
The memory or primary storage unit is the place in the computer where the program
and the data are stored.The computer memory is divided into two namely:
1.Random Access Memory (RAM)
2.Read Only Memory (ROM)

PERIPHERALS
The peripherals are devices outside the CPU but function under the control of the
CPU e.g mouse, keyboard, printer etc.

SOFTWARE
Software is the set of instructions that is used to direct the computer hardware to
perform its tasks. That is, itis a set of instructions that makes the users to do work and
allow the computer to operate. Software is basically programs i.e another name for
software is program.Program is the sequence of instructions given to computer to
solve a given problem or accomplish a given task. There are two main classes of
software which are:
1.System software
2.Application software
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
These are programs written by the manufacturer to control the smooth running of the
computer.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE
These are programs written by programmers to instruct the computer to perform a
particular task.

PEOPLE WARE
These are people who make and use the computer. They range from professional
users to operational users. Auser could also be anyone who makes use of computer.
Without people, the computer cannot work. There twomain classes of people ware:
1.Computer professionals.
2.Computer users.

PERIPHERALS
Peripherals are in three categories:
1.Input Devices
2.Output Devices
3.Auxiliary Storage Devices

TOPIC: DATA AND INFORMATION

Data is raw, unorganized or unprocessed facts that need to be processed. Data can be
something simple andseemingly random and useless until it is organized

TYPES OF DATA
1. Qualitative data: is a descriptive information (it describes something).
2. Quantitative data: is a numerical information.

CLASSIFICATION OF QUANTITATIVE DATA

Continuous data
Discrete data

EXAMPLES OF DATA
1.Numbers
2. Name of thing, place or animal
3. Words
4. Measurements Descriptions of things

SOURCES OF DATA
1.Television
2. Internet
3. Articles
4. Government documents
5. Newspapers and Magazines
6. Textbooks
INFORMATION
Information can be defined as a processed data that is meaningful to the user.
Information can be used in thedecision making process.

EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION
1.Student ID card
2.Weather report
3.Student’s Report card
4.National passport

SOURCES OF INFORMATION
1.Internet
2.Database
3.Magazine/Newspaper
4.Document
5.Census Board

WAYS OF HANDLING DATA

1.Electronic Methods
2. Non– Electronic Methods

TOPIC: HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

Sub-topic: Generations of Computers
The history of computer development is often referred to in reference to the different
generations of computing devices. We have five generations of computers.A
generation refers to the state of improvement in the product development process.
With each new generation, the circuitry has gotten smaller or miniaturized hence
speed, power, and computer memory has proportionally increased leading to new
discoveries in the tech world that affect the way we live, work and play.

FIRST GENERATION
Electronic machine which was distinct from mechanical computers evolved about
1945. UNIVAC is a goodexample of this generation of computers.
FEATURES
1. They used Vacuum tubes.
2. They were very large and expensive.
3. They were very bulky.
4.They had a low retentive memory.
5. They generated a lot of heat.

SECOND GENERATION
Second generation computers were the replacement of vacuum tubes. Second
generation computers utilized primary discrete TRANSISTORS. They had limited
capability but were more advanced than the firstgeneration computers.
FEATURES
1.They were more reliable than the first generation.
2.They could perform calculations.
3.They had a more efficient storage facility.
4.They generated lesser heat compared with the first generated computers.

THIRD GENERATION
Third generation computers utilized INTEGRATED CIRCUIT [ICs] technology,
Small Scale Integration[SSI] with more sophisticated software capability like multi-
programming, multi-processing and operatingsystems as resource managers.
FEATURES
1.Faster input and output.
2.Increased storage capability
3.Increased process capability
4.Ability to display pictures and musical sound

FOURTH GENERATION
Fourth generation computers appeared at about 1975. The technologies that
characterized these machines were LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION (LSI) and
VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION (VLSI). The computers produced at this
period were of a higher capability in terms of speed, storage and of
superior performance over their counterparts of the third generation.

FIFTH GENERATION
These generations of computers made use of ARTFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI).
This category of co puters was built around the following objects.
1.To build super computer i.e computers which could perform operation in the range
of 10 billioninstructions per seconds.
2. They were designed to have capacities like sight and hearing as well as capability
to stimulatehuman thoughts e.g robots.

TOPIC: CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER I

Computers can be classified based on the following:
1.Type
2.Size
3.Functionality/purpose

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BY TYPE (Type of Data):

Computers can be classified by types into THREE major types. They are:

1. DIGITAL COMPUTER
2. ANALOGUE COMPUTER
3. HYBRID COMPUTER

DIGITAL COMPUTER
This is the most common type of computer today. It measures physical quantities by
counting. Examples arecalculator,digital wrist watches, digital fuel dispenser etc.
ANALOGUE COMPUTER
This type of computer is used to measure and process continuous data such as speed,
temperature, heartbeatetc. Examples are speedometer, thermometer etc.
HYBRID COMPUTER
This type of computer combines the features of digital and analogue computers
together. It is a combinationsof digital and analogue computers.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BY FUNCTIONALITY

Classification of computer according to purpose can be grouped into two (2), namely:
1.General purpose computers
2.Special purpose computers

SPECIAL PURPOSE COMPUTERS

These are computers designed solely to solve a restricted class of problems e.g
computer for medical diagnosis, weapon guidance, traffic control, weather study and
forecast etc.

GENERAL PURPOSE COMPUTERS

These are computers designed solely to solve a vast variety of prpoblems e.g it can be
used for Word processing and at the same time used for graphics, database,
spreadsheet etc.

TOPIC: CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS II

Sub-Topic: Classification of Computers by Size
Computers can be generally categorized into four, namely:
1.Super computers
2.Mainframe computers
3.Mini computers
4.Micro computers

SUPER COMPUTER
These are the largest, fastest and most expensive computers. The cost is several
millions of dollars and the speed isbetween 600 million to 900 million instructions per
second (MIP).Another name for super compuyrt is MONSTER. Scientists in weather
forecasting, exploration make use of super computers. It can also be udsed for
complex calculations e.g CRAY, X-MP etc.

MAINFRAME COMPUTERS
A mainframe computer is a large computer in terms of price, size of internal memory
and speed. It has avariety of peripheral devices such as printers, plotters etc more than
those found with small computers, exceptsmall computers with large amount of
external storage.Mainframe computers usually need a specialized environment to
operate, with dust, temperature and humiditycarefully controlled. They are used n
large establishments e.g banks, airports etc. Examples of Mainframecomputers are
IBM 360/370,NCR-V 8800.

MINI COMPUTERS
Mini computers were developed in the 1970s for specialized tasks (i.e they are
special purpose computers).They are smaller and less powerful and less expensive
than mainframes.Mini computers, as they are called, are easier to install and operate
e.g PDP II, VAX 750/6000, NCR 9300,DEC, HP 3000 etc.

MICRO COMPUTERS
A microcomputer is a computer whose central processing unit (CPU) is based on a
microprocessor.Micro computers are at present the most popular of computers. They
are very small. The capability is generallynot as many and not as complex as mini
computers or Mainframe computers. They are easy to use. Anothername for
microcomputer is Personal Computer (PC).

REASONS WHY MICRO COMPUTERS ARE WIDELY USED

1.They are cheap.
2.They have small sizes.
3.They do not require special environment for their operations.
4.They can be used anywhere.