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Diploma in Higher Education Studies

Choosing a computer for a job

HES 213 · Introduction to Computer Science — Week 14 of 16

CourseHES 213
Week14 of 16
SemesterII
TutorOnline in the course chat

This week’s topics

Choosing a computer for a job

  1. Matching hardware and software to needs
  2. Comparing specifications

What you will be able to do

  • 1.1 Describe the role of hardware and software components.
  • 2.2 Compare common operating systems.

Activity

Recommend a computer and operating system for a given user.

Study materials

Further resources

  • Foundations of Information Systems, 4.2: Defining User Requirements · PDF · OpenStax Foundations of Information Systems (2025), 4.2: working out what the user needs, pp. 128–133 · for registered students
  • Workplace Software and Skills, 1.2: Choosing personal computers · PDF · OpenStax Workplace Software and Skills (2023), 1.2 on what businesses check before buying computers, p. 29 · for registered students
  • Requirements engineering: a roadmap · Open-access article · Nuseibeh & Easterbrook (2000), ICSE 2000: The Future of Software Engineering. Readable roadmap of working out what a user needs from a system. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
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Course plan
  • Week 1: What is a computer system?
  • Week 2: Hardware: the parts of a computer
  • Week 3: Software: system and application software
  • Week 4: The CPU and the fetch-execute cycle
  • Week 5: Memory: RAM, ROM and cache
  • Week 6: What an operating system does
  • Week 7: Comparing operating systems
  • Midterm: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Bits and bytes: units of storage
  • Week 10: Storing text: ASCII and Unicode
  • Week 11: Storing images: pixels and colour depth
  • Week 12: Storing sound: sampling
  • Week 13: Storage devices
  • Week 14: Choosing a computer for a job
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Final: Final assessment and submission
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