CHAPTER 1: TYPES & COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEMS 1.1 Hardware & Software Hardware • Tangible physical components of a computer system • You can feel it or touch it Internal Hardware Devices: Processor Motherboard RAM & ROM Video & Sound Cards Internal Hard Disk Drives External Hardware Devices: Monitor Keyboard Mouse Printer External Storage Devices Software Programs that control computer systems Set of instructions that make computer do something You cannot physically touch software Relates to ideas & instructions for using physical objects Application software: Programs that allow the user to do specific task Design to carry out tasks Can be general purpose software or custom-made software (specialist software) E.g. Spread sheets, databases, word processing 1. Word Processor: Used to manipulate text documents (Essay, report, etc.), through a keyboard. It allows for many features, such as : (Creation/Editing/Saving of text, Copy and pasting, spell check and thesaurus, Importing images, Translation) 2. Spreadsheets: Used to manipulate and organize numerical data. It allows for features such as: (Use of formulas for calculations, ability to produce graphs, Ability to do if functions and modelling) 3. Database: Used to organize, manipulate, and analyze data. It allows for features such as : (Carry out queries and produce reports, add/delete/modify data) 4. Control & Measuring software : Allow computer or microprocessor to interface with sensors so that it can: (Measure physical quantities, control applications by comparing data with stored data or preset data) 5. Apps:- Type of software that runs on smartphones or tablets and includes: (Video and music streaming/GPS/Camera facility) 6. Photo editing software: Allow user to manipulate photographs stored on a computer, for example, you can: Crop/Change brightness/Resize/Combining pictures together/etc... 7. Video editing software: Allows the user to manipulate videos and produce an edited video, and includes: (Rearranging/Removing/Adding clips, Applying color correction/Creating transitions) 8. Graphics manipulation software: Allows bitmap and vector images to be changed, by alternating lines, curves, and text. System Software Programs that allow the hardware to run properly Control computer's hardware and application program Communicate with user E.g. Operating system, device drivers 1. Compiler: - Computer program which translates HLL (Source code) to machine code (object code) 2. Linkers:- A program which combines a bunch of compiled files and joins them together to make 1 program ] 3. Driver:- Software which allows one or more hardware to communicate with the OS 4. Operating System:- Is the software running in the background of a computer system, and manages many of the basic functions (See later) 5. Utilities:- Programs that have been designed to carry out specific tasks (Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware/Backup of files/etc...)