Information and Communication Technology

2.1.16 Input Devices

2.1.16 Imput Devices 

An input device presents data to the processing unit in machine-readable form. Although the keyboard is a common input device for a computer, the system may also support one or more the input devices listed in the illustration on the following page.

Keyboard

The keyboa rd is very much like that of a standard typewriter with a few additional keys. The basic QWERTY layout of characters is maintained to make it easy for the trained typists to use the system. The additional keys are included to perform certain special functi ons such as deleting a character or editing a text. These are known as function keys that vary in number from system to system. The function keys help operators to automatically perform many tasks that would be tedious and time consuming on an ordinary typewriter.