108443 – Introduction to

Information Technology

Week 1 – Computer Fundamentals

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Introduction to information
technologies being used today

Problem solving and algorithm

design by programming in
Python.

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Lecture Outline

Importance of IT in 21st Century

Essential Components of Computer Hardware
Type of Computer Languages
Data Representation in Computer System

Reference book:
Using information technology - A Practical Introduction to
Computers & Communications
by BRIAN K. WILLIAMS | STACEY C. SAWYER

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What is IT?
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create,
process, store, retrieve and exchange all kinds
of data and information.

Information technology comprises both computer

technology and communications technology.

Information technology (IT)

is a general term that describes
any technology that helps to produce,
manipulate, store, communicate,
and/or disseminate information.

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What is IT?
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY- a computer is a programmable,
multiuse machine that accepts data—raw facts and figures—and
processes, or manipulates, it into information we can use, such
as summaries, totals, or reports.
Its main purpose is to speed up problem solving and increase
productivity.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY- also called

telecommunications technology, involves the use of
electromagnetic devices and systems for long-distance
communication. Examples include telephones, radios, satellites,
broadcast television, and cable TV. Additionally, computers
communicate online through the Internet, forming a vital part of
this technology.
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Importance of IT in 21st Century

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Five Generations of Computers
Generations of Generations
Evolving hardware
computers timeline

First generation 1940s-1950s Vacuum tube based

Second generation 1950s-1960s Transistor based

Integrated circuit
Third generation 1960s-1970s
based
Microprocessor
Fourth generation 1970s-present
based
The present and the Artificial intelligence
Fifth generation
future based

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Essential Components of Computer
Hardware
 Central Processing Unit (CPU) & other

microchips/microprocessors

 Memory & Storage

 System Unit

 Input Hardware

 Output Hardware

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Central Processing Unit (CPU) &
other microprocessors
CPU is the brain of a whole computer system. It is made
of millions of transistors.

This is where the entire decision-making process happens. All

the other parts of the computer just obey the requests of the
CPU.

Microprocessor is an advancement in transistor

technologies that allow multiple transistors to be placed in
a certain package.
It is so advanced and economical that it has become
advantageous for manufacturers to utilize the microprocessor in
almost every part of the computer.
When
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modified for use in machines other than computers,
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Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The two main CPU components on a microprocessor are
the control unit and the ALU, which contain working
storage areas called registers and are linked by a kind of
electronic roadway called a bus.

Control Unit:
• It directs the movement of electronic signals between main memory
and the arithmetic/logic unit.
• It also directs these electronic signals between main memory and
the input and output devices.

The Arithmetic/Logic Unit:

• The arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) performs arithmetic operations and
logical operations and controls the speed of those operations.

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Registers & Buses
Registers are high-speed storage areas for temporarily
storing data during processing.

• They may store a program instruction while it is being

decoded, store data while it is being processed by the ALU
or store the results of a calculation.
• The register can contain the address of a memory location
where data is stored rather than the actual data itself.
• The power and speed of a CPU depends upon the number of
registers that a CPU has and the size of each (number of bits).
E.g., 32-bit system.
• There are several types of registers, including instruction
register, address register, storage register, general register,
and accumulator register.

Buses, or bus lines , are electrical data roadways through

which bits are transmitted within the CPU and between
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the CPU and other components of the motherboard.
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Why Multicore Processors?
10th Generation
“No matter how fast a Intel® Core™
processor i’sitProcessors
runs, can do only one
Features Core i3 thingCore
at a i5
time.” Core i7 Core i9
No. of Cores 2/4 4/6 4/6/8 8 / 10
The multicore processor, designed to let the operating
system divide the work over more than one processor, with
Cache
4 / 6 / 8 MB “cores”
two or more processor 6 / 8 / 12on
MBa single
8 / 12 /16 MB of16
piece / 20 MB
silicon.
Memory

 The
Max faster a CPU runs, the more power it consumes and the
Clock
3.4 GHz
more waste heat – 3.6 GHz –
it produces. 3.9 GHz – 4.5 GHz –
Speed
4.7 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz
Range
 Rather than increasing clock speeds, which requires smaller
Hyper-
transistors andYescreates Yes
tricky engineering
(in latest problems,Yeschip
Yes
Threading
makers are now employing Gen. only)
additional CPU cores and running
them in parallel

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REPRESENTING DATA ELECTRONICALLY

Data is represented in a computer by binary code.

The Binary System: Uses On/Off Electrical States to

Represent Data & Instructions. It uses two numbers: 0 and
1.
For example, the letter “G” is a translation of the electronic signal
01000111, or off-on-off-off-off-on-on-on.

How many representations of 0’s and 1’s can be held in a

computer/storage device such as a hard disk?

Capacity is denoted by bits and bytes and multiples thereof—kilobytes,

megabytes, gigabytes, and so on:
• Bit: In the binary system, each 0 or 1 is called a bit , which is short for
“binary digit.”
• Byte: To represent letters, numbers, or special characters (such as ! or
*), bits are combined into groups. A group of 8 bits is called a byte ,
and a byte represents one character, digit, or other value.
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Memory
As the CPU is on a chip, so are several kinds of memory.
Five principal types of memory chips are:
1. RAM is used to temporarily store program instructions and data.
o volatile— the contents are lost as power goes off or is turned
off.
o Three types of RAM exist— DRAM, SRAM, and MRAM
2. Cache memory speeds up processing by temporarily storing
instructions and data that the processor is likely to use frequently,
such as instructions repeatedly required to run programs.
3. ROM chips store fixed start-up instructions.
o Cannot be written on or erased by the user without special
equipment.
o It contains special instructions for basic computer operations,
such as those that start the computer (BIOS).
o These chips are nonvolatile.
4. Flash memory chips store flexible programs.
o A nonvolatile form of memory
o Can be erased and reprogrammed more than once
5. CMOS chips store flexible start-up instructions.
o CMOS chips contain flexible start-up instructions—such as time,
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date, and calendar that must be kept current even when the
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SECONDARY STORAGE
Secondary storage hardware, permanently hold data and
information as well as programs.

We can divide the secondary storage in the following categories:

1. Hard disks
2. Optical disks: CD, DVD, and Blu-ray
3. Flash and solid-state memory: solid-state drives(SSD), flash
memory
cards, and USB flash drives
4. Smart cards
5. Cloud storage

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1. Hard disks
Hard disks are thin but rigid metal, glass, or ceramic platters
covered with a substance that allows data to be held in the
form of magnetized spots.

Hard Disk Drive Basics:

• Platters separated by spaces
• Clamped to a rotating spindle
• Spindle turns all platters together
• Data organized in tracks, sectors, and clusters
• Operating systems manage sectors based on clusters

Evolution of Hard Disk Density:

• IBM's first disk drive (1956): 2,000 bits per square inch
• Today: Shipping hard disks with 14.3 billion bits or more per
square inch. But that, too, is changing.

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2. Optical disks: CD, DVD, and Blu-
ray
An optical disk is a removable disk, on which data is written
and read through the use of laser beams.

Optical Disk Technology:

• No mechanical read/write arm (unlike hard disks)
• Utilizes a high-power laser beam for writing data
• Data is written by burning tiny pits or indentations on a hard
plastic disk
• Reading data is done using a low-power laser light
• Pitted areas are not reflected and represent 0 bits
• Smooth areas are reflected and represent 1 bits

Blu-ray Optical Format:

• Developed for recording, rewriting, and playback of high-
definition video
• Designed for storing large amounts of data

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3. Flash and solid-state
memory(SSD)
Flash memory and solid-state memory have become the most
important form of mobile secondary storage.

SSDs, Flash Memory Cards & USB Drives

• Disk drives, whether hard disks or CDs/DVDs, involve moving
parts that can break.
• Flash memory, a solid-state technology, has no moving parts
making them more durable than disk drives. and is
nonvolatile.
• Lighter, faster, and energy-efficient compared to conventional
disk drives.
• Flash memory cards are removable and reusable storage
media.
• Inserted into a flash memory slot in various devices (e.g.,
digital cameras, notebooks, smartphones).
• No processor; primarily used for storage.
• USB Drives plug into USB ports of microcomputers.
• Convenient for portable data storage and transport.
•18 Appears as an external drive on the computer screen when
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4. Smart Cards
A smart card is a pocket-size card with integrated circuits
—a microprocessor and memory chips—built into it.

Smart cards can at least function for credit, debit, and personal
information. They offer data storage capacity of around 10
megabytes(10 Mb).

Types of Smart Cards:

• Contact Smart Cards: These cards require swiping or
insertion into card readers, offering better resistance to
misalignment but may wear out from contact.
• Contactless Smart Cards: A contactless smart card includes
an embedded smart card secure microcontroller or
equivalent intelligence, internal memory and a small
antenna and communicates with a reader through a
contactless radio frequency (RF) interface.

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5. Cloud storage
Cloud storage/online storage, is the use of an Internet
service to store data.

User Categories:
• Cloud storage services cater to individual users, home users,
small businesses, and large organizations needing archival
services.
Cloud Storage vs. Cloud Backup:
• Cloud storage focuses on easy access, sharing, and
synchronization of files across devices.
• Cloud backup primarily backs up and restores files in case of
hardware failures.
Popular Cloud Storage Options:
• Examples of cloud storage providers: Dropbox, Microsoft’s
SharePoint & OneDrive, Amazon's CloudDrive, Apple's iCloud,
and Google Drive.
• Ideal for sharing documents, photos, audio, and videos.

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System Unit
The system unit houses the power supply; the
motherboard, with its microprocessor chip and memory
chips; and storage devices.

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Input Hardware
Input hardware consists of devices that translate data into
a
form the computer can process.

 Keyboards
 Tactile or physical keyboards
 Touch-screen keyboards
 Pointing Devices
 Mouse, Touchpad
 Touch Screen, Pen Input
 Source Data-Entry Devices
 Scanners, Bar-Code readers, RFID tags readers
 Image-Capture Devices- Digital cameras, Webcams
 Audio-Input Devices- Microphones
 Sensors- can be used to detect speed, movement, weight,
pressure, temperature, humidity, wind, current, fog, gas,
smoke, light, shapes, images, and so on.
 Biometric-Input Devices- fingerprint and face detection
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Output Hardware
Output refers to the results of processing—that is,
information sent to the screen or the printer or to be
stored on disk or sent to another computer in a network.

 Image or Video Output-Display screens(Monitors, LCD,

LED)

 Hard Copy Output- Printers

 Sound Output- Speakers

 3D Output- 3D Printers

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Computer Software/Program

A program is a set of instructions to perform a task.

 Justlike we humans can understand a few languages (English,
Urdu, etc.), so is the case with computers. Computers
understand instructions that are written in a specific form
called a programming language.
 InEnglish language, we use sentences with words, numbers
and punctuation to express a thought or one piece of
information. The same is true for statements in a programming
language.
 The words, numbers and punctuation in a programming
language are called syntax. Each programming language has
its own syntax.

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Type of Computer Languages
Computer/programming languages, are used to
communicate instructions to a computer.
A program/software is a set of instructions to perform a
task.

Computer languages generally fall into five major categories:

1. Procedural programming
C and C++, Java, Pascal, BASIC
2. Functional programming- used in mathematical
computations.
Scala, Erlang, Haskell, Elixir, F#
3. Object-oriented programming (OOP)
Java, Python, PHP, C++, Ruby
4. Scripting Languages
PHP, Ruby, Python, bash, Perl, Node.js
5. Logic programming
Prolog, Absys, Datalog, Alma-0

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Front-end vs. back-end languages
Front-end languages are primarily concerned with the ‘user’
aspect of the software.
• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• React

Back-end languages deal with storage and manipulation of the server

side of software.
• JavaScript
• PHP
• Java
• Python
• Ruby
• C#

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High-level vs. low-level languages
Low-level languages
• Machine-friendly
• Highly efficient in terms of memory usage
• Difficult to understand
• E.g., Machine code, Assembly languages
Since they're not very people-friendly, they're also not widely
used.

High-level languages
• Less memory efficient
• Human friendly
• Easier to write, understand, maintain, and debug.
• Most popular programming languages in use today are
considered high-level languages. C/C++, Python, JAVA etc.

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Interpreted vs. compiled languages
Interpreted languages
• Code goes through a program called an interpreter, which
reads and executes the code line by line.
• More flexible and platform independent.
• E.g., Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby.

Compiled languages
• Code goes through a build step where the entire program is
converted into machine code.
• Faster to execute.
• Must be compiled or "build" the entire program again,
anytime you need to make a change.
• E.g., C, C++, and C#, Rust, Erlang.

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Assessment
Your understanding of the course/lab will be assessed regularly
through
 Quizzes
 Lab Tasks
 Assignments
and periodically (or once) through
 OHTs (two)
 Presentation/Project
 Final Exam

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Advice
 Keep up with the lectures and participate actively in class.
 Feel free to stop me when I talk too fast or too slow.
 Make sure that you understand the concepts presented in the
lecture before we end our class.

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 Thank You

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