Dilla University

College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Computer Science
Course Tile: Computer Programming
Course Code: Comp – 1024

1. Introduction to Hardware and Software

1.1. What is Computer?
A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can
accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules, produce information (output), and store the
information for future use.

Functionalities of a computer
Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:

Figure 1: Simple Scenario of Computer Functionality

Prepared by Gebremedhin G.(Msc) 2010 E.C.

1.2. Computer Components

Any kind of computer consists of HARDWARE and SOFTWARE.

Hardware:

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system. Computer hardware
refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data
storage, hard drive disk (HDD), system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all
of which are physical objects that can be touched.

Figure 2: Common Hardware Parts

Prepared by Gebremedhin G.(Msc) 2010 E.C.

Input Devices
Input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment to provide data and control
signals to an information processing system such as a computer or other information appliance.
Input device Translate data from form that humans understand to one that the computer can work
with. Most common are keyboard and mouse.

Table 1: Examples of Input Devices

Keyboard is the very common input device which allows you to type letters of that alphabet,
numbers, spaces, punctuation marks and other symbols. A computer keyboard also contains other
keys that allow you to enter data and instructions into a computer. The standard 104 keys Keyboard
has four distinct sections as shown in the following figure:-

Figure 3: Standard Keyboard Layout

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Software
Software is a collection of programs and applications that tell the computer what to do and how to
look. Computer programmers write the codes and instructions which make-up the software
applications/programs. Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and
instructions, often broken into two major categories: system software that provides the basic non-
task-specific functions of the computer, and application software which is used by users to
accomplish specific tasks.

Software Types
A. System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual hardware
components of a computer system so that other software and the users of the system see it as a
functional unit without having to be concerned with the low-level details such as transferring data
from memory to disk, or rendering text onto a display. Generally, system software consists of an
operating system and some fundamental utilities such as disk formatters, file managers, display
managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and management tools, and networking and
device control software.
B. Application software is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just running the computer
system. Application software may consist of a single program, such as an image viewer; a small
collection of programs (often called a software package) that work closely together to accomplish a
task, such as a spreadsheet or text processing system; a larger collection (often called a software
suite) of related but independent programs and packages that have a common user interface or shared
data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of closely integrated word processor,
spreadsheet, database, etc.; or a software system, such as a database management system, which is a
collection of fundamental programs that may provide some service to a variety of other independent
applications.

Prepared by Gebremedhin G.(Msc) 2010 E.C.

2. Introduction to Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office packages are bundles of programs that help you with daily ‘office’ chores, such as writing
documents, making extensive calculations, preparing presentations, maintaining databases etc. MS Office is by far the
most widely recognized software suite in the world. In this section we will discuss about the commonly used
Microsoft office programs such as Microsoft Office word, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Power point
mostly are applicable for word processing, calculation and presentation respectively.

2.1. Microsoft Office Word

 Microsoft Office Word is a word processor included in Microsoft Office and has several editions. In this course
we will introduced with the Microsoft Office Word 2010.

The opening screen for Microsoft Word 2010 looks like the following:-

We can open a Blank Microsoft Word Document using two ways:

Alternative 1:- Click Start Button  All Programs  Microsoft Office  Finally Click Microsoft Office Word
2010

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Alternative 2:- Click Start Button  Run Type the text WINWORD  Finally Click OK.

Almost all the Microsoft office packages such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint have the
capability of Keyboard Shortcut use.

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The following are commonly used keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft office Word:-

CTRL + A – Select All CTRL + I – Italic CTRL + P - Print

CTRL + B - Bold CTRL + J Justify CTRL + R – Align Right

CTRL + C - Copy CTRL + K – Insert Hyperlink CTRL + S - Save

CTRL + D – Font pop up window CTRL + L – Align left CTRL + U - Underline

CTRL + E – Align Centre CTRL + M – Move CTRL + V - Paste

CTRL + F - Find CTRL + N – Open New Word CTRL + W – Quit/Close Window

Document CTRL + X - Cut

CTRL + G – Go to
CTRL + O – Open Existing file CTRL + Y – Redo
CTRL + H – Find and Replace
Document
CTRL + Z - Undo

2.2. Microsoft Office Excel

Prepared by Gebremedhin G.(Msc) 2010 E.C.