Form 4 ICT Literacy Modules

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Methodist Boys School Kuala Lumpur

Teacher: _______________

Date: __________

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DATA PROCESSING
1.1 INFORMATION PROCESSING CYCLE

Do you know how a computer works? We use the computer in our everyday lives but
not all of us know how this machine operates.

Human uses the brain to think, make decisions and process information. A computer
has a brain too, and the brain of a computer is the processor or the central processing
unit (CPU) that processes information.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main part of the computer, which
executes the instruction given by the program. A
microprocessor will process data into information.
All processing activities are done in the CPU. It
utilises the computer memory to execute instructions
from the application software and accomplish a task.
For example: editing a letter, drawing a picture and
sorting numbers.

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The processor must be connected to input devices, output devices and storage
devices to carry out the above mentioned tasks.

Input is a process entering data into computer to be processed.

Input is any data or instructions that we enter into the
computer system for processing. There are some
common ways of feeding input data into the system,
which are:
o typing on a keyboard
o pointing with a mouse
CPU accepts instruction from the user and translates the instruction into readable
information (decode).

Output is any computer generated information displayed on screen, printed,

sound, data transfer across phone line of network connection or in some
machine readable form, such as disc and tape.
There are four types of output, which are texts,
graphics, audio and video.

The text consists of characters that are used to create

texts, sentences and paragraphs.

Graphics are digital representations of non text information such as drawings,

charts and photographs.

Audio is music, speech or any other sound. Video consists of images that provide
the appearance of full motion.

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Memory storage is a place to store data, instruction

and information for a computer. Every computer uses
storage to hold system software and application
software. When we issue a command to start the
application software, the operating system locates the
program in storage and loads it into memory.

A storage medium, also called secondary storage is the physical material in the
computer that keeps data, instruction and information. A storage device is the
computer hardware that records or retrieves items to and from storage media.

Data is raw unprocessed that are inputs to a computer system that will give
compiled information where the computer processes those facts.

Data processing is any process that uses a computer program to enter data and
summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The
process may be automated and run on a computer.

How a computer processes data?

The data processing involves recording, analyzing, sorting, summarizing, calculating,
disseminating and storing data.

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The processing components

CPU
-

consists of 3 components:

1. Control Unit can be thought of as the brain of the CPU itself. It controls based
on the instructions it decodes, how other parts of the CPU and in turn, rest of the
computer systems should work in order that the instruction gets executed in a
correct manner.

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2. Registers

A small, high speed storage location in a process that temporarily hold

data and instruction

Registers are part of the processor, not part of memory or a permanent

storage device

normally measured by the number of bits they can hold, for example, an
"8-bit register" or a "32-bit register"

Categories:

Data registers can hold numeric values such as integer and

floating-point values, as well as characters, small bit arrays and
other data. In some older and low end CPUs, a special data
register, known as the accumulator, is used implicitly for many
operations.

Address registers hold addresses and are used by instructions

that indirectly access primary memory.

Register functions include

a. storing the location from where an instruction was fetched,

b. storing an instruction while the control unit decodes it,
c. storing data while the ALU computes it,
d. storing the results of a calculation.

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3.

ALU stands for Arithmetic/Logic Unit

is the part that executes the computer's commands

A command must be either a basic arithmetic operation: + - /

or one of the logical comparisons: >< =not=

Everything has to be broken down into these few operations.

The ALU can only do one thing at a time but can work extremely fast.

MAIN MEMORY
-

stores the commands that the CPU executes and the results

is where the computer stores the data and commands that are currently being
used

When the computer is turned off, all data in Main Memory vanishes

consists of 5 basic categories of items:

1. Operating system
Some common operating systems are various versions of Windows, Windows
XP, Windows 2003, Windows 2007, OS/2. When you turn on power to a
computer, certain operating system files (such as the files that determine how the
Windows Vista desktop appears) load into RAM from a storage device such as
hard disk.

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2. Applications

These are various programs that are currently running on the computer. For
example, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, etc.

we can run more than one applications once using a computer- this is called
multi-tasking.

each running application has to have some data stored in Main Memory, even
if the application is on rest break. Some programs (especially graphics
programs) require a lot of the Main Memory space

3.

Input/ Output Storage

When you enter new data, the keystrokes must be stored until the computer
can do something with the new data.

When you want data printed out or displayed, it must be stored somewhere
handy first.

4. Working Storage

To store the numbers and characters that are the intermediate results of
computer operations until the final values are calculated. These values "in
progress" are kept in temporary locations.

For example, if the computer is adding up the numbers 3, 5, and 6, it would

first add 3 to 5 which yields a value of 8. The 8 is stored in working storage.
Then the 8 and 6 are added and the new value 14 is stored. The value of 14

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is now available to be displayed on the screen or to be printed or to be used

in another calculation.

5. Unused Storage

There is always some storage space that is not in use.

If space runs out in Main Memory, the computer will crash, that is, stop
working.

The Machine Cycle

The processing unit controls all activities within the system. For every instruction,
the control unit repeats a set of four basic operations called the machine cycle:

The CPU can fetch one piece of data in one machine cycle.
It takes numerous cycles to do even a simple addition of two numbers.

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Action

Meaning

Fetch

the process of obtaining a program instructions or data item from

memory. E.g. key-in 100, * , 48

Decode

the process of translating a program instruction into signals that the

computer can execute. E.g. 100 X 48

Execute

the process of implementing the instructions in a program.

E.g. 100 X 48 = 4800

Store

the process of writing the result to the storage or memory.

E.g. = 4800

1.2 DATA REPRESENTATION

BINARY DIGIT
Computers recognize only two discrete states:
on and off. These states can be represented by
two digits, 0 and 1. Each 0 or 1 is called a bit in
the binary system.

Bit is the smallest unit of data a computer can

process. Bit is a short for binary digit. The binary
system has a base of 2 with the two digits (0 and
1). Combinations of 0s and 1s represent larger
numbers.

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BIT
A bit is the smallest unit of data that the computer can
process. Bit is a short for binary digit. A bit is
represented by the numbers 1 and 0. These numbers
represent the binary system. They correspond to the
states of on and off, true and false, or yes and no.
All digital data use the binary system to process the information. This information
include letters, digits or special character.

BYTE
Byte is a unit of information built from bits. One byte is equals to 8 bits. Eight bits that
are grouped together as a unit. A byte provides enough different combinations of 0s and
1s to represent 256 individual characters.
One byte represents a single character such as the number 3, letter b
or a $ symbol. Bits and bytes are the basis for representing all meaningful information
and programs on computers.

CHARACTER
8 bits = 1 byte
One byte represents one character such as A, 7, 9 and +.Eight bits that are grouped
together as a unit. A byte provides enough different combinations of 0s and 1s to
represent 256 individual characters.

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For example, the capital letter F is represented by the binary code 01000110 that can
be understood by the computer system. Eight bits grouped together as a unit are called
a byte. A byte represents a single character in the computer.

Conversion between decimal and binary numbers and vice versa

(i)

From decimal to binary numbers

Operation

For example,
11810 in binary is 1 110 1102

(ii)

From binary to decimal numbers

Remainder

118

------------ 0

59

------------ 1

29

------------ 1

14

------------ 0

------------ 1

------------ 1

------------ 1

For example, 10112 in binary is 1110

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The addition of binary numbers

Basic rules:
0 + 0 = Sum of 0
0 + 1 = Sum of 1
1 + 0 = Sum of 1
1 + 1 = Sum of 0 with a carry of 1.
Example: 112 + 012 = 1002

Data Measurement

Why is 1024 bytes = 1KB?

KILOBYTE (KB)

20 = 1

In mathematics, 1 KB = 1000 bytes.

21 = 2

In computer, 1 KB = 1024 bytes or

22 = 4

can be said as:

23 = 8
24 = 16

1 KB = 210 bytes

25 = 32
26 = 64

This is how we get the calculation for 1024 bytes.

27 = 128
28 = 256
29 = 512
210 = 1024

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MEGABYTE (MB)
1 MB = 1 048 576 bytes or it can be said as:
1 MB = 220 bytes
GIGABYTE (GB)
1 GB = 1 073 741 824 bytes or it can be said as:
1 GB = 230 bytes
TERABYTE (TB)
1 TB = 1 099 511 627 776 bytes or it can be said as:
1 TB = 240 bytes

SI prefixes/Metric prefixes
1.

2.

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Capacity Measurement
a. 1 Terabyte

= 1 1012

bytes

b. 1 Gigabyte

= 1 109

bytes

c. 1 Megabyte

= 1 106

bytes

d. 1 Kilobyte

= 1 103

bytes

a. 1 milisecond

= 1 10-3

second

b. 1 microsecond

= 1 10-6

second

c. 1 nanosecond

= 1 10-9

second

d. 1 picosecond

= 1 10-12

second

Speed Measurement

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INTRODUCTION TO BINARY CODING

COMMUNICATION CODES
Smoke signals, Morse code and semaphore are some of the communication codes
used by people in the early days. In the information digital era, people send information
via electronic devices such as through the computers.

Computers use binary codes to communicate. One of the widely used binary codes is
the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

HISTORY OF CHARACTER CODES

Before people used binary codes such as ASCII to communicate via computers,
character codes were widely used as a medium of communication. Lets look at some of
the character codes used prior to the use of ASCII.

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CHARACTER CODES
There are three character codes to represent characters
which are ASCII, EBCDIC and Unicode. Each byte contains
eight bits. A byte provides enough different combination of 0s
and 1s to represent 256 characters.

The combinations of 0s and 1s are defined by patterns. These patterns are called
coding scheme. The 256-character capability of ASCII and EBCDIC is too small to

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handle the characters that are used by other languages such as Arabic, Japanese and
Chinese.
The Unicode coding scheme is designed to solve this problem. It uses two bytes (16
bits) to represent one character. Unicode will have more than 65,000 different
characters. This can cover all the worlds languages.

WHAT IS ASCII?
ASCII pronounced as "ask-key" stands for the American Standard Code for Information
Interchange and was proposed by ASA (American Standard Association) in 963 and
was finalised in 1968.ASCII is a standard of 7-bit code used to represent characters,
which include letters, numbers and punctuation marks.

7 bits allow the computer to encode a total of 128 characters for the numbers 0-9,
uppercase and lowercase letters A-Z and a few punctuation symbols. However this 128
bit code only suitable for english language speaking users.

IBM and Apple expanded the amount of space reserved for the character codes to 8bits, equivalent to 1 byte.

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FUNCTIONS OF ASCII
ASCII was established to achieve compatibility
between various types of data processing equipment
making it possible for the components to
communicate with each other successfully.

ASCII enables manufacturers to produce components that are assured to operate

correctly in a computer.

ASCII makes it possible for humans to interact with a computer. It also enables users to
purchase components that are compatible with their computer configurations.

HOW ASCII WORKS IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM?

When you press a key, for example the letter D on your
keyboard, the electronic signal is sent to the CPU for the
computer to process and store in memory. Every character is
converted to its corresponding binary form. The computer the
processes the letter as a byte., which actually a series of on
and off of electrical states. When the computer is finished
processing the byte, the software installed in the system
convert the byte back which is then displayed in the screen. In this example, the letter
D is converted to 01000100.

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ASCII Codes
Binary

Character

Binary

Character

100 0001

100 1110

100 0010

100 1111

100 0011

101 0000

100 0100

101 0001

100 0101

101 0010

100 0110

101 0011

100 0111

101 0100

100 1000

101 0101

100 1001

101 0110

100 1010

101 0111

100 1011

101 1000

100 1100

101 1001

100 1101

101 1010

Example:
BAD: 100 0010 100 0001 100 010

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Exercise
1.

Complete the machine cycle below

Action

Meaning

Give an example

1.

2.

3.

4.

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2.

Write out the exact number of bytes, in terms of the power of 2, for the
following:
a) 1 KB = ______________ bytes
b) 1 MB = ______________ bytes
c) 1 GB = ______________ bytes
d) 1 TB = ______________ bytes

3.

Write out the metric prefixes for the following:

a. 1 106

bytes

= ____________________

b. 1 10-12

second

= ____________________

c. 1 1012

bytes

= ____________________

d. 1 10-6

second

= ____________________

e. 1 10-3

second

= ____________________

f. 1 103

bytes

= ____________________

g. 1 109

bytes

= ____________________

e. 1 10-9

second

= ____________________

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4.

Write out the character according to the given ASCII Codes.

Binary

Character

Binary

Character

PROJECT 1:
a) Explain the machine cycle.
b) Compare the different types of network.

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5.

NO

Determine true or false statements.

STATEMENT

The information processing cycle includes the following

processes; input, processing, output, and storage.

The Central processing unit or the CPU is the brain of the

computer.

The CPU utilises the computer memory to execute

instructions from the user such as editing a letter, drawing a
picture and sorting numbers.

The processor must be connected only to input devices and

output devices to carry out its functions.

Data can be entered into the system by typing on a keyboard

or pointing some commands with a mouse.

Executing refers to the instruction or data item gathered from

the memory in the information processing cycle.

Decoding refers the process of translating a program

instruction into signals that the computer can execute.

A storage device is the computer hardware that records or

retrieves items to and from the storage media.

A storage medium is the physical material in the computer

that keeps data, instruction and information.

10

The examples of storage media are floppy disks, USB flash

drives and monitor.

22

TRUE

FALSE