FCC 113 (Week 1 )

Induction about Computer

      It was very interesting to started my first class in the morning at 8.00am with my easy-going lecturer, Mr. Azamuddin Abdul Rahman or well-known as Mr.Azam. Therefore, my friends and I began it with getting to know each other and introduced ourselves accordingly. Most of us have learnt the Information technology (IT) and Information Literacy (IL) in the previous trimester 2012. So that, we can easily follow this course and ready to get a lot of knowledge regarding computer and internet field.

          Studying in new course is something differently what I felt during my first-class with new lecturer as well as new classmates. However, it was a great time for me that I could learn something really useful in my life from my lecturer. He gave us a huge of knowledge that he has regarding Computer and Internet field. Furthermore, I learnt what I had learnt in IT class before, so that it was just a re-frees for me to know more about computers.

          So, as the above picture shows that Computer is a programmable machine that carries out what it has been instructed. We recognize a Computer by looking at physical features as well as behaviors. In a Computer, there are some operation systems that always it does, such as Input, Processing, Output, Storage, and the other is Communication, and this operation is called as Information Processing Cycle.

        In Addition about Computer Operation, here are some definitions of Information Processing Cycle:

a) A computer converts DATA (from Input) to become INFORMATION ( as Output).

b) Processing requires a set of instruction, known as PROGRAM or SOFTWARE.

c) A computer holds data, instructions and information in storage for future use.

           Data is a collection of unprocessed items such as text, numbers, images, audio and video. Then what is the related between Data and Computer? The explanation is Computer and its components convert or Process Data (as input) to become Information (as output) in order to be useful for people (users).

Another thing that I have learnt from the class was Computer Data Representation. It was a little bit difficult and I was really confused how to compute it. Basically, it is how a Computer represents the data and it is called a bit. As addition, a bit is the most basic unit of information in a computer, and a group of eight bits is called as a byte, the smallest possible addressable unit of computer storage.

What I have been learning in the Computer and Internet class is very different from what I learnt in Information Technology last trimester. In the Computer and Internet lesson, I have to compute such the number systems that data can be represented by a Computer. They are called as Decimal Number System, Binary Number System, Octal Number System, and Hexadecimal Number System.

In addition, I would like to explain about all those number systems accordingly, even though I am not very expect in calculate them.

1.  Decimal Number System.v It uses ten numerals to form a string of numbers. The values are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9v Decimal numbers have a base, written as X₁₀ where X is any number string/ pattern.
2.  Binary Number System.
v It uses two numerals/digits to form a string of numbers. They are 0 and 1. Also known as BITS.v Binary numbers have a base of two, written as X₂ where X is any number string/ pattern.
v This is the number system used by computers. 3.     Octal Number System.
v It uses eight numerals to form a string of numbers. They are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
v Octal numbers have a base of eight, written as X₈ where X is any number string/ pattern.
v Some binary quantities are written in this number system, but not very popular.
4.     Hexadecimal Number System.
v It uses sixteen symbols (numerals + letters) to form a string of numbers. They are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D and E. Also known as Hex.v Binary numbers have a base of sixteen, written as X₁₆ where X is any number string/ pattern.
v This is the number system typically used to represent digital data.