Basi
cComput
erQui
z+Answer
s
Ful
l
yexpl
ainhowacomput
eri
ssai
d
a.t
obeanel
ect
roni
cdev
ice.
b.t
osav
einst
ruct
ionsi
nit
smemor
y
Answert
o1a.
A computerisanel ect
ronicmachi net hatprocessesr aw datatogive
i
nformati
onasout put
.Anelectroni
cdevicethatacceptsdataasi nput
,and
tr
ansfor
msi tundertheinfluenceofasetofspeci alinst
ruct
ionscall
ed
Progr
ams, t
oproducethedesiredoutput(ref
err
edtoasI nfor
mat i
on).
Expl
anat
ions;
Acomputeri
sdescr
ibedasanel
ect
roni
cdevi
cebecause;i
tismadeupof
el
ect
roni
ccomponentsanduseselect
ri
cener
gy(suchasel ect
ri
ci
ty)t
o
oper
ate.
A comput erhasani nternalmemor y
,whi chst
oresdat a& i
nstructi
ons
t
empor ari
l
yawai tingprocessi
ng,andev enhol
dst heinter
medi
ater esul
t
(
infor
mat i
on)bef oreitiscommuni cated tot
he reci
pient
sthrough the
Outputdevices.
Itworks on the dat
a using t
he i
nst
ruct
ions i
ssued,means t
hat,t
he
computercannotdoanyusefuljoboni
tsown.Itcanonlyworkaspert
he
setofi
nstr
ucti
onsissued.
Acomputerwi
llacceptdat
ainonef or
m andproduceiti
nanot herf
orm.
Thedat
aisnor
mallyhel
dwithi
nthecomputerasi
tisbei
ngprocessed.
Answert
o1b
, datastoragei sacompl exsubject
,butitcanbebr okendowni nt
othree
basicprocesses.Fir
st ,dataisconv er
tedtosimpl enumber st
hatareeasy
foracomput ertost ore.Second,thenumber sar er ecor
dedbyhardware
i
nsidethecomput er.Thi r
d,thenumber sareorganized,movedtot
emporary
stor
ageandmani pulatedbypr ograms,orsoft
war e.
Bi
nar
yNumber
s
Everypieceofdat ainacomput erisstoredasanumber .Forexampl e,
l
ettersareconvertedtonumber s,andphotographsar econvertedtoalarge
setofnumber sthatindicatet hecolorandbr ightnessofeachpi xel
.The
number sarethenconv ertedt obi
narynumber s.Conv enti
onalnumbersuse
tendigit
s,from 0-9,tor epresentallpossi
blev alues.Binar
ynumber suse
twodi gi
ts,
0and1, torepresentallpossi
blevalues.Thenumber s0through
8l ookli
ket hi
sasbi narynumber s:0,1,10,11,100,101,110,111,1000.
Binarynumber sar everyl ong,butwithbinarynumber sanyv aluecanbe
storedasaser i
esofi t
emswhi charetrue(1)orf al
se( 0)
.
Pr
imar
yDat
aSt
orage
Themai ndat ast oragei nmostcomput er
si stheharddi skdrive.Itisa
spi
nningdiskordi skswi thmagneticcoati
ngsandheadst hatcanr eador
wri
temagnet ici nformat i
on,simil
artohow casset t
et apeswor k.Inf act
,
earl
y home comput ers used cassett
et apes fordat a st
orage.Bi nary
numbersar er ecor dedasaser iesoft i
nyar easont hedi scwhi char e
magnetizedeit
hernor t
horsout h.Fl
oppydisks,ZIPdri
ves,andtapesal luse
magnetism t
or ecor dbinarynumber s.Thedataont apesanddi skscanbe
destr
oyediftheycomet ooclosetomagnets.
Ot
herDat
aSt
orage
Somenewl apt
opcomput
ersusesol
idst
atedr
ivesf
orpri
marydatast
orage.
Thesehav
ememor ychi
ps,si
mil
artomemorychipsinUSBkeys,
SDcar ds,
cComput
erQui
z+Answer
s
Ful
l
yexpl
ainhowacomput
eri
ssai
d
a.t
obeanel
ect
roni
cdev
ice.
b.t
osav
einst
ruct
ionsi
nit
smemor
y
Answert
o1a.
A computerisanel ect
ronicmachi net hatprocessesr aw datatogive
i
nformati
onasout put
.Anelectroni
cdevicethatacceptsdataasi nput
,and
tr
ansfor
msi tundertheinfluenceofasetofspeci alinst
ruct
ionscall
ed
Progr
ams, t
oproducethedesiredoutput(ref
err
edtoasI nfor
mat i
on).
Expl
anat
ions;
Acomputeri
sdescr
ibedasanel
ect
roni
cdevi
cebecause;i
tismadeupof
el
ect
roni
ccomponentsanduseselect
ri
cener
gy(suchasel ect
ri
ci
ty)t
o
oper
ate.
A comput erhasani nternalmemor y
,whi chst
oresdat a& i
nstructi
ons
t
empor ari
l
yawai tingprocessi
ng,andev enhol
dst heinter
medi
ater esul
t
(
infor
mat i
on)bef oreitiscommuni cated tot
he reci
pient
sthrough the
Outputdevices.
Itworks on the dat
a using t
he i
nst
ruct
ions i
ssued,means t
hat,t
he
computercannotdoanyusefuljoboni
tsown.Itcanonlyworkaspert
he
setofi
nstr
ucti
onsissued.
Acomputerwi
llacceptdat
ainonef or
m andproduceiti
nanot herf
orm.
Thedat
aisnor
mallyhel
dwithi
nthecomputerasi
tisbei
ngprocessed.
Answert
o1b
, datastoragei sacompl exsubject
,butitcanbebr okendowni nt
othree
basicprocesses.Fir
st ,dataisconv er
tedtosimpl enumber st
hatareeasy
foracomput ertost ore.Second,thenumber sar er ecor
dedbyhardware
i
nsidethecomput er.Thi r
d,thenumber sareorganized,movedtot
emporary
stor
ageandmani pulatedbypr ograms,orsoft
war e.
Bi
nar
yNumber
s
Everypieceofdat ainacomput erisstoredasanumber .Forexampl e,
l
ettersareconvertedtonumber s,andphotographsar econvertedtoalarge
setofnumber sthatindicatet hecolorandbr ightnessofeachpi xel
.The
number sarethenconv ertedt obi
narynumber s.Conv enti
onalnumbersuse
tendigit
s,from 0-9,tor epresentallpossi
blev alues.Binar
ynumber suse
twodi gi
ts,
0and1, torepresentallpossi
blevalues.Thenumber s0through
8l ookli
ket hi
sasbi narynumber s:0,1,10,11,100,101,110,111,1000.
Binarynumber sar everyl ong,butwithbinarynumber sanyv aluecanbe
storedasaser i
esofi t
emswhi charetrue(1)orf al
se( 0)
.
Pr
imar
yDat
aSt
orage
Themai ndat ast oragei nmostcomput er
si stheharddi skdrive.Itisa
spi
nningdiskordi skswi thmagneticcoati
ngsandheadst hatcanr eador
wri
temagnet ici nformat i
on,simil
artohow casset t
et apeswor k.Inf act
,
earl
y home comput ers used cassett
et apes fordat a st
orage.Bi nary
numbersar er ecor dedasaser iesoft i
nyar easont hedi scwhi char e
magnetizedeit
hernor t
horsout h.Fl
oppydisks,ZIPdri
ves,andtapesal luse
magnetism t
or ecor dbinarynumber s.Thedataont apesanddi skscanbe
destr
oyediftheycomet ooclosetomagnets.
Ot
herDat
aSt
orage
Somenewl apt
opcomput
ersusesol
idst
atedr
ivesf
orpri
marydatast
orage.
Thesehav
ememor ychi
ps,si
mil
artomemorychipsinUSBkeys,
SDcar ds,
