ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM  Handheld Electronic Organizers – are small mobile
computers that accept input through a penlike
Computer System is a complete, working computer. The
computer system includes not only the computer, but also any
software and peripheral devices that are necessary to make the
computer function.
1. Hardware
2. Software
3. Peopleware / Liveware
HARDWARE
It is best described as a device that is physically connected to your
computer or something that can be physically touched.
 INPUT DEVICE – any device that allows the person to
communicate information to the computer / gives information
to the computer system so that it can perform its tasks
 Bar Code Reader – is an input device used to scan a
Bar Code Reader pattern of lines using optical
sensing techniques the line patter is coded information
about the item to which it relates (e.g. the price and
description of an item of merchandise).
 Digital Camera – record images in digital form.
 Digitizing Tablet – an input device that enables you
to enter drawings and sketches into a computer. A
digitizing tablet consists of an electronic tablet and a
cursor or pen. A cursor (also called a puck) is similar
to a mouse, except that it has a window with cross
hairs for pinpoint placement, and it can have as many
as 16 buttons.
 Keyboard – is the most commonly used input device,
similar to a typewriter keyboard that is a part of a
terminal that is connected to a computer elsewhere.
 Mouse – which has a ball on its underside, is rolled on
a flat surface, usually the desk on which the computer
sits / a device that controls the movement of the
cursor or pointer on a display screen, originally
designed by Xerox
 Trackball – it is a variation on the mouse, but it is an
upside mouse-you roll the ball directly with your hand.
 Touchpad – your finger as the pointer/ is a pressure-
sensitive pad that is smaller, more accurate, thinner,
and less expensive to build than a trackball.
 Scanner – a device that can read text or illustrations
printed on paper and translate the information into a
form the computer can use. A scanner works by
digitizing an image – dividing it into a grid of boxes
and representing each box with either a zero or a one,
depending on whether the box is filled in.
Categories of Scanners
1. Flatbed Scanner – It is a typically scans one sheet at
a time, although some offers an attachment for
scanning multiple sheets.
Advantage: It can be used to scan bound
documents, such as pages from books and
other bulky items.
2. Sheetfeed Scanner – Motorized rollers feed the sheet
across the scanning head.
Advantage: It is usually designed to fit neatly
between the keyboard and the monitor.
3. Handheld Scanner – The least expensive and least
reliable of the three, is a handy portable option
Disadvantage: It is often difficult to get a good
scan because the user must move the scanner in
a straight line and fixed rate.
 Optical Mark Reader – was designed initially to read
penciled or graphic information on exam answer
sheets.
instrument called a stylus that is used to write n the
computer’s screen.
 Microphone – device for converting sound wave into
electrical energy.
 Web Camera – is a camera that is in some way
connected to the World Wide Web, or Internet.
 Trackpad – a small, touch-sensitive pad, usually a
couple of inches square, which acts as an alternative
to a mouse on some notebook/palmtop computers. It
works by sensing fingertip pressure.
 Joystick – a manual control consisting of a vertical
handle that can move freely in two directions; used as
an input device to computers or to devices controlled
by computers.
 Touch Screen – a type of display screen that has a
touch-sensitive transparent panel covering the screen.
Instead of using a pointing device such as a mouse or
light pen, finger is used to point directly to objects on
the screen.
 Light Pen – an input device that utilizes a light-
sensitive detector to select objects on a display
screen. A light pen is similar to a mouse, except that
with a light pen the pointer can be moved to selects
objects on the display screen by directly pointing to
the objects with the pen.
 Stylus – a pointing and drawing device shaped like a
pen. Stylus is used with a digitizing tablet or touch
screen.
 Sensor – is a device, which responds to an input
quantity by generating a functionally related output
usually in the form of an electrical or optical signal.
 Optical Character Recognition – permits users to
input printed or typewritten documents with a scanner.
 Pen-Based Computing – involves the use of a
special pen on a monitor surface, as with a personal
digital assistant.
 Voice Recognition System – activated by user’s
voice after voice has been programmed into the
computer; currently accepts limited number of vocal
commands.
 OUTPUT DEVICE - It is anything that allows the computer to
communicate information to the user.
 Monitor – It is used to display soft copy output.
Varieties of Screens
1. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) – It uses a technology
called raster scanning, a process of sweeping
electron beams across the back of the screen.
2. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) – A flat display
often seen on watches and calculators,
sometimes used in laptop computers.
3. Plasma – consists of ionized neon / gas (plasma)
sealed between two glass plates. One glass
plate encases a set of horizontal wires and the
other a set of vertical wires. The images
produced by plasma display are generally very
clear, detailed, and not subject to the flicker
associated with monochrome monitors. Plasma
displays are generally more expensive than their
CRT counterparts.
 Printer – It is a device that produces information on
paper output.
Types of Printer
1. Non-Impact Printer – places an image on a page
without physically touching the page.
1.1 Laser Printer – use a light beam to help
transfer images to paper
1.2 Ink-Jet Printer – Which spray ink from a
multiple jet nozzles, can print in both black and
white and several different of colors of ink to
produce excellent graphics.
 2. Impact Printer – uses some sort of physical
contact with the paper to produce an image,
physically striking paper, ribbon, and print
hammer together.
2.1 Daisy Wheel Printer
2.2 Dot Matrix Printer
2.3 Cain Printer
2.4 Band Printer
 Voice Output – It is typically used when an inquiry is
followed by a short reply, such as a balance or flight
time. Many businesses have found another creative
uses for voice output over the telephone.
 Speaker – an output device producing sounds.
 Speech Synthesizer – increase a message as
temporary output that computer users hear.
 Microfilm or Microfiche – are reduced sized
photographic reproductions of printed information on
film cards. The cards can be read using microfiche
readers and printed using microfiche printers.
 Plotter – a device that draws pictures on paper based
on commands from a computer. Plotters differ from
printers in that they draw lines using a pen. As a
result, they can produce continuous lines, whereas
printers can only simulate lines by printing a closely
spaced series of dots. Multicolor plotters use different-
colored pens to draw different colors.
 INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES – a piece of hardware that is used
for both providing information to the computer and receiving
information
 Disk Drive – a computer hardware that holds and
spins a magnetic or optical disk and reads and writes
information on it.
 Hard Disk Drive – a rigid magnetic disk mounted
permanently in a drive unit.
 Optical Disc – a direct-access disk, which has
information recorded on it with a laser beam that
burns pits into its surface.
 Modem – the modem modulates the computer output
to an acceptable signal for transmission and then
demodulates the signal back for computer input.
 SYSTEM UNIT – the main part of a personal computer. The
system unit includes the chassis, microprocessor, main
memory, bus, and ports, but does not include the keyboard or
monitor, or any peripheral devices.
 Central Processing Unit (CPU) – it is the brains of
the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as the
processor or central processor, the CPU is where
most calculations take place
o Control Unit – supervises or monitors the
functions performed by the entire computer
system according to conditions set forth by the
stored program.
o Arithmetic/Logic Unit – the part of a computer
that performs all arithmetic computations, such
as addition and multiplication, and all comparison
operations. The ALU is one component of the
CPU.
o Memory Unit – is somewhat like an electronic
filing cabinet capable of holding data or
instructions.
 Motherboard – the main circuit board of a
microcomputer. The motherboard contains the
connectors for attaching additional boards. Typically,
the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory,
mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports,
expansion slots, and all the controllers required to
control standard peripheral devices, such as the
display screen, keyboard, and disk drive. Collectively,
all these chips that reside on the motherboard are
known as the motherboard’s chipset.
 Ports – an interface on a computer to which you
connect a device. Personal computers have various
types of ports. Internally, there are several ports for
connecting disk drives, display screens, and
keyboards. Externally, personal computers have ports
for connecting modems, printers, mice, and other
peripheral devices. Examples: Universal Serial Bus
(USB), Parallel (PS2), Serial.
 Expansion Slots – a connector in a computer into
which an expansion card can be plugged. The
connector supplies power to the card and connects it
to the data bus, address bus and control signals of the
motherboard. Examples: ISA (International Serial
Architecture), PCI (Peripheral Component Interface),
AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port).
 Bus – a collection of wires through which data is
transmitted from one part of a computer to another.
Registers – are temporary storage areas for
instruction or data
- They are not part of the memory rather they are
special additional storage locations that offer the
advantage of speed.
Microprocessor – a miniaturized central processing
unit can be etched on a chip, a tiny square of silicon.
- It is usually expressed in megahertz (MHz).
Bus lines – is a set of parallel electrical paths,
usually copper tracing on the surface of the
motherboard, which internally transports data from
one place to another within the computer system.
Cache – is a relatively small block of very fast
memory designed for the specific purpose of
speeding up the internal transfer of data and software
instructions.
MACHINE CYCLE
Control Unit ALU
DECODE EXECUTE
Main Memory
FETCH STORE
 The first two steps together are called the actual
instruction time, or I-Time or Instruction cycle
or I-cycle.
1. The control unit fetches the instruction form the
memory.
2. The control unit decodes the instruction and
directs that the necessary data be moved from
memory the arithmetic/logic unit.
 Steps 3 and 4 together are called execution time,
or E-Time or Execution cycle or E-cycle.
3. The arithmetic/logic unit executes the
arithmetic/logical instruction, given as the actual
operation on the data.
4. The arithmetic/logic unit stores the result of this
operation in memory or in a register.
 STORAGE DEVICES
1. Primary Storage – also called as main memory; a
non-volatile, temporary type of storage.
Examples:
RAM – Random Access Memory
ROM – Read Only Memory
PROM – Programmable ROM
 EEPROM – Electronic Erasable Programmable
ROM
2. Secondary Storage – also called as auxiliary
memory, a volatile, permanent type of storage
Examples:
Hard disk
Floppy Disk
Optical Disk (Compact Disks)
SOFTWARE
It I the planned, step-by-step set of instructions required to turn data
into information-that makes a computer useful.
 SYSTEM SOFTWARE – consists of programs designed to
facilitate the use of the computer by the user. Any software
required supporting the production or execution of application
programs but which is not specific to any particular
application.
1. Operating System - an important part of the system
software which tells the computer how to perform
functions such as how to load, store and execute an
application program an how to transfer data between
the input/output devices and main memory.
Examples: MS-DOS, MAC-OS, all versions of
Windows, UNIX
2. Programming Languages – software which are used
to create software.
Examples: ADA, LISP, C, Pascal, Basic, etc.
3. Compilers / Translators – is a system program that
converts the English-like instructions used by
computers programmers into the machine-readable
code used by the hardware.
Examples: Assembly, COBOL
4. Utility Program – perform such standard tasks as
organizing and maintaining data files, translating
programs written in various languages to a language
acceptable to the computer.
Examples: Text Editor, Defragmenter, File
Compressor such as WinZip, etc.
 APPLICATION SOFTWARE - is applied to a real-world task,
it can be used to solve a particular problem or to perform a
specific task.
1. Customized – typically created to perform a particular
task.
Examples: payroll, monitoring, registration, point of
sales, video rentals, etc.
2. Packaged – purchased programs which are required
for common business and personal applications
Examples are the following:
 WORD PROCESSING - it is the most
widely used personal computer software
that used for memos, reports,
correspondence, minutes of meetings, and
anything else that someone can think of to
type.
Examples: MS-Word, WordStar,
WordPerfect, AmiPro
 ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETS - It is
made up of columns and rows of numbers
have been used at business tools for
centuries.
Examples: MS Excel, Lotus 1-2-3,
QuattroPro
 DATABASE MANAGEMENT - It is the
management of a collection of interrelated
facts-handles data in several ways.
Examples: DBaseIII, MS Access, Foxbase,
FoxPro
 GRAPHICS - Visual information is usually
more compelling than a page of numbers.
Examples: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw
 COMMUNICATIONS - It can hook a phone
up to the computer and communicate with
the computer at the office or access data
stored in another computer in another
location. Examples: Win Popup
 DESKTOP PUBLISHING – to create
personalized cards, business cards,
letterheads, etc.
Examples: Hallmark, Disney’s, etc.
 CAI/CAD/CAM – Computer Aided
Instructions, Computer Aided Design,
Computer Aided Manufacture
PEOPLEWARE
This component is made up of the people responsible for
maintaining, operating, programming, and analyzing the output
generated by the computer system.
 Computer Operator – works in the computer room and is
responsible for a number of different tasks.
 Data Library- is usually located close to the computer
room and usually staffed by a data librarian.
 Data Entry Personnel – are responsible for entering large
volumes of data into the computer system.
 System Analysts – review current or proposed
applications within a company to determine if the
applications should be implemented using a computer.
 Computer Programmers – design, write, test and
implement specialized programs that process data to
computer.
 Database Administrator – an important function within the
information system department is the management of data.
Management Information System Department (MISD)
- Management within an information systems department
varies depending on the size and complexity of the
department.
Persons inside MISD
1. Systems Manager – overseas the activities in the system
analysis and design area of the department.
2. Programming Manager – is in charge of all programmers
within the department.
3. Operation Managers – overseas the operational aspects
of the department such as scheduling, maintenance, and
operation of the equipment.
4. Information System Department Manager – is in charge
of the entire department and may have the title Vice
President of Information System, or Chief Information
Officer.
EDP (Electronic Data Processing)
EDP, an infrequently used term for what is today usually called
"IS" (information services or systems) or "MIS" (management
information services or systems), is the processing of data by a
computer and its programs in an environment involving
electronic communication. EDP evolved from "DP" (data
processing), a term that was created when most computing
input was physically put into the computer in punched card form
and output as punched cards or paper reports.