2 The Overview

Almost all comoputers have the same basic structure, be it a personal computer (PC), a mainframe computer, or an embedded computer of an anti-lock brake.

All computer systems have a means to acquire data, some form of intermediate memory to store instructios, and hold data while it is being processed, a processor to perform the actual processing, and a way to “act” based on the results of processing.

This section focuses on this overview of how computers operate.

 2.1 Getting the input data
  2.1.1 Conventional information system
  2.1.2 Personal computer
  2.1.3 Embedded computers
 2.2 Processing
 2.3 Output
  2.3.1 Intended for Humans
  2.3.2 Intended for computers
  2.3.3 Others