1. APPENDIX A HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

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

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

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