Touchpad iPrime Ver. 2.1 Class 3: Windows 10 & MS Office 2016

1 A COMPUTER SYSTEM

A computer is an electronic machine that is made up of various devices that help you enter the data (input) through a keyboard or mouse, process it using the CPU, and give the results (output), which can be seen on the monitor or printer.

HARDWARE

All the physical components of a computer system are called hardware. These are the parts that we can see or touch. Some of these parts are visible from the outside, like the keyboard, monitor, mouse, etc. Some are located inside the CPU box, such as the CPU, hard disk, etc.

Hardware devices are classified as shown:

Input Devices

A computer accepts data and instructions through input devices. Some of the input devices are keyboard, mouse, scanner, joystick, microphone, etc.

Processing Device

A computer converts the input into meaningful information through the processing device. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the processor. It is the brain of a computer that does all the calculations, runs all the programs and manages all the operations. The CPU is a chip that is placed inside the CPU box.

The working of a CPU can be shown with the help of the following block diagram:

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

The ALU does arithmetic calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and so on. It also does comparisons like greater than, lesser than, equal to and so on.

Control Unit (CU)

The CU coordinates between all the parts of the CPU. The CU gets data and instructions from the memory unit and passes them on to the ALU in a step-by-step manner.

Memory Unit (MU)

The MU stores data and instructions given to the computer and the result of the processing.

Output Devices

A computer displays the results of the processed data through the output devices. Some of the output devices are monitor, printer, speakers, etc.