Computer system basic components hardware and software Hardware physical components that make up the computer system Hardware Internal & External External hardware (Input, Output, Storage) Monitor, Webcam, Microphone, Keyboard, Mouse, Projector, Printer, Scanner, Sensor, SD card (memory card), USB stick (pen drive, flash drive) Stylus (Touch Pen), Touch Screen, Digital camera, headphone, earbuds External SSD, External HDD, Optical discs (CD,DVD etc.) , Trackpad (Touchpad) Remote Control Internal hardware Motherboard, CPU, Graphic card, NIC, RAM, ROM, SSD, HDD, Power supply, Sound card Motherboard a circuit board that allows processor and other hardware to communicate each other , acts like a hub , contains non-conductive material thick plastic, copper or aluminum , sockets and slots CPU the brain of a computer, carries out the user’s instructions Contains ALU/CU , ALU – arithmetic and logic unit, calculations take place CU – Control unit, takes instructions, decodes and executes instructions RAM Random Access Memory, an internal chip where data is temporarily stored when running applications. Read/Write. Contents are lost when the power is off. (Volatile) ROM Read only memory, store permanent information. Configuration data, can’t be altered, but can only be read. Contents are not lost even when the power is off. (Nonvolatile) Storage(Internal/External) (SSD/HDD) – Solid State Drive – stores data electrically Hard disk drive – stores data magnetically NIC (Network Interface Card) – a component that allows computers to connect to a network (wired, wireless) Each NIC has a unique MAC address Graphic Card – allows computers to send graphical information to a video display, Usually connects to a motherboard Sound Card – provides the computer with the ability to produce sounds Sound produced can be heard by speaker or headphones Users can record sound input from a microphone Input - Any hardware that allows a user to enter instructions into computers Any hardware that can send data Under the control of the user A fairly complicated Output - Any hardware that takes output from computers and puts it into humanreadable format Any hardware that can receive data Under the control of the computer Less complex Generic File Format -Can be opened in suitable software in most platforms Unlike some file formats like .docx (Microsoft Word), .xlsx(Microsoft Excel), .accdb(Microsoft Access) which can only be opened in certain platforms and they are not generic file format. Generic Text File Format .csv – comma separated values, -stores tabular data in plain text form, -commonly used for data exchange between spreadsheet applications. .txt – (text file) Used for storing unformatted text -Compatible with most text editors (e.g Notepad, TextEdit) .rtf – (rich text format) a document format for creating various text styles, fonts, images and other formatting options -The main advantage is that it can be opened across different word processing software -Users can share documents without losing formatting Generic Image File Format .gif – Graphics Interchange Format -supports animations, transparency and moving images -Simple graphics and small file sizes -Used in web pages .png – Portable Network Graphics - supports transparency and lossless compression -Ideal for images requiring high quality .jpg – (or jpeg) Joint Photographic Experts Group -Used for lossy compression (meaning some image quality is lost during compression) -Best for photographs and images with many colors -Generally smaller file size -does not support transparency .pdf – Portable Document Format -Used for documents, -maintains formatting across different devices and platforms, support text, images and links Generic Video File format .mp4 – Moving Pictures Experts Group Layer 4 -Multimedia container format -Contain video, audio, subtitles, images etc. Generic Audio File format .mp3 – Moving Pictures Experts Group Layer 3 -Contains only audio data -Storing and sharing audio files such as music and podcasts Generic File for Web Authoring .html (HyperText Markup Language) – Language for creating web pages -Define the content and structure of a webpage .css (Cascading Style Sheets) – Language for styling web pages -Adds colors, fonts and layout to HTML pages Generic File Compression .rar (Roshal Archive) File compression format -Compresses files, requires special software to open .zip – File compression format -Compresses files, can be opened by most operating systems 1. A ______ file is a common format for storing plain text without any formatting. 2. The ______ format is used for compressed audio files and is widely used for music files. 3. A ______ file format is used for images that support lossless compression and transparency. 4. The ______ format is a multimedia container used for storing video and audio. 5. A ______ file is a type of document that maintains formatting across different devices and platforms. 6. ______ files are used for web pages and contain markup language for creating structured documents. 7. The ______ file format is often used for creating vector graphics and supports rich text format. 8. A ______ file format is used for compressed archives and can include multiple files and directories. 9. The ______ format is commonly used for digital photographs and supports lossy compression. 10. ______ is a file format for images that can support animation. 11. The ______ format is used for spreadsheet data and is separated by commas. 12. ______ is a file format for compressed archives, known for its efficient compression algorithm. 13. ______ files are used to style HTML documents and control the layout of web pages. Software – Programs that control the computer system and process data. Two types of Software: Application Software & System Software Application Software – performs the tasks required by the user -produce digital products Word Processing Software (MS.Word) – used to manipulate a text document Spreadsheet Software (MS.Excel) – used to organize and manipulate numerical data Database (MS.Access) – Used to organize, manipulate and analyse data Presentation Software (MS.Power Point) – used to create slides for presentations, contains multimedia features Graphics Editing (Photo editing) Software (Adobe Photoshop) – allows bitmap and vector images to be changed Video Editing Software – used to manipulate videos to produce a new video Audio Editing Software – Used to edit, manipulate and generate audio data Apps and applets – Apps – software that ran on a smartphone such as banking, music streaming Applets – small applications that perform a single task on a website CAD (Computer-aided design) – Used to create, manipulate, modify and analyze a drawing/design -produce 2D or 3D diagrams Control and measurement software – to interface with sensors to measure physical quantities such as temperatures System Software – provides a platform on which all other software can run Compiler – a computer program that translates a program written in HLL into a machine code. The original program is called the source code and the code after compilation is called the object code. Linker – a computer program that take one or more object files produced by a compiler and combines them into a single program. Device Driver – software that enables one or more hardware devices to communicate with the computer’s operating system. Without drivers, a hardware device can’t work with the computer. (e.g driver for printer) Utilities – programs that help to manage, maintain and control computer resources. (E.g. antivirus, anti-spyware, backup, disk repair, file management, security, screensavers, and disk defragmenter) Operating System – running in the background of a computer system. It manages many of the basic functions. Functions of OS· Input/output operations · Users to communicate with the computer · Error handling to take place · The loading and running of programs to occur · Managing of security (like user accounts, and passwords)
