Characteristics of computers

 
The computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input
from the user and processes these data under the control of the set of
instructions (called program) and gives the result (output) and saves output
for the future use. It can process both numerical and non-numerical
(arithmetic and logical) calculations.
Characteristics of computers
The major characteristics of computer can be classified into speed, accuracy,
diligence, versatility and memory which are as follows:
 
1. Speed:
 The computer is able to process the date and give the output in fractions of
seconds such that required information is given to the user on time enabling
the user to take right decisions on right time. A powerful computer is
capable of executing about 3 million calculations per second.
  
2. Accuracy:
In spite of its high speed of processing, the computers accuracy is
consistently high enough which avoids any errors. If it all there are errors,
they are due to errors in instructions given by the programmer.
 
3. Reliable:
 The output generated by the computer is very reliable, but it is reliable only
when the data, which is passing as input to the computer and the program,
which gives instructions are correct and reliable.
 
4. Storage Capacity:
 The computer has a provision to store large volumes of data in the small
storage devices, which has the capacity to store huge amounts of data and
help the retrieval of data an easy task.
 
5. Versatile:
The computer performs three basic operations
1. It is capable to access and accept information through various input-
output devices from the user.
2. It performs basic Arithmetic and Logic operations on data as desired.
3. It is capable, to generate the desired output in the desired form.
 
6. Automation:
 Once the instructions fed into the computer it works automatically without
any human intervention until the completion of execution of a program until
meets logical instructions to terminate the job.
Limitations of Computer
 
1. The Computer does not work on itself; it requires set of instructions to be
provided, and else computer (Hardware) is waste.
 2. Computers are not intelligent; they have to be instructed about each and
every step which they have to perform
 3. Computers cannot take decisions on its own, one has to program the
computer to take an action if some conditional prevail.

The block diagram of the computer is as follows:

1. Input Unit:
The process of sending the data and Instructions for the processing through
some suitable devices such as Keyboard, Mouse etc. is called Input. The
devices translate the data from human understandable form into electronic
impulses which are understood by the computer.
 
2. Central Processing Unit (CPU):
 Once the data accepted it fed in to Central Processing Unit before the output
is generated as data has to be processed, which is done by CPU. This unit of
the computer is the brain of computer system, which does all the processing,
calculations, problem solving and controls all other functions of all other
elements of the computer. The CPU consists of the following three distinct
units namely.
 
i. Memory Unit:
This holds the data in in terms of Program and files. The data stored can be
accessed and used whenever required by the CPU for necessary processing.
This memory unit is usually referred as primary storage section. The units in
which memory unit is measured are known as BYTES. BYTE is the space
required to store 8 characters or alphabet or digits to any other special
character.

 
ii. Control Unit: 
This unit which coordinates all the activities of each and every element of
computer. It decodes the instructions given by various users and it sends
commands and signals that determine the sequence of various instructions.
Through this unit does not process data but it acts as the central system for
data manipulation, as it controls the flow of data to and from the main
storage.
 
iii. Arithmetic and Logic Units:
This unit performs arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. It also does Logical Operations such as
comparison of numbers etc. Thus this unit helps by processing data and
taking logical decisions.
 
3. Output:
 The processing of extracting the data from CPU through some suitable
devices is called Output. The common used output devices are VDU,
Printers, Plotter, magnetic media like floppy, hard disks etc. Characteristics
of computers

Different Generations of computers:

The development of computers has followed different steps in the
terminology used and these steps of technological differences are called as
GENERATIONS in computer terminology. There are totally five generations of
computers till today.

I. First Generation Computers (1950's)

These computers are used vacuum tubes (valves) as major electronic
component the advantage of vacuum tubes technology is that it made the
advent of Electronic digital computer vacuum tubes were only electronic
devices available during those days which made computing possible.
 Some of the computers of First Generation were:

ENIAC:
It was the first electronic computer built in 1946 at University of
Pennsylvania, USA by John Eckert and John Mauchy. It was named
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). TheENIAC was 30_
50 feet long, weighed 30 tons, contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000
registers, 10,000 capacitors and required 150,000 watts of electricity. Today
your favorite computer is many times as powerful as ENIAC, still size is very
small.

 
EDVAC:
 It stands for Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer and was
developed in 1950. The concept of storing data and instructions inside the
computer was introduced here. This allowed much faster operation since the
computer had rapid access to both data and instructions. The other
advantages of storing instruction were that computer could do logical
decision internally.
 
  
The limitations of the First Generations of computer are:
 
1. The operating speed was quite slow.
2. Power consumption was very high.
3. It required large space for installation.
4. The programming capability was quite low.
 
II. Second Generation Computers (1960's):
 With the development of Transistors and their use in circuits, magnetic core
for memory storage, the vacuum tubes are replaced by transistors to arrive
at 2'nd generation of computers. The size of transistors is much smaller
when compared to vacuum tubes, they consume less power, generated less
heat and faster and reliable.
 
Advantages:
 
1.  Size of Computer has come down as well as power consumption.
 2. The Cost of Computer reduced.

Some of the computers of the Second Generation were

IBM 1620: Its size was smaller as compared to First Generation computers
and mostly used for scientific purpose.
IBM 1401: Its size was small to medium and used for business applications.
CDC 3600: Its size was large and is used for scientific purposes.
 
III. Third Generation Computers (1970's):
 The development of silicon chips, the third generation of computers came
into existence. These computers are used Integrated Circuits (IC's) of silicon
chips, in the place of transistors. Each of these IC's consist of large number
of chips in very small packages.
 
Advantages:
 The size of computers, cost, heat generation and power consumption
decreased to great extent, speed and reliability increased as compared to
previous generation. These machines used IC's with large scale Integration
(LSI).
 
IV. Fourth Generation (1980's)
 The Computers belonging to these generations used Integrated circuits with
Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI).
 
Advantages:
 1. These computers have high processing powers, low maintenance, and
high reliability and very low power consumption.
2. The size & cost of computers come down drastically
 
V.  Fifth Generation (Late 1990's):
 These computers use optic fiber technology to handle Artificial Intelligence,
expert systems, Robotics etc., these computers have very processing speeds
and are more reliable.
Computers in general can be classified into major categories based on.
 
(I) Classification as per purpose of the computer:
Classification of digital computer as per the purpose of their use

i. General Purpose digital computers:

These computers are theoretically used for any type of applications. These
computers can be used in solving a business Problem and also used to solve
mathematical equation with same accuracy and consistency. Most of the
computers now are general purpose digital computers.
 
ii. Special Purpose Computers:
These digital computers are designed, made and used for any specific job.
These are usually used for those purposes which are critical and need great
accuracy and response like Satellite launching weather forecasting etc.
 
 
(II) According to the operation size of computer:
 Classification of digital computer as per size and capabilities
 
1. Super Computers:
These computers are characterized as being the fastest, with very high
processing speed, very large size, most powerful. There are widely used in
complex scientific applications like processing geological data, weather data,
genetic engineering etc. These computers with 16 microprocessors will
recognize words up to length 64 bits and more. The speed of calculation is
up to 1.2 billion instructions/second, and they can take input from more than
1000 individual work station.
 
Ex. PARAM developed in India.

 
2. Mainframe Computers:
 These Computer will has capability to support many peripheral devices and
terminals, which can process several Million Instructions / second (MIPS), as
well which support 1000 remote systems, these computers are mostly used
for Railway reservation etc.
 
3. Medium Scale (size) Computers:
 These computers are mini versions of mainframe computers, they are
relatively smaller than mainframes and have less processing power than
Mainframes their processing speed support up to 200 remote systems.
 
4. Mini Computers:
 These computers are smaller and less experience than Mainframe and
medium sized computers. They are relatively faster it can support about 10-
20 user terminals. These computers are generally easy to use. They can
handle database, statistical problems Accounting etc.
 
5. Micro Computer:
 These are the mostly used category of computes called as personal
computers (PC's). The word Micro suggests only the size, but not the
capacity. They are capable to do all input - output operations. They can also
be connected to peripheral devices.
There are two kinds of computer memory: primary and secondary. Primary
memory is accessible directly by the processing unit. RAM is an example of
primary memory. As soon as the computer is switched off the contents of
the primary memory is lost. You can store and retrieve data much faster
with primary memory compared to secondary memory. Primary memory is
more expensive than secondary memory.
 
Because of this the size of primary memory is less than that of secondary
memory. Computer memory is used to store two things: i) instructions to
execute a program and ii) data. When the computer is doing any job, the
data that have to be processed are stored in the primary memory.
This data may come from an input device like keyboard or from a secondary
storage device like a floppy disk.
 
The following terms related to memory of a computer
1. Random Access Memory (RAM):
 The primary storage is referred to as random access memory (RAM)
because it is possible to randomly select and use any location of the memory
directly store and retrieve data. It takes same time to any address of the
memory as the first address. It is also called read/write memory. The
storage of data and instructions inside the primary storage is temporary. It
disappears from RAM as soon as the power to the computer is switched off.
The memories, which lose their content on failure of power supply, are
known as volatile memories .So now we can say that RAM is volatile
memory.
 
2. Read Only Memory (ROM):
 There is another memory in computer, which is called Read Only Memory
(ROM). The storage of program and data in the ROM is permanent. The ROM
stores some standard processing programs supplied by the manufacturers to
operate the personal computer. The ROM can only be read by the CPU but it
cannot be changed. The basic input/output program is stored in the ROM
that examines and initializes various equipment attached to the PC when the
switch is made ON. The memories, which do not lose their content on failure
of power supply, are known as non-volatile memories. ROM is non-volatile
memory.
 
3. PROM:
 There is another type of primary memory in computer, which is called
Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM). You know that it is not possible
to modify or erase programs stored in ROM, but it is possible for you to store
your program in PROM chip. Once the programmes are written it cannot be
changed and remain intact even if power is switched off. Therefore programs
or instructions written in PROM or ROM cannot be erased or changed.
 
4. EPROM:
 This stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, which over
come the problem of PROM & ROM. EPROM chip can be programmed time
and again by erasing the information stored earlier in it. Information stored
in EPROM exposing the chip for some time ultraviolet light and it erases chip
is reprogrammed using a special programming facility. When the EPROM is
in use information can only be read.

 
5. Cache Memory:
 The speed of CPU is extremely high compared to the access time of main
memory. Therefore the performance of CPU decreases due to the slow speed
of main memory. To decrease the mismatch in operating speed, a small
memory chip is attached between CPU and Main memory whose access time
is very close to the processing speed of CPU. It is called CACHE memory.
CACHE memories are accessed much faster than conventional RAM. It is
used to store programs or data currently being executed or temporary data
frequently used by the CPU. So each memory makes main memory to be
faster and larger than it really is. It is also very expensive to have bigger
size of cache memory and its size is normally kept small.
 
6. Registers:
 The CPU processes data and instructions with high speed; there is also
movement of data between various units of computer. It is necessary to
transfer the processed data with high speed. So the computer uses a
number of special memory units called registers. They are not part of the
main memory but they store data or information temporarily and pass it on
as directed by the control unit.

The operating speed of primary memory or main memory should be as fast

as possible to cope up with the CPU speed. These high-speed storage
devices are very expensive and hence the cost per bit of storage is also very
high. Again the storage capacity of the main memory is also very limited.
Often it is necessary to store hundreds of millions of bytes of data for the
CPU to process. Therefore additional memory is required in all the computer
systems. This memory is called auxiliary memory or secondary storage.
In this type of memory the cost per bit of storage is low. However, the
operating speed is slower than that of the primary storage. Huge volume of
data are stored here on permanent basis and transferred to the primary
storage as and when required. Most widely used secondary storage devices
are magnetic tapes and magnetic disk.
 
1. Magnetic Tape:
 Magnetic tapes are used for large computers like mainframe computers
where large volume of data is stored for a longer time. In PC also you can
use tapes in the form of cassettes. The cost of storing data in tapes is
inexpensive. Tapes consist of magnetic materials that store data
permanently. It can be 12.5 mm to 25 mm wide plastic film-type and 500
meter to 1200 meter long which is coated with magnetic material. The deck
is connected to the central processor and information is fed into or read from
the tape through the processor. It similar to cassette tape recorder.
 
Advantages of Magnetic Tape:
 a. Compact: A 10-inch diameter reel of tape is 2400 feet long and is able to
hold 800, 1600 or 6250 characters in each inch of its length. The maximum
capacity of such tape is 180 million characters. Thus data are stored much
more compactly on tape.
b. Economical: The cost of storing characters is very less as compared to
other storage devices.
c. Fast: Copying of data is easier and fast.
d. Long term Storage and Re-usability: Magnetic tapes can be used for long
term storage and a tape can be used repeatedly without loss of data.
 
2. Magnetic Disk:
 You might have seen the gramophone record, which is circular like a disk
and coated with magnetic material. Magnetic disks used in computer are
made on the same principle. It rotates with very high speed inside the
computer drive. Data is stored on both the surface of the disk. Magnetic
disks are most popular for direct access storage device. Each disk consists of
a number of invisible concentric circles called tracks. Information is recorded
on tracks of a disk surface in the form of tiny magnetic spots.
The presence of a magnetic spot represents one bit and its absence
represents zero bit. The information stored in a disk can be read many times
without affecting the stored data. So the reading operation is non-
destructive.But if you want to write a new data, then the existing data is
erased from the disk and new data is recorded.

 
3. Floppy Disk:
 It is similar to magnetic disk discussed above. They are 5.25 inch or 3.5
inch in diameter. They come in single or double density and recorded on one
or both surface of the diskette. The capacity of a 5.25-inch floppy is 1.2
megabytes whereas for 3.5 inch floppy it is 1.44 megabytes. It is cheaper
than any other storage devices and is portable. The floppy is a low cost
device particularly suitable for personal computer system.

 
4. Optical Disk:
 With every new application and software there is greater demand for
memory capacity. It is the necessity to store large volume of data that has
led to the development of optical disk storage medium. Optical disks can be
divided into the following categories:
 
a. Compact Disk/ Read Only Memory (CD-ROM): CD-ROM disks are made of
reflective metals. CD-ROM is written during the process of manufacturing by
high power laser beam. Here the storage density is very high, storage cost is
very low and access time is relatively fast. Each disk is approximately 4 1/2
inches in diameter and can hold over 600 MB of data. As the CD-ROM can be
read only we cannot write or make changes into the data contained in it.
 
b. Write Once, Read Many (WORM): The inconvenience that we cannot write
anything in to a CD-ROM is avoided in WORM. A WORM allows the user to
write data permanently on to the disk. Once the data is written it can never
be erased without physically damaging the disk. Here data can be recorded
from keyboard, video scanner, OCR equipment and other devices.
 
The advantage of WORM is that it can store vast amount of data amounting
to gigabytes (109bytes). Any document in a WORM can be accessed very
fast, say less than 30 seconds.

 
 
c. Erasable Optical Disk:
 These are optical disks where data can be written, erased and rewritten.
This also applies a laser beam to write and re-write the data. These disks
may be used as alternatives to traditional disks. Erasable optical disks are
based on a technology known as magnetic optical (MO). To write a data bit
on to the erasable optical disk the MO drive's laser beam heats a tiny,
precisely defined point on the disk's surface and magnetises it.
A computer is only useful when it is able to communicate with the external
environment. When you work with the computer you feed your data and
instructions through some devices to the computer. These devices are called
Input devices. Similarly, computer after processing gives output through
other devices called output devices.
I. Input Devices
 
Input devices are necessary to convert our information or data into a form
which can be understood by the computer. A good input device should
provide timely, accurate and useful data to the main memory of the
computer for processing followings are the most useful input devices.
 
1.Keyboard: 
This is the standard input device attached to all computers. The layout of the
keyboard is just like the traditional typewriter of the type QWERTY. It also
contains some extra command keys and function keys. It contains a total of
101 to 104 keys. You have to press correct combination of keys to input
data. The computer can recognize the electrical signals corresponding to the
correct key combination and processing is done accordingly.
 
2.Mouse: 
The mouse is an input device which is used with your personal computer. It
rolls on a small ball and has two or three buttons on the top. When you roll
the mouse across a flat surface the screen censors the mouse in the
direction of mouse movement. The cursor moves very fast with mouse
giving you more freedom to work in any direction. It is easier and faster to
move through a mouse.
 
3. Scanner:
The keyboard can input only text through keys provided in it. If we want to
input a picture the keyboard cannot do that. The Scanner is an optical device
that can input any graphical matter and display it back.
 
4. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR):
This is widely used by banks to process large volumes of cheques and drafts.
Cheques are put inside the MICR. As they enter the reading unit the cheques
pass through the magnetic field which causes the read head to recognize the
character of the cheques.
5. Optical Mark Reader (OMR):
This technique is used when students have appeared in objective type tests
and they had to mark their answer by darkening a square or circular space
by pencil. These answer sheets are directly fed to a computer for grading
where OMR is used.
 
6. Optical Character Recognition (OCR): 
This technique unites the direct reading of any printed character. Suppose
you have a set of handwritten characters on a piece of paper. You put
it, inside the scanner of the computer. This pattern is compared with a site
of patterns stored inside the computer. Whichever pattern is matched is
called a character read. Patterns that cannot be identified are rejected. OCRs
are expensive though better the MICR.
 
7. Joy Stick:
This is one of the popular input devices, which is used for playing video
games.
 
8. Touch Screen:
The Touch screen takes input as when a finger or object comes in contact
with the screen, the light beam is broken, and the location of the breaking of
a light beam is recorded, which acts as inputs.
 
9. Light Pen:
Light is a type of pointing device that is used to choose a displayed menu
option on screen for a program. This pen contains a photocell placed in a
small tube.
 
10. Voice Input Devices:
These devices are in the stage of experimenting and development, where
various problems like speech should be independent of persons.
 
II. Output Devices
 
Output devices can adopt different shapes and styles, which are used to give
the output of the processing of data. The output can be in any form i.e.
typed, printed, sketched, visible, nonviable, audio, video etc. Output devices
are those peripheral devices that allow a user to retrieve information from a
computer. Any Output devices can be divided into two basic categories.

1. Hard Copy:
It is that form of output which can be read directly and immediately, stored
to be read later. This output is on paper and which is permanent.
 
2. Soft Copy: It is the magnetic or audio form of output which is usually
unreadable directly and which is not long-lasting.

I. Hard Copy Devices:

These are those devices, which produce a permanent record of data on
media like paper. These are relatively slow in operation when compared to
soft copy devices. Some of the popular devices are Printers, Plotters, and
Photographic output devices.

1. Printers: Printers can be categorized into

 
Impact Printers
Non-impact Printers
 
Impact Printers
These are those types of printers which have direct mechanical contact
between the head of the printers and paper. The impact printers are
 
a. Dot Matrix Printers:  
 
These Printers print characters as a combination of dots arranged in a 5 x 7
matrix. The speed of these printers varies from about 30 to 600 characters
per second. The printing head of these printer contains a vertical array of
pins, which fires the selected pins against carbon ribbon or linked
surfac e while the head moves across the paper to form a pattern of dots
representing characters. These printers can print characters in draft quality,
standard quality as well near letter quality.
b. Daisy Wheel Printers:
 
This printer is a solid font type character printer. The printing arms of the
printer head look like petals of the flower. This printer is very slow, it prints
about 60-90 characters per second. The hub rotates continuously, rotating
at high speed and hammer strikes the appropriate character in its position.
This printer also acts as a bi-directional printer.

c. Line Printers: These printers prints the total line at a time, giving the
name line printers. They can be print 1000- 5000 lines per minute
Non -Impact Printers:  
These printers print without any direct mechanical contact between the head
of the printer and paper. These printers can be categorized into 

a. Thermal Printers:
 These Printers uses heat sensitive paper in dot matrix method, on which hot
needles are pressed to form characters. These printers print slow and make
a little noise. The disadvantage is that it is not possible to print multiple
copies simultaneously.

 
b. Inkjet Printers:
 
These printers use a mechanism where it sprays the ink from tiny nozzles
through an electric field that arranges charged particles ink into characters.
The paper absorbs the ink and it dries instantaneously. It is capable to print
about 500cps, expensive but faster and we can also have color printing, by
using ink various colors.

 
c. Laser Printer:
 
This type of printers uses laser beams which charge the drum negatively, to
which black toner powder which is positively charged is stuck. When the
paper rolls by the drum, the toner powder is transferred to the paper. These
printers are very fast, quality is very good and speed about is 15,000 to
20,000 lines per minute.
 
d. Electrographic Printer:
 
This printer writes on special paper using electricity. The paper is held
between two electrodes. These printers can either use wet process or dry
process. The speed of these printers is fairly high and is about 20,000 cps.
These printers are very reliable as there are very less moving parts.

 
e. Electro Static Printer:-
 
This printer uses a mechanism, where static electricity is used to create
impressions on special paper. The charges attract toner power to the
charged spots, giving the print. These printers are very fast and are capable
for plotting graphs etc. The speed is very high i.e up to 20,000 lines per
minute.

2. Plotter:
A plotter is an output device similar to the printer but normally allows you to
print larger images. Their use is common in the design and research sector.
II. SOFT COPY DEVICES: 
These devices output is usually not visible directly but the output can be
viewed with the help of computer where one can update, modify data etc.
Some of the softcopy output devices are.
 
a. Visual Display Unit:
 
The most popular input/output device is the Visual Display Unit (VDU). It is
also called the monitor. A Keyboard is used to input data and Monitor is used
to display the input data and to receive a message from the computer. A
monitor has its own box which is separated from the main computer system
and is connected to the computer by a cable. In some systems, it is compact
with the system unit. It can be color or monochrome.
 
b. Terminals:
 
It is a very popular interactive input-output unit. It can be divided into two
types: hardcopy terminals and soft copy terminals. A hard copy terminal
provides a printout on paper whereas soft copy terminals provide a visual
copy on the monitor. A terminal when connected to a CPU sends instructions
directly to the computer. Terminals are also classified as dumb terminals or
intelligent terminals depending upon the work situation.
III. Speakers:
Most computers are sold with the capability to add a pair of speakers to your
system unit. In fact, in some cases, the monitor may have speakers built
directly into the unit. This enhances the value of educational and
presentation products and can now be considered a standard PC component.