APPENDIX A HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

INTRODUCTION Information technology (IT) - Any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information-processing needs of an organization Hardware - Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system Software - The set of instructions that the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks

HARDWARE BASICS Computer - An electronic device operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept, manipulate, and store data Hardware components include: Central processing unit (CPU) Primary storage Secondary storage Input device Output device Communication device

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT Central processing unit (CPU) (or microprocessor) - The actual hardware that interprets and executes the program (software) instructions and coordinates how all the other hardware devices work together Control unit - Interprets software instructions and literally tells the other hardware devices what to do, based on the software instructions Arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) - Performs all arithmetic operations (for example, addition and subtraction) and all logic operations (such as sorting and comparing numbers)

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT The number of CPU cycles per second determines the speed of a CPU Megahertz (MHz) - The number of millions of CPU cycles per second Gigahertz (GHz) - The number of billions of CPU cycles per second

PRIMARY STORAGE Primary storage - The computer’s main memory, which consists of the random access memory (RAM), cache memory, and the read-only memory (ROM) that is directly accessible to the CPU

SECONDARY STORAGE Secondary storage - Consists of equipment designed to store large volumes of data for long-term storage Megabyte (MB or M or Meg) - Roughly 1 million bytes Gigabyte (GB) - Roughly 1 billion bytes Terabyte (TB) - Roughly 1 trillion bytes

OPTICAL MEDIUM Optical medium types include: Compact disk-read-only memory (CD-ROM) Compact disk-read-write (CD-RW) drive Digital video disk (DVD) DVD-ROM drive Digital video disk-read/write (DVD-RW)

INPUT DEVICES Input device - Equipment used to capture information and commands Manual input devices Joystick Keyboard Microphone Automated input devices Bar code scanner Digital camera Magnetic ink character reader

OUTPUT DEVICES Output device - Equipment used to see, hear, or otherwise accept the results of information processing requests Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Liquid crystal display (LCD) Laser printer Ink-jet printer Plotter

COMMUNICATION DEVICES Communication device - Equipment used to send information and receive it from one location to another Dial-up access Cable Digital subscriber line Wireless Satellite

COMPUTER CATEGORIES Computer categories include: Personal digital assistant (PDA) Laptop Tablet Desktop Workstation Minicomputer Mainframe computer Supercomputer

SOFTWARE BASICS System software - Controls how the various technology tools work together along with the application software Operating system software Utility software Application software

UTILITY SOFTWARE Types of utility software Crash-proof Disk image Disk optimization Encrypt data File and data recovery Text protect Preventative security Spyware Uninstaller

APPLICATION SOFTWARE Types of application software Bowser Communication Data management Desktop publishing Email Groupware Presentation graphics Programming Spreadsheet Word processing