Input, Output and Processing

An ICT System In general terms, ICT systems take an input, and process it to produce an output. Process Input Output These different functions are performed by different pieces of hardware. Processing also requires some software.

Hardware & Software Hardware is the physical components that make up a computer system. Software is the programs and data that make the hardware do something useful.

Input Devices Input devices are used to get data into the computer, and include: Keyboard Pointing devices Scanners Cameras Microphones Graphics tablets Touch screens

New Input Devices Lots of new devices – tablets, sat-navs, smart-phones, etc. – have touch screens What are the implications of this? Designers need to re-think some things that they’ve been doing for years: Rollovers, drop-down menus, etc. on web-sites won’t work “Drag and Drop” - how does the screen know whether you’re dragging or scrolling?

Output Devices Output devices are used to get information out of the computer, and include: monitors printers and plotters speakers and headphones computer controlled manufacturing devices

Processing Devices Processing devices are the “engine” of the computer. Processing takes place in: central processing units (CPUs) graphics cards (GPUs) maths co-processors Modern processors often have multiple cores, which means that they have several processors on the same chip.

Types of Software There are three basic categories of software: Operating systems Applications Bespoke or off-the-shelf Suites and integrated packages General purpose Utilities Monitoring & communication software Security – e.g. anti-virus & firewalls Programming – e.g. compilers & interpreters

Software and Input/Output The processing of creating software is called programming When you learn to program, the first thing you learn is usual to create some output – e.g. to display your name or Hello world on the screen. You will also want to learn to accept input from the user quite early on, e.g. to ask questions or to give choices to use as the controls for games, etc. We will be looking at input and output using both Scratch and JustBasic later in the year.