In it's most basic form, a system requires input, processing and output
A example of an old manual system would be a library's card index system:
- A card index is used so that books can be organised by author, title or genre. This was found a problem as with many books, locating a single book was often difficult or simply too slow. Also most books aren't obviously titled such as "Twelfth night" wouldn't obviously relate to a "fatal love triangle."
- This method was then substituted by a computer where search was enabled, so it was quick and easy to browse an entire database, finding a single or group of similar books in a matter of nanoseconds.
Input-process-output
The stages of Input, process and output form the basic functions fo a computer system.
Input - Data is entered via an input device, such as a keyboard
Process - Calculations, queries and other operations are performed on the data
Output - The results of the processing are sent to an output device sush as a monitor
Example:
1. Photographs from digital camera
2. Crop, airbrush defects, reduce resolution and change size in a graphics package
3. Improved photographs to be displayed on page
