ACS 101 COURSE LECTURES

History; overview and definitions

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History
 Dates back to somewhere around 3000
B.C.
Abacus was developed in the Orient.
Use:- Arithmetic calculations.
 Blaise Pascal
--First mechanical adding machine in
1642

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Growth, Definitions
 Enormous growth in computer usage in
the last 50 years is Manageable cost.
 Major step the last five years--- download
software into mobile phones, watches,
refrigerators, personal planners etc. Since
the first computers were invented a
(human) generation ago, the trend has
been smaller size, more power and less
expense, and there is no indication that
this trend will change.

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Overview and Definitions
 Transistor: An on/off switch controlled by
electricity.
 An integrated circuit: Combines many
transistors on a single chip.
 A system: A set of components that work
together to perform a task
 Information system: A set of components
that work together to manage the
acquisition, storage, manipulation, and
distribution of information.

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 Cont’d
 Information System: Also called a
computer-and-communications systems.
The components of an information system
are people, hardware, software,
data/information, communication and
procedures.
 End user - A person who uses hardware
and software to perform a task .People
who make products, deliver services, solve
problems and make decisions.
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 Cont’d
 Procedures: Descriptions of how to
accomplish a result (in context)
 Data: Unprocessed facts and figures –
the raw material
 Information: Summarized/ processed
data.
 Hardware: -All physical equipment that
makes up a computer – what can be
touched.
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 Cont’d
 Software: Instructions that cause the
hardware to do the work---operating
systems e.g. Windows 2000, Linux
applications like Word, Excel etc.

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Computers
 An electronic device that can accept
input, process it in a prescribed manner,
output the results, and store the results
for later use. --- A tool used to process
data into information.
 Categories/Classification:
Supercomputers, mainframe,
minicomputers, microcomputers and
microcontrollers.
 Categories are becoming less distinct,
based on:
– processing speed and capacity to store data
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Supercomputers
 Characteristics:
– High-capacity, Costly ,occupy special air-
conditioned rooms.

 Use: weather forecasting, oil exploration,

aircraft design, and mathematical
research.

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Mainframe computers
Characteristics:
– Less powerful than supercomputers.
– fast, large-capacity ,occupy specially wired,
air-conditioned rooms.

Use: Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya

Revenue Authority and Government
Computer Services.
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Minicomputers
 Characteristics:
– Typically refrigerator-size machines …
scaled-down mainframes.

 Use: medium-sized companies for specific

purposes e.g. accounting.

 Minicomputers overlap low-end

mainframes and high-end
microcomputers.
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Microcomputers
 Characteristics:
– can fit on a desktop, briefcase, hand.
– The largest group -- Personal computers
(PC),
 Use: A range of programs, the most well
known being word processing and
spreadsheets.

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Microcontrollers
 Most common but also the least
mentioned

 Distinctions are blurred; many new

mobile phones have an operating system
like Symbian or Windows ME, so they
really belong to microcomputers rather
than microcontrollers.

 Use: Control microwave ovens, cars,

stereo systems, mobile telephones and
other electronic devices.
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Software
 Software consists of the step-by-step
instructions that tell the computer what to
do.
 Divided into application software and
system software.

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Application Software
 Application software, may be
customised/packaged, performs useful
work in general-processing tasks.
 Packaged software includes word
processing, spreadsheet, database
management systems, graphics systems
and communications programmes.
Packaged software is also referred to as
“off-the-shelf” software developed for
sale to the general public.

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System Software
 Includes operating systems:
– enables applications software to
interact with the computer:
– enables the applications software
to interact with the computer.
– manages the computer's internal
resources.
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Hardware
 Consists of equipment in five categories:
 Input, output, processing and
memory, secondary storage, and
communication devices.
 -Input hardware:
 consists of devices that allow people
to put data into the computer in a
form that the computer can use.
Input is by means of keyboard,
pointing device and scanning.
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 Cont’d
 -Output hardware:
– Devices that translate information processed
by the computer into a form that human
being can understand.

– Examples of output are screen, printer and

sound.

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Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 The brains and memory of the computer are the
processor and the main memory, housed in the
computer’s system unit.
 The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the
processor. It controls and manipulates data to
produce information. Memory can also be
called internal storage, primary storage or
working storage – the computer’s “workspace”
where data and programs for immediate
processing are held.
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Secondary storage (SS)
 -Secondary storage consists of devices
that store data permanently (it doesn't
disappear when you turn off the power)
and includes floppy disk, hard disk,
optical disk, zipdrive and tape.

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SS Cont’d
 A diskette, also called floppy disk or
simply floppy, is a removable disk
containing a rotating platter made of
some flexible material. It stores data as
magnetized spots. Today's standard floppy
size is 3.5 inches. The diskette drive on a
PC is usually referred to as drive A:,
sometimes also as drive B:.

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SS Cont’d
 A hard disk is usually non-removable. It
uses the same basic storage concept as the
floppy; the difference is that a hard disk
usually has several platters of metal. The
hard disk on a PC is usually referred to as
drive C:.

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SS Cont’d
 An optical disk, also called CD-ROM (Compact
Disk – Read Only Memory), is a disk that is
written and read by lasers. If you have used
music CDs, you are already familiar with optical
disks. A CD-ROM disk stores files exactly like a
floppy or a hard-disk, except that it can be
written only once. (This is often referred to as
WORM in the computer world: Write-Once-
Read-Many.) The CD-ROM drive on a PC is
often referred to as drive D:, unless there are
other storage devices like external harddisks or
zipdrives attached to the computer.

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SS Cont’d
 · A Zipdrive is an advanced form of floppy
disk or a removable form of mini-harddisk.
A single zip disk can store up to several
hundred megabytes of files.

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SS Cont’d
A tape drive stores data on tape, much like
a music cassette. It is usually only used
for backup, because it is extremely slow
to store or fetch a particular file on a
tape.

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Communication devices
 Used for electronic transfer of data.
Digital communication means that data is
transferred as 0s and 1s, while analog
communication includes non-digital
forms of voice and video. Typical
communication devices:

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Modem:
 Allows computers to communicate over
analog telephone lines:
-A modem translates the digital signals of
computer A into analog signals.
-The analog signals travel over telephone
lines to another modem at computer B.
-This modem translates the analog signals
back to digital ones.
Modem is an acronym for MOdulator-
DEModulator.
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Network card
 If the signal travels on a digital line,
computers can communicate without
modems. This is the case for computers that
are part of a network like the local area
network we have in the computer labs. Note
that the Internet is simply a network of
networks connected by backbone lines.

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Computing phases
 When a computer processes data into
information, it often goes through the
following four phases of activity.
 In the input phase, data is entered or
otherwise captured electronically and
converted to a form that can be processed
by the computer.

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Cont’d
 In the processing phase, the data is
processed or transformed into
information. For example numbers may
be added or subtracted.
 ·In the output phase, the information is
presented in a form usable by people.
 In the storage phase, data, information
or programs are stored in computer
processable form.

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Computer viruses
 Few things can make your heart sink
faster than the sudden failure of your
diskette or hard disk – except maybe the
realization that your computer has been
invaded by a virus. (Many times the disk
failure is caused by a virus.)

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Virus
 Consists of programming instructions that are
hidden in a program.
 capable of copying itself into other programs.
 Sometimes --- a simple prank that pops up a
message.
 Other viruses, however, can destroy programs
and data. Viruses are most often spread when
people exchange diskettes, email attachments
or download information from the Internet.

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Antivirus
 Utility program that scans hard disks,
floppy disks, and the PC’s memory
looking for virus. When the program
detects a virus program, it can either:
– destroy it/heal/clean,
– quarantine (isolate it from the software on the
computer)
– simply notify you of its existence.
 Examples of antivirus software include
Norton Utilities, Dr. Solomon, and MacAfee.
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Sources of Viruses
 email attachments
 exchange diskettes
 downloaded information from the
Internet,
 -- people writing viruses come up with
new ideas for destroying computers all
the time; it is a constant race between
the 'good guys' who detect viruses and
the 'bad guys' who produce them.
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