1

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
AND
NETWORK BASICS

2
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?

3
4
5
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AS SECURITY

6
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS COMMUNICATION

7
8
9
10
 What Is A Computer?
COMPUTER IS A VERY VERSATILE ELECTRONIC MACHINE MAN
HAS EVER CREATED. COMPUTERS HAVE MADE A GREATE
IMPACT ON OUR EVERYDAY LIFE. THEIR PRESENCE IS FELT IN
ALMOST EVERYWALF OF LIFE BE IT HOME, SCHOOL, COLLEGE,
OFFICE, INDUSTRY, HOSPITAL, BANK, TETAIL STORES, RAILWAYS,
RESEARCH AND DESIGN ORGANIZATIONS ETC.

11
Devices that comprise (consist of) a computer
system

Monitor Speake
(output r
) System unit
(output
(processor,
)
memory…)
Printer
(output
)

Storage devices
(CD-RW, Floppy,
Hard disk, zip,…)
Mouse
(input)
Scanne Keyboard
r (input)
(input)

12
 What Does A Computer
Do?

Computers can perform four general operations,

which comprise the information processing cycle.

 Input
 Process
 Output
 Storage

13
What Do Computers Do?

• Input, Process, Output, & Store data

Input Process Output

Store Data

14
 Data and Information

• All computer processing requires data, which is a collection of raw facts, figures
and symbols, such as numbers, words, images, video and sound, given to the
computer during the input phase.

• Computers manipulate data to create information. Information is data that is

organized, meaningful, and useful.

• During the output Phase, the information that has been created is put into
some form, such as a printed report.

• The information can also be put in computer storage for future use.

15
Why Is A Computer So
Powerful?

16
 Why Is A Computer So
Powerful?

 Fast speed of calculations and storing of

information.
 Reliability (low failure rate).
 Accuracy.
 Ability to store huge amounts of data and
information.
 Ability to communicate with other computers.
17
How Does a Computer Know what to
do?

• It must be given a detailed list of instructions,

called a compute program or software, that tells it
exactly what to do.
• Before processing a specific job, the computer
program corresponding to that job must be stored
in memory.
• Once the program is stored in memory the
compute can start the operation by executing the
program instructions one after the other.

18
 What Are The Primary
Components Of A Computer ?
• Input devices.
• Central Processing Unit
(containing the control unit and
the arithmetic/logic unit).
• Memory.
• Output devices.
• Storage devices.

19
20
 Uses of Computer

PC at Home
Common uses for the computer within the home
• Computer games
• Working from Home
• Banking from Home
• Connecting to the Web

21
Computer games

22
Working from Home

23
Banking from Home

24
Connecting to the Web

25
 Uses of Computer

Office Applications
Stock Control

The stock control system keeps track of the number of items

in stock and can automatically order replacement items when
required.

Accounts / Payroll

Due to the repetitive nature of accounts a computer system is

ideally suited to this task and accuracy is guaranteed.
26
Stock Control

27
Accounts / Payroll

28
 Uses of Computer

Automated Production Systems

Many car factories are almost completely automated and the cars
are assembled by computer-controlled robots. This automation is
becoming increasingly common throughout industry.

Design Systems
Many products are designed using CAD (Computer Aided Design)
programs to produce exact specifications and detailed drawings on
the computer before producing models of new products.

29
Automated Production Systems

30
Design Systems

31
Uses of Computer

Computers in Daily Life

• Accounts
• Games
• Educational
• On-line banking
• Smart ID cards
• Supermarkets
• Working from home (Tele-working)
• Internet
32
33
 Computer - First Generation 1946-1959

The computers in this generation used machine code as the

programming language.

34
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
• Consumed a lot of electricity
35
Some computers of this generation were −
• ENIAC
• EDVAC
• UNIVAC
• IBM-701
• IBM-650

36
Computer - Second Generation 1959-1965

37
The main features of second generation are −
• Use of transistors
• Reliable in comparison to first generation computers
• Smaller size as compared to first generation computers
• Generated less heat as compared to first generation computers
• Consumed less electricity as compared to first generation
computers
• Faster than first generation computers
• Still very costly
• AC required
• Supported machine and assembly languages
38
Some computers of this generation were −
• IBM 1620
• IBM 7094
• CDC 1604
• CDC 3600
• UNIVAC 1108

39
 Computer - Third Generation 1965 - 1971
The IC was invented by Jack Kilby. This development made computers smaller
in size, reliable, and efficient. In this generation remote processing, time-
sharing, multiprogramming operating system were used. High-level languages
(FORTRAN-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68 etc.) were
used during this generation.

40
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
• Supported high-level language
41
Some computers of this generation were −
• IBM-360 series
• Honeywell-6000 series
• PDP (Personal Data Processor)
• IBM-370/168
• TDC-316

42
 Computer - Fourth Generation 1971 - 1980

Fourth generation computers became more powerful, compact, reliable, and

affordable. As a result, it gave rise to Personal Computer (PC) revolution. In this
generation, time sharing, real time networks, distributed operating system were
used. All the high-level languages like C, C++, DBASE etc., were used in this
generation.

43
The main features of fourth generation are −
• VLSI technology used
• Very cheap
• Portable and reliable
• Use of PCs
• Very small size
• Pipeline processing
• No AC required
• Concept of internet was introduced
• Great developments in the fields of networks
• Computers became easily available

44
45
Some computers of this generation were −
• DEC 10
• STAR 1000
• PDP 11
• CRAY-1(Super Computer)
• CRAY-X-MP(Super Computer)

46
 Computer - Fifth Generation 1980 to till date

This generation is based on parallel processing hardware and AI (Artificial

Intelligence) software. AI is an emerging branch in computer science, which
interprets the means and method of making computers think like human
beings. All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc., are used
in this generation

47
AI includes −
• Robotics
• Neural Networks
• Game Playing
• Development of expert systems to make decisions in real-life situations
• Natural language understanding and generation

The main features of fifth generation are −

• ULSI technology
• Development of true artificial intelligence
• Development of Natural language processing
• Advancement in Parallel Processing
• Advancement in Superconductor technology
• More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia features
48

• Availability of very powerful and compact computers at cheaper rates

Some computer types of this generation are −
• Desktop
• Laptop
• NoteBook
• UltraBook
• ChromeBook

49
Laptops A laptop is a portable computer with a built-

in screen and keyboard.

Notebooks A notebook is, in fact, the same as a laptop.

Ultrabooks Ultrabooks are laptops up to 1.5cm thick 50

 Types of Computers
•1. Analog Computer

•2. Digital Computer

51
Analog Computer
Analog Computers handle or process
information which is of a physical nature, as
for example, temperature, pressure etc.

52
Images of Analog Computers

53
Analog computers were widely used in scientific and industrial
applications even after the advent of digital computers, because
at the time they were typically much faster, but they started to
become obsolete as early as the 1950s and 1960s, although they
remained in use in some specific applications, such as aircraft
flight simulators, the flight computer in aircraft, and for teaching
control systems in universities. More complex applications, such
as aircraft flight simulators and synthetic aperture radar, remained
the domain of analog computing (and hybrid computing) well into
the 1980s, since digital computers were insufficient for the task.

54
Digital Computer
• Digital computers process information which is
essentially in a binary or two-state form, namely
zero and one.
• When talking about computers, we mostly refer to
the digital type of electronic machines. These are
based on the measuring of analog or equivalent
physical value.

55
56
 Difference between the Analog signals and Digital
signals
Analog signals Digital signals
Analog signals are difficult to get Digital signals are easy to analyse.
analysed at first.
Analog signals are more accurate than Digital signals are less accurate.
digital signals.
Analog signals take time to be stored. Digital signals can be easily stored.
It has infinite memory.
To record an analog signal, the In recording digital signal, the sample
technique used, preserves the original signals are taken and preserved.
signals.

There is a continuous representation There is a discontinuous

of signals in analog signals. representation of signals in digital
signals.

Analog signals produce too much Digital signals do not produce noise.
noise.
Examples of analog signals are Examples of digital signals are
Human voice, Thermometer, Analog Computers, Digital Phones, Digital
57
phones etc. pens, etc
Types of Digital Computers

Types of Digital
Computers

Microcomput Minicompute Supercomput

Mainframe
er r er

58
 Microcomputer
•Can be classified into:
•Desktop PCs
• sits on desks, rarely moved, large and bulky.
• Memory capacity, graphics capacity and software
availability vary from one computer to another Used
both for business and home applications

59
 Microcomputer
•Portable PCs
• Can be moved easily from place to place
• Weight may varies
• Small PCs are popular known as laptop
• Widely used by students, scientist, reporters, etc

60
Microcomputer Model
Desktop
Notebook
Laptop

Subnotebook
Palmtop

61
 Microcomputer
•Advantages
• Small size
• Low cost
• Portability
• Low Computing Power
• Commonly used for personal
applications
•Disadvantages
• Low processing speed
62
Uses of Microcomputer
Word Processing
Home entertainment
Home banking
Printing
Surfing the internet
etc

63
 Minicomputer

• Medium sized computer

• Also called the minis
• e.g. IBM36, HP9000, etc
• Computing power lies between
microcomputer and mainframe
computer

64
65
 MiniComputer

•Characteristics
• Bigger size than PCs
• Expensive than PCs
• Multi-User
• Difficult to use
• More computing power than PCs
• Used by medium sized business organizations,
colleges, libraries and banks.

66
 Uses of Minicomputer

• Control of Automated Teller Machine (ATMs)

• Payroll
• Hospital patients registration
• Inventory Control for supermarket
• Insurance claims processing
• Small bank accounting and customer details tracking

67
 Minicomputer
•Advantage
• Cater to multiple users
• Lower costs than mainframes
•Disadvantage
• Large
• Bulky

68
Mainframe
• Known as enterprise servers

• Occupies entire rooms or floors

• Used for centralized computing

• Serve distributed users and

small servers in a computing
network
69
 Main Frame
•Large, fast and expensive computer
•Cost millions of dollar
• e.g. IBM3091, ICL39, etc
•Characteristics:
• Bigger in size than minicomputers
• Very expensive
• Support a few hundred users simultaneously (Multi-Users)
• Difficult to use
• More computing power than minicomputers
• Have to be kept in a special air-conditioned room
• Used in big business organizations and government
departments
70
 Areas where mainframes are
used
• Airline reservation
• Big banks with hundreds of branches located all
over the world
• Big universities with thousands of enrollment
• Natural gas and oil exploration companies
• Space Vehicle control
• Weather forecasting
• Animated Cartoon
• Some mainframes are designed to be extremely
fast and called super computers. It is used for
space launching, monitoring and controlling. 71
72
73
74
75
 Mainframe
•Advantage
•Supports many users and instructions
•Large memory
•Disadvantage
•Huge size
•Expensive

76
Supercomputer

• Fastest and expensive

• Used by applications for
molecular chemistry, nuclear
research, weather reports, and
advanced physics
• Consists of several computers that
work in parallel as a single system

77
 What Are the Uses of a
Supercomputer?
Weather Forecasting

Scientific Research
Intelligence Agencies
Data Mining
Building brains

78
Super Computer

•Advantage
• Speed
•Disadvantage
• Generate a large amount of heat during operation

79
Bits, Bytes, and Kilobytes
The smallest unit of storage is called a bit (b). It’s only
capable of storing a single binary digit—either a 1 or 0.
When we refer to a bit, especially as part of a larger
word, we often use a lower-case “b” in its place. For
example, a kilobit is one thousand bits, and a megabit is
one thousand kilobits. When we shorten something like
45 megabits, we’d use 45 Mb.

One step up from a bit is a byte (B). A byte is eight bits,

and is about what you need to store a single character of
text. We use a capital “B” as a shortened form of byte.
80
The next step up from a byte is a kilobyte (KB),
which is equivalent to 1,024 bytes of data (or
8,192 bits).
We shorten kilobytes to KB, so, for example, it
takes around 10 KB to store a single page of
plain text.

And with those smaller measurements out of the

way, we can now take a look at the terms you’re
81

more likely to hear when shopping for your

Megabytes (MB)
There are 1,024 KB in one megabyte (MB). Through around
the late 90’s, regular consumer products like hard drives
were measured in MBs. Here are few examples of how
much you can store in the MB range:
• 1 MB = A 400 page book
• 5 MB = A average 4 minute mp3 song
• 650 MB = 1 CD-ROM with 70 minutes of audio
You’ll see the number 1,024 a lot in the next few sections.
Typically, after the kilobyte stage, each successive storage
measurement is 1,024 of whatever the next lower
measurement is. 1,024 bytes is one kilobyte; 1,024
82
Gigabytes (GB)
So, it should come as no surprise that there are 1,024 MB
in one gigabyte (GB). GBs are still very common when
referring to consumer levels of storage. Though most
regular hard drives are measured in the terabytes these
days, things like USB drives and many solid state drives are
still measured in the gigabytes.
A few real-world examples:
• 1 GB = around 10 yards of books on a shelf
• 4.7 GB = Capacity of one DVD-ROM disc
• 7 GB = How much data you’re using per hour when
streaming Netflix Ultra HD video
83
Terabytes (TB)
There are 1,024 GB in one terabyte (TB). Right now, TB are
the most common unit of measurement when talking about
regular hard drive sizes.

Some real-world examples:

• 1 TB = 200,000 5-minute songs; 310,000 pictures; or 500
hours worth of movies
• 10 TB = Amount of data produced by the Hubble Space
Telescope per year
• 24 TB = Amount of video data uploaded to YouTube per
day in 20165
84
Petabytes (PB)
There are 1,024 TB (or around one million GB) in one
petabyte (PB). If trends continue, petabytes are likely to
replace terabytes as the standard measurement for
consumer-level storage sometime in the future.

Real-world examples:
• 1 PB = 500 billion pages of standard typed text (or 745
million floppy disks)
• 1.5 PB = 10 billion photos on Facebook
• 20 PB = The amount of data processed by Google daily
in 2008 85
Exabytes (EB)
There are 1,024 PB in one exabytes (EB). Tech giants like
Amazon, Google, and Facebook (who process unthinkable
amounts of data) are typically the only ones worried
about this kind of storage space right now. At the
consumer level, some (but not all) file systems used by
operating systems today have their theoretical limit
somewhere in the exabytes
Real-world examples:
• 1 EB = 11 million 4K videos
• 5 EB = All the words ever spoken by humankind
• 15 EB = Total estimated data held by Google 86
87
 NUMBER SYSTEM

A set of values used to represent different quantities is

known as Number System“.
For example, a number system can be used to represent the
number of students in a class or number of viewers watching
a certain TV program etc.
The digital computer represents all kinds of data and
information in binary numbers. It includes audio, graphics,
video, text and numbers.

88
TYPES OF NUMBER SYSTEM

• Binary number system

• Decimal number system
• Octal number system
• Hexadecimal number system

89
 BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM

• Digital computer represents all kinds of data and information in the binary
system. Binary Number System consists of two digits 0 and 1. Its base is 2.
Each digit or bit in binary number system can be 0 or 1. A combination of
binary numbers may be used to represent different quantities like 1001.

90
91
Example Convert (10110)2 into a decimal number.

The binary number given is

Solution.
10110

Positional weights 43210

The positional weights for each of the digits are written in italics below each
digit.
Hence the decimal equivalent number is given as:
1 × 24 + 0 × 2 3 + 1 × 2 2 + 1 × 2 1 + 0 × 2 0
= 16 + 0 + 4 + 2 + 0
= (22)10.
Hence we find that here, for the sake of conversion, we have to multiply each
bit with
its positional weights depending on the base of the number system.
92
Example: Convert 101112 Decimal Number

Position 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3

Face Value 1 0 1 . 1 0 1

Weight 24 21 20 2-1 2-2 2-3

Example: Convert 101.1012

101.1012 = 1 x 22 + 0x21 + 1 x 20 + 1x 2-1 + 0 x 2-2 + 1 x 2-3
= 1 x 4 + 0 + 1 x 1 + ½ + 0 + 1/8
= 4 + 0 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.15
= 5.62510

93
 Decimal Number System
The Decimal Number System consists of ten digits from

0 to 9. These digits can be used to represent any

numeric value. The base of decimal number system is

10. It is the most widely used number system. The value

represented by individual digit depends on weight and

position of the digit.

94
 Octal Number System

Octal Number System consists of eight digits from 0 to 7.

The base of octal system is 8. Each digit position in this system

represents a power of 8. Any digit in this system is always less

than 8. Octal number system is used as a shorthand

representation of long binary numbers. The number “6418” is

not valid in this number system as 8 is not a valid digit.

95
 Hexadecimal Number System

• The Hexadecimal Number System consists of 16 digits from 0 to 9 and

A to F. The alphabets A to F represent decimal numbers from 10 to

15. The base of this number system is 16. Each digit position in

hexadecimal system represents a power of 16. The number 76416 is

valid hexadecimal number. It is different from 76410 which is seven

hundred and sixty four. This number system provides shortcut

method to represent long binary numbers.

96
 ASCII Code
• Pronounced ask-ee, ASCII is the acronym for
the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a
code for representing 128 English characters as numbers, with each
letter assigned a number from 0 to 127.

• The standard ASCII character set uses just 7 bits for each character.
There are several larger character sets that use 8 bits, which gives
them 128 additional characters. The extra characters are used to
represent non-English characters, graphics symbols, and
mathematical symbols.
97
 Input Devices

Data are facts, numbers and characters that are

entered into the computer via keyboard.
Other types of input devices are mouse,
joystick, light pens, scanners, camera, etc.

98
Computer Input Devices

• Keyboard • Touch screen

• Mouse/Trackball • Bar code reader
• Joystick • Scanner
• Light pen • Microphone
• Pointing Stick • Graphics Tablet
• Touchpad • Digital Cameras

99
Keyboard
• Programs and data are entered into a
computer through a keyboard which is
attached to a computer. A Keyboard is similar
to the keyboard of a typewriter. It contains
alphabets, digits, special characters,
functions keys and some control keys.

100
Keyboard
Mouse

• A mouse is a small device that you can use to move,

select, and open items displayed on your monitor.

• Most mouse devices have at least two buttons, left and

right.

• Mouse’s action:
oPoint
oDouble Click
oLeft Click
oRight Click
oClick-and-Drag or Drag-and-Drop
103
 Trackball
A trackball is also a pointing device and contains a
ball which can rotate in any direction. The user
spins the ball in different directions to move the
cursor on the monitor.

104
Voice Recognition
System
• Voice recognition system is an input device,
consisting of a microphone or telephone that
converts human speech into electrical signals.

105
Scanner
• Scanners are a kind of input devices. They are
capable of entering information directly into the
computer. The main advantage of direct of
information is that users do not have to type the
information. This provides faster and more
accurate data entry
• Types of Scanner
1. Flatbed Scanner
2. Slide Scanner
3. Handheld Scanner
4. Drum Scanner

106
 4

107
 OMR (Optical Mark Reader)

• OMR are special scanners used for

recognizing a pre-specified type of mark
made by pencil or pen.

108
 Bar Code Reader
Bar code readers are special devices used to read bar
coded data. Bar code is a specialized code used for fast
identification of items.

It consists of a series of small lines, known as bars. The actual

coding of the bars is the width of the bar, not the height. These
are primarily used for identification of goods such as books, postal
packages, badges etc.

109
MICR (Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition/ Reader)
• MICR detects the special encoded characters on bank
cheque and deposit slips. After detecting the encoded
characters, the MICR converts them into digital data for the
computer.

110
OCR (Optical Character Reader)

• The device is capable of detecting alphabetic and numeric

characters on a computer print-out containing complete
pages of types text and hand written text.

111
Output Unit

After the data has been processed, the results are

output in the form of useful information.
Output units such as monitors and printers make
the result accessible for use by people.

112
 Computer Output
Devices

screen that display

Monitor: allow you to
Speakers:
information such as text, hear voice, music, and
numbers, and pictures- other sounds from
softcopy. your computer.

Printer:
gives you information Modem: allows you to
from the computer in use your computer to
printed form – hardcopy. communicate with
other computers.

113
 Printer
Printers are the most popular output devices. They provide
information in a permanent readable form. They produce printed
outputs of results, programs and data. A character printer prints on
character of the text at a time. They are low-speed printers. Their
printing speed lies in the range of 30-600 characters per second

1. Impact Printers

2. Non-Impact Character printers

114
Impact Printer
• An impact printer is a type of printer that operates by striking a metal
or plastic head against an ink ribbon. The ink ribbon is pressed
against the paper, marking the page with the appropriate character,
dot, line, or symbol.
• Common examples of impact printers include dot matrix, daisy-wheel
printers, and ball printers.

115
NON-IMPACT
PRINTER
• Nonimpact printers, used almost everywhere now, are faster and
quieter than impact printers because they have fewer moving parts.
Nonimpact printers form characters and images without direct
physical contact between the printing mechanism and the paper.
• Two types of nonimpact printers often used with microcomputers are
laser printers and ink-jet printers.
• Laser Printer
• Ink-jet Printer

116
Plotter
• A plotter is a computer vector graphic printer that gives a hard copy
of the output based on instructions from the system. Plotters are
widely used to print designs of things such as cars, ships and
buildings on a piece of paper using a pen.

117
 Central Processing Unit
( CPU)
CPU is the brain of any computer system. In a human body,
all major decisions are taken by the brain and all other
parts of the body function as directed by the brain.
Similarly, in a computer system, all major calculations,
manipulations and comparisons are made by CPU. The CPU
is also responsible by all other units of the computer
system.
a) ALU – Arithmetic and Logic Unit
b) CU – Control Unit
c) Main Memory or Primary Memory
118
Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU):
All calculations including comparisons are
made by the ALU. The data and
instructions, stored in the primary memory
prior to processing, are transferred to the
ALU where processing takes place.
- Arithmetic operations include addition,
subtractions, multiplication, and division.
- Logical operations involve
comparisons. 119
Control Unit: is the “boss” and
coordinates all of the CPU’s activities.
Uses programming instructions, it
controls the flow of information
through the processor by controlling
what happens inside the processor.
We communicate with the computer
through programming languages.
Examples: COBOL, C++, HTML,
JavaScript or Visual Basic or
VisualBasic.net
120
Memory
Found on the motherboard
 Short term

Random Access Memory (RAM)

 Long term

Read Only Memory (ROM)

121
Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is a read/write memory. Information

can be written into and read from a RAM.
It is a volatile memory. It retains the
stored information as long as it is supplied
with power supply. When power supply is
switched off or interrupted, the stored
information in the RAM is lost. RAMs of
various capacities are available, for 122
Types of RAM
1. Static RAM

2. Dynamic RAM

123
Read-Only Memory (ROM)
ROM is a permanent type memory. Its
contents are not lost when power
supply is switched off. The user
cannot write into a ROM. Its contents
are written into at manufacturing
time. ROMs store permanent
programs and other types of data
which are needed by the computer to
execute user program.
124
Types of ROM
1. PROM (Programmable ROM)
2. EPROM (Erasable PROM)
3. EEPROM (Electronically Erasable PROM)

125
 HARD DISK

• HARD DISK IS A DEVICE USED FOR MASS STORAGE OF

DATA. THE DATA STORED ON A HARD DISK CAN BE
RETRIEVED AT A VERY FAST SPEED, BEING A DIRECT
ADDRESS DEVICE. UNLIKE FLOPPIES, CDs, ETC. YOU
CANNOT EASILY REMOVE HARD DISK FROM A PC.

126
HD

track

sector
head

127
Optical Discs
Use laser technology to read and write
data on silver platters
Compact Disk (CD) can store 650MB to
800MB of information and data. CD-
ROM (Read Only Memory) can only
read data from a CD-ROM.
You can store data on a CD only if you
have a CD Burner and CD-R (writable)
or CD-RW (rewritable) CD.
128
DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) is the size of
a regular CD and can be played in a
regular in a DVD movie player.
DVD can store 4.8GB to 8.0GB of
information and data. DVD-ROM is
readable only (a movie DVD).
You can store data on a DVD only if you
have a DVD Burner and
DVD+R/DVD-R (writable) or
DVD-RW (rewritable) DVD.
129
130
131
Bringing the Machine to Life –
What is Software?

• Software is a set of electronic instructions that tells

the computer how to do certain tasks. A set of
instructions is often called a program.

• When a computer is using a particular program, it is

said to be running or executing the program.

• The two most common types of programs are system

software and application software.

132
Computer Software

• Computer hardware in itself cannot perform any useful task. It must

be complemented with some instructions, which the hardware
understands and obeys. A program is the name given to a list of
instructions or statements that direct the computer to performed the
required tasks.

133
 Types of Computer Software

Software
Application
System Software
Software

User Ready
Operating
Written Made Assemblers Compilers Loaders Linkers
System
Software Software

134
 System Software

System Software, or system packages are sets of one or more programs that are
basically designed to control the operation of a computer system. In general,
system packages control the following.
1. Running of other software packages.
2. Communicating with peripheral devices such as printers, hard disk and tape
devices, etc.
3. Monitoring the use of various hardware resources such as memory,
peripherals, CPU etc.

135
 Application Software

• Application software is a program or group of programs designed for end

users. Application software packages cater to the need of a specific group of
users namely, software for scientist, for inventory control, for school
administration, for library management, etc.
• The application software in turn talk with the System software for their
execution.

136
Types of Application
Software
User Written Software Ready Made Software

137
Bringing the Machine to Life –
System Software

• System software exists primarily for the computer

itself, to help the computer perform specific
functions.
• One major type of system software is the operating
system (OS). All computers require an operating
system.
• The OS tells the computer how to interact with the
user and its own devices.
• Common operating systems include Windows, the
Macintosh OS, OS/2, and UNIX .
138
 Bringing the Machine to Life - Applications

• Application Software consists of programs

that tell a computer how to produce
information
• Application software tells the computer how
to accomplish tasks the user requires, such as
creating a document or editing a graphic
image.
• processing
Word
Some programs
important Spreadsheet software
kinds of application software
Database management Presentation programs
are:
Graphics programs Networking software
Web design tools and browsers Internet applications
Communications programs Utilities
Entertainment and education Multimedia authoring
139
140
141
Firmware

• Firmware are programs that are permanently written and stored in

memory

142
Computer software is the key to productive use of computers.
Software can be categorized into two types:

 Operating system software

Computer Software
 Application software.

143
Operating system software tells the computer
Operating System
how to perform the functions of loading, storing
and executing an application and how to transfer
data. Software
Today, many computers use an operating system
that has a graphical user interface (GUI) that
provides visual clues such as icon symbols to help
the user. Microsoft Windows 98 is a widely used
graphical operating system. DOS (Disk Operating
System) is an older but still widely used operating
system that is text-based.

144
Application Software consists of programs that tell
a computer how to produce information. Some of
the more commonly used packages are:


Application Software
Word processing
 Electronic spreadsheet
 Database
 Presentation graphics

145
 Word Processing

• Word Processing software is used to create and print

documents. A key advantage of word processing software is
that users easily can make changes in documents.

146
 Electronic Spreadsheets

• Electronic spreadsheet software allows the user to add,

subtract, and perform user-defined calculations on rows
and columns of numbers. These numbers can be changed
and the spreadsheet quickly recalculates the new results.

147
 Database Software

• Allows the user to enter, retrieve, and update data in an

organized and efficient manner, with flexible inquiry and
reporting capabilities.

148
 Presentation Graphics

• Presentation graphic software allows the user to create

documents called slides to be used in making the
presentations. Using special projection devices, the slides
display as they appear on the computer screen.

149