Summary CHAPTER 2: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE (A level IT 9626)

The first year of Cambridge Assessment International Examination (CAIE). These series of Notes are comprehensive, Detailed, Summarized and Easy to Understand. Students finds it very helpful as they prepare for examination. A lot of resources and research have been put together to develop this summary. So it's not restricted to the traditional text book. We have taken the pain to take the work off you. What you just need to do is to relax and go through the slides/pdf as everything has been broken down in simple terms for you to understand. Let's GO!!!:) SUMMARY CHAPTER 2: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE (A level IT 9626) What to expect and what you will be getting: Complete and in-depth slide presentation on (A level IT 9626): Hardware • define the term hardware • evaluate internal hardware devices (including: central processing unit (CPU), motherboard, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), graphics card, sound card, hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD)) • evaluate external hardware devices (including: monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer (laser, inkjet, dot matrix, plotter), speakers, camera (digital, video), webcam, scanner, magnetic ink character reader (MICR), optical mark reader (OMR), optical character reader (OCR), bar code reader, pen drive, portable hard disk drive, blu-ray disc drive, memory card) • explain the purpose of storage devices • evaluate storage devices (including: cloud, magnetic tape drive, optical, hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD)) • explain the purpose of input and output devices • evaluate different input, storage or output devices for a given task Also, we would go ahead and look at: System, application and user interface software • define the term software • evaluate types of software (system software and application software) • explain the purpose of system software (including: compilers, interpreters, linkers, device drivers, operating systems and utilities) • evaluate application software (including: word processing, spreadsheet, database management systems, control software, measuring software, applets and apps, photo editing software, video editing software, graphics manipulation software, communications software, web authoring software) • evaluate application software for a given task • evaluate the characteristics of different types of user interface (including: command line interface, graphical user interface, dialogue interface, gesture based interface) • evaluate the use of colour, layout, font size, quantity of information and controls when designing a user interface • evaluate mental models and how they can be used when designing a user interface Notes/summary will also be provided on: Utility software • define utility software • describe the role of different utility software (including: anti-virus, backup, data compression, disk defragmentation, formatting, file copying, deleting) We would learn also: Custom written software and off-the-shelf software • compare the benefits and drawbacks of custom written software and off-the-shelf software Compiler and interpreter • describe the function of a compiler • describe the function of an interpreter • evaluate the difference between a compiler and an interpreter The notes/summary have been designed for easy understanding.