week 1 hard

Computer Basics

• A computer is an electronic device that receives, stores, processes, and outputs data based on a set of instructions (programs).

Information Processing Cycle

• The core operations of a computer can be broken down into four basic actions:
  • Input: data and instructions are given to the computer through devices such as keyboards, mice, scanners, and microphones.
  • Processing: the computer's central processing unit (CPU) performs operations on the data based on the instructions provided.
  • Storage: data is saved in the computer's memory, which can be primary (temporary, like RAM) or secondary (long-term, like hard drives or external storage devices).
  • Output: data is displayed or outputted in various forms, such as visual display on a monitor, printed on paper, or transmitted to another computer or device.

Data Storage

• Data storage units:
  • 1 GB = 1,024 MB
  • Beyond GB, there are further units like Terabyte (TB), Petabyte (PB), Exabyte (EB), and so on, each representing an additional factor of 1,024 from the previous.

Decimal System

• Computers operate using the binary (base-2) system, but often need to work with the decimal (base-10) system, which is used in daily life.
• Example: data transfer and storage, where manufacturers often market storage devices using decimal prefixes (e.g., a "500GB" hard drive provides 500 billion bytes of storage, not 536,870,912,000 bytes).

Hexadecimal System

• The hexadecimal (base-16) system is widely used in computing due to its concise representation of binary data and ease of conversion to and from binary.
• Numbers can be represented using the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F (or a-f), with 'A' representing 10, 'B' representing 11, and so on up to 'F' representing 15.
• Example: color representation in web design, where colors are often represented using hexadecimal notation, especially in the context of the RGB color model.

Encoding Tables

• Computers use encoding tables like ASCII and Unicode to represent and manipulate textual information in a format they can understand (binary).

Data vs Information

• Data refers to raw facts and figures without any context.
• Information is data that has been processed in such a way that it is meaningful.
• Example: "19930315" is a sequence of numbers (data), but when interpreted as a date, "March 15, 1993", it becomes information.

Transistor

• Transistors in computers are used as electronic switches to represent binary values.
• A transistor can be in one of two states, which correspond to the binary values of 0 and 1.

Computer Types

• Servers: serve data to other computers (clients) on a network.
• Microcomputers (Personal Computers):
  • Desktop Computers: general-purpose computers for individual users.
  • Laptop Computers: portable version of desktops.
  • Netbooks: smaller laptops primarily for internet use.
  • Tablets: touchscreen-based, like Apple's iPad or Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
• Workstations: more powerful than personal computers, used for tasks needing better graphics or computational power, such as video editing, CAD design, and 3D design tasks.