To my love, my inspiration and the joy of my life. My

To my love, my inspiration and the joy of my life. My daughter Amariee Samar

The full version is 126 pages. Available from Amazon or by contacting me on [email protected]

Computer Education / 2

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to check the contents of this book for accuracy. The contents of this book are based on the authors’ research. The authors cannot be held responsible for the results of action, inaction, or otherwise taken as a consequence of the information in this book. All the Internet addresses (URLs) contained within this book are valid at the time of going to press. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, some addresses may change and some sites may alter or cease to exist, post publication. Whilst the authors and publishers regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, either the authors or publishers can accept no responsibility for any such changes. It is illegal to reproduce or resell this book/eBook or any part of it in any form. The authors reserve all rights.

© Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


Table of Content: Disclaimer:

2

Lesson One: Computer System

5

1.1. What is a System?

5

1.2. What is a Computer System?

6

Lesson Two: History of computers I

11

2.1. Introduction to Computers.

11

2.2. Origin of the Concept of Computers:

12

2.3. Early Electrical Computers:

19

Lesson Three: History of computers II defined.

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3.1.Computer Generations:

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3.2. Computer types:


Lesson Four: Hardware Systems I defined.

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4.1. Definition of hardware:


4.2. Input Hardware:


4.3. Processing Hardware:


Lesson Five: Hardware Systems II defined.

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5.1. Output Hardware:


5.2. Computer Memory:


5.3. Motherboard:


Lesson Six: Software Systems Error! Bookmark not defined. 6.1. Definition of Software:


6.2. Types of Computer Software: defined.

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6.3. General Purpose Application Packages: Error! Bookmark not defined. © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


Lesson Seven: Introduction to ICT. defined.

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7.1. Definition of ICT:


7.2. Components of ICT:


7.3. ICT in Educational Context:Error! Bookmark not defined. 7.4. Basic ICT terminologies: Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson Eight: Communication


8.1. The Theory of Communication: defined.

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8.2 Modern Communication Equipment: Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson Nine: Information Systems defined.

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9.1. Definition of Information: Error! Bookmark not defined. 9.2. Characteristics of Information: defined.

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9.3 Information System and Electronic Data Processing: Error! Bookmark not defined. Lesson Ten: Management Information System Error! Bookmark not defined. 10.1. Management Information System (MIS): Bookmark not defined. 10.2 Types of Information Glossary of terms:

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About the Author

24



Lesson One: Computer System In the first lesson of computer education you will be introduced to the term Computer System and the different System Units involved in a computer. 1.1. What is a System? To understand the term Computer System, we will start first by explaining the term System. A system is anything that has input, process, and then output. The term system does not only apply for computing. For instance, you may have heard of the term Air Conditioning System, this is a system when warm air is processed by which the machine uses electricity and condensed gases to extract humidity and warm air and replace it with colder and dryer air. Also the term system does not only apply to machines, for instance our breathing system. We breathe air, which contains oxygen and other gases, our lungs process, that air to extract oxygen and release carbon from our bodies. So a system can have input(s), process(es), and output(s). So if this is what a system definition is, before you read on can you guess what a Computer System? What do you think will be the input, process, and output? © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


1.2. What is a Computer System? A Computer System is referred to the process whereby a computer would take input, process it, and produce an output. But when it comes to computer systems there is one more component called storage. Storage refers here to being able to store data/information to be used later, such as when you save your work. Figure 1 is an illustration of a Computer System.

Input

Process

Output

Storage

Figure 1.1: A Computer System

We will be explaining next at the different components of this system.

1.2.1. System Inputs:



A system input is what goes into making the system operate. It is the means by which the person using the computer communicates with the computer. This user is usually a human but sometimes it could be another system. A system can have many types of inputs. Below is just a list of possible inputs the system can have:  Keyboard  Mouse  Touch Screen  Joystick  Microphone  Scanners  USB/CDs/DVD  Modem / Network/ Wi-Fi card 1.2.2. System Process: The term process suggests operations, tasks, and mathematical calculations. A computer system does many processes at a very high speed. The key part of the Computer system that does the processes is the Microprocessor. While doing these processes, their maybe times when it needs to store some information for later use. 1.2.3. System Storage (memory): A system would want to store applications, programs, text, images and other data either short term or long term. Short-term storage would be while the system © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


is processing an application and has several applications open. This short-term storage is wiped off when the computer is switched off. Long-term storage is stored even after switching the computer off, like for instance when you would save your work to use it later or install a new application that you will want to use again and again. There is also portable storage that is sometimes used such as when the work is saved on a USB memory stick, CD/DVD, or a memory disc. 1.2.4. System Output: A system output is the outcome you get from the system operates. It is the means by which the system communicates with you or the user of the system. This user is usually a human but sometimes it could be another system. A system can have many types of outputs. Below is just a list of possible outputs the system can have:  Display Screen  Printer  Speakers (Sound) Exercise 1.1 Answer the following exercise to see if you understand the term ‘systems’. For each example, list what would be the input, the process, and output for the following systems: 1. A transport system, example a car. 2. The human digestive system. © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


3. Election System. Exercise 1.2 Mobile phones are small computer systems. List the different units of the mobile phone’s inputs, processes, storages, and outputs. Lesson One Homework: For each of the items below, indicate if this item is an input, process, storage or output.

1.A computer Mouse

2.A Computer Monitor

3.A computer keyboard

4.A Computer memory stick (USB)

5.The microprocessor in the computer



# 12345-

Computer Unit



Lesson Two: History of computers I This lesson you will learn about the origin of computers. You will also learn about the different types of early calculating devices. Finally you will learn about how digital computers evolved to their modern day shape and power. 2.1. Introduction to Computers. In the last lesson learned that the definition of a computer system is a system that processes input to produce output. But what is the definition of a computer? The definition of a computer is a programmable instrument that can responds to specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner and/or can execute a set of predefined list of instructions. While nowadays we associated computers with machines, historically many instruments were invented to help people in their work that in effect they are a form of early computers. Each generation of these computers would have been considered a major technological breakthrough that essentially changed the way operations and business is done. In modern times computers have become more powerful, increasingly smaller in size, cheaper to buy and more efficient and reliable. © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


It is said that the powerful computer used for the first manned mission to the moon in 1969, Apollo 11, was in fact no more powerful than the scientific calculators you can get from the store nowadays. 2.2. Origin of the Concept of Computers: Because of the general and somewhat vague definition of computers, scientists have debated for a long time the real origin of computers. Many scientists now believe the abacus to be the earliest instrument that fits the definition of a computer. The abacus is an early mathematical computation aid. The real value of it was to aid the memory of people performing several calculations at the same time. In effect, it worked as a very simple calculator cable of adding and subtracting numbers at a relative speed. While many attribute Abacus to China, the oldest surviving abacus is from 300 B.C Babylon (modern day Iraq).

Figure 2.1. Babylonian Abacus



Figure 2.2. Modern Far East Abacus

Over the years, many inventors tried to invent mechanical instruments that can aid in processing and calculations. Some used sets of rulers. By matching the rulers they would help the user get quick answer for multiplying numbers. Even attempts to create the first automated clock are considered early forms of computers. For the purpose of this lesson, we will focus on key breakthroughs in Computer Systems. In 1642, Blaise Pascal a French Mathematician invented the Pascaline to assist his father who was a tax collector. Pascal, aged only 19, built 50 geardriven one function calculator that could only add numbers and keep track of total. This early calculator was very expensive and not very accurate but nevertheless it was a breakthrough. Until recently, many car dashboards used that same principle to keep track of distance travelled in the car. © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


Figure 2.3. The Pascaline: Early calculator instrument.

In 1801, the next breakthrough came by another Frenchman Joseph Maire Jacquard who invented an instrument cable of weaving designs on fabric based upon a pattern automatically read from punched wooden cards held together by long row of rope. This replaced humans who had to manually create those weaves. Storing designs on these punch cards saved the need for manual human weavers resulting in faster production of patterned textiles and more consistent designs.



Figure 2.4 Jacquard’s Loom Machine

From this early model, punched cards were invented and were used for a very long time as a way to store (save) data to be used as input for weaving machines. These machines would process those punch cards as input to produce specific instructions for patterns and designs.



Figure 2.5 Punched Cards

Figure 2.6 Charles Babbage Analytic Engine.

It was an Englishman Charles Babbage in 1830’s who recognized the real potential of punched cards © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


to store data. Babbage had several attempts to create steam powered machine to aid in complex calculations. Notably the Analytic Engine that was intended to be the size of a house, with six steam engines, but its significance was its ability to process punch cards and produce summary of repeated pattern. Babbage Engine made a scientific leap from calculators to computers when Babbage suggested programming it to consider conditional statements. Conditional statements may produce different results based on different “if” factors. Example of a very simple conditional statement: If weather is good then go out otherwise if weather is not good then stay home. This suggests that different results may happen every day based on the condition of the weather. Even though Babbage never built his Analytic Engine, it was his befriending of Ada Byron, also known as Ada Lovelace, the daughter of famous Poet of the time Lord Byron. She was fascinated by Babbage work and went on to create programs for it. She is notably recognized for inventing looping and identifying the importance of looping in programming.



Figure 2.7 Ada Byron

Looping is when you can repeat an operation as many times as needed until a certain condition is met. A simple example of looping could for instance be about printing on a paper line by line until you reach the end of the paper: Repeat: print a new line  Until it is end of Paper. A small piece of paper may have only 20 lines where as a much longer piece of paper may have 1000s of lines. Many scientists believe that it was Ada Byron’s publication of the Babbage machine and her method © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


of programming it that sparked the programming revolution. Since then many advances in how the punched card can be read, processed and produce results were made in the 19th century so much so it became a standard for processing exam questions, large surveys, and complex mathematical calculations. Notably was the American census to automate records of individual and process their results. Until the 1970’s many universities used multiplechoice questions where a student has to answer one letter on a punch card. These cards would be put into the computer that would then return the result of that student faster than a human can do. By then computers were no longer steam or mechanical but are run by electricity. It is the invention of electricity that led to the move in the early 1900’s to advances in computers that we see nowadays. 2.3. Early Electrical Computers: Early Electrical computers refer to models that used electricity to run. But with electricity there was a challenge since electricity can only be one of two states: either it is on or off. This is translated in machine language to 1s and 0s with 1 representing a light on and 0 representing the light is off.



Figure 2.8 Machine Language Programmers

Early versions of this computer had to be programmed using switches rather than keyboard. Again the switches would be turned on and off to represent 0’s and 1s. The aim was to represent numbers and letters as combination of 0’s and 1’s. So 0000 would represent the number 1 whereas 1000, 0100, and 1010, would represent 2, 3, and 4 respectively. If you want a computer to add 1 + 2 the digital computer does not understand 1 or 2 but understand a formula where by 0000 + 1000 = 0100; the light moves one step the right. We will learn how the computer understands these at later stage. The word digital comes from this concept. Even today computers still use this machine language of © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


0’s and 1’s to communicate with each other. It is the reason why the term digital revolution, digital media, digital computing and other terms are used to describe the generation you are living in. By the early 1900’s IBM started creating computers that used electricity as means of processing input and generating output. Computers were still very large, requiring several dedicated generators, and used vacuum tube lights in their processing of the 0’s and 1s. The output in those days would be on a piece of punched taps since printers and TVs were not invented yet.

Figure 2.9 Punched Tape

The punch tapes were later replaced with magnetic tapes, then magnetic discs, then optical discs (CD/DVD), and nowadays the most popular method of storage portable and USB hard discs. It was the 1950’s and 1960’s that saw older generation computers replaced with semiconductors and microprocessors computers that are smaller, faster, © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


more reliable, cheaper to produce, and required less power. The first such computer was demonstrated at the University of Manchester in 1953. But it was not until the 1970s that integrated circuit technology and the subsequent creation of microprocessors appeared in the form of Intel 4004. Display screens became associated with computers in the 1980’s. All the time new advances reduced the size, cost, and further increased speed and reliability of computers. By the early 1980s, many products such as video recorders contained dedicated microcontrollers computers, and they started to appear as a replacement to mechanical controls in domestic appliances such as washing machines.

Figure 2.10 The Osborne 1 by IBM: The first Laptop (1981) © Alonzo & Safieddine 2016


Also the 1980’s witnessed the real explosion of home computers that we now call Personal Computers. Nowadays Personal Computers have a common place in every house as any essential household device. Since the 1980’s computers have seen an explosion in use by businesses and personal use. Next lesson we learn about modern computers and the different types of computers in use nowadays. Lesson two homework: Joseph Maire Jacquard’s invention of a punched wood revolutionized the loom industry and the textile businesses were experiencing a boom in mass production. However, not everyone was happy. Angry mobs of weavers who lost their jobs because of this invention destroyed Jacquard’s loom machine and at one point attacked him too. Some people argue that technology results in machines replacing humans and therefore technology is not good. Using examples, justify whether you agree or disagree with this view.



About the Author

Dr. Fadi Safieddine (BSc, MSc, FHEA, P.G.Cert, MBCS, PhD) Dr. Safieddine is an Associate Professor in MIS at the American University of the Middle East. He has strong background in Computer Science and Management Information Systems. Completed his PhD from University of East London, he is a professional member of the British Computer Society (MBCS). Dr. Safieddine has over 17 years of experience in higher education and has been involved in degree, masters, and PhD supervision.

Feedback: I always welcome feedback for improvements. Please do not hesitate to contact us below: Contact author: Dr. Fadi Safieddine at www.fadi.me.uk or [email protected]
