COMPUTER SYSTEM CONCEPT

Objectives :
At the end of this session the student will be able to :
1.

List down examples of hardware devices and examples of software.

2.
re

Categorize Input, Output, Processing, Storage, and Communications Hardwa

3.

Differentiate the functions of System Software and Applications Software

4.

Identify examples of information system personnel.

5.

Define hierarchy of data and data size.

6.

Give examples of information system procedures

7.

Cite different ways and types of communication in an information system.

8.

Define data processing and explain the need for data processing

9.
Explain the various concepts of data processing, particularly data organ
ization.
10.

Explain what is meant by database

11.

Describe the steps involved in data processing

12.

Distinguish data from information

COMPUTER SYSTEM CONCEPT

People, User and Developer of Computer System
A computer system is composed of People
some people build computers while others
use them, Hardware - This is the physical components of the computer system (
equipment that are heavy occupy the table or a room), Software - Also called
programs, are the commands or instructions coming from us that the computer hard
ware will follow to be able to solve some problems, Data - These are raw infor

mation that we must enter into the computer programs then change or re-arrange t
hese data in order that they may become more useful.
PEOPLE
USERS - are people that use computers to make wiser decision. These people in
cludes:
Farmers must know the right pesticides to use for certain harmful insects using
a computer. Computers will also give him the cheapest and most nutritious recip
e in preparing feeds for cows, chickens and other live-stocks.
Traffic planner, motorists and pedestrians use computers to automatically adjust
the time between green and red lights of traffic lights at every major intersec
tion so that traffic can flow very efficiently, thus minimizing long traffic que
ues and delays.
Everybody who use direct numbers in a modern telephone to connect with anyone wh
o has a similar telephone anywhere in the world is a user. Computers make all t
hese connections almost automatically without any human help. At the end of eac
h month correct changes for all calls are given to all customers.
Everybody who uses weather forecast coming from computer assisted satellites to
know whether it is good time to travel or not, is a computer user. Coast guard
use the same report to instruct vessels on what to do in case there is a storm.
Fisherman also uses this information to know when it is not safe to go to sea.
Managers who have to make decision whether to buy anew machine or not, whether
to expand the business or not, any many other decisions to make are users.
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS - Computer professionals are people who start, maintain a
nd operate computers so these computers function correctly in their jobs al the
time. They include:
Computer technicians - Every time your computer at home meets some problem (like
when you turn on the computer and nothing comes out on the computer screen), th
e hardware technician is called to look into the problem and solve it. Computer
technicians have the basic theoretical and practical training to identify what
caused the problem and to repair it. Usually technicians simply remove that par
t from the computer and replace it with good ones. Computer parts are getting c
heaper nowadays so that replacing broken ones is more practical than actually fi
xing the bad component.
System analyst
Computers are used in many applications. They are used in hotels
to reserve rooms for visitors, in shopping malls to take your orders by telepho
ne and in other applications. Every time a new application is developed, a syst
ems analyst is first called to analyze the problem of a system and It think of w
ays to solve it. Systems analysts do not fix your computer because that is the
job of the hardware technician, but he or she improves the operation of a certai
n company. A fast food chain like Jollibee or McDonalds, for example, may be im
proved so that:
Customers do not have to wait too long to get their orders;
The owner of the business knows how much money he has earned;
The manager will know what actions to take to cut down unnecessary expenses;
Salaries of workers can be automatically computed.
and many other information that will improve the business. Most of these inform
ation and services were not available before until a systems analyst was called
to study the business operation and see how it can be possibly improved.

For big businesses the use of computers is usually recommended by a systems anal
yst because computers:
Are much faster in calculations than humans;
Can keep more information than any cabinets and folders can store;
Can retrieve important information faster than we can open a filing cabinet and
search for the desired information;
Can run entire day without any complaint with very little human assistance.
Systems analyst has special training in many areas like computers, human relatio
ns and business operations.
Programmers
Computers are bare machines that wait for human instructions before
being able to do anything and become useful. Computer programmers are the ones
assigned to work of writing these computer instructions that are also called pro
grams or software. Although most systems analyst can write computer programs, t
hey are already too busy planning how the business can be made more productive.
Making instructions for the computer to follow t perform certain tasks like cal
culating salaries is given to the computer programmer. Programmers take time to
study computer languages that computers understand. They also know how certain
operations that you want done by a computer can be made through a computer prog
ram. Once a computer program (one that has no more mistakes) is written and ent
ered into a computer, it is now ready to perform the application automatically.
HARDWARE :
HARDWARE - is the physical part of the machine, these includes the electronic c
ircuits, the IC s, mechanical devices, relays, and switches. These are the muscle
s and bones. They form the CPU, MEMORY, and the I/O DEVICES. Hardware is the t
angible part of the computer.
Input Devices - Are equipment s that are use and allows users and programmer to en
ter into the computer data and computer instructions. Some input devices are:
Keyboard - the appearance and the function is just like an ordinary typewriter k
eyboard with built-in numeric keypad like a calculator plus other keys for easy
inputs.

Parts Of The Keyboard

a.
Letter Keys - These are the keys are used in entering letters and othe
r symbols.
b.
Function Keys - These keys are sometimes pre-determined by the program
itself. However, the programmer can also change their meanings/functions.
c.
Cursor / Numeric Keypad - These keys are arrange just like in an ordi
nary calculator for easy typing of formula and numbers. These key toggles from
cursor (this is the small blinking line that you would see if you are in log) to
numeric keypad.
Auxiliary Input device
Mouse - is a palm sized device that is used in programs that are graphical . Movi
ng or rolling the mouse on the table moves the pointer on the computer screen an

d clicking the mouse left button to choose. This is a clicking device used to pi
ck items on the screen.
Joy-Stick - is usually used in arcade type games. The stick is normally used
to control movement/position and the buttons are used to control action. Specia
lized computer programs also use joystick.
Scanner with the appropriate program is used to feed pictures into the computer.
While the current technology is still imperfect, a scanner can be used to scan
words and text instead of typing them.
Light Pen - is used to draw pictures on the screen or make selection on the ch
oices displayed on the screen.
Data Pad - this is used with a specialized pen, this can trace lines in the dr
awing and the drawing is fed into the computer. A data pad can also be used for
other similar data entry function.
Bar Code Reader - is used to enter the data coded in bar codes
k and thin lines we see in the packaging of imported and local items.

a series of thic

Credit Card Reader - is used to enter the credit card. The credit card is passe
d through a slot, where the credit card number is entered through a keypad.
Voice Recognition - a device that accepts spoken commands as an input using voi
ce recognition device. The user needs to read a list of key terms into the compu
ter to establish a working vocabulary.
Microphone
e computer.

used to transmit your voice and music to be played may be saved in th

Video and other Cameras

a motion picture can be directly entered into the comput
er through your video camera or a still camera.

Other Hardware Components Of The Computer

Central Processing Unit (CPU) - the governing unit of the computer., It is also
known as Systems Unit (SU), It is the part that uses the information in the so
ftware to make the other units perform their duties. Referred us the brain of the
computer. Elements of the CPU are :
Control unit - the main function of the control of the control unit is to fetch,
decode and execute the successive instruction of a program stored in the memory
.
Arithmetic a Logic Unit, performs arithmetic and logical operations on the data
passing through it.
Memory - is the primary storage of information ( both program and date )
Read Only Memory (ROM) is a type of memory that is provided by the computer ma
nufacturer and the programs are permanently stored.

Random Access Memory (RAM) is a storage which can be Read from or Written Onto
by the user. RAM memory is used primarily to store users program and data. Unl
ike ROM however, the contents of the RAM are lost when power is off.
External memory
tape

Auxiliary Storage Devices: Flash disk, Hard disk, Magnetic

Output unit

displays the result of the whole process.

Typical Output Devices are:

Monitor - is use to display information or instruction on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
or Video Display Terminal (VDT)
Printer - is used to obtain hard copy from the computer; example: matrix printer,
laser printer and plotters for Computer Aided Design (CAD).

SOFTWARE:
SOFTWARE - the non-physical components of the machine. It is the counterpart o
f the human knowledge. These are vital Information s which the computer must need
in performing something. This information is residing in the computer s memory w
hen the machine is activated
Types Computer Software
Systems Software
Operating System - is to manage all resources, both hardware and software of t
he computer system to the minutes details. It makes the machine aware of itself
and its environment that makes the system know what parts of the memory are bei
ng used and what parts are still free to contain more software.
Utility Programs - a set of software support the operating system and makes the
computer do additional tasks. These are invoked by the operating system. (Ex.
translator, editors, sorters and mergers, disk formatters, copier, linker, etc
.)
Application Software
Packaged Programs - indicates a group of programs working together to cover al
l aspects of a certain task. These are standardized and commercialized applicat
ion programs. (ex. word processor such as Ms Word, electronic sheet such as Exc
el Data Management such as Dbase III+, etc.)

User s Programs - are those intended for specific applications, but they are le
ss complicated and are mainly for owner s use. (ex. Payroll, accounting, inventor
y, budgeting, personnel management, etc.)
Systems Programs - prepared programs often provided by the hardware vendor.
It directs all internal operating of the computer.
Types of Application Programs
Word Processors
Graphics
SpreadSheets
Desktop Publishing
c..
Database Management
Games
ando, etc
Accounting
ing, etc
Educational games
ning, etc..

MsWord, WordPerfect, iWork, etc

Print Master, Harvard, Flowchart, etc..
Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, etc
Pagemaker, Photoshop, Ventura, Adobe, et

Dbase, FoxBase, Access, Paradox, etc

Chess, Test Drive, Will of fortune, Comm
-

DAC-Easy, Peach Tree, Integrated Account

Mastermind, Word Wizzard, Math, Word mea

There are still so many application programs under each category above and these
are just a few examples for each.
Levels of Programming
Low-Level Language - programs are written in codes which the CPU can execute imm
ediately. It is a machine dependent and not human oriented. (ex. assembly lan
guage, machine language).
Assembly Language - all instruction are written in Mnemonics codes (or in En
glish character set).
Machine Language - all instruction are written in binary notation (1 s and 0 s). I
t is the language that can be understood by the CPU.
High-Level Language - Programs are expressed in a form relation easy for human
to understand. Such language is written using the in Basic English commands.
Programming Language and application development environments are systems softwa
re you use to develop your personal application software. A step by step series
of instruction to do something is known as Program, generally computers depends
on a program to perform a task. The computer program is written in a High leve
l language. The hardware is useless without the software or computer programs th
at will make it work.
One important characteristics of a program is that it must be written and prepar
ed in a language that the computer mechanism can understand.
The rule of grammar
that are required by such language are usually very detailed and must be followe
d exactly. The task of preparing, in precise form, programs for carrying out ta
sks on the computer is called programming and the practitioner of this skill are
called programmers.
Because programming in machine language is so highly specialized, persons more f
amiliar with other fields have found it difficult to translate their problems fo
r solution on the computer. For these reasons, various languages such as Fortra
n, and Cobol have been developed, than those of a machine language. The use of
these language, which are more oriented to the user of computers, have enormousl

y advanced the application of computer and computer technology to many areas of

business, engineering and scholarly research.
Example:
BASIC
- Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
PASCAL
- Programming Language
COBOL - Common Business Oriented Language
RPG
- Report Program Generator
FORTRAN
- Formula Translator

COMPUTER SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Computer Unit Compared With A Human Being
COMPUTER
a. HARDWARE

HUMAN BEING
a. PHYSICAL PARTS
System Unit (SU)
- - - Controlling portion of th

e brain
Memory

- - - Storage portion
Input Devices
- - Output Devices - - - Mouth
Monitor, Printer
- - - Mouth
Disk Drive
- - Mother Board
- - b. SOFTWARE
Program
Data

of the brain
Sensory organs
Eyes and Hands
Heart

b. KNOWLEDGE
- - - Procedural Knowledge
- - - Fact and Conclusions

Programming Cycle
A computer must be supplied with a program and set of data. The data are also u
sually entered through a keyboard device. Once inside the computer, the program a
nd data are stored on disk, tapes or any other types of memory. What is importa
nt is that the program can be called up and put into operation by the user with
very little additional effort.
One important characteristics of a program is that it must be prepared in a lang
uage that the computer can understand. It is therefore necessary to supply the
computer in advance with a complete set of instruction as to what calculation ar
e to be performed and what logical decision must be made. A set of instruction
is called a program.
In writing, designing a program, this would need to consider a lot of factors: a
) A complete understanding of the problem must be considered. 2) Data that need
s to be input must be available and readable by the machine. 3) Processing of th
e steps must be attainable, it must be in order in a way that at the end of the
processing the expected result are obtained. 4) The computer must be able to de
termine the result. The result may be displayed on screen and also be printed u
sing a printer.

TRANSLATOR :
Once the program is fully entered into the computer, it first has to be translat
ed or compiled into the corresponding process. Translators are also programs th
at translate our English computer programs into machine language.
Compiler - always translates whole source programs (or source code) and produce
s complete object program (or object code or machine code).
Compiler is a system software that will look at the program from the beginning t
o the end, to see to it if there is any wrong spelling or whether the program fo
llows some expected structures.
The compiler will not permit the execution of a program that contains even one
simple error.
Source code - is a high-level language program.
Object code - is an equivalent machine language program/compiled program in
which the CPU can execute. In General, object code must first be linked by a lin
ker (a utility program) to produce a re-locatable load module or an executable p
rogram.
Interpreter - converts each high-level language instruction to equivalent mac
hine codes and lets the CPU executes immediately. Interpretation of the source i
s repeated every time the program is used.
Interpreter will translate the codes written in the programming language or into
a machine language, to avoid re-compiling. The translated machine language prog
ram is saved for later execution. Since computers are very fast, these translat
ors are unnoticeable making us believe that we are instructing the computers in
English and not machine language.

Data: A Very Valuable Resource

Data represents facts about people, things, ideas and even events. We can say t
hat data is any collection of facts, which needs to process and manipulated to b
ecome more useful. To create information that solves problems certain ingredien
ts is needed, and that ingredient is call Data.
The most basic unit of data is the character, represented by a letter number, or
symbol. Example characters are: Letters of the Alphabet a, b, c A, B, C Z; Numb
ers 0 to 9 and Special characters !, @, #, $ % and including the spaces.
Data must be prepared, collected and counterchecked for their correctness before
entering them into a computer. They must be converted into a form that can easi
ly be entered. Various input devices are used to convert the following data int
o machine-readable form:

There are different types of data;

1.)
Numeric data consist of numbers and decimal points as well as symbols su
ch as (+) plus and minus (-) sign. Arithmetic operations are done on numbers su
ch as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Logical operations th
at compares the value of a numeric item with another such as (<) less than, (>)
greater than, (=) equal, (<=) lesser than or equal, (>=) greater than or equal,
(<>) not equal.
2.)
Textual data contains any combination of letters, numbers and special ch
aracters. It is also known as alphanumeric data. Word processing programs accomm
odate textual files such as the words you type. Usually, the text is organized i
n to words, sentences and paragraphs.
3.)
Physical data are captured from the environment. Example: light, sounds
, voice, temperature and pressure.
Data Processing with Computer
Everybody processes data. When you wake up in the morning and get ready for scho
ol, you make a decision such as what to wear. For you to make this decision.
a.
You must have data - you open your closet
b.
You then process data - by looking at the clothes in your closet, visu
alizing what you will look like if you wear a particular attire, remembering wha
t you wore last week etc.
c.
Then you decide on what you wear.
In the business environment, data is processed either manually or electronically
through the use of computers. Most companies are now going towards computerized
data processing because of the volume of their business and because each busine
ss transaction has to be presented in different ways to the various managers of
the company. Moreover, the highly competitive and complex nature of business org
anization requires that data be processed immediately to provide management with
the right information.
The basic stage in the process is the capture and recording of basic or raw data

. The term raw data is used to refer to data that have not been modified or proc
essed by the organization. Data captured and storage today is typically in a wri
tten form, although the other method of data capture are increasingly being used
.
The next stage is the processing of data in a more useful form for the user, whi
ch may include conversion into other units of measurement, sorting storing, Summ
arizing.
Third stage involves the communication of the processed data to the users, which
may involve textual, graphical or oral methods of communication. Up to this poi
nt, process is still only concerned with data, although the process is developin
g the data into a form in which it can potentially become information.
Information
The information and be viewed as a sub-set of the data held within the system. T
his indicates that although the data processing system delivers data to the user
in a processed form, only a part of this data will be converted into informatio
n; the remainder will be discarded by the particular user.
Information is part of the total data available which is appropriate to the requ
irements of a particular user or group of user. An effective information system
will therefore be one which minimizes the amount of data passing through the han
ds of the user without becoming information, that is, one which reduces or elimi
nates the content of the data and increases the contents of the information box.