In this topic, my
lecturer started to explain and gave us a good revision about what I have
studied in my previous course introduction to computer. Therefore, she
explained that computer has five operations which are input, output,
processing, storage, and communication. she also said that computer has been through five generations. The first generation
such as ENIAC and UNIVAC, the first commercial computer, used vacuum tube. The
second generation such as IBM 1401 used transistor instead of vacuum tube.
Therefore, the size of computers has been reduced. The third generation used
integrated circuit (IC) that combines thousands of transistors. The fourth generation
such as personal computer used very large scale integration (VLSI) and ultra
large scale integration (ULSI). The fifth generation used artificial
intelligence which means computer can think, reason, and learn. After that the
lecturer mentioned the categories of the computers which are embedded
computers, mobile computers, personal computers, midrange servers, mainframes,
supercomputers, and hybrid computers.
After that, the lecturer gave us a small activity and asked
us to give the different between data and information. Then we discussed the
answers in the class. Therefore, the correct meaning for data is raw facts.
However, the correct meaning for information is data that is organized and
meaningful. Therefore, the computer can convert data to be information by using
I-P-O method which include input, processing that happens in the CPU, and
output. Afterwards, I learnt some roles of information which are information
used in decision making. It is also used to influence and persuade, and it can
be a capital resources. I also learnt that information has two basic elements
which are reach and richness. Reach means the number of people who share the
information. However, richness means the quality of the information shared in
transaction and it has three components which are bandwidth, customization, and
interactivity. Bandwidth is the amount of information that be moved from sender
to receiver in a given time. Customization means whether the information is
tailored for an audience of a particular size. Nonetheless, interactivity is
between two parties.
