Introduction to Information Technology syllabus and concepts

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYLLABUS Unit1: Introduction: Information System-Software and data-Business and industry-IT in home And at play-IT
in education and training-IT in entertaining and the Arts IT in Science, Engineering and Mathematics-Computer in hiding. Unit 2: The Computer System and Central Processing Unit: types of computers-Corporate and departmental computers, desktop computers and personal computers-The anatomy of computer-The foundation of Modern Information Technology: Binary numbers, Digital Signals, Bit and Bytes-Central Processing Unit-Memory. Unit 3: Input and Output: I/O Devices-Keyboards-Inputting text, Graphics-Pointing Devices-The foundation of Modern Outputs: Pixels and Resolutions, Fonts, Color-Display ScreensPrinters Secondary Storage The foundation of Modern Storage: How data is StoredStorage Characteristics-Storage Media-Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, Drives, Optical DiskBacking up Data Unit 4: Software-Introduction-User Interface-Application Programs-Operating System:
Introduction-Types, File management and Utilities-Major Software Issues. Unit 5: Internet and World wide Web: Introduction-The web-getting connected to the webBrowsing the web- locating the information on the web- Web multimedia INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Text book: Information Technology the Breaking Wave By Dennis P.Curtin,kim foley,kernel sen,Cathleen mortin-Tata MC GrawHill publishing
INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Unit I INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Introduction: Information Systems (IS) is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study. An information systems discipline therefore is supported by the theoretical foundations of information and computations such that learned scholars have unique opportunities to explore the academics of various business models as well as related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline. Typically, information systems or the more common legacy information systems include people, procedures, data, software, and hardware (by degree) that are used to gather and analyze digital information. Specifically computer-based information systems are complementary networks of hardware/software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, & distribute data (computing). Computer Information System(s) (CIS) is often a track within the computer science field studying computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their software & hardware designs, their applications, and their impact on society.
Definition
Information systems are implemented within an organization for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people, and its development and implementation methodologies together determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved.
Types of information systems:

The 'classic' view of Information systems found in the textbooks[30] of the 1980s was of a pyramid of systems that reflected the hierarchy of the organization, usually Transaction processing systems at the bottom of the pyramid, followed by Management information systems, Decision support systems and ending with Executive information systems at the top. Although the pyramid model remains useful, since it was first formulated a number of new technologies have been developed and new categories of information systems have emerged, some of which no longer fit easily into the original pyramid model. Some examples of such systems are: Data warehouses Enterprise resource planning Enterprise systems Expert systems Geographic information system Global information system Office Automation COMPUTER SOFTWARE
A software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do and how to do it. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation. Program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched". Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and record Examples of computer software include: Application software includes end-user applications of computers such as word processors or video games, and ERP software for groups of users. Middleware controls and co-ordinates distributed systems. Programming languages define the syntax and semantics of computer programs. For example, many mature banking applications were written in the COBOL language, originally invented in 1959. Newer applications are often written in more modern programming languages. System software includes operating systems, which govern computing resources. Today large applications running on remote machines such as Websites are considered to be system software, because] the end-user interface is generally through a graphical user interface, such as a web browser. Testware is software for testing hardware or a software package. Firmware is low-level software often stored on electrically programmable memory devices. Firmware is given its name because it is treated like hardware and run ("executed") by other software programs. Shrinkware is the older name given to consumer-purchased software, because it was often sold in retail stores in a shrink-wrapped box. Device drivers control parts of computers such as disk drives, printers, CD drives, or computer monitors. Programming tools help conduct computing tasks in any category listed above. For programmers, these could be tools for debugging or reverse engineering older legacy systems in order to check source code compatibility. DATA: The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data (plural of "datum") are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which information and then knowledge are derived. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Raw data, i.e. unprocessed data, refers to a collection of numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices that collect information to convert physical quantities into symbols. 1) Distinct pieces of information, usually formatted in a special way. All software is divided into two general categories: data and programs. Programs are collections of instructions for manipulating data. Data can exist in a variety of forms -- as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits and bytes stored in electronic memory, or as facts stored in a person's mind. Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, a single piece of information. In practice, however, people use data as both the singular and plural form of the word. (2) The term data is often used to distinguish binary machine-readable information from textual human-readable information. For example, some applications make a distinction between data files (files that contain binary data) and text files (files that contain ASCII data). (3) In database management systems, data files are the files that store the database information, whereas other files, such as index files and data dictionaries, store administrative information, known as metadata. IT IN BUSINESS: Introduction: At present, computers are used for every business transactions. The following are some of the business transactions in which computers are successfully used: I. II. III. IV. V. Preparation of wage sheet. Inventory control. Maintenance of records. Providing summarized information required by the management. Banking transactions.
VI.
Preparation of accounts and records for insurance companies.
IT in business: In todays highly competitive economic environment having the right IT in business is a critical element of success. All businesses deal with some of the new technology whether it is just a basic computer system or highly sophisticated software to track sales from the time the initial contact is made until they close. Finding the right IT personnel or company to provide the right systems is not as hard as it may first appear.
There are man y opportunities right on the Internet to find the right IT in business help. If sales companies are doing business on the Internet there is the opportunity to find good Contact Management Systems (CMS) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) software. The CMS software provides sales force managers with all of the tools necessary to monitor the status of the potential sales that are being worked by the members of the sales team.
SEO software is the IT in business solution to propel a business website to high rankings on major Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This brings targeted visitors to the website and leads to more contacts and more sales. Businesses that fail to get visitors to their website on a regular and continuing basis are usually not going to succeed.
The IT in business solutions are available and affordable for businesses both large and small. It is important to do some research to find the right company with a good reputation and that provides the services needed. Once that is done, any business can make the necessary moves to get a step ahead of the competition.
IT IN INDUSTRY: Introduction: In industries, computers are used to control the operation of machineries. The uses of computers in various industries are as follows: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
I.
Computers are helpful in process control in paper, sugar, iron and steel, chemical industries and oil refineries. This controlling technique will increase productivity by reducing wastage.
II.
In printing industry, computers are useful for printing news papers, magazines and books speedily.
III.
They are helpful in designing machineries, motor vehicles, ships, air crafts and bridges.
IV.
The electricity boards are using computers to control voltage fluctuations.
Information Technology In Industry: Information technology, and the hardware and software associated with the IT industry, are an integral part of nearly every major global industry.
The information technology (IT) industry has become of the most robust industries in the world. IT, more than any other industry or economic facet, has an increased productivity, particularly in the developed world, and therefore is a key driver of global economic growth. Economies of scale and insatiable demand from both consumers and enterprises characterize this rapidly growing sector. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) explains 'information technology' as encompassing all possible aspects of information systems based on computers. Both software development and the hardware involved in the IT industry include everything from computer systems, to the design, implementation, study and development of IT and management systems.
Owing to its easy accessibility and the wide range of IT products available, the demand for IT services has increased substantially over the years. The IT sector has emerged as a major global source of both growth and employment.
Features of the IT Industry at a Glance Economies of scale for the information technology industry are high. The marginal cost of each unit of additional software or hardware is insignificant compared to the value addition that results from it. Unlike other common industries, the IT industry is knowledge-based.
Efficient utilization of skilled labor forces in the IT sector can help an economy achieve a rapid pace of economic growth.
The IT industry helps many other sectors in the growth process of the economy including the services and manufacturing sectors.
IT AT PLAY: In past years, both the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact have claimed underdog status when facing Toronto in Nutrilite Canadian Championship play. As division two teams, it was part of their rallying cry against Canada's lone MLS side. Now with Vancouver in MLS, too, and Montreal still a year away, Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos was quick to play that card after practice in Saint-Leonard on Monday. "We're not in the MLS," he said. "We don't have the budget Vancouver has. We know all the odds are for them. "They should beat us, if it's normal. But we hope it's not normal. We hope we can be a team that can surprise them."
It's a trick Montreal has pulled off before. They won the 2008 Nutrilite tournament and, as Canada's qualifier for the CONCACAF Champions League, made a memorable run to the quarterfinals, playing Mexican side Santos Laguna in front of 55,000 fans at Olympic Stadium. The Impact aren't alone in their David vs. Goliath mentality this year. The tournament has expanded from three to four teams with the addition of seconddivision side Edmonton, who will face Toronto in the other two-leg semifinal. "Vancouver is a team built with Teitur's identity, but with more quality players. Alain Rochat is better than Nelson Akwari. [Davide] Chiumiento brings a lot and you have the addition of [Eric] Hassli and Atiba Harris and Camilo -those three are better than any forward Vancouver's had in the past." Montreal's makeover includes the retirement of colourful defender Adam Braz and classy striker Eduardo Sebrango. The Impact added experience in 28-yearold midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer and 29-yearold goalkeeper Bill Gaudette, whom Caps fans will remember from the Puerto Rico Islanders. Left back Zurab Tsiskaridze, one of the fan favourites at Swangard Stadium last season, joined after Thordarson released him in the off-season. The Impact have kept their core largely intact with captain Nevio Pizzolitto, Leo Di Lorenzo and David Testo all returning. "We're coming in as underdogs," Dos Santos said, "and that can be an advantage for us." IT IN EDUCATION: Introduction: As regards education, computers are used in teaching the subjects and maintain books in the libraries. Particularly it is a gift of God for the students studying science and engineering Computer Aided Education(CAE) and Computer Based Training (CBT) packages are making learning more interactive.
IT in education - for students Because IT is so powerful, it can be used at all levels of education and training, from primary to higher education and in the workplace. In certain situations IT can probably be more effective than any other media, for example in dynamic graph drawing models which are under student control simulations to save equipment and laboratory animals drill and practice to replace material often covered poorly in crowded tutorials illustrated lecture to improve visual communication
With lectures, students need to absorb material at a fixed rate, or make good notes. CAL can be used at the students optimum pace. Test results seem to indicate that the material covered by their courseware is more accessible, and offers more opportunity for practise on a computer, than in textbooks and lectures. Education in IT - for students There is, of course, a need for any country to have enough trained electronics engineers and computer scientists. But it is essential for a much larger number of employees to have a wide range of practical IT skills. It is also important for them to have m ore general skills in lifelong learning. Evidence is emerging that early learning of study skills can make students more effective learners overall. These can be skills in using IT for studying, or more general skills learned through IT. It should be worth students being educated in IT to be able to make full use of: Productivity Tools numerical processing spreadsheets, statistics programming INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
word processing graphic design database analysis & management Internet information access control of equipment & instruments, data capture desktop publishing presentations integrated work environment Communication tools electronic mail and file transfer conferencing collaborative work gateway to information & data banks the internet and the World Wide Web IT in Education - for students As well as using IT tools in learning, computer based learning materials can provide powerful aids to all students, in many different ways: guide aid discovery learning microworlds games simulation modelling visualisation animation instructor tutorial INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
interactive multimedia problem solving drill & practice revision resource assessment - formative & summative integrated learning systems Adult access to learning technologies The flexibility of IT for learning allows adults and others outside of full-time attendance at schools and universities to learn in their own time. IT can add a great extra value to the distance learning, such as is provided by an open learning university. Level of technological skill needed by teachers We have carefully evaluated a wide range of IT uses for learning. Some require large teams of many specialists to produce and deliver learning materials. Others need only normal staff levels of IT skills (eg wordprocessing, spreadsheets etc). Others need very little IT skill - we have found that some staff can assist students using computers with learning difficulties in their subject content without needing to support the students with their IT skills. There is no single level of minimum IT skill needed.
Staff in teaching teams need a wide range of skills to succeed in providing IT for learning: teaching in schools/ further education / higher education computer science, programming information handling: text,library, database, internet graphic design Interface/interaction, HCI design CBL/CAL development/authoring commercial/project management specialist academic subject knowledge evaluation, learning research INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
technical/creative writing Design/development/adaptation/integration of learning material into courses There are several ways to provide learning materials: The lone worker makes a simple package. Teacher(s) apply software shell, institutionally-devised or supported. Teachers use team of specialists in package development:
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with members residing mainly together in a department, or in a centrally-funded hyper/multimedia unit.
IT IN TRAINING: Staff training, training the trainers All teachers who may use IT need basic training, and their trainers need very extensive training to keep the teachers up to date and efficient. However, teachers usually have the most important skill already - experience in using whatever resources they ca n find to help the students learn. Investment in IT & education - for a nation Employers needs for IT skilled workers As IT pervades all business and industrial enterprises, employers need workers skilled in all aspects of IT, and rely on the education system as well as their own training schemes. Computer and network infrastructures Each enterprise and educational establishment needs to invest in computers and networks, coordinated nationally, and linked to the internet.
Making investment decisions IT affects strategic issues, accounts for large expenditures, competes for resources, is complex, and could eventually become at the core of educational processes. Your approach to evaluating costs and benefits depends on whether you are interested in big issues or local ones. Education is an investment in the future of a nation. To educational economists the evaluation of costs and benefits of education must include all costs and all benefits to the whole of society. These considerations would be applied, for example, to whether or not the government should subsidise a special loan scheme for mature students to buy computers. Accounting and estimating must find a monetary value for all factors, with discounting rates appropriate to a whole economy. identify driving problems and opportunities identify objectives of students, teachers, the institution, the nation identify and develop the possible alternatives chose criteria for evaluating inputs & outputs, costs & benefits consider all types of cost & benefits - identify
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those which are not relevant, those which are under your influence, and those which may need action beyond your control
estimate relevant costs in money and other terms estimate relevant benefits as satisfactory/unsatisfactory or on a points scale estimate levels of confidence, risks if wrong, sensitivity to errors compare costs & benefits of each alternative consider wider implications of the direct change and consequential changes
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- go beyond economics and accountancy methods and evaluate the softer benefits, the impacts in human and organisational terms
IT solutions - studies of worthwhile investments Communication and conferencing, collaborative learning & group work
Automating processes
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computer based assessment drill and practise
Finding learning material through the internet and the World Wide Web Importing learning packages
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software produced commercial or by educators
Customising and recycling learning packages

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adapting modular and adaptable packages for local use, modifying over several years classes to improve effectiveness
Low-cost locally-produced learning packages

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using standard software: word processing,spreadsheet, database, statistics, maths solving, presentation, html/Web viewers
using learning material made in student projects using a template or shell using operating system extensions. Producing high cost packages for high-quality learning,
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but with a high costs of authoring, so do not do this unless expecting large benefits, large external sales, or collaborating with other institutions to share the costs and the market.
Using IT for organisation of education, and training of staff

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CAL delivers efficient training, including in IT skills
IT IN ENTERTAINMENT Introduction: Computers are extensively used in designing and drawing by engineers and architects. Computers can create objects that can be viewed from all the three dimensions.
The entertainment industry is one of prompt and complicated change. New technologies INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
require updated operating procedures within the enterprise, while increasing demands from business partners and consumers alike create new challenges and opportunities. Several strategic imperatives drive the future success of entertainment companies. We combine domain experience with background in delivering enterprise application solutions by leveraging the Oracle e-Biz. Our expertise, clubbed with proven methodologies offers the entertainment companies competitive advantage in mastering fast changing markets. IT IN SCIENCE: This collection of case studies from the art and design higher education community came about as a result of a meeting held at Loughborough University in April of last year. This meeting was held in response to an invitation to the art and design community from AGOCG aimed at discovering the relevance of the activities of AGOCG to this group of computer graphics users. Although this group obviously has a major interest in computer graphics there are two main reasons for lack of contact in the past. Firstly, nearly all art and design departments in higher education have existed as stand alone institutions or faculties within polytechnics and therefore only recently came under the remit of HEFCs, and secondly AGOCG itself grew out of the scientific graphics visualisation community. There was therefore little knowledge of each others activities, interests and preoccupations, and no clear indication of whether there could be any potential benefit for a closer understanding of the areas of mutual interest. An outcome of the meeting was an open call for case studies in order to start the process of exchanging information. A simple analysis of the studies that have been received by AGOCG shows that the largest single category concerns the descriptions on the use of CAD systems in three dimensional design courses, closely followed by Hypermedia applications to design courses. After these two categories have been satisfied the studies become more INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
individual and particular. There is a keen interest in the use of the World Wide Web, particularly among fine artists, and considerable discussion on the detailed merits of individual drawing\painting\modelling software, used by fine artists. What has materialised is a very fair and representative cross section of the computer graphics interests to be found in the art and design sector of higher education. An early observation could be made that there is almost universal acceptance and use of application software, so there is a strong 'user' community without any strongly developed appreciation of the potential for software development. There is also a strong Macintosh using group which is a rarity in the 'old' universities, whose needs will need to be considered. I also sense that there is patchy technical support for art and design users whose needs may differ from the average users. However it is much too early to come to any firm conclusions; I believe there is much to be learned and I hope that AGOCG will continue to foster a debate which will serve to ensure that all aspects of the use of computer graphics are kept under consideration. IT IN ENGINEERING: In recent years, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) practitioners have been faced with a large and increasing array of new information technology (IT) products and services as IT has become the dominant technology in modeling AEC projects.
It is contended that models need to be multidisciplinary to accommodate the interacting aspects of AEC projects. It is further claimed that managing with particular business objectives in mind and making a commitment to publicly track performance in these areas will make it possible both to extract predictable value from the models and to determine which IT applications to implement and when to implement them.
COMPUTERS IN HIDING:
Computers are often used to store private information, and we often want to share parts of it without giving up our full privacy. This activity shows a surprising technique discovered by computer scientists that seems impossible; it allows people to share personal certain kinds of information accurately without having to give up any privacy at all

Unit II The Computer System and Central processing unit TYPES OF COMPUTER
Different types of computer systems are nowadays available for different purposes according the user needs. Personal computers or microcomputers
Microcomputers are built to be used by one person. In fact when you talk about personal computers or its common acronym PC, you always mean microcomputers. For surfing the web, playing games or music, editing and many other tasks you ordinarily use personal computers in either two at (2) school, major at types: home or at and business. laptop.
Personal
computers
desktop
If you opt for a desktop computer you have to set it up in a permanent location. Fortunately you are able to choose your preferred sizes such as a mini, mid or full tower.
Add many other devices to complete it such as keyboard, mouse and monitor which can be a CRT or LCD display.
Workstations and Servers
If we need a high-end micro computer we should go for a workstation. This type of computer is recommended if we are working in game development, scientific calculations, engineering or 3D graphics. It is fastest than the common personal computer and even it can be used as server if we need to build a basic network client by example.
The server is generally used for a major client with the purpose to allow many users working together over a network. Servers require powerful processors, large amount of hard disk drives and ram memory.
Mobile computers If we prefer the laptop well go for the mobile or portable system. Your notebook, a common name of laptop, has the advantage to have all the parts built together.
notebook has the same computing power to the desktop machine but it is enough lightweight to be portable. If the mobile machine is relatively more expensive its because it costs more to design the small components. Maybe well need greater portability. So a handheld micro computer is your first option. To manage your phone book, diary or taking notes...etc a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is useful.
we can also use the Palmtop, a tinier laptop than the PDA, to the same purposes and even more. The Palmtop is designed with a small keyboard and a flip-up screen and is more usable to surf the web while we are on the move.
Mini computers
Apart the micro computers, we may consider three other types of computers: the minicomputers, the mainframes and the supercomputers.
Be advised that the name minicomputers does not mean it is slowest than our PC. Surely not! If we plan to build a home network the minicomputers can be used as a midrange server to serve multiple users.
However with the mainframe you are able to build a large network for several hundred clients. we can process millions of transactions daily with the mainframe because of its high capacity. Most of enterprises such as large organizations, insurance businesses, industry, banking usually use the mainframe for processing and storing enormous amounts of data every day.
The supercomputer is the fastest machine in the history of computer not only for its size but especially for its capacity. We wont have to use this powerful system unless we are working with nuclear or aerodynamic companies for example.
Conclusion: Through this brief description you had opportunity to learn a lot about the different generation of computer. Nowadays many electronics devices are working like computers. our iPod, our cell phone or even our watch has an integrated computer application. In the near future we cant imagine what we are expected as newer types of compute
ANATOMY OF COMPUTER: Monitor- Commonly known as a "screen," the monitor gives you a visual display of what your computer is up to. Monitor displays are divided into pixels. The higher the pixel count, the higher the "resolution." Resolutions are measured in Rows x Columns. Common resolution settings are 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, etc. There are two basic types of monitors, the CRT and the LCD. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitors are built very similarly to older (tube) television sets. They are heavy, bulky, take up a lot of desk space, and emit radiation that can be harmful to humans. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Monitors are thin and flat. They are light, compact, take up very little desk space (or you can get funky and mount them to a wall and save ALL your desk space), emit no known radiation, but are typically darker in aspect than their fatter cousins.
Mouse- The mouse is the most basic of input devices for a computer.You use it like you would your finger or hand to interact with objects on your display. A mouse can be wired or wireless, PS2 or USB, and be optical, laser, or have a ball that it rides on.
Keyboard- The keyboard allows you to input data into your computer. It too can be wired or wireless, PS2 or USB. The keyboard shown on the left is a "natural" keyboard that is split in the middle and curved to account for the shoulder width of the person using it.
Computer- The computer is a wondrous device that collates and processes information. There's not enough room on this entire website to list and describe all of the things a computer can do. Computers left is a "Desktop come in thousands of shapes and sizes. To the Tower" mode
CPU- CPU is short for Central Processing Unit, and (you guessed it) it does all (well, in some cases only most) of the processing in your computer. CPUs come in a wild variety of shapes, sizes, socket sets, and architectures. Shown on the left is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (and it's like pornography to nerds). All you will probably ever need to know about CPUs is that GHz are better than MHz, and the higher GHz the better (as long as you can cool the CPU adequately). the
Motherboard- The Motherboard (or Mainboard) is actually even more central than the Central Processing Unit. It hosts the socket or connection with which every device in a computer is housed or controlled. Motherboards are like brains, in that if you have to fool around with one, you should have professional help.
Memory- Here's one that is commonly mistaken. You get an error message on your machine that basically tells you that you don't have enough memory to do whatever it is you asked it to do. This does not refer to hard drive space. Memory, also known as RAM, is what enables your computer to open files stored permanently on your hard drive. Lots of RAM is good. Lots of RAM is VERY good. What constitutes a lot of RAM changes every year. For Windows 2000, 256MB of RAM is required to operate comfortably. For Windows XP, 512MB (2 x 256MB) of RAM is required to operate comfortably. For Windows Vista, 1GB (2 x 512MB) of RAM is required to operate comfortably. Memory modules (called sticks, usually) plug into Motherboard. slots on your
Hard Drive- A Hard drive is a series of magnetic platters on an axle or spindle that stores tiny bits of magnetic metal in patterns that it can read later. It uses a series of tiny little arms that wave back and forth above, below, and between the platters, to read and write, using these magnetic metal bits. The platters, spindle, and arms are all contained in INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
a small, hermetically sealed metal chamber. Hard drives are what hold all the information in your computer that does not go away when you turn it off and back on again. If your hard drive starts making strange grinding or tapping noises, please turn it off and get it to a REAL professional as soon as possible, as it is about to fail and probably take all your information with it. Hard drives are fickle, fragile, and prone to failure, which is why it is so darn important to backup your data often and well. Hard drives plug into IDE, SCSI, or SATA Cables, which plug into IDE, SCSI, or SATA slots on your Motherboard. Optical Drive- An Optical Drive is a method for taking large amounts of information and storing it on shiny Disks, like CDs and DVDs. Optical drives use lasers to read from this media, and in some cases, to write to it. Optical drives plug into IDE, SCSI, or SATA Cables, which plug into IDE, SCSI, or SATA slots on your Motherboard.
Expansion Cards- This is the part where I cheat a little bit and don't describe every type of expansion card that there is. Expansion cards include Video Cards, Sound Cards, Modems, Network Interface Cards, Wireless Network Interface Cards, SCSI Cards, IDE Device cards, and many more. Expansion cards plug into PCI, AGP, ISA, or PCIe slots on your Motherboard.
Power Supply- Power supplies take the nasty 110 Volts AC from your wall outlet and turn it into nice clean DC voltage that your computer likes to eat. Power supplies are neat, fancooled little boxes with tons of little tiny wires coming out. Power supplies plug into a special slot on your Motherboard (which also controls them and turns them on and off) and also into every power hungry device in your computer.
THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
Binary Digits
Binary Numbers A Binary Number is made up of only 0s and 1s. So each digit has only two possibilities: 0 or 1 Bits In the computer world "binary digit" is often shortened to the word "bit" More Than One Digit So, if one digit has only two possible "positions" (like "0" and "1", or "On" and "Off"), how many positions are there with 2 or more binary digits? For example, different ways could 4 digits be set (Let's write them all down, starting with 1 digit ) One digit will have 2 positions... 0 1 0 0 ...two digits have 4 positions... 1 1 0 1 0 0 ...three digits have 8 positions... 0 1 1 0 1 00 01 10 11 000 001 010 011 100
1 0 0
1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 ... and four digits have 16 positions. 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
101 110 111 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111
And, in fact, we have created the first 16 binary numbers: Decimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Binary: 0 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111 This is quite a useful thing to remember. If you forget how the sequence of binary numbers go, just think: "0" and "1" {0,1} INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
then "0" and "1" again but with a "1" in front: {0,1,10,11} then take those four with "1"s as a third digit: {0,1,10,11,100,101,110,111} and so on! Or just count exactly like decimal numbers, but don't use 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or 9. Binary Digits ... They Double! Also notice that each time we add another binary digit you double the possibilities. Why double? Because we have to take all the previous possible positions and match them with a "0" and a "1" like above. So, if you had 5 things, then the total would be 32, 6 things would be 64, etc. Using exponents, this can be shown as: No of Digits 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc... Formula 21 22 23 24 25 26 etc... Settings 2 4 8 16 32 64 etc...
Example: when we have 50 binary digits (or even 50 things that can only have two positions each), how many different ways is that? Answer 250 = 2 2 2 2 ... (fifty of these) = 1,125,899,906,842,624 So, a binary number with 50 digits could have 1,125,899,906,842,624 different values.
Or to put it another way, it could show a number up to 1,125,899,906,842,623 (note: this is one less than the total number of values, because one of the values is 0). Digital signals: Digital signals consist of patterns of bits of information. These patterns can be generated in many ways, each producing a specific code. Modern digital computers store and process all kinds of information as binary patterns. All the pictures, text. sound and video stored in this computer are held and manipulated as patterns of binary values.
The main advantage of digital signals over analog signals is that the precise signal level of the digital signal is not vital. This means that digital signals are fairly immune to the imperfections of real electronic systems which tend to spoil analog signals. As a result, digital CD's are much more robust than analog LP's.
Codes are often used in the transmission of information. These codes can be used either as a means of keeping the information secret or as a means of breaking the information into pieces that are manageable by the technology used to transmit the code, e.g. The letters and numbers to be sent by a Morse code are coded into dots and dashes.
BIT AND BYTES: Bit: A bit (contraction of binary digit) is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states. These may be the two stable states of a flip-flop, two positions of an electrical switch, two distinct voltage or current levels allowed by a circuit, two distinct levels of light intensity, two directions of magnetization or polarization, etc. In computing, a bit can also be defined as a variable or computed quantity that can have only two possible values. These two values are often interpreted as binary digits and are usually denoted by the Arabic numerical digits 0 and 1. Indeed, the term "bit" is a contraction of binary digit. The two values can also be interpreted as logical values (true/false, yes/no), algebraic signs (+/), activation states (on/off), or any other twovalued attribute. In several popular programming languages, numeric 0 is equivalent (or convertible) to logical false, and 1 to true. The correspondence between these values and the physical states of the underlying storage or device is a matter of convention, and different assignments may be used even within the same device or program. In information theory, one bit is typically defined as the uncertainty of a binary random variable that is 0 or 1 with equal probability, or the information that is gained when the value of such a variable becomes known.
Byte: The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications, that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and it is for this reason the basic addressable element in many computer architectures.
The size of the byte has historically been hardware dependent and no definitive standards exist that mandate the size. The de facto standard of eight bits is a convenient power of two permitting the values 0 through 255 for one byte. Many types of applications use variables representable in eight or fewer bits, and processor designers optimize for this common usage. The popularity of major commercial computing architectures have aided in the ubiquitous acceptance of the 8-bit size. The term octet was defined to explicitly denote a sequence of 8 bits because of the ambiguity associated with the term byte. CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU) This part of the computer that executes program instructions is known as the processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU). In a microcomputer, the CPU is based on a single electronic component, the microprocessor chip, within the system unit or system cabinet. The system unit also includes circuit boards, memory chips, ports and other components. A microcomputers system cabinet will also house disk drives, hard disks, etc., but these are considered separate from the CPU. The CPU has two parts The Control Unit (CU) and the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). In a microcomputer, both are on a single microprocessor chip. Control Unit (CU) The control unit tells the rest of the computer system how to carry out a programs instructions. It directs the movement of electronic signals between memory which temporarily holds data, instructions and processes information - and the ALU. It also directs these control signals between the CPU and input/output devices.
Arithmetic - Logic Unit (ALU) Arithmetic Logic Unit, usually called the ALU, performs two types of operations - arithmetical and logical. Arithmetical operations are the fundamental mathematical operations consisting of addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division. Logical operations consist of comparisons. That is two pieces of data are compared to see whether one is equal to, less than, or greater than the other. MEMORY Internal storage areas in the computer. The term memory identifies data storage that comes in the form of chips, and the word storage is used for memory that exists on tapes or disks. Moreover, the term memory is usually used as a shorthand for physical memory, which refers to the actual chips capable of holding data. Some computers also use virtual memory, which expands physical memory onto a hard disk. Every computer comes with a certain amount of physical memory, usually referred to as main memory or RAM. You can think of main memory as an array of boxes, each of which can hold a single byte of information. A computer that has 1 megabyte of memory, therefore, can hold about 1 million bytes (or characters) of information. There are several different types of memory: RAM (random-access memory): This is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the term RAM refers to read and write memory; that is, you can both write data into RAM and read data from RAM. This is in contrast to ROM, which permits you only to read data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM is lost. ROM (read -only memory): Computers almost always contain a small amount of read-only memory that holds instructions for starting up the computer. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot be written to. PROM (programmable read-only memory): A PROM is a memory chip on which you can store a program. But once the PROM has been used, you cannot wipe it clean and use it to store something else. Like ROMs, PROMs are nonvolatile.
EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory): An EPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light. EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory): An
EEPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to an electrical charge.

Unit III I. Introduction The computer will be of no use unless it is able to communicate with the outside World. Input/Output devices are required for users to communicate with the computer. In simple terms, input devices bring information INTO the computer and output devices bring information OUT of a computer system. These input/output devices are also known as peripherals since they surround the CPU and memory of a computer system. Some commonly used Input/Output devices are listed in table below. Input Devices Output Devices Input device Keyboard Mouse Joystick Scanner Light Pen Touch Screen Output devices Monitor LCD Printer Plotter
II. INPUT DEVICES (A) KEYBOARD It is a text base input device that allows the user to input alphabets, numbers andothercharacters. It consists of a set of keys mounted on a board.
Figure 1: The Keyboard Alphanumeric Keypad It consists of keys for English alphabets, 0 to 9 numbers, and special characters like + / * ( ) etc. Function Keys There are twelve function keys labeled F1, F2, F3 F12. The functions assigned tothese keys differ from one software package to another. These keys are also userprogrammable keys. Special-function Keys These keys have special functions assigned to them and can be used only for thosepecific purposes. Functions of some of the important keys are defined below. Enter It is similar to the return key of the typewriter and is used to execute a command orprogram. Spacebar It is used to enter a space at the current cursor location. Backspace This key is used to move the cursor one position to the left and also delete thecharacter in that position.
Delete It is used to delete the character at the cursor position. Insert Insert key is used to toggle between insert and overwrite mode during data entry. Shift This key is used to type capital letters when pressed along with an alphabet key. Alsoused to type the special characters located on the upper-side of a key that has twocharacters defined on the same key. Caps Lock Cap Lock is used to toggle between the capital lock features. When on, it locks the alphanumeric keypad for capital letters input only. Tab
Tab is used to move the cursor to the next tab position defined in the document. Also,it is used to insert indentation into a document. Ctrl Function Keys Numeric Keypad Cursor Movement Keys Alphanumeric Keypad/ Special-function Keys 3 Control key is used in conjunction with other keys to provide additional functionality on the keyboard. Alt Also like the control key, Alt key is always used in combination with other keys to perform specific tasks. Esc This key is usually used to negate a command. Also used to cancel or abort executing programs. Numeric Keypad Numeric keypad is located on the right side of the keyboard and consists of keys having numbers (0 to 9) and mathematical operators (+ * /) defined on them. This keypad is provided to support quick entry for numeric data. Cursor Movement Keys These are arrow keys and are used to move the cursor in the direction indicated by the arrow (up, down, left, right). (b) Mouse The mouse is a small device used to point to a particular place on the screen and select in order to perform one or more actions. It can be used to select menu commands, size windows, start programs etc. The most conventional kind of mouse has two buttons on top: the left one being used most frequently. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Mouse Actions Left Click : Used to select an item. Double Click : Used to start a program or open a file. Right Click : Usually used to display a set of commands. Drag and Drop : It allows you to select and move an item from one location to another. To achieve this place the cursor over an item on the screen, click the left mouse button and while holding the button down move the cursor to where you want to place the item, and then release it. Figure 2: The Mouse
(c) Joystick The joystick is a vertical stick which moves the graphic cursor in a direction the stick is moved. It typically has a button on top that is used to select the option pointed by the cursor. Joystick is used as an input device primarily used with video games,training simulators and controlling robots
The Joystick (d)Scanner Scanner is an input device used for direct data entry from the source document intothe computer system. It converts the document image into digital form so that it canbe fed into the computer. Capturing information like this reduces the possibility oferrors typically experienced during large data entry.
Hand-held scanners are commonly seen in big stores to scan codes and priceinformation for each of the items. They are also termed the bar code readers. (e) Bar codes A bar code is a set of lines of different thicknesses that represent a number. Bar CodeReaders are used to input data from bar codes. Most products in shops have bar codeson them.Bar code readers work by shining a beam of light on the lines that make upthe bar code and detecting the amount of light that is reflected back
(f) Light Pen
It is a pen shaped device used to select objects on a display screen. It is quite like the mouse (in its functionality) but uses a light pen to move the pointer and select anyobject on the screen by pointing to the object.Users of Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications commonly use the light pens todirectly draw on screen.
(g) Touch Screen It allows the user to operate/make selections by simply touching the display screen.Common examples of touch screen include information kiosks, and bank ATMs. (h)Digital camera A digital camera can store many more pictures than an ordinary camera. Pictures taken using a digital camera are stored inside its memory and can be transferred to a computer by connecting the camera to it. A digital camera takes pictures by converting the light passing through the lens at the front into a digital image.
The Digital camera (i) The Speech Input Device The Microphones - Speech Recognition is a speech Input device. To operate it werequire using a microphone to talk to the computer. Also we need to add a sound cardto the computer. The Sound card digitizes audio input into 0/1s .A speech recognitionprogram can process the input and convert it into machine-recognized commandsor input.
The Microphone III. OUTPUT DEVICES (a) Monitor Monitor is an output device that resembles the television screen and uses a CathodeRay Tube (CRT) to display information. The monitor is associated with a keyboardfor manual input of characters and displays the information as it is keyed in. It alsodisplays the program or application output. Like the television, monitors are alsoavailable in different sizes. (b) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) LCD was introduced in the 1970s and is now applied to display terminals also. Itsadvantages like low energy consumption, smaller and lighter have paved its way forusage in portable computers (laptops).
The LCD
(c) Printer Printers are used to produce paper (commonly known as hardcopy) output. Based onthe technology used, they can be classified as Impact or Non-impact printers.Impact printers use the typewriting printing mechanism wherein a hammer strikesthe paper through a ribbon in order to produce output. Dot-matrix and Characterprinters fall under this category. Non-impact printers do not touch the paper while printing. They use chemical, heator electrical signals to etch the symbols on paper. Inkjet, Deskjet, Laser, Thermal printers fall under this category of printers. When we talk about printers we refer to two basic qualities associated with printers:resolution, and speed. Print resolution is measured in terms of number of dots per inch (dpi). Print speed is measured in terms of number of characters printed in a unit of time and is represented as characters-per-second (cps), lines-per-minute (lpm), or pages-per-minute (ppm).
The Printer (d) Plotter
Plotters are used to print graphical output on paper. It interprets computer commandsand makes line drawings on paper using multicolored automated pens. It is capable ofproducing graphs, drawings, charts, maps etc. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) applications like CAD (Computer AidedDesign) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) are typical usage areas forplotters.
:The Plotter (e) Audio Output: Sound Cards and Speakers: The Audio output is the ability of the computer to output sound. Two components areneeded: Sound card Plays contents of digitized recordings, Speakers Attached tosound card. Inputting Text Inputting text covers the input of text to computer from the page (by sight or optical character recognition software) or from audio tape. Then the prepared text must be integrated into the final multimedia product. Inputting text is not trivial. Rather, it is a subtle and complex process. Sufficient thought must be given to it in the planning process and in devising procedures which enable all steps involved in the task to be accomplished effectively and efficiently. Steps frequently include converting from paper to word-processable files. The text then has to be edited, cut and pasted into the final program, and reedited to suit each screen layout. This is a skillful, judgemental, labourintensive process which can not be automated for the most part. It is good to agree in advance with any content writer for a project the format in which text is to be communicated. At worst, it will be a handwritten script. At best, it will be in wordprocessable form. It might seem obvious but I think it worth emphasizing that the format for text communications in a project, even within the design team, should be discussed and agreed by all, INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
repeat all, those involved and then it should be documented. Inputting, converting and editing text can be quite burdensome. It can be difficult for people to keep concentrating on the task in hand, and the risk of introducing or missing an error is high. Many team members may have an imperfect grasp of their wordprocessing tools and this can be a problem. Word-processing is often
assumed to be a basic team skill and people are either not inclined to acknowledge a weakness in this area, do not recognize their weakness here, or are satisfied to live with their bad wordprocessing habits. A document laying out a design house style which also underlines the sorts of problems to be avoided is strongly recommended. GRAPHICS: Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings, or other images. Graphics often combine text, illustration, and color. Graphic design may consist of the deliberate selection, creation, or arrangement of typography alone, as in a brochure, flier, poster, web site, or book without any other element. Clarity or effective communication may be the objective, association with other cultural elements may be sought, or merely, the creation of a distinctive style. Graphics can be functional or artistic. The latter can be a recorded version, such as a photograph, or an interpretation by a scientist to highlight essential features, or an artist, in which case the distinction with imaginary graphics may become blurred. POINTING DEVICES: A pointing device is any piece of hardware that is used to allow a user to input spatial data to a computer. By moving a mouse, pen or a finger around, a user can implement movements and changes on the computer screen. The most common type of pointing device is the mouse and the arrow. When the mouse is moved on a mouse pad, the arrow on the screen moves. When the user clicks down on the mouse, the arrow clicks on the object it is hovering over.
There are many different types of pointing devices. While the mouse is only one type, it has become the name of many different types of pointing devices, even if an actual mouse is not used. TYPES OF POINTING DEVICES
The first types of pointing devices are the ones that require the movement of an object. For example, a mouse is one of these. Another is a track ball. By moving the mouse or track ball around, it allows for the arrow on the screen to move. The mouse, though, doesnt need to have a ball. There are now optical mice that can be used. The general theory about these types of devices is that by moving, they promote the arrow on the screen to move. The next category is broader than the former. This is the collection of pointing devices that rely on touching a surface to create movement on the computer screen. The first type is the touch screen. In the past, this was not very popular; however, in recent years, this has become increasingly important. With the iPod, iPad, and other devices available now with touch screen, this technology is quickly becoming a growing commodity. The next type is the graphics tablet. This is a tablet that, when using a pen or mouse, a user can make the arrow move. Instead of being a mouse with a roller ball or optical light, this relies on the actual table to bring the movement. More specifically, though, is the fact that each point on one of these tablets represents a point on the monitor. Therefore, if you touch the bottom right hand corner, the arrow will move to the bottom right hand corner.
The final is the touch pad which can be found on laptops. This detects the movement of a finger and moves the arrow accordingly. By tapping on the pad, the user is able to create a click. This has made it much simpler to use a laptop computer than it used to be. THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN OUTPUTS:
PIXEL Short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Graphics monitors display pictures by dividing the display screen into thousands (or millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns. The pixels are so close together that they appear connected. The number of bits used to represent each pixel determines how many colors or shades of gray can be displayed. For example, in 8-bit color mode, the color monitor uses 8 bits for each pixel, making it possible to display 2 to the 8th power (256) different colors or shades of gray. On color monitors, each pixel is actually composed of three dots -- a red, a blue, and a green one. Ideally, the three dots should all converge at the same point, but all monitors have some convergence error that can make color pixels appear fuzzy. The quality of a display system largely depends on its resolution, how many pixels it can display, and how many bits are used to represent each pixel. VGA systems display 640 by 480, or about 300,000 pixels. In contrast, SVGA systems display 800 by 600, or 480,000 pixels. True Color systems use 24 bits per pixel, allowing them to display more than 16 million different colors. RESOLUTION: The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube (CRT) and flat panel or projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays.
One use of the term display resolution applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as plasma display panels (PDPs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors, or similar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display (e.g., 19201080). A consequence of having a fixed grid display is that, for multiformat video inputs, all displays need a "scaling engine" (a digital video processor that includes a memory array) to match the incoming picture format to the display. Note that the use of the word resolution here is a misnomer, though common. The term display resolution is usually used to mean pixel dimensions, the number of pixels in each dimension (e.g., 19201080), which does not tell anything about the resolution of the display on which the image is actually formed: resolution properly refers to the pixel density, the number of pixels per unit distance or area, not total number of pixels. In digital measurement, the display resolution would be given in pixels per inch. In analog measurement, if the screen is 10 inches high, then the horizontal resolution is measured across a square 10 inches wide. This is typically stated as "lines horizontal resolution, per picture height;"[citation needed] for example, analog NTSC TVs can typically display 486 lines of "per picture height" horizontal resolution, which is equivalent to 648 total lines of actual picture information from left edge to right edge. Which would give NTSC TV a display resolution of 648486 in actual lines/picture information, but in "per picture height" a display resolution of 486486. Current Standards: Televisions are of the following resolutions: Standard-definition television (SDTV):
o
480i (NTSC uses an analog system of 486i split into two interlaced fields of 243 lines)
576i (PAL, 720576 split into two interlaced fields of 288 lines)
Enhanced-definition television (EDTV):

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480p (720480 progressive scan) 576p (720576 progressive scan)
High-definition television (HDTV):
o o o
720p (1280720 progressive scan) 1080i (19201080 split into two interlaced fields of 540 lines) 1080p (19201080 progressive scan)
Computer monitors have higher resolutions than most televisions. As of July 2002, 1024768 eXtended Graphics Array was the most common display resolution.[1][2] Many web sites and multimedia products were re-designed from the previous 800600 format to the higher 1024768optimized layout. The availability of inexpensive LCD monitors has made the 5:4 aspect ratio resolution of 12801024 more popular for desktop usage. Many computer users including CAD users, graphic artists and video game players run their computers at 16001200 resolution (UXGA, UltraeXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. Other recently available resolutions include oversize aspects like 14001050 SXGA+ and wide aspects like 1280720 WXGA, 1600768(750) UWXGA, 16801050 WSXGA+, and 19201200 WUXGA. A new more-thanHD resolution of 25601600 WQXGA was released in 30" LCD monitors in 2007. In 2010, 27" LCD monitors with the resolution 25601440 were released by multiple manufacturers including Apple.[3] Special monitors for medical diagnostic work support a resolution of up to 40962160[4], which is as of May 2011 the maximum resolution available in a single monitor. The most common computer display resolutions are as follows:[5]
Resolution
% of Internet Users
Higher than 1024768 85.1%
1024768
13.8%
800600
0.6%
Lower than 800600 0%
Unknown
0.5%
Color: Major hexadecimal color codes Color Red Turquoise Light Blue Dark Blue Light Purple Dark Purple Yellow Pastel Green Pink display screen A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Color Code #FF0000 #00FFFF #0000FF #0000A0 #FF0080 #800080 #FFFF00 #00FF00 #FF00FF Color White Light Grey Dark Grey Black Orange Brown Burgundy Forest Green Grass Green Color Code #FFFFFF #C0C0C0 #808080 #000000 #FF8040 #804000 #800000 #808000 #408080
device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube about as deep as the screen size. Originally computer monitors were used for data processing and television receivers for entertainment; increasingly computers are being used both for data processing and entertainment and TVs implement some typical computer functionality. Displays exclusively for data use tend to have an aspect ratio of 4:3; those used also (or solely) for entertainment are usually 16:9 widescreen, Sometimes a compromise is used, for example, 16:10. CRT Pros: High dynamic range (up to around 15,000:1),[1] excellent color, wide gamut and low black level. The color range of CRTs is unmatched by any display type except OLED. Can display natively in almost any resolution and refresh rate No input lag Sub-millisecond response times Near zero color, saturation, contrast or brightness distortion. Excellent viewing angle. Usually much cheaper than LCD or Plasma screens. Allows the use of light guns/pens Cons: Large size and weight, especially for bigger screens (a 20-inch unit weighs about 50 lb (23 kg)) High power consumption Generates a considerable amount of heat when running Geometric distortion caused by variable beam travel distances Can suffer screen burn-in Produces noticeable flicker at low refresh rates Normally only produced in 4:3 aspect ratio (though some widescreen ones, notably Sony's FW900, do exist) INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Hazardous to repair/service Effective vertical resolution limited to 1024 scan lines. Color displays cannot be made in sizes smaller than 7 inches (5 inches for monochrome). Maximum size is around 24 inches (for computer monitors; televisions run up to 60 inches). LCD
Pros:
Very compact and light Low power consumption No geometric distortion Little or no flicker depending on backlight technology Not affected by screen burn-in No high voltage or other hazards present during repair/service More reliable than CRTs Can be made in almost any size or shape No theoretical resolution limit Cons: Limited viewing angle, causing color, saturation, contrast and brightness to vary, even within the intended viewing angle, by variations in posture. Bleeding and uneven backlighting in some monitors, causing brightness distortion, especially toward the edges. Slow response times, which cause smearing and ghosting artifacts. However, this is mainly a problem with passive-matrix displays. Current generation active-matrix LCDs have response times of 6 ms for TFT panels and 8 ms for S-IPS. Only one native resolution. Displaying resolutions either requires a video scaler, lowering perceptual quality, or display at 1:1 pixel mapping, in which images will be physically too large or won't fill the whole screen.
Fixed bit depth, many cheaper LCDs are only able to display 262,000 colors. 8-bit S-IPS panels can display 16 million colors and have significantly better black level, but are expensive and have slower response time Input lag Dead pixels may occur either during manufacturing or through use. In a constant on situation, thermalization may occur, which is when only part of the screen has overheated and therefore looks discolored compared to the rest of the screen. Not all LCD displays are designed to allow easy replacement of the backlight Cannot be used with light guns/pens Plasma Main article: Plasma display Pros: High contrast ratios (10,000:1 or greater,) excellent color, and low black level. Virtually no response time Near zero color, saturation, contrast or brightness distortion. Excellent viewing angle. No geometric distortion. Softer and less blocky-looking picture than LCDs Highly scalable, with less weight gain per increase in size (from less than 30 in (760 mm) wide to the world's largest at 150 in (3,800 mm)). Cons: Large pixel pitch, meaning either low resolution or a large screen. As such, color plasma displays are only produced in sizes over 32 inches. Image flicker due to being phosphor-based Heavy weight Glass screen can induce glare and reflections High operating temperature and power consumption Only has one native resolution. Displaying other resolutions requires a video scaler, which degrades image quality at lower resolutions. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Fixed bit depth. Plasma cells can only be on or off, resulting in a more limited color range than LCDs or CRTs. Can suffer image burn-in. This was a severe problem on early plasma displays, but much less on newer ones Cannot be used with light guns/pens Dead pixels are possible during manufacturing PRINTER:
In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a text and/or graphics of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces, typically wireless and/or Ethernet based, and can serve as a hard copy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time. In addition, a few modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such as memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes called multifunction printers (MFP), multi-function devices (MFD), or all-in-one (AIO) printers. Most MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their many features. Consumer and some commercial printers are designed for low-volume, short-turnaround print jobs; requiring virtually no setup time to achieve a hard copy of a given document. However, INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
printers are generally slow devices (30 pages per minute is considered fast; and many inexpensive consumer printers are far slower than that), and the cost per page is actually relatively high. However, this is offset by the on-demand convenience and project management costs being more controllable compared to an out-sourced solution. The printing press remains the machine of choice for high-volume, professional publishing. However, as printers have improved in quality and performance, many jobs which used to be done by professional print shops are now done by users on local printers; see desktop publishing. The world's first computer printer was a 19th century mechanically driven apparatus invented by Charles Babbage for his Difference Engine.[1] A virtual printer is a piece of computer software whose user interface and API resemble that of a printer driver, but which is not connected with a physical computer printer.
SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE Alternatively referred to as external memory and auxiliary storage, secondary storage is a storage medium that holds information until it is deleted or overwritten regardless if the computer has power. For example, a floppy disk drive and hard disk drive are both good examples of secondary storage devices. As can be seen by the below picture there are three different storage on a computer, although primary storage is accessed much faster than secondary storage because of the price and size limitations secondary storage is used with today's computers to store all your programs and your personal data.
Finally, although off-line storage could be considered secondary storage, we've separated these into their own category because this media can be easily removed from the computer and stored elsewhere. THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN STORAGE: How Data is Stored:
How Data is Stored in your Hard Disk
A key concept in data storage is that it is linear, logical and systematic in nature. When you 'save' data to the hard disk, the disk will follow a logical system. A hard disk can be compared to a large, square piece of graphing paper composed of squares a thousand long and a thousand wide. Each individual square can accommodate one kilobyte of data and thus a 'strip' having a thousand squares can store one megabyte of data. In such a case, the disk head will 'fill' in the upper leftmost square first then continue down the line one square at a time until all the appropriate squares are filled.
A second key concept to remember is that data storage follows a simple rule data is stored (or 'written') on the first available space, wherever this may be. Data Storage Example Imagine that you are saving a 1-Mb Word document on the hard disk. Saving a 1 MB file means the disk will systematically 'fill in' a thousand squares. After saving the Word document, let us assume that you saved to your hard disk a 3 MB photo. Following the key concepts of data storage, the disk writer head will go through the disk and then look for the first available space which in our example, happens to be the square following the last kilobyte of the Word document. Thus, the 3 MB photo will be saved at the space next to the Word document. Afterwards, you go back to your Word document and trim it down, ending up with a file 700 KB in size, which you then save to your hard disk. Given the smaller file size, the 1 MB space requirement was reduced to 700 KB, leaving 300 KB free or (using the analogy above) 300 blank squares immediately after the Word document. There's now available space between the Word Document and the 3 MB photo. When you save yet another file, say a 2 MB Excel file, the hard disk will follow its rule of saving data on the first available space. Thus, the Excel file will be split into two portions: 300 KB would be written on the 300 KB free space and the rest will be placed in the next available space after the image file.
STORAGE CHARACTERISTICS: After initializing an LO-specification structure, you need to ensure that this structure contains the appropriate values for the storage characteristics you want the smart large object to have. Then you pass this LO-specification structure to one of the smart-large-object creation functions so that the smart-large-object optimizer can obtain the storage characteristics to use for the new smart large object. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
To choose storage characteristics for a new smart large object 1. Use the system-specified storage characteristics as a basis for obtaining the storage characteristics of a smart large object. The system-specified storage characteristics are the default storage characteristics for a smart large object. 2. Customize the storage characteristics. You can override the system-specified storage characteristics with one of the following levels of the storage-characteristics hierarchy:
o
Storage characteristics defined for a particular CLOB or BLOB column in which you want to store the smart large object Storage characteristics that are unique to a particular CLOB or BLOB column are called column-level storage characteristics.
User-specified storage characteristics Special storage characteristics that you define for this smart large object only are called user-specified storage characteristics.
Important: For most applications, use the system-specified values for the disk-storage information. Most DataBlade API modules need to ensure correct storage characteristics only for an sbspace name (the location of the smart large object) and for the smart-large-object attributes. Obtaining Storage Characteristics For most smart large objects, all you need to do is obtain the system-specified storage characteristics. When you obtain these storage characteristics for a smart large object, you can specify a location for it and override system-specified attributes.
To obtain system-specified storage characteristics 1. Use the mi_lo_spec_init( ) function to allocate an LO-specification structure and to initialize this structure to the appropriate null values. When a storage characteristic in the LO-specification structure has the appropriate null value (zero or a NULL-valued pointer), the smart-large-object optimizer obtains the system-specified value for the storage characteristic. The smart-large-object optimizer calculates the system-specified values for disk-storage storage characteristics. Most applications can use these system-specified values. For more information, see Using System-Specified Storage Characteristics. 2. Specify the location of the smart large object to override the default location. You can specify the location as one of the following:
o
The name of the sbspace associated with the CLOB or BLOB column in which you want to store the smart large object To store a new smart large object in a CLOB or BLOB column, use the mi_lo_colinfo_by_name( ) or mi_lo_colinfo_by_ids( ) function. These functions obtain the column-level storage characteristics for this column. One of the storage characteristics they obtain is the sbspace name for the column. For more information, see Obtaining Column-Level Storage Characteristics.
The name of some other sbspace You might want to specify an sbspace name for a new smart large object that is embedded in an opaque data type. The mi_lo_specset_sbspace( ) accessor function sets the name of the sbspace in the LO-specification structure. For more information, see Defining User-Specified Storage Characteristics.
3. Optionally,
override
any
attributes
for
the
smart
large
object
with
the
mi_lo_specset_flags( ) accessor function.
The system-specified attributes have both logging and last-access time disabled. You might want to enable one or more attributes for the new smart large object. The mi_lo_specset_flags( ) function sets the attributes flag in the LO-specification structure. For more information, see Defining User-Specified Storage Characteristics. 4. Pass this LO-specification structure to one of the smart-large-object creation functions (mi_lo_create( ), mi_lo_copy( ), mi_lo_expand( ), or mi_lo_from_file( )) to create the new smart large object. The smart-large-object creation function creates a new smart large object that has storage characteristics that the LO-specification structure indicates. For more information, see Initializing an LO-Specification Structure. You would probably want to modify the storage characteristics of the new smart large object in the following cases: Your application needs to obtain extra performance. You can use other LO-specification accessor functions to change the disk-storage information of a new smart large object. For more information, see Defining User-Specified Storage Characteristics. You want to use the storage characteristics of an existing smart large object. The mi_lo_stat_cspec( ) function can obtain the storage characteristics of an open smart large object through its LO-status structure. For more information, see Copying Storage Characteristics from an Existing Smart Large Object. Using the Storage-Characteristics Hierarchy Dynamic Server uses the storage-characteristics hierarchy, which Figure 28 shows, to obtain the storage characteristics for a new smart large object. Storage-Characteristics Hierarchy
For a given storage characteristic, any value defined at the column level overrides the systemspecified value, and any user-level value overrides the column-level value. Table 31 summarizes the ways to specify disk-storage information for a smart large object. STORAGE MEDIA: Floppy disk: "Floppy" redirects here. For other uses, see Floppy (disambiguation).
8-inch, 5-inch (full height), and 3-inch drives
8-inch, 5-inch, and 3-inch floppy disks A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible ("floppy") magnetic storage medium sealed in a square or rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD.[1] Invented by the American information technology company IBM, floppy disks in 8-inch (200 mm), 5-inch (130 mm) and 3-inch (90 mm) forms enjoyed three decades as a popular and ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange, from the mid-1970s well into the 2000s.[2] While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment, they have now been superseded by USB flash drives, external hard disk drives, optical discs, memory cards and computer networks.
Home > hard disk HARD DISK A magnetic disk on which you can store computer data. The term hard is used to distinguish it from a soft, or floppy, disk. Hard disks hold more data and are faster than floppy disks. A hard disk, for example, can store anywhere from 10 to more than 100 gigabytes, whereas most floppies have a maximum storage capacity of 1.4 megabytes. A single hard disk usually consists of several platters. Each platter requires two read/write heads, one for each side. All the read/write heads are attached to a single access arm so that they cannot move independently. Each platter has the same number of tracks, and a track location that cuts
across all platters is called a cylinder. For example, a typical 84 megabyte hard disk for a PC might have two platters (four sides) and 1,053 cylinders. In general, hard disks are less portable than floppies, although it is possible to buy removable hard disks. Hard disk Drive: A hard disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile, random access device for digital data. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the platters. Introduced by IBM in 1956, hard disk drives have fallen in cost and physical size over the years while dramatically increasing in capacity. Hard disk drives have been the dominant device for secondary storage of data in general purpose computers since the early 1960s. They have maintained this position because advances in their areal recording density have kept pace with the requirements for secondary storage.[3] Today's HDDs operate on high-speed serial interfaces; i.e., serial ATA (SATA) or serial attached SCSI (SAS).
OPTICAL DISK: In computing and optical recording, an optical disc is a flat, usually circular disc which encodes binary data (bits) in the form of pits (binary value of 0 or off, due to lack of reflection when read) and lands (binary value of 1 or on, due to a reflection when read) on a special material (often aluminium[citation
needed]
) on one of its flat surfaces. The encoding material sits atop a thicker
substrate (usually polycarbonate) which makes up the bulk of the disc and forms a dust defocusing layer. The encoding pattern follows a continuous, spiral path covering the entire disc surface and extending from the innermost track to the outermost track. The data is stored on the disc with a laser or stamping machine, and can be accessed when the data path is illuminated with a laser diode in an optical disc drive which spins the disc at speeds of about 200 RPM up to 4000 rpm or more depending on the drive type, disc format, and the distance of the read head from the center of the disc (inner tracks are read at a faster disc speed). The pits or bumps distort the reflected laser light, hence most optical discs (except the black discs of the original PlayStation video game console) characteristically have an iridescent appearance created by the grooves of the reflective layer. The reverse side of an optical disc usually has a printed label, generally made of paper but sometimes printed or stamped onto the disc itself. This side of the disc contains the actual data and is typically coated with a transparent material, usually lacquer. Unlike the 3-inch floppy disk, most optical discs do not have an integrated protective casing and are therefore susceptible to data transfer problems due to scratches, fingerprints, and other environmental problems. Optical discs are usually between 7.6 and 30 cm (3 to 12 in) in diameter, with 12 cm (4.75 in) being the most common size. A typical disc is about 1.2 mm (0.05 in) thick, while the track pitch (distance from the center of one track to the center of the next) is typically 1.6 m. An optical disc is designed to support one of three recording types: read-only (e.g.: CD and CDROM), recordable (write-once, e.g. CD-R), or re-recordable (rewritable, e.g. CD-RW). Write-once optical discs commonly have an organic dye recording layer between the substrate and the reflective layer. Rewritable discs typically contain an alloy recording layer composed of a phase change material, most often AgInSbTe, an alloy of silver, indium, antimony and tellurium.[1] Optical discs are most commonly used for storing music (e.g. for use in a CD player), video (e.g. for use in a DVD player), or data and programs for personal computers (PC). The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) promotes standardized optical storage formats. Although optical discs are more durable than earlier audio-visual and data storage formats, they are susceptible to environmental and daily-use damage. Libraries and archives enact optical media preservation procedures to ensure continued usability in the computer's optical disc drive or corresponding disc player. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
For computer data backup and physical data transfer, optical discs such as CDs and DVDs are gradually being replaced with faster, smaller, and more reliable solid-state devices, especially the USB flash drive. This trend is expected to continue as USB flash drives continue to increase in capacity and drop in price. Similarly, personal portable CD players have been supplanted by portable solid-state digital audio player (MP3 players), and MP3 music purchased or shared over the Internet has significantly reduced the number of audio CDs sold annually.
In Information Technology, a backup or the process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup (often used like an adjective in compound nouns). Backups have two distinct purposes. The primary purpose is to recover data as a reaction to data loss, be it by data deletion or corrupted data. Data loss is a very common experience of computer users. 67% of internet users have suffered serious data loss. The secondary purpose of backups is to recover data from a historical period of time within the constraints of a user-defined data retention policy, typically configured within a backup application for how long copies of data are required. Though backups popularly represent a simple form of disaster recovery, and should be part of a disaster recovery plan, by themselves, backups should not alone be considered disaster recovery. Not all backup systems and/or backup applications are able to reconstitute a computer system, or in turn other complex configurations such as a computer cluster, active directory servers, or a database server, by restoring only data from a backup. Since a backup system contains at least one copy of all data worth saving, the data storage requirements are considerable. Organizing this storage space and managing the backup process is a complicated undertaking. A data repository model can be used to provide structure to the storage. In the modern era of computing there are many different types of data storage devices that are useful for making backups. There are also many different ways in which these devices can be arranged to provide geographic redundancy, data security, and portability.
Before data is sent to its storage location, it is selected, extracted, and manipulated. Many different techniques have been developed to optimize the backup procedure. These include optimizations for dealing with open files and live data sources as well as compression, encryption, and deduplication, among others. Many organizations and individuals try to have confidence that the process is working as expected and work to define measurements and validation techniques. It is also important to recognize the limitations and human factors involved in any backup scheme. Storage, the base of a backup system Data Repository Models Any backup strategy starts with a concept of a data repository. The backup data needs to be stored somehow and probably should be organized to a degree. It can be as simple as a sheet of paper with a list of all backup tapes and the dates they were written or a more sophisticated setup with a computerized index, catalog, or relational database. Different repository models have different advantages. This is closely related to choosing a backup rotation scheme. Unstructured An unstructured repository may simply be a stack of floppy disks or CD-R/DVD-R media with minimal information about what was backed up and when. This is the easiest to implement, but probably the least likely to achieve a high level of recoverability. Full + incrementals A full + incremental repository aims to make it more feasible to store several copies of the source data. At first, a full backup (of all files) is made. After that, any number of incremental backups can be made. There are many different types of incremental backups, but they all attempt to only back up a small amount of data (when compared to the size of a full backup). An incremental backup copies everything that has changed since the last backup (full, differential or incremental). Restoring a whole system to a certain point in time would require locating the last full backup taken previous to that time and all the incremental backups that cover the period of time between the full backup and the particular point in time to which the system is supposed to be restored.[4] The scope of an incremental backup is typically defined as the period of time between other full or
incremental backups. Different implementations of backup systems frequently use specialized or conflicting definitions of these terms. Differential backup A differential backup copies files that have been created or changed since the last full backup. It does not mark files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). If you are performing a combination of full and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last full as well as the last differential backup. Reverse delta A reverse delta system stores the differences between current versions of a system and previous versions. A reverse delta backup will start with a normal full backup. After the full backup is performed, the system will periodically synchronize the full backup with the live copy, while storing the data necessary to reconstruct older versions. This can either be done using hard links, or using binary diffs. This system works particularly well for large, slowly changing, data sets. Examples of programs that use this method are rdiff-backup and Time Machine Continuous data protection Instead of scheduling periodic backups, the system immediately logs every change on the host system. This is generally done by saving byte or block-level differences rather than file-level differences.[5] It differs from simple disk mirroring in that it enables a roll-back of the log and thus restoration of old image of data. Full system backup This type of backup is designed to allow an entire PC to be recovered to "bare metal" without any installation of operating system, application software and data. Most users understand that a backup will prevent "data" from being lost. The expense in a full system recovery is in the hours that it takes for a technician to rebuild a machine to the point of restoring the last data backup. So, a full system backup makes a complete image of the computer so that if needed, it can be copied back to the PC, usually using some type of bespoke software such as Ghost, and the user can carry on from that point.

UNIT IV: SOFTWARE: Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with documents. Application software is contrasted with system software and middleware, which manage and integrate a computer's capabilities, but typically do not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that benefit the user. A simple, if imperfect, analogy in the world of hardware would be the relationship of an electric light bulb (an application) to an electric power generation plant (a system). The power station merely generates electricity, not itself of any real use until harnessed to an application like the electric light that performs a service that benefits the user. Application software applies the power of a particular computing platform or system software to a particular purpose. Some apps such as Microsoft Office are available in versions for several different platforms; others have narrower requirements. USER INTERFACE Abbreviated UI, the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. A command-driven interface is one in which you enter commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which you select command choices from various menus displayed on the screen. The user interface is one of the most important parts of any program because it determines how easily you can make the program do what you want. A powerful program with a poorly designed user interface has little value. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that use windows, icons, and pop-up menus have become standard on personal computers. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
APPLICATION Many programs
PROGRAMS come with (bundled) the Windows Operating System.
The following applications represent a tiny fraction of the programs that are used by millions of people everyday. This list of available application software is immense. Software of every flavor and type is available to do almost anything you need or want to do.
Applications found in Start > Programs: Windows Explorer - Allows you to see and access all the folders and files on your HDD, FDD, CDD and Local Area Network. Internet Explorer - This is a browser program that enables your PC receive web pages from servers located anywhere on the Internet. MS-DOS Prompt - Allows you to open a DOS session under Windows.
Applications found in Start > Programs > Accessories: Notepad - Simple word processor with limited features used to create and modify text (.txt) files. Wordpad - Word processor with more features than Notebook. It can handle large document (.doc) files. Paint - Allows you to create, modify and save image files in bitmap (.bmp), JPEG (.jpg) GIF (.gif) formats. Imaging - Another image file program that works with bitmap (.bmp), and TIFF (.tif) filetypes. CD Player - Simple CD player.
Sound recorder - If you have a microphone plugged into your sound card you can record sounds and play them back with option of adding effects like echo. You can also play them backwards as well. Volume Controller - Five sliders control overall volume) Play Control as well as from CD, Wave, Midi and Line sources. Each sound source has a left/right fader to control how the sound is panned (distributed) between the left and right speakers. Windows Media Player - Plays video (.mpg) and audio (.wav) files. Disk Defragmenter - Program used to defragment you hard drive. Click here to find out more about how to do this. Calculator - Simple calculator with half a dozen functions.
Other Application
Programs
In addition to bundled applications, there are thousands of third party application programs you can use. Some are tailored toward work and others are purely for fun. Each program specifies the minimum required free hard drive capacity, processor speed, video resolution and amount of installed memory in order for it to operate properly.
Microsoft
Office
This is a group of programs that offer a complement of applications that suffice for most office type work. MS Office has become a de facto standard for creating and sharing documents for a large percentage of both business and personal PC users. It includes: WORD is a powerful word processor that contains templates that allow you to quickly create numerous document types such as letters, faxes and resumes. Tables for chart type data can quickly be set up.
It supports a wide variety of fonts, font sizes, text foreground and background colors.
You can format it so that envelopes and labels can be printed. EXCEL is a spread sheet program for creating and manipulating numerical data.
It contains functions that allow powerful calculations for general, accounting and engineering type problems.
Charts and graphs can be generated to better show relationships between variables. POWERPOINT enables you to create powerful slide show presentations.
Color, animation and a number of effects can be used to enhance your slide show. ACCESS is a database program that can be used to keep track of large amounts of related data that can be output in any manner you need. OPERATING SYSTEM An operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers, manages computer hardware resources, and provides common services for execution of various application software. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and will frequently call the OS or be interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on almost any device that contains a computerfrom cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers. TYPES: Real-time INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
A real-time operating system is a multitasking operating system that aims at executing real-time applications. Real-time operating systems often use specialized scheduling algorithms so that they can achieve a deterministic nature of behavior. The main object of real-time operating systems is their quick and predictable response to events. They either have an event-driven or a time-sharing design. An event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities while time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts. Multi-user vs. Single-user A multi-user operating system allows multiple users to access a computer system concurrently. Time-sharing system can be classified as multi-user systems as they enable a multiple user access to a computer through the sharing of time. Singleuser operating systems, as opposed to a multi-user operating system, are usable by a single user at a time. Being able to have multiple accounts on a Windows operating system does not make it a multi-user system. Rather, only the network administrator is the real user. But for a Unix-like operating system, it is possible for two users to login at a time and this capability of the OS makes it a multi-user operating system. Multi-tasking vs. Single-tasking When a single program is allowed to run at a time, the system is grouped under a single-tasking system, while in case the operating system allows the execution of multiple tasks at one time, it is classified as a multi-tasking operating system. Multi-tasking can be of two types namely, pre-emptive or co-operative. In preemptive multitasking, the operating system slices the CPU time and dedicates one slot to each of the programs. Unix-like operating systems such as Solaris and Linux support pre-emptive multitasking. Cooperative multitasking is achieved by relying on each process to give time to the other processes in a defined manner. MS Windows prior to Windows 95 used to support cooperative multitasking. Distributed A distributed operating system manages a group of independent computers and makes them appear to be a single computer. The development of networked computers that could be linked and communicate with each other, gave rise to INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
distributed computing. Distributed computations are carried out on more than one machine. When computers in a group work in cooperation, they make a distributed system. Embedded Embedded operating systems are designed to be used in embedded computer systems. They are designed to operate on small machines like PDAs with less autonomy. They are able to operate with a limited number of resources. They are very compact and extremely efficient by design. Windows CE and Minix 3 are some examples of embedded operating systems. Share Add to my list Print E-mail Want it Got it Had it
Full user review

See all user reviews Average user rating: 2.0stars out of 53 reviews Back to product review Rating Breakdown: 5 star: 11/53 11 4 star: 7/53 7 3 star:
4/53 4 2 star: 7/53 7 1 star: 24/53 24 My rating: 0 stars you have not rated this yet Write review 1 of 53 results 1.5 stars FILE MANAGEMENT AND UTILITIES: The system that an operating system or program uses to organize and keep track of files. For example, a hierarchical file system is one that uses directories to organize files into a tree structure. Although the operating system provides its own file management system, you can buy separate file management systems. These systems interact smoothly with the operating system but provide more features, such as improved backup procedures and stricter file protection. MAJOR SOFTWARE ISSUES: Pros: Easy detection of cable modem, and great security.
Cons: Released before bugs were properly worked out, & level 1 tech support is unaware of the problems. This could have been the best of the best in the router picks for me (Could still be if they fix the problems quickly).
The problem is that this router will not let other 802.11B/G devices connect to the internet.
It allows them to connect to the router and the internal network to share files and such, but no internet connection can be made by the device.
I tried two different laptops (Armada 7800 6366/T/10/0/M/1 Win-2K, IBM R31 Win-XP Pro) with 2 different G & B only cards (4 cards total, all different manufacturers, IBM 12P3863 802.11B mini PCI, Microsoft MN-720 802.11G, Buffalo WLI-CB-G54A 802.11G, Orinoco Gold 802.11B), with the same problem. I also tried a total of 2 routers to confirm the problem (both had identical problems). Most people would have just taken it back and purchased something else. I spent about 50 hours of my personal time, over a 3 week period, trying to figure out the problem, and an extra $20 in shipping charges for a second router.
The unit will not detect new firmware with Version 1.0.1.2, and I cannot yet confirm if Version 1.0.1.4 will detect it until the new release comes out.
While I like the automatic internet detection, it is very slow, and could make someone believe their router is defective.
The software that came with the router on the resource CD V1.0 has some problems of its own; it locks up at a certain point. I recommend manually setting up the router rather than using the software.
The size of the router is not really a problem, but they could have made the clip on base an inch wider (and still could). A wall mount using the same Clip-on base holes would be a good idea
too.
The level-2 tech support says they will have a fix in 2 more weeks with their next software release The rush to the Pre-N deliveries is going to cost companies that have not properly tested their equipment with cards and devices other than their own.

UNIT V
INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB: The World Wide Web, abbreviated as WWW or W3 and commonly known as the Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks. Using concepts from earlier hypertext systems, English engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, now the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, wrote a proposal in March 1989 for what would eventually become the World Wide Web. At CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, Berners-Lee and Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau proposed in 1990 to use "HyperText ... to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will",[2] and publicly introduced the project in December. "The World-Wide Web was developed to be a pool of human knowledge, and human culture, which would allow collaborators in remote sites to share their ideas and all aspects of a common project." GETTING CONNECTED TO THE WEB: In addition to a computer and Web Browser, you need to use an Internet Service Provider, or ISP, to provide you access to the Internet. If you use the Internet at school or work, then these organizations might already provide you with the access you need to surf the Web. However, if you want to use the Internet at home, then you need to look for an ISP that can provide you access. Traditionally, dial-up connections were the only, and most popular method, of going online, and many people still use such connections today. The are generally cheaper than
other connections, but they are also slower, and thus, it takes longer to view Webpages and download/upload large files like music, video, and large email attachments. Faster connection speeds are possible with cable models or other similar connections. Speeds for view Webpages are much faster, and viewing online multimedia like audio and video is greatly enhanced. However, the cost is generally higher that dial-up connections. Because there are so many ISP companies, you want to be sure to compare services and prices. Often times, some ISPs provide many services you might not even need (e.g., email), and they offer these at a higher price. Thus, you might want to look for a cheap Internet service provider that only offers a connection to the Internet. Of course, ISP companies make more money by promoting full-service access to the Internet, but that might not be what you need. Shop around. There are many cheap ISP companies that probably provide what you need. BROWSING THE WEB: Major Browsers Google Chrome Microsoft Internet Explorer - Still the most popular browser, due to its monopoly on the desktop. Mozilla family: Mozilla - The first browser came from this project, originally at the University of Illinois. It continues to produce open-source browsers, the latest called Firefox Netscape Browser Central - The first commercial Web browser, Netscape was an offshoot of Mozilla. Camino - "Mozilla power, Mac style" Opera - A rising competitor among browsers Safari - Browser for the Mac INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LOCATING INFORMATION ON THE WEB:
This section illustrates the issue which will make or break the World Wide Web - Finding Information. Imagine a library with no Library of Congress organization and no catalog. As the books came in the just got stacked on the shelves. The Web is much like that... information is out there in all sorts of places and cubbyholes. The trick is finding it.
The problem is too much information. The solution: a plethora or search engines and indexes. WEB MULTIMEDIA: Multimedia on the Web
Today's Web presents a diversified multimedia experience. In fact, the Web has become a broadcast medium, offering live TV and radio, pre-recorded video, photos, images, and animations. Expect to encounter multimedia just about anywhere on the Web. This tutorial presents a brief overview. Plugins, media players, and multimedia types plugins and media players are software programs that allow you to experience multimedia on the Web. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably. File formats requiring this software are known as MIME types. MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was originally developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of binary (non-textual) file attachments. The use of MIME has expanded to the Web. For example, the basic MIME type handled by Web browsers is text/html associated with the file extention .html. MIME types area also used to process multimedia on the Web. A few examples: Jpeg photo: image/jpeg MPEG video: video/mpeg Quicktime movie: video/quicktime MP3 audio: audio/x-mpeg-3 Flash presentation: application/x-shockwave-flash Nowadays, many personal computers come pre-loaded with plugins and media players. This is an acknowledgement of the importance of the Web multimedia experience. If your computer doesn't have a particular piece of software, it can be easily obtained from the Web site of the company that created it. Downloading is easy and instructions are usually provided. plugins are software programs that work with your Web browser to display multimedia. When your browser encounters a multimedia file, it hands off the data to the plugin to play or display the file. Working in conjunction with plugins, browsers can offer a seamless multimedia experience. The plugins needed to experience Web multimedia are available for free. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
A common plugin used on the Web is the Adobe Reader. This software allows you to view documents created in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). These documents are the MIME type "application/pdf" and are associated with the file extension .pdf. A PDF is a type of image file. When the Adobe Reader has been downloaded to your computer, the software will open and display the file when you click on its link on a Web page. Try viewing this PDF document from the U. S. Census Bureau. Sometimes a Web page will display the official PDF icon to alert you that the file is in PDF format. media players are software programs that can play audio and video files, both on and off the Web. The concept of streaming media is important to understanding how media can be delivered on the Web. With streaming technology, audio or video files are played as they are downloading, or streaming, into your computer. Sometimes a small wait, called buffering, is necessary before the file begins to play. Extensive pre-recorded files such as interviews, lectures, televised video clips, podcasts, and music work very well with these players. They can also be used for real-time radio and TV, including Web-only TV. Popular media players include the Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, QuickTime Player, and Flash Player. Audio Audio files, including music, are an important part of the Web experience. Listening to music on the Web is a popular pastime. Audio files of many types are supported by the Web with the appropriate players. The MP3 file format probably the most popular option for audio files. MP3 files are also the source of podcasts. These are audio files distributed through RSS feeds, though the term is sometimes also used to describe video programming (or vodcast). You can subscribe to a podcast's RSS feed, and listen to the podcast series, with a special type of player called a podcatcher. A podcatcher can be either available on the Web or downloaded to your computer like any other plugin. iTunes can serve as a podcatcher. Keep in mind that you can often listen to a podcast on the originating site. For an example, visit NYTimes.com Podcasts.
Want to create your own podcast? Fondren Library at Rice University offers useful instructions in their tutorial Podcasting Howtos. Thousands of radio stations broadcast live on the Web. Just use a search engine to locate a station's Web site, and follow the links to the live broadcast. Visit this page for an example of one radio station's live broadcasts. Video Streaming video is the backbone of live and pre-recorded broadcasting on the Web. YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the Web for pre-recorded video. Realtime professional or personal broadcasts are also very popular. The Web is a medium for exchanging information among professionals. A live professional broadcast from a conference, company, or institution is sometimes referred to as a webcast. A variation on this is a webinar, a seminar broadcast on the Web. To watch video discussions by experts in their fields, take a look at: Academic Earth, a collection of free video lectures by top scholars BigThink, where experts discuss current events Bloggingheads.tv, where academics, journalists, and others have two-way conversations, or diavlogs, on substantive topics iTunes U, which offers free lectures from a handful of universities WebMedia: Special Events at Princeton University, offering archived speeches and conferences live cams and live tv are a big part of the real-time video experience available on the Web. Live cams are video cameras that send their data in real time to a Web server. These cams may appear in all kinds of locations, both serious and whimsical: an office, on top of a building, a scenic locale, a special event, a fish tank, and so on. Live cams are stationary and only broadcast what is in their line of sight. Moving video takes live broadcasting to the next level: TV on the Web. Some people wear portable cameras and
allow the public to observe their lives - an intense form of reality TV. Justin.tv was a pioneer in this type of live broadcasting. Other people broadcast their involvement in specific topics, such as cooking or technology. Check out Blip.tv and Ustream for examples. Live TV broadcasts abound on the Web. As with radio stations mentioned above, use a search engine to locate a station's Web site and follow the links to the live broadcast. There are also plenty of pre-recorded network TV shows available on the Web. Check out Hulu for an example of a site that hosts this type of content. Embedded media As you browse the Web, you can experience multimedia on the sites of the people who sponsor or create the broadcasts. There are also aggregator sites you can visit, including Flickr and YouTube. It's also possible to embed multimedia on your own Web pages. The capacity for unlimited distribution is a major reason why multimedia on the Web has become so popular. Also, it's quite easy to do. In most cases, embedding a media file is just a matter of copying code and pasting it onto your Web page. The two examples below took only a few minutes to complete. Both require the Flash player (MIME type of application/xshockwave-flash). Here is an embedded video from YouTube. Here is a Picasa slideshow from my 2008 high school reunion. You might enjoy looking at my photos of the historic Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. For advice on embedding media (and other file types, too), check out How To Embed Almost Anything in your Website from the technology blog Digital Inspiration. tip! The phenomenon of embedded media is related to the concept of widgets. A widget is a snippet of a program running on another site that can be embedded on your own Web page. Check out Widgetbox to get an idea of some widgets you might want to try. INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Introduction to Information Technology syllabus and concepts

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INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYLLABUS Unit1: Introduction: Information System-Software and data-Business and industry-IT in home And at play-IT

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Types of information systems:

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Preparation of accounts and records for insurance companies.

The electricity boards are using computers to control voltage fluctuations.

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

with members residing mainly together in a department, or in a centrally-funded hyper/multimedia unit.

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

computer based assessment drill and practise

software produced commercial or by educators

Customising and recycling learning packages

Low-cost locally-produced learning packages

Using IT for organisation of education, and training of staff

CAL delivers efficient training, including in IT skills

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Workstations and Servers

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 ... and four digits have 16 positions. 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

And, in fact, we have created the first 16 binary numbers: Decimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(f) Light Pen

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The Printer (d) Plotter

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Enhanced-definition television (EDTV):

480p (720480 progressive scan) 576p (720576 progressive scan)

High-definition television (HDTV):

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Higher than 1024768 85.1%

Lower than 800600 0%

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

How Data is Stored in your Hard Disk

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY