Quiz is posted. Go to the Shared drive, students, Bjerke, CApps, Data Is #3, and open the folder with Firefox.
The path to the quiz is: S:\shared\students\Bjerke\CApps\Data Is #3
Remember if you don’t enter your name, you will not get credit.
If you submit the test more than once, I will subtract 10 points for each time.
Due by the end of class on Wednesday, May 13.
Quiz is posted. Go to the Shared drive, students, Bjerke, CApps, Data Is #2, and open the folder with Firefox.
The path to the quiz is: S:\shared\students\Bjerke\CApps\Data Is #2
Remember if you don’t enter your name, you will not get credit.
If you submit the test more than once, I will subtract 10 points for each time.
The quiz over this information will be given on Monday, May 11.
Data is usually stored on the hard drive, which is a metal disk (usually made from aluminum) coated with a metallic powder that can be rearranged with magnets. Drawn onto that disk are small rings which divide areas of the disk called tracks. Within those tracks are sectors, small squarish segments. Each segment is like a small book with a cover, a title page, and pages of information. Each sector holds 512 bytes of data (512 bytes multiplied by 8 bits in a byte = 4,096 characters).
Unlike a library, however, each consecutive sector in a track does not hold a part of the program like each book of the encyclopedia holds part of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Rather the parts of one set of data or program are scattered across the disk surface and among the tracks in whatever fashion best fit the computers use of space at the time. Like a telephone book, certain sectors catalog the data, so when the program runs, it brings together parts of its code in the other parts of the computer to determine what to do and get it done. Imagine you and your friends are taking a trip, you first call them on the telephone to assemble them to your house (like the computer consults the directory sectors on the hard drive and pulls the code together). Then when every one arrives, you assign each person a task; John brought his car, Megan brought her tent, and you brought the food. You will each take care of your own role, and the result will be a nice campsite beside the lake – your output.
The data on the hard drive, a series of on and off switches, sends a coded signal through a cable to a component in your computer called the mother board – a name that denotes its role in bringing all of the components together, or connecting them. The coded signal follows paths on the mother board called circuits, and then through the processor, which is like a calculator, to produce your result: a resulting coded signal from the processor tells your monitor what to show you.
Your computer is made up of many elements like metal, plastic, silicon, fiberglass and glass. Some of these elements make up parts like the motherboard. The motherboard is a large printed circuit board, and is usually green in color with gold colored circuits. A printed circuit board is a square sheet of phenolic, a fiberglass like material, with circuits of thin metal carrying electrical impulses. These circuits are metal foil which carry electrical signals between electronic components soldered to the board.
The primary component on the motherboard is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) which does most of the calculations required to run programs. Like a very complicated version of a calculator, the CPU takes the data you input, follows the steps in its programming (like the keys on the calculator that tell it to add or subtract) to give you an answer (the output).
This CPU has processing power which is measured in Hertz (Hz) which is a measurement of electrical cycles. Modern CPU’s are operating at many million Hertz (millions of cycles per second). Some of the first Pentium processors were working at 33 and 66 MegaHertz (MHz) or 33 and 66 million cycles per second. In 2005, most new CPU’s were operating at 2 to 4 GigaHertz (1 GHz is one billion cycles per second).
Though this measurement of processor speed does not necessarily indicate its processing power, it does indicate how fast it can process data. A dual-core CPU combines two independent processors and their respective caches and cache controllers onto a single silicon chip, or integrated circuit.
The speed and method used to run programs is also determined by the other components on the motherboard. The motherboard has smaller processors which direct the flow of information, two of which are the north and south bridge – gatekeepers that direct sets of data into and out of the CPU.
The motherboard also uses some very important, specialized microchips called Random Access Memory (RAM) to shuffle the data in groups. This RAM memory is a key component in determining the ability of your computer to perform advanced functions. RAM is similar to the hard drive in that microscopic switches are used to represent the data while it is being held, but is very different in that RAM must have a continuous electrical signal to keep the switches in place. Once you turn off the computer, all of the switches go dormant and no longer hold any information. The RAM acts like a buffer, holding sets of data until the computer or user choose to process them.
An operating system is a series of programs (digital code which is interpreted as instructions by the computer) which together operate the hardware which is connected together in the computer, and the hardware which is connected to the computer. This group of programs coordinate the processing of data (calculations) by the CPU which is the primary “calculator” in the computer. The operating system also manages the use of memory which shuffles data through the processor to perform functions. The operating system takes data from the non-volatile memory (memory which does not lose its information when the computer is turned off like the hard drive), the volatile memory (RAM), or data input from the keyboard or similar input device. The operating system follows its millions of lines of code (instructions) to determine what data to use, when to use it, and how to process it. After processing the data, the operating system sends information to an output device.
Input devices are any hardware that is connected to the computer, which gives information to the computer. Examples of input devices include mouse, keyboard, scanner and camera, though there are many other input devices.
Output devices are any hardware that is connected to your computer which displays information to the user. Examples of output devices include monitor (screen), printer and speakers, though there are many other output devices.
Networks are systems of connected computers which can send data to each other. Networks can be arranged in many different ways, but the most common are intranets (networks which do not connect to the outside world) and internets or extranets which connect to computers in many different locations. Some networks are simple, in that the computers that are connected directly communicate with each other. Many home networks are like this. Most computer networks are complex. They consist of computers connected in a local area (like within a company building), computers which control the network, and computers outside the local network that exchange information.
The Internet, more properly called the World Wide Web, is a complex network consisting of millions of computers. The World Wide Web, or simply the web, depends on international agreements between both governmental and non-governmental organizations which have agreed to share data and control use of the web on different levels. Some of these agreements control the manner, or format, that is used to exchange data, and some of these agreements control who can use the web, how they can use it, and what requirements they must meet to use the web. These agreements establish things like web site names (domains), web site addresses (IP addresses), and links (locations of web sites listed on other sites). Like our complex system of roads, some rules are visible (like stop signs) and others require the user to have some knowledge (like navigating to a street address).
To simplify, the web is the many computers which share information between each other. In fact, it is a very complex system of computers operating at several different levels. The top levels are computers which keep track of where each computer on the web is located using a system of domain names (like google.com) which actually represent numerical addresses. The domain name servers keep track of many of the addresses on the web and where other addresses can be found. When you type a domain name, these domain name servers interpret the letters you type as a numerical address, and in turn direct you to the information at that location (usually a web site). It is important to remember that because there are millions of locations on the web (web sites), and thousands of computers which must keep track of these locations, it can take time for the computers which maintain these directories to update their information and share it with other computers.
On the web, information can be displayed in several different ways. By far the most common is as a “web page” or more properly an “HTML” document. HTML (an abbreviation for Hyper-Text Markup Language) is a system of codes which tells other computers how to show you the information. A properly coded web page will look the same to every viewer, and will allow the viewer to choose links within the web page to find other information.
To read the code in an HTML document, the viewer needs an internet browser. The internet browser is a computer application which reads the code of a web page, determines which text to show the viewer and which text is coded instructions for the computer. Some of the instructions, or code, tell the browser to show certain letters in a certain font (type style), color, size or style, as well as where to show pictures, and how to get to other information through links. Links usually appear as blue and/or underlined text which cue the viewer that there is more information available through that link. Links are displayed as text or pictures, but also represent an address where the information can be found, which is in the code, but not usually displayed to the viewer.
If you have thought about running for a class office, now is the time to act.
From Mrs. Mota:It’s that time of year again! Please encourage active, energetic, self-driven students to run for class office. They may pick up their forms from me in portable B-1. Any eligible student may run for class officer.
If you have students interested in joining Student Council, they must also pick up forms from me. Students who wish to become a new member of StuCo may join as representatives. For a student to be eligible to run for StuCo office, they must participate in StuCo for at least one school year. In addition, only incoming Junior or Senior StuCo officers/reps. may run for StuCo’s highest offices of president and vice-president.
All forms are due to me by Monday, May 11th. Please place all evaluation forms in my box as soon as possible (these are confidential forms that should NOT be handed directly to students). And please contact me if you have any questions and/ or concerns.
I will help you make your posters if you wish.
Quiz is posted. Go to the Shared drive, students, Bjerke, CApps, Data Is #1, and open the data_is_#1 document with Firefox.
The path to the quiz is: S:\shared\students\Bjerke\CApps\Data Is #1
Remember if you don’t enter your name, you will not get credit.
If you submit the test more than once, I will subtract 10 points for each time.
The Blog for Mister Bjerke's Computer Apps Classes 