Chapter 1 - An introduction to hardware, software, and the internet. This chapter’s objectives are to: Get an overview of the main hardware components and terms: CPU, memory, peripheral devices; learn about software: operating system and application software; get an idea of how information is stored in computer memory; learn basic facts about the Internet. | Hardware, Software, and the Internet Java Methods Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures Maria Litvin ● Gary Litvin Copyright © 2015 by Maria Litvin, Gary Litvin, and Skylight Publishing. All rights reserved. ch 001 3rd AP edition 1- Two possible activities for this chapter are to look inside of an old computer and to inventory the programs installed on a new one. Objectives: Get an overview of the main hardware components and terms: CPU, memory, peripheral devices Learn about software: operating system and application software Get an idea of how information is stored in computer memory Learn basic facts about the Internet 1- The Internet is the best resource for more detailed information on hardware and software and the Internet itself. The text for this chapter is online at: 1- Or go to and click on the Java Methods Home Page link. Hardware The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is made of millions of semiconductor devices, . | Hardware, Software, and the Internet Java Methods Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures Maria Litvin ● Gary Litvin Copyright © 2015 by Maria Litvin, Gary Litvin, and Skylight Publishing. All rights reserved. ch 001 3rd AP edition 1- Two possible activities for this chapter are to look inside of an old computer and to inventory the programs installed on a new one. Objectives: Get an overview of the main hardware components and terms: CPU, memory, peripheral devices Learn about software: operating system and application software Get an idea of how information is stored in computer memory Learn basic facts about the Internet 1- The Internet is the best resource for more detailed information on hardware and software and the Internet itself. The text for this chapter is online at: 1- Or go to and click on the Java Methods Home Page link. Hardware The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is made of millions of semiconductor devices, called transistors, etched into a silicon chip. Transistors are combined to form logical devices called gates. All digital electronics is basically made up of gates. 1- Early computers used vacuum tubes and relay switches. Semiconductor technology allows manufacturers to etch microscopic devices into layers in a silicon chip. Gates AND gate OR gate NOT gate 1- Other types of gates work as combinations of these three: ., NAND is NOT and AND. Example: XOR Circuit A AND (NOT B) OR (NOT A) AND B 1- An XOR gate (exclusive OR) has the output TRUE when one of the inputs, but not both, is TRUE. RAM, CPU, Bus CPU Memory (RAM) Data bus Address bus Registers Memory (ROM) 1- ROM is tiny as compared to RAM: ROM may be a few KB, while RAM size on personal computers and laptops is several gigabytes. A memory address is represented as a binary number. An address is “sent” via the memory bus; the data is written or retrieved via the data bus. A “bus” is a logical device. CPU RAM (SIMMs) .
