Lecture (Dec. 2, 2010)

    
      Wheew! I thought we're going to have a quiz today. We'll today's class was the continuation of last times lecture about the basics of computer. But this time, my teacher tackled about how the computer processes data.

        MOTHERBOARD

       Just about all computers perform the same general options: input, processing, output, and storage.  Input, output, and processing devices grouped together represent a computer system. The motherboard is the center of all processing. The motherboard contains CPU memory, basic controller systems, ports and expansion slots.

         The CPU chip is the main CPU. It is the brain of the computer. The CPUdetermines which of the millions of switches that it contains should be turned on or off by processing program statements that tell it what to do.

        It is now cleared to me that memory consists of addressable locations within the machine that the computer can access directly. If the power fails, everything in memory is lost. There are two types of memory: RAM and ROM.

Example of a ROM

RAM (Random Access Memory)is short-term memory in which data is processed while a program is running.  This type of memory loses any data it holds if the computer is shut down. On the other hand, ROM (Read-Only-Memory) is memory placed on the motherboard by the manufacturer and contains instructions that tell the computer how to start itself. The contents of this memory are not lost when the computer is shut down.

    There are also what we call ports wherein we connect peripheral devices to the computer circuitry like USB in where  we often use to connect our flash disk to store a file.