2

FUNDAMENTAL OF COMPUTER
SCIENCE

DRAME ANE MOHAMED

BSC IT 1
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1 WHAT IS AN OPERATING
SYSTEM?
An operating system, or OS, is a software program that
enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate
with the computer software. Without a computer operating
system, a computer would be useless.
An operating system (sometimes abbreviated as "OS") is also
the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer
by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a
computer. The other programs are called applications or
application programs. The application programs make use of
the operating system by making requests for services through
a defined application program interface (API). In addition,
users can interact directly with the operating system through a
user interface such as a command language or a graphical
user interface (GUI).

1.1 WHY WE NEED OF

OPERATING SYSTEM?
At the simplest level, an operating system does
two things:
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1. It manages the hardware and software resources of the

system. In a desktop computer, these resources include such
things as the processor, memory, disk space, etc. (On a cell
phone, they include the keypad, the screen, the address
book, the phone dialer, the battery and the network
connection.)
2. It provides a stable, consistent way for applications to deal
with the hardware without having to know all the details of the
hardware.

The first task, managing the hardware and software

resources, is very important, as various programs and input
methods compete for the attention of the central processing
unit (CPU) and demand memory, storage and input/output
(I/O) bandwidth for their own purposes. In this capacity, the
operating system plays the role of the good parent, making
sure that each application gets the necessary resources while
playing nicely with all the other applications, as well as
husbanding the limited capacity of the system to the greatest
good of all the users and applications.
The second task, providing a consistent application interface,
is especially important if there is to be more than one of a
particular type of computer using the operating system, or if
the hardware making up the computer is ever open to
change. A consistent application program interface (API)
allows a software developer to write an application on one
computer and have a high level of confidence that it will run
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on another computer of the same type, even if the amount of

memory or the quantity of storage is different on the two
machines.
Even if a particular computer is unique, an operating system
can ensure that applications continue to run when hardware
upgrades and updates occur. This is because the operating
system and not the application is charged with managing the
hardware and the distribution of its resources. One of the
challenges facing developers is keeping their operating
systems flexible enough to run hardware from the thousands
of vendors manufacturing computer equipment. Today's
systems can accommodate thousands of different printers,
disk drives and special peripherals in any possible
combination.
The operating system is the interface between the hardware
and the user. If there were no O/S, the computer would be an
expensive door stop.

2 THE SERVICES OF
OPERATING SYSTEM

An operating system performs these services for

applications:
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• In a multitasking operating system where multiple programs

can be running at the same time, the operating system
determines which applications should run in what order and
how much time should be allowed for each application before
giving another application a turn.
• It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple
applications.
• It handles input and output to and from attached hardware
devices, such as hard disks, printers, and dial-up ports.
• It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or
to a system operator) about the status of operation and any
errors that may have occurred.
• It can offload the management of what are called batch jobs
(for example, printing) so that the initiating application is freed
from this work.
•On computers that can provide parallel processing, an
operating system can manage how to divide the program so
that it runs on more than one processor at a time.

3 WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF

OPERATING SYSTEM?
BATCH OPERATING Systems
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A batch system is one in which jobs are bundled together with

the instructions necessary to allow them to be processed
without intervention. Often jobs of a similar nature can be
bundled together to further increase economy
The monitor is system software that is responsible for
interpreting and carrying out the instructions in the batch jobs.
When the monitor started a job, it handed over control of the
entire computer to the job, which then controlled the computer
until it finished.
Often magnetic tapes and drums were used to store
intermediate data and compiled programs.
Advantages of batch systems
move much of the work of the operator to the computer o
increased performance since it was possible for job to start as
soon as the previous job finished.
Disadvantages
• Turn-around time can be large from user standpoint
• More difficult to debug program
• Due to lack of protection scheme, one batch job can affect
pending jobs (read too many cards, etc)
• A job could corrupt the monitor, thus affecting pending jobs
• A job could enter an infinite loop
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As mentioned above, one of the major shortcomings of early

batch systems was that there was no protection scheme to
prevent one job from adversely affecting other jobs.
The solution to this was a simple protection scheme, where
certain memory (where the monitor resides) were made off-
limits to user programs. This prevented user programs from
corrupting the monitor.
To keep user programs from reading too many (or not
enough) cards, the hardware was changed to allow the
computer to operate in one of two modes: one for the monitor
and one for the user programs. IO could only be performed in
monitor mode, so that IO requests from the user programs
were passed to the monitor. In this way, the monitor could
keep a job from reading past it's on $EOJ card.
To prevent an infinite loop, a timer was added to the system
and the $JOB card was modified so that a maximum
execution time for the job was passed to the monitor. The
computer would interrupt the job and return control to the
monitor when this time was exceeded.
Spooling Batch Systems (mid 1960s - late 1970s)
One difficulty with simple batch systems is that the computer
still needs to read the deck of cards before it can begin to
execute the job. This means that the CPU is idle (or nearly
so) during these relatively slow operations.
Since it is faster to read from a magnetic tape than from a
deck of cards, it became common for computer centers to
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have one or more less powerful computers in addition to their

main computer. The smaller computers were used to read a
deck of cards onto a tape, so that the tape would contain
many batch jobs. This tape was then loaded on the main
computer and the jobs on the tape were executed. The output
from the jobs would be written to another tape which would
then be removed and loaded on a less powerful computer to
produce any hardcopy or other desired output.
It was a logical extension of the timer idea described above to
have a timer that would only let jobs execute for a short time
before interrupting them so that the monitor could start an IO
operation. Since the IO operation could proceed while the
CPU was crunching on a user program, little degradation in
performance was noticed.
Since the computer can now perform IO in parallel with
computation, it became possible to have the computer read a
deck of cards to a tape, drum or disk and to write out to a tape
printer while it was computing. This process is called
SPOOLing: Simultaneous Peripheral Operation OnLine.
Spooling batch systems were the first and are the simplest of
the multiprogramming systems.
One advantage of spooling batch systems was that the output
from jobs was available as soon as the job completed, rather
than only after all jobs in the current cycle were finished.
Multiprogramming Systems (1960s - present)
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As machines with more and more memory became available,

it was possible to extend the idea of multiprogramming (or
multiprocessing) as used in spooling batch systems to create
systems that would load several jobs into memory at once
and cycle through them in some order, working on each one
for a specified period of time.
At this point the monitor is growing to the point where it
begins to resemble a modern operating system.
It is responsible for:
• starting user jobs
• spooling operations IO for user jobs
• switching between user jobs
• ensuring proper protection while doing the above
Multiprogramming is a rudimentary form of parallel processing
in which several programs are run at the same time on a
uniprocessor. Since there is only one processor, there can be
no true simultaneous execution of different programs. Instead,
the operating system executes part of one program, then part
of another, and so on. To the user it appears that all programs
are executing at the same time.
If the machine has the capability of causing an interrupt after
a specified time interval, then the operating system will
execute each program for a given length of time, regain
control, and then execute another program for a given length
of time, and so on. In the absence of this mechanism, the
operating system has no choice but to begin to execute a
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program with the expectation, but not the certainty, that the
program will eventually return control to the operating system.
If the machine has the capability of protecting memory, then a
bug in one program is less likely to interfere with the
execution of other programs. In a system without memory
protection, one program can change the contents of storage
assigned to other programs or even the storage assigned to
the operating system. The resulting system crashes are not
only disruptive, they may be very difficult to debug since it
may not be obvious which of several programs is at fault.
Timesharing Systems (1970s - present)
Back in the days of the "bare" computers without any
operating system to speak of, the programmer had complete
access to the machine. As hardware and software was
developed to create monitors, simple and spooling batch
systems and finally multiprogrammed systems, the separation
between the user and the computer became more and more
pronounced.
Users, and programmers in particular, longed to be able to
"get to the machine" without having to go through the batch
process. In the 1970s and especially in the 1980s this
became possible two different ways.
The first involved timesharing or time slicing. The idea of
multiprogramming was extended to allow for multiple
terminals to be connected to the computer, with each in-use
terminal being associated with one or more jobs on the
computer. The operating system is responsible for switching
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between the jobs, now often called processes, in such a way

that favored user interaction. If the context-switches occurred
quickly enough, the user had the impression that he or she
had direct access to the computer.
Interactive processes are given a higher priority so that when
IO is requested (a key is pressed), the associated process is
quickly given control of the CPU so that it can process it. This
is usually done through the use of an interrupt that causes the
computer to realize that an IO event has occurred.
It should be mentioned that there are several different types
of time-sharing systems. One type is represented by
computers like our VAX/VMS computers and UNIX
workstations. In these computers entire processes are in
memory (albeit virtual memory) and the computer switches
between executing code in each of them. In other types of
systems, such as airline reservation systems, a single
application may actually do much of the timesharing between
terminals. This way there does not need to be a different
running program associated with each terminal.
Personal Computers
The second way that programmers and users got back at the
machine was the advent of personal computers around 1980.
Finally, computers became small enough and inexpensive
enough that an individual could own one, and hence have
complete access to it.
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Real-Time,Multiprocessor,and
Distributed/Networked Systems
A real-time computer is one that execute programs that are
guaranteed to have an upper bound on tasks that they carry
out. Usually it is desired that the upper bound be very small.
Examples included guided missile systems and medical
monitoring equipment. The operating system on real-time
computers is severely constrained by the timing requirements.
Dedicated computers are special purpose computers that
are used to perform only one or more tasks. Often these are
real-time computers and
include applications such as the guided missile mentioned
above and the computer in modern cars that controls the fuel
injection system.
A multiprocessor computer is one with more than one
CPU. The category of multiprocessor computers can be
divided into the following sub-categories:
• Shared memory multiprocessors have multiple
CPUs, all with access to the same memory. Communication
between the processors is easy to implement, but care must
be taken so that memory accesses are synchronized.
• Distributed memory multiprocessors also have
multiple CPUs, but each CPU has its own associated
memory. Here, memory access synchronization is not a
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problem, but communication between the processors is often

slow and complicated.
Related to multiprocessors are the following:
Networked systems
consist of multiple computers that are networked together,
usually with a common operating system and shared
resources. Users, however, are aware of the different
computers that make up the system.
Distributed systems
also consist of multiple computers but differ from networked
systems in that the multiple computers are transparent to the
user. Often there are redundant resources and a sharing of
the workload among the different computers, but this is all
transparent to the user.

4 EXPLAINATION OF TYPES OF
COMPUTER
4.1 MICROCOMPUTER
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its
central processing unit. Another general characteristic of
these computers is that they occupy physically small amounts
of space when compared to mainframe and minicomputers.
Many microcomputers (when equipped with a keyboard and
screen for input and output) are also personal computers (in
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the generic sense). Microcomputer is at the lowest end of the

computer range in terms of speed and storage capacity. Its
CPU is a microprocessor. The first microcomputers were built
of 8-bit microprocessor chips. The most common application
of personal computers (PC) is in this category. The PC
supports a number of input and output devices. An
improvement of 8-bit chip is 16-bit and 32-bit chips. Examples
of microcomputer are IBM PC, PC-AT

4.2 MINICOMPUTER
A minicomputer (colloquially, mini) is a class of multi-user
computers that lies in the middle range of the computing
spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems
(mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user systems
(microcomputers or personal computers). The class at one
time formed a distinct group with its own hardware and
operating systems, but the contemporary term for this class of
system is midrange computer, such as the higher-end
SPARC, POWER and Itanium -based systems from Sun
Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
This is designed to support more than one user at a time. It
possesses large storage capacity and operates at a higher
speed. The mini computer is used in multi-user system in
which various users can work at the same time. This type of
computer is generally used for processing large volume of
data in an organization. They are also used as servers in
Local Area Networks (LAN).
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4.3 MAINFRAME
These types of computers are generally 32-bits
They operate at very high speed, have very large storage
capacity and can handle the work load of many users. They
are generally used in centralized databases. They are also
used as controlling nodes in Wide Area Networks (WAN).
Example of mainframes are DEC, ICL and IBM 3000 series.

A mainframe has 1 to 16 CPU's (modern machines more)

Memory ranges from 128 Mb over 8 Gigabyte on line RAM
Its processing power ranges from 80 over 550 Mips It has
often different cabinets for o Storage o I/O o RAM
Separate processes (program) for o task management o
program management o job management o serialization o
catalogs o inter address space o communication
Historically, a mainframe is associated with centralized
computing opposite from distributed computing. Meaning all
computing takes (physically) place on the mainframe itself:
the processor section.

Mainframe Year
ENIAC 1942
Mark I 1944
BINAC 1949
Whirlwind 1960
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UNIVAC 1952
IBM701
1953 http://www.thocp.net/hardware/ibm_360_family.htm
IBM 360 1963

4.4 SUPERCOMPUTER
Supercomputing means "mass computing at ultra-high
speed."
They are the fastest and most expensive machines. They
have high processing speed compared to other computers.
They have also multiprocessing technique. One of the ways in
which supercomputers are built is by interconnecting
hundreds of microprocessors. Supercomputers are mainly
being used for weather forecasting, biomedical research,
remote sensing, aircraft design and other areas of science
and technology. They are also used to help governments
eavesdrop on anything passing through telephone, data lines,
e-mail, or radio waves; and anything that is written, etc.
Examples of supercomputers are CRAY YMP, CRAY2, NEC
SX-3, CRAY XMP and PARAM from India.
4.5 LAPTOP
Laptops are portable computers. Originally, laptops were
large, heavy, short battery life beasts. Nowadays, laptops
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(also referred to as notebooks) are light, powerful, have good

battery life, and serve as a desktop replacement for many
individuals (including our self).
4.6 SERVER
A server is a machine developed to allow for file or print
serving, application hosting, or some other task usually
involving many simultaneous connections. Common features
of servers include redundancy, multiple drives, large amounts
of memory, multiple processors.
4.7 PDAs
A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is a commonplace item in
many businesses and homes. Spurred by the success of
Palm Pilots, the PDA industry has had tremendous growth in
the past few years.
A PDA is a device which allows an individual to keep their
notes, email, schedule, small documents, and other
information with them at all times. It is a useful device for
record keeping and usually syncs with our computer to allow
our contact list and emails to be "in sync" with each other in
our handheld and normal computers.
Palm Pilots are the most prevalent PDAs on the market, with
a market share of about 30%.
Most PDAs are based on either the Palm operating system or
the Microsoft PocketPC operating system.
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Palm Pilots present an interesting challenge to IT staff who

are trying to support it. At one firm I worked at, we went
through several different policies in regards to supporting
PDAs. Originally, we would not support any PDA, though if a
member of management were to purchase one, we would
support them individually. Eventually, we decided on a
standard and if anyone were to buy the standard PDA, we
would support it. This allowed us to designate an expert
(which coincidentally happened to be me) on PDAs and be
able to develop support procedures for the specific PDA we
would support.

5.a MONITORS
A monochrome monitor has two colors, one for foreground
and the other for background. The colors can be white, amber
or green on a dark (black) background. The monochrome
monitors display both text and graphics modes.
Color Monitors
A color monitor is a display peripheral that displays more than
two colors. Color monitors have been developed through the
following paths.
• CGA: This stands for Color Graphics Adapter. It is a circuit
board introduced by IBM and the first graphics standard for
the IBM PC. With a CGA monitor, it is harder to read than with
a monochrome monitor, because the CGA (320 X 200) has
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much fewer pixels than the monochrome monitor (640 X 350).

It supports 4 colors.
• EGA: It stands for Enhanced Graphics Adapter. EGA is a
video display standard that has a resolution of 640 by 350
pixels and supports 16 colors. EGA supports previous display
modes and requires a new monitor.
• VGA: VGA stands for Video Graphics Array. This is a video
display standard that provides medium to high resolution. In a
text mode, the resolution of this board is 720 by 400 pixels. It
supports 16 colors with a higher resolution of 640 by 480
pixels and 256 colors with 320 X 200 pixels.
• Super VGA: This is a very high-resolution standard that
displays up to 65,536 colors. Super VGA can support a 16.8
million colors at 800 by 600 pixels and 256 colors at 1024 by
768 pixels. A high-priced super VGA allows 1280 by 1024
pixels. Larger monitors (17" or 21" and larger) with a high
resolution of 1600 by 1280 pixels are available. VESA (Video
Electronics Standards Association) has set a standard for
super VGA.
Flat Panel Displays Portable computers such as a lap top
use flat panel displays, because they are more compact and
consume less power than CRTs. Portable computers use
several kinds of flat panel screens: Liquid-Crystal
Displays (LCDs)
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A display technology that creates characters by means of

reflected light and is commonly used in digital watches and
laptop computers. LCDs replaced LEDs (light emitting diodes)
because LCDs use less power. LCDs are difficult to read in a
strong light, because they do not emit their own light. Portable
computers wanted to have brighter and easier to read
displays. Backlit LCDs are used for the purpose now.
• Backlit LCDs: This is a type of LCD display having its
own light source provided from the back of the screen. The
backlit makes the background brighter and clear, as a result
the texts and images appear sharper. However, this still is
much less clear than CRTs. Thus, better technology is
needed.
• Active Matrix LCDs: This is an LCD display technique
in which every dot on the screen has a transistor to control it
more accurately. This uses a transistor for each monochrome
or each red, green and blue dot. It provides better contrast,
speeds up screen refresh and reduces motion smearing.
Electroluminescent (EL) Displays
A flat panel display technology that actively emits light at each
pixel when it is electronic charged. This provides a sharp,
clear image and wide viewing angle. The EL display type of
flat panel is better than LCD.
Gas Plasma Displays
It is also called a gas panel or a plasma panel and is another
flat screen technology. A plasma panel contains a grid of
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electrodes in a flat, gas filled panel. The image can persist for
a long time without refreshing in this panel. The
disadvantages of the gas plasma displays are that they must
use AC power and cannot show sharp contrast.
5.b PRINTER
A printer is an output device that produces a hard copy of
data. The resolution of printer output is expressed as DPI.
Printers can be classified into different types in several ways.
First, the printers can be divided into three categories by the
way they print.
• Serial Printers: Also called a character printer. Print a
single character at a time. They are usually inexpensive and
slow.
• Line Printers: Print a line at a time. They are expensive
and very fast. Line printers use a band, a chain, etc.
• Page Printers: Also called a laser printer. Print a page at
a time. They usually use a laser to produce page images.
Quality is best. This is a little bit expensive, but the price of
the personal laser printer is decreasing. The price range of
the personal laser printer is around $400, today.
Second, printers can be classified into two forms
according to the use of a hammer.
• Impact Printers: Impact printers transfer the image onto
paper through a printing mechanism that strikes the paper,
ribbon and character together. Most impact printers use
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continuous-form paper, which means the paper is connected

together to produce a continuous flow through the printer.
Examples of impact printers are Dot Matrix printers, and Band
and Chain Printers.
• Nonimpact Printers: Nonimpact printing means that
printing occurs without having a mechanism strike the paper.
Ink can be sprayed against the paper or heat and pressure
are used to fuse a fine black powder into the shape of a
character. Examples of nonimpact printers are Inkjet printers,
Laser printers, Page printers, and Thermal printers.
Another classification can be made by the way
they form characters.
• Bit-Mapped Printers: Images are formed from groups of
dots and can be placed anywhere on the page. They have
many printing options and good printing quality. They use
PostScript as a standard language for instructing a
microcomputer.
• Character-based Printers: Printer print characters into
the lines and columns of a page. These printers use
predefined set of characters and are restricted in position of
characters.
Microcomputers use five kinds of printers. They are daisy
wheel printers, chain printers, dot-matrix printers, ink-jet
printers, and laser printers.
• Daisy-Wheel Printer
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Daisy-Wheel is a printer mechanism that uses any kind of hub

(wheel) having a set of spokes at the margin of the hub. The
wheel can be removed to use a different character set. The
end of each spoke is a raised image of a type character.
When the wheel is turned and the required character is
aligned to the print hammer, the character is then struck into a
ribbon and onto a
paper with the hammer. Daisy-Wheel Printer prints typewriter-
like very high-quality characters. However, they are slower
and less reliable than dot-matrix printers. Microcomputer
users seldom use this printer, because the better dot-matrix
printers and inexpensive laser printers are available today.
• Dot-Matrix Printer
Dot-matrix printers are printers that write characters and form
graphic images using one or two columns of tiny dots on a
print head. The dot hammer moving serially across the paper
strikes an inked-ribbon and creates images on paper. A dot
matrix printer creates a character with a series of tiny pins or
wires that strike the ribbon or page and leave an image in
dots. The resolution of the matrix is defined in terms of rows
and columns of dots. A 7 by 9 matrix uses seven dots
horizontally and nine dots vertically to create a character.
Some dot matrix printers have a 36 by 24 matrix. The size of
the matrix determines the quality of the printed character. Dot
matrix printers are near letter quality, faster than daisy wheel
printers, and have speeds ranging from 60 to 350 cps. Dot
matrix printers are popular printers used with microcomputers,
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because the printers are highly reliable and inexpensive. They

are used for tasks where a high-quality image is not essential.
Many users, however, move from dot printers to laser
printers, because the price of laser printers is falling down.
Several kinds of dot matrix printers are available with print
heads that have 7, 9, 18, or 24 pins.
• Ink-Jet Printer
Ink-jet is a printer mechanism that sprays one or more color of
ink at high speed onto the paper and produces high-quality
printing. Characters are formed as a result of electrically
charged or heated ink being sprayed in fine jets onto the
paper. Individual nozzles in the printing head produce high
resolution (up to 400 dots per inch or 400 dpi) dot matrix
characters. This printer also produces color printing as well
as high-quality image. That is, ink-jet printers can be used for
variety of color printing at a relatively low cost. Ink-jet printing
has two methods: Continuous stream method and drop-on-
demand method.
• Laser Printer
A laser printer is a printer that uses the electrophotographic
method used in a copy machine. The printer uses a laser
beam light source to create images on a photographic drum.
A photoconductive drum is initially charged and then a high
intensity laser beam is used to discharge selected areas on
the drum. These discharged areas correspond to the white
areas of the printed document.
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Toner is attracted to parts of the drum with a high charge. The

drum rotates and transfers the toner to the paper which has
an even greater electrical charge. Finally, a heater fixes the
toner onto the paper.
In 1984, Hewlett-Packard introduced the first desktop laser
printer, called the LaserJet. The laser printer revolutionized
personal computer printing and has spawned desktop
publishing. The laser printer produces high-resolution letters
and graphics quality images, so it is adopted in applications
requiring high-quality output. Although a high-priced color
laser printer is also available in the market, a less expensive,
desktop gray scale laser printer is widely used. Recently, the
laser printer is gaining its market share dramatically, mainly
because the lowered price and the quality.
• Drum Printers
In a drum printer, the character set is inscribed as raised fonts
on a hollow metal drum. These raised characters are formed
into lines or bands on the drum. The character set is repeated
for each column that the printer is capable of printing. If the
printer is an 80-column printer, the drum has 80 characters on
each line. The character drum is rotated at a high speed. As
the desired character faces the paper, a print hammer for that
column is activated or fired, forcing the paper and inked
ribbon against the drum. Normally, the hammer bank contains
one hammer for each character column of a line. If the printer
has a capacity to print 132 columns, then the hammer bank
will consist of 132 hammers. As a line is printed, each
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hammer is fired as the character to be printed in its column

faces the paper. A drum printer prints one line of data for
each rotation of the drum. Drum printers can print from 300 to
1,200 lines per minute, depending of the rotational speed of
the drum and how fast the printer can setup to print the next
line.
• Chain Printer
Chain printers use a print chain as a source of raised
characters. The links of the chain are engraved character-
printing slugs. The chain is made up of several sections; each
section contains one complete character set. The print chain
is rotated at a high rate of speed past the print positions
(columns). As the desired character faces the paper, the print
hammer for that column is fired, printing the character on the
paper
• Band Printers
Band printers work on the same principle as chain printers
except that a scalloped, steel print band is used instead of a
print chain. To change the font (typeface) on a chain or band
printer, we change the print chain or band. Character sets of
the chain and band printers vary, but are typically 48 to 64
characters. Since hammers are of a fixed size changing the
size of the fonts is not possible because each column printed
must have its own print hammer. Band and chain printer
characters are generally printed at 10 characters per inch
(cpi), although a few printers have been manufactured to print
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12 cpi. Chain and band printers are medium- and

high-speed printers. They print over 300 lines per minute.
5.c PLOTTER
A plotter is a special-purpose output device that draws
images with ink pens. That is, the plotter is a graphics printer
for making sophisticated graphs, charts, maps, and three-
dimensional graphics as well as high-quality colored
documents. It can also produce larger size of documents.
Plotters require data in a vector graphics format that can
produce images with a series of lines. There are two main
types of plotters:

• Drum Plotter: This is a plotter that has a drum. A paper

wraps the drum that rotates to produce plots. Pens in a drum
plotter move across the paper while the drum is turning. A
drum plotter is usually used to produce smaller drawings.
The size of the graph is therefore limited only by the width of
the drum and can be of any length.
• Flatbed Plotter: This is a plotter that has a bed. This is
also called a table plotter. The plotter draws graphics on the
paper placed on the bed. There are several sizes of beds.
This plotter is usually used for producing large drawings. This
is a plotter where the paper is fixed on a flat surface and pens
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are moved to draw the image. This plotter can use several
different colors pens to draw with.
5.c VOICE OUTPUT DEVICES
This device produces a human speech like sound, but
actually is prerecorded vocalized sounds. Voice output is
used in the telephone information system, where the
requested number is reported using a voice output system.
Voice synthesis has a robotic sound due to the difficulties of
replicating the complexities of human speech and
pronunciation.
Voice answer back (VAB) is used to respond to telephone
enquiries, such as the speaking clock.
For example, when a student enrolls courses using a
telephone registration system, he or she hears voice output
upon our request. Voice output is becoming common in voice
messaging systems.

Modem Another form of the output device is a modem. A

modem is short for "Modulator Demodulator." Modulation is
the process of converting from digital to analog. Demodulation
is the process of converting from analog to digital. The
modem enables digital microcomputers to send output
through analog telephone lines. Both voice and data can be
carried over through the modem. The modem is not only an
output device but also an input device that receives data and
voice through a communication channel.
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6 ANSWERS THE TERMINAL QUESTIONS FROM

FCS BOOK PAGE 87.

6.1 SOFTWARE
Software is a program that make the machine do something.
We have two types of software
System software and Application software
Application Software
Application Software is a set of programs to carry out
operations for a specific application. For example, payroll is
an application software for an organization to produce pay
slips as an output. Application software is useful for word
processing, billing system, accounting, producing statistical
report, analysis of numerous data in research, weather
forecasting, etc. In later modules we will learn about MS
WORD, Lotus 1-2-3 and dBase III Plus. All these are
application software.
System software
System software are general programs designed for
performing tasks such as controlling all operations required to
move data into and out of the computer. It communicates with
printers, card reader, disk, tapes etc. monitor the use of
various hardware like memory, CPU etc. Also, system
software is essential for the development of applications
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software. System Software allows application packages to be

run on the computer with less time and effort. We have to
remember that it is not possible to run application software
without system software. Example: MICROSOFT WINDOWS,
LINUX, IOS.

HARDWARE
Hardware is the actual machine and its support devices –
Examples: Monitor, disk drive, CD ROM, printer, CPU, mouse
We can notice that hardware is tangible but not
software

6.2 Computer language

our computer will not understand any of these natural
languages for transfer of data and instruction. So, there are
programming languages specially developed so that we could
pass our data and instructions to the computer to do specific
job. We must have heard names like FORTRAN, BASIC,
COBOL etc. These are programming languages. So,
instructions or programs are written in a particular language
based on the type of job. As an example, for scientific
application FORTRAN and C languages are used. On the
other hand, COBOL is used for business applications.

6.3 the three different categories of

computer languages
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• PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
• LOW LEVEL LANGUAGES
• HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES

6.4 machine language

Machine Language is the only language that is directly
understood by the computer. It does not need any translator
program. We also call it machine code and it is written as
strings of 1's (one) and 0’s (zero). When this sequence of
codes is fed to the computer, it recognizes the codes and
converts it in to electrical signals needed to run it. For
example, a program instruction may look like this:
10110111101101

Why machine language is it required?

it recognizes the codes and converts it in to electrical signals
needed to run it.

6.5 ADVANTAGES AND

DESADVANTAGES OF MACHINE
LANGUAGE
Advantage
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The only advantage is that program of machine language run

very fast because no translation program is required for the
CPU.
Disadvantages
1. It is very difficult to program in machine language. The
programmer has to know details of hardware to write
program.

2. The programmer has to remember a lot of codes to write a

program which results in program errors.

3. It is difficult to debug the program.

6.6 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

It is the first step to improve the programming structure. We
should know that computer can handle numbers and letter.
Therefore, some combination of letters can be used to
substitute for number of machine codes. The set of symbols
and letters forms the Assembly Language and a translator
program is required to translate the Assembly Language to
machine language. This translator program is called
`Assembler'. It is considered to be a second-generation
language.
Advantages:
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1. The symbolic programming of Assembly Language is

easier to understand and saves a lot of time and effort of the
programmer.
2. It is easier to correct errors and modify program
instructions. 3. Assembly Language has the same efficiency
of execution as the machine level language. Because this is
one-to-one translator between assembly language program
and its corresponding machine language program.
Disadvantages:
1. One of the major disadvantages is that assembly language
is machine dependent. A program written for one computer
might not run in other computers with different hardware
configuration.

6.7 the difference between source

program and object program
A compiler can translate only those source programs, which
have been written, in that language for which the compiler is
meant for. For example, FORTRAN compiler will not compile
source code written in COBOL language.

Object program generated by compiler is machine dependent.

It means programs compiled for one type of machine will not
run in another type. Therefore, every type of machine must
have its personal compiler for a particular language. Machine
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independence is achieved by using one higher level language

in different machines.

6.8 higher level languages

Higher level languages are simple languages that use English
and mathematical symbols like +, %, / etc. for its program
construction.
We should know that any higher-level language has to be
converted to machine language for the computer to
understand.
Higher level languages are problem-oriented languages
because the instructions are suitable for solving a particular
problem. For example, COBOL (Common Business Oriented
Language) is mostly suitable for business-oriented language
where there is very little processing and huge output. There
are mathematical oriented languages like FORTRAN
(Formula Translation) and BASIC (Beginners All-purpose
Symbolic Instruction Code) where very large processing is
required. Thus, a problem-oriented language designed in
such a way that its instruction may be written more like the
language of the problem. For example, businessmen use
business term and scientists use scientific terms in their
respective languages.

WHY ARE HIGHER LEVEL LANGUAGES BEING

EASIER TO USE?
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Higher level languages have a major advantage over machine

and assembly languages that higher-level languages are easy
to learn and use. It is because that they are similar to the
languages used by us in our day to day life.

6.9 WHAT IS COMPILER?

It is a program translator that translates the instruction of a
higher-level language to machine language. It is called
compiler because it compiles machine language instructions
for every program instruction of higher-level language. Thus,
compiler is a program translator like assembler but more
sophisticated.

WHY IS IT REQUIRED?
It scans the entire program first and then translates it into
machine code. The programs written by the programmer in
higher level language is called source program. After this
program is converted to machine languages by the compiler it
is called object program. A compiler can translate only those
source programs, which have been written, in that language
for which the compiler is meant for. For example, FORTRAN
compiler will not compile source code written in COBOL
language.

6. 10 WHAT IS AN INTERPRETER?
An interpreter is another type of program translator used for
translating higher level language into machine language. It
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takes one statement of higher-level languages, translate it

into machine language and immediately execute it.
Translation and execution are carried out for each statement.
It differs from compiler, which translate the entire source
program into machine code and does involve in its execution.
How does it differ from compiler?
The advantage of interpreter compared to compiler is its fast
response to changes in source program. It eliminates the
need for a separate compilation after changes to each
program. Interpreters are easy to write and do not require
large memory in computer. The disadvantage of interpreter is
that it is time consuming method because each time a
statement in a program is executed then it is first translated.
Thus, compiled machine language program runs much faster
than an interpreted program.