Chapter 3: The Basics: Hardware and Software

3.1 Basic Hardware

- Basic Computer Hardware
o Hardware: the physical parts of the computer
 CPU: hardware that runs program instructions and controls other hardware
 The computers brain
 Central processing unit
 2 main parts of the CPU
o The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): performs arithmetic and
logic operation on binary integers
o The control unit tells computer components such aa
memory, ALU input and output devices, how to respond to
computer instructions
 Memory: hardware that stores data, RAM (random access memory)
 Keyboard: hardware for input that allows a user to type characters
 Screen: hardware for output that displays characters and images to user
o Software: the programs that instruct the computer what to do
 (the 0’s and 1’s)
- The CPU Clock
o Runs program instructions one at a time
o Speed that it runs instructions is governed by a ticking clock signal
o Gigahertz: means 1 billion ticks per second
 Can run 1 billion instructions per second
o Clock frequency: clocks ticks per second
o Faster clock means faster running programs but more electrical cost and more
heat and shorter battery life
 Circuits wires limit the clocks switching speed
3.2 Cache, Memory, Drive
- Drive and Memory
o RAM holds data temporarily
 When electricity is turned off all data is lost
o Computer’s drive: stores data even after electricity is turned off
 Programs, documents, phots are stored on the drive
o Accessing a drive is slower than accessing memory
 CPU first copies the program and other needed data into memory and runs
the program from memory
o Memory is expensive and thus smaller than the drive
 May only fit part of a program or data
o Copying between drive and memory is slow
 Larger memory means less copying and faster running programs
o More memory means computer will run program faster
o More drive (storage) means the computer can store more videos, phots, docs,
when electricity is off
o A drive use to consist of a spinning disk that stored bits using magnetism
 Hard disk drive (HDD)
  Spinning is part of the sound that a desktop makes and the other sound is a
cooling fan
o Solid-state drive is commonly used today
 Using a computer chip (no moving parts)
 SSD
 Faster but more expensive than disks
- Cache
o A computer has a CPU that executes instructions and a memory that stores data
(includes instructions)
o For faster running programs computers have additional small fast memory called
a cache
 Provides ultra-fast access to the currently needed instructions and data
o CPU is usually accessing items in the cache
 Only occasionally has to copy need items between memory and cache
 Larger cache in faster-running programs due to less time spent
copying
 Cache is relatively small because CPU chip has limited space
- Relative speeds of drive, memory and cache
o Accessing data from a drive is slow, accessing data from memory is faster and
accessing data from cache is fastest
o Part of needed instruction is first copied to memory, and then an even smaller part
is copied to cache
 Larger memory and/or cache yield faster-running programs due to less-
frequent copying
o Can increase speed by adding memory (chips)
o Usually can’t add cache because cache is built into the CPU chip
- Non-volatile storage and USB flash drive
o A storage device after electricity is turned off is said to be non-volatile
 Hard disk drives and solid-state drives are non-volatile
o A USB flash drive is a non-volatile device that users can connect to a computer
via USB port
 Transferring items among computers
o Flash is a kind of non-volatile storage technology with the feature that large
blocks of data can be erased simultaneously (in a flash)
o Many solid state drives also use flash
3.3 Types of Computers
- 1940s-1970s most computers were big and expensive machines
- Server: a computer that delivers (serves) items like web pages, documents, or videos to
other computers over a network, usually has no keyboard or scree
o Usually kept in special closets and are never seen
o Fast, large, costly, power hungry
- PC (personal computer, desktop): used by a few people in a home or office, has a
keyboard and screen, runs various applications
o Laptop is a portable PC using less electrical power, and operable from battery
power
 - Tablet: specialized portable computer that is mostly a screen, used for output and input
o Book reader is a tablet specialised for reading
- Smartphone: pocket sized, has computer functionality, able to run various applications
o Low cost, small, consume little power, slower running than other computer types
- Mainframe: large centralized computer common in the 50’s, used by hundreds of people
- Supercomputer: used for computationally intensive jobs often involving big data and can
execute trillions of instructions per second on large data sets
o Much faster than previously mentioned computers
3.4 Common Input Devices:
- Input devices
o Different devices can be used to input data like texts and images into computers
 Selecting items on the screen is also a way of inputting data
- Keyboard
o Common computer input device allowing a user to press keys corresponding to
letters, numbers, and symbols
o Earliest computer input devices
o 40 words per minute average
o Uses electrical circuitry to detect which letters or keys are being pressed
o Most common arrangement is QWERTY
 Designed to slow down typing actually
- Mouse and touchpad
o Mouse is device that a user can move on a desktop to click and select object
o Optimal mouse detects movement using an optical sensor
 Mouse tracts the movements and calculates the movements and distance
the mouse was moved
o Touch pad is like a mouse but using fingers, skin conducts electricity so touching
with other objects may affect it
o Touch screen is sensitive to touch that uses small electrical signals that are
affected by human skin because skin conducts electricity
- Speech input
o User speaking into a microphone with an app converting speech to text
o Speech recognition app converts audio into text by recognizing spoken works
o Go beyond understanding just what is said but the context of what is said
- Scanner
o Can input printed materials into a computer making the material digital
o Uses a light to illuminate the item to be scanned which rests on glass
 Mirrors reflect the illuminated area to a device that captures the reflection
and send the captured area to a computer
3.5 Common Output Devices:
- Displays
o Computer monitor
 Standalone output device that displays text, images and video
o Screen
 Laptops and mobile devices
 o Displayed text and images consists of rows and columns of colored dots
 Each dot known as a picture element or pixel
 Pixels produce a wide variety of colors by varying ratio of red, green, blue
o CRT (cathode ray tube)
 Is a monitor that houses an electron gun at the rear of the monitor which
emits a high-speed beam of electrons toward a vacuum tube located at the
front of the monitor
o LCD technology produced in 1968 was an alternative to CRT
 More cost effective
 Liquid crystal display
 Crystal in a helix shape and a voltage would cause them to unwind
and controlled the light displayed
o Retina display is a brand of LCD with higher pixel
densities
o Plasma monitor consists of thousands of tiny gases filled cells
 Cells are subpixels and pixels used to create images
o Cells glow and emit red, green or blue when voltage is
applied
 Uses a grid of electrodes to control each cell
o Don’t need an electron gun
 Cost more, higher power consumption and lower durability but are
larger and have more contrast than a LCD monitor
- Printers
o Produces output on a physical medium
o Inkjet printer
 Sprays small drops of ink to create text or images
 Monochrome printer prints in varying tones of black
 Color printer prints in wide range of colors
o Laser printer contains a rotating ink drum that is electrostatically charged by a
laser
 Charged areas form a pattern that picks up powered ink, toner, places the
ink
- Resolution
o Printer resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch)
 300 dpi printer can print 300 distinct dots within one-inch-wide single line
- Speed
o Speed of printer is measured in ppm or pages per minute
- Duplex
o Feature that enables a printer to print on both sides of the paper
- Data projector
o Portable project that displays an enlarged image from a laptop onto a screen
- Speakers
o Common audio output device that convers an electrical signal to music, sound, or
speech
3.6 Hardware trends
 - Server farms
o Collection of thousands of servers located in large buildings specially equipped
with electrical power, physical security, and accessibility for repairs
o Usually in remote areas where land is cheap
- Multicore and graphics processors
o Growing chip capacities means a computers main chip today hold 2,4,8 times or
more CPUs
 Dual core chip holds 2 CPUs on the chip
o Graphics processing unit needed for video games and movies that require special
computations that must occur quickly for good viewing quality
 Special purpose CPU chip whose hardware is specially designed for fast
graphics and video processing
 Built in to laptops, phones, tablets today
- Embedded computers
o A computer embedded inside some type of electrical device like a car, greeting
card, coffee maker, washing machine
3.7 OS Basics
- Interfacing with hardware
o Applications are a program that a user runs to carry out a user task like
listening to music or surfing the web
o App may have to interact with keyboard, mouse, Wi-Fi
o OS is operating system that is a program that implements the detailed
instructions with hardware presenting an application program with a more
abstract interface
- File management
o File is a collection of information stored somewhere on a drive
o Folder is group of files or other folders
o OS role is to manage files and folder, keeping track of such items locations on
a drive making the items visible to a user and allowing a user to open the files
or run apps
- File name extension
o PDF
 Short portable document format
 Describes formatted texts, images suitable for viewing and printing
 Not for editing purposes
o Microsoft office documents
 File is use by the Microsoft work apps to save each apps files in a way
suitable for editing
o Executable file
 An application that windows usually uses
o Media file
 Stores pictures, video, audio, and other media items
- Multitasking OS
o Supports running multiple applications seemingly simultaneously
 o Actually running each application, a thousand times per second and keep
switching
o Switch fast enough to give the user the illusion that they are the only user on
the computer
- Operating system basics
o OS has duties like interfacing hardware, managing files and folders, running
multiple applications seemingly simultaneously
o Hardware interfacing: hide complex details of interfacing with hardware
devices like a keyboard, scree, mouse, drive
 Portion that interface with hardware are called device drivers
3.8 Common Operating Systems
- Unix: is an OS developed in the 1960s by AT&T focusing on multi user support and
is text based, requiring typing to view, copy, move, or delete files or folder and run
programs
- MS DOS: was introduced by Microsoft in 1981 as a simple OS for PCs and was text
based
- Linux: later version of Unix, is free and open-source, was originally text based but
now graphic based
- Windows: graphical OS developed by Microsoft
o Originally simple graphical interface
- Mac OS X: graphical OS developed in early 200s based on Unix OS
- iOS: for apple smartphones and watches
o Involves touching the screen
- Android: graphical OS released by Google for smartphones and tablets
o interactions via touch screen
3.9 OS Stories
- Bill Gates and Allen started Microsoft to create and sell an implementation of the BASIC
high-level programming language for a particular PC at the time
- IBM asked Gates for a operating system for the IBM PC but Gates said no
- BASIC was unimportant but MS-DOS grew to millions of users
o Lead to Windows graphical OS
- Apple
o Mac OS was developed to accompany Apple computers
o After leaving Apple Jobs founded NeXT Computers
o But Apple later bought NeXT and brought back Steve Jobs