THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE EDUCTION

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING

MODULE I

MODULE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGIES (ICT)

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© Copyright

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the permission of the publisher.

This module is property of the Institute of Distance Education

March, 2016
University of Zambia
P.O. Box 32379
Lusaka
Zambia
Telefax: +260 211 290 719
E-mail: dde@unza.zm
Website: www.unza.zm

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The University of Zambia (UNZA), Institute of Distance Education (IDE) wishes to thank
Mr. John Mulenga Chita for writing this module 1, INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT)

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 Module Introduction

Welcome to Module 1 on INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGIES (ICT)
You may realize that the field of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has
evolved over time. This module will familiarize you with the way in which ICTs are used in
organizations to provide decision-relevant information and to enable you to understand how
systems are designed and implemented to meet organizational needs. You shall have a sound basis
for understanding the functioning of any information system you may encounter in practice, and
you should be able to relate its features to the conceptual enterprise framework presented in this
entire course. This should allow you to be informed consumers and users of information and
communication technologies.

You might be expecting the phrase ‘ICT’ in the title to be just a synonym for a course about
computers and their direct uses. However ‘ICT’, as you will discover, includes a rather broader
set of topics and issues. The concerns we address here go beyond a narrow focus on this type of
technology – that is a subject that might be better studied under the heading of computer science
or computer engineering. Rather, this course investigates what we do with this particular
technology in the world, why we choose to use it, who is affected or interested in its uses and
how we organise ourselves to be able to get the best from it. We even go a bit further, beyond
questions of what information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used for, to questions
about the consequences that follow – what are often spoken of as the impacts or the ‘so what?’
questions.
Quite often you will return to these five basic questions – first what?, who? and why? and then
how?; and finally, the consequences that follow (the so what?). These might include
consequences for people (for example, at work or at home); for organisations (for example, firms
and businesses, not-for-profit organisations and government bodies); and for wider society (for
example, for social and economic development or for international patterns of trade).
When we do talk about computers and associated technologies we will generally use the phrase
‘information and communication technology’ (ICT). You will find that ICT is a common
abbreviation in the academic world. The other and older abbreviation is ‘IT’ standing for
information technology. One of the earliest uses of this phrase is in a 1958 article by Harold J.
Leavitt and Thomas L. Whistler listed under Background reading below. Despite this article being
over 50 years old, it is well worth your while to read it and consider how many of their
predictions have, or have not, come true.

Aim and Objectives

The aim of this module is to enhance participants’ understanding of the general concepts of
Information Communication Technologies.

This module also provides a broad introductory understanding of ICT, seen within
organisational and societal contexts, empowering you with an appropriate balance
of technical and organisational perspectives to serve as the basis for further study in
the field.

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 Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

a) Explain the importance of information within an organization and how ICTs help to
manage information.
b) Describe the basic ICT Architecture and explain how governance of ICTs can be achieved
throughout the various business functions of the organization
c) Describe various threats to organisations including measures that can be used to minimize
these threats
d) Describe the different families of Information Systems and their relevance to various types
and levels of management within an organization.
e) Describe the future trends in ICT that will impact on strategic directions, business
decisions and change management.

Structure of the Module

As you can see from the table of content below, the module is divided into Six (6) units. Each
unit is in turn divided into several sub-units. Each unit has a core text and an exercise at the end.
You are required to read the text and thereafter attempt the exercise before proceeding to the next
unit.
METHOD OF TEACHING
Four contact hours per week: 3 lectures, 1 seminar e-Learning

ASSESSMENT
Continuous Assessment 50%
One Assignment 10%
One Test 20%
One Laboratory (Practical) 10%

Final examination 60%

Prescribed Readings

1. Stair, R.M. & Baldauf, K.J. 2007, Succeeding with Technology: Computer System Concepts
for Real Life, 2nd edition, Thomson Course Technology, United States of America.
2. Long, L. & Long, N., 2004, Computers: Information Technology in Perspective, 11th edn,
Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Recommended Readings

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1. Snyder, L., 2004 Fluency with Information Technology: Skills, Concepts and Capabilities,
Pearson/Addison Wesley, New York.
2. Pfaffenberger, B. & Daley, B., 2004 Computers in your Future 2004, Complete edn, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey.
3. Capron, H.L. & Johnson, J.A. 2004 Computers: Tools for an Information Age, 8th edn,
Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
4. Leavitt, H.J. and T.L. Whistler ‘Management in the 1980s’, Harvard Business Review
November/December 1958. This is available in the Online Library.

Time frame

You are expected to spend at least 72 hours of study time on this module. In addition, there shall
be arranged contacts with lecturers from the University from time to time during the course. You
are requested to spend your time judiciously so that you reap maximum benefit from the course.

Study Skills

As an adult learner, your approach to learning will be different to that from your school days: you
will choose what you want to study, you will have professional and/or personal motivation for
doing so and you will most likely be fitting your study activities around other professional or
domestic responsibilities.

Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment. As a consequence, you will
need to consider performance issues related to time management, goal setting, stress management,
etc. Perhaps you will also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as essay planning, coping with
examinations and using the internet as a learning resource.

Your most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the time you dedicate to your
learning and the environment in which you engage in that learning.

I recommend that you take time now—before starting your self-study—to familiarize yourself
with these issues. There are a number of excellent resources on the web. A few suggested links
are:

 http://www.how-to-study.com/
The “How to study” web site is dedicated to study skills resources. You will find links to
study preparation (a list of nine essentials for a good study place), taking notes, strategies
for reading text books, using reference sources, test anxiety.

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  http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
This is the web site of the Virginia Tech, Division of Student Affairs. You will find links
to time scheduling (including a “where does time go?” link), a study skill checklist, basic
concentration techniques, control of the study environment, note taking, how to read
essays for analysis, memory skills (“remembering”).

Need help?

In case you have difficulties during the duration of the course, please get in touch with the
Director, Institute of Distance Education, or the resident lecturer in your province.

Your lecturer can be contacted for routine enquiries at: Institute of Distance Education,
University of Zambia, Great East Road Campus, PO Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia, during
working days (Monday-Friday) from 08:00 to 17:00 hours on Telephone: +260211290719; Fax:
+260211253952; E-mail: dde@unza.zm; Website: www.unza.zm. You can also see your
lecturer at the office during working hours and days as stated above. You could also utilize the
services of the phone as well as the email address. For other details, you may visit the website as
stated above.
You are free to utilize the services of the University library which opens from 0700 hours to 2400
hours every working day. As for weekends and public holidays, the library opens from 0900 hours
to1800 hours. It will be important for you to carry your student identity card for you to access the
library and let alone borrow books.

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 CONTENT

TITLE PAGE

MODULE INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… iii

Module Aim …………………………………………………………………….. iii

Module Objectives ……………………………………………………………….. iii

Module Structure (Teaching methods) ..…………………………………………..iv

Prescribed Reading ……………………………………………………………….. iv

Recommended Reading ……………………………………………………………v

Time frame ……………………………………………………………………….. v

Study Skills …………………… ………………………………………………..... v

Need Help ………………………………………………………………………….vi

UNIT 01
INTRODUCTION TO ICT AND ICT SKILLS ....................................................................... 1
1.1 Related terminology ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1.1 IT (Information Technology) ......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 ICT (Information and Communication Technology) ..................................................................................... 2
1.1.3 CS (Computer Science) ................................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Objectives of the Module .................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 What next in the Module .................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Self Assessment Questions ....................................................................................................................... 4

UNIT 02

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS ........................................................................................ 5

2.1 What is a Computer? ............................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Characteristics of a Computer ................................................................................................................. 6
2.2.1 Speed............................................................................................................................................................ 6
2.2.2 Reliability ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.3 Accuracy ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.4 Diligence ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.5 Versatility ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.6 Power of remembering ................................................................................................................................ 7
2.2.7 No Feeling .................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.8 No IQ ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
2.2.9 Storage ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Limitations of a Computer....................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 Different Types of Computers ................................................................................................................. 8
2.5 Different Types of Personal Computers (PCs) ........................................................................................ 9
2.5.1 Desktop PCs .................................................................................................................................................. 9
2.5.2 Laptop Computers ...................................................................................................................................... 9
2.5.3 Netbook...................................................................................................................................................... 10

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 2.5.4 PDAs ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
2.5.5 Wearable Computers ................................................................................................................................. 11
2.5.6 Tablets ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
2.6 Main parts of a computer system .......................................................................................................... 12
2.6.1 Hardware.................................................................................................................................................... 13
2.6.2 Software ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
2.6.3 Data ............................................................................................................................................................ 13
2.6.4 User/ Live ware .......................................................................................................................................... 13
2.7 Self Assessment Questions ..................................................................................................................... 13

UNIT 03

COMPUTER HARDWARE .......................................................................................................... 14

3.1 What is Computer Hardware? .............................................................................................................. 14
3.2 Processing Devices ................................................................................................................................. 15
3.2.1 The Central Processing Unit (CPU) ............................................................................................................. 15
3.3 Memory Devices ..................................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.1 Computer Memory..................................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.2 Random Access Memory (RAM) ................................................................................................................ 16
3.3.3 Read Only Memory (ROM) ......................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.4 Cache .......................................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4 Input Devices .......................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4.1 What is Input? ............................................................................................................................................ 17
3.4.2 Data ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
3.4.3 Program ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
3.4.4 Command ................................................................................................................................................... 18
3.4.5 User Response ............................................................................................................................................ 18
3.4.6 Input Devices .............................................................................................................................................. 18
3.4.7 Keyboard .................................................................................................................................................... 19
3.4.8 Mouse ........................................................................................................................................................ 19
3.4.9 Scanner....................................................................................................................................................... 20
3.4.10 Bar code reader ..................................................................................................................................... 21
3.4.11 Optical Character Recognition ............................................................................................................... 21
3.5 Output Devices ....................................................................................................................................... 22
3.5.1 What is output?.......................................................................................................................................... 22
3.5.2 Output Devices ........................................................................................................................................... 23
3.5.3 Input & Output Devices .............................................................................................................................. 26
3.6 Storage Devices ...................................................................................................................................... 26
3.6.1 Memory versus Storage ............................................................................................................................. 26
3.6.2 Storage ....................................................................................................................................................... 26
3.6.3 Storage Devices .......................................................................................................................................... 27
3.7 The System Unit ..................................................................................................................................... 30
3.8 Motherboard .......................................................................................................................................... 30
3.9 Power Supply Unit ................................................................................................................................. 32
3.10 CD-ROM Drive ...................................................................................................................................... 33
3.11 Floppy Disk Drive .................................................................................................................................. 33
3.12 Card readers .......................................................................................................................................... 33
3.13 Connecting Peripheral Devices to the Computer .................................................................................. 34
3.13.1 Ports in Your Computer ........................................................................................................................ 34
3.14 Performance of a computer ................................................................................................................... 38
3.14.1 Factors affecting the Performance of computers .................................................................................. 39
3.15 Self Assessment Questions ..................................................................................................................... 41

UNIT 04

COMPUTER SOFTWARE ................................................................................................................ 42

4.1 What is Software? .................................................................................................................................. 42
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4.2 Categories of Software ........................................................................................................................... 42
4.2.1 System Software ........................................................................................................................................ 43
4.2.2 Utility Software .......................................................................................................................................... 46
4.2.3 Library Programs ........................................................................................................................................ 48
4.2.4 Programming Language Translators .......................................................................................................... 48
4.3 Application Software ............................................................................................................................. 49
4.3.1 General Purpose Application Software ...................................................................................................... 49
4.3.2 Special Purpose Application Software ....................................................................................................... 50
4.3.3 Bespoke Application Software ................................................................................................................... 50
4.4 Self-Assessment Questions ..................................................................................................................... 51

UNIT 05

COMPUTER NETWORKS........................................................................................................... 52
5.1 What is a Computer Network? .............................................................................................................. 52
5.2 Basic hardware and terminology in networks ....................................................................................... 53
5.2.1 Node........................................................................................................................................................... 53
5.2.2 Client .......................................................................................................................................................... 53
5.2.3 Server ......................................................................................................................................................... 53
5.2.4 Hub ............................................................................................................................................................. 54
5.2.5 IP Address ................................................................................................................................................... 54
5.2.6 Network interface cards............................................................................................................................. 54
5.2.7 Repeaters ................................................................................................................................................... 54
5.2.8 Bridges........................................................................................................................................................ 55
5.2.9 Switches ..................................................................................................................................................... 55
5.2.10 Routers ....................................................................................................................................................... 55
5.3 Classifications of Computer Networks .................................................................................................. 55
5.3.1 Classification of computer networks by scale ............................................................................................ 56
5.3.2 Classifications of networks based on the topology ............................................................................. 58
5.4 The Internet ........................................................................................................................................... 60
5.5 The Intranet and Extranet ..................................................................................................................... 61
5.5.1 The Intranet ............................................................................................................................................... 61
5.5.2 The Extranet ............................................................................................................................................... 62
5.6 Self Assessment Questions ..................................................................................................................... 62

MODULE SUMMARRY ………………………………………………………………………………… 241

REFERENCES…………………………………………….………………………………………………. 241

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UNIT 01

Introduction to ICT and ICT Skills

Introduction
This UNIT gives a brief introduction to ICT Skills and introduce the terminology related to the
subject.

Aim and Objectives:

Having studied this UNIT the student will be able to:

• Describe what IT is.

• Describe what ICT is
• Describe what CS is
• Understand the relationship between Computer Skills and ICT
• Understand the aims and objectives of learning ICT Skills

1.1 Related terminology

Before moving onto the topic of ICT Skills let us have a look at the different terms such as IT,
ICT, and Computer Science related to this Module and let us identify the differences among
these terms.

1.1.1 IT (Information Technology)

The term Information Technology refers to an entire field that uses computers, networking,
software, and other equipment to manage information electronically in a digital form. Consider
an IT department in an organization. They are equipped with computers, database Management
Systems, servers, and security mechanisms for storing, processing, retrieving, and protecting
information available with the organization. You might have heard about the professionals
working in such department of a company like system administrators, database administrators,
programmers, IT managers, network engineers. If it is a business organization, they all work
together to provide services such as providing information, providing tools to improve the
productivity, automating the business processes, and providing means for connect with
customers. Therefore, in the modern world, IT is an essential part of all of business operations.

UNESCO considered Information Technology as “Scientific, technological and engineering

disciplines and management techniques used in information handling and processing, their
application, computers and their interaction with men and machines, and associated social,
economic and cultural matters”. Accordingly, a fair knowledge in IT has become an essential
qualification to work successfully in almost all organizations in the country.

1.1.2 ICT (Information and Communication Technology)

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The term Information and Communication Technology can be considered as an extended
version of the term IT as it involves a „C‟ that represents the communication of data by
electronic means, usually over some distance. Here, communication refers to the media
broadcasting technologies, audio/video processing and transmission and telephony. Recently, the
term ICT has been used to refer to the integrating telephone and audio/ visual networks with
computer networks. This integration has provided large savings of costs due to the elimination of
telephone networks. Simply, ICT can be seen as the integration of information technology with
communication technology.
In contrast with IT according to the Wikipedia, Information and Communications Technology or
(ICT), is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT). But it is a more
specific term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of
telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary
enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to
access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

The term ICT is more inclined and widely used in the educational sector. Some have simplified
ICT as using audiovisual equipment for learning at school and the use of networks that help
transmit information across schools.
IT was limited only to the textual mode of transmission of information with ease and fast. But
the information not only in textual form but in audio, video or any other media is also to be
transmitted to the users. Thus, the ICT = IT + Other media. It has opened new avenues, like,
Online learning, e-learning, Virtual University, e-coaching, e-education, e-journal, etc. Third
Generation Mobiles are also part of ICT. Mobile is being used in imparting information fast and
cost effective. It provides e-mail facility also. One can access it anywhere. It will be cost
effective. The ICT brings more rich material in the classrooms and libraries for the teachers and
students. It has provided opportunity for the learner to use maximum senses to get the
information. It has broken the monotony and provided variety in the teaching – learning
situation.
As already mentioned above, by the technology of communication we process transfer digital
data from one device to another. These technologies related to the communications are usually
complex. Though you are not going to study about them in this material, there are some aspects
of digital communication that you need to study such as the types of networks and the
mechanism of getting connected with the internet. These topics are discussed within this course
material in coming UNITs.

1.1.3 CS (Computer Science)

In addition to the terms IT and ICT described above, you might have heard another terminology
“Computer Science” which also sounds similar to the above two. Computer Science is the
mother of all computational disciplines (Computer Engineering, Information
Technology/Information Science, Software Engineering, ICT, etc.). In simple words, Computer
Science is all about computers. In contrast with IT, CS is the science of computing with in depth
knowledge of working principles of computers whereas information technology is the science
designed to make best use of information systems to make work easier in business environments.
According to the Wikipedia, CS is the scientific and practical approach to computation and its
applications. A computer scientist specializes in the theory of computation and the design of
computational systems. So, a computer scientist is obviously thorough in Physics, Mathematics,
electrical engineering, and forms of languages. CS is a field related to research work and thus
it’s evolving with the innovations of the research outcomes.

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Now you may have some idea that the ones who can afford to be in touch with the information
and communication technology can be updated with evolving knowledge while the ones who fail
or have less chances may remain in the pre-knowledge stage.

1.2 Objectives of the Module

It is clear that you require some skills ranging from basic to advanced, that are needed to be able
to work with computer based information systems. Simply, you will require the capability of
using computers and computer software in order to deal with information and communication
technologies.
Therefore, the fundamental objective of this Module is to be able to:
• Convert
• Store
• Protect
• Process
• Transmit/communicate and
• Retrieve information by using computers and its software. So, now you can understand that
the computer skills are necessary and highly related to ICT.
Imagine that you have followed this Module. Let us take very simple examples to brief the above
six terms related to information to understand the necessary computer skills for ICT.
• You can sing a song and record your voice using a microphone and save it in your
computer as a digital file which you can open and play later. Here the voice input has been
converted into a digital media file and stored it in your computer for future reference. You
may save (store) it in a CD and give it to your friend to listen.
• Imagine that you have very confidential documents saved in a folder of your computer. In
order to avoid others accessing those documents you may lock (protect) the folder
accessibility by applying a password on the folder. Simply, when someone tries to open that
folder, the computer will ask for a password which is only known to you.
• If you are working in the salary division of your company you may use a simple computer
program which gives the monthly salary of employees when the data such as basic salary,
salary advance taken, allowances to be given, no. of overtime hours worked, and the rate of
monthly salary increment are entered into the computer. Here the data given has been
processed into the monthly salary which is important information.
• The salary particulars of all employees of Kitwe branch of your company may be processed
at the Lusaka Head office and the salary file may be sent to Kitwe branch through the
company intranet (a network built among the branches of your company). Otherwise the
salary file may be e-mailed to the branch manager in Kitwe. Here, using either ways, the
required salary file is transmitted /communicated through a computer network.
• You may be asked by your manager to give a list of employees who work in the Sales
division who have exceeded a total of 250 OT hours during the last six months. It will be
just a matter of calling (retrieving) the existing data saved in the central database to
generate the report in the required format.

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 1.3 What next in the Module

From the next UNIT onwards, you will get familiar with computers and will acquire the
necessary skills step by step. You will able to get the skills related to some of the key
applications of ICT such as text editors, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations. This ICT
Skills course is planned to do more, than teaching basic computer literacy skills on current
packages. It provides a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills that together
comprise a mental framework that will enable the student to get familiar and learn new IT
packages as they change, to solve new IT problems and use additional package features that are
not explicitly taught in this course. However, the course has a strong practical focus with the
intention of enabling students to use ICT‟s as tools for productivity and problem solving in your
lives which is the aim and objective of this Module. So it is a must to do practical based on the
content of this material to achieve the above aims and objectives.

1.4 Self-Assessment Questions

1.1 Describe the following terms;

a. IT
b. ICT
c. CS
1.2 What is the difference between IT and ICT?
1.3 Write a note on how IT can help an organization in gaining a competitive advantage on its
operations.
1.4 Briefly describe one way how ICT can be applied in each of the following areas. a.
Education
b. Health
c. Business
1.5 Using specific examples, describe how the information can be converted, stored, protected,
processed, transmitted, and retrieved using computers and its software.
1.6 What are the key applications of ICT that you will learn during this Module?

UNIT 02

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Introduction to Computers

Introduction:
This lesson aims to provide students with an understanding the basics and the role of computation.

Aim and Objectives:

Having studied this UNIT the student will be able to:

• Describe what a computer is

• Identify the characteristics as well as the limitations of computers
• Identify different types of computers from the ancient ones to modern ones
• Explain what a computer system is as well as its parts

2.1 What is a Computer?

A computer is a general purpose device which can be programmed to carry out a finite set of
arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the
computer can solve more than one kind of problem.
- Wikipedia
A computer is, at its most basic, a machine which can take instructions, and perform computations
based on those instructions.
- wiseGEEK

A computer is an electronic device which is capable of receiving the inputs (data from the user),
storing it for a desired period of time, manipulating it according to the set of instructions (called
program) and producing the output to the user in desired form. It performs a variety of
operations in accordance to the set of instructions.
- http://www.trivology.com

The above three descriptions are some standard definitions extracted from different information
resources available in the World Wide Web, including Wikipedia, the largest free encyclopedia.
Meanwhile, a computer can be defined as follows in terms of basic usage of the computer which
is more readable for a layman.
A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or "data". It has the ability to
store, retrieve, and process data. You can use a computer to type documents, send email, and
browse the internet. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets, accounting, database
management, presentations, games, and more.

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When reading the above definitions you may find some common behaviors of computers such as;

• It is a man-made machine
• It accepts instructions of a human given in a sequential manner
• As per the given instructions, it performs some calculations and does changes for the
information fed by human
• Releases or produces an output that is useful to the user
Since the computer is a man-made digital electronic device, it has a physical structure with
several parts like the monitor, processor, mouse, and key board which are tangible. These are
called Hardware. The sets of instructions which are also called computer programs installed in
the computer are called Software. These software tell the hardware what to do and how to do to
accomplish some tasks expected by the user to get done by the computer. The web browsers like
Mozilla Fire Fox, Computer games, and Word processors like Microsoft Word are some
examples for Software. You will learn more about these computer hardware and software in
coming UNITs of this course material.

2.2 Characteristics of a Computer

The range of users of computers is overwhelming. Why is so popular? What can it do that we, as
humans, cannot? The computer’s superiority lies in its special characteristics such as speed,
reliability, accuracy, diligence, versatility, storage capacity, etc. Let us discuss on each
characteristic briefly.

2.2.1 Speed
A computer can perform tasks very fast. For example, the amount of work that a human being
can do in an entire year (if he worked day and night and did nothing else) can be accomplished
by a computer within a few minutes. As you are aware now, inside the system unit, the
operations occur through electronic circuits. When data, instructions, and information flow along
these circuits, they travel at close to the speed of light. This allows billions of operations to be
carried out in a single second.

2.2.2 Reliability
Electronic components in modern computers are dependable because they have a low failure rate.
The high reliability of the components enables the computer to produce consistent results.

2.2.3 Accuracy
The accuracy of a computer is consistently high and the degree of accuracy of a particular
computer depends upon its design. Errors can occur in a computer, but these are mainly due to
human mistakes. Thus, computers can process large amounts of data and generate error-free
results, provided the data is entered correctly. If inaccurate data is entered, the resulting outputs
will also be incorrect. This computing principle is known as Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO).

2.2.4 Diligence
Unlike human beings, a computer is free from boredom, tiredness, lack of concentration, etc.,
hence a computer can work for hours without making any errors or complaints. Even if ten million
calculations have to be performed, a computer will perform the ten millionth calculations with
exactly the same accuracy and speed as the first one.

2.2.5 Versatility
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The computers have the capacity to perform completely different type of work. You may use
your computer to prepare payroll slips at the moment. Next moment you may use it for inventory
management or to prepare electric bills. The computers are flexible enough to adapt to any type
of work and outputs according to what is fed and instructed.

2.2.6 Power of remembering

Every piece of information that a user „stores‟ on a computer can be retained as long as it is
needed and can be recalled when necessary. Even after several years, the information recalled
would be identical to what was fed to the computer. A computer will never „lose‟ stored
information on its own; a user has to „remove‟ (or delete) the information from it.

2.2.7 No Feeling
Computers do not have emotions. They have no feelings and no instincts because they are
machines. Although human beings have succeeded in building a memory for the computer, a
computer does not possess the equivalent of a human brain. Based on our feelings, taste,
knowledge and experience, we often make certain judgments in our day-to-day life, but
computers cannot make such judgments on their own. Their judgment is based on the
instructions given to them in the form of programs by someone.

2.2.8 No IQ
Computer is a dumb machine and it cannot do any work without instruction from the user. It
performs the instructions at wonderful speed and with accuracy. It is you to decide what you
want to do and in what sequence. So a computer cannot take its own decision as you can.

2.2.9 Storage
The computer has an in-built memory where it can store a large amount of data. This is called
Primary Storage. This Primary Storage has a limited capacity but it is very important as the
processing unit of the computer can act directly only on instructions and data on the primary
storage. But, you can also store data in secondary storage devices such as floppies, which can be
kept outside your computer and can be carried to other computers. These are called Secondary
Storage. Before the computer can process the data stored in Secondary storage devices, the data
must be moved from secondary storage device to primary storage. This is not a serious
drawback. The computers can retrieve information from files in a secondary storage device in a
few milliseconds.

2.3 Limitations of a Computer

It is obvious that the computer has a variety of capabilities. Similarly, this man made machine has
some its own limitations as well. Such limitations are given below:

• The computer can do only what you tell it to do-you cannot expect the computer give you
something which you did not ask.
• It cannot generate information on its own-the computer will work only if you operate
it and give the instructions. It cannot give you information unless you feed it required data.
• It will give wrong information if you feed it with wrong data- the computer cannot
identify what the correct data and what the wrong data are.
• It cannot correct wrong instruction- if you give the computer wrong instruction, it will not
be able to do anything to rectify it. The only thing it can do is to stop functioning till you
correct the mistake.
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2.4 Different Types of Computers

When you hear the word “Computer” most of the time a personal computer like desktop or
laptop will come to your mind as they are widely used by the people around us. However, these
computers come in many sizes and shapes that perform different functions which is useful in our
daily lives. You are using a type of computer even when you withdraw cash from an ATM
(Automatic Teller Machine) or scan groceries at the shop, or use a calculator.

It is said that the ENIAC, which is considered as the first electronic general-purpose computer
was of size of a large room (See Figure 2.1 and 2.2 below). However, with the advance of
technologies the size of a today’s computer has become smaller as of a small wrist watch. These
computers have different processing powers as well.

Figure 2.1: ENIAC Figure 2.2: The ENIAC, taking up about 680
Square feet

The computers can be mainly classified into four categories as briefly described below. This
classification is done based on the size and the data processing power.

1. Microcomputers: most common type of computers in the society. Can be used at your
workplace, at school or on your study desk at home. Used by single user at a time. Small in
size. Also called Personal Computers (PCs).
2. Minicomputers: used by multi-users. In the middle when the computers are ranged from
smallest to largest. Used in laboratories.
3. Mainframes: Largest in size. Capable of handling and processing very large amounts of data
quickly.
4. Super computers: Used for performing complex scientific and numerical computations such
as weather forecasting, fluid dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics.
Sometimes called as “Workstations”

Since the Personal Computers are the most common category of computers among the individuals
let’s talk more on PCs.

2.5 Different Types of Personal Computers (PCs)

A Personal Computer (Mostly referred to as PC in the community) is designed as a more user-

friendly device to be directly used by the end-user rather having an especially skilled separate
computer operator. It is less expensive compared to other types of computers listed above. PCs
8
come in different forms as listed below and we will have a description on each form of PC
separately.
It is noticeable that only few famous forms of PCs used today are listed below and the list may
be extended by adding many more in the future with the advancement of the technologies.

• Desktop
• Laptop
• Netbook
• PDAs
• Wearable Computers
• Tablets

2.5.1 Desktop PCs

Usually the Desktop computers are placed in a fixed location and the name has derived as it is
intended to be sitting on a top of a desk. A monitor, mouse, and a key board can be seen as parts
of a typical desktop computer. These computers consume low power and cost effective than the
laptop computers that will be described next. The spare parts are readily available and less
expensive. These computers are easy to upgrade and expand. Figure 2.3 shows a labeled standard
desktop computer.

Figure 2.3: Standard Desktop Computer

2.5.2 Laptop Computers

Laptops are similar to desktop PCs in operation, but designed for mobile use. Capable of
operating on the battery power and the battery can be charged with the external power adaptor.
An in-built keyboard, Liquid Crystal Display unit (LCD screen), a touch pad (also known as
track pad) to act as the mouse are the commonly seen components. However, a mouse can be
also used instead of the touch pad. Laptops are obviously smaller in size and weight less than the
desktop PCs. Therefore, it is difficult to access its internal hardware thus difficult to upgrade as
much as a desktop. But adding more RAM or Hard Drive is possible (You will learn about
RAM and Hard Drive in next UNIT). Figure 2.4 below shows a typical Laptop computer. Built-
in web camera is a common feature of a modern laptop computer and these laptops come in
different weights, sizes, performances, speeds, and a layman may differentiate them specified by
the diagonal distance of its display unit.

9
 Figure 2.4: Laptop Computer

2.5.3 Netbook
Netbooks belong to the laptop family, but are inexpensive and relatively smaller in size. Though
the set of features and the capacity of netbooks were lesser compared to regular laptops at the
time of introducing them to the market, nowadays the netbooks come in advanced features and in
high capacities as similar to modern laptops. Figure 2.5 shows some images of Netbooks.

Figure 2.5: Some Netbook Computers

2.5.4 PDAs
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are handheld computers which are also called palmtop
computers due to its size which is smaller enough to keep it on your palm. Most of the PDAs
are pen-based and come with a stylus (a writing pen) to be used as the input device which is
sensitive to its touch screen. Most of them can access the Internet by means of Bluetooth or Wi-
Fi facilities. PDAs allow you to organize your personal or business work and to manage your
tasks through its facilities. It may be used as a Cellular phone to send and receive calls, to search
in the web, to download and play audio/video files, to send/receive emails, to type in a text editor
to jot down notes or write a document, take pictures or record videos, etc. Following Figure 2.6
shows two images of PDAs.

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 Figure 2.6: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

2.5.5 Wearable Computers

The computers that can be worn on the body are known as Wearable computers. There is a
constant interaction between the computer and user. These computers are mostly used to track
human actions when the hands and other sensory organs are engaged in other activities. And
used with applications such as behavioral modeling systems and healthcare monitoring systems.
Figure 2.7 shows some images of such wearable computers.

Figure 2.7: Wearable Computers

2.5.6 Tablets
Tablets are mobile computers larger than PDAs and smaller than Laptops described above.
Usually operated by its touch screen and no formal key board are used. The people using them
spent most of their time outside and would not have access to a keyboard or mouse.
Usually the input method is the stylus or the digital pen. Tablets have become famous and ideal
for field technicians and health workers due to its very light nature and the portability. Some
tablets are capable of recognition of natural handwritings as the mode of input. The features of
tablets may vary depending on the type of job done such as graphic designing teaching purposes,
gaming, or business purposes. See Figure 2.8 and 2.9 for images of some tablets.

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Figure 2.8: Modern Tablet PC without the Figure 2.9: An early tablet PC with
traditional keyboard Rotating/removable keyboard

2.6 Main parts of a computer system

You learned in the previous section that computers come in many varieties, from tiny computers
to very large super computers. But no matters how complex it is or how big it is, every computer
is part of a system. A complete computer system consists of four main parts as follows (see
figure 2.10 below):
• Hardware
• Software
• Data
• User (Live ware)
Data fed into computer

Hardware

Software installed
User (Liveware)
on the computer

Figure 2.10: Parts of a Computer System Let

us have a look at each part of the computer system briefly.

2.6.1 Hardware

The tangible parts that make up the computer are called „Hardware‟. The physical parts such as
monitor, key board, processor, and speakers can be identified as hardware. We can use the
generic term device to refer any piece of hardware. You will learn deeply about computer
hardware in UNIT 03 of this course material.

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2.6.2 Software
Computer software is a set of instructions that tells computer hardware what to do. The computer
will work according to the instructions given to it. We can use the generic term computer
program to refer any piece of software. Some software are specially designed for the primary
functions of the computer to manage its operations while some software are designed for the
users to get their work done, ex. to prepare a letter. However, software can be categorized into
different categories and you will learn deeply about software in UNIT 04 of this course material.

2.6.3 Data
Any individual fact or piece of information in a form suitable for use with a computer is known
as „data‟. This information may be in the form of text, documents, images, audio clips or
software program. The primary use of the computer is to convert these data into useful
information to the user. The computer accepts data from some sources or from the user to
produce useful information. Thus the raw data fed into the computer may not make much sense
to the users until it is processed.

2.6.4 User/ Live ware

Though the computers automate most functions we cannot say that it is fully automatic, as the
intervention of a human being or an operator is often needed. You may think whether a user is
essential as you might have seen some performs their job without a person sitting in front of the
computer. But you should not forget that the people design and build the programs running on it.
The people do repairs to computer systems when needed. Therefore, „User‟ is an essential part
of a computer system. Further, you will learn about the applications that you can run in
„Personal computers‟ within this course material.

2.7 Self Assessment Questions

2.1 Define a computer.

2.2 Define the following terms with examples.
a. Hardware b. Software
2.3 Briefly explain the relationship between Hardware, Software and users.
2.4 List main characteristics of the computer. Briefly describe them.
2.5 Write three significant limitations of the computer.
2.6 What are the four classifications of the computers according to their size and the data
processing power?
2.7 List different types of personal computers. Briefly describe three.
2.8 Name the four main parts of a complete computer system. Briefly describe them.
2.9 State the difference between data and information.

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UNIT 03

Computer Hardware

Introduction:
This UNIT discusses and gives a brief idea on computer hardware.

Aim and Objectives:

Having studied this UNIT the student will be able to:

• Describe what hardware is

• Classify computer hardware according to the usage of them
• Give examples for each category of computer hardware
• Identify the different ports of a PC
• Identify why your computer is slow
• Identify the factors affecting on performance of computers

3.1 What is Computer Hardware?

You are already aware that a computer system is made up of several different components. Those
that can be seen and touched are referred to as the Computer Hardware (or simply
„hardware‟). In other words, the physical equipment that are involved in the function of the
computer are called its hardware. The computer hardware is typically divided into four main
categories: Processing Devices, Memory Devices, Input/, Output Devices, and Storage
Devices.
The following diagram (Figure 3.1) summarizes the classification of the computer hardware.

Computer
Hardware

Processing Memory Input/Output Storage

devices devices devices devices

Figure 3.1: Classification of Computer

Hardware
Following Figure 3.2 shows the basic computer architecture and the organization .

14
 Figure 3.2: Basic computer architecture and the organization
Let us discus on each type of hardware in the next sections with reference to the above Figure
3.1 and 3.2.

3.2 Processing Devices

3.2.1 The Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The Central Processing Unit is an electronic device which runs computer programs: a set of
sequential instructions. It is also called as the Computer Processor or the brain of the
computer. According to the above Figure 3.2, you can see that there are two major components
namely the Control Unit (CU) and the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU). The CU is the
circuitry that controls the flow of data through the processor, and coordinates the activities of the
other units within it. In a way, it is the "brain within the brain", as it controls what happens inside
the processor, which in turn controls the rest of the PC. The ALU is a digital circuit that performs
arithmetic and logical operations. The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central
processing unit of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one, for purposes
such as maintaining timers. The processors found inside modern CPUs have very powerful and
very complex ALUs; a single component may contain a number of ALUs.

We consider the CPU as the processing device of the computer. You are aware that the CPU
contains Control Unit (CU) and an Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU). These two components
work together to perform the processing operations. On a PC, the CPU usually is contained on a
single chip and sometimes is called Microprocessor. In addition to the CU and ALU, a
microprocessor usually contains the registers and system clock.
Let us talk about the above sub parts briefly.

The Control Unit (CU)

As you know, a computer program or set of instructions must be stored in memory for a
computer to process data. The CPU uses its CU to execute these instructions. Further, the CU
directs and coordinates most of the operations of the computer. The speed at which the processor
carries out its operations is measured in megahertz (MHz). The higher the number of MHz the

15
faster the computer can process information. The Intel i7, Athlon, Celeron, and Duron, Ultra
Spark are some examples for the brands of processors available in the market.

The Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

ALU performs the arithmetic, comparison, and logical operations. Arithmetic operations
include addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*) and division (/). Comparison operations
include comparing one data item to another to determine if the first item is greater than (>), equal
(=), or less than (<) to the second item. Logical operations work with conditions such as AND,
OR, NOT.

3.3 Memory Devices

3.3.1 Computer Memory

A character is stored in the computer as a group of 0s and 1s, called a Byte. The size of the
memory is measured by the number of bites available. The following equalities give the
measuring units of the memory.
8 Bits = 1 Byte
1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte (1KB)
1024KB = 1 Megabyte (1MB)
1024 MB = 1 Gigabyte (1 GB)
1024 GB = 1 Terabyte (1 TB)
While performing a processing operation, a processor needs a place to temporarily store
instructions to be executed and the data to be used with those instructions. The data and the
instructions needed by the CPU are temporarily stored in the Memory. Therefore the memory
acts as the internal storage of a computer. The programs that are stored in external storages are
loaded into the memory before they start running. The memory of a computer may be either
volatile or non-volatile. If the data will be lost as soon as the power is turned off the computer,
then this type of memory is said to be Volatile. Such memory needs a continuous steady
power/electricity to remain its content.

3.3.2 Random Access Memory (RAM)

The Random Access Memory (RAM) is a volatile form of a computer memory. This small
memory is capable of memorizing temporarily. It can be read and written. That is, you can both
write data into RAM and read data from RAM. Together with the CPU, RAM determines the
computer's speed. A computer with a large RAM and a CPU can actually run faster than a
computer with a powerful CPU but with a low RAM.

3.3.3 Read Only Memory (ROM)

As RAM is volatile, the computers need a non-volatile memory to read larger programs. This is
known as the Read Only Memory (ROM). The programs which are needed to start up your
computer (Ex: to boot the computer) are stored in ROM.
Figure 3.3 and 3.4 show RAM and ROM memory chips respectively.

16
Figure 3.3: Random Access Memory (RAM) Figure 3.4: Read Only Memory (ROM) Chips
Chips

3.3.4 Cache
Most of today’s computers improve their processing times by using cache (pronounced cash).
Memory cache, also called a cache store or RAM cache, helps speed the processes of the
computer by storing frequently used instructions and data thus reducing the access time of data.
When the processor needs an instruction or data, it first searches in the cache.

Figure 3.5: Cache

3.4 Input Devices

A computer executes instructions and processes data into information and stores the information
for future use. Input devices are used to enter instructions and data into the computer.

3.4.1 What is Input?

Input is any data or instructions you enter to the memory of a computer. Once input is in
memory, the CPU can access it and process the input into output. There are four types of input
namely: data, programs, commands, and user responses.
3.4.2 Data
Data is a collection of unorganized facts that can include words, numbers, pictures, sounds, and
videos. A computer manipulates and processes data into information, which is useful.
17
Note: Although technically speaking a single item of data should be called a datum, the term data
is commonly used and accepted as both the singular and plural form of the word.

3.4.3 Program
A program is a series of instructions that tells a computer how to perform the tasks necessary to
process data into information. Programs are kept on storage media such as a floppy disk (not
used now), hard disk, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM. Programs respond to commands issued by the
user.

3.4.4 Command
A Command is an instruction given to a computer program. Commands can be issued by typing
keywords or pressing special keys on the keyboard. A keyword is a specific word, phrase, or
code that a program understands as an instruction. Some keyboards include keys that send a
command to a program when you press them. Instead of requiring you to remember keywords or
special keys, many programs allow you to issue commands by selecting menu choices or
graphical objects. For examples, programs that are menu driven provide menus as a means of
providing commands. Today, most programs have a graphical user interface (GUI) that uses
icons, buttons, and other graphical objects to issue commands. However, GUI is the most user
friendly way to issue commands.

3.4.5 User Response

A User Response is an instruction which is given by you to the computer by replying to a
question posed by a computer program. For example, ‘Do you want to save the changes you
made?’ Based on the response given by the user, the program performs certain actions. In this
example, if the answer was „Yes’, then the program saves all changes you made to the file on the
storage device.

3.4.6 Input Devices

A n Input Device is any hardware component that allows you to enter data, programs,
commands, and user responses into a computer. Some of the commonly used input devices are
listed below.

 Keyboard
 Pointing devices
• Mouse
• Trackball
• Joystick
• Touchpad
• Light Pen
 Scanners
 Voice input systems
 Web Cam
 Bar code readers
 Optical Mark Reader (OMR)
 Scanner and Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
 Magnetic stripe reader
 Microphone
 Sensors
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Let us look at some of above input devices briefly with their images.

3.4.7 Keyboard
The keyboard is the main input device for most computers. It is a text based input device that
allows the user to input alphanumeric characters and some other special characters. The
keyboard is consisting of a set of keys mounted on a board. Each key or button acts as an
electronic switch corresponding to a symbol. However, to produce some symbols requires
pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence; other keys do not produce any
symbol, but instead affect the operation of the computer or the keyboard itself. Figure 3.6 shows
a typical keyboard and its main sets of keys.

Figure 3.6: Sets of keys in a typical keyboard

3.4.8 Mouse
The mouse functions as a pointing device by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its
supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of a small case, held under one of the user's
hands, with one or more buttons. It sometimes features other elements, such as "wheels", which
allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features can
add more control or dimensional input. The mouse's motion typically translates into the motion
of a pointer on a display, which allows for fine control of a Graphical User Interface.
Furthermore, a mouse is an input device that allows the user to “point and click” or “drag and
drop”. Common functions are pointing (moving the cursor or arrow on the screen by sliding the
mouse on the mouse pad), clicking (using the left and right buttons) and scrolling (hold down the
left button while moving the mouse). Figure 3.7 shows a labeled typical mouse used as a
computer input device.

19
 Right Mouse
button: Click to
bring up other
menus Left Mouse button:
Click to move the
Wheel: used to pointer to any
scroll up/down position on the
the pages screen

Figure 3.7: Typical mouse and the functions of its buttons and wheel

The Figures 3.8 and 3.9 show the input devices namely the joystick and light pen

Figure 3.8: Joystick Figure 3.9: Using a Light Pen

3.4.9 Scanner
A scanner is a light-sensing input device that reads printed text and graphics and then translates
the pattern of light and dark colors into a digital signal that the computer can store and
manipulate. The resulting image can be of different qualities depending on the resolution of the
scanner. The Flat-bed scanner is the most popular scanner which is similar to a photo copy
machine except that it creates a file (softcopy) of the document instead of a paper copy
(hardcopy). The file that contains the scanned object can be stored on an external storage
device, displayed on the screen, printed, faxed, sent via e-mail, or included in another document.
Figure 3.10 shows a flat-bed scanner.

Figure 3.10: Flat-bed Scanners

3.4.10 Bar code reader

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A bar code reader uses laser beams to read bar codes. Most items in shops, special in super
markets in Zambia have a bar code printed or affixed on them. The Bar code is a trip of vertical
bars of varying widths that creates a unique reference for the particular item. Groups of bars
represent individual digits and most bar codes are made up of 12-13 digits. The last number is a
check digit and it is used to verify that the number has been scanned in correctly. The computer
applies a set of calculations to the individual digits and the answer should equal to the last check
digit. Bar code reader uses a visible red light to scan the bar code and it is interpreted through a
decoder. The reference is matched with the stock list in the computer system to find the
appropriate price. Sometimes, numbers are printed below the vertical stripes which are to be
used in cases the bar code reader fails to read the code. Figure 3.11 shows a bar code reader
while Figure 3.12 shows the appearance of a sample bar code.

Figure 3.11: Readingbar code using a Figure 3.12: Sample Barcode of a product
Hand-held Bar code reader

3.4.11 Optical Character Recognition

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a mechanism to identify written or printed characters on
a source. When text documents are scanned, they are scanned and saved as pictures in the
computer. But the OCR software converts the pictures into actual characters/text so that the text
can be edited in exactly the same way as text that has been directly keyed in. Figure 3.13 shows
the steps of the process of converting the text document into recognized characters.

Figure 3.13: OCR processing

Following figures show some more input devices.

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 Figure 3.14: Magnetic Stripe Figure 3.15: Microphone Figure 3.16: Web Camera
for a PC

3.5 Output Devices

3.5.1 What is output?

Output is data that has been processed into a useful form called information. A computer
processes input into output. Computers generate several types of output, depending on the
hardware and software being used and the requirements of the user. You may choose to display
or view this output on a monitor, print it on a paper using a printer, or listen to it through
speakers or a headset. Accordingly the four common types of output are text, graphics, audio,
and video. A brief description on each of output type is given below.

Text
Text consists of characters that are used to create words, sentences and paragraphs. A character
can be a letter, number, punctuation mark, or any other symbol that requires one bite of computer
storage space.

Graphics
Graphics are digital representations of non-text information such as drawings, charts, pictures
and photographs. Graphics also can be animated, giving them the illusion of motion. Animations
are created by displaying a series of still images in rapid sequence.
Many of today’s software programs support graphics. For example, you can include a
photograph in a word processing document or create a chart of data in a spreadsheet program.
Some software packages are specifically designed to edit graphics.

Audio
Audio is Music, speech, or any other sound. You might have learnt at school that sound waves,
such as the human voice or music are analog. To store such sounds, a computer converts the
sounds from a continuous analog signal into a digital format. Most output devices require that
the computer converts the digital format back into analog signals.

Video

22
Video consists of images that are played back at speeds that give the appearance of full motion.
Video often is captured with a video input device such as video camera or VCR. Most video
signals are analog; however, most of the modern video devices record the video images digitally.
A video capture card converts an analog video signal into a digital signal that a computer can
understand. The digital signal then is stored on the computer’s hard disk. Some output devices
accept the digital signal, while others require that the computer converts the digital signals back
into analog signals.

3.5.2 Output Devices

An output device is any computer component capable of conveying information to a user. Some
commonly used output devices are listed below.

 Display devices
• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors
• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors / Flat-panel displays
• LED Monitors
• Gas plasma monitors
 Printers
• Impact printers
- Daisy Wheel and Dot Matrix printers

• Non-Impact Printers
- Ink Jet printers
- Thermal Dye Transfer printers
- Laser printers
 Plotters
 Audio Devices
• Speakers
• Headphones
You have already learnt about some of the above devices together with some images in the
previous UNIT. Therefore, let us look at some general facts about these categories of output
devices.

Monitor
The monitor displays the output to the user visually. Therefore it is also called the Visual Display
Unit (VDU) or simply the screen. The monitor looks like a television, but they often have higher
resolutions than a normal television. Similar to televisions, the sizes of monitors are varying and
often expressed in diagonally measured distance in inches. The technology used with monitors is
expanding rapidly and there are two major types of monitors that differ in the technology of
visualizing the output to the user. They are Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, Liquid Crystal
Display (LCD) and Light Emitting Displays (LED).
T h e CRT monitor has more lines of dots per inch, higher the lines more amount of the
resolution. It creates the picture by number of rows or lines of the small tiny dots. For an
instance the resolution of 1024 x 768 will be sharper than 800 x 600 resolutions.
The LCD consists of two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them.
When an electric current passed through the liquid crystal solution, crystals align so that light

23
cannot pass through them. It is like a shutter either allows light to pass through or blocking the
light.
The LED is the latest marketing innovation of display units. It looks similar to LCD and it is
also a flat panel display. LED means Light Emitting Diode and relates to the way the display is
illuminated. LED monitors still use the same Liquid Crystals as the previous LCD displays. The
way the backlight works however with the LED's will lead to a number of improvements in the
display.
Though CRT monitors are much cheaper than LCDs and LEDs, the CRTs consume more power
than others. Figure 3.17 and Figure 3.18 show images of CRT and LCD monitors respectively.

Figure 3.17: CRT Monitor Figure 3.18: LCD Monitor

Printer
A computer printer produces a hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics) of
documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical/tangible print media such as paper or
transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local computer peripherals, and are
connected by a printer cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers,
commonly known as network printers can serve as a hardcopy device to be shared and used by
any user among a group of users connected to the network. Individual printers are often
designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time. There are several
types of printers categorized based on the applied technology of printing text/graphics on the
paper.
Ex:
• Impact printers (Ex.
Daisy Wheel and Dot
Matrix printers)
• Non-impact printers
• Ink Jet printers
 Thermal Dye Transfer printers

 Laser printers

Impact Printers
Any impact printer forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper by striking a mechanism
against in an ink ribbon that physically contacts the papers. Because of the striking activity,
impact printers generally are noisy.
Many impact printers do not provide letter-quality print. Letter-Quality (LQ) output is a quality of
print acceptable for business letters. Many impact printers produce near letter-quality (NLQ)
24
print, which is slightly less clear than LQ. NLQ impact printers are used for jobs that require only
NLQ, such as printing of mailing labels, envelopes, or invoices.
Impact printers are also ideal for printing multipart forms because they easily can print through
many layers of paper. Finally, impact printers are used in many factories and retail counters as
they can survive in dusty environments, vibrations, and extreme temperatures.

Non-Impact Printers
A non-impact printer forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper without actually striking
the paper. Some spray ink, while others use heat and pressure to create images. Since these
printers do not strike the paper, they are much quieter than the above impact printers.
See figures from 3.19 to 3.22 for images of the above different types of printers.

Figure 3.19: Printer Ink Jet

Figure 3.20: Printer Dot Matrix
Figure 3.21: Printer Thermal

Figure 3.22: Some Laser Printers

Plotter
Plotters are special type of printers used to print graphical
output on paper. It interprets computer commands and
makes line drawings on paper using multicolored
automated pens. The plotter is capable of producing
graphs, drawings, charts, maps, illustrations etc. Plotters
are typically used in areas such as Computer Aided
Engineering (CAE) applications like CAD (Computer
Aided Design) and CAM (Computer
Aided
Manufacturing). Figure 3.23: Plotter
3.5.3 Input & Output Devices
25
Some type of hardware can act as both input and output devices. For an example, consider the
touch screen which is a type of monitor that displays text or images you can touch using your
figure tips. When you touch the screen, its special sensors detect the touch and the computer
recognizes the point/location on the screen where you touched. Touching different locations
determines different information to be displayed next or what action to be taken next. Thus this
touch screen (see Figure 3.24 below) can be considered as both input and output device.

Figure 3.24: Input data through a Touch Screen

3.6 Storage Devices

Storage refers to the media on which data, instructions, and information are kept, as well as the
devices that record and retrieve these items. In this section we will discuss about the storage
media and storage devices.

3.6.1 Memory versus Storage

It is important to understand the difference between the memory what we discussed under
section 3.3 and the Storage. Memory holds data and instructions temporarily while they are
being processed by the CPU. Storage, also called Secondary, Auxiliary storage, or Mass storage,
holds items such as data, instruction, and information for future use.
Think of storage as a filing cabinet used to hold file folders, and memory as the top of your desk.
When you need to work with a file, you remove it from the filing cabinet (storage) and place it
on your desk (memory). When you are finished with the file, you return it to the filing cabinet.

3.6.2 Storage
Storage is non-volatile which means that items in storage remains even when power is removed
from the computer. A storage medium is the physical material on which the items are kept. One
commonly used storage medium is a disk, which is round, flat piece of plastic or metal with a
magnetic coating on which items can be written. A storage device is the mechanism used to
record and retrieve items to and from a storage medium.
Storage devices can function as source of input and output. For example, each time a storage
device transfers data, instructions, and information from a storage medium into memory (a
process called Reading); it functions as an input source. When a storage device transfers these
items from memory to a storage medium (a process called Writing), it functions as an output
source.
The speed of a storage device is defined by its access time, which is the minimum time it takes
the device to locate a single item on the disk. Compared to memory, storage devices are slow.
The access time of memory devices are measured in milliseconds.

26
3.6.3 Storage Devices
Some of the commonly used storage devices are described below with their images. However, you
may already have some idea about them.

Floppy disks
A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of
thin, flexible floppy magnetic storage medium encased in a
rectangular plastic shell. Floppy disks are read and written by a
floppy disk drive.
Application
Any use where small files such as word processing, small spread
sheets and databases need to be moved from one computer to
another. Useful to backup small data files. Figure 3.25: Floppy disk

Fixed hard disks

A hard disk drive is the device used to store large amounts of digital
information in computers and related equipment like iPods and
games consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3. Hard disk drives are
used to store operating systems, software and working data.

These are suitable for any application which requires very fast
access to data for both reading and writing to. However, Hard disk
drives may not be suitable for applications which need portability.
Almost all computers used a fixed hard disc. Used for on-line and
real time processes requiring direct access. Used in file servers for
Figure 3.26: Fixed Hard Disk Computer networks to store large amount of data.

Hard Disk drive which is often referred to as Hard Disk or Hard Drive is a device to store and
retrieve data in a computer. The hard drive can store important system files like the operating
system, program files and other data. Though HDDs were originally designed to be used with
computers nowadays the applications for HDDs have expanded beyond computers to include
digital video recorders, digital audio players, personal digital assistants, digital cameras and
video game consoles. HDD is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data. It
is an electromagnetically charged surface or set of disks that record data in concentric circles
known as tracks. HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to
represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of
the material. A typical HDD design consists of a spindle which holds one or more flat circular
disks called platters, onto which the data is recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic
material, usually aluminum alloy or glass, and are coated with a thin layer of magnetic material.
Figure 3.27 and 3.28 show some images of Hard Disk Drives.

27
 Figure 3.27: Parts of Hard Disk Drive Figure 3.28: Outer view of a Hard Disk Drive

Portable Hard Disks

Portable hard disk is an interesting and useful device
because you can carry data about all over the place and
transfer information, programs, pictures, etc. between
computers. Modern portable hard disks have a massive
capacity like 500GB.
Advantages:
• Greatly improved data cargo carrying capacity.
(relative to the 1.44 Mb floppy disk)
• You don't need to worry about the other person
having the same type of special cartridge drive as
yourself.
Figure 3.29: Portable Hard Disk
Disadvantages:
• Hard drives have to be handled quite carefully, and when being transported should be
wrapped in something soft and put in a padded bag.
• More expensive than other forms of removable media.
Application
Portable discs are used to store very large files which need transporting from one computer
to another and price is not an issue.

Magnetic tapes
Magnetic tape has been used for data storage for over 50 years.
When storing large amounts of data, tape can be substantially less
expensive than disk or other data storage options. Tape storage has
always been used with large computer systems. Modern usage is
primarily as a high capacity medium for backups and archives.
Drawbacks
Writing and retrieving data is slow. It uses serial access for reading
and writing. Figure 3.30: Magnetic tapes Application
Magnetic tapes are used for application which requires extremely large storage capacity where
speed of access is not an issue. It is commonly used for backups of file servers for computer
networks, in a variety of batch processing applications such as reading of bank cheques, payroll
processing and general stock control.
28
Optical backing storage media such as CDs and DVDs

Figure 3.31: Image of a Compact Disk

• CDs tend to be used for large files (but smaller than 1 GB) which are too big for a floppy
disc to hold such as music and general animation.
• DVDs are used to hold very large files (several GBs) such as movie films. Both CDs and
DVDs are portable i.e. they can be transported from one computer to another. Both can be
used to store computer data.
• CD R/DVD R uses which require a single „burning‟ of data, e.g. CDs - recording of music
downloads from the Internet, recording of music from MP3 format, recording of data for
archiving or backup purposes. DVDs – recording of film movies and television programs.
• CD RW/DVD RW uses when require the updating of information and ability to record over
old data. Not suitable for music recording but is very useful for keeping generations of
files. DVDs have between five and ten times the capacity of CDs.

Solid state backing storage

• These are the smallest form of memory available in the market today.
• Widely used as removable storage.
• They are stronger than other forms of storage.
• Though expensive than other forms they can be easily written to and updated.

Memory sticks/Pen drives

USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much
smaller than a floppy disk. Storage capacities typically range from
64 MB to 64 GB. USB flash drives offer potential advantages over
other portable storage devices, particularly the floppy disk. They
have a more compact shape, operate faster, hold much more data,
have a more durable design, and operate more reliably due to their
lack of moving parts. Flash drives are widely used to transport
files and backup data from computer to computer. Figure 3.32: Pen drive Flash memory cards

A memory card or flash memory card is a solid-state

electronic flash memory data storage device used with
digital cameras, handheld and Mobile computers,
telephones, music players, video game consoles, and other
electronics.
Nowadays, most new PCs have built-in slots for a variety of
memory cards; Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SD, etc.
Some digital gadgets support more than one memory card to Figure 3.33: Flash memory cards
ensure compatibility.
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3.7 The System Unit

With reference to Figure 2.3 above, the System Unit of the computer is the box-like casing which
contains the major electronic components that are responsible for the main functions of the
computer. It should be mentioned here that many people use to refer to this as the CPU
incorrectly. This erroneous reference may be due to CPU: The brain of the commuter being that
significant. However, the electronic devices such as CPU, memory, hard disk drive are located
inside the System Unit. In addition to the above parts, Motherboard, Floppy Disk Drive,
Power Supply unit, and CD-ROM Drive are the other major components that you can find
within the system unit. A brief description of each above component is given next.
Note: The system unit is also called the housing, case, computer chassis, or cabinet.

3.8 Motherboard

The motherboard is sometimes called the system board, planner board or main board. It is the
main circuit board of a computer. The motherboard contains several connectors for attaching
additional boards. Usually, the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage
interfaces, serial/parallel ports, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control
standard peripheral devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, and disk drive. All of the basic
circuitry and components required for a computer to function are onboard the motherboard or are
connected with a cable. The most important component on a motherboard is the chipset. It often
consists of two components or chips known as the Northbridge and Southbridge, though they
may also be integrated into a single component. These chips determine, to an extent, the features
and capabilities of the motherboard.

See Figure 3.34 for a labelled image of a motherboard. It should be noted that the figure shows
t h e Asus P5N32-E SLI motherboard. All boards will be slightly different as far as which
components they have, and the locations of those components may differ, but they are fairly
close.
Note: You are advised to explore the circuitry components attached to the mother board with the
help of your lecturer or the instructor.

30
 Figure 3.34: The components of a Motherboard

A. PCI Slot - This board has 2 PCI slots. These can be used for components such as Ethernet
cards, sound cards, and modems.
B. PCI-E 16x Slot - There are 2 of them on this motherboard diagram, both are blue. These
are used for your graphics card. With two of them onboard, you can run 2 graphics cards
in SLI. You would only need this if you are a gamer, or working with high end video/
graphics editing. These are the 16x speed versions, which are currently the fastest.
C. PCI-E 1x Slot - Single slot - In the PCI-E 1x generation, each lane (1x) carries 250 MB/s
compared to 133 MB/s for the PCI slots. These can be used for expansion cards such as
Sound Cards, or Ethernet Cards.
D. Northbridge - This is the Northbridge for this motherboard. This allows communication
between the CPU and the system memory and PCI-E slots.
E. ATX 12V 2X and 4 Pin Power Connection Power Connection - This is one of two
power connections that supply power to the motherboard. This connection will come
from your Power Supply.
F. CPU-Fan Connection - This is where your CPU fan will connect. Using this connection
over one from your power supply will allow the motherboard to control the speed of your
fan, based on the CPU temperature.
G. Socket - This is where your CPU will plug in. The orange bracket that is surrounding it is
used for high end heat sink-s. It helps to support the weight of the heat sink.
H. Memory Slots - These are the slots for your RAM. Most boards will have 4 slots, but
some will only have 2. The color coding you see on the motherboard diagram is used to

31
 match up RAM for Dual-Channel. Using them this way will give your memory a speed
boost.
I. ATX Power Connector - This is the second of two power connections. This is the main
power connection for the motherboard, and comes from the Power Supply.
J. IDE Connection - The IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is the connection for your hard
drive or CD / DVD drive. Most drives today come with SATA connections, so you may
not use this.
K. Southbridge - This is the controller for components such as the PCI slots, onboard audio,
and USB connections.
L. SATA Connections - These are 4 of the 6 SATA connections on the motherboard. These
will be used for hard drives, and CD / DVD drives.
M. Front Panel Connections - this is where you will hook in the connections from your
case. These are mostly the different lights on your case, such as power on, hard drive
activity etc.
N. FDD Connection - The FDD is the Floppy Disk controller. If you have a floppy disk
drive in your computer, this is where you will hook it up.
O. External USB Connections - This is where you will plug in external USB connections
for your case or USB bracket.
P. CMOS battery - This is the motherboard's battery. This is used to allow the CMOS to
keep its settings.

3.9 Power Supply Unit

Power Supply Unit (PSU) is another very important unit found in the system unit. Usually we
connect the power code of the computer to the domestic mains supply. Therefore, PSU converts
Alternating Current (AC) from mains supply to Direct Current (DC) with the required different
voltages needed to power different components of the computer. Power supplies have a certain
power output specified in Watts, a standard power supply would typically be able to deliver
around 350 Watts. The more components like HDD, CD/DVD drives, and cooling fans, are
connected to your computer the greater the power required from the power supply. See Figure
3.35 for an image of a typical power supply unit.

Figure 3.35: Power Supply Unit

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3.10 CD-ROM Drive

Most probably, you might have seen the Compact Disks (CDs) which are commonly used as a
storage media. The CD-ROM drive is a high capacity optical data storage device with a
removable disk, it writes data onto or reads data from a storage medium.
A CD-ROM drive may be connected to the computer via an IDE (ATA), SCSI, S-ATA, Firewire,
or USB interface or a proprietary interface. See Figure 3.36 for an image of a CDROM Drive.

Figure 3.36 : CD -ROM Drive

3.11 Floppy Disk Drive

Floppy disks were used as a storage medium of which capacity is 1.44MB. However, nowadays
the floppy disks (or diskettes) are outdated and USB Flash Disk drives and card readers have
now come into play instead of floppy disks.

3.12 Card readers

Card reader is a data input device that can read data embedded in plastics cards which come in
several forms such as bar codes, magnetic strip, computer chip. This reader may act as a memory
card reader, smart card reader, magnetic card reader, or business card reader depending on the
card read by the unit.
Following Figure 3.38 shows the arrangement of the components inside the system unit.
However, it should be noted that there may be new components added with the advent of
technology in the PCs what you can find now.

Figure 3.37: Card reader

33
 Figure 3.38: Components inside the System Unit

3.13 Connecting Peripheral Devices to the Computer

We have already dealt about the peripheral devices in previous sections. Here we are going to
see how we can connect these peripheral devices to your computer. Have you ever observed the
back panel of the CPU? If you see the back panel of the CPU carefully you will come to know
that there are several types of ports. They are in different colures and in different shapes. These
ports can be fixed with specific ports from the peripheral devices. Hence ports can be considered
as the interface in-between the computer and the peripheral devices. This mechanism is much
more similar to a lock and key mechanism.

3.13.1 Ports in Your Computer

Let’s have a look at the available ports in a typical PC and the peripheral devices connected to the
computer (Figure 3.39).

Figure 3.39: Different Ports of a Computer

34
Figure 3.40: Identifying the different computer ports

35
You have seen the back panel of the CPU as a whole. Now let’s take a look at each port
individually and it is certainly going to be interesting!

PS/2 Ports
PS/2 ports are simple and generally used as input ports to connect mice and keyboards with the
computer. The green PS/2 is for the mouse while the purple ports can be connected to a
keyboard. Commonly motherboards consist of these ports but this has become phased out
because of the usage USB ports to connect these devices. PS/2 ports have 6-pin

Figure 3.41: Images of PS/2 port

Parallel Port

This is used to connect the parallel devices to the computer. It is often called as Centronics
interface after the company that designed the original standard for parallel communication
between a computer and printer.
Today, the parallel port interface is scarcely used because of the rise of Universal Serial Bus (USB)
and FireWire (IEEE 1394) devices.

Figure 3.42: Images of Parallel ports

The commonly found parallel device is the printer. Parallel ports can have 25 connections.

Serial Port

Figure 3.43: Images of Serial ports

This is used to connect the serial devices to the computer. Serial port can have either 9
connections or 25 connections. Modem which is used to obtain the Internet connection is an
ideal example for serial device. This was common method of data transfer throughout the history
of the personal computers.

Network equipment (such as routers and switches) commonly use serial console for
configuration. Serial ports are still used in these areas as they are simple, cheap and their console
functions are highly standardized and widespread. A serial port requires very little supporting
software from the host system.
VGA Port
36
A Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector has 15 connectors in 3 rows. These 15 pins transmit
video signals based on colors and video synchronizing.

Figure 3.44: VGA port

This is used to connect the monitor to the motherboard. They give an extra way to maintain an
additional external monitor when using laptop. Using a VGA port is not too complicated, just
plug the cable in and turn on the monitor.

HDMI Port
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface to transfer
uncompressed video data and compressed/uncompressed digital audio data from a HDMI
compliant device to a computer monitor, video projector, digital television, or digital audio
device which is compatible with HDMI. The existing analog video standards have been replaced
with the arrival of HDMI.

Figure 3.45: HDMI port

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Port
The most widely used hardware interface for connecting peripherals to a computer. There are
typically at least two USB ports on laptops and four on desktop computers, while USB "hubs"
provide more connections (there are exceptions as well).

Figure 3.46: Different types of USB Ports

Figure 3.47: The basic USB trident loge; indicating support for USB 2.0
37
Fire wire Port
Fire wire is a type of cabling technology for transferring data to and from digital devices at high
speed. Some professional digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the computer over
FireWire. FireWire card readers are commonly faster than those that connect via USB. They are
also known as IEEE 1394 or iLink. Although FireWire was invented by Apple Computer in 1995
it is now commonly used with Windows-based PCs.
FireWire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, which makes it great for use
with multimedia peripherals such as digital video cameras and other high-speed devices like the
latest hard disk drives and printers. It has the bandwidth of 400 megabits per second and the
latest machines include FireWire ports operate at around 800 megabits per second. FireWire is a
cross-platform implementation of the high-speed serial data bus which can handle up to 63 on
the same bus consisting of simplified cabling and hot swapping. When this port is in use, a little
monitoring light flickers.

Figure 3.48: Fire wire logo

3.14 Performance of a computer

You may be wondering why your computer is slow at times and there are other times when it is
fast in processing. This could be caused by a number of factors. They include: the speed of the
CPU, the space on the hard disk, the size of the RAM, the type of the graphics card, the speed of
the hard disk, if the computer is multitasking, the defragmenting files.
Note that, good computer performance may involve one or more of the following:

• Short response time for a given piece of work

• High throughput (rate of processing work)
• Low utilization of computing resource(s)
• High availability of the computing system or application
• Fast (or highly compact) data compression and decompression
• High bandwidth / short data transmission time
3.14.1 Factors affecting the Performance of computers
To increase the performance there are number of factors are effects including
• Performance of the Microprocessor
• Performance of the Hardware devices
• Performance of the Storage devices
• Performance of the Software
38
Performance of the Microprocessor
A microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input,
processes it according to instructions stored in its memory. Performance of the Microprocessor is
depended on the several factors including;

• Clock speed
The speed of the CPU is also known as the clock speed of the CPU. The clock speed of
the CPU is the frequency of which the processor executes instructions or the frequency
by which data is processed by the CPU. It is measured in millions of cycles per second or
megahertz (MHz). If the Clock speed of the CPU is fast then definitely the performance
of the computer will be affected positively, in other words the computer will carry out
processing functions at a faster pace.

• Bus Speed
A bus transfers data between components inside a computer. For an example, the
processor is connected to the motherboard through the bus called, Front-side bus. The
more data a bus can handle at one time, the faster it allows information to travel. The
speed of the bus, measured in megahertz (MHz), refers to how much data can move
across the bus simultaneously.

• Number of cores
The "core" in a processor is the microprocessor inside of the CPU. For example, if you
have an i7 CPU then you have 4 microprocessors inside of the CPU; this allows you to
do four things at once, as a microprocessor can only do one thing at a time.

• Available features
Some latest technologies introduced over the processor technology have increased the
performance of the processor. For example, Turbo Boost Technology and the Hyper
Threading Technology
For an example, the following list gives some existing features available in the modern Intel i7
microprocessor which has increased its performance.

• Cores 4
• Threads 8
• Clock Speed 3.4 GHz
• Max Turbo Frequency 3.8 GHz
• Intel® Smart Cache 8MB

Figure 3.49: Image of Intel i7

Microprocessor
• Features o Intel® Turbo Boost Technology o Thermal Monitoring Technologies o Intel®
Hyper-Threading Technology etc.

Performance of the Hardware devices

Computer is a digital electronic device, consists of set of electronic circuits (Example
Motherboard) therefore, performance of the hardware devices are dependents on several factors
including

39
 • BUS Speed of the system
• Performance of the available ports
• Technology used to develop
The following figures show the physical architecture of the computer motherboard and the bus
system.

Figure 3.50: Architecture of the Motherboard Figure 3.51: Bus system

Performance of the Storage devices

To increase the performance of the storage devices, storage system has been divided in to the
several units such as;

• Primary Memory
• Secondary Memory
• Cache memory
Accordingly, the performance of the computer goes up if the collective memory (Primary,
secondary, and Cache) is high.

Figure 3.52: Storage system

Performance of the Software

Here, we mainly focus on the device drivers installed into your computer. You should make sure
that you have installed drivers recommended by the hardware vendor. You will learn more about

40
the computer software in the next UNIT and you will find what Software Drivers are in that
UNIT.

3.15 Self Assessment Questions

3.1 What is meant by the term “hardware device(s)”?

3.2 Briefly describe the four main categories of computer hardware.
3.3 What is CPU? Briefly explain the components of the CPU.
3.4 What is a microprocessor? Describe the factors which affect the performance of it.
3.5 What does the computer memory means? How is it measured?
3.6 Why does the computer need primary storage and secondary storage?
3.7 State the difference between volatile memory and non-volatile memory.
3.8 Explain the role of the cache memory in a computer.
3.9. Define the following devices.
a. Input devices b. Output devices
3.10. Using suitable examples, describe the use of bar codes.
3.11. Briefly explain the functionality of the following display devices.
a. CRT Monitor b. LCD Monitor
3.12. Suggest suitable devices for the following.
a. High quality printing
b. Quiet printing
c. Economical color printing
d. Economical printing of small quantities
e. High quality line drawing
3.13. Define the term BUS. Why are buses useful?
3.14. Name three ports that can be seen in a typical PC. Give an example of a device that can be
connected to the computer via each port.
3.15. State the factors which affect the performance of computers.

41
UNIT 04

Computer Software

Introduction:
This UNIT aims to provide the basic ideas of Software to the Students.

Aim and Objectives:

Having studied this UNIT the student will be able to:

• Describe what software is

• Classify computer software according to the usage of them
• Give examples for each category of computer software

4.1 What is Software?

Software, also called a computer program or simply a program, is a series of instructions that
tells the hardware of a computer what to do. For example, some instructions direct the computer
to allow you to input data from the keyboard and store it in memory. Other instructions cause
data stored in memory to be used in calculations such as adding a series of numbers to obtain a
total.
Before a computer can perform or execute a program, the instructions in the program must be
loaded into the memory of the computer. Usually, they are loaded into memory from storage like
hard disk.
When you purchase a program, you will receive one or more CD-ROMs or a single DVD-ROM
on which the software is stored. To use the software, you often need to install the software on
the computer’s hard disk. Sometimes, a program can be loaded in memory directly from a
CDROM or a DVD-ROM so that you do not have to install it on the hard disk to use it.
When you buy a computer, it usually has some software already installed in its hard disk. Thus
you can use the computer as soon as you receive it. Software is the key to productive use of
computers. With the correct software, a computer can become a valuable tool.

4.2 Categories of Software

The following diagram (Figure 4.1) shows the basic categories of software. This section will give
you a description on each category of software together with some examples.

42
 Computer
Software

System Application
Software Software

Operating General
Systems Purpose

Utilty Software
Special
Purpose
Library
programs Bespoke

Programming
Language
Translaters

Figure 4.1: Classification of Computer Software

4.2.1 System Software

System software consists of the programs that control the operations of the computer and its
devices. Functions that system software performs include starting up the computer; opening,
executing, running, applications; storing, retrieving, and copying files; formatting disks;
reducing file sizes; and backing up the contents of a hard disk. Accordingly you can see that the
System Software will handle the smooth running of all the components of the computer as well
as providing general functionality for other programs to use, tools to speed up the computer,
tools to develop new software and programs to keep you safe from attacks.
As shown in the above figure 4.1 there are several types of system software. Next sections will
look at each type of system software together with examples.

Operating Systems (OS)

The Operating System contains instructions that co-ordinate all of the activities of hardware
devices of your computer. It also contains instructions that allow you to run any applications
software. One may define the Operating system as an interface between a user and all computer
resources.
When you start a computer, the operating system is loaded or copied into memory from the
computer hard disk. It remains in memory while the computer is sunning and allows you to
communicate with the computer and other software. A computer cannot function without an
operating system. It is an important component of the computer system, because it sets the
standards for the application programs that run on it. All programs must “talk to” the OS.
There are two main types of Operating Systems:

43
Single-user OS: A type of OS which allows only one user at a time. There can be single-user OS
either as single-user single-task or single-user multi-task. The Single-user single-task OS has
to deal with only one person at a time running only one application at a time. MS DOS is an
example for a single user single task OS.
Think of the OS of your Personal Computer. It is designed mainly with one user (i.e. you) in
mind but that only user: you can deal with many applications running at the same time. You may
word process a document with a word processing application like MS Word while listening to
music played in the windows media player in parallel. Or you might be answering the school
assignment while searching more facts on the internet while a suitable video is being
downloaded. This type of OSs is of single-user multi-task OS. An example of such OS is
Windows 95.
Multi-user OS: In some situations, we need to share the single computer among few users. So
the OS should be a multi-user where more than one user is logged on to the computer and uses it
at the same time. These multi users may work with remote desktop connections. Further, these
different users may need to run different applications at the same time. So the OS must support
multi-task facility as well. Obviously the computer should be a powerful one. Each user draws
on a big power of the computer in a shared way. This type of Multi –user multi-task OSs have to
manage some tasks as listed below:
- Each user logged on to the system, their workspace and so on.
- Allocate resources to the jobs they want to run.
- Keep logs of how much processing time and resources they use
- Work out the most efficient use of computer processing cycles - Maintain security

Following are some examples of such OS:

• Windows XP, 7, 8 etc.
• Unix
• Linux (Ubuntu, Centos, Fedora etc.)

Desktop OS vs. Server OS

The OS can also be categorized as Desktop OS and Server OS depending on whether the OS is to
be installed in a desktop computer or a server. For example, the latest versions of the Windows
OS family can be categorized as follows:
Desktop OS: windows XP, windows 7, Windows 8
Server OS: Windows 2000Server, Windows 2005Server, Windows 2008Server
As most of you are using Desktop Personal Computers, following web article is extracted in
order to give you an overview on the different operating systems you may use.

Source: http://www.geek.com/desktop-computer-buyers-guide/operating-system/

Operating Systems for your Desktop PC

Following is a note extracted from the web regarding the OS and given for the reader for
additional facts about your OS

44
Recommended: Windows 7 Professional or alternative OS depending on your needs
Minimum: Windows 7 Home Premium

The operating system (OS) is the foundation of your computer’s software. Everything that runs
on the computer is based on this in one form or another and its stability and functionality will
determine what you can get out of the computer.

Currently there are three main options: Windows, Linux, and Apple’s OS X. They may serve the
same purpose, but they are too firmly established to say that one is better than the others. Each
has their own strengths and weaknesses and each will have unique appeal to different buyers.

As important as this decision is, it is largely a moot issue because the vast majority of consumer
desktops sold run Windows. As of October 22, 2009 the current version is Windows 7, and it’s a
highly regarded update to the previous Windows Vista. Like it or not, 7 is going to be the only
version of Windows that ships on most new desktops.

Apple’s OS X (current version “Snow Leopard”) is also an excellent OS and it’s generally seen
as a great choice for most home users, ranging from the casual buyers to computer professionals.
While an excellent operating system it is only sold with Apple’s desktops (namely the iMac and
Mac Pro) so this guide might not be extremely helpful because those systems have limited
options available to them.

Some types of Linux are also fantastic for home users, but it is not something people generally
have experience with so it can be hard to recommend, unless if you have a close friend or family
member to help you get your on your feet. It also cannot run popular applications like iTunes and
Photoshop, so it can be an issue for some buyers. Linux is free and easy to run though, so any
computer you build/buy will be able to run it in a trial mode (via a Live CD or on a USB key)
without even having to install it. This is an ideal way to give it a try before committing to it. Not
many desktops ship with Linux so this will limit a buyer’s options as well.

As for Windows 7, it comes in a few different varieties. They won’t all be available in all areas
though. Ranging from the least to most expensive

This may look confusing but the vast majority of Windows buyers will be getting either Home
Premium or Professional, so the decision won’t be too hard. If you don’t know why you’d want
to get Professional then Home Premium will do the job nicely. Home Premium will be the right
fit almost all home users

4.2.2 Utility Software

Utility software or utility programs are some small programs which performs specific task,
usually related to managing a computer, its devices, or its programs. Most operating systems
include several utility programs. Also, you can buy them as stand-alone software that offer
improvements over the ones supplied with the OS. Following are some of the specific tasks done
by commonly used utility programs:

• Viewing files
• Compressing files
• Diagnosing problems
45
 • Scanning disks
• Defragmenting disks
• Uninstalling software
• Backing up files and disks
• Checking for viruses
• Displaying screen savers
Following figures show some of the user interfaces of the above utility programs.

Figure 4.2: Tune up Disk Cleaner

46
Figure 4 .3: AVAST Software Uninstall Utility Figure 4.4: WinZip file compressing utility

Figure 4.5: McAfee Antivirus Utility Figure 4.6: Disk Defragmenter utility
4.2.3 Library Programs
Library programs are collections of some pre-written codes or resources that are used to
develop other programs. For an example, you might have noticed that all Microsoft Programs
look like the same or have the same look and feel in the interfaces though the application differs.
The reason for this consistent look is the using of same graphical user interface libraries when
developing different applications by the Microsoft. Another classical example is, the computer
game developers often buy and use pre-done graphical user interface libraries and develop new
games as they need to save time and cost of entire development process. This will allow them to
47
quickly develop a good looking game that runs on the desired hardware. In w\Windows, you can
often identify library programs by their extension .dll (dynamic link library).

4.2.4 Programming Language Translators

You are already aware that a Program is a set of instructions written for performing a specific
task. These instructions are just like English words. We call that these programs are written in
programming languages that can be understood by human beings. These written programs are
called that Source codes. However, some programs run on a machine code that is executed
directly on computer architecture. Machine code is not easily read by humans and it is a long
series of bits (i.e. ones-1 and zeros-0). Therefore, the source code is to be converted into
machine code which is called an object program. This translation can be done by translator.
Simply, the translators translate source code into machine code. There are three approaches of
program translating:
• Assembler
• Interpreter
• Compiler
Assembler:
An assembler translates the symbolic codes of programs of an assembly language into machine
language instructions (See Figure 4.7 below). The symbolic language is translated to the
machine code in the ratio of one is to one symbolic instructions to one machine code
instructions. Such types of languages are called low-level languages. The assembler programs
translate the low-level language to the machine code. The translation job is performed either
manually or with a program called assembler. In hand assembly, the programmer uses the set of
instructions supplied by the manufacturer. In this case, the hexadecimal code for the mnemonic
instruction is searched from the code sheet. This procedure is tedious and time-consuming.
Alternate solution to this is the use of assemblers. The program called assembler provides the
codes of the mnemonics. This process is fast and facilitates the user in developing the program
speedily.

Interpreter: Figure 4.7: Assembler

Interpreters also come in the group of translators. It helps the user to execute the source program
with a few differences as compared to compilers. The source program is just like English
statements in both interpreters and compilers. The interpreter also generates object codes from the
source program. Interpreter reads the program line by line, whereas in compiler the entire program
is read by the compiler, which then generates the object codes. Interpreter directly executes the
program from its source code. Due to this, every time the source code should be inputted to the
interpreter. In other words, each line is converted into the object codes. It takes very less time for
execution because no intermediate object code is generated.
Compiler:
Compilers are the translators, which translate all the instructions of the program into machine
codes, which can be used again and again (See Figure 4.8 below). The source program is input to

48
the compiler. The object code is output for the secondary storage device. The entire program will
be read by the compiler first and generates the object code. However, in interpreter each line is
executed and object code is provided. M-BASIC is an example of an interpreter. High-level
languages such as C, C++ and Java compilers are employed. The compiler displays the list of
errors and warnings for the statements violating the syntax rules of the language. Compilers also
have the ability of linking subroutines of the program.

Figure 4.8: Compilers and Interpreters

4.3 Application Software

Re-call the classification of software given in Figure 4.1. Accordingly, the second major class of
Software is the Application Software. Application software consists of programs designed to
perform specific tasks of users. Application Software, also called a software application or an
application, can be used for the following purposes, among others:

• As a productivity/business tool
• To assist with graphics and multimedia projects
• To support household activities, for personal business, or for education  To facilitate
communications
A variety of application software is available that you can buy from software vendors in retail
stores or on the Web. A specific software product, such as Microsoft Word, often is called a
Software Package.
Based on the purposes as listed above, the application software is three-fold namely General
Purpose, Special purpose, and Bespoke. Let us look at each type of applications software briefly.

4.3.1 General Purpose Application Software

A general purpose application is also called „off-the-shelf‟ applications. These are the software
you use at home, university, or at work place to make you more effective and efficient while
performing daily activities. These include applications such as word processors, spreadsheets,
databases, desktop publishing packages, presentation packages, graphics packages, text editors,
etc. Following Table 4.1 gives example uses of different general purpose applications.
General Purpose Application Example Uses

Word Processor Writing reports, memos, letters to customers

Spreadsheet application Keeping simple company accounts, calculating employee

payments, simple stock control systems, modeling
Database application Keeping student data of a university, Keeping customer
records, sales records, appointments system
Desktop Publishing application Creating leaflets, posters, business cards, etc.

49
Presentation software Creating presentations to be used for an audience of
customers/staff.
Graphics application Manipulating images that can be used at home, university, or
a business
Web Design application Creating personal or business web sites

Table 4.1: Uses of General Purpose Applications

Note: Within this course, you will learn deeply on one from each categories of Word Processor,
Spreadsheet application, Database application, and Presentation software as tabled
below.
General Purpose Application Software covered within this course

Word Processor Microsoft Word 2007

Spreadsheet application Microsoft Excel 2007

Database application Microsoft Access 2007

Presentation software Microsoft PowerPoint 2007

Table 4.2: Application software covered in ICT Skills Course

4.3.2 Special Purpose Application Software

Special Purpose Application Software is the software created for execution of a single specific
task. Some examples are Chess game, calculator, camera application in your mobile phone which
allows you only to capture and share pictures, web browsers, media players, calendar programs.

4.3.3 Bespoke Application Software

Some organizations may feel that the general purpose software are not suitable for their task and
it does not exactly what they want or it does not tallying with the current system in the
organization. In this type of situation, they decide on designing and developing software
specifically for them. These software are also called as the „tailor-made software‟ or „Bespoke
software‟ as they are made to a specific user and customized for a specific task only. Following
are the advantages and disadvantages of bespoke software:
Advantages:
• The organization will get the exact system that they need  The software will work
exactly how they want it to work
• The software will only have the features that they specifically need in their job or business
feeling them comfortable to use
Disadvantages:
• It takes more time to develop such systems. The development duration several months or
years
• Developmental cost is very high
• Sometimes it is required to employ a team of people at different stages of the development
process such as analysts, programmers, testers, etc.
Following are some examples for bespoke software:

50
 - Membership database (Insurance Industry)
- Dispatch Systems (Factory/Processing Industries)
- Sales order Systems (Newspaper Industries)
- Invoicing System (Motor Industries)
- Freelancer System (Newspaper Industries)
- Calibrating Software (Pharmaceutical Industries)
Software that checks all medical devises to ensure that all are correctly calibrated
- Educated Marketing database (Education)
- Event Planning Database (Manages invitations, member registrations, and seminar
places)
- Marketing Databases (territory management, telemarketing, direct mail campaigns,
analysis)
- Sales Training Databases (Management reports of personal attainment, history, and team
performance)

4.4 Self Assessment Questions

4.1 What is Software?

4.2 Differentiate System software and Application software.
4.3 What are the responsibilities of Operating Systems?
4.4 Define the following with suitable examples.
a. Single–user OS
b. Multi-user OS
4.5 What are utility programs? Define some tasks performed by them.
4.6 What is meant by library programs?
4.7 What are program language translators? Briefly describe three translating approaches.
4.8 State the advantages and disadvantages of Bespoke Application Software.

51
UNIT 05

Computer Networks

Introduction:

This UNIT develops a solid grasp of network by introducing the basic concepts.

Aim and Objectives:

Having studied this UNIT the student will be able to:

• Describe what a computer network is

• Define the basic terminology: Nodes, Clients, Servers, and Hub with their roles in a
computer network
• Classify the networks according to the scale
• Describe what LAN, MAN, and WAN are
• Classify the networks according to the topology
• Identify the basic hardware used in networking computers

• Describe what Internet, Intranet, and Extranet

5.1 What is a Computer Network?

Two or more independent computers connected together through a communication media form a
computer network. The computers are connected in a network to exchange information and data.
The computers connected in a network can also use resources of other computers such as
software packages and peripherals like modems, printers, backup drives, or CD-ROM drives.
Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software. Further, you do not
need the same software package installed on your machine, if your network has that software
installed on one of the machines on the network. In this sense, computer networks are clear
means for sharing resources. This makes the use of computer technology cost effective.
Following Figure 5.1 shows a typical network with four computers.

Figure 5.1: Typical computer network

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5.2 Basic hardware and terminology in networks

If you explore more on computer networks, you will come across with a huge list of terminology
associated with networks. Let us look at the basic terminology used in the subject of computer
networks in brief. It is worth to note here that all networks are made up of basic hardware
building blocks to interconnect network nodes.

5.2.1 Node
Any device attached to the network capable of communicating with other network devices is
called a Node. A node can be a computer or some other device, such as a printer. Every node has
a unique network address, sometimes called a Data Link Control (DLC) address or Media Access
Control (MAC) address.

5.2.2 Client
A device or application that uses the services provided by a server is called a Client in the
network. A client may be a PC or a workstation on a network using services provided from the
network file server, or it may be that part of an application program that runs on the workstation
supported by additional software running on the server. One of the most familiar clients is the
Web browser.

5.2.3 Server
Any computer that makes access to files, printing, communications, and other services available
to users of the network is called a Server in the network. In large networks, a dedicated server
runs a special network operating system; in smaller installations, a non-dedicated server may run
a personal computer operating system with peer-to-peer networking software running on top.

A server typically has a more advanced processor, more memory, a larger cache, and more disk
storage than a single-user workstation. A server may also have several processors rather than just
one and may be dedicated to a specific support function such as printing, e-mail, or
communications. Many servers also have large power supplies, UPS (uninterruptible power
supply) support, and fault-tolerant features, such as RAID technology. On the Internet, a server
responds to requests from a client, usually a Web browser.

Following Figure 5.2 shows the client and server in a network.

Figure 5.2: Client and Server

5.2.4 Hub

53
A device used to extend a network so that additional workstations can be attached. In some star
networks, a hub is the central controlling device. Hubs typically provide from 4 to 24
connections, allowing anything from 2 to 24 devices to communicate with one another.
Following Figure 5.3 shows the use of a hub in a Star network (You will learn what a star
network is in the latter part of this UNIT) while the Figure shows an enlarged view of an 8-port
hub.

Figure 5.3: Hub in a Star network Figure 5.4: 8-port Hub

5.2.5 IP Address
An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical identification (logical address) that is assigned to
devices participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication
between its nodes. Although IP addresses are stored as binary numbers, they are often displayed
in more human-readable notations, such as 192.168.100.1(for IPv4). The role of the IP address
has been characterized as follows: "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where
it is. A route indicates how to get there."

5.2.6 Network interface cards

A network card, network adapter, or NIC (network
interface card) is a piece of computer hardware
designed to allow computers to communicate
over a computer network. It provides physical
access to a networking medium and often provides
a low-level addressing system through the use of
MAC addresses.
Figure 5.5: Network Interface Card
5.2.7 Repeaters
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher power level,
or to the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances without
degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet configurations, repeaters are required for cable which
runs longer than 100 meters.

5.2.8 Bridges
A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI
model. Bridges do not promiscuously copy traffic to all ports, as hubs do, but learn which MAC
54
addresses are reachable through specific ports. Once the bridge associates a port and an address,
it will send traffic for that address only to that port. Bridges do send broadcasts to all ports
except the one on which the broadcast was received.

5.2.9 Switches
A network switch is a computer networking device that links
network segments or network devices. The term commonly refers
to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the
data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that
additionally process data at the network layer (layer 3) and above
are often called layer-3 switches or multilayer switches.
Figure 5.6: Switch
5.2.10 Routers
A router is a networking device that forwards packets between
networks using information in protocol headers and forwarding
tables to determine the best next router for each packet. Routers
work at the Network Layer of the OSI model and the Internet
Layer of TCP/IP.
Figure 5.7: Router

5.3 Classifications of Computer Networks

Computer networks can be classified by considering following different aspects as the basis.

• The scale
• The connection method
• The functional relationship (Network Architectures)
• The network topology
The Table 5.1 given below classifies the computer networks according to the above different basis.
The basis Different categories

Scale
Personal Area Network (PAN)

Local Area Network (LAN) Metropolitan

Area Network (MAN)

Wide Area Network (WAN).

Connection method Optical fiber

Ethernet

Wireless LAN

Home PNA

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 Functional Active Networking
Relationship
(Architecture) Client-server networking

Peer-to-peer (workgroup) architectures

Network topology Bus network topology
(Arrangement of
components) Star network topology

Ring network topology

Mesh network topology

Tree or Hierarchical topology

Table 5.1: Classifications of Computer Networks

5.3.1 Classification of computer networks by scale

According to the Table 5.1 above, the networks can be classified into six classes abbreviated as
PAN, LAN, MAN and GAN.

Personal Area Network (PAN)

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network that will be useful in communicating
computerizes devices such as telephones and PDAs. Mostly, the PAN is communicated through
wireless network technologies such as Wireless USB, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, and IrDA. You may
use PANs to communicate among the personal devices or you may connect even to higher level
networks or to the internet.

Figure 5.8: Personal Area Network

Local Area Network (LAN)
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a
home, office, or group of buildings. Ex: a school (See Figure 5.10 below). The defining
characteristics of LANs, in contrast to Wide Area Networks (WANs), include their much higher
data transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and lack of a need for leased telecommunication
lines. LANs can be small, linking as few as three computers, but often link hundreds of
computers used by thousands of people. The development of standard networking protocols and
media has resulted in worldwide propagation of LANs throughout business and educational
organizations. The Figure 5.9 below shows a LAN consisting of six computers/work stations.

56
Figure 5.9: Local Area Network (LAN) Figure 5.10: LAN in a School

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Wide Area Network is defined as a group of computers and network devices connected across
large physical areas such as states or countries. Computers connected to a Wide Area Network
are often connected through the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased
lines or satellites. One may define a WAN as a collection of several LANs as depicted in Figure
5.11 below.
The largest WAN in existence is the Internet. (You will learn about Internet in a coming section).

Figure 5.11: Wide Area Network

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

MAN is a network that interconnect users with computer resources in a geographic area or
region larger than that covered by a local area network (LAN) but smaller than the area covered
by wide area network (WAN). Further a MAN is a network that connects two or more Local
Area Networks or Campus Area Networks together but does not extend beyond the boundaries of
the immediate town, city, or metropolitan area. See Figure 5.12 below for a typical set up of a
MAN.

Figure 5.12: Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

57
 Figure 5.13: LAN, MAN, and WAN

5.3.2 Classifications of networks based on the topology

Network Topology is the schematic description how the arrangement of the network is including
the nodes, connecting lines, and other devices. As per the above Table 5.1, the main network
topologies are listed below.
• Bus
• Star
• Ring
• Mesh
• Tree/Hierarchical

Deep discussions on the topologies are beyond the level of this Module. However, brief
descriptions on each topology and images of them are given below.
Bus Topology

Bus networks (not to be confused with the system bus of a computer) use a common backbone to
connect all devices. A single cable, the backbone, functions as a shared communication medium that
devices attach or tap into with an interface connector. A device wanting to communicate with
another device on the network sends a broadcast message onto the wire that all other devices see, but
only the intended recipient actually accepts and processes the message.

Figure 5.14: Bus topology Star

Topology

Many home networks use the star topology. A star network features a central connection point
called a "hub node" that may be a network hub, switch or router. Devices typically connect to the
hub with Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Ethernet.

58
Compared to the bus topology, a star network generally
requires more cable, but a failure in any star network cable
will only take down one computer's network
access and not the entire LAN. (If the hub fails, however
the entire network also fails.) Figure 5.15: Star topology

Ring Topology

In a ring network, every device has exactly two neighbors

for communication purposes. All messages travel through a
ring in the same direction (either "clockwise" or
"counterclockwise"). A failure in any cable or device breaks
the loop and can take down the
entire network. Figure 5.16: Ring topology

To implement a ring network, one typically uses FDDI, SONET, or Token Ring technology. Ring
topologies are found in some office buildings or school campuses.

Mesh Topology
Mesh topologies involve the concept of routes. Unlike
each of the previous topologies, messages sent on a mesh
network can take any of several possible paths from
source to destination. (Recall that even in a ring, although
two cable paths exist, messages can only travel in one
direction.) Some
WANs, most notably the Internet, employ mesh routing. Figure 5.17: Mesh topology

A mesh network in which every device connects to every other is called a full mesh. As shown in the
illustration below, partial mesh networks also exist in which some devices
connect only indirectly to others.

Tree Topology
Tree topologies integrate multiple star topologies together onto a bus. In its simplest form, only hub
devices connect directly to the tree bus and each hub functions as the root of a tree of devices. This
bus/star hybrid approach supports future expandability of the network much better than a bus
(limited in the number of devices due to the broadcast traffic it generates) or a star (limited by the
number of hub connection points) alone.

59
 Figure 5.18: Tree topology

5.4 The Internet

As you are already aware, the Internet is the largest WAN in existence (See Figure 5.19 below).
It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and
government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic,
wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of
information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World
Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.

With the dramatic rise in demand for connectivity, the Internet has become a communications
highway for millions of users. The Internet was initially restricted to military and academic
institutions, but now it is a full-fledged conduit for any and all forms of information and
commerce. Internet websites now provide personal, educational, political and economic
resources to every corner of the planet.

Note: You will learn deeply on Internet under UNIT 22 in this course material.)

Figure 5.19: Internet: the largest WAN in existence

Did you know?

• The foundation of the internet began in 1969, when the US Department of Defense created
ARPAnet, a project to allow military personnel to communicate with each other in an
emergency.
• By 2011, the number of internet users worldwide reached 2.2 billion—about one third of the
world's population.
• To store all of the information on the internet, you would need over 1 billion DVDs or 200
million Bluray discs.
5.5 The Intranet and Extranet

5.5.1 The Intranet

You are already aware what the Internet is. Accordingly, the internet which is a worldwide
system can be accessed by any person or by any organization. Since it is a vast public
communication tool, some organizations were willing to maintain their own local network which
supports their employees or the members. The Intranets were developed as a solution to the
above requirement. However, the intranet also has almost all the services provided by the
Internet, but it is a private system. The access of an intranet is restricted to the authorized
members or people within the organization such that the authorized members need to log on with
a secure password.

More comprehensively, intranets are private networks based on Internet Technologies that are
located behind an organization’s firewall. A Firewall is a set of technologies designed to protect
a private network from users on a public network. Some intranets provide access to the Internet
through a special server called a Proxy Server, designed to cache (to store for quick re-use)
frequently requested information to keep that information readily available. This type of proxy
server also provides tools for tracking and controlling access to networks.

An intranet can cover a LAN where only staff in the same building or region can use it. Or it can
run over a WAN where staff (authorized people) from around the world can log in.

What Intranets do

Intranets usually start by publishing web pages about the organization’s events, health and safety
policies, and staff newsletters. Popular applications follow, such as forms to reclaim expenses or
request holidays. All these help eliminate paperwork and speed up workflows of the
organization.

As more features are added, this intranet can become essential to the operation of an
organization. It becomes a portal that provides access to all the things workers need.

A typical intranet may provide the services such as E-mail, File transfer, Real time chat, web
pages, video and audio streaming services. Each service requires at least one server to provide
the service. For example, the intranet of the Open University of Zambia maintains two main
servers; a web server for the OUSL web site and a Moodle server for the service of delivery of
on-line courses.

Figure 5.20: Moodle Server

Advantages of an Intranet

• Commercial or confidential data is kept secured within the organization.

• E-mails remain private and may also be encrypted.
• High bandwidth. No connection limits unlike the Internet
• Reliable. The organization will have dedicated IT personnel to keep things running
smoothly.
• Information specificity tailored to the organization or staff’s needs can be published.

5.5.2 The Extranet

We can consider an Extranet as an extension to the Intranets what we described above. Because,
the extranets are again private networks that contains information related to the company and
accessible only for the members of the company BUT allowed for outside individuals as well
who have obtained the authority to access. Therefore, an extranet is partially accessible to
authorized outsiders.

An extranet can be configured (set up) either using a direct leased line linking all intranets or by
using a secured separate link created across the participants as a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
The latter method is more cost effective than the firs method.

Advantages of Extranets
• A cost effective method to share and trade information and all other data effectively at
any time to the authorized people (internal and external) such as the customers, partners,
investors, suppliers who are included within the built up extranet.
• A platform for companies to conduct business-to-business deals. Can assist in
strengthening relationships between two or more organizations.
• Useful when the staff of the company works outside the office, from their homes, or sales
sites so that they can still be in with the company network with the access permission.

5.6 Self Assessment Questions

5.1 Why do we need to connect computers?
5.2 What is a computer network?
5.3 Briefly describe the following network components.
a. Client b. Server c. Hub d. Router
5.4 What are the differences between a Hub and a Switch?
5.5 What is the use of a MODEM?
5.6 Briefly describe the following categories of networks.
a. PAN b. LAN c. WAN d. MAN
5.7 Briefly explain the classifications of networks according to the topology.
5.8 What is meant by Internet and Intranet? Why it is important to use intranet than internet?
5.9 What is the most suitable connection method for the following?
a. Computers within a laboratory.
b. Connect two computer laboratories.
5.10 List the advantages of having an Extranet for a company.
MODULE REFERENCES

1. Mrs. C.Y. Munasinghe B.Sc. (OUSL); M.Sc. (Colombo): ICT Skills; (2013); http://www.ou.ac.lk

2. Alan Eardley, David Marshall, Rob Ritchie (1995): "Information Analysis", ACCA Textbook,
Certified Accountants Education Projects Ltd, London.
3. Leavitt, H.J. and T.L. Whistler ‘Management in the 1980s’, Harvard Business Review
November/December 1958. This is available in the Online Library.
4. http://WWW.opentuition.com/acca-notes