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ULSTER COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

STONE RIDGE, N.Y. 12484



CIS 116 - Chapter 1 - General Computer Concepts



INSTRUCTOR: Karl Wick SEMESTER: Spring 1999



A) General Computer Concepts and Literacy

1) So just what is a computer, anyway?

In simplest terms, a computer is just another electronic device, similar to others which we use everyday.

Each of these items is an electronic device like a computer, yet each differs in a major way from computers.

These devices all only do one thing, and that one thing generally cannot be altered without changing the physical characteristics of the device.

Computers can be programmed to do different things or a combination of things within their capabilities.

The user (or a programmer) tells the computer what it needs to do and this information can be changed by changing the program.

Computers can be loosely thought of as the chameleons of the electronic world. Your telephone can only be used as a phone (maybe with an answering machine tacked on), the VCR records and plays back video and sound. Sometimes it even rewinds without eating the tape. The microwave oven is used mostly for heating foods (though some people use it for manufacturing fake antique rugs).

A computer has limitless potential (or so the salesman would have you believe.)

Computers know what to do by using their programs. The programming is a set of specific instructions telling the machine exactly what to do.

Most people never learn actual programming and still have little problem making computers do their bidding. How is this so? The programming is done by someone else and is sold as software. Software is just a program. You tell the software what you want done and it tells the computer how to do it.

Very rarely will a computer tell you what to do. If it does, you have either witnessed a CRASH or you've crossed into another dimension, a dimension not of time and euclidean space, but of cyberspace.

If this does happen please DON'T PANIC. You are still in control. You can always hit reset or turn off the power switch any you will be back to a saner world. The worst that the computer can do to you is scramble or lose your data. We will get to that later on.

Software / Programming is only half of the equation, however. Computers also contain hardware. Hardware is not usually so easily changed. We will discuss hardware in great detail in chapter F.


Computers store data and Computers perform calculations.
Computers can make decisions based upon data.
The user determines exactly what the computer does at a given time.


Computers are like idiot savants - they do a limited number of things extremely well, far better than we can, but they are incapable of doing much else.

Remember these four basic computer functions:

  1. Input of data
  2. Output of data
  3. Processing of data
  4. Storage of data




Where do we find computers?

What can't computers do?

What is not a computer?



2) The big box with the screen is NOT the computer! (What all of the parts are called)

Computer systems (the stuff that we can touch) consist of several pieces of hardware. Most computers have at least three common components.

  1. The Console, which is really the computer itself. It is useless to us without ...
  2. The Keyboard (an input device)
  3. The Monitor (an output device)

Computer hardware systems may also have:

  1. A mouse
  2. A printer
  3. A modem
  4. Speakers
  5. A Scanner
  6. A Plotter

The console may be in a horizontal or vertical case,

but all consoles share similar features.

On the console you may see several things.

They vary from machine to machine and not every machine will have all of them.

A computer may also come in a "Laptop" configuration. A laptop computer is a compact version of a computer with a built in screen and keyboard (usually).



In case you don't see two buttons above, click here to go to chapter 2.


This page is maintained by Karl Wick (karlwick@ulster.net)Created Mon Aug 18, 1997