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Intro to the computer (what's inside the computer "box")

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• Most common perception of a computer
  • This is the most common view (perception) of a computer is as follows:

  • Component of the computer by their functionality:

    Input devices: allow users to enter input to the computer (mouse, keyboard, microphone, camera) Output devices allow the computer to display output to the user (monitor, printer, speaker) Input/output devices: used by the computer to store data and/or communicate with other computers (CD-rom, floppy drive, hard drive, modem, network) Computer system (that's the box in the middle of the picture)

    What we will learn in CS255 are the things that are inside the the "box" in the middle of the picture

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• Hardware and Software
  • Computer jargon:

    Hardware = the physical parts of a computer The case containing the computer Keyboard Terminal Mouse Etc Software = the computer programs that you run with a computer Web browser PC games Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel Etc

    We will first study how a computer (hardware) is connected together so it can execute computer programs

    Then we will study what computer software does

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• What's inside the computer "box"
  • What is inside the computer "box":

    The different components in the computer need to communicate with each other using electrical signals

    They are connected together through electrical pathways (called "buses")