Quiz 3

Quiz 3

1. Describe the four categories of output.
2. The characteristics of LCD monitors, LCD screens, plasma monitors, and HDTVs.
3. What are the components inside the systems units.
4. The components of a processor and how they complete a machine cycle.
5. Define a bit and describe how a series of bits represents data.
6. Identify the categories of application software.
7. Identify the key features of widely used business programs.
8. What are the advantages of using application software on the Web.
9. History of the Internet.
10. What are diferent storage devices.

Answer:


1.  The four categories of output are text, graphics, audio and video.  When we say text it sounds like we are referring to deliver a message.   Graphics are visual, presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings,Line are, graphs, diagrams,typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawing, or other images.  Audio is an electrical or other representation of sound.  Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence ofstill images representing scenes in motion.

2.  An LCD monitor is brighter than a CRT, giving the consumer little reason to hunt for an especially bright model. Brightness is measured in nits, or one candela per square meter. Anywhere from 250 - 300 nits is standard. If the nits are much higher you'll likely end up adjusting the brightness way down, LCD screen a cathode ray tube or liquid crystal display (LCD) screen,
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays 30 inches (76 cm) or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent lamps, High-definition television (or HDTV) is video that has resolutionSDTV or SD). HDTV has one or two million pixel per frame, roughly five times that of SD. Early HDTV broadcasting used analog techniques, but today HDTV is digitally broadcast using video compression. substantially higher than that of traditional television systems (standard-definition TV, or Some personal video recorder (PVRs) with hard disk storage but without high-definition tuners are described as "HD", for "Hard Disk", which can be a cause of confusion.

3. The main part, processing unit and devices, of a microcomputer is a system unit. A system unit includes a board called a motherboard that holds a microprocessor chip (or a CPU), memory chips, and expansion slots. Electronic circuitry is printed on the board and it connects between two main parts of a microcomputer, the microprocessor and primary storage and other parts. The system unit is housed within the system cabinet. A system unit includes the following parts:

• Motherboard
• Microprocessor
• Memory Chips
• System Clock
• Buses
• Ports
• Expansion Slots and Cards

4. Components of a Processor

• Control unit -- responsible for supervising the operation of the entire computer system.
• Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) -- provides the computer with logical and computational capabilities.
• Register -- a storage location inside the processor.  

Each time the CPU executes an instruction, it takes a series of steps. The complete series of steps is called a machine cycle. A machine cycle can be divided into two smaller cycles. These are instruction cycle and execution cycle.Instruction cycle: In instruction cycle CPU takes two steps--1. Fetching: Before the CPU can execute an instruction, the control unit must retrieve or fetch a command or data from the computer's memory.2. Decoding: Before a command can be executed, the control unit must decode the command into instruction set.

Execution cycle: In execution cycle CPU also takes two steps--
1. Executing: When the command is executed, the CPU carried out the instructions in order by converting them into macrocode.
2. Storing: The CPU may be required to store the result of an instruction in memory.

5.  A bit (a contraction of binary digit) is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states. These may be the two stable states of a flip flop, two positions of an electrical switch, two distinct voltage or current levels allowed by a circuit, two distinct levels of light intensity, two directions of magnetization or polarization, etc. When the user press any letter using the keyboard the electronic signal from that letter is sent to the system unit. Then the system unit convert it to its binary code and stored in memory for processing. After processing the binary code for that particular letter is converted to an image and displayed on the output device (monitor).

6.  Computer Software
Computer software is defined as a set of programs and procedures that are intended to perform some tasks on a computer system. A software program is a set of instructions that are aimed at changing the state of computer hardware. At the lowest level software is in a form of an assembly language, a set of instructions in a machine-understandable form. At the highest level, software is in a form of high-level languages, which are compiled or interpreted into machine language code.
Major Types of Software
Computer software systems are classified into three main types, namely, system software, programming software and application software. System software is comprised of device drivers, operating system, server and other such software components, which help the programmer abstract away from the memory and hardware features of the system. Programming software assists the programmer in writing programs by providing him/her with tools such as editors, compilers, linkers, debuggers and more. Application software, one of the most important types of software, is used to achieve certain specific tasks.
What is Application Software?
Application software utilizes the capacities of a computer directly to a dedicated task. Application software is able to manipulate text, numbers and graphics. It can be in the form of software focused on a certain single task like word processing, spreadsheet or playing of audio and video files.
Different Types of Application Software

Word Processing Software: This software enables the users to create and edit documents. The most popular examples of this type of software are MS-Word, WordPad, Notepad and some other text editors.
Database Software: Database is a structured collection of data. A computer database relies on database software to organize the data and enable the database users to achieve database operations. Database software allows the users to store and retrieve data from databases. Examples are Oracle, MSAccess, etc.
Spreadsheet Software: Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and Apple Numbers are some examples of spreadsheet software. Spreadsheet software allows users to perform calculations. They simulate paper worksheets by displaying multiple cells that make up a grid.
Multimedia Software: They allow the users to create and play audio and video media. They are capable of playing media files. Audio converters, players, burners, video encoders and decoders are some forms of multimedia software. Examples of this type of software include Real Player and Media Player.
Presentation Software: The software that is used to display information in the form of a slide show is known as presentation software. This type of software includes three functions, namely, editing that allows insertion and formatting of text, methods to include graphics in the text and a functionality of executing the slide shows. Microsoft PowerPoint is the best example of presentation software.

7.  The Key Features in Business programs in terms of software is editting and typing and other stuff knowing what letters to use like formating.

8.  A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is hosted in a browser-controlled environment (e.g. a java applet or coded in a browser-supported language (such as java script combined with a browser-rendered markup language like HTML) and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.
Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of web browsers, and the convenience of using a web browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity, as is the inherent support for cross-platform compatibility. Common web applications include web mail, online retail sales, wikis and many other functions.

• Web applications do not require any complex "roll out" procedure to deploy in large organizations. A compatible web browser is all that is needed;
• Browser applications typically require little or no disk space on the client;
• They require no upgrade procedure since all new features are implemented on the server and automatically delivered to the users;
• Web applications integrate easily into other server-side web procedures, such as email and searching.
• They also provide cross-platform compatibility in most cases (i.e., Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) because they operate within a web browser window.

9.  The history of the Internet starts in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of computers. This began with point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching. Packet switched networks such as ARPANET, Mark I at NPL in the UK, CYCLADES, Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET in particular led to the development of protocols for internetworking, where multiple separate networks could be joined together into a network of networks.
In 1982 the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized and the concept of a world-wide network of fully interconnected TCP/IP networks called the Internet was introduced. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) developed the Computer Science NetworkNSFNET provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education organizations. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. Commercial internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late 1980s and 1990s and the Internet was commercialized in 1995 when NSFNET was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic. (CSNET) and again in 1986 when
Since the mid-1990s the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) "phone calls", two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research and education community continues to use advanced networks such as NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) and Internet2. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment and social networking.

10.  Computers have the capability to store your information in a variety of different ways. All of these different ways require a specific storage device. More than likely, you have used a variety of different storage devices on your computer. You just may not have realized it at the time. Storage by way of zip drives and floppy discs is now a thing of the past. There are many new solutions for computer users to store large amounts of data.

1. Hard Drive (Internal)

   • Internal Hard Drive

     You computer's hard drive is the first most important type of storage. Anything that you download, applications that you install, your pictures, videos and music are all stored directly to your hard drive. Basically, anything that is on your computer is stored to your internal hard drive. Internal hard drive capacity is measured in gigabytes. For example, you may have a 500GB SATA hard drive on your computer. Also, internal computer hard drives have different speeds such as 5400RPM and 7200RPM. This reading is the speed that the hard drive disk spins. A faster hard drive will have higher RPM. The faster the hard drive spins, the faster your hard drive can read data, as well as write data.

   External Hard Drives

   • External Hard Drive

     External hard drives are exactly the same as internal drives, with one exception. Rather then being enclosed inside your computer, external hard drives have their own separate casing and sit externally to your computer. External hard drives can connect to your computer in a variety of ways. Some common connection types are: USB 2.0, ESATA, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. External hard drives measure capacity in gigabytes and have different speeds as well. For the most part, external hard drives are used for backup and storing files that a computer user may want to transport.

   Network Attached Storage

   • NAS Server

     Another common form of computer storage is network attached storage or NAS. Network attached storage is a method commonly used by businesses to share files between computers. A NAS is simply a storage device connected to a computer network. This is beneficial because many computers can read and write to a NAS. Network attached storage capacity is measured in gigabytes. Also, NASs are available with different hard drive speeds.
     Many at home computer users often create their own NAS devices by connecting an external hard drive to their router. This allows them to access it wirelessly, as well as share it with other computers.

   Optical Media Storage

   • Optical Drive

     Optical media storage is basically writing data to a CD or DVD. When your burn a CD, you are storing songs and music on the CD so that you can listen to it later. If you are burning a DVD, you are storing a video on it so that you can watch it later. CD-RW and DVD-RW media has the capability to be recorded on and erased later if necessary. This makes optical media storage ideal for transporting relatively small amounts of data.

   Flash Drives

   • Flash Drive

     Flash drives, or thumb drives, are one of the newest forms of computer storage. These drives connect to any computer by way of USB. Often times, students as well as business professionals, use flash drives as a simple way to transport text documents to and from work, and to and from school. When flash drives were first released, storage capacity was rather limited. However, companies are now manufacturing flash drives with huge storage capacities, up to 64GB.

Quiz 4 Internet/Web/Ebooks/Documents

In your Google email account try to browse Google books and add to your library.

example: Accounting Technology, Input Devices, Output Devices.


Create also a word processing, presentation, and spreed sheets applications in Google documents.