Basic Concepts in Information Technology Lecture PDF

Basic Concepts in Information Technology  Basic concepts in information technology Computers play significant roles in our life. They are used in banks, offices, warehouses, factories, schools … etc. The impact of computers increased dramatically when they were connected together through the in...

Basic Concepts in Information Technology  Basic concepts in information technology Computers play significant roles in our life. They are used in banks, offices, warehouses, factories, schools … etc. The impact of computers increased dramatically when they were connected together through the internet. Information exchange become easy which lead to better productivity and less cost. However, new issues appeared such as legal restrictions and intellectual proprietary rights that require you to know your limits on the network and your use of licensed software.  Computer A computer is an electronic device that processes data by following a set of instructions. It has the ability to Receive input data Process data and convert it to information Provide the output data  Computer systems Hardware: The term Hardware refers to the physical components like the system unit , monitor , keyboard , mouse ,camera , printer , ect. Software: software is the intangible component of the computer that refers to the programs that provide instruction for the computer hardware. Users: Hardware and software are useless without users. A computer user is a person who use computer software to perform specific tasks.  Information Technology A set of tools that are used to: receive, process, store, retrieve, print and transmit information in an electronic form. These forms can be: text, sounds, picture or video  Types of computers Mainframe computer. Mini-computer. Super-computer. Personal computers. Networked computer. Laptop computer. Palmtop computer.  Mainframes Room-sized, Very powerful, used by large organisations such an banks to control the entire business operation. Very expensive! They are connected to a large number of terminals that could be Dumb.  Mini Computers Do the same jobs as mainframe, but smaller scale. They are used by medium-sized companies for specific purposes, such as accounting. Personal Computers Cheap and easy to use. Often used as stand-alone computers or in a network. May be connected to large mainframe computers within big companies. Laptop Computer This kind of computers is small, briefcase-sized and portable. It has a small screen and a small keyboard. It can run on batteries as well as on the main power. It is as powerful as a PC but more expensive. Palmtop Computer A Palmtop Computer: is a hand-held computer, which is called a Notepad. It performs some special functions and is considered to be cheap. Network Computer A large Pc-type computer called a Server is connected to smaller PCs called Clients or Terminals, therefore it is unable to work independently. Super Computer Are high capacity, expensive, are used for research and weather forecasting, oil exploration and aircraft design. Computer Components 1- System or CPU Box The box which contain the CPU, main memory, disk drives and power supply. The system box can stand vertically and called tower or horizontally and called desktop. Computer Components 2- Input Devices Input devices are components which are used to feed commands and data into the computer. These include devices such as keyboards and mice. 3- Output Devices Output devices are devices that the computer uses to send us the results of the processing. These include the VDU (monitor) and printers Computer Components 4- Peripherals Devices such as printers, monitor, keyboard and mouse which are connected to the main unit by various types of cables and connectors are called peripheral devices