COMPUTING by Nayla Vadillo Grajeras

14.1 DEFINITION

vadillonayla — 2025-10-03 09:31:04 UTC

They are tools that follow instructions perefectly and quickly.

They follow intructions from de user and from the computer programmer.

14.2 HARDWARE

vadillonayla — 2025-10-04 09:16:39 UTC

Hardwarw is the part of the computer that we can touch. Is the components that are interconnected.

The computer needs all those components, but they are independent and we can change any of them.

CPU:

Is a big, green, plastic board with a lot of chips and many other electronic components mounted on it.

MEMORY:

There are variouaa types of memory in the computer.

HARD DISC:

It is a set of rigid disc.

RAM:

This is a green plastic card with chips.

GRAPHICS CARD:

THis looks similar to the RAM. It aslo green plastic card with chips.

PERIPHERALS:

Are elements of communication between the computer and the ouside world

SOFWARE

vadillonayla — 2025-10-04 09:40:03 UTC

Is the part of the computer that we can't touch.

It is the logic that the computer follows.

THE OPERATING SYSTEMS (OS)

There is one OS per computer, not more not less.

The OS defines the internal logic for the functioning of the computer.

To program the OS, we most know whitch are the components of the hardware and haw they are connected.

THE APLICATIONS:

Sometimes we call them "programs", but any piece of software is a program, including the operatig systems.

Applications are the programs that we use to do things on the computer; they are our tools.

14.2 HARDWARE

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:35:27 UTC

Hardware is the part of the computer that we can touch. Is the components that are interconnceted, they are independent and we can change any of them

CPU

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:38:11 UTC

Is a big, green, plastic board with a lot of chips and many other electronic components mounted on it.

MEMORY

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:40:09 UTC

Memory stores information.

They are various types of memory in the computer.

Hard disc

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:45:29 UTC

Aslo called "hard drive" it is a set of rigid discs with a magnetic surface.

If stories all your programs files.

Advantages: We can save and erase the information when we want.

Disadvantajes: is relative slow: compared to other types of memory.

RAM

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:48:23 UTC

This is a green plastic card with chips. THe RAM is istalled in a slot on the mother board.

The RAM stores applications and files that we are using.

GRAPHICS CARD

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:50:50 UTC

Is similar to the RAM. It defines the format of the graphics and helps the processor to process the graphics faster.

PERIPHERALS

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:52:00 UTC

Are elements of communication between the computer and the outside world.

SOFTWARE

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:56:06 UTC

Is the part of the computer that we can't touch. It is the logic that the computer follows. The programmer writes instructions. A set of instructions is a "program". When we use a program, the computer follows the instructions in the program.

THE OPERATING SYSTEMS

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:57:45 UTC

There is one OS per computer; not more, not less. The OS defines the internal logic for the functioning of the computer. To program the OS, we must know which are the components of the hardware and how they are connected. For example, when we tell the computer to switch off, the OS decides to first close the applications, then to transfer all data from the RAM to the HD, and finally to switch itself off. Operating systems evolve along with computers. In the 1980s only one user could interact with a computer and computers only had text, not images. Computers had one processor, one application, one floppy disc, one keyboard and one screen. The OS was programmed only to manage those hardware components. In those days, the OS was stored on a floppy disk, which was loaded after switching on the computer. The user first loaded the OS, (stored on an external disk) and then the application (stored on another external disk). The user could then start to use the application.

THE APPLICATIONS

vadillonayla — 2025-10-08 09:59:42 UTC

Sometimes we call them "programs", but any piece of software is a program, including the operating system.

Word (word processor)

Excel (spreadsheet)

Access (database)

PowerPoint (presentations)

FIFA 11 (game)

Messenger (telecommunication software), Autocad (CAD)...

An "application suite" is a group of applications in a package. For example: Open Office, Microsoft Office or iWork'09. Application suites normally include a word processor, a spreadsheet, a web browser and other applications. The applications in the suite have a common user interface so that the user can easily learn how to use all of them. The different applications of an application suite can interact with each other. So we can, for example, insert a spreadsheet in a word processor document.