Chapter 1: Information Systems and Computer Applications CLEP Study Guide 2023/2024

Things that a computer and a human brain have in common: - -1. Perform simple and complex tasks. -2. Enter, receive, and store information. -3. Give instructions. -4. Have short-term and long-term memory capabilities. Computers store and process ______ to generate _______. - data; information Hardware - Physical components of the computer such as the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Keyboard, mouse - Input devices CPU, memory - Processing devices Monitor, printer - Output devices Hard disk - Magnetic storage device that holds information by means of iron filings on the disks surface that can have one of two states: magnetized (1), or not magnetized (0). Every computer must have at least one to store the operation system. CDs, flash drive, memory card - Storage media Modem, NIC (network interface card) - Communication devices Software - Computer programs. Can be system software or application software. System Software - Pre-loaded software like an operating system. It is required to interface with the computer and manage all the hardware and software. It allows users to run applications and programs. Application Software - Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Information Processing Cycle (IPOS) - Input/Processing/Output/Storage Input - Data is entered into the computer via hardware. Processing - The computer performs operations on the data. Performed by the CPU. Output - The computer displays the results of the processing on hardware like a monitor. Storage - The computer stores generated output. CPU - Central Processing Unit. Processes data. Data - A collection of text, numbers, audio, video, and images that have not yet been processed. Information - Processed data that is potentially useful for making decisions, answering questions, or getting results that take a meaningful form. Process - The way in which data is turned into information. Data type - The value stored in a data item. The basic types are text, graphic, audio, video, date/time, etc. Bits - 1 and 0. The smallest units of information. Bytes - Group of eight bits. Computers use them to represent any character typed. ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Uses 8 binary digit patterns consisting of 1s and 0s that represent the 256 characters in the English language. EBCDIC - Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code. Uses 8 binary digit patterns consisting of 1s and 0s that represent the 256 characters in the English language. Unicode - A universal coding system that uses 16 binary digit (2 bytes) patterns to represent the 65,536 characters of many languages. Operators - Symbols used to manipulate numeric values and perform operations on one, two, or three operands and return a single result. Arithmetic operators: +, -, *, and / symbols. Comparison operators: , , =, =, and != symbols. Unary Operator - Performs operations on only one operand. An example is -, a negation operator. Binary Operator - Performs operations on two operands. An example is +, which adds two numbers. Supercomputers - Designed to perform complex mathematical calculations at a very high speed. Extremely powerful, large, and expensive. Mainframe Computers - Very large, expensive, and powerful computers that allow thousands of users to perform tasks simultaneously. PCs (personal computers) - Desktop computers for personal use