Part 2Computer Basics (2) Part 3Revolutions in Computing Timeline (5) Part 4Evaluating Website (10) Part 5.Glossary (11) Part 6Bibliography (12)
Part 2: Computer Basics What is a Computer? - A computer is a machine/ electronic device that shares information/ data. It has many different abilities, such as to Store, Retrieve & Process data. A computer also has the ability to type documents, send emails & search something up on the internet. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets, accounting, database management, presentations, games & more What is Hardware? - Hardware is a device that is physically connected to your computer that you can see and touch. For example one piece of hardware is your computer monitor. Without your computer monitor you cannot work your computer, this is what hardware is. Without hardware, your computer will be worth nothing and not even exist because its not workable. What are the main hardware components of a computer? - The main hardware components of a computer include: The processor, The main memory, Secondary Memory, Input Devices & Output devices What is an operating system? What is its purpose? - An operating system is the framework that allows you to communicate with computer hardware in an interactive way. Without this, you would not be able to tell the computer to do anything and it would have any instructions to follow. This is why it is important for a computer to have an operating system.
What is software? Give some samples - Software is a pile of instructions that allows the user of the computer to perform specific tasks for themselves. Without software the computer would be useless. You wouldnt be able to perform tasks like browsing the internet, or open a word document if there was no software program in that computer. - Some samples of softwares: Microsoft Office Word, Publisher, Excel & PowerPoint. Identify common user interface elements and describe their functions - Sorting: You can sort data in any column by text, numbers & dates and times - Search and Filter: A quick way to find items in a list or table. Type in the name you want then only the things related to the name are popped up on the screen. - Navigation: You can pick which pages to go on by simply clicking previous or next on the computer. - Custom Date Range: You are able to put starting date and ending date on the calendar for your arrangements and booking. What is a Peripheral? - An auxiliary device that is connected into the computer for an easier outcome but doesnt stop the computer from working and is not vital to the computer. It just performs and additional function to make things easier.
What Peripherals are commonly used, and what are they used for? - Keyboard: Used to input letters, numbers and punctuations so that the person on it can write emails and browse the web. - Mouse: Used for people to control a pointer and to click on anything theyd like. Basically control the computer in the palms of their hands - Printer: Used for people to be able to print something on the computer that theyve made/ searched up and be able to physically take it places on a piece of paper. - Projector: Allows teachers or anybody to be able to project something on a piece of paper to a bigger size somewhere else - Scanner: Allows people to convert an image or a text onto a digital file, and that file can be placed on a USB.
What is a Network? What are the difference between a network and a stand-alone environment? - A network consists of two or more computers that are linked together in order to share resources (Example: printers and CDs), exchange files, or allow communication on electronics. The computers on a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites, or infrared light beams. - A stand- alone environment has no network hooked up to it there for no connection to the internet. But a network (LAN, WILAN or WAN) makes it possible for data to be shared with other computers. The Internet: WAN, The One in the Home: LAN & The One shared with different buildings: WLAN.
How should a computer workstation be set up to maximize the comfort of the user? 1. The monitor should be at a proper height so that your neck would be straight and you would not feel uncomfortable 2. Your elbows should be at a 90 degree angle 3. Keep your hands in line with your forearms 4. Thighs should be parallel to the floor 5. Use a foot rest to support your feet if at any time it gets uncomfortable. 6. Your chair should be fully adjustable (for seat height, back rest, arm rests) 7. There should be enough space to use the mouse, and for the mouse to move around without bumping stuff 8. Use a document holder to hold information / documents at the same height of the monitor, so its easy to reach for while youre sitting down on the chair.
Part 3: Revolutions in Computing Timeline
Year What is it? Why is it important? Interesting fact Abacus 200 B.C It is a calculating tool used to figure out mathematical equations It was the first form of a calculator and it made life a lot easier back in the day The abacus is still used in everyday life today still Antikythra mechanism 100 B.C It is an ancient analog computer that calculates the astronomical positions. It was the first type of computers ever invented It was discovered in 1900-1901 in a wreck. John Napier, Calculation Tables 1550 He was a person who invented Napiers bones( a type of abacus and also invented logarithms Because without his inventions our lives would have been more difficult because we don't have the knowledge about logarithms The remains of Napier is now buried under St. Cuthberts church Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Punchcard controlled loom 1801 The jacquard loom is mechanical room invented by a man named, Joseph Marie Jacquard It makes manufacturing textiles with complex patterns He did not just come up with the idea by himself, he used the idea of people wanted to make something like this much earlier Charles Babbage, Difference Engine 1847 It is an automated mechanical calculator to arrange polynomial functions It prepares numerical tables using the method of difference. These tables are used in navigation. Today, the tables are computed electronically. The system was a government funded system but the government was not seeing any progress so they cut the funds Samuel Morse, Telegraph 1837 It is the worlds first communication system. It communicates by using electronic signals that is then translated when received It was very important at the time because then people would not have to wait months to receive letters and mail but it would only take a few minutes and it was a scientific breakthrough and the beginning for the telephone The first telegraph line cost $30,00 to build and was built in 1843 Sir Charles Wheatstone, paper tapes 1846 It is a form of storage using paper instead of using hard drives It lasts for long periods of time without degrading or being lost and it can be repaired if damaged The data on the paper tape could have been changed simply by using a special type of hole punch and punching new holes in the paper Stoles, Glidden and Soule, typewriter 1866 A typewriter is a mechanical electromechanical machine that was the ink jet printer- at the time It made life easier because you type what you wanted to print instead of having to write it down and it would be faster than writing it-down Even though invented nearly 150 years ago the typewriter is still being used in parts of India today Herman Hollerith, Tabulating Machine 1881 It was a machine that was used to arrange census data Without it, it would take at least 10 years to arrange by hand but with the machine it would only take 1 year which cuts down on time Herman Holleriths company became part of IBM in 1924 Colossus 1939 It was the worlds first all-electronic calculating device It was used to decipher German military codes during the second world war and without it Hitler may have taken over the world It was built because the German codes got too complicated for the polish Bell Labs, the Transistor 1947 A transistor is a device made up of semi- conductor materials that can both conduct and insulate It made computers lighter, less power, be more reliable and be smaller than traditional computers at the time Back in the day transistors replaced vacuum tubes in computers. That means that computer were made of vacuum tubes back then Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor, Integrated Circuit 1961 It is a set of electronic circuits built on a plate made of usually silicon They wanted to make computers more advanced and smaller and without the integrated circuit it would not have been possible To inventers was creating the exact same thing at the time but none of them was aware if the fact that they were IBM 360 April 7, 1964 It was a mainframe computer that IBM created that could be used for any purpose; science, commercial etc. It was the first family of computers designed for all sorts of different applications IBM 360 family had huge ranges from lightning fast speeds to snail slow speeds Word Processor invented 1979 A word processor is an application such as Microsoft word basically it lets the user write edit and use many features to create a word document such as the one I am writing now Without it we wont be able to edit our documents so for example business cards would have to be hand printed reports would have to be hand written and life would be a disaster IBM invented the word processor but Microsoft today is famous and sells the most word processing applications ARPANET 1969 ARPANET( advanced research projects agency networks) was one of the first operational packet switching networks Arpanet was the first operation packet switching networks ARPANET was considered the predecessor of the internet Intel, 1K RAM CHIP (the 4004) 1971 It was a 4-bit central processing unit or otherwise known as a CPU It was the worlds first single chip micro-processor The Intel 4004 is a family of chips Jonathan Titus, Mark 8 1965 It was the 3 rd
microprocessor based minicomputer ever available to the public audience Because it one of the few available to the public It was the second available microprocessor based minicomputer in America BBN, Telenet 1974 It was a American packet switched network It was the first packet switched network available to the public The company name is Telenet Inc. Paul Allen and Bill Gates invent BASIC April 4, 1975 It is the time when Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership to start Microsoft. Microsoft today is one of the worlds biggest companies and without Microsoft we wouldn't have internet explorer, windows operating systems, Xbox, and most importantly Microsoft office When they created the company, it took them a few months before they actually came up with the name Microsoft USENET 1979 It is a worldwide distributed discussion system It lets people read and post messages Usenet inspired many of the important websites we have today such as yahoo TCP/IP January 1 st
1983 It is short for transmission control protocol/ internet protocol and it is the protocols to connect users in the internet It was a protocol that was needed to connect users It was built into the UNIX operating system Apple Macintosh January 24,1984 It is a series of personal computers (pc) designed by apple It has many important feature that all sorts of people needs in one small pc It is called the Macintosh because the designer liked Macintosh apples Microsoft Windows 1.0 November 20, 1985 It is a 16- bit graphical operating system designed by Microsoft. It was one of the 1 st multitasking graphical user interface systems and it was the 1 st system that windows created. 2 weeks after the release date Microsoft released version 1.01 to fix many of the bugs that the version 1.0 had. The Internet August 6,1991 It is a world wide web that we can use to search up anything and it is full of information. Without internet we would be stuck using books and it takes would take hours to find out what you are looking for. It started back in the 1960s but became public and real in 1991 Apple iPod October 23,2001 It is a series of portable music players by apple It plays music and it has all of the features of a iPhone but its much cheaper and its smaller but it cant call.
It is illegal to play your iPod above 100 decibels in France. Apple iPhone June 27,2007 It is a series of smart phones built and designed by apple. It helps you do everyday tasks and its portable About 34 percent of US high school students own iPhones Amazon Kindle November 19, 2007 It is a series of e- readers also known as an electronic book designed and marketed by Amazon. It is a device that lets you carry hundreds of books in one small tablet like device but instead of carrying heavy books you carry a tablet. You do not need Wi-Fi to access all of the book options but with a ipad or iPod you would need Wi-Fi to see the options Apple iPad April 23, 2010 It is a series of touch tablet computers designed by apple. It combines an iPod and a Mac Book into one small powerful and portable tablet. Over 25 million ipads were sold in 14 months. 3D Printing 1984 It is basically a printer that prints objects in all shapes and sizes using. It gives us the ability to print prototypes so we don't spend as much money in building the real thing or it can print all sorts of useful items. It is possible to 3D print prosthetic parts for humans; in 2012 the first 3D printed prosthetic jaw was implanted. The Cloud 1969 It is an expression used to describe a variety of- different types of computing ideas that involve a large number of computers connected in a real time communication network such as the internet It connected users together on the internet and we need to be able to be connected therefore we can communicate in another way the cloud computer in just a phrase not a thing like Microsoft Part 4: Evaluating Website The site http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/h/hardware.htm was a very effective site because it gave all the information I needed in a short but sweet paragraph. It was filled with information, but at the same time not too long like a Wikipedia site. All the words were easy to understand and it was straight to the point. I couldnt tell who the author of this amazing website was but all I know is that this author was a very good one. The purpose of this site was to give information about the topic, which was about Hardware. I understood was the author was trying to say and I even learned a bit from it also, that hardware is something that is physically connected to the computer or something that you can physically touch like a mouse or the monitor that runs the computer. Also this site is not a site that is biased; this site is specifically just for giving information to students like me. And also the author really wants to improve his website in any way possible that they made a page for giving feedback to the author so he could make changes so that it would be more helpful to people like me. I couldnt tell the last time the author updated it but all I know is that he really wants to improve and he probably updated not too long ago. This site is very well maintained because everything is very neat and organized so its easy to find something you want unlike many other sites where is not maintained properly and its hard to get something you want. I took many things back from this website and overall this site is well designed and organized, easy to read and navigate, there are search buttons available so that you can search something up and find it & finally there are many help screens available for when youre stuck on something. In the end, this was one of the most effective research sites I have researched in this project.
Part 5: Glossary - Peripheral: An auxiliary device that is connected into the computer for an easier outcome but doesnt stop the computer from working and is not vital to the computer. It just performs and additional function to make things easier. - Network: A network consists of two or more computers that are linked together in order to share resources (Example: printers and CDs), exchange files, or allow communication on electronics. The computers on a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites, or infrared light beams. - Stand-alone Environment: A stand- alone environment has no network hooked up to it there for no connection to the internet. But a network (LAN, WILAN or WAN) makes it possible for data to be shared with other computers. The Internet: WAN, The One in the Home: LAN & The One shared with different buildings: WLAN. - Computer: A computer is a machine/ electronic device that shares information/ data. It has many different abilities, such as to Store, Retrieve & Process data. A computer also has the ability to type documents, send emails & search something up on the internet. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets, accounting, database management, presentations, games & more - Hardware: Hardware is a device that is physically connected to your computer that you can see and touch. For example one piece of hardware is your computer monitor. Without your computer monitor you cannot work your computer, this is what hardware is. Without hardware, your computer will be worth nothing and not even exist because its not workable.
Part 6: Bibliography "Chapter 1: What Is a Network?" Chapter 1: What Is a Network? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Components of a Computer System." Components of a Computer System. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Computer Basics." GCFLearnFree.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Computer Basics." GCFLearnFree.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Hardware." What Is Hardware? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "ISpring Online." Common User Interface Elements. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Peripheral." What Is Peripheral? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "Software." What Is Software? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. "What Is the Purpose of an Operating System?" WikiAnswers. Answers, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Self Evaluation: For this project I believe I should get a 4.5/6 for IB grade because although in class I didnt work as much I still came together and pulled off writing about 3500 words in the end. Although in class I didnt work as much, people never knew that out of class, at home I would be working twice as hard on this project! I think I should get a 1/6 for the diagnostic because I finished that on time, and I should get another 3.5 or 4 on the book. I think I should get this mark because I should get 1 mark off for not handing it in on time (just 3 days later) and another half a mark off for not working properly in class. I think my book is really good. I put a lot of effort into it to make it a phenomenal book called Computers for Dummies. I went over the rubric and I believe I finished all of the tasks with a great amount of effort put into it. Even though it seemed like I wasnt the hardest working guy in class, I put most of my time at home finishing everything I missed in class so I could get caught up. I know I handed it in a bit late but I still handed it in and thats why I think I should get one mark off for that. Hopefully I dont bail out on this project because I truly worked really hard on this and I dont believe I should get a bad mark because in the end this is the only mark we will be getting for BTT for our report cards and I really dont want to do bad on my report card! It took me at least 3 or 4 hours of work to just finish the revolutions in computing timeline chart! A lot of hours of hard work! This is why I think I should get this mark for this project.