Processing data and Information

Data versus Information

Information was defined in earlier topics A collection of meaningful facts and gures
that can be used as a base for guidance and decision making. These facts are called
Data.
More specifically, Data is a collection of raw facts that represent features, off details
about people, objects. Places, ideas or events.
Data can represent small items-so small that individual items shave no meaning on
their own. For example. Black hair, 20 km, leather jacket, tall building, red paint,
white horse, etc, are representation of data and are known as data items or data
elements.
We must process and organize data in some way to produce Information is a
processed and organized data in short. data is the raw material for information.
Data Processing and organization
Data processing is the manipulation and transformation of data into a more useful
form.
In an Information factory – be it in and office or something like a sound studio. That
is raw data is collected, the collected data is processed. Out Put is produced, and the
output is communicated to concerned users.
Data processing can be performed manually, mechanically or electronically.
Manually Data processing, involves the manipulation of data by hand almost all
people in their daily perform manual data processing. Hence we can say people are
information processors
Mechanical data processing, involves the use of mechanical like typewriters, etc to
assist the processing of data.
Electrical data processing, processing data using computers.
Processing and Information processing are often used interchangeably.
Basic data processing Cycle
The basic steps in data processing are three input, processing and output. These three
steps taken in this order is referred to as data processing cycle.
Input. This is the stage in which data is prepared and input to the system.
Process. This is the stage in which data is transformed into information or input is
changed into output.
Output. It is meaningless to input data into a system and process it unless we get the
finished product.
Basics of computers

What is a computer?
Why are computers so widely used? What is that a computer does which people find
so useful the common theme which links all of the uses mentioned above is
information computers can store large mounts of information and also perform
complex calculations on that information. For this reason you sometimes hear
computers referred to as information processors or information technology IT.
Definition: a computer is an electronic device that accepts information process it and
produces out put for example in banking a computer system might accept information
about customers account e.g. balance deposits, withdrawals and then calculate the
interest due on the account the out put would be the new balance.
The major criteria for computer classification are
• Purposes /Application /
• Sizes and capacity
Application of computers
It is often useful to divide different types of computers into different categories. One
important distinction is the application of the computer (i.e. what it is used for). In this
regard, computers can be categorized a special purpose or general – purpose.
1. Special purpose computers
Special purpose computers are designed with a specific task in mind, and are
not used for any other purpose. They are pre-programmed with instructions to
perform a specific role. For example, air traffic control systems and many
household appliances such as TVs and video cassette recorders will make use
of tailor made computers.
2. General – purpose computers
General –purpose computers can be used to meet the needs of many different
applications. These are programmable, in that they allow the user to specify
different sets of instructions to program the different tasks.
1.1 Types of computer
 General – purpose computers can be further subdivided, depending on the
way in which they are used in particular we can distinguish between types of
computer based on their power, and how many people can use them at a time.
.1.1 Microcomputers
Microcomputers (also known as personal computers or PCs) are designed for a
single user at a time. Depending on their size and computing power microcomputers
can be further subdivided into 3 subcategories.
• Desktop PCs
• Laptop PCs
• Handheld PCs
Figures show pictures of these 3 types Desktops and laptops are similar in power. But
laptops are designed to be as small and portable as possible. Therefore they are
slightly more expensive than desktops and have lower quality screens. Handheld PCs
are designed to be small enough to hold in your hand. This is only made possible by
reducing their computing power.
These days’ microcomputers are by far the most common type of computer. Although
a single pc only allows one user at a time this limitation has been overcome by the
popularity of computer networking. A computer network is the interconnection of
many individual computers, such as a road is the link between the homes and the
buildings of a city.
1.1.2 Minicomputers
Minicomputers are medium sized computers that are more costly and powerful than
microcomputers. They are designed to be used by several users at a time.
2.1.3 Mainframes
Mainframe computers are also designed to allow a number of users at one time. The
distinction between mainframes and minicomputers is not always clear. But generally
mainframes are larger and more powerful, and allow a larger number of users at a
time usually more than 100

2.1.4 Supercomputers
Supercomputers are very costly and are designed with the primary aim of making the
computer as fast as possible. Due to the high cost of supercomputers they are quite
uncommon. They are used mainly for computationally intensive scientific
calculations, such as weather forecasting and scientific research.
What are computers used for?
Computers are very widely used in such areas as accounting
banking, design and manufacture, shopping and education. Cost of
the major developments in the last 10-15 years has been the growth
in use of the internet. The internet is a vast networks of computers
the international linking of tens of thousands of business.
Universities and research organizations with millions of individual
users. The internet allows people from different parts of the world to
send each other electronic mail email that reach their destination in
a matter of seconds.
The development of computers
Brief history
Since the very early days of human civilization people have used
machines to do calculations. One of the earliest counting machines
was the Abacus, which was used by the ancient Greeks and
Romans, although the design known today, with sliding counters on
a wooden frame was invented in china in 1200AD. However the
abacus was only capable of doing very basic calculations in 1833
the Englishman Charles Babbage designed his Analytical Engine a
machine capable of performing much more complex calculations.
This is generally agreed to be the first computer, although it was
never actually built during Babbage life time. In 1936, the British
mathematician Alan Turing designed a device that could be
programmed to perform a sequence of discrete steps, This
hypothetical Turing machine became the basis all digital computers,
and so the history of modern computers began.
It is important to distinguish between simple measuring or
calculating devices (such as the abacus) and computers. Measuring
or calculating devices can use either digital or analogue information.
For example. A thermometer is a simple analogue measuring
device. However, computers always use digital information.
 When talking about the development of computing we usually refer
to different generations of computers, these generations are defined
by the technology used to make them. For example, the first
generation of digital computers used a technology called vacuum
tubes, table 2 shows a brief summary of the four generation of
modern digital computers, together with the technology used to
make them.
The technology currently used in computers, ultraminiaturised
silicon chips, has brought great improvement in processing speed,
but like all technologies will eventually reach the limits of its
capability. If performance is to continue to improve a new fifth
generation technology will be required. There has been much
speculation as to computing. With employs ideas from quantum
physics.

Generation Years Calcs/sec Technology Characteristics Example

1st 1950-1960 3,500-17,000 Vacuum tubes Single purpose, large, ENIAC-USA
expensive , unreliable, computer used
hard to use for census
counting,
2nd 1960-1965 200,000 Transistors Single purpose,
smaller, cheaper,
easier to use
3rd 1965-1970 2,500,000 Integrated General purpose, IBM 360 series
circuits (silicon smaller ,cheaper,
chips) easier to use
4th 1970-? 2,000,000,00 Ultraminiaturised Very versatile, cheap, IBM pc (1980)
0 silicon chips powerful, small easy
to use.

1.1 Trends in computer development

From examining Table 2 we can observe a number of distinct trends in the way
computers have development since they were first introduced, In general over the
years computers have become.
 1.1.1 faster
If you compare the calculations/second column of Table2 you can see that
modern computers are at least 100,000 times faster than the first examples of
digital computers,
1.1.2 Cheaper
In the early days of computing, vast amounts of money were needed just to
build a single computer today. Computers are mass-produced, and many
people can afford to buy their own computer for their home.
1.1.3 More versatile
The very early computers were designed for a single purpose (for example,
census counting). These days computers are capable of performing a wide
range of tasks, There fore they have become more versatile.
1.1.4 Smaller
The ENIAC census counting computer was the size of a tennis court and the
weight of 6 elephants today, the part of a modern digital computer that does
the processing is about the size of a coin.
1.1.5 Easier to use
One of the major improvements in computers over the years is their ease off
use. To begin with the task of entering instructions into the computer was very
time-consuming and prone to error. Today computers are much easier to use.
1.1.6 More reliable
The early computers often suffered from poor reliability of their components.
Today, if they are looked after property, computers can work for many years
without breaking down.
Hardware and software?
The terms hardware and software are very commonly used when talking about
computers, so it is important to understand what they mean.
Definition: the term hardware refers to the physical components of a
computer system. Examples of hardware components include a keyboard, a
printer, or the CPU, we can say that hardware is tangible (i.e. you can touch it)
Definition: the term software refers to a sequence of instructions given to the
computer. Soft ware is also sometimes referred to as a program or an
application.
 Examples of software include a word – processing program, a computer game
or a student database. Software can be said to be intangible (i.e. you cannot
touch it)
In put /output peripheral devices
We have already stated that a computer is an information processor and we know that
the information that it processes is binary digital information. The next point to
consider is where does the information come from? Clearly it originates from people,
the users of the computer. But it is not convenient for people to enter information into
a computer directly form. For this reason we need to have an interface between us and
the computer to enable us to conveniently enter information into it. We call these
interfaces peripheral devices.
Definition: A peripheral device is a hardware component that transfers information to
and from the computer. Peripherals devices can be one of three types. Input, output.
and storage peripherals. Examples of input peripherals are a keyboard and mouse
examples of output peripherals are a monitor and speaker examples of storage
peripherals are a floppy disk drive and a tape drive.
We can use special diagrams called dataflow diagrams to illustrate the way that
peripherals enable information to flow through a computer system. Consider figure 3.
The arrows indicate information flow between different devices in the system. Note
the direction of information flow in the diagram for the input devices the information
flows into the system unit, for the output devices the information flows out of the
system unit, whereas for the storage devices the information flow is two way, since
we need to both and retrieve the information.
The data flow diagram in figure 3 also shows us what the 4 basic functions of
computer systems are. They are
• Input information
• Output information
• Store information
• Process information
We will first consider input /output peripherals devices. A few of the more ones are
described below

Keyboard
The computer keyboard is an input peripheral device it is very much like a typewriter
it enables users to enter information into the computer in the form of characters (i.e.
letters and numbers). Figure 4 show an example of a computer keyboard. Computer
keyboards contain a number of special keys, the function of which you should be
aware of:
• Shift Holding down the shift key and then pressing a letter key causes an
upper case letter to appear. Where two symbols appear on a key holding down.
Shift causes the upper one to appear.
• Caps Lock If you press the caps lock key once any letters you subsequently
type will appear in upper case. Pressing caps lock again will reverse the effect.
• Ctrl and Alt These are the function keys. They are used for performing
special functions in some software package.
• ! . !. !. !: These are the cursor keys. In world – processing applications
typed characters always appear at the position indicated by a blinking cursor .
pressing the cursor key will move this cursor around the screen.
• Tab the Tab key is used to move the cursor to a preset point, for example to
indent paragraphs.
• Delete The delete key will delete the character to the right of the cursor.
• Backspace Pressing the Backspace key will delete the character to the left of
the cursor.
Mouse
The mouse is another input device. It is a pointing device. The user moves the mouse
to position a pointer on the screen. And clicks mouse buttons to send position
information to the computer .with the popularity of graphical user interfaces on
computers mousse have become an essential part of modern computer systems.
Monitor
The monitor is like a TV screen. It displays visual information to the user, and is
therefore an output peripheral device.

Printer
The printer is another output device. Printers produce typed documents on paper.
These typed documents are also sometimes referred to as hard copies or printouts. An
example of a printer is shown in figure 5.
Scanner
The scanner is an input device that allows users to transfer images into the computer.
It acts a bit like a photocopy machine, except that instead of producing another paper
copy, it digitizes the image (i.e. converts it to digital form) and transfers the
information into the computer.
Modem
The modem acts as both an input and an output device. It enables the computer to talk
to another computer viaphone line. It is modems which are largely responsible for the
growth in popularity of the internet. Computers from all over the world use modems
to connect to a global network of computers, enabling fast communication and
sharing information.
The system unit
Out of the 4 basic functions of a computer system, the peripheral devices enable the
inputting, outputting and storage of information. But it is the system unit that
performance the processing of the information.
Opening up the system unit
If you ever have to open up a system unit for maintenance purposes the first thing to
remember is to remove the power lead before you do so. This is to stop you getting an
electric shock. The second thing remembers is to earth yourself (just touch your hand
onto any part of the metal casing of the system unit). This is to make sure that both
your body and the computer are at the same voltage – if you don’t do this you could
damage some of the sensitive electrical components inside the unit.
The appearance of the inside of system units can vary greatly, but there are a number
of common components that are essential to the potation of the computer. The
following are some of the common internal components of the system unit. Note that
all of these are hardware components. hardware can be found inside the computer is
well as outside.

Mother board
All of the electronic components in the Pc are mounted on a piece of fiberglass called
the motherboard ( see figure 6). Thin lines of metal on the surface of the motherboard
act as wires that connect one component to another. Enabling them to communicate
each other. This is called a printed circuit board (PCB)
CPU
The cpu ( Central processing unit is the most important part of the computer. It is the
cpu that carries out the instructions that we provide. you can think of the brain of the
computer. There have been a number of different brands of CPU over the years. The
main manufacturer of CPUs has been a company called Intel, although AMD also
have a large share of the market. Each new processor that these companies develop
offers faster processing speeds than the last one. Figure7 shows the main types of
Intel processor that you might find.
RAM chips
RAM ( Random Access Memory ) chips are used for temporary storage of
information whilst the computer is operating. For example to store the program or the
data it is processing. However, RAM is volatile memory. This means that when the
computer is switched off all information in RAM is lost. The amount of storage
provided by a single RAM chip can vary, but most modern computers contain about
32-256 MB of RAM.
ROM chips
ROM ( Read only Memory ) chips contain information which is essential to the
operation of the computer. For this reason it is permanently stored on the chip, and
cannot be changed. There fore it is non –volatile memory. The amount of storage on a
single ROM chip depends on what information it is storing.
Disk drives
Most pcs contain 3 different disk drives inside them the hard disk drive the floppy
disk drive and the CD-ROM drive. All of these drives are non –volatile storage, when
the computer is switched off the information is preserved.
Others
All of the above components are found in almost every pc. However, there are a
number of other parts that are found in some models. These include a speaker for
producing sound, a moths co-processor for speeding up numerical calculations, and
expansion cards that add extra functionality to your computer. These expansion cards
provide features such as enhanced graphics, network capability, and internet access.

1.3 Storage devices of computers

There are several different types of storage device, each of which has slightly
different characteristics.
1.3.1 Floppy disk drive
The floppy disk drive is a storage device. There have been a number of different sizes
of floppy disk used over the years. But these days you will only really find 3 1/2inch
disks. These disks have a magnetic coating that can be used to store information.
Since the actual disk is quite fragile and sensitive, it is stored inside a plastic casing to
protect it from damage. Even so, it is important that you take good care of floppy
disks. They should be kept dry, dust – free and cool, and away from any magnetic
material. Do not place them near a television set. If you do not take good care of your
floppy disks they may become unusable.
Table 3 provides a summary of the characteristics of different storage media. As you
can the storage capacity of floppy disks is relatively small compared to other types of
storage media. However, floppy disks have the advantage of being cheap, removable (
so you can use them to transfer information between computers). and always
writeable.
One important feature of floppy disks is the write – protect tab. This is a small plastic
tab on the back of the disk ( size figure 5) that can be slid into the up or down
positions. It the tab is in the up position it is not possible to write information to the
disk. There fore if you have some important information which you do not want to
delete accidentally then you should slide the write – protect tab into the up position.
Note that it is still possible to read information from the floppy disk irrespective of the
position of the write – protect tab.
1.3.2 Hard disk drive
The hard disk is a non –removable storage device the disk always remains inside the
main system unit of the computer. However as you can see from table3, the main
advantage of hard disk drive is their huge storage capacity. Modern pcs can have hard
disk drives that store up to 100GB of information. Every pc has at least one hard disk
drive inside it.
1.3.3 CD drive
Like floppy disk drives, compact disk ( CD) is a removable storage medium. There
fore three types of CD.
• CD – ROM (CD Read – only memory)
• CD – R(CD– Recordable)
• CD – RW (CD– Rewriteable)
CD – ROMs are read – only – this means that it is not possible to write new
information to the disks. For many years all CDs were read-only. However, in recent
years drives capable of writing new information to CDs have become more and more
common. These can use two different types of writeable disk, CD – R disks can only
be written to on one time, where as CD – RW disks can be written to many times.
1.3.4 DVD drives
The technology involved in DVD ( digital video disk) drives is similar to that of CD
drives . However their storage capacity is greater – around 3GB per disk . Like CDs,
DVDs can be either read – only or writeable.
1.3.5 Tape drives
Tape drives are much slower than disk drives, but their capacity is extremely large.
They are generally used for system backups. Long – term storage of large amounts of
important information.
1.3.6 Others
There are a number of other lesse .known storage media, and now ones are being
invented all the time . for example , zip drives offer an alternative to CDS and DVDs
portable hard drives provide very large storage capability whilst being removable ,
and the development of removable memory chips ( flash memory ) offers high speed
portable information storage.
Storage media Storage capacity Removable? Writeable?
Floppy disk drive 1.41MB Yes Yes
Hard disk drive 100MB – 100GB No Yes
CD drive 650MB Yes Sometimes
DVD drive 3GB Yes Sometimes
Tape drive 50GB -300GB Yes Yes
Data representation
Computer only identifies signals in the form of digital pulsos which represent either a
high voltage state ON a low voltage state. OFF the ON and OFF states are commonly
labeled with the numbers 1 and respectively. This two – state system is called
system. Therefore, each letter number symbol that we enter from the keyboard in our
information activity should be uniquely represent by the combination and is before it
can be used by the computer.
When a character is entered through the keyboard processor accepts the character
into a main memory and translates it into coded form ( the Os and is).It also
simultaneously shows the English words and phrases, the computer totally different
for example arsis 1101 to the comput.
Bits, Bytes and words
The smallest piece of data that can be recognized and used by the computer is the Bit,
short for binary digit. bit is a single binary value, either a 1 or a 0. Single bits are
usually not enough to store all the numbers and characteristics that need to be stored
and processed by the computer. For this reason a group of seven or eight bits called a
byte is used. Each byte generally represents one character. The byte is also the basic
unit for measuring the size of the memory of a computer in terms of kilobyte or KB
(thousands of bytes) byte or MB ( millions of bytes), gigabyte or GB ( billions of
bytes).etc.
Words sometimes expressed in bytes. A one – byte word contains eight bits a two –
byte word contains sixteen bits, and a four – byte word consists of 32 bits. The larger
the word size, the faster the computer can process data and perform arithmetic and
logic operation. Many microcomputers use 32-bits and 64-bits words.
The computer number system
Decimal numbers system
The decimal numbers system is a base-10 system, which means there are ten distinct
digits through 9 to represent any quantity. Any number than 9 can be represented by a
combination of these digits. The value the digits represent depends on weight oe
position the hold. The weights are based powers of 10,Let us look at how to determine
the value of a group of digits in the base 10 system using the digits 1,0, and 4. many
combinations of these four digits can be made. The exact position in which they are
placed will determine the final value. In our example 4 will be in the first position
from the right, 2 in the second position, in the third position, and in the fourth
position. The final value can be determine by multiplying each digit by
Single-user, Single-tasking
• Used on stand alone computer
• It can only enable the user perform one task at a time.
Single-User, Multi-tasking
• Can serve only one user at a time but enables the user to concurrently run
multiple programs or performs multiple tasks.
Application software /Application Packages/
Application soft wares consists of program that in conjunction. With systems soft
ware instruct the computer to application software includes a variety of programs that
can be subdivided into.
 General purpose and
 Application – specific categories
General purpose application program are programs that perform common
information processing jobs for end users. For example word processing programs,
spreadsheet programs, database management systems, etc. because they significantly
increase the productivity of end users, they are also known as productivity package.
Word processing
Is a software or program that manipulates textual information. A text document is any
document such as a letter report or term paper that can be created in a computer .
• The most widely used word processing package used on our country are MS –
word, word perfect, and AmiPro.
• Word processors carry out the following five main activities
a. entering data
b. Display of information
c. Editing information
d. Storage and retrieval of information
e. Printing of information.
Spreadsheets
Is a program that uses a matrix consisting of rows and columns to perform calculation
and other related activities on numerical data.
• Are widely used in most business to perform both simple and complex
calculations
• Spreadsheets can be used.
 Automatic record keeping
 Summarize raw data and produce information
 Perform analysis and improve planning
 Simplicity the control process
 Improve communication and motivation

-The most widely used spreadsheets packages are Excel, Lotus, and quarto pro etc.
Database Management systems (DBMS)
Are programs that make it possible for users to manage data and increase
productivity. Through DBMS, the data are accessed, maintained, and processed.
- DBMS accomplish five objectives
a) Integrating databases
b) Reducing redundancy
c) Sharing information
d) Maintaining integrity
e) Enabling database evolution
- Examples of DBMS include MS-Access and foxpro
Computer graphics
Are those programs that allow engineers, artists and other people to use a computer to
create, edit, display and print graphic images.
-examples of computer graphics include Auto CAD ( computer Aided Design) and
print master
1.7 computer programming languages

Programming languages
A language is a systematic set or rules for communication ideas. With programming
languages, the communication is between a person and a computer.
A programming language is a series of commands and codes that the computer can
translate into the electronic pulses that underlie computing activities.
Programming involves translating what a user wants to accomplish into a code the
computer can understand and execute.
- Have rules of programming languages called the syntax just like grammatical
rules in English language. The languages syntax dictates how the symbols
should be combined into statements capable of conveying meaningful
instructions to the CPU.
- The content of communication between the computer and the person or user is
known as a program. Thus, a program is a set or instructions that directs a
computer to perform certain tasks and produces certain results. In general, a
program instructs the computer what to do. Both systems and applications
software produced as a result of programming activities.
- People who write or develop computer programs are called programmers.
 - Those who develop systems software are known as systems programmers.
- Those who develop application programs are called Application programmers.
Levels of languages
The three levels of computer programming languages are
Machine language
The first generation of programming language, that was available in the earliest days
of computers, is machine language. Machine language is the only programming
language that the computer can understand..
-each computer has it own language which is made of streams of 0s and 1s
The reason that the instruction in machine language must be in streams of 0s and 1s is
that the internal circuit of a computer is made of switches, transistors, and other
devices that can be in one of two states on or off,
Assembly language
Second generation languages a e the next level of programming languages,
Developers of assembly languages attempted to overcome some of the difficulties
inherent in machine language programming by replacing the binary digits with
symbols programmers can understand more easily,
-Use mnemonics in place of 1s and 0s to represent the operation codes. A mnemonics
is an alphabetical abbreviation used as a memory aid. For example instead of using
the combination of 0s and 1s to represent the addition operation, the mnemonic AD
might be used.
-Provide an easier and more efficient way to program than machine languages.
-The advantage of programming with assembly languages are that they produce
programs that are efficient use less storage, and execute, much faster than programs
designed in high level languages.
-All languages that were developed after the first generation are called symbolic
language because their emphasis is on the use of symbols that can be easily
understood by humans.
- Assembly languages nust translate into machine language. This conversion is done
by a language transistor program known as Assembler.
-The assembly language program is called source code and its transiation is known as
object code.
- How ever assembly languages are still machine –oriented and require a through
knowledge of the computer hardware. Because of this still other high-level languages
became necessary.
High – level language
These are also called the third generation of programming languages. The instructions
of high level languages are called statements. Statements closely resemble human
languages or the standard notation of mathematics high level languages do not require
that the programming have detail knowledge about the internal operation of a
computer.
• Are much easier to learn and use than assembly languages.
• Typically less time and effort are required to program in a high level
languages because programming errors are easier to be machine independent.
• Just like the assembly languages programs written using high level languages
need to be translated to machine languages. Each individual statement in a
high level language generates several machine instructions when translated
into machine language by high level language transistor program called
compilers or interpreters.
• A complier translates a whole program, called the source code, at once into
machine language before the program is executed. Once converted, the
program is stored in machine – readable form, called the object code. The
object code can be immediately executed anytime thereafter.
• An grater on the other hand, translates program into machine language line at
a time executing each line of the program after it is translated with most
interpret machine readable form is not stored in primary storage or on a
secondary storage then the program must be interpreted each time before it is
executed.
• Some of the major high level language are FORTRAN, COBOL BASIC,
Parcal, C, C++,etc.
Object oriented programming languages
These are recently developed programming languages that allow the interaction of
programming of other programming languages separate data elements from the
procedures or actions there will be object oriented programming languages however
the data elements and producers actions together to .thus an object consists of data
and the actions performed on the data. for example an object can be data about an
employee and all the operation ( such as payroll calculation ) that might be performed
upon the data object oriented languages aim to improve the quality and correctness.
programs examples of object oriented programming languages include visual BASIC,
visual C++, small talk, etc.