IS 151: Introduction to

Information and
Communication Technology

Course Instructor – Mr. Ambokile Okey

Course Details
Course Aim:
l The aim of this course is to provide students with
Information and communication technologies and to ensure
that ICTs support their work in the most productive way.
Expected Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
l Identify and utilize information and computer system
components and peripherals
l Demonstrate ability to use networks, world-wide web, and
other communication tools in a cvariety of settings;
l Use the basic features of Windows Operating System and
Create professional looking documents through the use of
office productivity tools: word processor, spreadsheet and
presentation; and
l Work productively with ICT specialists
Course Details
l Course Contents
l Introduction to Computers
l Introduction to Communication Systems
l Internet and Collaboration Tools
l Applications Software
l Introduction to Security Issues
l Business Information Systems
l Introduction to Legal Aspects of ICT
l ICT for Development
Course Details
l Teaching and learning activities: Lectures (30 hours), Seminars (15
hours), Assignments (10 hours), Independent study (10 hours) and
Practical (15 hours)
l Assessment Methods: Continuous Assessment (30) and University
Examination (70)
l Reading List:
l David, W. (2013), An introduction to Information Systems:
Organisations, Applications, Technology, and Design. Palgrave
Macmillan
l James, A., Brein, O. (2012). Introduction to Information Systems.
McGraw-Hill Education.
l Kelly, R., Casey, R. and Cegielski, G. (2010). Introduction to
Information Systems: Enabling and Transforming Business. John
Wiley and Sons. 3rd Edition
l Shelly, G. B. and Vermaat, M.E. (2011). Discovering Computers-
Fundamentals: Living in a Digital World. McGraw-Hill Education.
l Schemet, R and Brent, D. (2003). Between Communication and
Information. Transaction publishers, London.
Introduction
l A computer is an electronic device that accepts data
as an input, processes it, produce a result (output)
and saves it for future use.
l Data is a raw facts, meaning that it is unprocessed
computer data thus has no meaning.
l It has an ability to store data in temporary memory
for fast retrieval or in permanent memory for later
retrieval.
l During processing a computer performs processes,
calculations and operation based on instructions
provided.
l It is used for a variety of purposes ranging from
browsing the web, writing documents, etc.
Introduction
l Computers are designed to execute applications and
provide a variety of solutions by combining integrated
hardware and software components.
l Although the first ones that come to our minds are
desktops and laptops computers, many other devices
such as Tablets, ATMs, Smart TVs are computers as
well.
l A computer is made up of multiple parts that
facilitates user functionality that are divided into
hardware and software
Advantages of a Computer
l High Speed
l Computer is a very fast device capable of performing
calculations of large amount of data.
l Units of speed are microseconds, nanoseconds and
even picoseconds.
l Accuracy
l Computer’s calculations are 100% error free

l Storage
l A computer can store large amount of data
Advantages of a Computer
l Diligence
l Can perform repeated tasks with the same speed and
accuracy
l Reliability
l Automation
l Reduction in paper work and cost
Disadvantages of a Computer
l No Intelligence Quotient
l Garbage in garbage out
l Dependency
l It functions as per the user’s
instructions
Information Technology
l IT (Information Technology) refers to the
use of computers, networking, software and
other equipment to manage information.
l Generally, IT is concerned with storing,
processing, retrieving and protecting
digital information.
l Professionals working in IT departments
range from system administrators, database
administrators to programmers, network
engineers and IT managers.
Information and Communication
Technology
l ICT (Information Communications Technology)
can be seen as an integration of IT with
mediation broadcasting technologies, audio/
video processing and transmission and
telephony.
l The term ICT is widely used in the context
of education, whereas IT is a term widely
used in the industry.
l In addition, ICT is also used to refer to
the integration of telephone and audio/
visual networks with computer networks.
Fields of Computer
Applications
Business
l A computer is used in business organizations
for:
l Payroll calculations

l Budgeting

l Sales analysis
l Financial forecasting

l Managing employee database

l Maintenance of stock
Fields of Computer
Applications
Banking
l Online accounting facility that
includes checking balance, etc.
l ATMs

Insurance
l Insurance keeps their records up-to-
date with the help of computers.
Education
l LMS
Fields of Computer
Applications
Marketing
l Advertising

l Ads in mobile games and social medias e.g. Facebook,

Instagram, etc.
l Shopping

l Online shopping e.g. Amazon, Kikuu

Healthcare
l Computers are important part in hospitals, labs and
dispensaries
l They are used to keep records of patients and
medicines
l They used in scanning and diagnosing different
diseases
Fields of Computer
Applications
l ECG, EEG, ultrasounds and CT scans
etc. are done by computerized
machines.
Engineering Design
l Computers are widely used for
engineering purposes, one of the major
areas is Computer Aided Design (CAD)
that provides creation and
modification of images.
Military
l Computers are largely used in defense.
Fields of Computer
Applications
l Computers in military are used in:
l Missile Control
l Military Communication

l Military Operation and Planning

l Smart Weapons

l Communication
l A way to convey a message that is
received and understood by the receiver.
l It includes: E-mail, Chatting, Video-
conferencing etc.
Fields of Computer
Applications
Government
l Computers play role in government
services which includes:
l Budgets
l Sales tax

l Income tax

l Computerization of voters

l Weather forecasting etc.

 Computer System
l Is a collection of entities(hardware, software and
user) that are designed to receive, process,
manage and present information in a meaningful
format.
Computer Generations
l The history of computer development is often
referred to in reference to the different
generations of computing devices.
l In each computer generation there was a major
technological development that fundamentally
changed the way computers operated, which
resulted in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more
powerful, more efficient and reliable devices.
l There are five computer generations known till
date.
First Generation: 1946-1959
l The computers of first generation used vacuum
tubes as the basic components for memory and
circuitry for Central Processing Unit (CPU)
l The vacuum tube is a glass tube that has its gas
removed, creating a vacuum.
l Vacuum tubes contain electrodes for controlling
electrons flow and were used in early computers as
a switch or an amplifier.
First Generation: 1946-1959
l These tubes, like electric bulbs, produced a
lot of heat and the installations used to
fuse frequently.
l Therefore, they were very expensive and only
large organizations were able to afford it.
l In this generation, mainly batch processing
operating system was used, only solve one
problem at a time.
l Punch cards, paper tape, and magnetic tape
was used as input and output devices.
l Punch cards are paper cards where holes may
be punched by hand or machine to represent
computer data and instructions.
First Generation: 1946-1959
l They were a widely-used means of inputting
data into early computers.
l The cards were fed into a card reader
connected to a computer, which converted the
sequence of holes to digital information.

l The computers in this generation used

machine language as the programming
language.
First Generation - 1946-1959
l Punch tape is similar to a punch card except that
punched cards carried only one statement per
card, punched tape recorded multiple sequential
statements.
l Punch tape is used with some early computers as a
means to store and input data into the computer.
l Instead of storing the data on individual cards
punch tape stores data on rolls of paper
containing punched holes representing the data
being inputted or outputted.
First Generation - 1946-1959
l A magnetic tape is a magnetically thin coated
piece of plastic wrapped around wheels capable of
storing data.
l It is less expensive than other storage mediums,
but also much slower because it is sequential
access and is often used for backing up large
amounts of data.
First Generation: 1946-1959
l The main features of the first
generation are: Vacuum tube
technology, Unreliable, Supported
machine language only, Very costly,
Generated a lot of heat, Slow input
and output devices, Huge size, Need of
AC, Non-portable and Consumed a lot of
electricity
l The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are
examples of first-generation computing
devices.
First Generation: 1946-1959
Second Generation: 1959-1965
l Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and lead
to the second generation of computers.

l The transistor was invented in 1947 but did

not see widespread use in computers until
the late 50s.
l The transistor was far superior to the
vacuum tube, allowing computers to become
smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-
efficient and more reliable than their
first-generation predecessors.
Second Generation - 1959-1965
l Though the transistor still generated
a great deal of heat that subjected
the computer to damage, it was a vast
improvement over the vacuum tube.
l In this generation, magnetic cores
were used as the primary memory, and
magnetic tape and magnetic disks as
secondary storage devices.
Second Generation - 1959-1965
l Second-generation computers moved from binary
machine language to assembly languages, which
allowed programmers to specify instructions in
words.
l High-level programming languages were also being
developed at this time, such as early versions of
COBOL and FORTRAN.
l Some computers of this generation were:
l IBM 1620

l IBM 7094

l CDC 1604
Second Generation: 1959-1965
l The main features of second generation are:
l Use of transistors

l Reliable in comparison to first generation computers

l Smaller size as compared to first generation

computers
l Generated less heat as compared to first generation
computers
l Consumed less electricity as compared to first
generation computers
l Faster than first generation computers

l Still very costly

l AC required

l Supported machine and assembly languages

Second Generation - 1959-1965
Third Generation: 1965-1971
l The computers of third generation used
Integrated Circuits (ICs) in place of
transistors.

l A single IC has many transistors, resistors,

and capacitors along with the associated
circuitry.
l The IC was invented by Jack Kilby, this
development made computers smaller in size,
reliable, and efficient.
l In this generation remote processing, time-
sharing, multiprogramming operating system were
used.
Third Generation: 1965-1971
l High-level languages (FORTRAN-II TO IV,
COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68 etc.)
were used during this generation.

l Instead of punched cards and printouts,

users interacted with third generation
computers through keyboards and monitors and
interfaced with an operating system, which
allowed the device to run many different
applications at one time with a central
program that monitored the memory.
Third Generation: 1965-
1971
l Computers for the first time became
accessible to a mass audience because
they were smaller and cheaper than
their predecessors.
l The main features of third generation
are: IC used, More reliable in comparison
to previous two generations, Smaller size,
Generated less heat, Faster, Lesser
maintenance, Costly, AC required, Consumed
lesser electricity and Supported high-level
language
Third Generation: 1965-1971
l Some computers of this generation
were:
l IBM-360 series
l Honeywell-6000 series
l PDP (Personal Data Processor)
l IBM-370/168
l TDC-316
Fourth Generation : 1971-1980
l Computers of fourth generation used Very Large
Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits.
l VLSI circuits having about 5000 transistors and
other elements with their associated circuits
on a single chip made it possible to have
microcomputers of fourth generation.

l Fourth generation computers became more

powerful, compact, reliable, and affordable.
Fourth Generation: 1971-1980
l As a result, it gave rise to Personal Computer (PC)
revolution.
l In this generation, time sharing, real time networks,
distributed operating system were used.
l All the high-level languages like C, C++, DBASE etc.,
were used in this generation.
l The entire components of the first generation which
filled the large room could now fit in the palm of the
hand.
l The main features of fourth generation are: VLSI
technology used, Very cheap, Portable and reliable,
Use of PCs, Very small size, Pipeline processing and
No AC required
Fourth Generation: 1971-1980
l Concept of Internet was introduced
l Great developments in the fields of
networks
l Computers became easily available
l Some computers of this generation were:
l DEC 10
l STAR 1000
l PDP 11
l CRAY-1(Super Computer)
l CRAY-X-MP(Super Computer)
l Fourth generation computers also saw the
development of Graphical User Interface
(GUIs), the mouse and other handheld
devices.
Fourth Generation: 1971-1980
Fifth Generation: 1980-till date
l In the fifth generation, VLSI technology became ULSI
(Ultra Large Scale Integration) technology, resulting
in the production of microprocessor chips having ten
million electronic components.
l This generation is based on parallel processing
hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software.
l AI is an emerging branch in computer science, which
interprets the means and method of making computers
think like human beings.
l All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java,
.Net etc., are used in this generation.
Fifth Generation: 1980-till
date
l The goal of fifth-generation computing
is to develop devices that respond to
natural language input and are capable
of learning and self-organization.
l AI includes:
l Robotics
l Neural Networks
l Game Playing
l Development of expert systems to make
decisions in real-life situations
l Natural language understanding and
generation
Fifth Generation: 1980-till
date
l The main features of fifth generation
are:
l ULSI technology
l Development of true artificial
intelligence
l Development of Natural language
processing
l Advancement in Parallel Processing
l Advancement in Superconductor technology
l More user-friendly interfaces with
multimedia features
l Availability of very powerful and compact
computers at cheaper rates
Fifth Generation: 1980-
till date
l Some computer types of this generation
are:
l Desktop
l Laptop
l NoteBook
l UltraBook
l ChromeBook
End