What Is the Number of Bits (0s and 1s) That Can Be Processed by the Cpu at Any One Time?

Computers: $.25 & bytes

Introduction

Learning outcomes

On completion of this unit yous should exist able to:

1 Groundwork - introduction

This section, unlike most others in this module, is not based on Adventitious Empires. Instead, information technology aims to provide you with sufficient background knowledge to sympathise and appreciate the rest of the cloth. You are non expected to understand the workings of a computer in detail but you will crave a knowledge of the various components of a typical computer, and what their functions are. This section will therefore act equally your starting point, and the remainder of the module volition detail how personal computers (PCs) came to have their present structure and functionality.

In the next segment yous will briefly wait at the two chief categories of applied science in the computer manufacture, namely: Software and hardware

2 Software and hardware

When y'all think of a estimator you probably recall of the wearisome-looking box sitting on tiptop of, or underneath, your desk, plus the monitor, keyboard and mouse. These, along with all of the components inside the computer box, are the physical parts of the computer - the hardware. But the hardware is just an expensive doorstop without something to make it work. For you to produce your annual budget, write your swell novel or draw your altogether party invitations you demand programs which will make the computer do things. The reckoner as well requires programs only to look after itself and to manage all its components. Programs are the software. Therefore, in this module, when I refer to 'engineering' I hateful both hardware and software, since the figurer requires both to be a functional auto.

Y'all might like to think of the hardware every bit a car, and the software as the driver and the fuel it requires before it tin be driven.

Hardware includes components such equally the microprocessor, hard disk bulldoze, memory chip, graphics card and and then forth. Separate hardware items that are added onto the basic computer unit, such as the monitor, modem, printer, keyboard, etc., are often chosen peripherals.

Software can be written in a variety of programming languages. A programming language is used to express the instructions which tell the computer what to exercise in response to a certain activity. For instance, give-and-take processing software tells the calculator to brandish the letter of the alphabet 'a' on the monitor when y'all press the 'a' primal on your keyboard. Software can exist divided into three basic categories:

Operating systems. These communicate with the hardware of the machine, and act equally the footing on which other software programs can exist run. The operating organization, or OS, is the means past which both other programs and the user collaborate with the computer. Information technology is the first affair you meet when your figurer starts upwards, and information technology allows you lot to tell the estimator what it is you lot desire to do. Examples of operating systems include DOS, Windows, UNIX and the Macintosh Bone. Operating systems are very important in the story of the PC and we shall return to them after.
Languages. These permit developers to write new software programs. There is a wide range of programming languages to suit different types of task; examples include Basic, C, Assembler, Pascal, C++, Visual Basic and Coffee.

You will look at these in detail if y'all practise a computer programming course, but they do not feature very much in this class.
Applications. These allow you to perform activities to which the estimator is suited. Applications are the reason nearly people buy computers in the get-go place. Examples include give-and-take processors (such as Microsoft Word), spreadsheets (east.g. Lotus 1-2-3), databases (e.chiliad. Access), graphics packages (e.g. CorelDRAW), so on.

Side by side yous will look at the basic units a computer uses to perform all of its functions. The next segment: Binary, bits and bytes volition requite you some understanding of what is happening inside your computer.

iii Binary, bits and bytes

3.i Binary

To appreciate the importance of the various breakthroughs in the history of the estimator manufacture you will need a bones knowledge of how a figurer works, and in this segment you volition expect at how a computer represents information.

At its very lowest level a computer operates by turning on or off millions of tiny switches, called transistors. In computers these transistors can only be in one of 2 states; that is, on or off. Such devices are thus referred to equally two-state devices. Some other case of a two-state device might be a conventional light switch. Information technology is either on or off, with no intermediate state. U.s. of 'on' and 'off' can be represented by the numbers 1 and 0.

In mathematics the term binary is used to refer to a number arrangement which has simply 2 digits, that is 1 and 0. The number system we use in everyday life has ten digits, 0 to 9, and is called denary. The binary system is the smallest number system that can be used to provide information.

Any number from our normal, denary system can exist represented in binary; 0 in denary is 0 in binary. Similarly 1 in denary is one in binary. When y'all become to 2 in denary you accept a problem. At that place are no more symbols in binary; you are restricted to only 1 and 0. And so how do you represent two? This question is similar to request how you represent x in denary. Once you become to nine you have run out of digits, then you lot simply create a new column and start afresh, using 1 and 0. This is likewise what you do in binary, so ii in denary becomes 10 in binary. When y'all motion on to three (in denary) you proceed as before; iii becomes 11 in binary. The table below shows how denary numbers catechumen to binary.

Denary number	Binary equivalent
0	0
1	one
two	10
3	11
4	100
5	101
vi	110
7	111
8	thou
9	1001
10	1010

Information technology is useful to call back of binary in terms of columns. The first column represents units, and so a 0 here means no units, i.e. 0, and a 1 means 1 unit of measurement. The next column represents the numbers of 2s, and so a 1 in this column means 2. The next column represents 4s and so on, with each column being twice as large as the previous i. This is also what we exercise in denary, each column being a cistron of 10 bigger than the previous 1. And then the denary number 2902 tin can be interpreted as (2 x yard) + (9 x 100) + (0 x x) + (two x one). If you desire to convert binary numbers to denary, this is a useful method. For instance, if I wanted to convert the numbers 1000100 and 11001 to denary I would make a gear up of columns as shown.

Table - 3 rows by 7 columns, shows conversion of binary numbers to denary as explained in the text. Examples are 1000100 in binary equals 68 in denary (i times 64 plus 1 times 4) and 11001 equals 25 (one times sixteen plus i times eight plus 1 times i

Conversion of binary numbers to denary

You volition not exist asked to convert numbers, and then don't worry also much near the details. The of import thing is to take an idea of what 'binary' means.

iii.two What is binary used for?

As I mentioned at the offset of this segment, a computer functions by manipulating 1s and 0s. As you have seen, you can correspond whatsoever denary number in binary. Information technology is also possible to correspond any alphabetic character of the alphabet, or other grapheme, using binary by simply assigning a lawmaking to it in the calculator. For instance, there is an agreed representation of text known equally International Alphabet Number 5 (IA-5) in which the alphabetic character 'A' is represented by the binary pattern 1000001. When I type the letter of the alphabet A, this binary number volition be stored in my figurer. I can after call back it and the letter of the alphabet A will exist displayed on screen. This will simply happen if the computer has received instructions to treat 1000001 as an IA-five character. The aforementioned design could exist used to correspond the denary number 65. The reckoner knows what to do with the data considering information technology has instructions from a program, and these instructions are themselves binary representations.

It is worth examining the difference between information and instructions. The information is the current information the computer program is working with. This might exist some numbers I am adding up, or some text I am typing. It will vary from instance to instance. The instructions are what the computer does with the data. This must e'er be consequent, for example clicking on the Relieve push volition always save the information.

So numbers and text tin can be represented using the binary system. What else tin? Images can be represented using a technique known as bit-mapping. This divides an image upwardly into thousands of cells and allocates a value to each prison cell. If the image is in black and white, each cell will have a value of ane (indicating it is blackness) or 0 (indicating it is white). Color tin be represented by allocating more than information to each cell to signal the proportion of red, greenish and blue (RGB) values. A wide spectrum of colours tin be created by varying the relative values of red, green and blue. You lot volition see bit-mapping in more than particular in a later department.

What else can be represented in binary? The answer is just about anything. Sound, like images, tin can exist divided up into different segments and each given an appropriate binary value, which tin then faithfully reproduce the sound. This is what your music CD histrion does.

Yous will hear people talk about computers being 'digital'. Audio, light and other natural signals are usually analogue. The difference between digital and analogue is an important one as it underlies the reward in using computers for many tasks. There is more well-nigh what is meant by counterpart and digital hither: Counterpart and digital.

Bits and bytes

And so computers work past manipulating 1s and 0s. These are binary digits, or bits for short. Single bits are too modest to exist much use, and then they are grouped together into units of viii bits. Each 8-flake unit is called a byte. A byte is the bones unit of measurement which is passed around the computer, oft in groups. Considering of this the number 8 and its multiples have become important in computing. You lot will particularly run across the numbers 8, sixteen, 32 and 64 in diverse contexts in computing literature, and this is usually due to the 8-scrap byte being the basic edifice unit. The key indicate to appreciate is that although basing your entire system on only ii digits may seem limiting, these two digits tin can be used to correspond well-nigh annihilation.

You lot will as well hear people speak of kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes or frequently just 'Yard', 'meg' and 'gig' every bit in, 'This reckoner has 64 megs of RAM', or 'This file is 45 K'. Bits, bytes, kilobytes and megabytes are merely ways of measuring the size of things computers deal with. A kilobyte is two to the power of 10 bytes. This is really 1024 bytes, but is close enough to a thousand to be given the prefix kilo, pregnant a thousand. Similarly, a megabyte is 2 to the power of 20 (or 1 kilobyte squared), which comes out as one,048,576 bytes. For the sake of convenience, this is chosen a megabyte, meaning a one thousand thousand bytes. A gigabyte is 1000 megabytes.

3.4 Boosted resources

Here is an animation in Wink which demonstrates the departure between analogue and digital signals and the conversion from counterpart to digital: Flash blitheness.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled, and a recent version of Wink Player to exist installed and enabled.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (run across it in standard view).

In the adjacent segment you will expect at the structure of your calculator, and what its diverse components actually do: Figurer compages

4 Reckoner compages

4.ane Manipulating information

In the last segment y'all saw how a computer could use binary digits (bits) to represent near any information. This segment volition show how a computer uses this binary representation to perform its various tasks.

By combining a serial of bytes any information or educational activity can be represented. Consider a simple example which takes a number and displays it on the screen. The following instructions might operate for this program:

10000000 = start program

00000001 = exit program

00000011 = consider side by side byte as a number

00000101 = display previous number

Thus the following stream of bytes would brandish 10 (2 in denary):

10000000 (program starts)

00000011 (information technology is told to consider the next byte as a number)

00000010 (treated equally a number)

00000101 (information technology is told to display the previous number)

00000001 (information technology exits)

This is essentially what computers do, except on a scale of complexity enormously greater than this.

Although computers operate past manipulating 1s and 0s, this is non a very useful way for people to work. A more productive means of telling the computer what to do is required. This need led to the evolution of programming languages. The get-go of these was known as Assembler, which operates at quite a low level in the figurer, telling the reckoner where to move information and what to do with it. Assembler takes commands and converts them in to 1s and 0s, which the computer can interpret. Newer programming languages are more sophisticated, and operate at a higher level than Assembler, and their arrival has made the job of programming simpler.

In the dummy plan higher up we used a byte (eight $.25) to stand for each 'chunk' of information. Most computers now apply 32 or 64 $.25. These chunks are called words and are the basic units the estimator manipulates when it is performing an action.

iv.2 The components of a computer

The key to your reckoner is a bit called the microprocessor. This is its brains, and is where most of the computing takes place.

Before the advent of the microprocessor, computers came mainly in the form of large mainframes which had a different circuit board for each role. At the core of a mainframe computer are 3 split units linked together to form what is known as the central processing unit, or CPU. These iii units are:

The arithmetics and logic unit (ALU) - this is the unit which does the bodily piece of work of the computer. Besides as the four bones mathematical functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, it has comparison capabilities such every bit =, >, < (equals, more than, less than).
The control unit - this unit of measurement controls the flow of data from the computer's memory into the ALU and to other devices.
The memory.

A microprocessor combines the ALU and control unit on ane silicon bit, which is why information technology was at once referred to as the 'computer on a bit'. In mainframes the CPU includes memory, but this is separate in microcomputers, and so I shall utilize the term CPU to refer to just the combination of ALU and control unit. I shall describe microprocessors in more item later, but yous should appreciate for now that they tin can perform a variety of functions. Inside your calculator, in improver to the microprocessor which forms the CPU there are other microprocessors that are used to control the graphics card, modem and other devices.

The CPU microprocessor is housed on a circuit board chosen the motherboard. Besides on the motherboard is the clock scrap which acts as a metronome for the computer so that all its actions tin be synchronized. There may as well be 1 or two ROM chips. ROM stands for Read Just Memory, which means that the data on these chips cannot be altered, it can only be read. These fries ofttimes contain some of import programs which come supplied with the calculator and which are needed for it to function properly. This is why they are fabricated to be read-only; it would be very unfortunate if an unsuspecting user altered them.

Also as the CPU microprocessor there are devices which tin be used to enter data into the figurer, and which it can use to output data. These are called input/output devices (usually referred to as I/O devices) and might include a keyboard and mouse (for input) and a monitor and printer (for output). The data for these devices volition ofttimes pass via a slot-in circuit board (chosen a carte du jour) inside the PC which plugs into a slot on the motherboard. These cards perform a number of functions, such as converting information to a form usable by that particular brand of device.

The CPU as well sends and receives data to and from the computer'southward memory, which is usually referred to as RAM (random admission memory). The RAM consists of chips similar in construction to the CPU. This is the retention which stores all the data the figurer is currently using. You can think of the RAM as the computer'southward desk. When it needs to work on something it will retrieve it, for example a file from the hard disk, and put it into the RAM - but as yous might get a file from a drawer and place it on your desktop. The computer volition besides load into the RAM the programs it needs to work with this file, in the same style yous might place your calculator on your desktop. Similar a desktop at that place is a limit to how much tin can be placed in the RAM. The contents of RAM are often lost when the reckoner is switched off.

Drawing - hiker reaches top of mountain, wise sage says "The clandestine to happiness is: E'er get as much RAM equally you lot can peradventure afford"

The microprocessor volition also have to read from and write to a permanent data storage device in the class of a hd drive. Other permanent storage devices include CD-ROMs (over again the ROM in the name indicates that these CDs cannot be written to), optical disks, tape storage or floppy disks (which may be read just or writable).

To receive and send all of this data the microprocessor is connected to cables, which are referred to as buses. This term comes from the Latin charabanc, significant 'for all'. Buses are designed to carry all kinds of information, rather similar the buses y'all might use to travel around a city (their proper noun is besides derived from omnibus). Thinking of your estimator equally a street layout, with traffic and buses transporting information to various destinations, is not a bad way of visualizing what is actually happening.

This is a simple overview of a calculator's architecture, just it is sufficient for this course. The architecture is summarized in the figure beneath.

Diagram - shows an overview of a computer's compages. The CPU sends and receives data to and from the RAM. The CPU reads from and writes to storage devices, eg, hard deejay, CD-ROM, Floppy disk. The CPU receives and outputs information from input/output devices, called I/O devices, via slot in cards.

Computer architecture

4.3 Recommended reading

PC Estimator Notes - offers information about hardware components and the workings of a calculator.

In the side by side segment y'all will look at what people mean when they talk about the ability of a computer: Computer power

v Computer power

People often talk about the power of a computer. What do they hateful past this and what factors affect it?

So what influences the speed and complication of the computer? There are several factors.

The microprocessor fleck

The commencement cistron is the microprocessor scrap used for the CPU. Successive generations of chips have more and more transistors placed on them. With more transistors bachelor the fleck tin can be programmed to perform more than tasks, therefore increasing its complexity.

Increased numbers of transistors as well allow the chip manufacturers to implement new methods of improving memory usage and speed of performance. For instance, earlier versions of the Intel microprocessors required a split up fleck to be installed in order to cope with whatsoever software requiring lots of calculations involving floating point numbers. The actress fleck, known as a maths co-processor, was integrated in the main microprocessor as more than transistors were made available in subsequent versions.

(The terms 'floating point numbers' and 'maths co-processor' are explained in the Glossary - you can admission this by clicking on the push button in the bluish sidebar. If you come up across terms like these that you lot don't empathize information technology is worthwhile checking out the Glossary.)

Such improvements in successive generations of microprocessors are typical, and are fabricated possible by the increased numbers of transistors available.

5.ii Clock speed

The second factor that determines a computer's power is its clock speed. Each activeness of the CPU tin be idea of as occupying i cycle - although about modern CPUs can perform several tasks at the same time. Therefore the greater the number of cycles per second, the faster the estimator.

Cartoon - PC making loud noise VROOOOM! VRRRROOOOM! VROOOOOOM! 1 onlooker comments to other, "We couldn't afford faster computers, so we only fabricated them sound faster"

five.3 Word size

The 3rd factor is the size of the words that both the microprocessor and the buses can accommodate (go dorsum to the previous segment on computer architecture if you need to refresh your memory about these). You may sometimes hear people refer to a estimator - or especially a games console - as a 32-bit, 64-bit or 128-chip machine. These terms refer to the size of give-and-take that the microprocessor can manipulate. The larger the word size, the more data each discussion can incorporate. A 32-scrap word can contain twice the data of a xvi-bit word. Therefore increasing the word size improves both the complexity (more data can be manipulated) and the speed (because it takes the aforementioned time to interpret each word).

v.4 RAM

A fourth factor that affects a computer'south ability is the amount of retentivity, or RAM, available. RAM acts equally the computer's working retentivity, so it contains the information the computer needs for its current session. This will include various operating organization commands (e.g. what a mouse double click means), the programs currently running (east.g. Microsoft Give-and-take with two documents open), current display configurations (eastward.g. that one Give-and-take certificate is in forepart of the other and the mouse pointer is in the elevation left of the screen) and and so forth. An increment in the size of the RAM increases the corporeality of data it tin can store at whatever ane fourth dimension. This improves the complication of the reckoner because it can run programs that require a lot of data to exist handled, and several programs can be run simultaneously. Information technology also increases the speed of the estimator because when the RAM becomes full the calculator will temporarily store data on the hd. This will exist retrieved when information technology is required, which takes more than time than having information technology currently available in memory. And so more RAM provides more speed.

Drawing - Dad looking under bonnet of broken down car. Son says "What is information technology, Dad? Is the car out of memory?"

The power of computers at present is such that their performance is fast enough to encounter nearly needs, and the software you utilise does not actually necessitate the rapid upgrade it once did. This gradual easing of need poses a problem for the calculator industry, and nosotros shall look at its effect on the perception of computers later in the module.

In the next segment you will look at the unlike types of calculator, including PCs: Types of computer

6 Types of computer

This module is mainly concerned with computers based on microprocessors, called microcomputers or personal computers (PCs). Afterward sections of this module volition examine the PC in detail and the types of software used by them. There are other types of computer though, and you will demand to be aware of these. However, don't go too bogged downwardly in the details - the important thing is that you lot have an appreciation of the different types of computers and the tasks they might perform.

half-dozen.1 Mainframes

[Source: Science and Society Picture Library.]

Photo - a mainframe calculator the size of a huge chest freezer

A mainframe computer

Mainframes were the dominant form of computing before microcomputers. They are usually very expensive, powerful and operate specialist software.

Mainframes are typically used past large companies, public authorities and universities for their data handling tasks. These tasks are typically:

File maintenance: This is mayhap the well-nigh common use of mainframes. Maintaining records is a huge job for institutions. Records can incorporate information on sales, credit card status, payroll details, social security details, health records, stock inventory, etc. These either need to exist accessed by different people in real-time (for instance a travel agent booking an airline ticket) or updated in batches (for instance warehouse stock levels at the end of each day). It is necessary in such cases to have the information stored centrally and and then accessible by those who demand it. A lot of minicomputers are now capable of performing these tasks in medium-sized companies.
Simulations: Many concrete and engineering bug cannot be solved without the assist of complex computer simulations. These crave intensive mathematical work, and then accept advantage of a mainframe's computational ability. Examples include weather forecasting, or calculating the position of astronomical bodies with extreme accuracy. Many minicomputers or workstations are now used for this type of problem.
General purpose: Many universities used a mainframe to act as a full general purpose computing facility. Each user tin then be given their own area on the mainframe to shop files, and different departments tin can utilize its resources to perform different tasks, due east.g. predicting bird populations in the Biology department and computing metal stress in the Engineering Department. PCs are at present used to perform many of these tasks.

You lot will have noticed that later each task I mentioned that other types of calculator could now be establish performing these tasks. This indicates that the general growth in the mainframe area has slowed and is even in pass up, as smaller computers have become more than powerful. Mainframes are nonetheless required by many institutions, however, to perform large data handling tasks. They are especially useful when data needs to be held centrally, with different people needing access to it. This is illustrated beneath:

Diagram - uses of a central mainframe - shows the mainframe at the center with links to a number of terminals

Use of a central mainframe

6.ii Minicomputers

Minicomputers are powerful, special-purpose computers. They were originally viewed as minor mainframes - hence the prefix 'mini'. However, they have become increasingly powerful and accept replaced mainframes for many functions. Examples include Digital Equipment's VAX machines and IBM's Every bit/400s.

Tasks minicomputers might be used for include:

Establish control: Many industrial plants require a central computing facility to collect information from various sensors and and so to act appropriately. For case, in a chemical technology found, as the pressure in one vat increases the computer registers this, and opens a release valve slightly while also adjusting the boiler temperature.
Network control: Many calculator networks demand a central computer which provides storage space and controls the network using special network software. This is known as a server. The other computers which admission the server are called clients. Such machines tin can also act as the interface to the Net, accepting Internet messages and hosting electronic mail and World Wide Web facilities. Powerful PCs can also be used to perform these functions.
Databases: As mentioned above, the role of mainframes in file maintenance is increasingly being taken past minicomputers. Minicomputers tin can hold databases of records which appropriate people tin can access.

For the general public information technology is PCs which tend to symbolize computers. All the same, near 'heavy duty' computing is performed not past PCs simply past minicomputers. With the growth in networking computers in most institutions the role of minicomputers has grown. Information technology is in this market that some of the largest software companies, such as Novell who provide networking software and Oracle who supply database software, do most of their concern.

The network model is shown below.

Diagram - the network computing model - the minicomputer server is connected to networked computers used for a diverseness of tasks due east.chiliad. reading due east-mail service, browsing the web, using word processor software held on the server, saving files to the server. The network connects to the internet, and the terminals connect to a printer via the network

The network calculating model

half-dozen.3 Workstations

Workstations are based on specialized microprocessors and tin can exist thought of as powerful PCs. They are typically used for specialist engineering tasks. Workstations use a special blazon of microprocessor known as a RISC (reduced instruction set up reckoner) chip. This technology, adult at IBM, removes many of the complex instructions from a microprocessor and has instead a ready of basic instructions, which perform their tasks very quickly. This arroyo increases the speed and the power of the microprocessor, peculiarly when dealing with numerical problems. The workstation market is dominated by Sun Microsystems. They typically cost in the £10,000s, and can cost £100,000s.

Tasks workstations might be used for include:

CAD/CAM: Figurer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing have been growth industries since the mid-1980s. These technologies allow engineers to design circuitous motorcar parts without having to produce an actual physical model. The necessary circuitous, 3-D graphics crave a lot of calculating power and good quality video capabilities.
Blitheness: Similarly to CAD/CAM, animations crave a lot of processing power which must exist performed rapidly, and are ideally suited to the RISC technology.
Simulations: Performing simulations of processes, such as the behaviour of an industrial found, requires considerable computing ability.
Multitask programming: Any complex programming which is deemed to crave more power than is offered by a PC, and which needs to perform more than i task at a time (called multitasking), is often performed on a workstation. Contempo PC operating systems such equally Windows NT can too perform multitasking.

The workstation will typically be office of a network.

6.4 Personal computers

Microcomputers are based on a microprocessor and are intended for individual use; hence they are chosen personal computers, or PCs. They were initially standalone machines, only are increasingly continued to a network. They are ideal for tasks such as those listed below where the user requires individual computing power.

Word processing: Discussion processing programs allow a user to produce professional-looking documents, with different fonts, styles and pictures. The production of circuitous and attractive documents is much easier with the utilize of word processing software than information technology was in the days of the typewriter.
Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets let a user to create mathematical models. These are specially useful in fiscal planning and can be used to answer questions such as 'What happens if we raise the toll of our product past 1%?'.
Desktop publishing: This allows people to create drawings, manipulate images and combine them with text to produce professional graphic design work, for case magazine layouts, posters, book covers, etc.
Games: Although this may seem a not-serious utilize of computers, games correspond a large marketplace. By making use of the PC'south calculating power very expert quality graphics and circuitous game play tin be accomplished.
Servers: As mentioned above, many powerful PCs are at present beingness used as servers to command a network.

Mostly the tasks performed past the mainframes accept been taken over by minicomputers. PCs initially created a new blazon of usage for the calculator; for instance, spreadsheets and desktop publishing took over from activities previously performed by mitt. As PCs have increased in power they have begun to exist used for some of the tasks that required minicomputers and even mainframes in the by.

With the increase in computer power the distinction between types of computers is frequently difficult to maintain. When does a PC become a workstation for example? Remember, though, that having an appreciation of the unlike types of computers and the tasks required of them is important, merely you should not become as well bogged down in trying to categorize machines.

This is the cease of the background textile. You lot should now practise the practise on practising note taking: Exercise - Annotation taking

seven Exercise - annotation taking

7.i Outline

In this practise you will work individually to develop note-taking skills using a web type format.

7.2 Outcomes

The exercise should help yous with the following:

taking notes;
using an HTML editor;
thinking near the class material.

vii.3 Groundwork

One of the nigh of import skills you tin can larn is how to accept good notes. Not only how to have them, simply to get into the practice of taking them. You may be thinking 'I know how to take notes, what practice I need this advice for?'. My response to this is that it is not simply in this course you will discover it useful, but in the whole of your life. Nosotros are repeatedly told we live in an information age. We are bombarded by information in a variety of media. In order to make sense of this information y'all have to exist able to retrieve it and sort it into a useful order. A piece of information does not be in isolation, merely is continued to many other pieces of data. The connections you make tin can ofttimes make the divergence betwixt data existence useful or non. Inquiry in psychology has shown that people make more sense of information and retain it improve if they actively do something with it, equally opposed to just passively receiving information technology. The very act of using the information in some way makes information technology more 'meaningful' to each of u.s.a. - we brand connections and we retrieve them. One of the best and easiest activities for doing this is to make notes.

7.four The exercise

Read the resource Taking notes - this describes the process of taking notes, deciding what and when to write, and the features of your notes you need to bear in mind.

Start upward your preferred HTML editor. If you are unsure nigh using an HTML editor, hither is some advice yous may find helpful: Choosing and using an HTML editor.

Read over the material in this section over again, and utilise the listing of topics in the Summary section as headings to make notes in your HTML editor.

Read your notes, and synthesize them as yous run into fit.

Save the file with a suitable file name, for example "m1s1_7.htm"

As you take more notes during the course, revisit previous notes and brand hyperlinks between material when you think there is a connection.

You should read the summary department next: Background cloth - summary

8 Background material - summary

In this section you accept covered some of the basic principles of how a computer operates, and what its various components do. You lot have also met some of the terminology used in the manufacture. You should now be able to read the fix text, 'Accidental Empires', without coming across terms you are not familiar with.

8.i Conference

Yous might like to discuss the following in your Tutor Group conference, or in the Forum.

Any parts of the background material you plant hard
Whatsoever questions about computers which have interested yous
Any pieces of calculator jargon yous've heard but aren't certain what they mean
Anything else of interest relevant to this section.

8.two Quick review

In this section you have covered:

What software and hardware are.
The different categories of software.
What binary is, and how it relates to denary.
How a computer uses bits to represent data.
What analogue and digital mean.
The chief components of a computer and their functions.
The factors that affect the power of a calculator.
The difference between mainframes, minis, workstations and PCs.
Computer terminology, such as RAM, ROM, CPU, bytes, kilobytes, data, instructions, I/O, motherboard, buses and words.

Take a go at the Quick Quiz to see how well you take understood the content of this section on Background Fabric. This quiz is scored automatically, and no-one sees your score except yourself.

You should too complete the self-diagnostic form at present. This will give you a record of your level of conviction with the Groundwork Material.

The issues and concepts discussed here are more fully explored in the Open up University courses Computers and processors (T224) and Building blocks of software (M263). T224 focuses on the hardware elements of personal computers whereas M263 looks at the part of software.

This is the end of Section i - Background material. You should refer back to the report guide to see that you have done all the work associated with this section or get on to Section two. This looks at the invention of the microprocessor, and the visitor which is commonly associated with it: Intel and the microprocessor

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