Foundation Course for Advanced Computer Studies

By Franck Ismael Djédjé

In the modern world, computer systems are playing a greater and greater part in everyday life. From office work, to entertainment, to providing information, the personal computer is quickly becoming a more integral part of the home. However, most PC users have no idea how most of the parts which make up their computer work internally. I am one of those who find that the framework provided by the school curriculum in the United Kingdom is of great assistance in planning lessons and learning plans but the curriculum does not plan out the work for us. We therefore need to invest a lot of time and effort into developing schemes of work that will suit the people we are going to teach. For me, it is a fantastic opportunity to employ our imagination and creativity to make lessons useful and interesting for children of different abilities. It is why I wrote this book. This book is a foundation course for Advanced Computer Studies and designed as a blueprint to teach users with a basic knowledge of computer science. Computer science is a subject that combines the use of technology which is ICT (Information Communication Technology) and the creation of technology. To use ICT (the subject about how to use technology to communicate information) more effectively, we need to know how technology works. Computing or computer science will create a generation of young people able to work at the forefront of technology change. It is the umbrella term for the subject that comprises 3 elements: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. It is helpful to think of these as the foundations, applications and implications of digital technology. The new focus on computer science will provides a well-defined and rigorous academic discipline and a unique lens through which pupils can understand the world. Children must therefore be taught computing if they are to be ready for tomorrow technology challenges. Our ingenuity to invent new means of communicating with each other, our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries however still a lot remain to be done with the arrival of quantum computing. A more rigorous approach to computer science teaching will help compete across the full spectrum of digital industries. This can only be achieved by equipping ourselves with the foundation skills, knowledge and understanding of computing do the necessity to introduce “computational thinking” at school via the new national curriculum (programmes of study and targets), the 2014 national curriculum that introduces computing which will replace ICT.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Les Éditions du Net
• Release date: Nov 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9782312039503

Book preview

Franck Ismael Djédjé

Foundation Course for Advanced Computer Studies

Learn tomorrow’s computer today

To project our self in the next generation of computers (quantum computers), in the next era of computing, it is important to understand how today’s computers (silicon-based computer) works.

A quantum computer is a computer design which uses the principles of quantum physics to increase the computational power beyond what is attainable by a traditional computer.

This book is a foundation course for Advanced Computer Studies and designed as a blueprint to teach users with a basic knowledge of computer science. Computer science is a subject that combines the use of technology which is ICT (Information Communication Technology) and the creation of technology. To use ICT (the subject about how to use technology to communicate information) more effectively, we need to know how technology works.

© Les Éditions du Net, 2015

ISBN : 978-2-312-03950-3

Table of Contents

PC - Peripheral Devices

PC Internal Architecture, CPU & CPU Socket

Personal Microcomputer

The Processor Unit

Lesson 1

The Fetch Execute cycle & the Processor

Matrices and Digital Images

The components of the simplified processor

Lesson 2

The ‘fetch’ section of the instruction execution cycle

Lesson 3

The Fetch execute cycle - C programming language as example

What Are Pointers?

How to use Pointers?

NULL Pointers in C

Pointers and string

A variable's address vs a variable's value

Lesson 4

Logic gates

De Morgan’s Laws

Lesson 5

Binary Mathematics

Lesson 6

Binary number and transportation cables (USB and PS2 cables as example)

Lesson 7

Introduction to SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method).

Lesson 8

Tree Diagrams

The tree Diagram, example of a search engine

The tree Diagram, in software testing

Lesson 9

Programming

Lesson 10

The atomic world

Lesson 11

The photovoltaic effect

Moore’s law (transistor as example)

Lesson 12

Introduction to a Personal Computer or PC

How to clean a PC (Personal Computer)?

Indexes

Index 1

Algorithm: adding and subtracting binary numbers using JavaScript

Algorithm: adding and subtracting binary numbers using Python

Index 2 (CPU and CPU fan)

Index 3 (exercises sheet)

Index 4 - from a DVD to a computer screen

Index 5 - Learn tomorrow’s computer today

Index 6 - Computer Programming Board Game

Livres du même auteur

PC - Peripheral Devices

PC Internal Architecture, CPU & CPU Socket

Related image

Personal Microcomputer

Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi 3 is a micro-computer. It is a micro-motherboard of a PC (Personal Computer).

Raspbian is the Foundation’s official supported Operating System.

Noobs is an easy installer for Raspbian.

Raspberry Pi 3

The microcontroller

The microcontroller is an even micro-computer than the Raspberry Pi is. I can also be seen as a micro-motherboard of a PC (Personal Computer).

Microcontrollers

The Processor Unit