Mohamed Hussain (3625)

ADV. Cert in Information Technology – Batch 2.

INFORMATION
SYSTEMS.
Lecture 1.
Information System Tutorial 1

Section-1
1. What is the difference between data and
information? Give examples.
Raw data refers to a collection of numbers, characters, images or other
outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols that are
unprocessed. Such data is typically further processed by a human or input
into a computer, stored and processed there, or transmitted (output) to
another human or computer (possibly through a data cable). Raw data is a
relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the
"processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the
next. The processed data from the first stage may be
defined as information at this stage.
Example: A census. (The information gathered at the
initial survey is called raw data)
The facts collected from the census will then be processed into a
meaningful context to gather information about the
unemployment rate in a country, or the rate of births in a country.
At the very first stage it’s all about numbers, figures, and
collective information about a certain family or a person. This is
processed through any medium to get the information about these
facts in a country.

2. What do you mean by data processing? And why is

it important to process data?
Data processing is the process of manipulation or processing of raw data
(figures, numbers, graphs etc…) to gather useful information about a
certain fact. The importance of data processing can be explained as
gathering information from a bunch of numbers, facts and figures which
just don’t give any meaning. We can see a whole lot of numbers and facts
from a survey which doesn’t have any meaning when they are collected.
These data need to be processed through some form of input/output
method. When we feed raw data or a set of instructions into a computer,
these data needs to be processed using a program so that the output from

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these data can be viewed from the screen as how we need it to be. In
other words, the raw facts or data have no meaning when they are not
processed.

3. What is a system? And describe the functions of a

system.
A system is a collection of inter-related components that works together to
achieve a certain goal set by the person or a company which is operating
the system. For example; an air-conditioner: The system is designed to
keep the room at a temperature that the user wants. To achieve this goal,
the system embedded inside the internal module, restarts the external
module consisting the fans and the cooling systems when the temperature
inside the room exceeds the limit set by the user. (the job of automatically
restarting the external module is done by a small chip programmed to do
this task inside the internal module)
Functions of a system: A basic system functions include inputs,
processing, and output. The modern systems use more contextual
method in order to enhance the system life and operability by including a
feedback and control mechanism.

4. Why feedback and control mechanism is important

for the system?
Feedback and control mechanism is important nowadays in a vast number
of systems. The term feedback refers to, gathering of information from
users, where control means the manufacturer or the system administrator
who can control the system depending on the feedback information. The
feedback information is useful for the future development of these
systems and its operability. For example; the computer aided design
system software called AUTOCAD is developed after each and every
version depending on the vast uses and feedback from its users. The
software users are not given proper permission to change the system
functionality where this is controlled by the developers (or so called
programmers) at the company who develop the AutoCAD system software.

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Another example is computer systems and its physical components. For

example, the systems used to play high graphic games are now developed
by the manufacturers depending on the feedback from users as well as
game developers because the need for higher specification system was
preferred by the gamers and game developers by nowadays.

5. With the help of a diagram, explain the components

of an information system.
Raw facts, numbers,
figures, images,

6. Briefly explain the resources that support the

information system.
 People/Human resources: includes the users, developers, operators, and
people who maintain an information system.
 Hardware resources: includes all types of machines. The physical
Storage media,
components processors,
that System users,
comprise a system could be called as hardware
memory, input/output media developers,
recourses.
 Software resources: The programs used to function an information system,
the user manuals, and the information about the media that these
programs are stored and run.
 Communication resources:
Operating Includes the mediums used to communicate
systems,
Networks, data cables,
application
between systems; software, other
like networks, data cables, phone lines, wireless links
phone lines, routers,
etc… Also the hardware’s and software’s which are used to communicate
and transfer data between these systems.
 Data resources. Data resources include computer databases, business
transactions (in banks and online banking) and any form of raw data which
an organization have access to.

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Section-2
1. What is a computer?
A computer is basically made of three components; an input device, a
processor, and an output device. Furthermore, the input devices include
the keyboard, mouse, barcode readers, and scanners etc… The processor
is however, the heart of a system which undertakes all the processing
tasks. The processor in a computer system is located in the system unit
which comprises of memory, ROM’s, and storage devices. Output devices
(basically the monitor) include monitors, printers and projectors etc…

2. Give a brief idea about the following. In your

answer, you should include when, and who invented
it and also how it works.
a. ABACUS: 5th BC. This is the earliest device which qualifies as a digital
computer. An Abacus contains beads in two rows, where the uppermost
row contains beads that are used when a certain number of counts are
reached. Still used in the Far East and some facilities like UCMAS to
calculate mathematical calculations to aid the human brain. A skilled
abacus operator can work on addition and subtraction problems at the
speed of a person equipped with a hand calculator (multiplication and
division are slower).

b. NAPIERS BONES - LOGARITHMS. 1617. Invented by a

Scotsman named John Napier. This is a manual calculating device which is
also called as “cardboard multiplication calculator”. The calculation is
carried by positioning the cubes (which were marked with some numbers)
into a certain order to get the results. On the top of a column is the
number which will be multiplied by the numbers in the left (Embedded
onto the board), and the result is followed by positioning the results one
after another. In the next page is a graphical example of how this board is
used to calculate multiplication.
(continued in the next page.)

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1
2
3
4
5
BOARD
6
7
8
9

6
1/2
1/8
2/4
3/0
3/6
4/2
4/8
5/4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0/2 0/4 0/6 0/8 1/0 1/2 1/4 1/6 1/8
0/3 0/6 0/9 1/2 1/5 1/8 2/1 2/4 2/7
0/4 0/8 1/2 1/6 2/0 2/4 2/8 3/2 3/6
0/5 1/0 1/5 2/0 2/5 3/0 3/5 4/0 4/5
0/6 1/2 1/8 2/4 3/0 3/6 4/2 4/8 5/4
0/7 1/4 2/1 2/8 3/5 4/2 4/9 5/6 6/3
0/8 1/6 2/4 3/2 4/0 4/8 5/6 6/4 7/2
0/9 1/8 2/7 3/6 4/5 5/4 6/3 7/2 8/1

c. SLIDE RULE. 1621. Nappiers invention directly led to the Slide rule,
which was used by the NASA engineers of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
programs. This is a mechanical analogue computer consisting of two finely
divided rules (rulers) with markings. It contains a pair and a movable inner
one called the cursor. The calculations are done by sliding the inner one in
a certain order to gather the desired result. Used primarily for
multiplication and division. With the use of Slide Rule, the possibilities of
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carrying out scientific functions such as Trigs, Roots, and Logs was also
possible. It does not perform additional or subtraction calculations.

d. BLAISE’ PASCAL. 1642. Invented the first mechanical adding

machine called the Pascaline as an aid for his father who was a tax
collector. This calculator uses gears to perform only addition functions.
Pascal’s invention was used till today until the digital speedometers in cars
to turn the wheel when after a full revolution of the prior wheel.

e. C.G LEIBNITZ. 1671. Invented by German Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Improved on Pascal’s machine to perform multiplication and division
calculations. He managed to build a four-function (addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division) calculator that he called the stepped
reckoner because, instead of gears, it employed fluted drums having ten
flutes arranged around their circumference in a stair-step fashion.
Although the stepped reckoner employed the decimal number system
(each drum had 10 flutes), Leibniz was the first to advocate use of the
binary number system which is fundamental to the operation of modern
computers.

f. CHARLES BABBAGE. 1822. He was an English mathematician,

physicist, mechanical engineer, (proto) computer scientist. He is the first
person to originate the idea of programmable computers. Although, he
developed his ideas based on Jacquard’s Loom which uses punch cards.
His idea of developing a programmable computer was achieved after a
decade when he passed away. His invention is the root to the modern
computer designs. He was also called the “father of modern digital
computers”. At first he developed the Deference Engine, which was later
developed into a complete automatic “Analytical Engine”. The Analytical
Engine is controlled by punch cards as an input and a steam engine for
power. The punch cards in his Analytical Engine served his ideas in two
ways. He generated new punch cards as a set of instructions which could
be stored for later use of the same function. Thus both operations are also
given a name (the “store” and the “mill”; in other words, the memory unit
and the processing unit) as of it comprises the punch cards in the woven
industry. This idea is the fundamental to the any digital computing.

g. HERMAN HOLLERITH. 1899. Was an American who developed the

Hollerith Desk, consisted of a card reader which sensed the holes in the

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punch cards, a gear driven mechanism which could count (using Pascal's
mechanism which we still see in car odometers), and a large wall of dial
indicators (a car speedometer is a dial indicator) to display the results of
the count. The Hollerith method was used in USA as late as in the year
2000 ballot.

h. JACQUARD LOOM. 1801. Invented by a Frenchman called Joseph

Marie Jacquard. He invented a power loom that could base its weave (and
hence the design on the fabric) upon a pattern automatically by reading
from punched wooden cards, held together in a long row by a rope. The
operation is controlled by the punch cards used by the machine. Such an
operation includes Jacquards self portrait woven by this machine. All the
wooden punch cards (an estimate of 10000 cards) for this operation were
built by Jacquard himself.

i. JOHN ANATASOFF & CLIFFORD BERRY. 1939. The US

professor Anatasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry at the Iova
State University built the first all electronic computer. This machine used
45 vaccume tubes for internal logic and capasitors for storage. The
machine was not programmable and it’s design was only appropriate for
one type of mathematical calculation.

j. HOWARD AIKEN. 1944. Invented the Mark 1 with the help from IBM
and Harvard University. This was the first programmable digital computer.
It was not a purely electronic computer. Instead the Mark I was
constructed out of switches, relays, rotating shafts, and clutches. The
machine weighed 5 tons, incorporated 500 miles of wire, was 8 feet tall
and 51 feet long, and had a 50 ft rotating shaft running its length, turned
by a 5 horsepower electric motor. The Mark I ran non-stop for 15 years.

k. ENIAC. 1945.This Electronic, Numerical Integrator and Calculator was

invented by two professors named John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at
the University of Pennsylvania USA. ENIAC was the first machine to use
electronic signals for computing data. Especially designed by the US war
department for the purpose of making aiming tables for the gunners at
World War II. One of the major achievement of ENIAC includes the testing
of the hydrogen bomb in 20 seconds, which took a mechanical calculator
40 hours of labor work. ENIAC generates lots of heat from 18000 vacuum
tubes it needed to work, making the system to incorporate its own special

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purpose air-conditioning system. It weighed 30 tons and fills in a room

with the size of 20 by 40. ENIAC can generate the results of adding two
numbers in 200 microseconds, and multiplication in 2000 microseconds.

l. EDSAC. 1949. Or “Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator” was

an early British computer. EDSAC used the first stored program concept in
a system. Its first program was executed in 6 May 1949, when it calculated
a table of squares and a list of prime numbers. This machine was
developed by a group of scientists at the Cambridge University under the
direct supervision of Professor Maurice Wilkes. It used mercury delay lines
for memory, and derated vacuum tubes for logic. Input was via 5-hole
punched tape and output was via a teleprinter.

m. EDVAC. 1946-1950. or “Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic

Computer” was an invention from the ENIAC’s inventors by teaming up
with mathematician John von Neumann. Like the ENIAC, the EDVAC was
built for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen
Proving Ground by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of
Electrical Engineering. The EDVAC was a binary serial computer with
automatic addition, subtraction, multiplication, programmed division and
automatic checking with an ultrasonic serial memory capacity of 1,000 44-
bit words (later set to 1,024 words, thus giving a memory, in modern
terms, of 5.5 kilobytes). The physical components of EDVAC contains, a
magnetic tape recorder-reader, a control unit with an oscilloscope, a
dispatcher unit to receive instructions from the control and memory and
direct them to other units, a computational unit to perform arithmetic
operations on a pair of numbers at a time and send the result to memory
after checking on a duplicate unit, a timer, a dual memory unit consisting
of two sets of 64 mercury acoustic delay lines of eight words capacity on
each line, and three temporary tanks each holding a single word. EDVAC
continued its works until it was replaced by a new system. And during its
life, EDVAC proves to be worthy of its cost.

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