A General Purpose Computer System

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A General Purpose Computer System

• Major Functions of Systems

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Objective

• At then end of the lesson, students should be
  able to
• describe a good general-purpose computer system.

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The four Main Functions of a Computer System

• There are four main functions of a computer
  system
• Input accepts data.
• Processing manipulates data.
• Output produce results from the processing.
• Storage stores the data and results for future
  use.

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• Input the transferring of data into a computer
  system.
• Processing the manipulation and control of data
  within the computer system. This is handled by
  the Control Unit and the Arithmetic Logic Unit.
• Storage means by which information can be stored
  for later retrieval.
• Output the displaying of information. E.g. On
  monitor or printed paper.

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Data

• Data is the raw facts and figures that are
  meaningless and have no structure until they are
  processed.

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01
01
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Information

• When data is processed it provides information.
• Information is processed data that now has a
  meaning and structure attached to it.
• The information that may be obtained from the
  data depends on how the data is interpreted and
  the context.

01 year
10 month
01 day
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The Computer System

• The computer system consists of
• Hardware
• Software

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Hardware

• Hardware is all the physical compo-
• nents that are connected to the
• computer system.
• These components are the ones you can see and
  touch.

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Software

• Software consists of data and instructions that
  instruct the computer on how the hardware should
  function.
• Software refers to those programs that allow the
  hardware to do a useful job.

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SOFTWARE CONTD

• There are two types of software
• System software e.g. Windows 98, 2000, XP, VISTA
• Application software e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel,
  AUTOCAD, QuickBooks

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Peripheral Devices

• Peripheral devices refer to those hardware
  components that are outside the system unit.
• These include devices such as keyboard, mouse,
  scanner, hard drive, floppy drive, printers,
  monitors.