Transcript How a Computer Works

How a Computer Works
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION/PRESENTATION
Why study computers?
 All jobs intersect with a computer in some way
 Writing documents
 Making presentations
 Developing spreadsheets for mathematical calculations
 Answering emails
 Sharing documents among your co-workers
 Conducting customer service-taking customers’ money,
answering customer complaints
 Keeping track of inventory
 Using machinery/equipment- operating manufacturing
machines, programming equipment so it will do what you
want it to do.
Why study computers? Con’t
 You are always around computers while you are not
working.
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Most homes have at least 1 computer, many have 2 or more.
Most kitchen appliances have computers inside of them
Your t.v. is also operated by computer
Your car has many computers that help it to run.
• Keeping track of your gas, oil levels.
• Programming your CD player and your GPS system.
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Your cell phone and MP3 player/IPOD’s all have circuit boards
in them
Types of Computers
 Desktops
 Laptops
 Handheld
 What is a PC?
 Personal Computer- used by individuals at home, school or the
office.
 A much larger and more powerful computer system used by a
major corporation is not known as a PC. In many cases, these
are called mainframe computers.
What is the hardware of a computer?
 Parts of a computer you can see and touch
 Examples: Monitor, keyboard, CPU unit- “the brain” central
processing unit, mouse, speakers, printer, scanner,
microphones, webcams, headphones, modem.
Types of Software
 Operating Software
 Application Software
Operating Systems
 In order for a computer to operate and work it must
have an operating system installed.
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Examples: Windows 8, Windows XP.
 MacIntosh and Microsoft have completely different
operating systems. That is why you cannot run
Microsoft programs on a MAC computer. The
interface among different operating systems will not
work.
 A computer will not run without an operating
system.
Application Software
 Software that actually does a specific job
 Powerpoint – helps with presentations
 Word- helps write documents
 Gaming – helps in programming games into a gaming system
 Graphic – helps in developing ads and marketing pieces for a
business
Storage Devices
 External Storage- Saves information in an apparatus
that is outside of the computer; Different storage
devices have varying amounts of storage space.
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USB Flash Drive- very portable and convenient; can be easily
damaged
External Harddrive- stores large amounts of data
CD- can only store text and some graphics
DVD- stores movies-larger graphic files
Storage Devices
 Internal Storage- File server for a network of
computers; internal hard drive of a computer
 It is very hard to erase anything off of a hard drive.
Usually a hard drive has to be physically damaged
before data can be eliminated.
Circuit Boards
 All the instructions for a computer are located within
circuit boards throughout the computer. Go to
Google Images and Google Circuit Boards to see one.
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Graphic Cards, Video Cards etc
RAM- Random Access Memory- memory that holds all of the
temporary storage- for example memory that does not affect
the operation of the computer
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Ex: document files
ROM- Read Only Memory- memory that is needed for the vital
functions of the computer. The computer will not function if
this memory becomes dysfunctional.
Question of the Day-Name a
type of application software
and a type of operational
software?