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INTRO TO DIGITAL LANGUAGE INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL LANGUAGE Objectives In this chapter you will: 1. Read about how space is measured on a computer 2. Read about the components you need to understand before you buy a computer. 3. Practice shopping for a computer and discuss the features that are important to you. 4. Read about and discuss how pictures are measured. Computer Literacy – Carlos Rosario International Charter School – Fall 2012Page 1

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Page 1: Pre-Reading - carlosrosariocomputerliteracy.weebly.comcarlosrosariocomputerliteracy.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/… · Web viewIntro to Digital Language. Intro to Digital Language. Computer

I N T R O T O D I G I T A L L A N G U A G E

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL LANGUAGE

Objectives In this chapter you will:

1. Read about how space is measured on a computer2. Read about the components you need to understand before you buy a computer.3. Practice shopping for a computer and discuss the features that are important to you.4. Read about and discuss how pictures are measured.

Computer Literacy – Carlos Rosario International Charter School – Fall 2012 Page 1

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Digital Language BasicsDigital language is the language you need to know to talk about your computer and computers in general.

Pre-ReadingDiscussion With a partner, discuss what you already know about the words below. Have you heard these words before? What do you think they mean?

Byte

Kilobyte

Megabyte

Gigabyte

Terabyte

External hard drive

Flash drive

RAM

USB port

Vocabulary

Word Definition

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Pretend that you are going to buy a computer. You are choosing between the following laptops. Which laptop would you choose and why? Discuss with your partner.

Computer Brand RAM Hard Drive

SpaceProcesso

rComputer

Specifications Price

Toshiba 4GB 500GB AMD A6 15.6” screenWeighs 5.5lbs.5 hours of battery life

$399

Samsung 4GB 500GB Intel i3 17.3” screenWeighs 6lbs.4 hours of battery life

$450

Samsung 6GB 1TB Intel i5 14” screenWeighs 5lbs.9 hours of battery life

$750

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Reading – An Introduction to Digital Language1. Digital Language Description

Internally, your personal computer is a type of digital electronic computer. It is called digital because all of the information inside it is represented and manipulated as numbers. All of the numbers in a spreadsheet, all of the text characters in a Word document, all of the pictures and sounds stored in a computer, are ALL represented as numbers. Unlike you who have ten digits to calculate with (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), the computer has only two digits (0 and 1) with which it must do everything. These units are called bits. To digitize something means to turn it into digits or numbers. It means turning information into the electronic language a computer can understand.

2. Digital Bits and BytesBit stands for a binary digit, 0 or 1. A byte is made up of 8 bits (1 byte = 8 bits). It takes 1 byte to store one character. Below are the digital representations for the letters A, B, C and numbers 4 and 5:

A - 0100 0001 B - 0100 0010 C - 0100 0011 4 - 00000100 5 - 00000101

3. Kilobytes, Megabytes and GigabytesAll the data on the computers are measured in bytes. Every piece of data such as letters, numbers and pictures that you enter into your computer takes up space on your computer’s hard drive. Letters, numbers and other text are small and do not take up much space. Graphics, pictures and sound files are large and take up a lot of space.

K stands for kilo (one thousand)

Abbreviation Approximately Precisely1 Kilobyte KB 1,000 bytes 1,024 bytes

M stands for mega (one million)

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Abbreviation Approximately Precisely1 Megabyte MB 1,000,000 bytes 1,048,576 bytes

G stands for giga (one billion)

Abbreviation Approximately Precisely1 Gigabyte GB 1,000,000,000

bytes1,073,741,824 bytes

T stands for tera (one trillion)

Abbreviation Approximately Precisely1 Terabyte TB 1,000,000,000,00

0 bytes1,099,511,627,776 bytes

4. How Documents are Measured

An Excel worksheet with a chart is about (approximately) 30KB. A one page Word document with Clip Art is about 60 KB. A PPT slideshow with images and animation is about 2-3 MB. Here are some typical sizes for files and documents you will use on your computer:

Short email message 3-4 KB A one page Microsoft Word document 30-40 KB An Excel spreadsheet 40-60 KB A six slide PowerPoint presentation including transitions, music and

animation 3 MB

Task 1 – How Large Are YOUR Files?

1. Go to Computer2. Open your H: drive. 3. Use the Details View

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4. Click on the Size Column

How many KBs is

your smallest Word document? _______ The largest? _______

How many KBs (or MBs) is your smallest picture? ________ The largest? ______

5. How Computer Hardware is Measured

CPU – Central Processing Unit

The CPU is a device that controls and completes all the commands that you give your computer. It is also known as THE PROCESSOR or THE BRAIN! The processor is the most important component in determining how fast your computer will be. Intel is the company who makes the most popular and most reliable processors. AMD is also a popular brand of processor, but it is the second largest supplier of processors. The latest Intel processors you find in the market are i3, i5, and i7 Intel makes different levels of processors:

o mid-range processors (Core 2), and o economical, less expensive processors (Centrino)

RAM – Random Access Memory

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RAM is the main memory space of your computer that allows you to temporarily store programs and data. The CPU reads from RAM to perform tasks. RAM need constant power to remember what is stored in them. If you close the program or turn off your computer before saving your work to a more permanent storage such as a Hard Drive, you will lose your work! Remember RAM is temporary.RAM is the workspace of your computer. The more RAM you have, the more programs (Word, PPT, Excel, web browsers, etc.) you can have open and work on at the same time without the computer slowing down. RAM is measured in GB. Most PC’s today have 4 GB’s of RAM.

HDD – Hard Disk Drive

Computer hard disk space is also measured in GB. Most hard drives today have between 300 GBs and 2 TBs of storage capacity. The hard drive is where you save all of your files!

6. Portable Storage Devices

In addition to the computer’s internal hard drive, there are other storage devices that you can use. Some common ones are listed below: CD-ROM Drive – Compact Disk - Read Only Memory

Most computers have a CD-ROM drive. This drive can read CDs and/or read AND write to CDs. CDs can store up to 800MB of data/files or 80 minutes of music.

DVD-ROM Drive – Digital Versatile Disk - Read Only Memory

If your computer has a DVD-ROM drive, it can also read and write CDs.. This drive can read DVDs and/or read AND write to DVDs. DVDs can store between 5 and 15 GB depending on the type of DVD. Like CDs, you can store files, data, and music on DVDs. BUT you can also store movies on DVDs!

USB – Universal Serial Bus (Flash Drive)

Flash drives are portable storage drives that you can use on multiple computers. You can buy a flash drive that is as small as 2 GB or as big as 64 GB.

External HDD – External Hard Disk Drive

External hard drives can be used to expand the memory on your computer, to backup your data (make a copy), or to make your data portable so that you can access your files on different computers. External hard drives range from 250 GB to 3 TB!

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Task 2 – What Type of Drive is on YOUR Computer?1. Look at your CPU case. 2. Find the DVD/CD ROM. Is it a DVD or a CD ROM?3. Open it4. Close it.

Task 3 – How Many Ports are on YOUR Computer?1. Look at your CPU case. 2. Find the USB Ports.3. How many are there?4. Find the Audio Ports

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Peripherals and PortsPeripherals are devices that are connect to a CPU case or System Unit to improve its capabilities. Peripherals include input devices, output devices, portable storage devices, and communications devices. All peripherals must have some way to connect to the computer, to do this, peripherals are connected by ports.There are many different kinds of ports on your computer. Two of the main ports are: USB Port

You use this port to connect to devices such as a mouse, a keyboard, a printer, a flash drive, and a digital camera. There are usually many USB ports on a single CPU case – some are in the front and some are in the back.

FireWire PortThis port is faster than a USB and is most often used to connect to digital cameras or digital video cameras.

Audio PortThis three small ports are for connect your speakers, microphone, and headset devises.

Task 4 – Review QuestionsWrite the answers to the questions below.

1. What does the word bit stand for? __________________________________

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2. How many bits are in a byte? ______________________________________

3. How big is a PPT slideshow with animation? __________________________

4. How big could be a Word document with Clip Art? _____________________

5. How big could be an Excel worksheet with a chart? ____________________

6. How much storage capacity could be on a PC Hard Drive? ______________

7. How much storage capacity could be on a PC RAM? ___________________

8. How much can a CD-ROM store? __________________________________

9. How much can a DVD-ROM store? _________________________________

10. How much storage capacity is on a USB Flash Drive? _________________

How to Buy a Personal Computer When you go to buy a personal computer there are many things that you need to know such as the amount of RAM, the hard drive space and the operating system. In this assignment you will look at some computer advertisements and find the answers to questions about personal computers. This information will help you when you go to buy your own computer.

Part 1: Directions: Look at the advertisements about PC’s and fill in the table below.

Computer Brand

RAM Hard DriveSpace

Processor

Computer Specifications

Price

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Part 2: Directions: Now try to find information on the following. Not all advertisements will have these items. Ask your partner if he/she has this information!

MS Office 2010 Software. How much is it? _________________________

Flash Drives – Write the Brand, the price and the capacity ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

External Hard Drives. – Write the Brand, the price and the capacity ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Research Computers on the WWWMany people research computers on the WWW before they buy one at the store. In this assignment you will go to the Best Buy website and search for four computers. Your first two computers must cost $700.00 or less. The second two computers must cost $1300.00 or MORE.

A. Go to the Best Buy Online store at: bestbuy.comB. Find two computers (either a laptop or a desktop) that cost less than $700.C. Write down the information for each computer below.

Computer Brand

RAM Hard Drive Space

Processor

Computer Specifications

Price

A. Find two computers (either a laptop or a desktop) that cost MORE than $1300B. Write down the information for each computer below.

Computer Brand

RAM Hard Drive Space

Processor

Computer Specifications

Price

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Task 5 – Fill In The BlanksDirections:

Write the missing vocabulary word into each sentence below.

bytekilobytesgigabytesgigamega

kilopixelsbitfile sizedigital

RAMUSBMegabytes

1. The word ___________means one thousand.

2. The word ___________means one million.

3. The word ___________means giant or one billion.

4. The capacity of a computer hard drive could be 500 ____________.

5. The size of a Word document could be about 42 ________________.

6. A _________________________is digital data such as a 0 or a 1.

7. There are eight bits in a __________________________________.

8. You can see the ________ _______ of documents on your computer by

looking in Computer and your personal folder.

9. A PowerPoint presentation with animation can have a file size of 2-3

____________________.

10. Computer processors only understand _________________language.

11. _____________ temporarily stores commands and data before you save

your data to your hard drive.

12. There are two ______ ports on the front of your CPU case.

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Task 5 – Review Digital Language

1. Define these terms and write their abbreviation: kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2. Discuss the difference between a flash drive, a hard drive, and an external hard drive.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

3. What is the typical storage capacity of the following items:a) CD

b) DVD

c) Hard Drive

d) External hard drive

e) Flash drive

4. Demonstrate how you find the file size of a Microsoft Word document? How large are typical Word docs?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

5. What is RAM and how large is RAM on a typical computer?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

6. What was the most interesting thing you learned about digital language?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

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Task 6 – Review Digital Language1. What is the brand name of your class computer?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2. What is the name of the operating system?_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

3. What is the typical capacity of a PC hard drive?_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4. What is the typical capacity of RAM on a PC?_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

5. How many megabytes can a CD hold? _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

6. How many gigabytes can a DVD hold?_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

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An Introduction to Digital Images How Pictures are MeasuredA good clear picture will be between 100-300 KB or bigger. Digital pictures are made up of tiny PIXELS. A Pixel is the basic element of a picture - A pixel is simply the individual point of color on a digital image. Digital cameras typically have an ability to take pictures between 5 and 10 megapixels big. The more megapixels, the better and clearer your pictures will be. BUT, more megapixels also means a bigger file size!

Pictures will low resolution have fewer pixels. Pictures with high resolution have more pixels.

Guess the sizes of each of these pictures. One picture is 2 kb, one is 23 kb, and one is 440 kb.

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___________

1. ___________2. ___________

3. ___________