CHAPTER 4: OVERVIEW OF COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

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CHAPTER 4 OVERVIEW OF COMPUTER HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE

• I. Introduction to computers
• A. Microcomputer
• B. Minicomputer
• C. Mainframe
• D. Super computer

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• II. Hardware components of a computer system
• (Exhibits 4.1 and 4.2)
• A. Action based input devices
• 1. Keyboard
• 2. Mouse
• 3. Light pen
• 4. Touch screen

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• II. Hardware components of a computer system
• (continued)
• B. Non-action based input devices
• 1. Optical character recognition
• 2. Magnetic ink
• 3. Voice input
• 4. Image scanners
• 5. Graphics tablets

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• III. Central processing units
• A. Measurements
• 1. Coding schemes
• 2. Speed of a computer
• B. Primary memory
• 1. Random access memory (RAM)
• 2. Read only memory (ROM)
• IV. Secondary storage
• A. Media
• B. Access of secondary storage

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• IV. Secondary storage (continued)
• C. Disk devices (Exhibit 4.3)
• 1. Floppy disks
• 2. Hard disks
• 3. Optical disks
• V. Magnetic tape

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• VI. Output devices
• A. Display devices
• 1. Terminals
• 2. Monitors (Exhibit 4.4)
• B. Printers
• C. Other output devices
• 1. Plotters
• 2. Voice output device
• 3. Film recorder
• 4. Microfiche
• 5. Optical disks

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• VII. Computer data storage (Exhibit 4.5)
• IIX. The software of a computer
• A. The operating system
• 1. Supervisor
• 2. Language translator
• 3. Input/Output control system
• 4. Librarian

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• IIX. The software of a computer (continued)
• B. Programming languages (Exhibit 4.6)
• 1. Assembler languages
• 2. Procedural languages
• 3. Non-procedural languages
• 4. Artificial intelligence
• C. Utility programs
• 1. Sort utilities
• 2. Spooling utilities
• 3. Text editor
• 4. Multitasking

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• IIX. The software of a computer (continued)
• D. Application systems
• IX. Business support processing systems
• A. Management information systems
• B. Decision support systems
• C. Expert systems
• D. Executive information systems

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• X. Personal computers
• A. Hardware of a personal computer
• 1. Styles
• 2. Classes
• 3. Sizes
• B. Operating systems software
• C. User interfaces
• 1. Menu-driven systems
• 2. Windows-based systems
• D. Application software systems