WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

Computer is a device that transforms data into meaningful information. Data can be anything
like marks obtained by you in various subjects. It can also be name, age, sex, weight, height,
etc. of all the students in a class.
Charles Babbage is called the "Grand Father" of the computer.
Computer can also be defined in terms of functions it can perform. A computer can i) accept
data, ii) store data, iii) process data as desired, and iv) retrieve the stored data as and when
required and v) print the result in desired format. The major characteristics of a computer are
high speed, accuracy, diligence, versatility and storage.
The computer performs basically five major operations of functions irrespective of their size
and make. These are 1) it accepts data or instruction by way of input, 2) it stores data, 3) it
can process data as required by the user, 4) it gives results in the form of output, and 5) it
controls all operations inside a computer.

The basic components of a modern digital computer are: Input Device, Output Device,
Central Processor Unit (CPU), mass storage device and memory. A Typical modern computer
uses LSI Chips.
Four Functions about computer are:
accepts data Input
processes data Processing
produces output

Output

stores results Storage

Computer Classification: By Size and Power
Computers differ based on their data processing abilities. They are classified according to
purpose, data handling and functionality.
According to functionality, computers are classified as:
Analog Computer: A computer that represents numbers by some continuously variable
physical quantity, whose variations mimic the properties of some system being modeled.
Personal computer: A personal computer is a computer small and low cost. The term
"personal computer" is used to describe desktop computers (desktops).
Workstation: A terminal or desktop computer in a network. In this context, workstation is
just a generic term for a user's machine (client machine) in contrast to a "server" or
"mainframe."

Minicomputer: A minicomputer isn't very mini. At least, not in the way most of us think of
mini. You know how big your personal computer is and its related family.
Mainframe: It refers to the kind of large computer that runs an entire corporation.
Supercomputer: Itis the biggest, fastest, and most expensive computers on earth.
Microcomputer: Your personal computer is a microcomputer.
B a s i c F u n c t i o n s o f S t a n d a r d Ap p l i c a t i o n S o f t w a r e M S O f f i c e
Microsoft office is a group of application programs containing four programs, namely
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power Point and Microsoft Access. These four
programs help us perform almost everything we need to do in everyday office work.
Word is a program with which we can write and print documents, like letters, reports,
research papers, chapters of books, with texts, tables and charts or graphs inset within text.
Excel helps us in numerical calculation with a huge volume of data on worksheets, creation
of tables, creation of charts and diagrams as well as some performing statistical analysis of
data.
Power Point is for presentation by using projection of slides, which may be used in any
discussion, seminar, lecture, etc. This program helps us preparing the slides containing texts,
pictures, charts, tables, as well as some animated objects.
Access is for database management for searching and querying and some processing of data,
as for example you may build an access application for library database.
Learning all the features of each would not be required, since the special features may be
learnt as and when required taking help from the Help Menu in each program. But the
beginners should familiarise themselves with basic operational functions.
The operation for creating a file, opening an existing file, and saving the file currently loaded
(while working), is more or less same in all the four programs.
For creating a new file, first start the program, and then from the File Menu in the top Menu
Bar, select New. For saving a loaded file, just click the Save Button in the Standard Toolbar
below the Menu Bar.
If you wish to save the file, after doing some work, under a different name or under a
different folder in other Hard Disk or in Pendrive (Note you cannot save a file this way in CD
or DVD which are optical disks), click open the File Menu and select Save As. You will be
prompted to select the location and give a filename. This will be a new updated copy a nd the
original file will remain unchanged.

1. L e a r n i n g B a s i c F u n c t i o n s o f W o r d
A. Page Layout Selecting Paper size A4, Letter etc.; Layout portrait or landscape,
section, header footer same or different in odd and even, vertical alignment top, centre o r
bottom; Margins top, bottom, left, right, gutter for binding, header, footer, mirror margin
option.
B. Paragraph Style Font and Font size title, heading, body text, normal; Alignment left,
centre, right; line spacing single, 1.5, double; space before and after paragraph.
C. Table Creation and Formatting Inserting and deleting tables, rows and columns; resizing
rows and columns, merging and splitting cells and tables; table properties for alignments and
size of table, rows, columns, and cells.
D. Formatting Bold, Underline, Italics, superscript, subscript, endnotes and footnotes;
Bullets and numbering; borders and shading; Tab types and positions; vertical and horizontal
ruler to measure positions; Indenting left, right and first line.
E. Editing Find and Replace; Grammar and Spell Check; Go to page; splitting word window
to view two different pages simultaneously; cut copy and paste, undo operations, repeat last
operation (F4 key);
F. Inserting Page break, section break, Page numbers, symbols; copy past e Excel tables;
copy paste pictures, and charts, draw word object; format picture; positioning and wrapping
objects in page.
G. Printing Checking Print Preview before printing; print selection, current page or pages
from to, copies to print, print order odd and even.
2. L e a r n i n g B a s i c F u n c t i o n s o f E x c e l
A. Knowing the Worksheet Cell address row and column positions, Inserting and deleting
worksheet under the same file, renaming and moving worksheets; Freezing and unfreezing
pane by worksheet row, column or both for data entry, Hiding and un-hiding row or column,
Selecting entire row, column, or a portion of the worksheet.
B. Data Entry Using keyboard cursor key and Number lock for data entry; text and
numerical data entry; text labels for row or columns; Format cell for various types of data
changing decimal places of numeric data, wrap text the cell alignment for label texts in fixed
column width.
C. Worksheet Calculations Auto sum of row total and column total; Sum of selected cells in
a row or column; copy paste of calculation from one cell to following cells in a row or a
column, copy paste calculation from more than one cell into an array of cells in rows and

columns; Formula bar writing formula in formula bar for simple arithmetic calculations;
formula paste function for other calculations.
D. Inserting and Formatting Worksheet Inserting and deleting row, column, or cell, merge
cell, adjusting height of row and width of column; selecting font and font size in cells, rows,
columns, or in entire work sheet; borders and background colours, Inserting and removing
page break horizontal and vertical, Inserting data from Word Tables and pasting Excel
tables to Word; Creating and Inserting Charts; Copy paste Excel Charts in Word document
and resize.
E. Editing Cut, Copy and Paste operations; Special Paste functions paste value and paste
formula, transpose row and column; Fill series in columns e.g. serial numbers; Data sorting
and subtotals.
F. Printing Page set up; Print Preview; setting print area, setting page title rows to repeat at
top or columns to repeat at left;
G. Data Analysis Calculation using formula paste function (fx) statistical formula for
calculating mean, median, mode, Correlation, etc; Data Analysis simple regression and tvalues
3.LearningBasicFunctionsofPowerPoint
A. Creating New Presentation Blank presentation or using design template; Setting layout
by Slide Master View; selecting slide background for title slide and text slides; Inserting
slides,
B. Formatting and Inserting Inserting and deleting slides, inserting slide numbers, date;
Font and font size, Bullets and numbering, alignments, inserting Text Box, Inserting
Microsoft Word Table as Picture and editing Word Table; Insert Movies and sounds;
Material Computer Applications
C. Slide Show View slide show, slide navigation forward and backward, animating slide
show
D. Printing Printing matters in Slides Send to Word and Print Outline only.
4 . Le a r n i n g B a s i c Fu n c t i o n s o f Ac c e s s
A. Concept of Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) The art of breaking
down a large data table into smaller tables with fields and uniquely relating the tables through
primary fields;
B. Creating Tables Creating data tables of the database Table design with fields
(column names) and setting data type and properties; Setting one Primary Key Field or
multiple Primary Key Fields; saving table; preview table; Establishing unique relationships

among tables; types of relationships one to infinity; one to one; Edit relationships set
referential integrity.
C. Designing Queries based on Tables Designing simple query new query, show tables
and add tables; select query fields, set query criterion; parameter query; save query (query
name); datasheet view of query results
D. Designing Forms based on Tables and queries Form Wizards for creating Tabular
Forms, Columnar Forms; Data Entry Forms, Tab stops and Tab order; field properties;
printing Customised Billing Forms; single view and continuous view; preview of forms; sub
-forms; forms as switch for entering parameter value of query criterion; save form (Form
name)
E. Designing Reports Designing Reports of data Report Header, Footer, Page Header, Data
Details, Field Lists, Text box bound to fields, Labels; Text Box properties; various types of
Reports