2. iNPUT
Input is the term denoting either an entrance or changes which
are inserted into a system and which activate/modify a process.
It is an abstract concept, used in the modeling, system(s)
design and system(s) exploitation. It is usually connected with
other terms, e.g., input field, input variable, input
parameter, input value, input signal, input device and
input file. Without instructions and information to tell it
what to do, the computer cannot do anything. Human programmers
must write instructions for the computer. They need to have a
way to send their instructions into the computer so that it
knows what to do. This is the purpose of input hardware. The
term input simply means to put data into the computer. You
will read and hear this term often in connections with
computers. Sometimes input is referred to as data entry.
4. Process
• Process (computing), a computer program or an instance of a program
running concurrently with other programs. In computing, a process is an
instance of a computer program, consisting of one or more threads, that
is being sequentially executed[1] by a computer system that has the
ability to run several computer programs concurrently.
• A computer program itself is just a passive collection of instructions,
while a process is the actual execution of those instructions. Several
processes may be associated with the same program; for example, opening
up several instances of the same program often means more than one
process is being executed. In the computing world, processes are
formally defined by the operating system (OS) running them and so may
differ in detail from one OS to another.
• A single computer processor executes one or more (multiple) instructions
at a time (per clock cycle), one after the other (this is a
simplification; for the full story, see superscalar CPU architecture).
After the instructions and information have been entered, the computer
is ready to work. The place where it does its work is called the
processor. The processor does several jobs. It receives the
information that has been entered. It "remembers" or stores
information. It also processes the data in some way. The processor is
made up of two parts: the central processing unit (CPU) and main
storage.
6. Storage
• Some of the earlier computers used a method of
main computer storage called magnetic core
memory. Magnetic core memory has now largely
been replaced by semiconductor memory, which is
faster and smaller. Still, there is a problem
with some types of semiconductor memory. When
the power is turned off, all of the information
stored in semiconductor memory is lost. So
there is a need to store information outside
the computer's memory. Devices that store data
outside the computer as called secondary
storage devices.
8. OUTPUT
• After the computer has finished processing data, it needs to
have some way of sending its work back to the operator.
Otherwise, we would have no way of knowing what the computer
had done and computers would be useless to us. Sending the
data from the computer back to the operator is referred to as
outputting data.
• A number of devices can be used to output data. The kind of
device that the operator chooses depends on what kind of
output she or he needs. If the operator needs only to see
the data, then a terminal with a CRT/screen can be used. If
the operator what to have a permanent copy, usually printed
on paper, then a printer can be used.