Computing For Beginners

INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL COMPUTING

GENERAL COMPUTING IS THE RIGHT PLACE TO BEGIN IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA , I MEAN NO IDEA! OF WHAT A COMPUTER IS OR EVEN HOW TO USE IT ON BASIC GROUNDS. SURE YOU MUST HAVE SEEN ONE BEFORE, EVEN  SO HERE'S WHAT A COMPUTER SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE:

WHAT IS A COMPUTER?:

NOW THAT WE HAVE HAD OUR INTRO, WHAT EXACTLY IS A COMPUTER?. 
A COMPUTER IS AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR MACHINE, THAT IS ABLE TO RECEIVE INFORMATION (THIS COULD BE RAW FACTS), STORE THE INFORMATION, PROCESS THE INFORMATION IT RECEIVES, BASED ON SPECIFIED INSTRUCTIONS, AND GIVE ITS OUTPUT AS MEANINGFUL/EXPECTED RESULTS.
THIS MEANS THAT THE COMPUTER WORKS LIKE THE PROCESS OF DIGESTION WE HUMANS. IT TAKES IN DATA THROUGH AN INPUT UNIT , JUST AS TAKE IN FOOD THROUGH OUR MOUTHS, STORES THE DATA IT RECEIVES TEMPORARILY, JUST AS WE HOLD FOOD RIGHT IN OUR MOUTH, PROCESSES THIS DATA, JUST AS WE CHEW AND DIGEST THE FOOD WE EAT , THEN GIVES OUTPUT AS EXPECTED RESULTS , JUST AS WE EXPECT TO HAVE ENERGY AFTER A MEAL,SO THE COMPUTER GIVES OUT EXPECTED RESULTS (MEANINGFUL INFORMATION).
THE COMPUTER PROCESSES THE INFORMATION IT RECEIVES BASED ON INSTRUCTIONS IT RECEIVES, HERE'S AN EXAMPLE:
SAY YOU INPUT :  2  +  2
YOU HAVE GIVEN THE COMPUTER TWO THINGS TO WORK ON: 
⦁ DATA
⦁ INSTRUCTION
THE DATA INVOLVES THE TWO'S ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PLUS SIGN, WHILE THE INSTRUCTION YOU'VE GIVEN IS THE "SUM FUNCTION/OPERATION (THE PLUS SIGN)"
Now lets see the kind of stuff the computer system is made of, shall we:


COMPUTER COMPONENTS - BREAK DOWN:



COMPONENTS OF COMPUTER:

A COMPUTER SYSTEM, TO FUNCTION PROPERLY NEEDS TO HAVE TWO MAJOR PARTS:
1) INPUT UNIT
2) OUPUT UNIT
3) PROCESSING UNIT
 

INPUT UNIT


THE TERM "INPUT UNIT" IS USED TO REFER, IN GENERAL TO THE PARTS OF THE COMPUTER THAT ALLOWS USERS TO GIVE INFORMATION AND COMMANDS, TO THE COMPUTER . 

A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THIS IS THE " KEYBOARD" ⌨: WHICH ALLOWS THE USER TO GIVE INPUT, OR IN OTHER WORDS COMMAND TO THE COMPUTER.

"THE TOUCH PAD ON YOUR PHONES 📲, ACT AS INPUT UNIT FOR YOUR PHONE, BUT IT COULD ALSO BE REFERRED TO AS AN OUTPUT UNIT SINCE IT GIVES VISUAL INFORMATION AS OUTPUT."


 OUTPUT UNIT 


THE OUTPUT UNIT AS THE NAME IMPLIES REFERS TO THE COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT PRESENTS THE RESULTS OF PROCESSED DATA/COMMAND , RESULTS OF PROCESSED COMMANDS RANGES FROM IMAGES 🖼 TO VIDEOS🎞 TO AUDIO AND EVEN TEXT FILES.

AN EXAMPLE OF AN OUTPUT DEVICE/COMPONENT IS THE 🖥
Monitor!: IT SURE SEEMS LIKE A TV, IN A SENSE IT IS , ONLY IT DOESN'T FEATURE SUPER SPORTS CHANNEL AND THE LIKES😁, IT REALLY IS JUST A SCREEN THAT IS DESIGNED TO DISPLAY VISUALS OF PROCESSED DATA/COMMAND , YOU COULD WATCH MOVIES, BROWSE THE NET AND READ ARTICLES WITH THE AID OF THE MONITOR!.


*THE SCREEN ON SMART PHONES IS AN OUTPUT UNIT OF THE MOBILE PHONE BECAUSE THEY DISPLAY VISUALS JUST LIKE THE MONITOR 💻
But UNLIKE THE MONITOR THEY HAVE TOUCH COMPATIBILITY WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO GIVE INPUT THROUGH THE SCREEN WHICH SIMULATES WHAT MIGHT SEEM LIKE A KEYBOARD*.....

PROCESSING UNIT


THE PROCESSING UNIT COMPRISES OF THE PARTS OF THE COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT DEALS WITH THE ACTUAL PROCESSING OF A GIVEN COMMAND. THE COMPUTER'S PROCESSING UNIT COMPRISES OF THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS:

1) THE ARITHMETIC & LOGIC UNIT (ALU)
2) THE CENTRAL PROCESSOR
3) THE MEMORY UNIT.

ALU

THIS UNIT HANDLES THE COMPLEX PART OF THE ACTUAL PROCESSING, BECAUSE JUST LIKE A CALCULATOR IT HANDLES MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS SIMPLE ADDITION , SUBTRACTION AND DIVISION OPERATIONS. ITS LIKE THE BRAIN OF THE COMPUTER TOO.

THE CENTRAL PROCESSOR (C.P.U)


   THIS UNIT IS THE HEART OF THE COMPUTER , ALL FUNCTIONS AND PROCESSES ARE CARRIED
OUT HERE. IT CONTROLS ALL OTHER UNITS , AND SUPERVISES THE EXECUTION OF       IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS THAT MUST BE PERFORMED FOR THE SYSTEM TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. THE CPU FETCHES COMMANDS GIVEN BY A USER AND INTERPRETS THIS COMMAND  SO IT CAN BE PROPERLY EXECUTED.


THE MEMORY UNIT

THE MEMORY UNIT , AS THE NAME IMPLIES STORES THE DATA BEING RECEIVED BY THE COMPUTER THROUGH THE INPUT UNIT. THE MEMORY UNIT STORES DATA THAT NEEDS TO BE PROCESSED TEMPORARILY IN A SAFE UNTIL AFTER IT HAS BEEN PROCESSED , THIS SAFE IS KNOWN AS RAM (RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY) OR MAIN MEMORY. 
    THIS KIND OF MEMORY IS KNOWN AS A VOLATILE MEMORY BECAUSE IT ONLY HOLDS MEMORY TEMPORARILY, PROVIDED THERE'S NO POWER OUTAGE IT WOULD KEEP STORING DATA.
THE MEMORY UNIT ALSO INCLUDES A NON-VOLATILE STORAGE, THAT CAN STORE DATA, FOR LONGER PERIODS OF TIME, AS IT CAN EVEN HOLD DATA AFTER A POWER OUTAGE. MOST MODERN COMPUTERS ARE PROVIDED WITH A SMALL PIECE OF MEMORY THAT CAN STORE DATA EVEN AFTER SWITCHING OFF THE CURRENT. THIS IS CALLED A ROM (RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY). 
NOWADAYS, MOST COMPUTERS COME WITH A RAM TO HOLD DATA, THAT IS BEING PROCESSED TEMPORARILY, UNTIL AFTER IT HAS BEEN PROCESSED AND THEN STORE IT PERMANENTLY IN THE ROM OR A SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE*


NOW THAT WE'VE COVERED THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS OF THE COMPUTER , WHICH WE MENTIONED HAS, THREE SUB-PARTS:
1) INPUT UNIT
2) OUTPUT UNIT
3) PROCESSING UNIT
WE ALSO COVERED THEIR FUNCTIONS AND A LITTLE ON HOW THEY WORK. HENCE, WE WOULD BE MOVING ON TO *SOFTWARE* COMPONENT OF THE COMPUTER.


WHAT IS COMPUTER SOFTWARE*


    THE TERM *SOFTWARE*, IS ONE USED TO DESCRIBE SETS OR GROUP OF PROGRAMS OR IN SIMPLE ENGLISH - INSTRUCTIONS/COMMANDS , THAT CONTROLS AND MANAGES THE RESOURCES OF THE COMPUTER (HARDWARE). THIS MEANS THAT WITHOUT THE SOFTWARE THE HARDWARE HAS NO USE. THE SOFTWARE INSTRUCTS THE HARDWARE ON HOW IT SHOULD, OPERATE IN OTHER TO KEEP THINGS RUNNING SMOOTHLY. 
THE SOFTWARE COMPONENT OF THE COMPUTER, ALSO AIDS INTERACTION BETWEEN USERS AND COMPUTERS, AS THE COMPUTER CAN  ONLY PROCESS DATA IN A LANGUAGE IT UNDERSTANDS.
    THESE GROUP OF PROGRAMS (SOFTWARE) COME IN TWO MAJOR CATEGORIES IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM:
   1) SYSTEM SOFTWARE.
   2) APPLICATION SOFTWARE.

*SYSTEM SOFTWARE*:

THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE COMPRISES OF PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE : *OPERATING SYSTEM, UTILITY PROGRAMS, TRANSLATORS*..ETC. THESE SET OF PROGRAMS, WORK DIRECTLY WITH THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS OF  A COMPUTER SYSTEM. THEY DO THE ACTUALLY MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTER RESOURCES. THEY ARE THE MAJOR BACKBONE OF THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. WITHOUT THESE SET OF INSTRUCTIONS THE COMPUTER IS USELESS.

*APPLICATION SOFTWARE*:

   APPLICATION SOFTWARE , ARE SOFTWARE THAT ARE DEVELOPED TO BE INSTALLED       MANUALLY UNTO THE COMPUTER SYSTEM (MOST OF THE TIMES), TO INCREASE FUNCTIONALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF THE COMPUTER SYSTEM.THESE PROGRAMS HAVE NOT MUCH TO DO WITH THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS. THEY DEPEND ON THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. APPLICATION SOFTWARE HELPS THE USERS TO DO MUCH MORE ON THEIR COMPUTERS BY PROVIDING NECESSARY TOOLS TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. 
APPS COME IN A WHOLE LOT OF CATEGORIES WHICH YOU'RE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH:
 GAMING APPS, WORD PROCESSORS, DESKTOP PUBLISHING SOFTWARES, SPREADSHEET PACKAGES, DATA BASE MANAGMENT SYSTEMS (DBMS), 3D MODELLING SOFTWARE, VFX ...ETC

APPS COULD ALSO BE CATEGORIZED AS:
1) CUSTOMIZED APPLICATION SOFTWARE
2) NON-CUSTOMIZED APPLICATION SOFTWARE
I'LL LEAVE YOU TO FIGURE THIS ONES OUT!................................

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