CSC 101 Knowledge Base - Akam

Computers appear almost everywhere in today’s world, and most people need to use acomputer or a computerized device frequently on the job, at home, at school, or whileon the go. Computer literacy, which is being familiar with basic computer concepts,helps individuals feel comfortable using computers and is a necessary skill for everyonetoday.

A computer is a programmable electronic device that accepts input; performs processingoperations; outputs the results; and provides storage for data, programs, or output whenneeded. Most computers today also have communications capabilities. This progressionof input, processing, output, and storage is sometimes called the information processingcycle.

Embedded computers are built into products (such as cars and household appliances)to give them added functionality. Mobile devices are small devices with computing orInternet capabilities; a mobile device based on a mobile phone is called a smartphone.

Computer networks are used to connect individual computers and related devices so thatusers can share hardware, software, and data as well as communicate with one another.The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks.

Computers and devices based on related technology have become indispensable tools formodern life, making ordinary tasks easier and quicker than ever before and helping maketoday’s worker more productive than ever before.

CPUs today include at least one arithmetic/logic unit (ALU), which performs integerarithmetic and logical operations on data, and most include at least one floating pointunit (FPU), which performs decimal arithmetic. The control unit directs the flow of electronictraffic between memory and the ALU/FPU and also between the CPU and inputand output devices. Registers—high-speed temporary holding places within the CPU thathold program instructions and data immediately before and during processing—are usedto enhance the computer’s performance. The prefetch unit requests data and instructionsbefore or as they are needed, the decode unit decodes the instructions input into the CPU,internal cache stores frequently used instructions and data, and the bus interface unitallows the various parts of the CPU to communicate with each other.

Personal computers typically contain a variety of hardware components located inside thesystem unit. For instance, chips are mounted onto circuit boards, and those boards are positionedin slots on the motherboard—the main circuit board for a computer. Every computerhas a central processing unit (CPU) or processor—also called a microprocessor whenreferring to personal computers—attached to its motherboard that performs the processingfor the computer. CPU chips differ in many respects, such as what types of computer the CPUis designed for, its clock speed, and word size. They can also be multi-core CPUs, such asthe dual-core (two cores) and quad-core (four cores) CPUs now available. Another differenceis the amount of cache memory—memory located on or very close to the CPU chipto help speed up processing. Other important differences are the general architecture of theCPU and the bus speed and width being used. The overall processing speed of the computerdetermines its performance. One of the most consistent measurements of overall performanceis a benchmark test.Memory refers

How processors are built

Most digital computers work in a two-state, or binary, fashion. It is convenient to think ofthese binary states in terms of 0s and 1s. Computer people refer to these 0s and 1s as bits.Converting data to these 0s and 1s is called digital data representation.

There are several possible remedies for a computer that is performing too slowly, includingadding more memory, performing system maintenance to clean up the computer’shard drive, buying a larger or additional hard drive, and upgrading the computer’s Internetconnection or video card, depending on the primary role of the computer and where theprocessing bottleneck appears to be. To make computers work faster overall, computerdesigners have developed a number of strategies over the years, and researchers are continuallyworking on new strategies. Some of the strategies already being implemented includeimproved architecture, pipelining, multiprocessing, parallel processing, and the use ofnew or improved materials.

Storage systems make it possible to save programs, data, and processing results for lateruse. They provide nonvolatile storage, so when the power is shut off, the data stored onthe storage medium remains intact.

Hard drives are used in most computers to store programs and data. Conventional harddrives are magnetic hard drives; a newer type of hard drive that uses flash memory insteadof magnetic disks is the solid-state drive (SSD). Hard drives can be internal or external;external hard drives can be full-sized or portable. Hybrid hard drives are a combinationof a magnetic hard drive and an SSD, containing a large amount of flash memory thatis used in conjunction with magnetic hard disks to provide increased performance whilereducing power consumption.

Optical discs, such as CD discs, DVD discs, and Blu-ray Discs (BDs), store data opticallyusing laser beams, and they can store data much more densely than magnetic disks. They aredivided into tracks and sectors like magnetic disks, but they use a single spiral track insteadof concentric tracks.

Flash memory is used in a variety of storage systems. Flash memory cards, one of themost common types of flash memory media, are commonly used with digital cameras,portable computers, and other portable devices, as well as with desktop computers.

Remote storage involves using a storage device that is not directly connected to your computer.One example is using a network storage device, such as a network attached storage(NAS) or storage area network (SAN).

Most personal computers today include a hard drive, some type of optical drive, a flashmemory card reader, and multiple USB ports that can be used to connect USB-based storagedevices, such as external hard drives and USB flash drives, as well as other USB hardware.

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