RICOMS ICT CENTER

Last Update: 1/2/2018

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER.

THE RICOMS TECHNOLOGIES

 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTRE.
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER
1. General introduction to various computer parts and the keyboard
2. Definitions of terms
3. characteristics, applications, advantages and disadvantages
4. classification, computer concept and data transmission
5. viruses and prevention

COMPUTER.
This is an electronic device used to Record, command, store, interpret, execute commands and
process data to give information as an output.

COMPUTER PROPERTIES (CHARACTERISTICS)

1. Programmable because it dose work automatically following a given program.
2. Automatic because it does work automatic given a command.
3. Performs logical operations i.e. less than greater than.
4. It is capable at working computations of numerical i.e. divisions, additions.
5. Capable of performing data storage.
6. A computer is more versatile meaning that it can do different tasks other than other
electronics.
7. Can be networked for better and cheaper performance.

COMPUTER TERMINOLOGIES
1) HARDWARE – this are physical components of the computer systems – CPU, keyboard,
mouse, printer, screen. Which are called peripherals, Peripherals are physical components
which are connected to the CPU to form entire computer system (input storage and out put)
2) FIRM WARE- Are programmes held in the computer chip. They are software in the form
of an IC, usually the manufacturers logo e.g. COMPAQ, IBM, HP, LENOVO etc.
3) SOFTWARE – Are programmes within a computer system. we have two types
A. System software – Are programmes which support all application software by directing
basic function of a computer. They also determine the way application software runs a
machine examples operating system such as windows 98, 2000, XP, NT, ME etc
B. Application software – Are programmes designed and written to perform a specific
function in a given application area e.g. ms word, ms excel, access.

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4) HUMAN WARE. This are human involvement in the effective operation of the machine
(computer)
ADVANTAGES OF A COMPUTER.
I. Accuracy-Due to program checks and controls applied to data before and during
processing, invalid data is corrected and detected thus ensuring output of computer travel
high degree of accuracy.
II. Timing-Since they operate at an electronic speed closer to the light speed, it means any
time you can get unto data results.
III. Reliability-The main unit (cup) is made of electronic component and it is not prone to
tear or wear like other electronic machines.
IV. Information management-It is possible due to characteristics of a computer because it is
possible to increase the level of information supplied to management for control and
decision making.
V. Flexibility-Can be used for various purposes.
VI. Choice of configuration-There is wide range of optional peripherals which allow any
business to implement those which are suitable for its processing requirements.

DISADVANTAGES
1. Cost – initial cost and maintenance of a computer system is very high.
2. Standby facilities - There is need to buy standby facilities for the computer.
3. Feasibility study – (initial study) if a poor feasibility study is done then a wrong
machine is implemented. This will not do as required.
4. Inflexibility – Changes require considerable commitment of human and computer
resources and for this reason computer system are not as flexible as manual system.

APPLICATIONS / USES OF A COMPUTER

1. Health care. In hospitals where internal parts of the human body need to be examined
is done thru the aid of computer system and related electronic machines e.g. x ray etc
2. Police and defense – can be used as the best means of information exchange and
forensic investigation where finger prints are scanned and the criminal determined.
3. Airline reservation – The international airlines have booking offices all over the world
at any of which is possible to book seats on any flight. To do this airline use central
computer this is connected to a world wide information system.

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 4. Factories – where many machines perform many operations over and over again are
controlled by computers. Computer controlled machines are more accurate and much
quicker than man operated machines.
5. Teaching machine – used in the field of education as a supporting staff for teachers
the computer type’s instruction and multiple choice questions to students who type
back the answers. The computer is pre programmed to continue the instruction if
student answer is wrong or to give suitable revision if he / she selects a wrong answer.
6. Stock control – Stock control programs on a computer enable the management of a
firm to keep accurate and up to date stock records.
7. Banking – A central computer is used to store details of all bank customers in all its
branches worldwide.
8. Business – Computer systems are widely used in this field where by an account
department can have a computerized account where by all important information can
be stored and then computer can keep track for purchase ledger, sales and general.
9. Industry and commercial

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Computers are categorized into 3 main categories

i. Application- use
ii. Generation –(Developed)
iii. Size and capability

Application:
a. Analog – Use to measure values of continuously valuable physical quantities from strength
of electrical current and they transmit data in a wavelength form and mainly used for
manufacturing purposes.
b. Digital: - Use to perform arithmetic and logical functions mainly used for commercial
purposes.
c. Hybrid: - Combination of analogue and digital used for both commercial and
manufacturing purposes.
Size and capability
A. Mainframe computers
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  Big in size, stores a lot of data, have large memory space, and require many people to
operate
B. Mini computers
 Small in size, store a lot of data, low storage capacity and are less powerful.
C. Micro computers
 Require one person to operate, have a devise to allow graphical input.
D. Super and Maxi
 Performs intensive work of weather focus networked to use mainframe computer and have
high processing speed
E. Laptops and palmtops
 Smallest and are portable, can support less peripherals devises and are slow in processing.

Generation
1. 1st Generation computers;
 Developed in the year 1940s
 Used electronic valves as their main storage
 Were large in size and used a lot of power
2. 2nd Generation computers
 Developed in the year 1950s
 Used transistor technology as their main storage
 Were smaller in size and used less power and were less expensive than the 1 st
generation
3. 3rd Generation computers
 developed in 1965
 Used large scale integrated circuits which are mainly transistor components
 More effective than the 2nd generation computers and able to do multiprogramming.
4. 4th Generation computers
 Developed in the year 1971
 Used large scale integrated circuits as their main storage circuits combination of
transistor capacitors and integrated wiring system
 Cheaper than 3rd generation computers
 Have large capacity and can be networked
5. 5th generation computers
 Expected in the year 1990s
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  Should be using new integrated circuits as their main storage
 Will be able to recognize voice thus using voice recognition i.e. as their input devise

BASIC COMPUTER CONCEPT

MEMORY
UNIT
INPUT DEVICES CPU CONTROL
UNIT
OUTPUT DEVICES

ARITHMETIC
AND LOGIC
UNIT

BACKING STORAGE

Central processing unit (CPU)

 Memory unit (MU)
 Control unit (CU)
 Arithmetic and logic unit (ALU)
FUNCTIONS OF INPUT DEVISES
Transfer data to machine for processing
Converts data into machine readable form
Examples; keyboard, mouse, joystick, light pen, disc drives.

FUNTIONS OF OUTPUT DEVICES

A. Communicates results of processing from computer to user
B. Convert information into required form that can be understood by the user
Examples; Screen, printer, plotter, disc drives.
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT
Center / Heart / Core of a computer.
It is divided into three MU, CU, and ALU.

Memory unit

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 Holds programmes instructions, data being processed and results of processing awaiting
transfer to the out put devises.

Stores 5 types of data

 Instructions currently being obeyed
 Data awaiting to be obeyed
 Data currently being processed
 information awaiting output
It is divided into two i.e.
A. RAM- Random access memory
B. ROM- Read only memory

RAM ROM
It is volatile (not constant) Non volatile
Forms major portion Forms smaller portion
Size not fixed Size fixed
Read and write Read only
ARITHMETIC AND LOGIC UNIT
Has two functions
I. Carry out calculations / Numeric operations
II. Perform logical operations

CONTROL UNIT
Read programmes instructions and direct every operation in a procedure not fetch execute cycle
which involve stages
I. Read
II. Decode (interpret)
III. Execute (apply)
IV. Read

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 CONTROL UNIT

READ START
FROM THE MAIN TO FETCH
MEMORY INTRUCTIONS

EXECUTE DECODE
APPLYING INTEPRETING
COMMANDS

BACKING STORAGE / SECONDARY/ EXTERNAL / AUXILLIARY

Used to hold 5 types of data and programmes in permanent form acceptable to computer
a. Magnetic tapes. accessed serially
b. Magnetic discs- random access
c. Universal serial Bus mass storage e.g. Flash Discs
d. Optical discs e.g. CD, DVDs, VCDs

MAGNETIC DISCS
Are two types
a. Hard disc within the system unit of a computer
b. floppy discs

FLOPPY DISKS
Provide a cost effective means of on line data storage
Compared to magnetic tapes they have high storage capacity and offer direct access
capability
Types
1) 8inch diameter
2) 5 ¼ inch diameter
3) 3 ½ inch diameter micro

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PRECAUTIONS OF HANDLING DISKS
 store them where there are no magnetic fields
 Do not bend or fold the disk
 Keep them in their protective jackets after use to prevent dust
 Do not touch the exposed area of the disk but always hold the disk by its label and
insert it by its label upwards
 Never remove the disk from the disk drive do not use force let it slide freely and
close the door after inserting it.
 Never write on a label that is already on the disk with a pencil, ballpoint pen but
always use a felt pen or write the label before fixing it to the disk.

BASIC FUNCTIONS OF A COMPUTER

1) input of data
2) storage of data
3) Retrieval of data
4) processing data
5) Arithmetic and logic calculations
6) Output of information in form of results

DATA COMMUNICATION TRANSMISSION

Collection and distribution of data from and to remote facilities Data is transmitted from computers
over land by telephone lines in air using satellites and under the sea using coaxial cables.

NETWORKING
It is integration / connection of computers system terminals and communication lines
 We have two types of networking;
1) LAN – Local area network – Connected within the same geographical area and do not
exceed 2km radius (interconnection of computers in a room and buildings, site)
2) WAN – wide area network computer connected in different geographical areas
(interconnection of computers in separate sites cities countries)

ADVANTAGES OF NETWORKING
1) Sharing of resources of computer and staff for information
2) provision of local facilities without the loss of central control
3) Even distribution of work, processing loading.

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 4) Improved and more economic communication facilities in general.

COMPONENTS OF A NETWORK

We will stay to the basic network for our discussions. The basic network components today are:

 Cables
 Network Adapter Cards
 Hubs
 Switching Hubs

Network Adapter Card

A network computer is connected to the network cabling with a network interface card, (also called
a "NIC", "nick", or network adapter). Some NICs are installed inside of a computer: the PC is
opened up and a network card is plugged directly into one of the computer's internal expansion
slots

Cables

Routers, brouters, and gateways are inter-networking devices used for connecting different
networks.

SWITCHING HUB
The Switching hub, sometimes called a "Switch" is a more advanced unit over the basic hub.

HUB

The central connecting device is called a hub. A hub is a box that is used to gather groups of PCs
together at a central location
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Repeaters
A repeater connects two segments of your network cable. It re times and regenerates the signals to
proper amplitudes and sends them to the other segments

Bridges
A bridge tells where the message is going. It reduces the traffic on other network segments, since it
does not send all packets. Bridges can be programmed to reject packets from particular networks.

Routers
A router is used to route data packets between two networks. It reads the information in each packet
to tell where it is going. If it is destined for an immediate network it has access to, and directs it to
the right address
Gateways
A gateway can translate information between different network data formats or network
architectures. It can translate TCP/IP to AppleTalk so computers supporting TCP/IP can
communicate with Apple brand computers. Most gateways operate at the application layer, but can
operate at the network or session layer of the OSI model.

TYPES OF NETWORKS

There are THREE major competing topologies

 Ring
 star
 bus networks

Ring Topology

 workstations connect to the ring

 faulty workstations can be bypassed

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Star Topology

 all wiring is done from a central point (the server or hub)

 has the greatest cable lengths of any topology (and thus uses the most amount of cable)

Bus Topology

 all workstations connect to the same cable segment

 wiring is normally done point to point
 a faulty cable or workstation will take the entire LAN down

DEFINATIONS
BIT – Binary digit – referred to as a single digit in a binary number
BYTE – A group of eight bits which is the binary representation of information in binary
representing a character
1 BYTE - = 1 CHARACTER
BYTE – The smallest and less able unit in the memory.

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ACCESS TIME
Total time taken to find and transfer data from storage media to memory it depend on three factors
1. Seek time – Time taken to find correct track of the disk.
2. Rotational delay – Time taken for the correct part of the track to be reached
3. Transfer rate – time taken to move data into the memory

Formula: AT=ST+RD+TR

VIRUSES (Vital Information Resource Under siege)

They are programs disrupts the normal operation of a pc they can load and run without the users
knowledge and cause considerable damage
VIRUS TRANSMISSION
1. Using contaminated diskettes in your computer
2. Installing Pirated software
3. Borrowing Fake games
Updates Names used to describe Viruses
1. Bombs
4. of software distributed through networks from unsafe websites
2. Replicators
3. Trojans horse
4. Variants
5. Worm

VIRUS SYMPTOMS
1. Unfamiliar l messages appearing on the screen
2. Programs taking longer than usual to load
3. Disc access time takes too long for a simple task
4. Less memory available than usual
5. Access lights turning on for non referred devices
6. Programmers and files mysteriously disappearing
7. Executable files changing names for no obvious reasons
8. Changes of disk volumes
9. Data files changing size for no obvious reasons
10. Frequent read and write errors.

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PREVENTION OF A VIRUS
1. Scan all diskettes with an up to date antivirus program
2. If possible avoid using one diskette on several machines
3. Identify and isolate your computer and the disc which could be infected
4. Use an antivirus program to remove the virus
5. determine how virus was introduced to the system and refrain from the practice
6. Find out if any of your diskette could have left you and separate it from the good ones

TOOL KIT ANTI VIRUS PROGRAMS

This program helps in the protection, detection and removal of viruses.
The antivirus programs available are
 Kaspersky
 Symantic
 Avast
 AVG
 Mcfe
 Nod 32
 Dr Solomon’s toolkit

THE COMPUTER KEY BOARD

The key board can be divided into 5 main parts
1. Functional keys
2. Numeric keys
3. Typing area
4. Toggle keys
5. Misllenious keys

 FUNTIONAL KEYS
Their function will always vary from program to program and are labeled F1-F10 on standard key
board and F1-F12 on extended key board.

 NUMERIC KEYS
They function to produce numbers and cursor control functions

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  TYPING AREA
Contains alphanumeric keys A-Z and 0-9 including special characters and fulstops, commas,
colons, etc

 TOGGLE KEYS
Their functions will always vary when off and when on for example;
KEY STATUS
ON OFF
Caps Lock Types capital letters only Types the small letters/ lower case
Num Lock Types numbers only Cursor control and other functions on the
numeric keypad
Insert Allows you to insert a character at All your typing will overwrite while typing in
any part of the document the middle of your document
Scroll Lock Locks the scroll Allows scroll
Pause/Break Pauses the activity Nothing

 Miscellaneous Keys
They have standard functions and are used in many programs e.g.

ENTER/RETURN KEY –
 Signal enter of an action,
 End of a sentence/ new line
 Confirm a command

ESCAPE KEY Used to abandon a process

SHIFT KEYS Usually two and does the following
 Types the top character for those buttons with two characters
 When pressed together with a character it changes the case depending on the status of the
caps lock
CONTROL (Ctrl) and ALTERNATE (Alt)
They extend the functionality of the rest of the keyboard.
WINDOWS and MOUSE click button
Allows you to access the computer programs without the use of mouse

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