Chapter 1: How are computers organized?
Software, data, & processing ? A computers has no insight or intuition It must be told what to do -- by instructions A program: a sequence of instructions Data: user data and application data User data: data entered by a user The text of a report you entered Application data: supplied by a program Initial font, spacing between lines, etc in MS WORD
Software, data, & processing ? a computer follows programs in working with data Computer application: a program and its application data Software Programs, in old days Computer applications, now
How do computers work? We find out over the whole semester.
Main components in a machine? Central Processing Unit (CPU) Direct all operations in the computer Synonyms: the brain, processors, microprocessors Main memory or memory Holds the data and instructions during processing Synonyms: Random Access Memory (RAM) Input/output (I/O) devices Allow the CPU to interact with users Keyboards, monitors, printers, disks, etc.
Main components in a machine? Network System Unit Input CPU Output Memory Disk
How are components connected? Integrated circuits – chips CPU, memory, etc Buses Electrical passage between chips Motherboard Circuit board hosting all the components Cards: Circuit boards for I/O devices Network card, video card, modem, etc.
How are components connected? Bus Monitor Keyboard Disk CPU RAM
What does the “brain” look like? adapter cards processor chip memory chips memory slots Expansion slots for adapter cards motherboard
What the components look like?
What is a “virtual machines”? A work environment for a specific task An interface A collection of capabilities A way of thinking about the task Examples MS word Internet Explore
Summary – chapter 1 Hardware components Software and Information CPU, memory, I/O devices Connected together by buses Circuits combined in chips Chips placed on cards/board Software and Information Instructions: tell the computer what to do Application data: used by programs User data: processed by programs
Terminology Hardware Software CPU Main memory I/O devices Cache memory Bus Chip and casing Card Expansion slots Instructions Programs Computer applications Latency Processing Data