INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information Technology is defines as processing and distribution of data using computer hardware and telecommunications and digital electronics. Computer is the backbone of information technology. A computer can be defined as “an electronic machine, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept data, manipulate the data according to specified rules, produce results and store the results for future use”. Computers process data to create information.

DATA: is a collection of raw unprocessed facts, figures and symbols.

INFORMATION:  is data that is organized, meaningful and useful.

Applications of Information Technology and Computers

Computers are now being used in various fields, from education to medicine, businesses, government, science, publishing and industry.Information Technology plays vitol role in every field of life.

Education:

Computers have been important learning tools starting from toddlers who have computer-aided toys and apps giving them joys to the older grade/high school/ college students for their research projects. Far-flung areas can now be reached and their education can be enriched through the use of computers (online education)

Science:

All the branches of science, from astronomy to zoology , depend on computers to further their knowledge. Following are the main uses of computers in scientific field/

  • Research and development in various disciplines
  • Weather forecasting
  • Forecasting of earthquakes and hurricanes
  • Study of human genetics
  • Astronomical observations and
  • Satellite launching and control
Communication:

The progress in IT and computers has given rise to the new means of communication. Internet; smart phones and wireless communication has revolutionizes our lives.

Business:

Computer has changed how we do business .Computer opens new door of opportunities and ventures. Apart from the way we do business, the computer and the internet has also become our partners in doing business effectively. Now most of the business is done through the click of the mouse.

Government:

Government offices also depend on computers for their basic functions. From simple letters to the more complicated projects are now being produced through the use of computers. Government agencies and their databases are now interlinked, making it easier for the agencies to monitor activities such as NADRA, banks, Telecom companies and safe city projects.

Entertainment:

Computer is now an important tool in entertainment industry either it is radio, TV or cinema. The computer provides us innumerable option to handle pictures, videos, games, etc.

Engineering and Technology:

computer is used in engineering and technology to perform the tasks that are complex in nature, including.

  1. Construction and designing of buildings
  2. Construction of bridges and dams
  3. Mining
  4. Designing of cars and tools
Medical Uses:

In medical field computers have brought a revolution in primitive medical practices. The main uses of computer in medical field are in:

  1. Ultrasonorgraphy,
  2. ECG, EEG, EMG and MRI
  3. Screening of blood
  4. Laser surgery,
  5. Endoscopy,

HOW COMPUTER WORK

The computer works in three stages: it accepts input (through the input devices) then processes it (CPU) and gives us the output (through output devices) . Computer has the following major parts as depicted in chart:

Computer Hardware: Hardware refers to physical parts of the computer and related devices. Hardware is used to run the software. Internal devices include the hard drive, the motherboard, and the video and sound cards while the external devices include the monitor, the printer, scanner, the keyboard and the mouse. Removable storages such as USB Flash Drive, CS or DVD Rom are also the examples of hardware. External devices of computer are also called peripheral devices. Computer hardware can be classified into input, output, storage and processing devices.

Input Devices: Input devices, such as keyboard or mouse, permit the computer user to communicate with the computer.

  1. Keyboard
  2. Pointing Devices ( Mouse, Joystick)
  3. Voice Input Devices
  4. Digital Camera
  5. Scanning Devices

Output Devices: Computer output can be in the form of a soft copy or hard copy.

  1. Visual Display Unit ( Monitor, Projector , LCD)
  2. Speaker & Headset
  3. Plotter
  4. Printer ( Impact , Non-impact)

The display and printer are output devices with which the computer makes its results available to the user. A disk drive is both an input and an output device because it can either provide stored information or store the data after processing.

Computer Memory and Storage Devices

Bit and Byte:

Computer memory is a mechanism that stores data for use by a computer. In a computer all data consist of numbers. A computer stores a number into a specific location memory and later fetches the value. Most memories represent data with the binary number system. I a computer binary digits or bits have two possible representations (“0” and “1” or “off” and “on”).if a second bit is added to a single bit of information, the number of representations is doubled, resulting in four possible combinations: 00, 01, 10 or 11. A third bit added to this two bit representation again doubles the number of combinations, resulting in eight possibilities: 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 110 or 111. Each time a bit is added, the number of possible patterns is doubled. Eight bits combination is called a byte; a byte has 256 possible combinations of 0s and 1s.

A kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes and can store about 1000 characters.

A megabyte can store about 1 million characters, a gigabyte can store about 1 billion characters and a terabyte can store about 1 trillion characters or 1024 GB.

Computer memory may be divided into two broad categories know as internal memory and external memory.

Primary Memory or Internal Memory :

Internal memory operates at the highest speed and can be accessed directly by the central processing unit (CPU). Internal memory is contained on computer chips and uses electronic circuits to store information. ROM, RAM, etc are examples of internal memory.

Read –Only Memory (ROM):

ROM is a memory containing hard wired instructions that the computer uses when it boots up. Before the system software loads in the computer, the instructions are read from a small programme in the ROM called “BIOS”. The storage of programme and data in the ROM is permanent. The ROM can only be read by the CPU but it cannot be changed. ROM is non-volatile memory.

Random Access Memory (RAM):

RAM (Random Access Memory) received its name from its ability to directly access any memory cell.RAM is made up of small memory chips that form a memory module. These modules are installed in the RAM slot on the motherboard of the computer. The processor is able to read and write from RAM faster than any other storage media on the computer. Therefore, adding more RAM will increase processing speed. RAM is temporary storage as data only remains there when the machine is running. RAM is temporary storage as data only remains there when the machine is running. When we shut down the computer, RAM loses all of its data. When we start its back up, the operating systems and our others files are load from the hard disk and into RAM.

External Memory or Secondary / Auxiliary Memory

External memory can generally be classified as either magnetic or optical. In computers, magnetic storage can take these forms:

  1. Magnetic disk, that includes Floppy disk and hard disk drive
  2. Magnetic tape , used for tertiary and off-line storage
  3. Optical forms currently in common use are: CD, DVD, CD-R, DVD-R, etc

The Central Processing Unit

The central processing unit or CPU is a microprocessor chip that is, a single piece of silicon containing millions of tiny, microscopically- wired electrical components. Information is stored in a CPU memory location called a register. When a programme is running, one special register called the programme counter keeps track of which programme instruction comes next by maintaining the memory location of the next programme instruction to be executed. CPU is called brain of the computer. The CPU is divided into separate units for its operation. These are arithmetic logical unit and control unit.

 

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