Computer Hardware Introduction
Computer System Components Input Keyboard, Mouse, Camera, Touch Pad Processing CPU Output Monitor, Printer Storage Floppy, Hard Drive, CD, DVD, Flash Drive
Generations Gen.HardwareSoftware 1 st Vacuum Tubes machine language 2 nd Transistors Assembly language 3 rd Integrated Chip (IC) Higher level languages, Application Programs 4th VLSI (Very Large Scale ICs) Object oriented programming, natural language processing
The Binary System Bits – Binary digits, or 0,1. Bytes (8 bits) – ASCII, EBCDIC One byte is the space needed to store one character, like the letter “ A ”. Kilobyte (KB) – 1000 (actually, 1024) Megabyte (MB) – 1,000,000 Gigabyte (GB) – 1,000,000,000 Terabyte (TB) – 1,000,000,000,000
Connecting Input Devices Analog to Digital Conversion Ports (gateways to the computer) – serial and parallel, USB. Use of interrupts to alert CPU
Processing – CPU components Control Unit Clock cycle regulates all operations Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU) Add Gates – Half adder, full adder AND/OR/NOT gates Memory RAM – Static (faster, less compact) Dynamic ROM
Output Conversion from Digital back to Analog Video Printers - Ink Jet, Laser Sound Controlling Devices (e.g. antilock brakes)
Storage Hard Drive 160 GB on upwards today As low as 256 KB less than 20 years ago! CD-ROM MB DVD-ROM 4 GB - Red Laser, 27 GB- Blue Laser Flash Drives From 256 MB up to 100+ GB
Related Fields of Study Computer Science Software development Computer Engineering Hardware design and development Computer Information Systems Management of technology in organizations.