Computer Application B.

com Part 1 What is ALU

ALU stands for the Arithmetic logic unit and it is an internal part of the processor which is used for all the mathematical and logical operations. The operations of the ALU includes multiplying the binary values and performing the logical operations such as AND, OR and XOR, integer arithmetic operations and Bit-shifting operations etc. ALU is the fundamental building block of the processor

Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable is the kind of copper cable used by cable TV companies between the community antenna and user homes and businesses. Coaxial cable is sometimes used by telephone companies from their central office to the telephone poles near users. It is also widely installed for use in business and corporation Ethernet and other types of local area network.

Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a remote service on another computer system, known as a server, by way of a network.[1] The term was first applied to devices that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers via a network. These dumb terminals were clients of the time-sharing mainframe computer. The clientserver model is still used today. Client and server can run on the same machine and connect via Unix domain sockets. Using Internet sockets a user may connect to a service operating on a possibly remote system through the Internet protocol suite. Servers set up listening sockets, and clients initiate connections that a server may accept. Web browsers are clients that connect to web servers and retrieve web pages for display. Most people use email clients to retrieve their email from their internet service provider's mail storage servers. Online chat uses a variety of clients, which vary depending on the chat protocol being used. Multiplayer online games may run as Game Clients on each local computer.

Setting Tab Positions in Microsoft Word

A Tab in word processing terms is the jump your cursor makes from one position to another when you press the tab key on your keyboard. Your tab key looks like this:

Advantages of internet
There many advantages to using the internet such as: y Email. Email is now an essential communication tools in business. It is also excellent for keeping in touch with family and friends. The advantages to email is that it is free ( no charge per use) when compared to telephone, fax and postal services. y Information. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support. y Services. Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking and applications, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line or cost more. y Buy or sell products. The internet is a very effective way to buy and sell products all over the world. y Communities. Communities of all types have sprung up on the internet. Its a great way to meet up with people of similar interest and discuss common issues.

Disadvantages of theInternet
Theft of Personal information: Electronic messages sent over the Internet can be easily snooped and tracked, revealing who is talking to whom and what they are talking about. If you use the Internet, your personal information such as your name, address, credit card, bank details and other information can be accessed by culprits. If you use a credit card or internet banking for online shopping, then your details can also be stolen. Negative effects on family communication: Although there are conflicting research findings on this topic, an article published by Science Daily reported that time spent on the Internet was

associated with later declines in within house family communication and a decrease in the number of friends and acquaintances with which they kept ties. Internet addiction: There is some controversy over whether it is possible to actually be addicted to the Internet or not. Some researchers, claim that it is simply people trying to escape their problems in an online world and cannot be classified as an addiction. Other psychologists, believe that Internet addiction is a true psychological disorder with definable symptoms. The symptoms are comparable to any addiction, withdrawal, loss of relationships or job and significant time consumption. Children using the Internet has become a big concern. Most parents do not realize the dangers involved when their children log onto the Internet. When children talk to others online, they do not realize they could actually be talking to a harmful person. Moreover, pornography is also a very serious issue concerning the Internet, especially when it comes to young children. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detriment to letting children use the Internet. Virus threat: Today, not only are humans getting viruses, but computers are also. Computers are mainly getting these viruses from the Internet. Virus is is a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache. Spamming: Is often viewed as the act of sending unsolicited email. This multiple or vast emailing is often compared to mass junk mailings. It needlessly obstruct the entire system. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasilegal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.

Precis Writing: A precis is a short summary. It is not a paraphrase, which merely says in different and simpler words exactly what the passage being paraphrased has to say. A paraphrase may be a long as the passage itself. A precis rarely is more than one-third the length of the original selection and may be only one-fourth as long. A precis gives only the "heart" of a passage. It omits repetition and such details as examples, illustrations, and adjectives unless they are of unusual importance. A precis is written entirely in the words of the person writing it, not in the words of the original selection. Avoid the temptation to lift long phrases and whole sentences from the original.

A precis is written from the point of view of the author whose work is being summarized. Do not begin with such expressions as "This author says" or "The paragraph means." Begin as though you were summarizing your own writing. In writing a precis proceed as follows: y Read carefully, sentence by sentence, the passage to be summarized. Try to grasp the writer's main point. Spotting the topic sentence will help. Look up in the dictionary any words whose meaning is not absolutely clear. As you read, take brief notes to be used in your writing. y When you have finally decided what the author's main point is, write it out in your own words. Do not use the wording of the original except for certain key words which you may find indispensable. If you cannot translate the idea into language of your own, you do not understand them very well. Be especially careful not to rely too much on the topic sentence. Do not add any opinions or ideas of your own. y Revise your writing until you are sure that you have given an accurate summary. y Usually you will find your precis is too long, if it is more than one-third the length of the original. Continue your revision until you have reduced the precis to the proper length. In this careful revision lies the principal value of the precis as a composition exercise. APPROACH TO PRECIS WRITING A precis should reduce the length of the original passage by at least two - thirds. Every important idea must be retained, preferably in the order in which it appears in the original.

Unimportant points, including details, illustrations and anecdotes, should be discarded. A first draft of the precis should be written, then checked to see that it contains the main ideas of the passage.

Although you should be as brief as possible. Guard against being so condensed that you obscure the point of passage. Try to capture the tone or feeling of the original, particularly if it is deliberately humorous, ironic or biased.

Check the draft for expression errors, repetition or vague phrasing; then write a smoother final version.

Computer Basics
What is A Computer
A computer is an electronic machine that accepts information, stores it until the information is needed, processes the information according to the instructions provided by the user, and finally returns the results to the user. The computer can store and manipulate large quantities of data at very high speed, but a computer cannot think. A computer makes decisions based on simple comparisons such as one number being larger than another. Although the computer can help solve a tremendous variety of problems, it is simply a machine. It cannot solve problems on its own.

History of Computers
Since civilizations began, many of the advances made by science and technology have depended upon the ability to process large amounts of data and perform complex mathematical calculations. For thousands of years, mathematicians, scientists and businessmen have searched for computing machines that could perform calculations and analyze data quickly and efficiently. One such device was the abacus. The abacus was an important counting machine in ancient Babylon, China, and throughout Europe where it was used until the late middle ages. It was followed by a series of improvements in mechanical counting machines that led up to the development of accurate mechanical adding machines in the 1930s. These machines used a complicated assortment of gears and levers to perform the calculations but they were far to slow to be of much use to scientists. Also, a machine capable of making simple decisions such as which number is larger was needed. A machine capable of making decisions is called a computer. The first computer like machine was the Mark I developed by a team from IBM and Harvard University. It used mechanical telephone relays to store information and it processed data entered on

punch cards. This machine was not a true computer since it could not make decisions. In June 1943, work began on the world's first electronic computer. It was built at the University of Pennsylvania as a secret military project during World War II and was to be used to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells. It covered 1500 square feet and weighed 30 tons. The project was not completed until 1946 but the effort was not wasted. In one of its first demonstrations, the computer solved a problem in 20 seconds that took a team of mathematicians three days. This machine was a vast improvement over the mechanical calculating machines of the past because it used vacuum tubes instead of relay switches. It contained over 17,000 of these tubes, which were the same type tubes used in radios at that time. The invention of the transistor made smaller and less expensive computers possible. Although computers shrank in size, they were still huge by todays standards. Another innovation to computers in the 60s was storing data on tape instead of punch cards. This gave computers the ability to store and retrieve data quickly and reliably.

Classification of Computers
Mainframe Computers Minicomputers Microcomputers Supercomputers

Mainframe computers are very large, often filling an entire room. They can store enormous of information, can perform many tasks at the same time, can communicate with many users at the same time, and are very expensive. . The price of a mainframe computer frequently runs into the millions of dollars. Mainframe computers usually have many terminals connected to them. These terminals look like small computers but they are only devices used to send and receive information from the actual computer using wires. Terminals can be located in the same room

with the mainframe computer, but they can also be in different rooms, buildings, or cities. Large businesses, government agencies, and universities usually use this type of computer.

Minicomputers are much smaller than mainframe computers and they are also much less expensive. The cost of these computers can vary from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. They possess most of the features found on mainframe computers, but on a more limited scale. They can still have many terminals, but not as many as the mainframes. They can store a tremendous amount of information, but again usually not as much as the mainframe. Medium and small businesses typically use these computers.

Microcomputers are the types of computers we are using in your classes at Floyd College. These computers are usually divided into desktop models and laptop models. They are terribly limited in what they can do when compared to the larger models discussed above because they can only be used by one person at a time, they are much slower than the larger computers, and they can not store nearly as much information, but they are excellent when used in small businesses, homes, and school classrooms. These computers are inexpensive and easy to use. They have become an indispensable part of modern life.

Computer Tasks
Input Storage Processing Output When a computer is asked to do a job, it handles the task in a very special way. 1. 2. It accepts the information from the user. This is called input. It stored the information until it is ready for use. The computer has memory chips, which are designed to hold information until it is needed.

3.

It processes the information. The computer has an electronic brain called the Central Processing Unit, which is responsible for processing all data and instructions given to the computer.

4.

It then returns the processed information to the user. This is called output.

Every computer has special parts to do each of the jobs listed above. Whether it is a multimillion dollar mainframe or a thousand dollar personal computer, it has the following four components, Input, Memory, Central Processing, and Output.

The central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic brain of the computer. The CPU in a personal computer is usually a single chip. It organizes and carries out instructions that come from either the user or from the software. The processor is made up of many components, but two of them are worth mentioning at this point. These are the arithmetic and logic unit and the control unit. The control unit controls the electronic flow of information around the computer. comparisons. The arithmetic and logic unit, ALU, is responsible for mathematical calculations and logical

The processor is plugged into the computers motherboard. The motherboard is a rigid rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects the processor and all the other components that make up your personal computer. In most personal computers, some of the components are attached directly to the motherboard and some are housed on their own small circuit boards that plug into the expansion slots built into the motherboard.

Input Devices
A computer would be useless without some way for you to interact with it because the machine must be able to receive your instructions and deliver the results of these instructions to you. Input devices accept instructions and data from you the user. Some popular input devices are listed below.

Keyboard Mouse Scanner Microphone CD-ROM Joystick

Memory

A personal computer must have a means of storing information (data) and instructions so that it can perform processing tasks on the data. Personal computers have two types of memory. These are discussed below.

Read Only Memory (ROM) ROM is a small area of permanent memory that provides startup instructions when the computer is turned on. You can not store any data in ROM. The instructions in ROM are set by the manufacturer and cannot be changed by the user. computer to load the operating system. The last instruction in ROM directs the

Every computer needs an operating system. This is a special computer program that must be loaded into memory as soon as the computer is turned on. Its purpose is to translate your instructions in English into Binary so that the computer can understand your instructions. The operating system also translates the results generated by your computer into English when it is finished so that we can understand and use the results. The operating system comes with a computer.

Random Access Memory (RAM) This is the area of memory where data and program instructions are stored while the computer is in operation. This is temporary memory. NOTE: The data stored in RAM is lost forever when the power is turned off. For this reason it is very important that you save your work before turning off your computer. This is why we have peripheral storage devices like your computers hard disk and floppy diskettes.

Permanent Memory (Auxiliary Storage) Your files are stored in permanent memory only when saved to your disk in a: drive or saved to your computer's hard disk, Drive c: In the Floyd College labs, you can also save your work to a network drive. We will discuss this in class.

To better understand how a computer handles information and to also understand why information is lost if the power goes off, lets take a closer look at how a computer handles information. Your computer is made of millions of tiny electric circuits. For every circuit in a computer chip, there are two possibilities:

1. 2.

an electric circuit flows through the circuit or An electric circuit does not flow through the circuit.

When an electric current flows through a circuit, the circuit is on. When no electricity flows, the circuit is off. An on circuit is represented by the number one (1) and an off circuit is represented by the number zero (0). The two numbers 1 and 0 are called bits. The word bit comes from binary digit. Each time a computer reads an instruction, it translates that instruction into a series of bits, 1s and 0s. On most computers every character from the keyboard is translated into eight bits, a combination of eight 1s and 0s. Each group of eight bits is called a byte.

Byte The amount of space in memory or on a disk needed to store one character. 8 bits = 1 Byte

Since computers can handle such large numbers of characters at one time, metric prefixes are combined with the word byte to give some common multiples you will encounter in computer literature.

Kilo means 1000 Mega means 1,000,000 Giga Means 1,000,000,000

Kilobyte (KB) = Megabyte (MB) = Gigabyte (GB)

1000 Bytes 1,000,000 Bytes = 1,000,000,000 Bytes

At this point it would be good to point out why information stored in RAM is lost if the power goes off. Consider the way the following characters are translated into binary code for use by the computer. A B C X Z 1 2 01000001 01000010 01000011 01011000 01011010 00110001 00110010

Consider the column at the right, which represents how the computer stores information. Each of the 1s in the second column represents a circuit that is on. If the power goes off, these circuits can NOT be on any more because the electricity has been turned off and any data represented by these circuits is lost. This is why we can not overemphasize the importance of saving your work often.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The central processing unit is one of the two most important components of your microcomputer. It is the electronic brain of your computer. In addition to processing data, it controls the function of all the other components. The

most popular microprocessors in IBM compatible computers are made by Intel. The generations of microprocessors are listed below.

1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2000

8088 80286 80386 80486 Pentium P-6 Pentium III Pentium IV

Your computer has a Pentium IV processor.

Output Devices
Monitor Speakers Printer Impact Dot Matrix Non-Impact Ink Jet Laser

Storage Devices
Hard disk Floppy disk Tape drive CD-ROM

Telecommunications
Telecommunications means that you are communicating over long distances usually using phone lines. This enables you to send data to and receive data from another computer that can be located down the street, in another town, or in another country. Telecommunications requires a communication device called a modem, which connects your A modem converts the digital signals that your computer uses into analog

computer to a standard phone jack.

signals that can be transmitted over the phone lines. To use a modem, you must also have communication software to handle the transmission process.

Computer Software
System Software System software will come provided with each computer and is necessary for the computers operation. This software acts as an interpreter between the computer and user. It interprets your instructions into binary code and likewise interprets binary code into language the user can understand. In the past you may have used MS-DOS or Microsoft Disk Operating System which was a command line interface. This form of system software required specific commands to be typed. Windows 95 is a more recent version of system software and is known as a graphical interface. This means that it uses graphics or "icons" to represent various operations. You no longer have to memorize commands; you simply point to an icon and click. Program Software Program software is software used to write computer programs in specific computer languages. Application Software Application software is any software used for specified applications such as: Word Processing Spreadsheet Database Presentation Graphics Communication Tutorials Entertainment, Games