ICT Notes
HARDWARE &
SOFTWARE
• All ICT systems consists of two main parts:
– Hardware
– Software
Hardware
• Hardware means those parts of the computer you can
touch.
• This means that they are components such as;
– Printer
– Keyboards
– Memory
– Storage devices etc.
• Even the storage media is classed as hardware.
Software
• Software means the programs that supply the
instructions to the hardware to tell it what to do.
– “the actual programs consisting of instructions that
allow the hardware to do a useful job”.
• For example;
– Operating system
• MS Windows, Apple Mac, Red Hat etc.
– Application Software
• MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc.
Examples of Computer Hardware
• Hardware consists of the physical components of an
ICT system.
– Keyboard
– Monitor
– Processor
– Speakers
– Mouse
– Fixed hard disks
– ROM/RAM
– Printer
– Web cam
Examples of Computer Software
• The software is the set of instructions that tells the
computer hardware what to do.
• Computer software is written in a computer language
and there are quite a few different ones.
• Computer hardware is useless without software.
• There are two main types:
– Operating Systems
– Applications Software
Examples of Computer Software
• Operating systems
• Word-processing package
• Presentation package
• Spreadsheet package
• Web browser
• Database
• CAD
• Web design package
• Photo editing package
Main components of General-Purpose Computer
• The main components of a general-purpose computer
are:
– Input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc)
– Output devices (printer, monitor, speakers, etc)
– Secondary storage devices (DVD-R, Hard disks, etc)
– Processor and Internal memory devices
• The Processor and Internal memory devices include
the;
– Central Processing Unit (CPU),
– Read Only Memory (ROM),
– Random Access Memory (RAM)
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• The CPU, often the Processor, is the brain of the
computer;
– and it consists of millions of tiny circuits on a silicon
chip.
• CPU functions:
– The CPU controls the step-by-step running of the
computer system
– It does all the calculations and
– Perform all the logical operations and
– Deals with the storage of data and programs in
memory.
Internal Memory (ROM / RAM)
• There are two types of memory called ROM & RAM.
• Both these two types of memory are stored on chips
and are available immediately to the CPU.
• Memory (i.e. ROM & RAM) is often called primary
storage.
ROM (Read Only Memory)
• ROM is the fast permanent memory used for holding
instructions needed to start up the computer.
• ROM is:
– Held on a computer chip.
– Called non-volatile memory because it does not lose
its contents when the power is turned off.
– Used to hold instructions to start the computer, which
are called the boot program or BIOS (Basic Input/Out
System).
• It is the job BIOS to find out which devices are connected to
the computer when it is first switched on and also loads the
operating system.
– ROM is used to store data that cannot be altered by
the user.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
• RAM is a fast temporary memory where programs and
data are stored only when the power is supplied.
• RAM is:
– Held on a computer chip
– Called volatile memory because the contents
disappear when the power is turned off.
– Can be written to and read from
– Can be altered by the user
– Holds the software currently in use by the user
RAM
The Importance of ROM & RAM
• Having a large amount of ROM and RAM in a
computer is important, because having more memory
means:
– Applications run faster on their own
– More applications are able to run at the same time
– Users are able to move quickly between applications.
Input devices
• These are used to get raw data into the computer ready
for processing by the CPU.
• Some input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch
screen, microphone, etc are manual and need to be
operated by a human.
• Other are automatic and once they are set up they can
be left to input the data on their own.
– These include optical mark readers, optical character
readers, etc.
Output devices
• Once the raw data has been processed it becomes
information and this information needs to be output
from the computer using an output device.
• Output devices include monitors/screens, printers,
speakers, plotters, etc.
Backing Storage
• Secondary storage devices use removable media.
• Secondary/backing storage is used for the storage of
programs and data that are not needed instantly by the
computer.
• It is also used for long-term storage of programs and
data as well as for backup copies in case the original
data is lost.
• Secondary/backing storage media includes
– portable hard disks,
– magnetic tape,
– memory sticks,
– flash memory cards, and
– optical disks such as CD and DVD.
