comrad

• Vacuum tube


  An electronic device that controls the flow of electrons in a vacuum
• Transistor


  An electronic component that can be used as an amplifier or as a switch
• Integrated circuit


  A small electronic circuit printed on a chip usually made of silicon that contains many own circuit elements
• Microprocessor


  An electronic component held on an integrated circuit that contains a computer central processing unit and other associated circuits
• CPU (central processing unit)


  It is often referred to as the brain or engine of a computer where most of the processing and operations take place
• Magnetic drum


  A cylinder coated with magnet material, on which data and programs can be stored
• Magnetic core


  Uses arrays of small rings of magnetized material called cores to store information
• Machine language


  Low-level programming language comprised of a collection of binary digits that the computer can read and understand
• Assembly language


  Is like the machine language that a computer can understand except that assembly language uses abbreviated words (ADD, SUB, DIV etc.) in place of numbers
• Memory


  A physical device that is used to store data, information and program in a computer
• Artificial intelligence


  An area of computer science that deals with the stimulation and creation of intelligent machines
• Computer


  • A device used for processing, storing, and displaying information
• Charles Babbage designed a more complex machine called Analytical Engine


  1800s
• First Generation (1940-56)


  1. Used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for main memory

  2. Relied on machine language

  3. Enormous, expensive to operate, high electricity consumption, generated a lot of heat
• Second Generation (1956-63)


  1. Replaced vacuum tubes with transistors

  2. Became smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy efficient, and more reliable

  3. Moved from binary language to symbolic, or assembly languages

  4. Used magnetic cores as primary memory and magnetic tape and disks as secondary storage devices
• Third Generation (1964-71)


  1. Developed integrated circuit known as "chip"

  2. From small scale integrated circuits to large scale integrated circuits with 100 transistors per chip, increasing speed and efficiency
• Fourth Generation (1972-1980)


  1. Used Large Scale Integration (LSI) and Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)

  2. Microprocessors came into existence

  3. High capacity hard disk were invented
• Fifth Generation (1980 – Present and Beyond)


  1. Based on artificial intelligence (currently in development)

  2. Using parallel processing and superconductors to make AI into reality

  3. Quantum computations and nanotechnology will change the face of computers in years to come
• Binary code


  The machine language of ones and zeros that the computer uses to process data
• Bit


  A single unit of data, either 0 or 1
• Byte


  Made up of eight bits, the amount of memory needed to store one alphanumeric character
• Memory Units

  • Bit (0 or 1)
  • Nibble (4 bits)
  • Byte (8 bits)
  • Kilobyte (1024 bytes)
  • Megabyte (1024 kilobytes)
  • Gigabyte (1024 megabytes)
  • Terabyte (1024 gigabytes)
  • Petabyte (1024 terabytes)
  • Exabyte (1024 petabytes)
• Case


  • Holds all components in a cool, clean, and safe environment
  • Shields the outside environment from radio frequencies being emitted
• Tower case


  • Provides adequate room for expansion of components
  • Easily placed out of the way and off the work surface
• CPU (Central Processing Unit)


  • The brain of the computer, a small chip on the motherboard that consists of a series of transistors to manipulate data
• Motherboard


  • The largest circuitry board inside the computer, containing the CPU, BIOS, bus, memory, ports, and CMOS
• BIOS


  The basic input/output system that contains a simple set of instructions for the computer, overseeing the basic functions and acting as an intermediary between the operating system and hardware
• Input Devices

  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Scanner
  • Joystick/Console