Fundamentals of

Computer
 The Computer

“The Box”
Monitor CD-ROM Drive

Floppy
Disk
Drive
Keyboard

Mouse
 What is a Computer?

Definition-1:

A computer is an electronic device

that receives data (input), processes data,
stores data, and produces a result (output).
 What is a Computer?

Definition-2:
An electronic device, operating
under the control of instructions stored in its
own memory unit, that can accept data,
manipulate the data according to specified
rules, produce information from the
processing, and store the results for future
use.
 What is a Computer?
Definition-3:
A Computer is a
programmable, multipurpose machine
that accepts data (e.g. raw data, facts
& figures) and processes, or
manipulates it into information.

E.g. An Automated Teller Machine (ATM)

computes the deposits and withdrawals to
give you the total in your account.
 What is a Computer?

Computer do everything by using

these three operations.

• Arithmetic operations (adding,

subtracting, dividing, and
multiplying.)
• Logical comparison values (equal
to, greater than)
• Storage and retrieval operations
 HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
1.3000 BC – The abacus: a rudimentary first
computing device developed.

1642 – Blaise Pascal built the first

mechanical digital calculator Pascaline.
3. 1822 – Charles Babbage invented a Difference
Engine with a mechanical memory to store
results.

4. 1840 – Ada, the first programmer suggested

binary data storage rather than decimal.

5. 1880 – Dr.Herman Hollerith developed the

punched card that would contain data coded in
form of punched holes.
6. 1939 – Dr. John Vincent Atanasoft produced
the first prototype electronic computer.
7. 1944 – Aitken built Mark 1 the first automatic,
sequence controlled calculator; used by military
to compute ballistic data.
8. 1947 – Mauchy and Eckert built ENIAC – 2nd
Electronic digital computer.
9. 1949 – Maurice, Eckert and Von Neumann built
EDVAC the -1st stored program Computer.

10. 1950 – Turing built Ace – 1st programmable

computer.
11. 1951 – Mauchy and Eckert built UNIVAC 1 –
1st commercially sold.

12. 1960 – Gene Amdahl designed IBM

System/360 mainframe computer – 1st
general purpose digital using Integrated
circuits.
13. 1963 – Olsen with Digital Equipment
Corporation produced PDP-1 – 1st Mini
computer.
14. Ted Hoff of Intel Corporation produced
microprocessor Intel 4004.

15. 1975 – H.Edward Roberts – 1st Micro-

computer.

16. 1976 – Seymour Cray CRAY-1 Super-

computer.
17. 1977 – Stephen Wonzniak and Steven Jobs
built first Apple Microcomputer.

18. 1980 – Lower cost Personal Computers.

Why Computers?
Hardware

&

Software
 What is Hardware?
• The physical, tangible parts of a
computer
• keyboard, monitor, disks, wires,
chips, etc.

 What is Software?
• programs and data
• a program is a series of instructions
• Data is text, numbers, graphics

 A computer requires both hardware and software

 Each is useless without the other
Hardware

• Computer Hardware is divided into two

parts

1. Internal Parts (Devices)

All components (devices) which are
into the box and embedded at the
mother board.

2. External Parts (Devices)

All components (devices) that are out
of the box.
Hardware
1. Internal Parts (Devices)
1. Mother Board
2. Processor
3. RAM
4. ROM
5. VGA
6. CD/DVD ROM
7. Slots
8. NIC/LAN Card
9. Modem
10. Hard Disk
11. Floppy Drive
Hardware
2. External Parts (Devices)

 Input Devices
 Output Devices
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
The Box
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
The Box
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
The Box
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Mother Board
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Processor
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Main Memory/Primary Storage
RAM & ROM
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Hard Disk
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
CD/DVD Drive
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Floppy Disk Drive
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
VGA
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Sound Card
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
Modem
Hardware
Internal Parts (Devices)
LAN Card/NIC
 INPUT DEVICES

 Input devices are used to feed data

and instructions to the computer
system.
 Input devices provide the interface
between the outside world and the
computer system for this purpose.
 Input Devices
Mouse

Tracker ball
Touch sensitive pad

Light pen
Touch screen

Graphics tablets (digitizers)

Magnetic stripe reader

Barcode readers
Optical character readers (OCR)

Optical mark readers (OMR)

Microphone

Voice recognition
Electronic point of sale terminal
(EPOS)

Electronic fund transfer at point of

sale (EFTPOS)
Video digitizer

Scanner
Digital cameras
 Output Devices

Output devices provide results in a suitable form after

data processing. In many cases this will be in the form of
hard copy or on a screen.

Display System (Screen)

1. Monitor
2. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
Monitors
Liquid crystal display (LCD) screens
Printing System (Printers)

Laser printers

Inkjet printers
Color inkjet printers

Color laser printers

Dot-matrix printers

Graph plotters
 Software
This means computer programs. Software as a whole can
be divided into a number of categories based on the types
of work done by programs:

 Operating systems
 System software
 Compilers and Interpreters

Device Drivers
Firmware
 Software

Application software:- This is used for a specific

purpose or task.
Example: Microsoft Office, Calculator, Media Player
 Development software:- this provides programmers
with the tools they need to write programs, and generally
called computer languages.
Example: C, Java, Visual Basic, HTML, PHP etc
 Communication software:- this enables groups of
computers to communicate.
Example: Protocols
 Classification of Computers
1. Classification according to the logic used
Analog Computers:- These computers recognize data as
a continuous measurement of a physical property (
voltage, pressure, speed and temperature).
Example: Automobile speedometer
Digital Computers:- These are high speed programmable
electronic devices that perform mathematical
calculations, compare values and store results. They
recognize data by counting discrete signal representing
either a high or low voltage state of electricity.
Digital computers are grouped into two categories:
o General purpose computers
o Special purpose digital computers
2. Classification according to size

Super Computers:- are widely used in scientific applications

such as aerodynamic design simulation, processing of
geological data.

Mainframe Computers:- are usually slower, less powerful and

less expensive than supercomputers. A technique that
allows many people at terminals, to access the same
computer at one time is called time sharing. Mainframes are
used by banks and many business to update inventory etc.
Minicomputers:- are smaller than mainframe, general
purpose computers, and give computing power without
adding the prohibitive expenses associated with larger
systems. It is generally easier to use.

Small Computer Systems:- is the smallest, least

expensive of all the computers. Micro computers have
smallest memory and less power, are physically smaller
and permit fewer peripherals to be attached.
 Storage of data

The number of instructions and amount of data

a computer can store in its memory is measured
in bytes. A single character can be stored in one
byte.
8 bits = 1 Byte( a bit can be either 0 or 1 )
1024 B = 1 Kilobyte
1024 KB = 1 Megabyte
1024 MB = 1 Gigabytes
1024 GB = 1 Terabyte
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor

“Brain” of the computer system ◦(everything that a computer does

is overseen by the CPU)

Working part of the computer where all the calculations are done

Circuitry that executes instructions to process data

Two parts: ◦Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and; ◦Control Unit (CU)
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
 Memory (main store)
There are two types of memory
 ROM (Read-Only Memory)
 RAM (Random Access Memory)
Memory is the name given to a group of chips
inside the processing unit. Here data is held
temporarily whilst processing takes place.

Cache Memory
Cache is an area of memory that holds
frequently accessed data or program
instructions for the purpose of speeding a
computer system’s performance.
Disk Cache Disk cache is a portion of a
computer’s RAM set aside for temporarily
holding information read from disk. It holds
information that either has recently been
requested from disk or has previously been
written to disk.
EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only
Memory) This is a memory chip whose contents
are normally fixed. However the chip may have
its contents erased by the action of ultra-violet
light and may then be programmed
EPROM PROM . EEPROM
RAM
The data in RAM is held only temporarily,
which means that data disappears when the
power is switched off. RAM is often called
volatile memory. RAM is used to hold both
data and programs during processing.

Both RAM & ROM are often referred to as IAS

(Immediate Access Store).
 Magnetic media
Floppy disks – The floppy disk is
in a hard case the disk inside is
floppy. Magnetic disks store
binary (a series of 0s and 1s)
data as a magnetic pattern on Normally 1.44MB
the disk surface. storage capacity

Optical discs
CD-ROM drives – The data is
stored on the disk digitally and a
laser beam is used to read the
data off the disk. Because light Normally 600-700MB
storage capacity
is used to read the disk. CD-
ROMs are read-only disks.
CD-R/CD-RW – A CD-R has a read/write capability.
Standard CD-R discs can be written to only once.
But there is a type of disc called CD-RW, these
discs can be written, erased and rewritten many
times, with suitable drives.
Magneto-Optical Discs – MO devices write data to a
disc with the help of a laser beam and a magnetic
write-head.
Digital versatile discs (DVDs) – are used to store
lots of data. Any application software that needs
six to seven CD-ROMs for installation could be
replaced by a single DVD.
Blue Ray Discs
 Backup devices
Tape streamers – are devices used to back up the data
contained on hard drives.
Zip drives –this uses high storage capacity floppy disks
which are slightly larger and twice as thick as normal
floppies. They can typically store 100MB.
Jazz drives – is a removable disk drive which is very
fast at transferring data. Each disk can hold up to 2GB
of data.
USES OF COMPUTER
 Uses of Computer
• Use of Computers in Business
• Use of Computers in Industry
• Use of Computers in the Medical Field
• Use Of Computers In Education
• Use of Computers in Engineering
• Use of Computer in Science
• Use of Computer in Entertainment World
 Uses of Computer
Computers in Business
Inventory Control and Management
Accounts and Payroll Management
Database Management
Software Development
Video Conferencing

Computer in Industry
Oil & Gas
Textile
Media (Films, TV, Print media)
 Uses of Computer
Use of Computers in the Medical Field
Use of Computers in Medicine
Uses of Computers in Hospitals

Use Of Computers In Education

Institutions (School, College, Universities)

Use of Computers in Engineering

Use of Computer in Science