COMPONEN

TS OF A
COMPUTER
Hardware is the
physical
equipment
associated with a
computer system.
FOUR
PRIMARY
COMPONENTS
OF A
COMPUTER’S
1. Input unit - A
peripheral device
that generates input
for the computer.
Input Devices
Keyboard – common
input device that may
be a part of a personal
computer
Mouse – input device with
a ball on its underside,
whose movement on a flat
surface causes a
corresponding movement
on the screen
Joystick - A manual
control or cursor
device, as one attached
to a computer or video
game
Light pen - A small,
photosensitive device connected
to a computer and moved by
hand over an output display in
order to manipulate
information in the computer.
Used in Personal Digital
Assistant and Smart Board.
A trackball is a pointing device
consisting of a ball housed in a
socket containing sensors to detect
rotation of the ball about two axes—
like an upside-down mouse with an
exposed protruding ball. The user
rolls the ball with the thumb,
fingers, or the palm of the hand to
move a cursor.
Microphone – used for
voice input or speech
recognition; the process
of presenting input data
to the computer through
the spoken word.
Touch screen - A
monitor screen that
can detect and respond
to something, such as a
finger or stylus,
pressing on it.
Scanner - An optical device that
reads a printed page or transparency
and converts it into a graphics image
for the computer. The scanner does
not recognize or differentiate in any
manner the content of the material it
is scanning. Everything is converted
into a bitmapped image, which is a
pattern of dots.
4 Kinds of
Scanner
Flatbed scanner - A
scanner that provides a flat,
glass surface to hold pages of
paper, books and other objects
for scanning. The scan head is
moved under the glass across the
page.
Sheet-fed scanner - A
scanner that allows only
paper to be scanned rather
than books or other thick
objects. It moves the paper
across a stationary scan
head.
Handheld scanner - A
scanner that is moved across the
image to be scanned by hand.
Handheld scanners are small
and less expensive than their
desktop counterparts, but rely
on the dexterity of the user to
move the unit across the paper.
Drum scanner - A type of scanner
used to capture the highest resolution
from an image. Photographs and
transparencies are taped, clamped or
fitted into a clear cylinder. A light source
that focuses on one pixel is beamed onto
the drum and moves down the drum a
line at a time.
Digital camera - A still
camera that records images in
digital form. Unlike traditional
film cameras that record a light
image on film, digital cameras
record discrete numbers for
storage on a flash memory card
or optical disk.
Barcode reader - An
optical scanning device
that reads texts which have
been converted into a
special bar code or zebra
stripes.
Webcam - A digital
camera capable of
downloading images to a
computer for transmission
over the Internet or other
network.
2. Processor – more
formally known as the
Central Processing Unit
(CPU); has an electronic
circuitry that manipulates
input data into
information.
3. Output unit - a unit
which delivers
information from the
computer to an external
device or from internal
storage to external
storage.
Output
Devices
Monitor/Screen -
A display screen
used to present
output from a
computer
Types of
Screen
CRT; Cathode Ray
Tube monitors
Monochrome
(Black & White)
Color
LCD; Liquid
Crystal Display
monitors
Printers - A
device that prints
text or graphics
on paper.
Kinds of
Printers
Dot matrix - A type
of printer that forms each
character as a group of
small dots, using a group of
wires located in the
printing element.
Ink jet printer - A
printer that forms an
image by using
electromagnetic fields to
guide electrically charged
ink streams onto the page.
Laser printer - A
printer that uses a laser to
produce an image on a
rotating drum before
transferring the image to
paper.
Voice/Music
output (speakers,
headsets)
Plotter - A computer
output device that draws
graphs or pictures, usually
by moving a pen. A printer
used by architects for their
graphics output such as
sketches and plans.
Types of
Plotter
Drum plotter - A
graphics output device that
draws lines with a continuously
moving pen on a sheet of paper
rolled around a rotating drum
that moves the paper in a
direction perpendicular to the
motion of the pen.
Flatbed plotter - A
graphics output device that
draws by moving a pen in
both horizontal and
vertical directions over a
sheet of paper.
4. Storage unit -
The component of a
computer system that
stores information
required for reference.
Kinds of
Storage
Magnetic disk
storage
 diskettes
•Hard disk
•Flash disk
Optical disk
storage
 Compact disk/CD
recordable
•Digital Video Disk /
DVDrecordable
Software is the
planned step-by-step
set of instructions
required to turn data
into information.
Types of
Software
1. Application Software – This
refers to all programs specifically
designed to solve problems or for any
electronic data processing jobs such
as writing a novel, laying out the text
and graphics of a newsletter printing
reports, or for creating another
program to change a manual system
into a computerized one.
Examples of
Application
Software
Word Processor - is
a computer application used
for the production
(including composition,
editing, formatting, and
possibly printing) of any
sort of printable material.
WordStar
WordPerfect
MS-Word
MS-Publisher
PageMaker
OpenOffice.org Writer
Spreadsheet
Software –
Presents business
data in a grid of
rows and columns.
Lotus 1-2-3
Quattro Pro
Symphony
MS-Excel
OpenOffice. org
Calc
Graphics and
Presentation - is a
computer software
package used to display
information, normally in
the form of a slide show.
MS-PowerPoint
Corel-Draw
Harvard Graphics
Print Shop
Print Artist
OpenOffice.org Impress
Database Management
System (DBMS) – a
software that helps a user
organize data in a way
that allows fast and easy
access to the data.
MS-Access
dBase
FoxBASE
FoxPro
Clipper
MySQL
Oracle
FileMaker
Games - involves
interaction with a user
interface to generate
visual feedback on a
video device.
Mario
Solitaire
FreeCell
Minesweeper
Internet Browser - a
software application that enables
a user to display and interact
with text, images, and other
information typically located on
a Web page at a website on the
World Wide Web or a local area
network.
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Safari
Opera
Opera Mini
Google Chrome
2. System Software – The
system software includes all
programs used to operate and
maintain the computer system.
It controls all input/output
functions and coordinates the
flow of operations during
processing.
Types of
System
Software
Operating System
- a set of computer
programs that manage
the hardware and
software resources of a
computer.
Disk Operating
System (DOS)
Windows
Linux
Unix
MAC OS
Programming
Languages – A
software used to write
or create other
programs or software.
Levels of
Languages
Machine Language is a
system of instructions and data
directly executed by a computer's
central processing unit. Machine
code is the lowest-level of
abstraction for representing a
computer program (represents
data as 0s and 1s)
Assembly Language implements
a symbolic representation of the numeric
machine codes and other constants
needed to program a particular CPU
architecture. This representation is
usually defined by the hardware
manufacturer, and is based on
abbreviations (called mnemonics) that
help the programmer remember
individual instructions.
High-level
Language is a
software used to write
programs in English-
like manner.
FORTRAN (Formula
Translator)
COBOL
Pascal
BASIC
C/C++
Java
Visual Basic
Perl
Utility Software (also
known as service program, service
routine, tool, or utility routine) It is
specifically designed to help
manage and tune the computer
hardware, operating system or
application software, and perform
a single task or a small range of
tasks.
Disk Defragmenters
System Profilers
Virus Scanners
Disk doctors – fix disks
Antivirus – “kill”
viruses
Peopleware are the users
of the computer, they may be
the system analysts,
programmers, encoders or
just a common personnel who
in a way works with the
computer.