CLASSES OF COMPUTER BY TYPE

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TITLE: NOTE OF LESSON ON COMPUTER STUDIES/ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SUBJECT: COMPUTER STUDIES

THEME: BASIC COMPUTER OPERATION AND CONCEPT

TERM: FIRST TERM

WEEK: WEEK 4

DATE:

CLASS: PRIMARY 5

AGE OF STUDENTS:

CLASS COMPOSITION: Slow and fast learners.

PERIOD:

DURATION: 45 MINUTES

TOPIC: CLASSES OF COMPUTER BY TYPE

Sub –Topics:

Analogue
Digital
Hybrid

ENABLE OBJECTIVES

At the end of this Module, Pupils should be able to:

Identify different types of computer.
Mention types of computer

TEACHING AND LEARNING MATERIALS

Analog computer: thermometer, scale machine, blood pressure measuring machine, car speedometer.
Digital computers: calculator, digital wrist watch
Hybrid Computers: fuel pumping machine pictures, pictures/charts of mainframe, mini, micro, first, second, third, fourth and fifth generation computers.
projector
Explanatory posters/pictures
Explanatory Video

TEACHING AND LEARNING METHOD

Explanation
Discussion
Questions and Answers

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Universal Basic Education Curriculum.
NERDC Basic Education Curriculum for primary schools.
Lagos State Scheme of work
Unified Schemes of Work Primary Schools for Computer Studies (MIDDLE BASIC)
Internet Materials.
Edudelight Computer Studies for Primary Schools.

ENTRY BEHAVIOUR/ PREVIOUS LESSON: The students are familiar with Components of computer system – USER

WORD FILE: functionality,abilities,electrical, mechanical, hydraulic quantities.

CONTENT

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Computers are classified based on its types, size and generations.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BASED ON TYPE

Computers differs based on their data processing abilities.
They are classified according to purpose, data handling and functionality.

They are classified into general purpose computer and specific purpose computer based on the purpose they are designed for.

Classification of Computer Based On Data Handling and Functionality

Based on data handling and functionality, computers are classified into analog, digital and hybrid computers.

ANALOG COMPUTER

Analog computers make use of physical quantities like electrical, mechanical or hydraulic quantities to solve a given task.

They are used for the purpose of measuring and the measurement obtained are translated into data. The computer do not deal directly with numbers, they only measure the continuous physical magnitude, e.g. thermometer, fuel gauge, car speedometer, scale machine, diabetes measuring machine, weight scale, etc.

DIGITAL COMPUTER

Digital computer gives result with more accuracy and at a faster rate. They performs calculations and logical operations. The assigned tasks are performed with quantities represented as digits and the digit are usually given in the binary number system.

Examples of digital computers are: digital wrist watch, camera, calculator, mobile phone, personal computer (Hp, dell, Lenovo), Apple computers.

HYBRID COMPUTER

. It has both features of analog and digital computers. So, it is also a digital computer.

It accepts analog signals and coverts the signal to digital and processes them in digital form. It comprises the measuring features of an analog computer and counting features of a digital computer. Hybrid computer make use of analog component for computational purposes and digital memories for storage purposes.it is cost effective method of performing complex simulations.

Examples of hybrid computers are telephone, petrol pumping g machine and ECG monitor used in hospitals.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BY SIZE

Computer are classified based on their sizes into super computer, mainframe computer, minicomputer and microcomputer.

SUPER COMPUTER

They are very expensive and are used for performing specialized applications, which require immense mathematical calculations. It can perform hundreds of millions of instructions per second. They are not easily seen in most public’s places because of their size and the cost.

It is used in universities, research institutes, government agencies, large business enterprises, meteorology department for weather forecasting, etc. They are the fastest and most powerful types of computer.

Mainframe computer

Mainframe computer accept hundreds or thousands of user simultaneously. They are in one way superior and more powerful than super computers because they can support more programs simultaneously with users handling massive amount of input, output and storage processes. They can execute a single program faster than mainframe computers.

MINI COMPUTER

They are midsized computer both in size and performance. It has multiple terminals by which it can be utilized as network server and internet server.it is also a multiprocessing system and it can support 4 – 200 user simultaneously. Minicomputer are easier to use.

MICRO COMPPUTER

They are known as personal computer or pc, they are the smallest and least expensive of all computers. They possess the smallest memory and less power. These computer permit only fewer peripherals to be attached as they are relatively smaller in size.

Examples are the desktop computer, laptop computer, palmtop, tablets, etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS BASED ON GENERATIONS

Each generation of computer is based on a new technological development.

The following are the generations of computers

First generation computer.
Second generation computer.
Third generation computer.
Third generation computer.
Fourth generation computer.
Fifth generation computer.

First generation computer

First generation started and ended from 1940 to 1956.the computers are very expensive to operate and used a lot of electricity and they generate a lot of heat. The circuit are made of vacuum tubes and magnetic drums were used for memory purposes. While Punched cards and paper tapes were used to give input and the output is displayed as printouts.

The computer requires large room for operation because it is too big. The instruction are written in machine language which are 0S and 1s for coding instructions. The computer require maintenance always

SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS

Second generation computer started and ended from 1956 to 1963.

It make use of transistors as it circuit and magnetic core technology as it primary memory and magnetic disk as secondary memory storage. It made the computer smaller, faster, cheaper energy efficient and more reliable than the first generation computer.

Punched cards and paper tapes were also used to give input and the output is displayed as printouts. They used the concept of stored program, where instructions were stored in the memory of the computer. This computer also generate lots of heat but much less compared with the first generation computers. They required less maintenance than the first generation computers.

THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS

The period of third generation computers started and ended from 1964 to 1971. This generation of computers make used of integrated circuit (ic) chips which helps to increase the speed and efficiency of the computer to a greater degree. The punch card is replaced with keyboard for giving input and print out were through monitors. The computer is smaller than second generation computer. The se computer were much cheaper than first, second generation and it was sold commercially.

FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS

It started from 1971 to present. They are modern day computer and they make use of microprocessor, it also make use of reduce size of integrated circuit and it external size and price. This increase power, efficiency and reliability. Semi –conductor memory replace d magnetic

core memory used earlier, resulting in fast random access to memory. The fourth generation gave rise to personal computer (pc). The personal computer for home and office use were introduce in the year 1981 by IBM. Many computers were linked to form networks, which led to the emergence of the internet.

FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTERS

The fifth generation computers are present and next generation computers.

The main aim is to develop computers that are capable of learning and self-organization (artificial intelligence).

These computer make use of super large scale integrated (SLSI) Chips, it store millions of components on a single chip, are used in these computers. This types of computers are used in the field of robotics and games. It have large memory and it used parallel processing, which allows several instruction to be executed simultaneously instead of serial execution or executing one after the other. Parallel processing results in faster processing of tasks.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BASED ON THE PURPOSE THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR

Computer are classified into

General purpose computer: these computers are design to perform a range of tasks. They have the ability to store numerous programs but they lack speed and efficiency.
Specific purpose: they are design to handle a specific problem or to perform a specific task. A set of instructions is built into the machine to perform the specific task.

PRESENTATION

The Teacher revises the previous lesson (Components of computer system – USER.).
The Teacher introduces the topic: CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER BASED ON TYPE
She/he explains the term analog, digital and hybrid computer.