This is an introductory text for a basic computer literacy course. It was written because we found that most of the available texts were extremely expensive (up to and over $150.) We felt that this was, not only excessive, but also counterproductive. Very few students would be likely to buy this kind of text at that price.We have tried to include all of the material necessary for an introductory computer literacy course, but, in order to keep a low price for our students, we have attempted to include ONLY what would be necessary for such a course. Contents include: 1.Introduction-History of computer development, different classes of computers, networks and communication, information processing cycle2.Computer Components -CPU, memory, secondary storage, input, output and communications devices, 3.Computer Software-System software (operating systems, utility programs), application programs, ethical issues related to software4.The System Unit -Motherboard, CPU, Types of Memory, Secondary Storage, Data representation, connecters and ports5.Input -Keyboards, scanners, pointing devices (mouse, trackball, touchscreen, ...), 6.Output-Monitors, projectors, wearables, printers, fonts, audio output7.Storage-Hard disk drives, optical storage, obsolete media, cloud storage8.Networks and Internet-Internet development, Internet services (WWW, e-mail, FTP, ... ), e-commerce, Internet architecture (HTML, TCP/IP, routers, servers, ... ), social issues, security.
Darrell Hajek received his PhD. In mathematics in 1971 from the University of Florida. He was immediately hired by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (RUM) and has been working there ever since, teaching mathematics and computer science. In addition to a number of research publications, Dr. Hajek has previously written one computer related book: Assembler Language Programming on the 80x86 Processor (no longer available) which was used as a text at RUM for several years. More recently, he has written a book of fiction/fantasy: "The Life and Times of Harry Wolf, the True Story of the Big Bad Wolf" Cesar Herrera worked in industry for several years. He received his MS in computer science from Ohio State University in 1985., and was hired by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (RUM). . He served as an advisor in the development of the undergraduate computer science program in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and as coordinator of the undergraduate computer science program for several years. Currently, he is a full professor at RUM. He has several publications in software engineering and human-computer interaction. The two of us have been charge of the department's computer literacy course for well over 10 years
