I. Text A: «What is a computer?», Text B: «Hardware», Text C: «Types of software»

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UNIT8

COMPUTERS

I. Text A: «What is a computer?», Text B: «Hardware», Text C: «Types of software»

II. Famous people of science and engineering: Charles Babbage.

Text A: «WHAT IS A COMPUTER?»

The termcomputer is used to describe a device made up of a combination of electronic and electromechanical (part electronic and part mechanical) components. Com­puter has no intelligence by itself andis referred to as hardware. A computer system is a combination of five elements:

• Hardware

• Software

• People

• Procedures

• Data/information

When one computer system is set up to communicate with another computer system, connectivity becomes the sixth system element. In other words, the manner in which the various individual systems are connected — for ex­ample, by phone lines,microwave transmission, or sat­ellite — is an element of the total computer system.

Software is the term used to describe the instructions that tell the hardware how to perform a task. Without software instructions, the hardware doesn't know what to do.People, however, are the most important compo­nent of the computer system: they create the computer software instructions and respond to the procedures that those instructions present.

The basic job of the computer is the processing of in­formation. Computers accept information in the form of instruction called aprogram andcharacters calleddatato perform mathematical and logical operations, and then give the results. The data israw material whileinforma­tion is organized, processed, refined and useful for deci­sion making. Computer is used to convert data into in­formation. Computer is also used to store information in the digital form.

Vocabulary:

characters — символы

data — данные

decision — решение

device — устройство

hardware — оборудование

instruction — команда

intelligence — разум

manner — манера, способ

microwave — микроволновая

procedures — процедуры, операции

purpose — цель

raw — необработанный, сырой

to come to life — оживать

to connect — соединять

to convert — превращать, преобразовывать

to create — создавать

to evaluate — оценивать

to refer to as — называть что-либо

to refine — очищать

to respond — отвечать

transmission — передача

various — различные

General understanding:

1) What does the term «computer» describe?

2) Is computer intelligent?

3) What are five components of computer system?

4) What is connectivity?

5) What is software? What's the difference between hardware and software?

6) Why people are the most important component of a computer system?

7) In what way terms «data» and «information» differ?

8) How does computer convert data into information?

Exercise 8.1. Which of the listed below terms have Russian equivalents:

computer, diskette, metal, processor, scanner, infor­mation, data, microphones, printer, modem, Internet.

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