A computer system is made up of various
components. The components can be hardware or software.
Modern computer systems have a layeredorganization, which each layer either using the services of, or being physically built from, entities on
the level directly below it
The computer systems we build today feature
programmable processing units which interact with a number of devices, each controlled by an
I/O controller, and using memory.
Each CPU can have one or more cores
There may be additional kinds of processors, including GPUs and TPUs.
Memory itself is layered (cache memory, main memory, secondary
memory).
Machines themselves are networked, giving the appearance of one large machine made up of smaller ones.
Devices are roughly classified into input devices, output devices and storage devices.
What are input devices?
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Light Pen
• Joystick
• Joyswitch
• Trackball
• Tablet
• Track Pad
• Surface
• Digitizer
• Microphone
• Voice Recognizer
• Scanner
• Fingerprint Scanner
• Card Reader
• Paddle
• Game Controller
• Data Glove
• Wand
• VideoCamera
• EyeTacker
• MotionSensor
What are examples of Output Devices?
• Screen
• Television
• Printer (2D or 3D)
• Plotter
• FilmRecorder
• Projector
• HologramGenerator
• RobotArm
• Speaker
• Headphones
• VoiceSynthesizer
• CardPunch
Storage Devices • Disk Drive
• CD Drive
• DVD Drive • USB Flash Drive
• Solid State Drive (SSD)
• Tape Drive
3 types of devices?
• Output Devices
• Input Devices
• Storage Devices
Software can be roughly divided into systems software and applications software. The dividing line
is fuzzy, but the basic concepts are: