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The Computer System

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20 views

The Computer System

Uploaded by

abera alemayehu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Computer System

Computer is an electronic device that takes data as an input and processes it under the control of a
set of instructions (called program) and then produces a result (output), and all the set is called as
computer system.

A computer system is a set of integrated devices which takes input, process it and give output.
Also it stores data and information. Computer system allows users to input, manipulate and store
data. Computer systems include a CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse and other optional components.

Computer System Components

The Basic components of computer system are the following:

a. Input Unit

b. Output Unit

c. CPU (Central Processing Unit)

d. Storage Unit
A. Input devices
Any device that sends data to a computer are called input device. Computers need to receive data
and instruction in order to process the task. Therefore, we need to input the data and instructions
into the computers. Input devices include Keyboard, Mouse, Digitizing Tablet, Track Ball,
Joystick, Touch Screen, Light Pen, Speech Recognition System, Digital camera, Scanner,
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Optical
Mark Recognition (OMR), Barcode Reader. Keyboard and mouse is the one of the most commonly
used input device.
B. Output devices
Any device that outputs information or data from a computer to another device is called output
device. The output unit of a computer receive output from CPU (Central Processing Unit). These
include Monitor, floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, and magnetic tape drive Visual Display
Terminal, Printer, Plotter, Computer Output on Microfilm(COM), Video Output System, Audio
Response System.
C. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
This is main Part of computer system. It is also known as the heart of the computer, which is
responsible for executing instructions. Sometimes referred to simply as the central processor, but
more commonly called processor. It receives data input, executes instructions, and processes
information and then generate appropriate result.

CPU consists of the following three units,

i. Control Unit (CU)

ii. Arithmetic logic Unit (ALU)

iii. Main Memory unit (MMU)

i) Control Unit (CU): It controls all other units in the computer. The control unit instructs the
input unit, where to store the data after receiving it from the user. A control unit (CU) handles all
processor control signals, control unit directs the entire computer system. It also communicates
with both the arithmetic logic unit(ALU) and main memory. The control Unit or CU Controls or
coordinates all activities performed in a computer system.

ii) Arithmetic logic Unit (ALU): All calculations are performed in the Arithmetic Logic Unit
(ALU) of the computer. It also does comparison and takes decision. Arithmetic operation
comprises of (Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication) and the logical unit carries out the
operation such (AND, OR, Equal, less than, greater then). Data is transferred to ALU from storage
unit when required. Whenever calculations are required, the control unit transfers the data from
storage unit to ALU once the computations are done, the results are transferred to the storage unit
by the control unit and then it is send to the output unit for displaying results.

iii) Main Memory unit (MMU): The main memory unit is used for storage of the copy of the
main software program that controls the general operation of the computer and temporary storage
of a copy of application program instruction, to be received by CPU for interpretation and
processing or execution.

D. Storage Units:

Storage unit is the unit which gives space to store data or instruction of processed data.

It stores

- information or instruction

- Results

- consequence of prepared data

There are mainly two types of storage Unit


i) Primary Storage
ii) Secondary Storage

i) Primary Storage

They are also called as Main memory or in other words as RAM (Random Access Memory).
The primary Storage cannot store huge amount of data, and the data store in this memory is
temporary (The data is lost when there is power failure), it is also called as temporary memory,
they are very expensive. The other example of primary Storage is L1 Cache of Processor, RAM

ii) Secondary Storage

Secondary storages are also called as permanent storage unit as when the data store in this memory
are stored permanently. The data remains in this memory even when there is a power failure or
shutdown, they are much cheaper than primary memory. Example of secondary storages are Hard
disk and Zip drives

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