1. Fundamentals of Computer Systems
Objectives:
You should be able to define what a computer system is
To be able to describe why computer systems are important and need to be reliable
To understand the need for professional standard, ethical, legal and environmental considerations

2. What is a computer system?
TASK:
Write (or type) your definition of a computer system?
A system is a collection of parts that work together for a common purpose.
Why are computer systems so commonly used?
Versatile
Cheap
Small

3. Computer Systems Fill in the gaps on the diagram:
Systems have many inputs and outputs
They often interact with other systems
They can be made up of many sub-systems
A system boundary separates what is in a system and what is not – these can sometimes be hard to define!
INPUTS
PROCESSES
OUTPUTS

4. Dedicated or General Purpose?
A dedicated system has a fixed purpose
A general purpose computer system has more than one use
TASK: Come up with an example of each
Software works in the same way (what is software?)
Another word for dedicated computer systems are embedded systems

5. Why are computer systems important?
TASK: Copy the table and fill out 2 examples of how computer systems can help the areas in humans lives.
What it helps with?
How it can help
Security
Hospitals monitoring patients
Travel
Business
Retail
Entertainment
Communication
Education
Politics and Government
Science

6. Reliability THINK PAIR SHARE
Of an example of when a computer system has crashed/broken/wouldn’t work
PAIR
Share your example with a partner
SHARE
Share your example with the rest of the class

7. Reliability
Computer systems are important and are involved in most human activities:
Safety
Travel
Business
Entertainment
Education
Science
Given our dependence on them, it is vital we are able to trust in the reliability of these systems.

8. Internet Research
Use the internet to research the consequences of unreliable computer systems.
Collect your data and produce a PowerPoint slide to explain
The business/system that was in place
What went wrong
What the consequence were
You will be sharing your story with the class

9. How do we make systems more reliable?
There are several ways of doing this
One of them is to make all systems stick to the same conventions and rules, known as Standards
There are various categories of standards. In computing, standards exist for
programming languages,
operating systems,
data formats,
communications protocols
electrical interfaces.

10. Testing Why is testing important? What is testing? What is it not?
What do testers try to do?

11. Standards What are “ de facto” standards?
What are the two models which help to break down the process of the design and creation of a system?
What are the steps of the second one?

12. Standards in Coding What do de facto standards involve the use of?
What else does it stop?
What is Open Source Code?

13. Standards in Documentation
Having standards in the documentation of the system being developed can allow:

14. Standards in Health and Safety
De facto standards are not enough when considering the health of people.
Therefore the developers also need to follow the …..
When they are developing the system they also need to consider the….

15. Ethical Considerations
Define what ethical considerations are and why they are important
Give three examples of ethical considerations

16. Environmental Considerations
Define what environmental considerations are and why they are important
Give three examples of ethical considerations

17. Legal Considerations What are the three laws that need to be followed
You need to include key points about what they are and how they differ from the others

18. Exam Style Questions Define a system
Explain the difference between proprietary standards and open standards
Explain how de facto standards have helped the development of easy to use computers
Define the term ‘Embedded system’
State two reasons why new IT systems can fail to deliver what was intended