Computer Basics

Computer Basics

W

elcome to the interesting world of computers! In this

chapter, you will learn what are computers, what makes them

special, and other facts and concepts about computers. You’ll

also learn some terms used by computer experts when they speak

of (and write about) computers.

Chapter Objectives

After you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to:



Define what is a computer



Identify the

key characteristics

of a computer



Differentiate between a computer and another

non-computer electronic device, such as a

calculator

(even a

programmable

one)



Differentiate between a

general-purpose computer

(like the

ones we are using at school) and a

special-purpose computer

(such as the

Sony Playstation

™

₎



Describe the

concept of operations

of a computer



Describe what is a program and why it is very important

to a computer



Describe the

Copyright Issues

surrounding programs



Describe what are

Copyrighted

,

Freeware

,

Shareware

, and

Preloaded software



Describe what are

Shrinkwrap Agreements

,

EULA

s,

SLA

s, and

LA

s



Identify and describe some of the

programs

found in a

typical computer

C H A P T E R + + + + +

In This Chapter:

Chapter Objectives

What Is A Computer?

Concept Of Operations

Data VS Information

More About Programs

Freeware, Shareware, Copy-

righted, and Pre-loaded

Software

Shrinkwrap Agreements,

EULAs, SLAs, and LAs

Programs Found In A

Typical Computer

+ + + + +

Key Characteristics Of A Computer Definition of Programmability; the difference between the Computer and a Calculator or the Sony PlayStation™ game console Storage and “Saving” Retrieval and “Opening” or “Loading”

Computer Basics: What Is A Computer?

Before we start in earnest about our

Windows XP

™

_{tutorial, it is but appropriate to ask}

ourselves the question,

“What is a computer system?”

, or

“What is a computer?”

. The answer

to these questions hold the key about the characteristics of a computer system: what it is and

what comprises one; its parts, etc. OK. So here is a definition, obtained from a computer science

book:

Computer

an

electronic

,

programmable

device that can

store

,

retrieve

, and

process

infor-

mation.

The definition outlines several key points. Let us discuss them a bit; the discussion might

emphasize some facts about a computer that maybe we haven’t known yet:

Electronic

in this day and age, all computers are assumed to be

powered by electrici-

ty

, whether it be the electricity coming from our wall outlet (AC or

Alternating

Current

) or electricity coming from that of a battery (DC or

Direct Current

). In

the past, there were “computers” that were not powered by electricity, but today,

any computer worthy of mention has to be powered by electricity.

Programmable

Programmability

is

the ability of a computer to accept different

sets of instructions

(

programs

)

so that it can do different tasks. This

characteristic (of a computer) is what distinguishes it from a

calculator

(even a

so-called

“programmable”

one) or even the

Sony Playstation

™

_{game console}

_{. A}

“programmable”

calculator is indeed

programmable

, but only to a limited extent.

On the other hand, with the

Playstation

, you can only play games. Why can’t

you do some

typing

or

data encoding

using the

Playstation

? This is because the

Playstation

isn’t as

“programmable”

as a “true” computer. In this sense, the

Playstation

is considered as only a

special-purpose computer, whose sole

purpose is for playing games. But a computer in the truest sense of the word

could be used to do a lot of tasks. As to what tasks it can do, it depends on the

user’s collection of

programs

that it (the computer) can perform. A user who has

a huge collection of

programs

can do a lot more of different tasks on his/her

computer than someone who has only a limited collection of

programs

. Later on

in the next few pages, more will be said about

programs

and

programmability

.

Store

with their voluminous

hard disks

,

CDs

, and

tape drives

, computers today can

easily

store

large amounts of

data

. A typical

hard disk

today can contain several

tens or even hundreds of

Gigabytes

of

data

. In computers, we don’t really use the

term

“store”

; instead, the more popular (and appropriate) word for

“store”

is

“save.”

Retrieve

Retrieval

means

getting back the data that the computer has stored

(or

saved

). It is the opposite of

storage

. What good can a computer do if it cannot

retrieve

the tens (or hundreds) of

Gigabytes

of

data

that it has

stored

? The more

popular (and appropriate) words for

“retrieve”

are

“open”

or

“load.”

Definition of Processing; the connection between the nature of the processing done by a computer and the Program

used

Key Characteristics

recapped

Input PROCESSING Output

Process

Processing

is

the transformation of data into a more useful or presentable

form

. It is the most important function of a computer. For example, the

alphabetization

(or

arrangement in alphabetical order

) of a list of names is a

common function among

Spreadsheet

and/or

Database

programs.

Processing

is

thus related to

programmability

because the kind of processing that a program

does on its

data

depends on what the program was intended to do. For instance,

you cannot expect a

Word Processing

program to manipulate pictures or graphics

because that program (i.e., the

Word Processor

) wasn’t intended (or

programmed

) to

manipulate pictures or graphics. Conversely, you can’t expect to type your

résumé using a

Graphics

program, because that program (the

Graphics

program)

was not intended to manipulate several lines (or even pages) of text.

OK. The above discussions introduced lots more of terms, but let’s try to first recap

some of the main points from the discussion; perhaps, some computer facts and concepts may

be illuminated by our recap:

J

A

computer

is an

electric-powered

device in which data can be

stored

(or

saved

),

manipulated

(or

processed

), and

opened back

(i.e.,

retrieved

).

J

The

processing

(or

manipulation

) of

data

is dependent on the particular type of

program

being used.

J

The functioning of a computer, therefore, depends, to a very large extent, on the

collection of

programs

installed

in that particular computer you are using; the more

programs

there are

installed

in that computer, the more things (i.e., tasks) you can

do.

J

You might be wondering aloud,

“And what are programs?”

Simply put, a

program

is

a set of instructions that a computer should follow in order to accomplish a particular task

,

which is

to process the data

. Essentially, the program

describes how the data is to be

processed

.

J

A

Graphics

program, for example, does a different kind of job/task than a

Word-processing

program (also called a

Word Processor

).

Concept Of Operations

If we think of it in simple terms, a computer’s concept of operation is described by this

diagram (

Figure 1-1

):

New Term: In computer lingo, the word “install” is synonymous to “put inside the hard disk of our computer.” For example, when we tell a computer technician, “Please install Microsoft Word™ in my computer?”, we are asking that person to put a copy of the program Microsoft Word™ inside our computer’s hard disk.

The term “Install” defined

Input (throug h Input Devices)

PROCESSING

(b y the CPU)

Output (via Output Devices) Data Information The Definition of “Program” revisited

Input is the function of a computer where the

data

is placed inside (or

entered

into) the

computer; you were learn later (in this chapter) that in a computer, it is done through

Input

Devices

.

Processing is when a

program

(or a group of

programs

) acts on (i.e.,

transforms

) the

data

;

you will also learn later on that

processing

(of the

data

) takes place mainly inside the computer’s

CPU

(

Central Processing Unit

).

Output is the function of a computer where the transformed

data

(now called

information

) is presented back to the

user

for his/her consumption; later on, you will also learn

that

output

is handled by

Output Devices

.

Data VS Information

From the above discussion, a new term was surreptitiously introduced:

Data

. What is

“Data?”

How does it differ from the term

“Information?”

These questions need to be resolved,

because, in many discussions, computer scientists often talk about the terms

“Data”

and

“Information”

, so much so that the latter might be mistaken for the former and vice versa.

Well, strictly speaking,

Data

is defined as

raw, unprocessed facts

, while

Information

is

defined as

processed data

.

Thus, we define

data

in the context of its being

raw

, not having gone through

processing

by a computer yet, and we differentiate it from

information

, which is

data which has gone

through processing by a computer

.

Information

is therefore

the result of processing

(by a

computer).

In light of these definitions and the earlier definitions of

Input

,

Processing

, and

Output

, we

have a more “expanded” picture of our

Figure 1-1

:

More About Programs

Earlier in page 3, we defined the term

Program

, and we showed how it is closely related

to the

processing

done by a computer. In this section, we will talk a little more about programs.

Perhaps, this discussion might help you understand computers (and their

programs

) better:

J

As mentioned earlier, a

program

is

a set of instructions that a computer should

follow in order to accomplish a particular task

, which is

to process the data

. Thus,

the program

describes how the data is to be processed

.

Input, Processing, & Output defined Data and Information defined

New Terms: When talking (or reading) about computers, we often hear (or read) the terms, “Hardware” and “Software”. Let us define them: When computer professionals talk about the “Hardware”, they are talking about the physical equipment such as the case, floppy disk drives, keyboard, monitor, cables, speakers, and printers; and when they talk about the “Software”, they are talking about the programs and data that are used to operate the computer system. As a rule of thumb, anything and everything on the computer which you can see and touch or feel are considered “Hardware”, while those which you can only think about (concepts) are considered “Software”.

J

A computer is only as good as the programs installed in it

. In fact, as mentioned

earlier, the more

programs

there are

installed

in a particular computer, the more

“processing”

(or tasks) can be done by

users

of that computer.

J

A corollary to the above statement is:

Without programs, the computer sitting on

our desk would just be considered as a very expensive paperweight

. Think of the

computer as your VCD player. Would your VCD player be an interesting piece of

equipment if you do not have VCDs to play on it? It wouldn’t, right? The same

analogy holds true with computers:

Software (i.e., programs) makes the hardware

(i.e., the computer) useful

.

J

Programs are man-made;

they are made by professionals called

computer

prog-rammers

. Sometimes, these

programmers

work alone or in

teams

, working for

software houses

like Microsoft

™

_.

J

Therefore, the

programs

are the

intellectual property

of the

programmers

who made

them. We should be buying the

programs

. Which brings us to the next topic…

Freeware, Shareware, Copyrighted, and Preloaded Software

When talking about software, you sometimes come across the terms,

“Freeware”

,

“Shareware”

,

“Copyrighted Software”

, or

“Preloaded Software”

. What are they, and how do

they differ from each other?

Hardware and Software

defined

Smart Idea: This tutorial is about computers and Windows XP™. It doesn’t teach you how to program a computer. If you want to learn how to program a computer, however, then it would be a good idea to try enrolling in one of ICI’s Programming crash courses, C++ or Visual Basic™. And if you find programming to be interesting, then it would be an even better idea to pursue a one-, two-, or even a three-year programming degree at ICI. We guarantee you, it will be a worthwhile investment on your part.

Actually, these terms are derived from the

cost of ownership

that acquiring these pieces

of

software

(i.e.,

programs

) would entail you. We have already mentioned (in the previous page)

that

programs

are

man-made

, and, thus, they are the

intellectual property

of the

programmers

themselves, or of the

software houses

in which they work for. Thus, normally, these programs are

copyrighted software

, meaning,

you must buy them to own a copy of them and to have the

right to “install” them in your computer

.

But there are times when the

programmer

(or

software house

) decides to

release

the

program(s)

to the

public domain

for

free

, without passing any

cost of ownership

to the public. In

cases like these, the piece(s) of

software

(or

program(s)

) in question is said to be

freeware

, and you

can obtain a copy of the

program(s)

(and “

install

” them in your computer) by any means

necessary, without having to pay a fee pertaining to your ownership of the said piece(s) of

software

. In short,

freeware programs are free, and they can be had at practically no costs

whatsoever

.

At other times, due to the rising cost of

packaging

and/or

marketing

their

software

,

individual

programmers

and small-time

software houses

have resorted to releasing their programs to

the public by means of offering them as

shareware

. The

Shareware

concept works as follows:

The

programmer

’s (or

software house

’)

software

is

posted

and circulated in the

Internet

as

shareware

.

This means that anyone interested in the

program

may

download

it and

install

it in his/her

computer, provided that:

1. He/she shares it (i.e., shows and give a copy of it) to other

interested

users

if possible; and 2. If he/she finds the

program

useful, the

user

should send a small

“contribution”

or

“licensing fee”

to the

programmer

(or

software house

), to support future

development of the

program

or other

software

the

programmer

(or

software house

) intends to make.

On the other hand, 3. If the

user

finds the

program

unnecessary (or not useful), he/she should

“uninstall”

(or

remove

) it from his/her computer. In other words,

shareware programs are not

really free, but they can be had at a minimal cost, and you are given the right to test it on

your computer before you buy it.

Therefore,

shareware programs

are

try-before-you-buy

pieces of

software

.

Copyrighted Software defined Freeware defined Shareware defined

Some software houses, however, usually charge you for the CD-writing or for the shipping of such program(s), so be prepared to shell out a few hundred pesos, especially if the piece of software you are requesting comes from a foreign country and cannot be easily downloaded on the Internet.

Fact: The Shareware concept is most appealing to programmers and small soft- ware houses which don’t have the manufacturing, packaging, and market-ing budgets of giant software houses like Microsoft™, because, by posting their programs in the Internet, they don’t need to package them in boxes and market them, so they save millions of dollars which would normally be spent on packaging and marketing their programs.

Nowadays, it’s common among large

hardware

(i.e.,

computer

) manufacturers (like

Compaq

™

_,

_Dell

™

_,

_HP

™

_{, and}

_IBM

™

_{) to sell their products with the}

_software

_already

_preloaded

_.

This means that the

software

(i.e.,

programs

) have already been paid for by the manufacture (their

cost will be passed on to the buyers/customers), and the manufacturer will then

install

the

software

unto the machine(s) even before they (the

hardware

) are bought. So, when the customer

buys the

hardware

, it already contains the necessary

software

, so he/she (the customer) doesn’t

have to look for a

computer technician

to have the

software installed

.

Shrinkwrap Agreements, EULAs, SLAs, and LAs

Also when talking about software, you sometimes come across the terms,

“Shrinkwrap

Agreement”

,

“End-User License Agreement”

(or

“EULA”

),

“Software License Agreement”

(or

“SLA”

), and

“License Agreement”

(or

“LA”

). What are they?

These are ways by which

programmers

and

software houses

“remind” the

user

that, before

he/she (the

user

) could use the

program

, he/she has to agree to terms which are meant to protect

the

programmer’s

(or

software house’

)

intellectual property rights

(

IPR

), and what are the

consequences if he/she violates those

rights

. Of course, the

programmer

(or

software house

) is

entitled to those

rights

, because they were the ones who wrote the

program

, and the

“Shrinkwrap

Agreement”

,

“EULA”

,

“SLA”

, or

“LA”

are only means by which the

user

can be reminded of

those

rights

.

Preloaded Software defined

Where to find Freeware and Shareware: The Internet is the largest source of Freeware and Shareware programs. If you already know how to use a Web Browser program (such as Internet Explorer™ or Mozilla Firefox™), try to “Google” the words Freeware and Shareware, and your browser will show you plenty of website hits (see the figure below)

In the case of the

“Shrinkwrap Agreement”

, this is named so because, in the past, most

software

were packaged in boxes, and these boxes were

shrinkwrapped

(see

Figure 1-2

below). So

an

agreement

(the

“Shrinkwrap Agreement”

) is usually attached (i.e., glued) to the

shrinkwrap

, so

that, before the user “destroys” the wrap and opens the boxed

software

, he/she should have seen

and read (and understood) the

agreement

.

Shrinkwrapped packaging

, however, had its own disadvantages:

1. They were expensive,

because

shrinkwrapping

was expensive;

2. They were not environment-friendly, because

shrinkwrapping

was made up of non-biodegradable plastic; 3. They paused a choking hazard to

the

user’s

/

customer’s

kids; and, last but not the least (and the issue here),

4. Most

users

seldom

read the

“Shrinkwrap Agreement”

before he/she tore the

shrinkwrap

apart and opened the

boxed

software

. Thus, the

shrinkwrap packaging

with

“Shrinkwrap Agreement”

was an

ineffective means of reminding the

user

/

customer

about the consequences of violating the

programmer’s

(or

software house

’)

intellectual property rights

. Other means had to be “invented”.

And so that’s why there are

“EULA

s

”

,

“SLA

s

”

, and

“LA

s

”

. Software giant

Microsoft

™

first coined the term

“EULA”

when it incorporated an

End-User License Agreement

screen

in

the

installation programs

of its software (see

Figure 1-3 on the next page), while other

software

companies followed suit and named their own

EULA

screens

as

“SLA

s

”

(

Software License

Agreement

s) or

“LA

s

”

(

License Agreement

s).

But what are these

EULA

s, SLAs, and LAs, anyway? Well, they serve the same purpose

as the formerly-used

“Shrinkwrap Agreement”

[which, again, was to “remind” the

user

that,

before he/she (the

user

) could use the

program

, he/she has to agree to terms which are meant to

protect the

programmer’s

(or

software house’

)

intellectual property rights

(

IPR

), and what are the

consequences if he/she violates those

rights

], except that these

agreements

were seen in the

installation screens

of the company’s

software

, instead of being shown in a sticker in a

shrinkwrap

.

Shrinkwrap Agreement defined Disadvantages of Shrinkwraps EULAs, LAs, and SLAs defined

Figure 1-2: In the past (and still in some software companies today), boxed software (second

from the left) is packaged using shrinkwrap (third), and a shrinkwrap agreement (left- most) usually glued to the shrinkwrap. Indeed, in the computer industry, shrinkwrapped packaging has plenty of applications, not just in packaging software but also hardware (rightmost).

Key Copyrighted Software Issues recapped

To this day,

software

companies still use these

EULA

s, SLAs, and LAs in the

installation

screens

of their

software

for sale.

Summary – And Some More

Whew! The foregoing discussion introduced lots of concepts (

Freeware

,

Shareware

,

Copyrighted Software

,

Preloaded Software

,

Shrinkwrap Agreement

s,

SLA

s, and

LA

s) which

can be confusing, so let’s try to recap some of the main points from the discussion, and add

some facts which were left out; perhaps, we can shed more light on the key concepts and issues

involved through this discussion:

J

Copyrighted

programs

are NOT

for free

. They are the

intellectual property

of the people

who

programmed

them, or of their

software houses

. You have to buy these

programs

in

order to have the right to

install

them in only one computer. If you own several

computers, then you have to buy several copies of the program or buy a

site license

.

There are plenty of examples of

copyrighted programs

; the

Microsoft

™

_programs

_{are ALL}

copyrighted

.

J

Even if you bought a

copyrighted program

, you are not allowed to make copies of it

and distribute or lend those copies. You are only allowed to make one (1)

backup

copy

, and it is only to be used in the event that the original copy gets damaged or

lost.

J

Any violation of the above rules, or of the

intellectual property rights

(

IPR

) of the

authors (

programmers

,

software houses

) of the

programs

will result in severe fines or

even imprisonment.

J

In the Philippines, the government organizations in charge of enforcing the law on

violators of these

IPR

rules is the

National Bureau of Investigation

(

NBI

) and the

Business Software Alliance

(

BSA

), a group headed by software giant

Microsoft

™

_.

Figure 1-3: Microsoft’s EULA (End User License Agreement) and Mozilla’s SLA (Software

Freeware facts recapped Shareware facts recapped Preloaded Software facts recapped The Advantage of Preloaded Software discussed

J

Freeware

programs

are, of course, ABSOLUTELY FREE. The largest source of

Freeware

(and, actually,

Shareware

)

programs

is the

Internet

. You can

download

as many

freeware programs

as you want.

J

Some

freeware programs

, however, have to be ordered by mail, so be prepared to shell

out a few hundred pesos for

CD-Writing

or

shipping

, especially if the piece of

software you are requesting comes from a foreign country. An example of a

freeware

program

that you might need to order is

Red Hat

™

_Linux

_{, because it comes in one or}

more

CD

s. Actually, you can

download

it from the

Internet

, if you have the patience…

J

Shareware

programs

, on the other hand, are TRY-BEFORE-YOU BUY

software

. As

mentioned above, the largest source of

Shareware

programs

is the

Internet

. You can

download

as many

freeware programs

as you want.

J

You can

download

(and

install

) as many

shareware programs

as you want, but don’t

forget that if you like the program, you have to pay the relatively small (if compared

to

copyrighted programs

)

“contribution”

or

“licensing fee”

to the

programmer

(or

software

house

), to support future development of the

program

or other

software

the

programmer

(or

software house

) intends to make.

J

On the other hand, if you do not like the

program

, you have to pay to

uninstall

(i.e.,

remove) it from your computer. You are still encouraged to share the

program’s

installation files

to other users; that’s the idea behind the

“Shareware” concept

.

J

Preloaded

software

are usually found in the

hardware

products (i.e., computers) of big

computer manufacturers like

Acer

™

,

Compaq

™

,

Dell

™

,

HP

™

,

IBM

™

,

Toshiba

™

, and

the other leading

brands

. The idea behind the

“Preloaded Software”

concept is that

all the necessary

software

(i.e.,

programs

) that a typical

user

would normally need is

already

pre-installed

in the computer, so that when he/she (i.e., the

user

/

customer

)

buys the computer, he/she doesn’t have to buy the individual pieces of

software

and

look for a

computer technician

to

install

each of them.

J

But what the

user

/

customer

might not know is that, because the

software

is already

pre-loaded

(or

pre-installed

), the cost of those

software

will be passed on to him/her.

However, because large quantities of those

software

need to be bought by the

computer manufacturer, the company can avail of huge

volume discounts

from the

software houses

that market those

software

. So, buying a

brand-name

computer with

preloaded software

will sometimes turn out to be a cheaper (and wiser) move than

buying a cheap,

non-branded

computer, buying the necessary

software

separately, then

hiring a

computer technician

to

install

those

software

. Plus, for busy people, it takes the

hassle away from having to buy the separate pieces of

software

then having to look

for a trustworthy

computer technician

who knows how to

install

those separate pieces

of

software

.

The Operating System defined

Figure 1-4: There are plenty of Operating Systems, but the leader of

the pack clearly Microsoft’s Windows™ family.

Programs Found In A Typical Computer

In this section, and for the remainder of this chapter, we will look into a “representative

list” of the

software

(i.e.,

programs

) that can be found in a typical computer set-up. Let us

emphasize that our discussion will focus mainly on the most common set of

programs

which can

be found on most computers, and this “list” is by no means exhaustive; as mentioned earlier, it

is only a “representative” collection of

software

that a typical computer ought to have:

1.

The Operating System

this is the most important program that every computer

should have. The

Operating System

is the

special type of program that controls

the overall operations of a computer

. It performs basic tasks, such as

recog-nizing

input

from the

keyboard

, sending

output

to the

display screen

, keeping track

of

files

and

folders

on the

disk

, and controlling

peripheral

devices, such as

disk

drives

and

printers

. Also, the

operating system

acts as a go-between the

users

(us)

and the computer; it allows us to

run

other

programs

,

open

files

,

edit

them,

print

them, and manipulate them in every way possible. Nowadays, it’s not possible to

turn on a computer that doesn’t have an

operating system

installed

in it. If you can

use a particular computer, then it means that that computer has an

operating

system

already

installed

in it. Common examples of operating systems are, of

course, our

Microsoft Windows

95

™

,

98

™

, and

XP

™

. Less common ones are

UNIX

™

_,

_BeOS

™

_{, etc. (see Figure 1-4 below).}

Fact: The company Microsoft™, based in Redmond, Washington, is the world’s largest manufacturer of computer operating systems and other computer software, with the Microsoft Windows™ operating system being installed in about 99% of computers all over the world. This makes Mr. Bill Gates, (see photo on the left) the founder, owner, and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft™, the world’s richest man.

About Microsoft

and Bill Gates

A Word Processor

defined

2.

A Word Processin

g

_program

(or a Word Processor)

is a computer

program

used to

compose

,

format

,

edit

and

print

documents. One of the earliest and most common computer

applications

,

word processors

allow us to type virtually any kind of documents, from

letters

to

reports

,

résumés

,

thesis

,

term papers

, and other kinds of documents. The

programs

WordStar

™

_and

_WordPerfect

™

_{were the earliest examples of}

_{word processing}

_programs,

popular during the 1980s and early 90s. They soon gave way to the very popular

Microsoft Word

™

_{, also made by the company}

_Microsoft

_{. (see Figure 1-5 below).}

Fact: Since its first release (version 1.0) of the Microsoft Windows™ Operating System in 1985, Microsoft has released plenty of versions of its Windows™ Operating System family. Some of its members (in the order of their appear- ance in the market) are: MS Windows 1.0™, MS Windows 2.0™, MS Windows 3.0™, MS Windows 3.1™, MS Windows for Workgroups 3.11™, MS Windows NT 3.1™, MS Windows NT 3.5™, MS Windows NT 3.51™, MS Windows 95™, MS Windows NT 4.0™, MS Windows CE 1.0™, MS Windows CE 2.0™, MS Windows 98™, MS Windows CE 2.1™, MS Windows 98 SE (Second Edition)™, MS Windows CE 3.0™, MS Windows 2000™, MS Windows ME (Millennium Edition) ™, MS Windows XP™, and MS Windows Server 2003™.

New Terms: The term “Applications Program” or “Applications Software” (or just “Application(s)”) is derived from the general categorizations or kinds of programs (or software). According to computer scientists, there are ge- nerally three (3) different kinds of programs/software:

Continued on the next page
The Three general categories of software discussed The many Microsooft Windows™ versions

Figure 1-5: Early Word Processors (like Micropro’s WordStar

™

and WordPerfect Cor- porations’s WordPerfect™) had a very primitive, non-graphical screen (see top, left), unlike today’s Word Processors (like Microsoft’s Word™), which feature high- ly graphical screens (see right) which allow you to “preview” what your document looks like even before it is printed.

An Electronic Spreadsheet Program defined

3. An Electronic Spreadsheet

program

also one of the first (if not the very first)

applications

,

this kind of

program

resembles an accountant’s

columnar pad

, organizing information into

software

defined

columns

and

rows

. The

data

can then be “added up” by a

formula

to give a

total or

sum

. In the business world, one of the uses of the

electronic spreadsheet program

is

to summarize information from many sources in one place and presents the information

in a format to help a decision maker see the financial "big picture" for the company. The

program

was in fact invented by two American business school students,

Dan Bricklin

and

Bob Frankston

, who were tired of using

columnar pads

, so they invented an

electronic replacement to the

columnar pad

, called

Visicalc

™

_{. It was soon followed by}

Lotus 1-2-3

™

_{(made by}

_{Mitchell Kapor}

_{and his company,}

_{Lotus Development}

Corporation

) and

Borland Quattro Pro

™

_{(made by the company}

_Borland

_{), which were}

popular during the 1980s and early 90s. (see Figure 1-6 in the next page). Both programs,

however, soon gave way to the very popular

Microsoft Excel

™

_{, also made by the}

company

Microsoft

(see also

Figure 1-6 in the next page). The

electronic spreadsheet

program

is indeed widely used in offices all over the world today, not only by

accountants, but also by ordinary office workers.

New Terms (cont’d.): v

Fact: In accounting jargon, a "spread sheet" or spreadsheet was and is in fact a large sheet of paper with columns and rows that organizes data about tran- sactions for a business person to examine. It spreads or shows all of the costs, income, taxes, and other related data on a single sheet of paper for a manager to examine when making a decision.

The Three general categories of software discussed (cont’d.) The original definition of the word “Spreadsheet”

Figure 1-6: Electronic Spreadsheets have come a long way, from the grainy, colorless

screens of Lotus Development Corporation’s Lotus 1-2-3™ to the colorful, po- lished screens of Microsoft’s Excel™.

4.

Graphics

program

a kind of

application

that was invented later on in the history of compu-

ters (because of limitations of

computer graphics

technology in the past), this is used for

manipulating various kinds of

pictures

and

diagrams

, from primitive

drawings

to simple

block diagrams

to actual

photographs

. It would be too tedious to trace the development of

graphics programs

(because there are plenty of different kinds of

graphics programs

), but, in

the case of

IBM PC

™

_-based

_{graphics programs}

_{, it all started with the inclusion of a}

_“paint”

program

(called, appropriately enough,

Paint

™

_{) in the}

_{Microsoft Windows}

™

_operating

system

, and, since then, a lot of

software

manufacturers have come out with their own

similar or more sophisticated

programs

(see also the note below and Figure 1-7 on page

16 and 17).

Graphics programs

have also developed hand in hand with

games

, with the

former sometimes borrowing technological innovations from the latter.

Graphics programs defined

Facts: Scientists often classify Graphics programs as belonging to any of the fol- lowing genres:

a.] “Paint” Programs
are the simplest kind of graphics programs availa- ble in the market. These programs are the easiest to use (even kids know how to use them), but they are the most underpowered and least accurate kind of graphics programs. A common example of this is the low-end Paint™, which is part of Microsoft Windows™. Others are Creative Painter™, and Zealsoft Corporation’s FunPhotor™ which are programs suited to kids, stimulating their creativity.

Continued on the next page
Different types

of Graphics programs “Paint” Programs

Facts (cont’d.):

b.] Sign- and/or Banner-making Programs
are graphics programs de- signed for making Signs, Banners, Calendars, or other printed material. These programs contain colorful and attractive ready-made designs or “templates”, and an ample collection of fonts and Clipart. Examples of this kind of graphics program are Microsoft’s very own Publisher™ and the famous products Broderbund Printshop™ and Print Artist™. c.] Presentation Graphics Programs
are graphics programs designed

for making Presentations or Slideshows. Presentations are what we us- ually see in Southern Cable Vision’s Information Channel. Before SCVI airs its announcements in its Information Channel, its graphic designers prepare Microsoft Powerpoint™ slides of the contents of its announce-ments. And when the day come to air the announcements, the graphic designers just play their prepared Slideshows from a PC whose video output is telecast by SCVI in its Information Channel. Presentation Gra-phics programs also feature their own collection of fonts and Clipart. d.] Desktop Publishing (DTP) Programs
are graphics programs de- signed for accurately lay-outing text and graphic elements in a single page or several pages. These programs are most useful to the Layout Artists or Editors in such establishments as Printing/Publishing Bureaus or Print Media (i.e., Newspaper) houses. Examples of this kind of prog- ram are Adobe (formerly Aldus) PageMaker™, CorelDRAW™, and the newer Adobe InDesign™. These programs also feature their own font

and/or Clipart collections.

e.] Photoediting Programs
are graphics programs designed for accu- rately editing scanned or camera-taken photographs. These programs are most useful to Photographic Artists or Editors. Leading examples of this kind of graphics program are Adobe Photoshop CS™ and Corel- DRAW™. Note that CorelDRAW™ is a unique, versatile graphics prog- ram because it serves not only as a Desktop Publishing (DTP) prog- ram, but also as a Photoediting program.

f.] 2D and/or 3D Modeling and/or Animation Programs
are graphics programs designed to be used by Scientists, Engineers, and Game De- signers, and Animators in making their two-dimensional (2D) or three- dimensional (3D) mathematical, engineering, chemical, and animation models. Some of these programs are so good, they can accept mathe- matical formulas and accurately graph them, or they can imitate the movements of the human body. There are already a lot of examples of this kind of graphics program; two of the most famous are Maya™ and 3DS (meaning, 3D Studio) Max™.

g.] Web Graphics Programs
are graphics programs designed to pro- duce the lightweight, memory-thrifty graphic elements (icons, buttons, backgrounds, and animations) required by Website Editors and Design- ers in constructing their Internet websites. Leading examples of this kind of graphics program; some of them are Macromedia Flash™, Xara3D™, SWiSHmax™, and Macromedia Fireworks™.

h.] Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Programs
are graphics programs designed specifically for Architects and Engineers who make detailed designs such as floor plans and machine assembly diagrams. These

Sign or Banner-making Programs Presentation Graphics Programs Desktop Publishing (DTP) Programs Photoediting Programs 2D and/or 3D Modeling and/or Animation Programs Web Graphics Programs Computer- Aided Design

1

2

3

Figure 1-7: The Graphics programs discussed earlier are (numbered): 1.] Microsoft Paint™; 2.] Creative Painter™; 3.] FunPhotor™ (see the author’s face inside the bogus dollar bill?); 4.] Microsoft Publisher™; 5.] Broderbund PrintShop™; 6.] Sierra Print Artist™; 7.] Mi- crosoft PowerPoint™; 8.] Adobe PageMaker ™; 9.] CorelDRAW™; 10.] Adobe InDesign™; and 11.] Adobe Photoshop™.

Continued on the next page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Facts (cont’d.):

a.] a very high level of detail. For example, an Architect can show the effect of the choice of paint on his/her house (or building), or he/she can show how the house (or building) will look like if it is surrounded by foliage (i.e., trees). The prospective client will then have an idea of how his/her house (or building) will look like, even before it is constructed. There are already a lot of examples of this kind of graphics program; four of the most famous ones are AutoCAD™, ArchiCAD™, DesignCAD™, and IntelliCAD™.

CAD Programs (cont’d.)

New Terms: In the discussion about the various kinds of Graphics programs on pages 14 to 16, the terms “Font” and “Clipart” are used. In computer lingo, the term “Font” refers to a computer typeface or “lettering”, while the term “Clipart” (pronounced as “Clip Art”) refers to pre-stored pictures or photo-graphs. The word font usually refers to a single typeface or lettering, while the word clipart (a mass noun) refers to a collection of pre-stored pictures or photographs. There are commercial products for sale that are just huge collections of Font and Clipart. Two of the more popular ones are Hemera Photo Objects™ (bottom, left) and Adobe Font Folio™ (bottom, right).

5.

Utilities or Utility

Programs

are a kind of

systems program

(as mentioned in page 13) that

was invented specifically for the purpose of monitoring the health of the computer’s

component parts. The computer is a very expensive, yet sensitive machine. A lot of its

component parts have to be continuously monitored, lest they fall into ruin. For

example, the

Motherboard

is the main circuit, and its

temperature

(along with that of the

CPU

’s) has to be closely monitored, lest it will rise to dangerous levels. The

Hard Disk

is also another piece of computer equipment which has to be closely monitored, lest it

could develop

Bad Sectors

. The

Power Supply

must be fed a steady

220-volt

diet; any

Figure 1-7 (cont’d.): 12.] Maya™; 13.] 3DS Max™; 14.] Macromedia Flash™; 15.] Xara 3D™; 16.]

Macromedia Fireworks™; 17.] SWiSHmax™; 18.] AutoCAD™; 19.] ArchiCAD™; 20.] De- signCAD™; and 21.] IntelliCAD™.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Font and Clipart defined Utilities (or Utility Programs) defined

Figure 1-8: Here are the above-mentioned products (left to right): Norton Disk Doctor™, which checks your Hard Disk for Bad Sectors and other errors; Norton SystemWorks™, which bundles together, in one package, Norton Disk Doctor™ and other Diagnostic Tools; McAfee Antivirus™, which protects your computer against computer virus infections; and McAfee Firewall™, which protects your computer system from unwanted access by unauthorized people (such as hackers).

fluctuations

might affect the

Motherboard

. These “needs” have spurred further innovation

in the world of computers, which, in turn, has created its own after-market niche. Thus,

it is not surprising to see

AVR

s and

UPS

s being sold in the market, catering to those

individuals who want to make sure that their

Power Supplies

are fed a steady

220-volt

power. On the

software

(i.e,

programs

) side, we have also seen so-called

PC-Health

and

other

Diagnostic

programs, designed to monitor the temperature of both the

Motherboard

and the

CPU

, among other things. Likewise, programs have already been invented (like

the Norton Disk Doctor

™

, which is part of the Norton SystemWorks

™

suite of programs)

that were designed to monitor the health of our

Hard Disk

, keeping it in tip-top shape

and maximizing its performance. Programs (like

McAfee Viruscan™

and

McAfee Firewall™

) have also been invented that would protect our computers from being

infected

by

computer viruses

or being

infiltrated

by

hackers

. The above-mentioned programs (see

Figure 1-8 below) are just four examples of

Utilities

or

Utility Programs

which are being

sold in the market; there are a lot more of them, catering to our computer

“protection”

and

“optimization”

needs and wants.

6. Internet

Programs

are

programs

specifically designed for working (and playing around) in

the

Internet

(also affectionately called

the Net

or

the Web

). They are divided into several

categories. Some of the more important ones are:

a.]

Web

Browser

Programs

are

programs

which allow us to navigate or

surf

around the

net

. There are a number of

web browser

programs available in the market today

(some are even distributed as

freeware

), but the most popular are:

1.] Microsoft Internet Explorer™

(also known by its abbreviation,

MSIE™

), which comes with

the

Microsoft Windows™

operating system

;

2.] Mozilla Firefox ™

, which some

experts say is better than

MSIE™

;

3.] Opera ™

, which is a fast, lightweight

web

browser

program (which means that it doesn’t eat a lot of your

hard disk

space);

4.] Neoplanet™

, which shares some of Firefox’s and Opera’s cool features; and 5.]

Netscape™

, which actually was the first commercial

web browser

program that was

Internet Programs defined Web Browser Programs defined

Figure 1-9: The most popular Web Browser programs available in the market (and in the Internet) today are (numbered, clockwise): 1.] Microsoft Internet Explorer™ (also known as MSIE™); 2.] Mozilla Firefox™; 3.] Opera™; 4.] Neoplanet™; and 5.] Netscape™.

1

3 4

2

5

introduced in the market, but whose popularity (and market dominance) was

overtaken by the emergence of

MSIE

and the other

web browsers

. (see

Figure 1-9

below for some screenshots of these programs).

b.]

Search

Programs

(also called Search Engines)

are

programs

(which actually reside in

the

Internet

) that allow us to

search

for certain

topics

,

pictures

, or other stuff in the

net

. Again, there are a number of popular

search

programs available in the

net

, but

the most popular (and competing ones) are Google

™

and Yahoo!

™

(see Figure

1-10 on the next page).

c.]

e-Mail (or Electronic Mail)

Programs

are

programs

that allow us to

send

messages in

the

internet

, much like we are sending ordinary (written)

mail

. In order to send

and/or receive

e-Mail

, though, a person must have his/her own

e-Mail Address

.

Again, in the

internet

, there are a lot of popular (and free)

e-Mail

programs, but

the most popular (and competing ones) are Yahoo! Mail

™

, and the new services,

Google, Inc. ‘s GMail™

and WallaMail

™

(see also Figure 1-10 on the next page).

Search Programs defined e-Mail Programs defined

Figure 1-10: Although there are many Search programs in the market (and in the Internet), the contest for the best Search Engine is dominated only by two popular entries, 1.] Google™ and 2.] Yahoo!™; Google’s simplicity and accurate search results makes it the number one Search Engine for now, but Yahoo!, with its many services (its e-Mail service, for example, is what made it so popular), is slowly catching up. The world of Electronic Mail is still domi- nated by 3.] Yahoo! Mail™, one of the first to offer free e-Mail service. But Google, Inc. has come out with its own 4.] GMail™, and other companies, like wall.com, have come up with their own free e-Mail services (like 5.] Walla! mail me™, one of the first to offer huge mail storage capacity).

1

2

3 4

5

d.] “Chat”

and “Messenger”

Programs

are

programs

that allow us to

send

messages in

real time

in the

internet

, much like we are sending

SMS

(or

“text”

)

messages

on our

cell phones

. Unlike

e-Mail

, wherein the response may take hours, days, or even

weeks (it depends on whether the

recipient

will answer the

e-Mail message

right a-

way or not), with

“Chat”

and

“Messenger”

programs, the response can be

simul-Chat and Messenger Programs defined

Figure 1-11: In the world of “Chat” and “Messenger” programs, 3.] Yahoo Messen- ger™ and 4.] Friendster™ are in the hearts and minds of teen-aged Internet users today, but it all started with programs like 1.] mIRC™ and 2.] ICQ™.

1 2 3

4

taneous. These programs employ technologies (such as

IRC

or

Internet Relay

Chat

) that are different from the technologies employed by

e-Mail

programs, and

so that’s why it’s possible to get an instantaneous response. In the

internet

, there

are a lot of popular (and free)

“Chat”

and

“Messenger”

programs, but it all started

with the still-popular mIRC

™

, and there are other relatively “new” services and

messaging systems, such as

ICQ™

,

Yahoo! Messenger™

, and

Friendster™

(see

Figure 1-11 below).

Summary

Whew? It was a rather long-winded discussion about the programs found in a typical

computer, right? Let’s try to recap the key points, then:

J

Generally speaking, there are only three (3) kinds or categories of programs found in

computers:

1.]

Systems software

;

2.]

Applications software

; and

3.]

Programming

languages

. The term Systems software refers to

those programs which are needed for our

computers to function properly

. Included in this category are the

Operating System

and

J

The Operating System is the

most important program in every computer

, because it

con-trols the overall operations of the computer

, thereby effectively serving as its traffic cop.

J

Utilities, on the other hand,

are programs

(which the computer user could install in

his/her computer)

that help in ensuring the smooth and trouble-free operation of the

com-puter

. There are plenty of

utilities

out there in the market, ranging from

Disk-checking

to

Anti-virus

programs.

J

The term Applications Programs or Applications Software (or just Applications)

is used to refer to

the collection of programs that we, the ordinary users of computers,

employ in our daily computer “chores”, whether it be at the office or at home

.

J

Indeed, the Applications

category encompasses the largest collection of programs. It

includes the program which we mentioned earlier, namely:

Word Processors

,

Electronic

Spreadsheets

,

Graphics

, and

Internet

programs, among others. Many more

applications

are still being developed, or have yet to be developed as we speak, because there are

still plenty of computer

application areas

for which programs are still being developed

or have yet to be developed.

J

Word Processors are programs used to

compose

,

format

,

edit

and

print

documents,

while

Electronic Spreadsheets are the “computerized” equivalent of the

account-tant’s

columnar pad

.

J

There are plenty of Graphics

applications

in the market today. For instance, there are:

a.]

_{Paint Programs}

;

b.]

_Sign-

and/or

Banner-making Programs

;

c.]

_{Presentation Graphics}

Programs

;

d.]

_{Desktop Publishing (DTP) Programs}

;

e.]

_{Photoediting Programs}

;

f.]

_2D

and/or

3D Modeling

and/or

Animation Programs

;

g.]

_{Web Graphics Programs}

; and

h.]

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Programs

. Again, let us emphasize that this is just a

representative list; many more

graphics applications

are still being developed, or have

yet to be developed as we speak, because there are still plenty of computer

graphics

application areas

for which programs are still being developed or have yet to be

developed. Also, developments in

graphics

technologies go hand-in-hand with

deve-lopments in

game

technologies.

J

A similar situation exists among

Internet

applications

. There are plenty of

Internet

applications

; but many more are still being developed or have yet to be developed,

especially in the application area of

video transmission

and

Voice over IP

(

VoIP

). Right

now, there are:

a.]

_{Web Browser Programs}

;

b.]

_{Search Programs}

;

c.]

_{e-Mail Programs}

;

and

d.]

_“Chat”

&

“Messenger” Programs

.

J

Lastly,

Programming Languages

are

software

(i.e.,

programs

) used in making other

software

(

programs

). There are plenty of kinds and examples of

Programming

Langua-ges

. For instance, there are

Procedural

programming languages like

C

,

Pascal

, and

BASIC

. There are also

Object-Oriented

programming languages such as

SmallTalk

,

C++

, and

Java

. A discussion of these kinds and examples will cover more than a

semester, and it is just beyond the scope of our discussion. Those who are interested

About Your

Computer’s Hardware

W

elcome anew to the interesting world of computers! In this

chapter, you will learn what are the different types of computers,

what kind do we have at home and at school, what makes up a

computer, and other facts and concepts about computer

hardware

. Along the way, you’ll also learn bits and pieces about

the history of computers, especially the

desktop

computers we are

using at home and at school. Additionally, you’ll learn some terms

used by computer experts when they speak of (and write about)

computer

hardware

.

Chapter Objectives

After you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to:



Outline the different kinds or types of computers.



Differentiate between the kind/type of computer we are

using and those used in banks, research institutions, etc.



Identify the

basic parts

of a computer in general, and an

IBM PC

™

or compatible computer, in particular.



Explain the

function

of these parts and

where

in our

IBM

PC

™

_{or compatible computer are they}

_{connected to}

_.



Explain some of the

special usages

of some of these basic

computer parts (such as the

Ctrl and Alt

keys

in a

keyboard

), and how to perform them.



Differentiate between some

variations

of the same parts,

and explain what these variations are for.

C H A P T E R

+ + + + +

In This Chapter:

Putting Everything In

Pers-pective: The Four Different

Kinds/Types Of Computers

1.] Mainframes

2.] Supercomputers

Mainframes VS Supercom-

puters

3.] Minicomputers

4.] Microcomputers

+ + + + +

2

2

2

2

Mainframes defined

Putting Everything In Perspective: The Four Different

Kinds/Types Of Computers

Towards the end of the previous chapter, when we discussed about the

“Programs Found

In A Typical Computer”

, we should have meant

“Programs Found In A Typical Desktop

Computer”

or

“Programs Found In A Typical Microcomputer”

, because the programs that

we mentioned are more typically found in a

Desktop

or

Microcomputer

. But you might ask,

“And

what precisely is a Desktop or Microcomputer?”

. Well, it is a

kind

or

type

of computer. Thus,

in order to avoid confusion in the future, let us first put everything in the proper perspective by

discussing about the

kinds

or

types

of computers. Historically, there have been (and there are

still) four (4) different

kinds

or

types

of computers. They are:

1.]Mainframes

Often colloquially referred to as

“big iron”

, these are the

large and

“expensive” computers used mainly by government institutions and large

companies for mission-critical applications, typically bulk data processing

such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, and bank transaction

processing.

The term arose during the early 1970s with the introduction of smaller, less

com-plex computers such as the

DEC PDP

™

series, which became known as

mini(computer)s

. The industry/users then coined the term

“mainframe”

to

describe the larger, earlier types (previously known simply as “computers”).

Modern mainframe computers’ abilities are not so much defined by their

perfor-mance capabilities as for their

high-quality internal engineering and resulting proven

reliability

, “expensive” but

high-quality technical support

,

top-notch security

, and

strict

backward compatibility for older software

.

These machines can and do run successfully

for years without interruption

, with repairs taking place while they continue to run.

Mainframe vendors offer such services as

off-site redundancy

–

if a machine does

break down, the vendor offers the option to run customers’ applications on their own

machines

(often without users even noticing the change) while repairs go on.

Mainframes often support thousands of simultaneous users who gain access

through

“dumb” terminals

(see Figure 2-1 on the next page), so-called because

they consist of a

computer screen

, usually with a dull

monochrome

(i.e., green

letters on a black background) color, and

keyboard

, but with practically no

processing ability. Early mainframes either supported this kind of

timesharing

mode

or a

batch mode

, where users had no direct access to the computing

service, it solely providing

back office

functions. Nowadays, mainframes support

access via any

user interface

.

Another type of

terminal

used in

mainframes

are

remote terminals

. As the name

implies,

remote terminals

are

(dumb) terminals which are geographically distant in

Advantages of Mainframes

Mainframes and “Dumb“