IT TOOLS & Basic

IT TOOLS & Basic 

What Is A Computer?

Computer is a very versatile electronic machine IS man has ever created. Computers have made a greate impact on our everyday life.Their presence is felt in almost every wolf of life be. It Home, School, College, Office, Industry, Hospital, Bank, Retail Stores, Railways, Research and Design Organizations etc.

What Does A Computer Do?

Computers can perform four general

operations, which comprise the information

processing cycle.

• Input
• Process
• Output 
• Storage 

What Do Computers Do?

Input, Process, Output, & Store data

                 Input ➡️Process ➡️Output

                                      ↕️

                               Store Data

 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.  

Types of Computer.

1. Analog Computer 
2. Digital Computer   

1. Analog Computer.

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

2. 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 machine .These are based on the measuring of analog or equivalent physical value.

Digital Computer 

Types of Digital Computer .

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.

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.

Microcomputer

• Advantages
• Small size
• Low cost
• Portability
• Low Computing Power
• Commonly used for personal applications
• Disadvantages
• Low processing speed

Uses of Microcomputer

•  Word Processing
• Home entertainment
• Home banking
•  Printing
• Surfing the internet
• etc

Minicomputer

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

Minicomputer

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.  

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.

Minicomputer

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

Mainframe

•  Known as enterprise servers
• Occupies entire rooms or floors
• Used for centralized computing
•  Serve distributed users and small servers in a computing network

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.

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.

Mainframe

•  Advantage
•  Supports many users and instructions
•  Large memory
•  Disadvantage
•  Huge size
•  Expensive

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.

Super Computer.

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

(Thanks you for reading 😊)