Transcript Computers - Pitt Computer Science

Computers
They're Not Magic!
(for the most part)
Adapted from Ryan Moore
Acronyms
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PC
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“Personal Computer” (very vague)
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Most often means tower+monitor+etc running
Microsoft Windows
Laptop
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small & portable PC
Netbook
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very small & portable PC
2 Basic Categories
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Hardware
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Physical components of the computer
Software
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Not physical (stored digitally on a disk, for example)
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Computer programs that let the user interact with
the hardware
Hardware (rarely changes)
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User Interface Devices
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mouse, keyboard, microphone, speaker, monitor
The Parts Inside the Computer
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CPU
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Hard disk
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RAM
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Power supply
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Graphics card
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Sound card
Software
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Operating System (OS)
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Overall set of software that let user interact with
mouse, keyboard, network, other programs,
everything
Application Software
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What most people mean when they say “software”
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Let the user do a specific task
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browse the Internet
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email someone or type up a document
PC High Level View
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Monitor
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Tower
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generates the picture
Keyboard & Mouse
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shows the picture
user controls
Speakers (not shown)
A See-Through View
CPU – Central Processing Unit
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Does most of the “work” (add, move memory
around, etc)
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The heart & brain of the computer
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Interpret & perform instructions
RAM
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Temporary (but fast, somewhat small) storage
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Loses contents when power turned off
Storage
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“Permanently” store programs & data
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Lots of space
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Doesn't lose data when no power
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Slow (relatively)!
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Examples:
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USB Flash Drive
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Hard disk
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CDs, DVDs
Storage Pictures
Other Devices
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USB ports
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Universal Serial Bus – generic connector for tons of
“stuff”
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cameras, keyboards, mice, printers, flash drives
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Firewire is a similar idea
Ethernet port
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typical high speed wired network connection
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VGA or DVI – video port (connect to monitor)
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etc.
Software, in more detail
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Operating System (OS) Software
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takes care of low level things that all programs might
rely upon
Application Software
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Using OS, allows users do their work
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Might use OS to find mouse position & clicks
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Might decide to save the user's file (tell OS what data
to write and where to write it [filename], OS controls
the hard disk)
Interaction
Application Software
Operating System
User Interface
Hardware
User
Hardware
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 7
Mac OS X
Linux (Ubuntu)
Microsoft Office 2007
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Word
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Excel
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Outlook
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PowerPoint
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Access
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Publisher
Microsoft Word
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Word processor
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type and print reports, letters, papers, etc.
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spell check, thesaurus, built in
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automate common tasks
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create tables
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bulleted lists & numbered lists
Saves in .docx format
Microsoft Excel
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Spreadsheet application
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Perform arithmetic and statistics across one or more
cells (pieces) of data
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Using formulas and functions
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Generate graphs
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A change in one cell will automatically update any cells
that depend on the changed cell
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Saves in .xlsx format
Microsoft PowerPoint
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Presentation program
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Slides of information for presentation
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Each slide can have:
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graphics
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text
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lists, paragraphs, etc.
animation
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Transition between slides
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Saves in .pptx format
Microsoft Access
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Database program
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Store data records in tables
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Like Excel rows of data, but specialized to the task at hand
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E.g., column 1 is always a date, column 2 is a number
Perform queries across the records
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E.g., find all customers who live in zip code 15216.
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Automatically hide all the information you don't want to see.
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Good for businesses
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Saves in .accdb format
Already Familiar With Office?
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Office 2007 Changed / Added:
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Ribbon Interface
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New document format
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Old versions of Office cannot by default read these
Solution: save in old format when giving file to someone with
an old version
Ribbon Interface in Microsoft PowerPoint