Computer Hardware and Software: Components, Data Representation, and Computer Functioning , Study notes of Accounting

Download Computer Hardware and Software: Components, Data Representation, and Computer Functioning and more Study notes Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 4: Hardware and Software I. Manager Need to Know About Comp. Hardware A. Basic Components 1. input hardware: keyboard, mouse, doc. scanners, bar-code scanners, mics, & tablet computers a. scantron test scanners is an older input device 2. processing devies includes central processing unit (CPU): brain of the comp. b/c it a. CPU selects instructions, processes them, performs arithmetic & logical comparisons, and stores results of operations i. comp. w/ two CPUs is called a dual-processor ii. quad-processor comps have 4 CPUs b. the type of CPU you need depends on the nature of your work c. CPU works in conjunction with main memory by reading data/instructions from it and stores results of things in it i. also called RAM (random access memory) d. special function cards can be added to comp. to augment basic abilities 3. output hardware: video displays, printers, audio speakers, projectors 4. storage hardware: saves data & programs a. magnetic disks most popular b. sometimes dvds or cds used B. Computer Data 1. Binary Digits: how comps. represent data a. also called bits b. it is either a 0 or a 1 2. Sizing Comp. Data a. all data on a comp is stored as a bit and can be any sort of thing 3. bits are grouped into 8-bit chunks called bytes a. for characters, one character = one byte 4. bytes used to measure other things besides characters, like photos, main memories, disks, and other comp. devices. a. kilobyte (k) collection of 1,024 bytes b. megabyte (MB) is 1,024 K c. gigabyte (GB) is 1,024 MB d. terabyte (TB) is 1,024 GB C. How a Comp. Works 1. CPU is major actor a. to run program/process data , comp. must transfer it from disk to the main memory b. to execute it, moves it from main mem. to to CPU via data channel or bus c. CPU has small amount of very fast memory called a cache i. keeps frequently used instruct. in here