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Q: - What is an Information Technology?

Ans: - It is very difficult to define and explain information technology. The term
information technology is an ambiguous and is head to interpret it on one way. Before
defining IT, we must first familiarize ourselves to some initial term related to it,
1. Information “An organized, meaningful and useful interpretation of data is called
information” When raw data is processed that result is information.
2. Knowledge: “The awareness and understanding of a set of information and that
information to be used to the best of it, OR how that information can be put for the
best to use in knowledge” now we come toward the definition and meaning of IT.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The IT refers to the ability, which used in the

creation, storage and dispersal of information. If we look at the definition of IT, it
mean’s the ability of human beings to create and design computer software and
hardware.
1. The storage and location of information’s at the computer system. The
transmission and dispersal of these information’s from one location to another
and this raise the idea of networking.
So IT becomes the combination of three basic sciences:
1. Computer Science.
2. Computer Engineering.
3. Information System.
When or one can define information technology:
1. The study designation and creation of different kinds of system or application
software and computer machine languages.
2. The study and development of computer hardware (all peripherals devices) that
results in full and complete computer system (Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, CPU,
and printer etc).
3. The use of hardware or hard disk, and making available it to the remote located
computer through local or wide area networks that they may access it, in order to
utilize the host computer hard disk and the information it holds and hears.
Origin of Information Technology: An ambiguous and complication to its definition, it
is trouble some to trace back to its history, or origin, but as its definition demonstrated
that IT is simply the prediction of computer hardware and software, therefore it resembles
in its history, the computer history, it is said that IT was started developing in 20th
century. We can trace back its history to 1600’s when as electrical computer was
developed a Scottish methemation J.Nepier called naier bones, a similar device was also
raise by Blase Pascal in France in 1642. Keyboard machines originated in United States
in 1880 and with this, IT started its initiality Hollerith developed a machine with the
concept of puncard.“IT was passing its developing process step by step and the next step
was a Cambridge University professor Charles Babbage give the definition of computer
as “Computer is an electronic device which tracks data in for of inputs process it and
provides the results in forms of outputs”, Babbage in collaboration with Augusta add
developed the difference Engine, it was completely automatic and performed basic
arithmetic functions.
Function of information Technology Capturing: The process of writing or recording
detailed records of activities, and later in or it used that data according to our use need
and it become for use useful. Just as when Hadiqa is singing in live concert and we
capture records. She song with a purpose to make these songs available to the rest of the
world. Some we compile specific type of data and useful information on a CD-ROM in
form of software in order that we or some one else can utilize that Data.
PROCESSING: Processing is the performing of logical operation on data in order to
convert it into useful information. Processing is the process of converting analyzing,
computing and syntesiszing all for, of data and information.
DATA Processing: We enter data into the computer as input, the computer process the
data and provide use useful information.
Information processing: the result of data processing which can be useful to help the
peoples in decision making, while the process of handle information and transfer into
knowledge that give the awareness.
Transmission: - The sending of data from one point to another point to share the
information, here arise the idea of networking, in a networking computer may share
information through cables media or through satellite.

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Advantage of IT Speed: Speed is the major yardstick for measuring and purchasing
something. But as far as the computer’s speeds concerns, the computer process thing in
flesh of eye or even in fraction of seconds. The computer fast much faster than the
peoples could never be, computer do complex arithmetic functions and the recalling of
stored information in microseconds.
Consistency: Every thing in the world is subject to change and break, but the computers
have the ability to run the program’s consistency in his work and no break, except in case
of voltage fail.
Precision: The computer statements are fast, exact, accurate and precise. They can detect
small differences that peoples not are able to see. Computer provides us results very
accurately without any doubts.
Reliability: The computer are consistently good in accuracy and performance and also
able to be trusted for very or every kind of complex operations. So when you require that
tasks mist be performed exactly, or you must commit the computer’s just as when you
need to communicate important data or field on computer’s from one point to another far
located location, you can trust communication network.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

Computer is an electronic device, which is capable of accepting data, storing data, and
processing data and the ability of displaying the information.
The word computer came from Latin language “Compute” mean a thing, which is
capable of computing, and can be applied as properly to an Abacus or an adding machine
as to the modern computer. However the term computer has come to mean a special type
of calculating device have certain definite characteristics. A computer accept information
or data using the input unit and process it in the central processing unit or stored it in the
storage unit and on our wish it give us informational result on the output device.

History of Computer: Computer did not suddenly arrive on the scene, rather, we can say
that there number and use is greatly increase during the recent year. They have been in
use in different forms for a very long time, and even in the days of the old navigators and
Astronomers, there was need for some thing that calculate instruments to relive the
human brain of work.

The research on the computer technology is a process of hundreds of years and still in
process.
The latest computer is the result of several minds combination to give us the magic of
sense. From antiquity man has invented devices to assist him in calculating and
processing data. There are three Ages,
1. The Dark Ages (3000 B.C to 1890 A.D): The earliest data processing equipment were
all manual mechanical devices. We refer to the era theses machines were used
exclusively as the Dark Ages of data processing.
2. Abacus (C. 3000 B.C): Probably developed in Chine, the abacus is a frame with bead
string on wires or rods. Manipulating the beads performs arithmetic calculations. The
abacus is still widely used in the orient.
3. Napier’s Bones (1617): John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, described this device
in the year of his death. His bones are a set of eleven rods with numbers marked on
them in such a way that by simply placing the rods side by side products and
quotients of large numbers can be obtained. Napier is best known for the invention of
logarithms, which Napier is best known for the invention of logarithms, which in turn
led to the slide rule.
4. Pascal’s Calculator (1642): At the age of 19, Blase Pascal, the great French
mathematician, invented what may be considered the first adding machine. The
device resisted numbers by rotating a cogwheel gear by one to ten steps, with a
carryover rachet to operate the next-higher-digit wheel when the given cogwheel
exceeded ten units. The automobile odometer is an example of a device.
5. Jacquard’s Loom (1801) : Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French weaver, invented the first
punched-card machine. The pattern woven by the loom was determined by the
placement of holes in a control card only those threads whose guiding hook
encountered a hole in the card could enter a pattern.
6. Babbage’s Engine (1823): Only part of this machine was ever constructed. It is based
on the principle that, for certain formulas, the difference between certain values is

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constant. This machine never realized owning to the limited technology of the time,
would have contained many features of present-day computer, including punch-card
input, storage unit, printing units, and control by sequential program.
7. The Middle Ages (1823): The middle ages of data processing are said to have begun
when Dr. Hermann Hollerith, a statistician with the U.S. Bureau of the Census,
completed a set of machines to help process the results of the 1890 census. Using 3
by 5-inch punched cards to record the data, he constructs a box to sort the data and
manually fed electromagnetic counting machine to tabulate the data. The 1890 census
was processed in one-forth the time needed for the 1880 census. Hollerith left the
census Bureau to build and sell his own tabulating machines, his company was the
forerunner of IBM corporation. In 1980, Power patented a 20-column punching
machine. In the same year, Hollerith developed a vertical sorting machine, which
processed almost 200 cards per minutes. Hollerith developed a horizontal sorter
whose rate was almost 275 cards per minute.
8. The Modern Age (since 1944): Mark 1 (1944) Major innovation, the first computer
capable of automatically performing a long sequence of arithmetical and logical
operations. IBM Corporation built the Mark 1 the brainchild of Howard G.Aiken, a
professor of applied mathematics at Harvard University. It was an electromechanical
(relay) device, like the calculator, which preceded it, subsequent computer were
electronic.
9. First-Generation Computers (1946 to 1959): Utilizing vacuum tubes and Magnetic
tape replaces punch card as a secondary storage device. While the use of Vacuum
tube is regarded the beginning.
10. Mark 1 (1944): The first computer capable of automatically performing a long
sequence of arithmetical and logical operation. John Mauchly and Presper Eckert
completed the first large scale Vacuum-tube computer, the ENIAC (Electronic
Numerical Integrator and Calculator), in 1946 at the Moore School of Electrical
engineering a t the University of Pennsylvania. It could accomplish one day what the
previous computer took 30 days to perform, while in 1947 the ENIAC was moved to
the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a government research center, where it continued to
operate until 1955. In 1951, the UNIVAC I became operational at the output. The
UNIVAC I was run 24 hours a day until 1963.
11. Second-Generation Computers (1959-1965): Use of solid state components
(transistors and diodes), smaller in size, faster processing speed, increase memory
with faster access time. Utilized magnetic tape for secondary storage. Programming
in machine or symbolic language. Built-in detecting device ware installed and more
efficient mean’s ware developed to input and retrieve data from the computer. Many
companies manufactured second-generation computer and may of these were used foe
business applications. The most popular second-generation computer was the IBM
1401 of which some 15,000 were manufactured.
12. Third-generation Computer (1965-1970): Microminiaturized integrated circuits,
increased input/output devices (Visual display terminals, magnetic ink reader, high
speed printers) the new solid states circuits increase the speed of the computer by a
factor of 10,000 over the first generation computers. Arithmetic and logical
operations were now beginning performed in microseconds or even nanoseconds. The
primary storage unit, or memory, of the computers was greatly augmented by the
secondary storage devices located outside the computer. All this, together with faster
input and output devices made possible multiprocessing and multi programming,
whereby a number of data processing problems from different sources could be run
virtually at the same time on a single centrally located computer.
13. Fourth-Generation Computer (1970-1980): Introduction of LSI, VLSI, and ULSI,
Semiconductor, laser, and bubble memories. Multiprocessing use of mini and
microcomputer system. Among the advantage input/output devices employed in
forth-generation computers are optical readers, by which whole documents can be fed
into computer, audio response terminals, by which an operator can vocally introduce
data or instruction and graphics display terminals, by which an operator can feed
pictures into the computer.
14. Fifth-Generation Computer (since 1980’s): Computer capable of reasoning, learning,
making inferences and otherwise behaving in ways usually considered the exclusive
province of humans. These machines were equipments with massive primary storage
capability and extremely fast processing speed. Software was proliferated and got
much more languages. Compute became cheaper. Hardware continued to shrink in

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size while internal memory increase in size. Industrial and personal robots replace
human beings.

Types of Computers:
There are three types of computers.
• Analog Computers
• Hybrid Computers
• Digital Computers
1. Mainframe computers.
2. Mini Computers.
3. Microcomputers.
4. General-purpose computers.
5. Special-purpose Computers.
Analog Computers: This type of computers accepts an analog input and provides an
analog output of information. In other words, it is a computer, which deals with variables
that are measured along a continuous scale and recorded to some predetermined degree of
accuracy. It functions by setting up physical situations that are analogous computer, result
from a measuring process, these computers are ideal on situation where data can be
accepted directly from measuring instruments without having to convert it into numbers
or cods. Analog computer does not require any storage capability because they measure
and compare quantities on a signal operation.

Hybrid Computer: A hybrid computer has the characteristics of both Analog and
Digital computers, which mean’s that it is a computer, which can measure both in
terms of Physical as well as digital quantities. It combines the best features of both
Analog and Digital computers. They have the speed of Analog and the accuracy of
Digital computers. These are used mainly in specialized applications where both
booth kinds of information need to process.

Digital Computers: This computer represents digital information represented in

digital form and process information, which is based on the presence or the absence
of electrical charge of binary one or binary zero. The result of Digital computer is
more accurate, precise and repeatable than the result of analog computer.

Mainframe Computers: The largest type of computer in common use is the

mainframe computer. Mainframe computers are use where many peoples in a large
organization need frequent access to the same information, which is usually organized
into one or more huge database.
• Large in size.
• Large in memory.
• Powerful.
• Expensive.
• It provides multiprogramming time-sharing.
• The internal circuit is designed according to the size of the word, 64 bits.
• The memory capacity is up to 100 megabytes.

Mini Computers: These computers also use for small-scale networking and can
provide resources to the customers like the mainframe computers.
• Small in size compared to mainframe computers.
• Small in memory size compared to mainframe computers.
• Less expensive compared to mainframe computers.
• Disks are use for secondary storage device.
• Mini computer behaves like remote site terminals.
• Time-sharing, batch processing and online processing is available.

Microcomputers: Microcomputer as compared to the previous two are:

• Smallest in size.
• Very small in memory.
• Least expensive.

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• Designed for personal use, therefore, these are also termed as Personal
Computers (PCS). These are designed for small-scale domestic and business
applications.
• Microcomputer is easily accommodatable on a table and thus has the name
desktop.
• These are high flexible.
• The basis of the microcomputer is the microprocessor a silicon chip
containing the necessary circuitry to perform arithmetic/logical operations and to
control I/O operation.

Special Purpose Computers: It supports highly specialized data processing activity.

Special purposes computers are also know as dedicated computers. Because these
designed to perform a particular job, in other words, we can say that they are
designed to handle specific problems e.g. they are used in computer games, control of
traffic light or navigational system of an atomic submarine.

General-purpose Computers: General purpose computers are the machines

designed to performed a variety of jobs e.g. with a personal computer, a user can
performed typing, can play games, can make graphics/ charts or can do arithmetic.
Although, General-purpose computer are versatile, but they are slow in processing
and less efficient as compared to dedicated computers.