Ryan2020

COMPUTERS Is this report about a bird? NO! A plane? NO! It’s about a superhero! NO! It’s about a computer!

Computer use in everyday life Many people use computers to play games, E-mail, homework, typing; to look for information, music, and photos. Many people shop on the computer, too. I don’t even do a lot of that stuff! But I do know two things: 1. I play games a lot and 2. I know quite a bit about computers. I will read your mind! You want to know how computers work! If you do, read this book. If you don’t, put this book down. Well, to begin, a computer needs to be programmed to work. A programmer writes using either Binary Code or one of many programming languages. Just for a sneak peak, at the end of this book, you will learn how to use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 to make a simple application called “Hello World!” Have you ever heard someone say “digital”? Digital means digits of binary code. Binary Code is the code of 0’s and 1’s that a computer understands. I know the computer recognizes 0 as no electric pulse and 1 as an electric pulse. For example, we understand “A” as the computer understands “10010010”. Each digit is one bit. You may think it is an unmeaningful string of 0’s and 1’s, but it is meaningful! If your computer didn’t understand binary code, it wouldn’t work! You may think, “What is all this binary code stuff?” or, “Why is it important?” It is important because a computer transforms it into everything on the computer you hear and see like the sound that comes out of the speakers. Oh my! Since you are starting to understand, I will tell you about the history of computers. Computers were invented in 1600 by Elaise Pascal. They were NOT powered by electricity WOW! That is long before I thought computers were invented! You will find this fact amazing. Before computers, people used an abacus for a calculator. I’ve seen abacuses before, but I didn’t know they were used for calculators! Charles Babbage made a computer with wheels and gears. His computers stored memory on punch cards. Our computers store information on hard drives. I know I wouldn’t like a computer with wheels and gears!

Getting Closer I’m glad I have this fact. In 1980, NO MORE PUNCH CARDS! In times before 1975 only huge businesses and the government had computers. Computers also costed $1,000,000+! They were as big as a room and called mainframes. Are you ready?

= ** Computer parts ** =

Remember how I told you computers were not run by electricity? Well now, computers go electric. As electricity took the place of cogs and wheels, computers got smaller, and cheaper. Wow, it changed a lot! The first electronic computer was made in 1939 by mathematician, John V. Afanasoff. I’ve never heard of him before, and he’s famous! I think you’ll be surprised to hear that the first electronic computers could be as big as a small house. That’s HUGE!

Input and Output and Parts, Oh My!
This section is going to tell you exactly what the title says. Input is the first part of the title, so I am going to tell you about input devices first. Input devices (From now on I will call them InDe) put information into the computer. Some info your InDe’s will put in are the movements of your mouse, the keys you press on the keyboard, and the sounds the microphone hears. For example when you move the mouse to click on an icon on the desktop, the computer records you movements. When you are typing “hi” into a document then computer recognizes those two buttons as H and I. The most common InDe’s are: Mouse, Keyboard, Microphone, Webcam, and External Hard Drives (We’ll get to that in the memory chapter). Now I’m going to talk about Output. Output devices (From now on I’m going to call them OuDe) are devices that get information out of the computer. Info that your computer might put out are images from the printer and the monitor. For example, if you click print when you want to print something, the computer sends a signal out from the computer to the printer to print your picture. The common OuDe’s are: Printer, Monitor, and External Hard Drives. Wait, haven’t I mentioned that before? Well, that’s it for INPUT and OUTPUT!

Inside the Machine
Now I will tell you about what is inside the computer. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) is what processes the binary code into everything we see and hear! For example, when we receive E-mail, the CPU processes all the binary code. Do you remember how external hard drives are an INPUT and an OUTPUT device? Well, that’s because it moves information in and out of the computer. Do you know that in early computers they used vacuum tubes to control the flow of electricity? Well in the 1950’s they used bean-sized transistors instead. Transistors are little pieces of silicon that control the flow of electricity. Transistors made computers faster, smaller, and cheaper. In the early days, small computers stored information on a mainframe. A mainframe is as big as a small house. If the mainframe crashed, the small computers did, too. Well, I’ll see you soon! When I do, I’ll tell you about software and hardware. BYE!

= ** Software and Hardware ** =

Operating system
In 1975, Paul Allen and Bill Gates developed an operating system called Windows. I know I’ve seen lots of computers with the Windows Operating System on them. In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozinak developed Mac OS 1-Mac OS 10.6.2. Not as many computers have Mac OS on them as Windows. There are many other operating systems, but Windows and Apple are the most popular. There are two different types of computers: Laptop and Desktop. I’ve seen both of them a lot. I have a desktop at my house. We have laptops in our classroom. Well, that’s all about the operating system! Hardware You must be asking yourself,” What is hardware?” Well, I’ll tell you. Hardware is the computer and all of its parts. I’m now going to tell you what common hardware is; a monitor, keyboard, web cam, microphone, mouse, printer, and external hard drive. Do you remember when I told you there are laptop and desktop computers? Well, laptop computers usually have LCD display. I never knew that. When a PC came out in 1975, they used teensy tiny silicon chips instead of millions of transistors. That’s all for hardware!

Software
You may know this, you may not. Software is all programs. The operating system is the biggest software on the computer. Do you know how kids play lots of computer games like Wizard 101 and Lego Digital Designer? Well, guess what? Adults around 33 years of age play the most computer games. Now you know what software, hardware, and the operating system are. That’s all! Question Is the OS software or hardware? A. Hardware B. B. Software C. C. Neither

= ** Memory ** =

Types of Memory

In this chapter, you will learn how computers use memory. First, I will tell you the three types of memory; 1. Random Access Memory (RAM) 2. Read Only Memory (ROM) (You may have heard of CD-ROM) 3. Storage Memory

Now you know the three types of memory. This is what the three types mean: RAM is when the computer memorizes something without it being in storage (ex. Typing is RAM) ROM is when either you insert a disk or run a program that you can use, but not change. (Ex. Xbox game) Storage memory is saved work, and everything on a computer. If you save something in RAM memory, it deposits in the hard drive. Like when we save our non-fiction report. Now you know the three types of memory and what they mean.

I Need Storage

Have you heard me talking about hard drives? A hard drive is basically a disc inside of a locked box. The disk is like any other disk except it stores more, and is storage memory instead of ROM memory. The hard drive is where the memory is stored. There are 2 types of hard drives, 1. External 2. Internal External hard drives can store from 320 gigabytes to 2 Terabytes (2,000 you’ll learn that in the next chapter). External hard drives are outside of your computer. Your mom and dad can buy these at Staples. Internal hard drives are inside of the computer. Every computer has an internal hard drive. That brings us to the end of this chapter. Remember, Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) allows you to listen, but not change. (Ex. Music disk.)

= ** Internet and E-Mail ** = For an introduction, the internet lets us send messages, listen, and find answers. I’m assuming you already know that, and now it is time to dig a little deeper. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">Crust As we dig into the crust, we find out that the letters //www// stand for World Wide Web. As we dig deeper into the crust, we learn that you see the web page in a web browser. Common web browsers are: Safari, Windows Internet Explorer, Firefox, and more. Most people like you use Windows Internet Explorer. Mantle We’re boiling here in the mantle, while we learn each web page has an IP (Internet Protocol) address. Here is an example 65.114.224217= [|www.powerkidspress.com] When you type in the web address, it searches for the matching IP address. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">Outer Core There are villains on the internet, too. Those “Cyber villains” use the internet to create computer viruses. You probably just got a little scared about the internet. But, you can encrypt data to prevent viruses. So if you know how to encrypt data, please do. You don’t want a computer crash! <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">Inner Core Now we have reached the main idea. The internet is a connection of computers. Just like a spider web is a collection of silk.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">E- mail

First, I must say the “E” in e-mail is short for electronic. Now that you know that, think, “Why does ‘E’ stand for electronic?” An E-Mail client is what you send E-mail from. Now you know about internet and E-Mail. And for one last fact before I end this book, is: 8 bits = 1 byte 1,000 bytes = 1 megabyte 1,000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte 1,000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte That concludes this book. Now you know the history of computers, their parts, what software and hardware mean, E-mail, and the internet. If you are interested, check //how computers work// out of the library.

<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">flat

= Hello World Application =

toc

2. Go File-New-Project 3. Select Visual Basic-Windows Forums. 4. Click create. 5. Go into toolbox and double click Button 6. Click on your button and look in the bottom right corner for the button’s properties 7. Scroll in the properties until you see “TEXT Button1” type in the box, “Click here!” 8. Double click your button. 9. You should see this: (the text in parentheses you must type in) –Public Class –Private Sub Button1_Click… (MessageBox.Show (“Hello, World!”)) End Sub End Class 10. Up in the toolbar press the green play button. 11. Click on the button. 12. HOORAY! When I finished this application I was HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! include component="comments" page="Ryan2020" limit="100"