Functional organization of computer

Task 1

Have some fun.

Do you know any computer related jokes? Tell to the class. If you don’t read the following ones and render them in English.

Two bytes meet. The first byte asks, "Are you ill?"

The second byte replies, "No, just feeling a bit off."

– How many programmers does it take to kill a cockroach? 

– Two: one holds, the other installs Windows on it.

– What is the difference between a programmer and a non-programmer ?

– The non-programmer thinks a kilobyte is 1000 bytes while a programmer is convinced that a kilometer is 1024 meters

Task 2

Answer the questions.

1. Do you often use a computer at home or at the university?

2. What do you use it for?

3. Would you say you are computer-literate (to know how to use it)?

4. Do you find most computers user-friendly (easy to use)?

5. What software programs are you familiar with?

6. Do you use e-mail? Do you think it is better than the ordinary mail? Why?

7. Do you think the Internet has an important influence on our daily lives? In what ways?

Task 3

Work in pairs or small groups. How would you describe what a computer is to someone who:

– knows nothing about computers?

– knows quite enough about computers?

Task 4

Now read the text and make a list of computer parts.

Technically, a computer is a programmable machine. Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the desktop and laptop computers that most people use. When referring to a desktop model, the term "computer" technically only refers to the computer itself – not the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Still, it is acceptable to refer to everything together as the computer. If you want to be really technical, the box that holds the computer is called the "system unit".

Some of the major parts of a personal computer (or PC) include the motherboard, CPU, memory (or RAM), hard drive, and video card. While personal computers are by far the most common type of computers today, there are several other types of computers. For example, a "minicomputer" is a powerful computer that can support many users at once. A "mainframe" is a large, high-powered computer that can perform billions of calculations from multiple sources at one time. Finally, a "supercomputer" is a machine that can process billions of instructions a second and is used to calculate extremely complex calculations.

Task 5

Get ready for module text reading. Practice active vocabulary on the topic. First, read the words in the left column paying attention to their pronunciation. Then, find the Ukrainian equivalents in the right column. Spare column is left for your notes.

digital device means of solving problems sphere of application to accept, store, process information hardware and software an instruction and a program a basic unit of information a byte and a bit to take in and to put out information input unit and output unit keyboard printer and display storage of memory (storage = memory) access time and capacity internal and external storage central processing unit to coordinate and control all activities unit data boundless

Клавіатура Програмне та апаратне забезпечення Пристрій вводу-виводу Приймати та видавати інформацію Байт та біт Засіб вирішення завдань Цифровий пристрій Сфера застосування Приймати, зберігати, обробляти інформацію Команда та програма Основна одиниця інф-ї Центральний процесор Клавіатура Координувати та контролювати діяльність Принтер та дисплей Запам’ятовуюч. пристрій Інформація, дані Час доступу та місткість Безмежний Пристрій, модуль, блок, вузол, елемент, гратка.

Task 6

Read the text and say what main parts of a computer you know.