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Chapter Two
Computer System
Section Objectives
After successful completion of this section students shall be able to:
o describe components of computer systems
o identify computer hardware based on their function
o identify computer software and their category

Computer System

Hardware Software

Input devices Application

Keyboard mouse,
System software
software
Operating system
Output devices software
Monitor, printer Ms-DOS, MS-
window

Memory Units
RAM, ROM, HDD,
Language software

CPU
Central Processing
Unit

A computer system is the combination of hardware and software. A typical computer

system utilizes a computer that uses programmable devices to store, retrieve, and process
data. The personal computer or PC is an example of a computer system. An Automatic
Teller Machine (ATM1) is another example of a computer system. Even the simplest
computer classifies as a computer system, because at least two components (hardware
and software) have to work together. But the real meaning of "computer system" comes

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with interconnection. Many computer systems can interconnect, that is, join to become a
bigger system.

Computer – is an electronic device that accepts stores and processes data

to provide useful information as an output.

Generally, a computer system is composed of two main components:

 Computer hardware and
 Computer software

Activity 1:
Can you describe the basic components of Information Systems?

1. Computer Hardware
Computer hardware is the physical part of the computer system can be seen and felt. The
hardware part of a computer system is composed of a number of interacted physical parts. E.g.
keyboard, mouse, CPU

Types of Computer Hardware

The hardware part of a computer system is composed of a number of interacting physical parts
based on the need of the information flow. Information flows in the computer hardware.
There are several criteria by which computer hardware can be categorized. Based on
information processing, we can divide computer hardware into four:
1) Input Devices
2) Storage Devices
3) Output Devices
4) Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Input Devices
Input devices are used to enter information into computer. They convert the data we give
them into the form that can be manipulated in the computer (electronic format).
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Keyboard
Keyboard is an input device consisting of a set of typewriter-like keys that enable one to
enter data into a computer. The keys on the keyboard are often classified as follows
 Alphanumeric keys - Letters and numbers
 Punctuation keys - comma, period, semicolon, etc.
 Special keys- function keys, control keys, arrow keys, caps lock, etc.

In detail the following are descriptions of the keys of keyboard.

Escape key - Generally used to abort system actions.

Function keys – their function varies from program to program. For example F1 is used
to get help most of the times
Enter key - used to enter commands or to return to the beginning of new lines in a
document.
Backspace key - used to move the cursor backwards, deleting a character backward.
Delete keys - used to delete characters to the right.
Tab key - used to move the insertion point forward.
Caps lock key – used to write small or capital letters.
Shift key - used to produce upper case or lower case letters and to insert the upper
character if the key has two characters.
Control (Ctrl) key & Alt key - commonly used in combination with other keys to enter
commands example ctrl + P in Microsoft Word opens the print dialog box.
Insert key - used to toggle between insert and overwrite modes of typing.
Arrow keys - used to move the cursor2 around the display screen.
Num lock keys - used to activate/deactivate the numeric keypad3.
Print screen keys - used to print the contents of the screen.

The arrangement of the keys on the keyboard may differ. The most common in English-
speaking countries is the QWERTY keyboard. It is called QWERTY keyboard because
the first five keys on the top row of letters spell Q, W, E, R, T, and Y. The arrangement
of keys in this case is based on typewriter (alphabets and punctuation) and calculator
(numeric pad). This is to make data entry easy.

The other type of keyboard layout is the DVORAK Keyboard. In this layout, the most
commonly used letters are placed in the most accessible places. The home keys are the
five English vowel letters A, O, E, U, I (for the left hand) & the five most often used
consonants (D, H, T, N, S) are the home keys for the right hand. The next most frequently
used letters are on the keys one row up, the next easier position to reach.

Mouse

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Cursor is a blinking symbol on the screen that indicates the place where the next character typed appears
3
numeric keypad is the set of numeric keys found at the right hand side of the keyboard

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Mouse is a hand-operated device that controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on a
display screen. It is a small object that can be rolled along a rough flat surface.

Mouse can have as many as three buttons whose function depends on what program is
running:
– Left-button: for left click. Example, selecting text
– Right-button: for right click. Example, see property of file
– Middle button: for scrolling purpose. This button is sometimes missing.

Most mice are connected to the system unit by a cable or cord. There are also mouse that
are not connected to system unit by a cable/cord. They are called cordless mouse
(wireless mouse). They communicate with system unit using infrared light, similar
technology used in remote controls, or radio waves. Mouse has roller ball at the bottom.
The roller ball converts mouse movements into electronic signals.

Optical Recognition Systems

Optical recognition system uses light to read characters, codes, and marks, and convert
them into computer understandable format. There many types of optical recognition
systems:
 OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
 OMR (Optical Mark recognition)
 Barcode Reader
 Image scanner

I) Optical Character Recognizers (OCR)

OCR are scanners that read typewritten, computer printed, and in some cases hand printed
characters from ordinary documents. They scan the shape of character and compare it with
predefined font shapes found in memory. Based on the comparison, they can convert the
characters into computer code.

Use:
Enter documents found on paper into computer without the need to type it using keyboard. This
makes the job easy.

II) OMR
OMR senses the presence or absence of a mark, such as pencil marks. It doesn’t utilize letters of
the alphabet. Instead, with the use of electronic scanners, marks and symbols are converted
into appropriate electronic signals. It is used to process questionnaires or exams using
computer. The read mark is interpreted and matched against previously entered answer key.
Example, the ESLCE is corrected using this device.

III) Bar Code Reader

Bar code reader is a peripheral that reads bar codes printed on products. Bar code uses a
pattern or symbols to represent data. It consists of vertical lines and spaces of different
width. There are different kinds of bar codes; the most commonly used is called UPC

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(Universal Product Code). It is used to identify product manufacturer, product number,

price, etc.

Barcode and Barcode reader

Use:
 Used in supermarkets, groceries etc to identify products and their price.

IV) Image Scanner

We sometimes want to use our previously taken images into computer. In such cases, we
need a device that converts the image on paper into computer format. This device is
called image scanner.

Speech Recognition Systems

Speech recognition is the ability of computers to recognize human speech. We use
microphone to enter the speech into computer. The computer then processes the speech
and performs the action ordered by speech. This is the latest technology and is still under
research.

Light Pen
Light pen is a light sensitive pen like device that is used in conjunction with computer
monitor. It is used by touching the screen with this device to create or modify graphics. A
light cell in the tip of the pen senses light from the screen to determine the pen’s location
on the screen.

Touch Screen
Touch screen allow you to use fingers instead of mouse or related input device. It lets you
to enter data or command (e.g. button click) by touching areas of the screen. It enables
you perform activities you perform with mouse using your finger. It is not used to enter
large amounts of data.

Activity 2:
Can you identify other Input devices that can be used with computers? What common
characteristics do they have

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Central Processing Unit

It is also called microprocessors or processors. A microprocessor is a semiconductor device
consisting mostly software controlled LSI (Large Scale Integrated) chip which performs the
functions of automatic data processing. Processors are not optimized to perform complex
numerical calculations and other special tasks (graphics manipulations). For this purpose
specialized coprocessors which are also called math-coprocessors have been developed to
increase the processing capability of a computer and speed up complex mathematical
floating-point calculations. The coprocessors operate in parallel with CPUs.

CPU executes instructions and performs the computer's processing activities. It is also
known as processor or microprocessor. It functions the same purpose as the human brain
for human being. It is called the brain of the computer.

One of the basic features of a computer that affects its entire performance is the CPU
speed. CPU speed is measured in Hertz (Hz). Hertz is the number of cycles per second.
1Hz=1cycle per second. Larger units are KHz (Kilo Hertz), MHz (Mega Hertz),
GHz(Giga Hertz), etc.
1 KHz = 1000 Hz
1 MHz = 1000 KHz
1 GHz = 1000MHZ

Current CPUs are as fast as 2-3GHz (2-3 billion cycles per second)

CPU has three sub-components:

 Control Unit (CU)
 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
 Memory

Fig Components of Central Processing Unit

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The three sub components are connected by a cable like device called bus. It facilitates
communication between the parts. It is used to transfer data between these sub
components.

Control Unit
As human brain controls the body, control unit controls the computer hardware. Control
Unit does not execute instruction by itself, i.e. does not carry out instruction processing,
but it directs other processing elements to execute instructions.

It retrieves instruction from memory and this process is called fetch instruction. After
fetching instruction, it translates that instruction into computer understandable format and
sends signals to other computer hardware units to carry out the instruction. This process
(the process of translating instruction) is called decoding.

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

The purpose of ALU is to execute instruction. It performs two operations:
 Arithmetic operation
 Logic Operation
Arithmetic operation: this includes mathematical operations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, etc. If you give your computer the instruction 2+3, this will be
included in arithmetic operation and it is executed by Arithmetic Unit.
Logical Operation: this is concerned with the comparison of data and it is called logical
operation. It includes operators like less than, greater than, equal to, less or equal to,
greater or equal to, different from, etc. e.g. if mark>80, grade is 'A'.

Registers
When instruction is loaded from main memory into the CPU, it is placed first in registers
to wait instruction from control unit. Registers are temporary storage location for data
prior to execution in ALU. There are different types of registers. E.g. data register,
program counter, address register, etc.

Activity 3:
Can you define the function of Central processing Unit and its components?

Output Devices
Output devices are used to get data out of a computer so that it can be examined,
analyzed or distributed to others. It converts information from machine-understandable
form to a human understandable form. The outputs are of two types: Softcopy: displayed
on monitor, projector, or similar devices and Hardcopy: printed on paper

Examples
 The Visual Display Unit (VDU) or monitor or screen
 Printers (dot matrix, daisy wheel, laser printers)
 Plotters
 Voice (audio) response unit
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 Disk drives

Monitors
Monitor is the most frequent type of output device. It consists of a display surface called
screen which displays output to the user. Image is displayed on monitors using pattern of
lighted dots. Each of these lighted dots is called pixel a short form of picture element.

There are three types of monitor:

1) CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
2) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
3) Plasma display

CRT Monitor
CRT is similar in size and technology to televisions. It uses electron guns that emit
electrons. These electrons are directed towards phosphorous coated screen. The
phosphorous coat glows (emits light) when hit by electron from electron guns, thus
creating visible things that we see. The monitors of most desktop computers are CRT
monitors. The main disadvantages of CRT monitors are their large size and high power
consumption

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors

Crystal display is most commonly used in digital watches, clocks, calculators, etc. In
computers, they are commonly used for portable computers E.g., laptops. Liquid crystal
uses liquid crystal for display purpose, not electron guns. The liquid crystal is deposited
between sheets of polarizing material which allows or blocks light to display information.
Advantage over CRT: they are smaller in size which makes it easy to transport and
consumes less power which makes it suitable for laptop.

Gas Plasma
Gas plasma substitutes neon gas for liquid crystal. The neon gas glows and produces
pixels that form picture. It is used for portable computers. Advantage: better display
quality than LCD but more expensive than LCD

Printers

Printer is a device that enables us to produce a hardcopy of data/information. They have

varying speeds, capabilities, and printing methods. Based on the way they print, printers
are divided into two:
 Impact printers
 Non-impact printer

Impact printers

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Impact printers transfer printable material onto paper by striking paper, ribbon, and
character together. Most of such printers take continuous form of paper. The most
commonly used impact printers are dot-matrix printers. The combination of small dots
printed closely forms a character. Example: Epson printers

Non-Impact Printers
They print without having a mechanism that strikes a paper. They print by spraying ink or
by using heat and pressure to fuse black powder onto paper. The various types of non-
impact printer include:

Inkjet Printers - An inkjet printer sprays tiny drops of ink onto paper. The print head of
such printers contains a nozzle which has many holes. Ink is propelled by heat or pressure
through the nozzle holes and form character or image on the paper.
 Produce high quality print
 Quiet because the paper is not struck
 Heavy weight paper is recommended

Laser Printer - They work similarly to photocopying machine. They convert data from
computer into a laser beam (kind of light), why they are called laser printer. They use
mirrors to direct light onto a drum which in turn produce characters on paper. The drum
is light sensitive material that becomes charged when it is hit by light. The charged area
of the drum attracts ink from toner and the ink is transferred onto paper. A heating
material heats the ink and attaches it onto the paper. It produces high quality print.

Thermal printers - Thermal printers use heat to transfer inks from ink sheets onto
printing surface. They produce high-quality print. Because of this, they are used to
produce high quality color artwork and text. They can use plain paper but produce best
result on chemically treated papers.

Plotters
Plotters are used to produce high-quality drawings such as bar charts, maps, architectural
drawings, and three-dimensional drawings.
 Can produce high quality multi-color documents
 Can print on large size papers, which most printers can’t handle.

Activity:
Can you identify any other output devices? What similarities do they have?

Storage Devices
One of the unique features of computers is storage. Data can be stored on different
storage media temporarily or permanently. Storage devices can be categorized into to as:
 Primary storage device
 Secondary storage device

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1. Primary Memory / Main Memory

Primary memory, also called Main memory, refers to integrated circuit that stores
program instructions and data. The CPU closely works with the main memory to perform
its activities. Memory stores three things:
 Operation system software instructions
 Application software instruction
 Data that is being processed

Depending on the type of information they store and the technology used, the primary
memory can be categorized into three:
RAM (Random Access Memory)
ROM (Read Only Memory)
CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor)
RAM
RAM is temporary storage i.e. the data is lost when the computer is off unlike secondary
storage. Because of this it is called volatile memory. Why is it volatile? It uses electric
power to store data. When you write anything on your computer, first it is stored on
RAM. When you save the file, it is transferred into secondary storage. RAM has differing
capacity, the common ones being 128, 256, and 512.

It is directly accessible by CPU. It is called RAM because each memory location can be
accessed randomly using memory address. Each unit in RAM has memory address by
which it can be easily accessed/referenced.

ROM
ROM stores data and programs that are permanently required by the computer. They have
programs built into them at the factory and that program could not be changed or erased
by the user, but read. It is non-volatile, read-only (not changeable) memory. Read-only
means data can't be altered or erased but read.

ROM contains special instruction called BIOS that the computer uses when it is turned
on. E.g, instruction that starts the computer, instruction that displays information on
screen, etc. The technological advancement in ROM design has resulted in three other
types of ROM:
 PROM (Programmable ROM)
 EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM)
 EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM)

PROM: this kind of ROM can be written by user once. But, you can't erase or write to it
more than once; you can only read from.

EPROM: this kinds of ROM can be written to or erased as many times as the user wants.
It is like CD-RW.

EEPROM: similar to EPROM, it can be re-written to or erased. But we use electrical

power to erase the contents here.

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CMOS
CMOS contains essential information that is required when the computer is turned on.
E.g. RAM size, type of mouse, etc. It is non-volatile, but modifiable to incorporate
changes. It is powered by battery when computer is off.

2. Secondary Storage
Secondary storage (also called auxiliary storage) supplements the primary memory. It
takes many forms. It includes punched cards, punched paper tape, magnetic tape, magnetic
disk and optical disk. Based on information access, secondary storage devices are divided
into two:

 Sequential Access: information is accessed sequentially. To access information on

such media, we start from the beginning and read through to the end. Jumping to
some part is not possible. E.g. tape recorder cassette
 Random Access: information can be accessed in any order. You can access the first
or the last part of information by jumping others. E.g. floppy disk

Sequential Access Media

1) Punched Cards
Punched cards are one of the oldest and most familiar data storage devices. There are two
types of punched cards, 80 columns and 96 columns, and the first one is a standard
punched card. Data is stored on punched cards by cutting parts of the paper out and leaving
other parts intact. The cut part (hole) may represent binary 1 and the intact part represents
binary 0.

2) Magnetic Tapes

During 1950s and 1960s, magnetic tape was the primary method of storing large amount
of data. Today they are used primarily for back up purposes. It consists of thin ribbon
plastic called tape. One side of the tape is coated with iron-oxide, a material that can be
magnetized. By magnetizing and demagnetizing the tape, computer stores data on it.
Disadvantage:
 Sequential access
Advantage:
 Store more data on a small area
Magnetic tapes are not used with desktop computers. However, because of their
advantage, magnetic tapes are used to take backup of data. Backup is data that is stored in
a different place than the original computer where data is used. This is to avoid the
danger of data loss due to disasters. If the original data is lost, the copy will be used.

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Random Access Storage Media

A. Magnetic Disks
Magnetic disk is the most widely used storage medium on all computers. It consists of a
round piece of plastic or metal the surface of which is covered with magnetic material.
Magnetic disks offer:
 High storage capacity
 Reliability
 Fast date access during reading or writing to disk.

Magnetic disks are metals or plastic platters coated with ferrous oxide, an easily
magnetically material. They allow for random access of information and overcome the slow
access time commonly found in tape files.
Examples: floppy disk, hard disk

1) Floppy Disks. They are also called diskette. It is made up of thin Mylar plastic which
is coated with metal oxide. Data is stored as electromagnetic charges on the plastic coat.
It stores data by means of magnetizing and demagnetizing the metal oxide.

Floppy is an easily removable storage used to transport data from one computer to
another. It is used to store programs and data for a longer period outside the computer system.
Often used with mini and micro computers. Data is stored in concentric circles called
tracks.

Sector and Track of a floppy disk

Each track is further divided into sectors. A sector stores the amount of information that
can be read or written in single operation. The most widely used type of floppy disks is the
5.25 inch and the 3.5 inch wide floppy disks. Each has two different storage capacity.
31/2 inch: -can store 1.44MB of data on double side high density
-can store 720kb of data on single side low density
51/4 inch: -can store 1.2MB of data on double side high density
-can store 360kb of data on single side low density

Density refers to the number of bits that can be recorded on one-inch of track.
High density: increased storage capacity
Low density: low storage capacity

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Rules for handling Floppy Disks

Floppy disks are magnetic devices which stores data on them. Improper handing of floppy
disks may result in loosing the data stored on the disk. It is therefore necessary to know the
following rules to protect your disks and/or your data on it from damage.

 Never place the disk near magnetic devices, keep the disk away from your telephone
since telephone boxes contain magnetic units.
 Always place disks back into their envelope when you are not using them.
 Never touch your floppy disk media.
 Never smoke near floppy disks.
 Store your floppies in a safe location.
Keep at room temperature in the range of 10 to 50oc
Always make a backup copy of your floppy disk.
Floppy Disks have different parts. Some of them are the followings:
1 1. Disk Hub: - Is the portion of the disk that the disk drive used to rotate the disk.
2 2. Write protect Notch (opening): Used to protect accidental file deletion
3 3. Disk jacket: - Protects the storage media from dust, finger prints and scratches from
other sources.
4 4. Read/ Write opening: - Allows the read/write head inside the disk drive access to the
storage media.
5 5. Disk label: - Is used to write the name of a file on the disk.
6 6. Shutter: - A moveable metal or plastic plate that protects the disk media from dust.

2) Hard Disk. A high capacity magnetic disk made up of metal which can be fixed in the
system unit of the computer. It serves as a secondary storage and it enables very fast
accessibility of data. Accessing data from hard disk is faster than from floppy disks.

The disks, which are usually grouped together into a disk pack are separated by small air
spaces to allow access for read-write head. Each disk is subdivided into tracks and sectors
on which information is stored. The disk pack is mounted on a magnetic disk drive which
rotates the disk at speed up to 1,000 revolutions per second.

Hard disk

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Platters are grouped together to form hard disk. The amount of time it takes to retrieve
(or store) data from (or to) disk is called the disk access time. It rotates at high speed and
this is measured in terms of revolutions per second.

Data is stored on hard disks by magnetizing and demagnetizing the surface each cylinder.
They store data on both sides of the cylinder i.e two sided. It is read-write head that reads
or writes data from hard disk.

B. Optical Disk
Optical disks use laser light to read or write data from optical disk. Laser - Light
Amplified Stimulated Emission of Rays. Optical disks use high powered laser light to
burn microscopic holes on the surface of the disk to store data. Burned out part is called
pit, and the non-burnt part is called land. Land may represent binary 0 and pit binary 1.

CD pit and land

Optical disks use low powered laser to read data. There are two most common types of
optical disks:
 CD (Compact Disc)
 DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)

CD (Compact Disc)
CD can store 700BM of information. Data is stored only on one side of the disc. There
are three basic types of CDs:
1. CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) - This kind of is read only i.e. you
can’t write data to such CDs or you can’t erase from them. Data is only
accessed/read from these CDs.
2. CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable) - It is also called WORM (Write Once and
Read Many). These CDs can be written on once. But then after, you can’t rewrite
on it or erase data from it. After you first wrote data on such discs, then only thing
you can do to read data from them.
3. CD-RW (Compact Disc Read-Write) - They are also called erasable optical discs.
You can write data as many times as you want on such CDs. You can also erase
the content of such CDs.
DVD
DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. But some people mistakenly call it Digital Video
Disc. It is a relatively new technology that is introduced recently. It is similar to CD
except that it can store large amounts of data and it has narrow tracks than CD. It can
store 4 -17GB of information.

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Another possible categorization is based on the significance of the devices – System Unit
and Peripheral Devices.

Disk drive: is part of a computer system which reads from and writes data on a disk.

Activity:
What are the four activities that computers do? What are the hardware components
responsible for these activities?

Components of computers – Based on their location

1. The system Unit

A system unit, also known as a base unit, is the main body of a desktop computer. It
typically consists of a metal or (rarely) plastic enclosure containing the motherboard,
power supply, cooling fans, internal disk drives, and memory and expansion cards that
are plugged into the motherboard, such as video and network cards.

Components of System Unit

System unit contains: case, motherboard, power supply and disk drives.

Case: A computer case (also known as the computer chassis, cabinet, tower, box or
housing) is the enclosure that contains the main components of a computer. Cases are
usually constructed from steel, aluminum, or plastic.

Power Supply: The PC power supply converts 120/240 volts Alternating Current (AC)
into 5 and 12 volts Direct Current (DC) used by the PC. The PC power supplies have
built-in power on/off switches and power connectors for the motherboard and the disk
drives.

Motherboard: A motherboard, also known as a system board, is the central or primary

circuit board making up a complex electronic system.

A typical computer is built with the microprocessor(CPU), main memory(RAM), and

other basic components on the motherboard. Other components of the computer such as
external storage, control circuits for video display and sound, and peripheral devices are
typically attached to the motherboard via ribbon cables, other cables, and power
connectors. Motherboard contains ports, expansion slots, CPU slots, RAM slots, etc

Ports and Connectors

A port is a socket used to connect the peripheral devices to system unit. It serves as an
interface between the computer and other computers or peripherals in the form of an
electrically wired outlet into which a plug or cable connects. They have different physical
shapes such as male, female, round, rectangular, square, oblong, etc. There is some
standardization to physical properties and function.

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Hardware ports can be divided into two groups:

Serial ports: serial port transmits or receives data one bit at a time. They are very good
to send information over long distance. Devices like keyboard, mouse, modem, etc all use
serial ports to connect to system unit of computer.
A newer type of Serial port is the USB(Universal Serial Bus). It is faster and it allows one
USB port to be used to connect several devices to the system unit.

USB connector and its icon

Parallel ports: Parallel ports transfer and receive multiple bits of information at a time.
They send eight bits of data simultaneously across eight parallel wires. Parallel ports are
mostly used to connect devices that send or receive large amounts of data such as
printers, disk drives, tape drives, etc. They are used for short distance communication.

Parallel port (Printer port)

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Expansion Slots and Cards

An expansion slot is a socket designed to hold circuit boards called cards. Expansion
cards add capability to your computer like playing sound (sound card), watching TV (TV
card), connecting computers together (network card) or to the internet (modem), etc.
These cards are plugged into the expansion slot of the motherboard.

Drives: drives are devices that read data from or write data onto storage devices.
Examples of drives include hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, CD drive, DVD drive, etc.
Drives have some sort of motors that rotate the storage devices from which data is read or
onto which data is stored. (For more information read about storage devices).

2. The peripherals
A peripheral is any device connected to the system unit. These are keyboards, monitors,
mice, printers, scanners, microphones, speakers, cameras, to list just the most familiar
ones.

Activity:
Classify the components in the system unit as input, output, storage, processing and other
devices.

2. Computer Software
Computer hardware is directed by a set of instructions. Without these instructions,
computers can do nothing. These set of instructions are called software (also called
programs). We use programming languages to write these instructions. Examples of
programming languages include C, C++, Visual Basic, Java, etc.

Software are categorized into two:

 System Software
 Application Software

System Software
System software consists of programs that are related to controlling the actual operations
of the computer equipment/resource. There are three types of system software:
 Operating System
 Utility Software
 Language translators

Operating system manage resources, provides a user interface, and run application
software. It organizes resources such as keyboard, mouse, printer, monitor, etc. It also
presents GUI (Graphical User Interface) to the user for easy use of computer. It makes
complex hardware more user friendly i.e. it acts between the user and hardware.

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A) Operating system
Operating system coordinates the activity between the user and the computer. An
operating system has four major functions.

I. Process management
In operating system terms, a process is a program or part of a program that can be
executed separately. The operating system does the task of managing these processes that
are being executed and waiting to be executed.

II. Input/output Management

The I/O manager coordinates the computers communication with outside world, flow of
data to the display screen and other output devices (printers/ plotters) and from the key
board or other input devices. It also handles the flow of data to and from the disk drives
(file management) and the process of preparing a disk for use, the copying, renaming,
erasing task of a file.

III. Memory Management

During processing, some areas of memory are used to store the operating system
instructions, application program instructions, and data to be processed. It is the task of
operating system to allocate or assign each of these items to a memory area.

IV. System Administration

Operating system as a system administrator manages the performance of the system (e.g
response time), system security (username and password), and storage device
management (deleting files, renaming files, formatting disks, creating directories, etc).

Types of Operating System

o Based on the number of programs they can run a time, operating systems are divided
into two:

Single tasking operating systems: on such system, only one program can be run on the
computer at a time. To run another program, you have to close the first program and
load another program. For example, if you are working on Microsoft Word and in
addition if you want to open Microsoft Excel, first you have to close Word first
because you can’t open two programs at the same time. Then you can open Excel.
Single tasking operating system can’t handle more than one program at a time.
Examples of such operating systems are MS-DOS, and PC-DOS which were used in
1980s.
Multi-tasking operating systems: on such systems you can run as many programs as
you like. You can work on Word and Excel at the same time. Such systems can
handle more than one program at a time. Examples include Windows 2000, Windows
XP, Macintosh, etc.
o Based on the number of users they can serve at a time, we divide operating systems
into two:

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Single User: they can serve only one user at a time. E.g. Windows 95, Windows
98/XP, etc

Multi User: lets more than one user to access the computer at one time. E.g., UNIX.
This is done via network that connects terminals to the multi user computer.

B) Utility Programs
Utilities are programs that make computing easier. They perform specific tasks related to
managing computer resources or files. There are different utility programs:
i) Troubleshooting programs: enable us to recognize and correct computer problems
before they become serious.
ii) Anti-virus programs: they protect your computer against viruses or other
malicious programs that damage computer. E.g MacAfee, Sophos, Norton, etc.
iii) File compression programs: are used to reduce the size of files or data so that
it takes less storage space or network band. E.g WinZip, WinRAR, etc.
iv) Uninstall programs: these software enable us to safely and completely remove
unneeded programs/software from your computer.
v) Back up software: with the help of this software, we can make copies of files
to be used in case of the original data is lost/damaged. This copy is called back
up.
vi) Screen savers: helps to prevent your work from being seen by others if you
leave your computer idle for some time.

C) Language translators
Language translators are used to convert the programming instruction written by users
into binary code that the computer can understand. They are written for specific
programming languages and computer system.

Application Software
Application software performs useful work for the user. These useful works could be:
 Word processing-document creation
 Spreadsheet-electronic calculation
 Email/communicating-email sending and reading
Users use these software to perform different activities like calculation, video editing,
word processing, presentation, etc. Some of the uses of application software:

i) Word Processing
This is the most widely used computer application. Word processing is the use of
computer to produce documents that consist primarily of text. Such documents can
also contain pictures, drawing, photograph, etc.
Used for:
 Writing letter
 Writing memos
 Producing reports
Some of the software used for word processing include:
 Microsoft word

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 Corel WordPerfect
 Lotus WordPro
 WordStar
ii) Spreadsheet Software
Spreadsheet software is used to organize, manipulate, and graph numeric information.
It enables us to do financial analysis, and other complicated mathematical calculation
electronically. E.g., interest rate, payroll, etc.
Some of the software used for this purpose include:
 Lotus 1-2-3
 Microsoft Excel
 Quatropro

iii) Database Management system (DBMS)

Database is a collection of related data that is stored in computer. DBMS organizes
the collection of data so that information can be retrieved easily. Database software
allow you to create a database and to retrieve, manipulate, and update the data.
Database may contain one or more tables. The following table and other related tables
together form database.
Name ID DOB Department Salary
1

2
3

Example of an Employee table

Software that are used for DBMS:
 Microsoft Access
 Oracle
 MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server
 FoxPro
 Dbase IV

iv) Presentation Graphics

Presentation graphics helps you to create professional and exciting presentations that
could be used in meeting, group discussion, etc. Such software enable you to
incorporate charts, graphics, sound, etc in your presentation. Software used for this
purpose include:
 Microsoft PowerPoint
 Lotus Freelance Graphics
 Corel Presentations

v) Accounting software
Accounting software enables companies to record and report their financial
transactions. Tasks done by these software include:

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 Invoicing
 Accounts Receivable
 Accounts Payable
 Payroll
 Inventory
 General Ledger
 Purchase orders, etc
Software used for this purpose:
 Peachtree accounting
 Intuit QuickBooks

vi) Computer Aided Design

It is used to create design for products, new buildings, etc. They are used by
engineers. Example of software used for this purpose include: AutoCAD, ArchiCAD,
Parametric

Vii) Communication
They are used to transfer data from one computer to another. They enable computers
to send and receive data of any kind such as text, graphics, fax documents, etc.
Some of the software used for this purpose are:
 Netscape Navigator-to work on internet
 Internet Explorer-to work on internet

Activity:
Can you name some application software? To which category do they belong?

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