'H' is for Hardware

In the digital age, most of what we interface with is software. We type, click a button and expect the computer to produce results. We easily forget that behind all of that complex computation and intuitive graphic interface is the machine on which it depends. Have you ever noticed your computer heating up when you start to overburden it? Ignoring hardware because you are interacting with software is like forgetting the body because you have a mind.

So what is it about hardware? Well, the first thing you need to know is that it has a "brain". In 1945, Von Neuwmann came up with what he called the stored program concept in which he described computers as having three main components: the Arithmetic and Logic (ALU), the Control Unit (CU) and the Memory. The Arithmetic and logic units is the seat of computations, the control unit is the seat of decisions while the memory is the seat of storage.

These three parts combine to form what is known as the Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the processor. Processors come in small sizes nowadays and are increasingly more powerful. A tiny chip that you will find hard to balance on your thumb can process one million instructions per second.

In most computers, the CPU is housed within a Systems Unit that has some other parts such is the battery, ports, external storage (hard drive) and so on. Attached to the System Unit are two other types of hardware devices associated with a computer: input devices and output devices. You can see these as the computer's hands and legs, or more appropriately, its eyes and ears.

On the second course topic of the Computer Literacy course on www.iKnowICT.com, you will learn about what make up computer hardware as well as the various input and output devices that there are. Don't forget to download course material and pass the tests!

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