JARAH WATI VILAROSA

BSCE-1

Module 1: ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT
Activity 1.1 – Define or describe the following lay terminologies in IT lingo:

1. Analog
Analog is an adjective that describes a continuous measurement or transmission of a signal.
It is often contrasted with digital, which is how computers store and process data using ones and
zeros. While computers are digital devices, human beings are analog. It is also characterized in
relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity
such as spatial position, voltage, etc. An analog signal is one in which a base carrier's alternating
current frequency is modified in some way, such as by amplifying the strength of the signal or
varying the frequency, in order to add information to the signal. Broadcast and telephone
transmission have conventionally used analog technology.

2. Digital
Digital describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms
of two states: positive and non-positive. Positive is expressed or represented by the number 1 and
non-positive by the number 0. Thus, data transmitted or stored with digital technology is expressed
as a string of 0's and 1's. Each of these state digits is referred to as a bit (and a string of bits that a
computer can address individually as a group is a byte).Digital technology is primarily used with
new physical communications media, such as satellite and fiber optic transmission. A modem is
used to convert the digital information in your computer to analog signals for your phone line and
to convert analog phone signals to digital information for your computer.

3. Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a central processing unit (CPU) as a microprocessor.
Designed for individual use, a microcomputer is smaller than a mainframe or a minicomputer. The
term microcomputer is not as commonly used as it was during the 1970s-1980s. We now refer to
microcomputers as, simply, computers, or personal computers (PC). A microcomputer's CPU
includes random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM) memory, input/output (I/O)
ports, interconnecting wires and a motherboard. was formerly a commonly used term for personal
computers, particularly any of a class of small digital computers whose CPU is contained on a
single integrated semiconductor chip.
4. Supercomputer
Supercomputer, any of a class of extremely powerful computers. The term is commonly
applied to the fastest high-performance systems available at any given time. Such computers have
been used primarily for scientific and engineering work requiring exceedingly high-speed
computations. Common applications for supercomputers include testing mathematical models for
complex physical phenomena or designs, such as climate and weather, evolution of the cosmos,
nuclear weapons and reactors, new chemical compounds (especially for pharmaceutical purposes),
and cryptology. As the cost of supercomputing declined in the 1990s, more businesses began to
use supercomputers for market research and other business-related models. The performance of a
supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second instead of million
instructions per second.

5. ENIAC
ENIAC, in full Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the first programmable
general-purpose electronic digital computer, built during World War II by the United States.
ENIAC was something less than the dream of a universal computer. Designed specifically for
computing values for artillery range tables, it lacked some features that would have made it a more
generally useful machine. It used plugboards for communicating instructions to the machine; this
had the advantage that, once the instructions were thus “programmed,” the machine ran at
electronic speed. Instructions read from a card reader or other slow mechanical device would not
have been able to keep up with the all-electronic ENIAC. The disadvantage was that it took days
to rewire the machine for each new problem. This was such a liability that only with some
generosity could it be called programmable.

6. UNIVAC
UNIVAC or Universal Automatic Computer was a line of electronic digital stored-
program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later
the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and successor organizations.
UNIVAC is also one of the earliest commercial computers.
7. Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a type of computer that possesses most of the features and capabilities of
a large computer but is smaller in physical size. A minicomputer fills the space between the
mainframe and microcomputer, and is smaller than the former but larger than the latter.
Minicomputers are mainly used as small or mid-range servers operating business and scientific
applications. However, the use of the term minicomputer has diminished and has merged with
servers. A minicomputer may also be called a mid-range computer.
8. Mainframe
Mainframes are high-performance computers with large amounts of memory and processors
that process billions of simple calculations and transactions in real time. The mainframe is critical
to commercial databases, transaction servers, and applications that require high resiliency,
security, and agility. Mainframes are a type of computer that generally are known for their large
size, amount of storage, processing power and high level of reliability. They are primarily used by
large organizations for mission-critical applications requiring high volumes of data processing.

9. Microprocessor
The microprocessor is the central unit of a computer system that performs arithmetic and
logic operations, which generally include adding, subtracting, transferring numbers from one area
to another, and comparing two numbers. It's often known simply as a processor, a central
processing unit, or as a logic chip. It's essentially the engine or the brain of the computer that goes
into motion when the computer is switched on. It's a programmable, multipurpose device that
incorporates the functions of a CPU (central processing unit) on a single IC (integrated circuit).

10. CPU
Stands for "Central Processing Unit." The CPU is the primary component of a computer
that processes instructions. It runs the operating system and applications, constantly receiving
input from the user or active software programs. It processes the data and produces output, which
may stored by an application or displayed on the screen.
The CPU contains at least one processor, which is the actual chip inside the CPU that
performs calculations. For many years, most CPUs only had one processor, but now it is
common for a single CPU to have at least two processors or "processing cores." A CPU with two
processing cores is called a dual-core CPU and models with four cores are called quad-core
CPUs. High-end CPUs may have six (hexa-core) or even eight (octo-core) processors. A
computer may also have more than one CPU, which each have multiple cores. For example, a
server with two hexa-core CPUs has a total of 12 processors.