Hardware Components

102 Notes on Hardware Components |  PDF

• binary numbers
• input/output
• analog vs digital
• sampling
• volatile storage
• hardware components

Extra material:

Videos:

• Computer Tour (HowStuffWorks) which is 3:25 long.
• Computer Help & Solutions : Basic Components of a Computer Motherboard which is 2:51 long.
• How a TV works in Slow Motion which is 11:38 long. Link is to the latter half of the video which shows in detail how pixels create the illusion of color on a screen. This video includes flashing lights! Do NOT watch if you are sensitive to flashing!

Reading:

• For fun: more on one way we can convert sounds and images as a list of numbers (in this case, using frequencies): http://www.jezzamon.com/fourier/index.html

Audio:

Review Questions

This is not work to be turned in for a grade.  They are however very similar to the questions on the Comprehension Quiz.

1. What is sampling?
       (Note that many terms have a different, or more specific meaning in computer science than the more general meaning of the word.)
2. What is digital? What is binary? What is decimal?
3. What does it mean for storage to be volatile? 
4. Which components in the computer are volatile?
5. What is the purpose of the ROM?
6. What is the purpose of the cache?
7. Compare and contrast Main Memory and Hard Drive.
8. What is the purpose of the system clock?
9. What is the purpose of the ALU?
10. What is the purpose of the Instruction Register?  What is the purpose of the Data Registers?
11. Why would a computer need expansion cards?
12. What is the purpose of a port? 
13. What is the purpose of a bus?
14. What is a memory address?
15. What is the purpose of the program counter?
16. How is data stored in a computer?  (Here I am asking for format, not a process.

For fun -- Sampling IRL:

Avatar🕹 / @todayscuriosity #todayscuriosity #kensukekoike

A post shared by Kensuke Koike 小池健輔 (@kensukekoike) on Aug 5, 2018 at 10:18am PDT