Information technology and kinds of computer
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers and telecommunications to store, retrieve, process and send information. Computers range from room-sized supercomputers to the tiny embedded chip in a microwave. CSEC compares them by processing speed, storage and portability.
By the end of this page you can
- Explain what information technology is
- Tell commercial from scientific data processing
- Compare the five kinds of computer by speed, storage and portability
- Put storage units in order
Goals tick themselves off as you try the activities below.
Photo: NASA Ames Research Center, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized, JPEG q72.
A supercomputer fills a hall: the fastest kind of computer, and the least portable.
How often it shows up in past papers
All papers9 of 14 papers
Last 52 of 5 · 2019–2025
Paper 1 counts come from our past-paper bank of CSEC Information Technology Paper 1s. The last-5 row shows how often it came up in the five most recent papers.
Inside this topic
- What IT coversLocked
- Five kinds of computerLocked
- Key termsLocked
- Test yourselfmarkedLocked