A computer system is an interconnected system of components that transmit electronic information between them to accomplish a task given to the

computer. Computer systems require several critical components to function, all of equal importance. The hardware components of the computer are the parts you can see and touch. The software components consist of electronic data and programs that give the hardware directions for functioning properly.

Storage Media

Motherboard

The motherboard of a computer provides a pathway along which information and power can travel between components. The hard drive, power supply, other disc drives, processor and RAM all communicate using the motherboard. Motherboards typically have several expansion slots to connect peripheral devices.

RAM keeps data in short-term memory --- the duration of the current work session. When you power off the computer, all data in RAM is lost. Storage devices, such as hard-disk drives or optical drives, allow you to store data long term for later access. Hard-disk drives have several platters that store data magnetically. When you access a file, the operating system looks for the location of the data on the hard drive and sends a signal to the actuator arm, which contains a needle that skims over and reads the clusters of magnetic charges that represent data. Optical drives use a laser that reflects off the read surface of a CD or DVD to represent data.

Peripherals

Processor

The processor is the brain of the computer. It interprets input from the user, sends it to the computer as electronic signals and translates the signals into user-readable output. For example, typing a letter on a keyboard sends a signal to the processor. The processor then reinterprets the keyboard press as an electrical signal to send to a word processing program and to the monitor, alerting the monitor to display the corresponding characters.

Peripheral devices connect to the computer externally. Your keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers are all peripheral devices. The keyboard and mouse are input devices, allowing you to enter text or manipulate an on-screen cursor. The monitor is an output device. It interprets signals from your video card and displays an arrangement of pixels in different colors: red, green and blue. Your speakers interpret data coming from your soundcard and play it as MP3s or other audio files.

RAM

RAM (random-access memory) provides the computer with memory to temporarily store instructions and data to be accessed by your processor. According to the Indiana University Knowledge Base, most computers made after 2002 use DDR2 (double data rate) RAM. This type of RAM transfers data more quickly without reducing your computer's overall performance. Different types of RAM, such as DDR2 and DDR3, cannot be used in the same computer.

Elements of computer. 1. Hardware 2. people/user 3. data 4. procedure 5. connectivity 6. software

Hardware - Compose of the physical components. The tangible parts of a computer. ex. power supply, keyboard, mouse, etc. Software - Intangible parts. The parts which do not have material form. ex. datas, programs, protocols, etc. Slightly more detailed: Included in the hard ware is mother board which is pretty much the hub of everything and manages all the different connections for other components such as your CD drive, hard drives, ram, graphics cards, sound cards, mouse and keyboard, monitor and anything else. Some motherboards have ethernet (a way of connecting to the internet), graphics, and sound cards built into them. You than attach the CPU. The CPU is your main processing chip and is generally made by AMD or Intel. The hard drives store all your information and files. Dedicated sound cards and video cards handle all your sound and visual stuff respectively. They generally do a better job than the motherboard does so if you are using intensive applications such as CAD or gaming you may want dedicated graphics and sound. Ram is memory that is used while the computer is on for running programs, generally more ram helps you run more programs simultaneously. Your keyboard and mouse are input devices that you use to type or navigate the computer and generally connect via usb or ps2 ports on the back of your computer. The monitor displays what your computer is doing and allows you to interface with your machine graphically. Your CD drive is an optical device that lets your read CD's you can also get drives that read DVD's blu-ray discs and hd dvds. (1) ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit): The ALU is the digital circuit that is able to perform different types of functions, such as Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication etc. (2) Control Unit: The control unit is the part of CPU (central processing unit) or other devices that performs the duty to direct its operations, the control unit is just like a finite state machine that has

some finite states and the transaction from one state to the other state is called action. (3) Memory: The memory is another very important element of the computer without memory the computer can't operate in today's modern age it is called the RAM (Random Access Memory) when ever we give some instruction to the computer it passes through RAM to the Processor and the processor processes it and send it back. The main reason behind memory is that it is faster in communication with the processor then the other memory devices such as hard disk etc. (4) Input/output devices: The input and output devices is another important element for example the processor is the input device and it gives its output to the monitor etc for output. There is another very important point the basic elements are considered as CPU (central Processing Unit), I/O devices, and Memory actually the CPU is the composition of different other elements such as ALU, Control Unit, Registers which is another type of memory.