Chapter 4: What do Business Professionals Need to Know about Computer Hardware?

-Hardware consists of electronic components and related gadgetry that input, process, output, and store data according to instructions encoded in computer programs or software

-typical input hardware are the keyboard, nouse, document scanners, and bar code scanners

-central processing unit (CPU)is a processing device also known as the brain of a computer

- Computers with two CPUs are called dual processor computers while quad would mean it has 4 CPUs

-computers reapresent data using binary digits, called bits. A bit is either zero or one. They are used for computer data because they are easy to represent electronically.

-bits are grouped into 8-bit chunks called bytes. Bytes are used to measure sizes of noncharacter data as well

-instructions are moved from the main memory to the CPU via data chanel or bus. CPU has a small amount of very fast memory called a cache

-when a user opens another program or needs to load more data, the OS will direct the CPU to attempt to place the new program or data into unused memory. If there is not enough memory, it will remove something, perhaps the block of memory labeled More Excel, and then it will place the just-requested program or data into the vacated space. This process is called memory swapping

-cloud referes to the computing network on the internet

-every computer has an operating system, which is a program that controls that computer's resources. If you want to write a document or query a customer database, you need application programs such as Microsoft Word or Oracle Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Both client and server computers need an operating system.

-application programs are written to use a particular operating system. Some applications come in multiple versions

-Four major operating systems

                -Windows

                -MAC OS

                -Unix

                -Linux

-application software perfrms a service or function. Horizontal market application software provides capabilities common accross all organizations and industries. Vertical-market applicatin software servces the needs of specific industries

-one-of-a-kind application software is developed for specific, unique need

-firmware is a computer software that is installed into devices such as printers, print servers, and various types of communication devies

-client server applications require code on both the client and server

-client-server applications that require nothing more than a browser is called thin client while applications such as Microsoft Outlook that require programs other than a browser is called a thick client

-the term open source means that the source code of the program is available to the public. Source code is a computer codewritten by humans and understandable to humans. Source code is complied of machine code that is processed by computers. Open source succeeds because of collaboration

-closed source's source code is highly protected and only available to trusted employees