Fundamentals of IT

DEFINITION OF INFORMATION, DATA VS INFORMATION

Information technology is the study, design, development, implementation, support or
management of computer based information systems, particularly software applications and
computer hardware. It is the capability to electronically input, process, store, output, transmit and
receive data and information, including text, graphics, sound and video as well as the ability to
control machines of all kinds electronically.
It is comprised of computers, networks, satellite communications, robotics, e-mail, electronic
games and automated office equipment. The information industry consists of all computers,
communications and electronics related organizations, including hardware, software and
services.
Information is the summarization of data. Data are raw facts and figures that are processed into
information, such as summaries and totals. Information is the result of processing, manipulating
and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the receiver. Even though
information and data are often used interchangeably, they are actually very different.
Data is a set of unrelated information and as such is of no use until it is properly evaluated. Upon
evaluation, once there is some significant relation between data, it is converted into information.
Now this data can be used for different purposes. Till data conveys some information, they are
not useful.
It is necessary to make a distinction between two terms, which are usually used interchangeably,
namely data and information. Data is the material on which computer programs work upon. It
can be numbers, letters of the alphabet, words, special symbols etc. But by themselves they have
no meaning. For example, the following sequence of digits 240343 is meaningless by itself since
it could refer to a date of birth, a part number for an automobile, the number of rupees spent on a
project, population of a town, the number of people employed in a large organization etc. Once
we know what the sequence refers to, then it becomes meaningful and can be called information.
When we write above as 24-03-43, it may mean date of birth as 24th March 1943.
A set of words would be data but text would be information. For example "ANNUAL
EXAMINATION, AMIT ABH, JYOTSNA, PHYSICS" is a set of data and "JYOTSNA
SCORED THE HIGHEST MARKS IN PHYSICS IN ANNUAL EXAMINATION'" is
information. This is not the end of affair, information may be processed or manipulated further
of course e.g. a printed text may be reorganized. Also information received from one source or
system may become data input for another system. In case of examination, score card is
information about the individual but is actually a source of input data for making merit list of the
entire board or university. Data is something like raw materials used in production processes
practiced in factories or industries. In a paper manufacturing factory bamboos and old clothes are
the inputs and paper is the output.

Fundamentals of IT

Data: Data are plain facts. The word "data" is plural for "datum." When data are processed,
organized, structured or presented in a given context so as to make them useful, they are called
Information.
It is not enough to have data (such as statistics on the economy). Data themselves are fairly
useless, but when these data are interpreted and processed to determine its true meaning, they
becomes useful and can be named as Information.
Information is data that has been processed in such a way as to be meaningful to the person who
receives it. It is anything that is communicated.
Data is the term, that may be new to beginners, but it is very interesting and simple to
understand. It can be anything like name of a person or a place or a number etc. Data is the name
given to basic facts and entities such as names and numbers. The main examples of data are
weights, prices, costs, numbers of items sold, employee names, product names, addresses, tax
codes, registration marks etc.
Data is the raw material that can be processed by any computing machine. Data can be
represented in the form of:
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Fundamentals of IT
Numbers and words which can be stored in computer's language
Images, sounds, multimedia and animated data as shown.

Information: Information is data that has been converted into a more useful or intelligible form.
It is the set of data that has been organized for direct utilization of mankind, as information helps
human beings in their decision making process. Examples are: Time Table, Merit List, Report
card, Headed tables, printed documents, pay slips, receipts, reports etc. The information is
obtained by assembling items of data into a meaningful form. For example, marks obtained by
students and their roll numbers form data, the report card/sheet is the .information. Other forms
of information are pay-slips, schedules, reports, worksheet, bar charts, invoices and account
returns etc. It may be noted that information may further be processed and/or manipulated to
form knowledge. Information containing wisdom is known as knowledge.
Need of Information
Modem civilization has become so complicated and sophisticated that to survive one has to be
competitive. This compels the people to keep himself informed of all types of happenings in the
society. With the advent of educational reforms in society, mankind is surrounded with a vast
amount of data available. Modem business management system has also rendered itself to bulk
collection of data from various sources, that needs to be rearranged in a fashion so that it can be
utilized with minimum possible time. This needs a high amount of filing either at data stage or at
information stage. No office can be without files. If you go to any tax collection department or
municipal office you will find a high amount of files stacked here and there.
Modem rules, regulation and law requires every transaction to happen in a written form, may be
an agreement, application, voucher, bill, letter, memo, order etc. Paper files require a high
amount of storage space and paper storage creates several other problems like fire risk, spoilage
and deterioration by way of aging microorganism and humidity etc. In modem days information
is needed to run man's own livelihood to run a system or process or to command a business.
The amount of information is growing very rapidly. The current age of information demands
computer literacy to be accompanied by information literacy as employers' dependence is .now
focused on professionals with up to date information and all kinds of information processing
skills so as to take the challenge of ever changing scenario of information in this world
information literacy helps to gather the appropriate information, evaluate the information and

Fundamentals of IT
generate an informed decision. The impact of information revolution has been extended to each
individual in the society and it is much faster than industrial revolution.
The migration from industrial age to an information age has ended the repetitive effort of
workers by replacing them with computer software, robots with artificial intelligence have
replaced the humans, and multiprocessing computers have replaced office workers with
typewriters.
Information is needed to:
To gain knowledge about the surroundings, and whatever is happening in the society and
universe.
To keep the system up to date.
To know about the rules and regulations and bye laws of society, local government, provincial
and central government, associations, clients etc. as ignorance is no bliss.
Based on above three, to arrive at a particular decision for planning current and prospective
actions in process of forming, running and protecting a process or system
INFORMATION REPRESENTATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA
Text and Static Data
Source: keyboard, speech input, optical character recognition, data stored on disk.
Stored and input character by character:
Storage of text is 1 byte per char / more bytes for Unicode.
For other forms of data (e.g. Spreadsheet files). May store format as text (with formatting)
others may use binary encoding.
Format: Raw text or formatted text e.g HTML, Rich Text Format(RTF), Word or a program
language source (C, Pascal, etc..
Graphics
Format: constructed by the composition of primitive objects such as lines, polygons, circles,
curves and arcs.
Input: Graphics are usually generated by a graphics editor program (e.g. Illustrator) or
automatically by a program (e.g.Postscript).
Graphics are usually editable or revisable (unlike Images).
Graphics input devices: keyboard (for text and cursor control),mouse, trackball or graphics
tablet.
graphics standards : OpenGL, PHIGS, GKS
Graphics files usually store the primitive assembly
Do not take up a very high storage overhead.
Images
Still pictures which (uncompressed) are represented as a bitmap (a grid of pixels).
Input: digitally scanned photographs/pictures or direct from a digital camera.
Input: May also be generated by programs similar to graphics or animation programs.

Fundamentals of IT
Audio
Audio signals are continuous analog signals.
Input: microphones and then digitized and stored.
Video
Input: Analog Video is usually captured by a video camera and then digitized.
There are a variety of video (analog and digital) formats
Raw video can be regarded as being a series of single images.
There are typically 25, 30 or 50 frames per second

Fundamentals of IT

COMPRESSION
Data compression implies sending or storing a smaller number of bits. Although many methods
are used for this purpose, in general these methods can be divided into two broad categories:
lossless and lossy methods.
Compression is useful because it helps reduce resource usage, such as data storage space or
transmission capacity. Because compressed data must be decompressed to use, this extra
processing imposes computational or other costs through decompression. Data compression is
subject to a spacetime complexity trade-off. For instance, a compression scheme for video may
require expensive hardware for the video to be decompressed fast enough to be viewed as it is
being decompressed, and the option to decompress the video in full before watching it may be
inconvenient or require additional storage. The design of data compression schemes involves
trade-offs among various factors, including the degree of compression, the amount of distortion
introduced, and the computational resources required to compress and uncompress the data.

In lossless data compression, the integrity of the data is preserved. The original data and the data
after compression and decompression are exactly the same because, in these methods, the
compression and decompression algorithms are exact inverses of each other: no part of the data
is lost in the process. Redundant data is removed in compression and added during
decompression. Lossless compression methods are normally used when we cannot afford to lose
any data.
Our eyes and ears cannot distinguish subtle changes. In such cases, we can use a lossy data
compression method. It reduces bits by identifying unnecessary information and removing it.
These methods are cheaperthey take less time and space when it comes to sending millions of
bits per second for images and video. Several methods have been developed using lossy
compression techniques. JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) encoding is used to
compress pictures and graphics, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) encoding is used to
compress video, and MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) for audio compression.

RUN LENGTH ENCODING

Fundamentals of IT
Run-length encoding is a data compression algorithm that is supported by most bitmap file
formats, such as TIFF, BMP, and PCX. RLE is suited for compressing any type of data
regardless of its information content, but the content of the data will affect the compression ratio
achieved by RLE. Although most RLE algorithms cannot achieve the high compression ratios of
the more advanced compression methods, RLE is both easy to implement and quick to execute,
making it a good alternative to either using a complex compression algorithm or leaving your
image data uncompressed.
RLE works by reducing the physical size of a repeating string of characters. This repeating
string, called a run, is typically encoded into two bytes. The first byte represents the number of
characters in the run and is called the run count. In practice, an encoded run may contain 1 to 128
or 256 characters; the run count usually contains as the number of characters minus one (a value
in the range of 0 to 127 or 255). The second byte is the value of the character in the run, which is
in the range of 0 to 255, and is called the run value.
Uncompressed, a character run of 15 A characters would normally require 15 bytes to store:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The same string after RLE encoding would require only two bytes:
15A
The 15A code generated to represent the character string is called an RLE packet. Here, the first
byte, 15, is the run count and contains the number of repetitions. The second byte, A, is the run
value and contains the actual repeated value in the run.
A new packet is generated each time the run character changes, or each time the number of
characters in the run exceeds the maximum count. Assume that our 15-character string now
contains four different character runs:
AAAAAAbbbXXXXXt
Using run-length encoding this could be compressed into four 2-byte packets:
6A3b5X1t
Thus, after run-length encoding, the 15-byte string would require only eight bytes of data to
represent the string, as opposed to the original 15 bytes. In this case, run-length encoding yielded
a compression ratio of almost 2 to 1.
Long runs are rare in certain types of data. For example, ASCII plaintext seldom contains long
runs. In the previous example, the last run (containing the character t) was only a single character
in length; a 1-character run is still a run. Both a run count and a run value must be written for
every 2-character run. To encode a run in RLE requires a minimum of two characters worth of
information; therefore, a run of single characters actually takes more space. For the same
reasons, data consisting entirely of 2-character runs remains the same size after RLE encoding.
In our example, encoding the single character at the end as two bytes did not noticeably hurt our
compression ratio because there were so many long character runs in the rest of the data. But
observe how RLE encoding doubles the size of the following 14-character string:
Xtmprsqzntwlfb
After RLE encoding, this string becomes:
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Fundamentals of IT
1X1t1m1p1r1s1q1z1n1t1w1l1f1b
RLE schemes are simple and fast, but their compression efficiency depends on the type of image
data being encoded. A black-and-white image that is mostly white, such as the page of a book,
will encode very well, due to the large amount of contiguous data that is all the same color. An
image with many colors that is very busy in appearance, however, such as a photograph, will not
encode very well. This is because the complexity of the image is expressed as a large number of
different colors. And because of this complexity there will be relatively few runs of the same
color.

Fundamentals of IT

INSTRUCTION CYCLE
An instruction cycle (sometimes called fetch-and-execute cycle, fetch-decode-execute
cycle, or FDX) is the basic operation cycle of a computer. It is the process by which a
computer retrieves a program instruction from its memory, determines what actions the
instruction requires, and carries out those actions. This cycle is repeated continuously by
the central processing unit (CPU), from bootup to when the computer is shut down.
In simpler CPUs, the instruction cycle is executed sequentially: each instruction is completely
processed before the next one is started. In most modern CPUs, the instruction cycle is instead
executed concurrently in parallel, as an instruction pipeline: the next instruction starts being
processed before the previous instruction is finished, which is possible because the cycle is
broken up into separate steps.
The circuits used in the CPU during the cycle are:
Program counter (PC) - an incrementing counter that keeps track of the memory address of
the instruction that is to be executed next or in other words, holds the address of the next
instruction to be executed next.
Memory address register (MAR) - holds the address of a memory block to be read from or
written to.
Memory data register (MDR) - a two-way register that holds data fetched from memory
(and ready for the CPU to process) or data waiting to be stored in memory.
Instruction register (IR) - a temporary holding ground for the instruction that has just been
fetched from memory.
Control unit (CU) - decodes the program instruction in the IR, selecting machine resources
such as a data source register and a particular arithmetic operation, and coordinates activation
of those resources.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) - performs mathematical and logical operations.
Each computer's CPU can have different cycles based on different instruction sets, but will be
similar to the following cycle:

Fundamentals of IT
1. Fetching the instruction
The next instruction is fetched from the memory address that is currently stored in the program
counter (PC), and stored in the instruction register (IR). At the end of the fetch operation, the PC
points to the next instruction that will be read at the next cycle.
2. Decode the instruction
The decoder interprets the instruction. During this cycle the instruction inside the IR (instruction
register) gets decoded.
3. In case of a memory instruction (direct or indirect) the execution phase will be in the next
clock pulse.
If the instruction has an indirect address, the effective address is read from main memory, and
any required data is fetched from main memory to be processed and then placed into data
registers(Clock Pulse: T3). If the instruction is direct, nothing is done at this clock pulse. If this is
an I/O instruction or a Register instruction, the operation is performed (executed) at clock Pulse.
4. Execute the instruction
The control unit of the CPU passes the decoded information as a sequence of control signals to
the relevant function units of the CPU to perform the actions required by the instruction such as
reading values from registers, passing them to the ALU to perform mathematical or logic
functions on them, and writing the result back to a register. If the ALU is involved, it sends a
condition signal back to the CU.
The result generated by the operation is stored in the main memory, or sent to an output device.
Based on the condition of any feedback from the ALU, Program Counter may be updated to a
different address from which the next instruction will be fetched.
The cycle is then repeated.

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Fundamentals of IT

PROGRAM FLOW OF CONTROL WITH AND WITHOUT INTERRUPTS

Program counter (PC): Contains the address of an instruction to be fetched

Instruction register (IR): Contains the instruction most recently fetched
Program status word (PSW): Contains status information
Interrupt: Interrupts the normal sequencing of the processor suspends current activity and runs
special code

The processor fetches the instruction from memory

Program counter (PC) holds address of the instruction to be fetched next
PC is incremented after each fetch
Fetched instruction loaded into instruction register
An instruction contains bits that specify the action the processor is to take
Categories of actions: Processor-memory, processor-I/O, data processing, control
Processor checks for interrupts
If interrupt
Suspend execution of program
Execute interrupt-handler routine
Afterwards control may be returned to suspended program

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Fundamentals of IT

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Fundamentals of IT

COMPUTER HARDWARE
COMPUTER SYSTEM A computer system consists of two major elements: hardware and
software. Computer hardware is the collection of all the parts you can physically touch.
Computer software, on the other hand, is not something you can touch. Software is a set of
instructions for a computer to perform specific operations. You need both hardware and
software for a computer system to work.
COMPUTER HARDWARE:
Computer hardware is the collection of physical parts of a computer system. This includes the
computer case, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It also includes all the parts inside the computer
case, such as the hard disk drive, motherboard, video card, and many others. Computer hardware
is what you can physically touch. Some hardware components are easy to recognize, such as the
computer case, keyboard, and monitor. However, there are many different types of hardware
components.

called the von Neumann computer.

Programs and data are stored in the same memory: primary memory.

Input: Those parts of the computer receiving information to programs.

Output: Those parts of the computer that provide results of computation to the person
using the computer.

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Fundamentals of IT

INPUT DEVICES
(a) Keyboard
It is a text base input device that allows the user to input alphabets, numbers and other characters.
It consists of a set of keys mounted on a board.
(b) Mouse
The mouse is a small device used to point to a particular place on the screen and select in order to
perform one or more actions. It can be used to select menu commands, size windows, start
programs etc. The most conventional kind of mouse has two buttons on top: the left one being
used most frequently.
(c) Joystick
The joystick is a vertical stick which moves the graphic cursor in a direction the stick is moved. It
typically has a button on top that is used to select the option pointed by the cursor. Joystick is
used as an input device primarily used with video games, training simulators and controlling
robots.
(d)Scanner
Scanner is an input device used for direct data entry from the source document into the computer
system. It converts the document image into digital form so that it can be fed into the computer.
Capturing information like this reduces the possibility of errors typically experienced during large
data entry.
Hand-held scanners are commonly seen in big stores to scan codes and price information for each
of the items. They are also termed the bar code readers.
(e) Bar codes
A bar code is a set of lines of different thicknesses that represent a number. Bar Code Readers are
used to input data from bar codes. Most products in shops have bar codes on them. Bar code
readers work by shining a beam of light on the lines that make up the bar code and detecting the
amount of light that is reflected back
(f) Touch Screen
It allows the user to operate/make selections by simply touching the display screen. Common
examples of touch screen include information kiosks, and bank ATMs.
(g)Digital camera
A digital camera can store many more pictures than an ordinary camera. Pictures taken using a
digital camera are stored inside its memory and can be transferred to a computer by connecting
the camera to it. A digital camera takes pictures by converting the light passing through the lens at
the front into a digital image.
OUTPUT DEVICES
(a) Monitor
Monitor is an output device that resembles the television screen and uses a Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT) to display information. The monitor is associated with a keyboard for manual input of

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Fundamentals of IT
characters and displays the information as it is keyed in. It also displays the program or
application output. Like the television, monitors are also available in different sizes.
(b) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
LCD was introduced in the 1970s and is now applied to display terminals also. Its advantages like
low energy consumption, smaller and lighter have paved its way for usage in portable computers
(laptops).
(c) Printer
Printers are used to produce paper (commonly known as hardcopy) output. Based on the
technology used, they can be classified as Impact or Non-impact printers. Impact printers use the
typewriting printing mechanism wherein a hammer strikes the paper through a ribbon in order to
produce output. Dot-matrix and Character printers fall under this category.
Non-impact printers do not touch the paper while printing. They use chemical, heat or electrical
signals to etch the symbols on paper. Inkjet, Deskjet, Laser, Thermal printers fall under this
category of printers.

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Fundamentals of IT

MEMORY
In computing, memory refers to the physical devices used to store programs (sequences of
instructions) or data (e.g. program state information) on a temporary or permanent basis for use
in a computer or other digital electronic device. The term primary memory is used for the
information in physical systems which function at high-speed (i.e. RAM), as a distinction
from secondary memory, which are physical devices for program and data storage which are
slow to access but offer higher memory capacity.

RAM (random access memory)

Can be both read and written

Is volatile
Can be used only as temporary storage
Two forms:
dynamic
data tend to decay even with power continuously applied
static
data are held as long as power is supplied

SRAM(Static Random Access Memory)-where the word static indicates that it, does not need
to be periodically refreshed, as SRAM uses bistable latching circuitry (i.e., flip-flops) to store
each bit. Each bit is stored as a voltage. Each memory cell requires six transistors, thus giving
chip low density but high speed. However, SRAM is still volatile in the (conventional) sense that
data is lost when powered down.
Disadvantages are: more expensive and also consumes more power than DRAM.

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Fundamentals of IT
In high speed processors (such as Pentium), SRAM is known as cache memory and is included
on the processor chip. However high-speed cache memory is also included external to the
processor to improve total performance.
DRAM(Dynamic Random Access Memory)- Its advantage over SRAM is its structural
simplicity: only one transistor (MOSFET gates) and a capacitor (to store a bit as a charge) are
required per bit, compared to six transistors in SRAM. This allows DRAM to reach very high
density. Also it consumes less power and is even cheaper than SRAM (except when the system
size is less than 8 K).
But the disadvantage is that since it stores bit information as charge which leaks; therefore
information needs to be read and written again every few milliseconds. This is known
as refreshing the memory and it requires extra circuitry, adding to the cost of system.
Read-Only Memory (ROM)

Written only once during manufacturing

Can be read, but cannot be written later
Is nonvolatile, nonerasable
Applications:
microprogramming, system programs, library subroutines
Advantage
data/programs are permanently in main memory
Problems
costly for small runs, but attractive for high-volume runs
no room for error

Programmable ROM (PROM)

Written only once after manufacturing

Can be read, but cannot be written later
Is nonvolatile, non-erasable
Attractive for small production runs
Advantages:
flexible and convenient
less expensive

Erasable PROM (EPROM)

Can be written many times

Erased by ultraviolet radiation before each write operation at chip level
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Fundamentals of IT

Erasure (20 mins) can be performed repeatedly

Is nonvolatile
Pros & cons:
Capable of multiple update
More expensive than PROM

Electrically EPROM (EEPROM)

Erased and updated at the byte level

Takes much longer to write than read
Is nonvolatile
More expensive and less dense than EPROM

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COMPUTER SOFTWARE
SYSTEM SOFTWARE (OPERATING SYSTEM, UTILITY AND DEVICE DRIVERS) AND
APPLICATION SOFTWARE
System software coordinates the activities and functions of hardware and software, and it
controls the operations of computer hardware. Learn about different types of system software,
including utility software, device drivers and firmware.
System Software
Software is a generic term for an organized collection of computer data and instructions. There
are two types of software: application software and system software. Application software helps
users solve a particular problem or carry out a specific task. A word processor is an example of
application software.
System software coordinates the activities and functions of hardware and software, and it controls
the operations of computer hardware. A computer's operating system is an example of system
software. Operating systems control the computer hardware and act as an interface with
application programs. System software also includes utility software, device drivers and firmware,
which we will be looking at in this lesson.
Utility Software
Utility software helps to manage, maintain and control computer resources. Operating systems
typically contain the necessary tools for this, but separate utility programs can provide improved
functionality. Utility software is often somewhat technical and targeted at users with a solid
knowledge of computers. If you use a computer mostly for e-mail, some Internet browsing and
typing up a report, you may not have much need for these utilities. However, if you are an avid
computer user, these utilities can help make sure your computer stays in tip-top shape.
Examples of utility programs are antivirus software, backup software and disk tools. Let's look at
each of these in a bit more detail.
Antivirus software, as the name suggests, helps to protect a computer system from viruses and
other harmful programs. A computer virus is a computer program that can cause damage to a
computer's software, hardware or data. It is referred to as a virus because it has the capability to
replicate itself and hide inside other computer files.
One of the most common ways to get a virus is to download a file from the Internet. Antivirus
software scans your online activity to make sure you are not downloading infected files. New
viruses are coming out all the time, so antivirus software needs to be updated very frequently.
Backup software helps in the creation of a backup of the files on your computer. Most computer
systems use a hard disk drive for storage. While these are generally very robust, they can fail or
crash, resulting in costly data loss. Backup software helps you copy the most important files to
another storage device, such as an external hard disk. You can also make an exact copy of your
hard disk.

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Fundamentals of IT
Increasingly, backup software uses cloud storage to create backups. This typically means you pay
a fee to use the storage space of a third party and use their backup software to manage which files
are going to be backed up.
Disk tools include a range of different tools to manage hard disk drives and other storage devices.
This includes utilities to scan the hard disks for any potential problems, disk cleaners to remove
any unnecessary files, and disk defragmenters to re-organize file fragments on a hard disk drive to
increase performance. Disk tools are important because a failure of a hard disk drive can have
disastrous consequences. Keeping disks running efficiently is an important part of overall
computer maintenance.
Device Drivers
A device driver is a computer program that controls a particular device that is connected to your
computer. Typical devices are keyboards, printers, scanners, digital cameras and external storage
devices. Each of these need a driver in order to work properly.
Device drivers act as a translator between the operating system of the computer and the device
connected to it. For many types of devices, the necessary drivers are built into the operating
system. When you plug in a device, the operating system starts looking for the right driver,
installs it and you are ready to start using the device. This is referred to as plug-and-play and is
much preferred over having to manually install the correct drivers.
There are so many different devices, however, that not all of them are built into the operating
system. As an alternative, the operating system can look online to find the right driver to install.
Many hardware devices, however, come with the necessary drivers. For example, if you buy a
printer, it may come with a CD that typically will include the correct driver. The advantage of this
is that the hardware manufacturer can make sure you have the right driver for the printer.
FIRMWARE AND HUMANWARE
Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. It includes the instructions to control
hardware, which is just like software. It also includes hardware in the form of the actual memory
chip where the instructions are stored. Technically, firmware consists of permanent software
stored into read-only memory. It is actually a pre-written program in machine language that is
stored in ROM.
Computer systems use a special type of firmware known as BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System.
It represents the basic code to get the computer started. You can think of BIOS as the firmware for
the motherboard of your computer.
The personnel which are related to installation, maintenance, operation and testing of computer
are called humanware.
Example:-Programmer, Hardware/Network Engineers, System Analysts
A buzzword for both hardware and software that are designed primarily around the end user
experience and user interface rather than focusing on the task that the product is meant to
accomplish. The design of humanware often begins with understanding the needs and limitations
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Fundamentals of IT
of the end user and working backwards to design the final product. Typically, a great deal of
testing is done on the product to ensure that its design is enhancing the end users experience in the
desired way. For example, technology designed to aid persons with disabilities typically begins
with understanding the needs of the end user before designing the product.
Humanware is hardware and software that emphasizes user capability and empowerment and the
design of the user interface.

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