Basic Computer Organization

Department of Computer & Software Technology

By
Irfan Khan
Outline

 Basic operation performed by all computer

 Basic organization of Computer System
 Input Unit and its function
 Output Unit and its function
 Storage Unit and its function
 Types of storage used in computer system
Even though the size, shaper, performance, reliability and
cost of computers have been changing over the last several
years, the basic logical structure as proposed by Von
Neumann, has not changed.
No matter what shape and size of computer we are talking
about, all computer system perform the five basic
functions.
 Five Basic Operations of a Computer System
All Computer system perform the following five basic
operation for converting raw input data into useful
information and presentation it to user.

1. Inputting: Process of entering data and instructions

into a computer system.

2. Storing: Saving data and instructions to make them

readily available for initial or additional processing as and
when required.
3. Processing:
Performing arithmetic operations
 ( add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc.), or
logical operations ( comparisons like equal to, less than,
greater than, etc.) on data
to convert them into useful information is known as
processing.
4. Outputting:
 Process of producing useful information or results for a user, such
as printed report or visual display.
5. Controlling:
 Directing the manner and sequence in which the above operations
are performed.
Basic organization of Computer System
 Input Unit
An input unit of a computer system performs the following
functions.
In computer an input unit is any piece of computer
hardware equipment that provide data and instruction to
the computer system.
 Input unit takes or reads data or instruction from the
outside world in human understandable format and
converts it into computer understandable form and send it
to computer system.
 Input Unit Cont…..
 Keyboards:
This is the standard input device attached to all computers. The layout
of 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.
 Pointing Device(mouse, light pen, joysticks, pointing sticks)
 Composite devices (Game controller, Gamepad or joypad)
 Imaging and video input devices (Scanner, web cam, digital camera,
bar code reader)
 Audio input devices( microphone, MIDI keyboard or other digital
musical instrument)
Input Unit Cont…..
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 recognise the character of
the cheques.
 Input Unit Cont…..
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.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR):-

This technique unites the direct reading of any printed
character. Suppose you have a set of hand written 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.
 Output Unit

It accepts the results produced by the computer, which are in

coded form and hence, cannot be easily understood by us.
It convert these coded results to human accept (readable) form
It supplies the converted results to outside world.
 Storage Unit
Data and instruction required for processing(received from
input devices)
Intermediate results of processing
Final results of processing, before they are released to an
output device.
 Two Types of Storage
Primary Storage
 Also known as main memory.
 Used to hold running program instructions
 Used to hold data, intermediate results, and results of ongoing processing
of jobs.
 Fast in operation
 Small capacity
 Expensive
 Volatile(looses data on power dissipation)
 Secondary storage
Also known as auxiliary storage.
Used to hold stored program instructions
Used to hold data and information of stored jobs
Slower than primary storage
Large capacity
Lot cheaper that primary storage
Retains data even without power
 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
 Perform all calculations and comparison(decision-making)
operations in the ALU.
 During processing , the computer transfer data & instruction
stored in its primary storage to ALU as when needed.
 Hence data may move back and forth several times b/w
primary storage & ALU before processing of the job is over.
 ALU’s are designed to perform the four basic operations and
logic operations or comparison..
 Control Unit (CU)

The next component of computer is Control Unit, which

acts like the supervisor seeing that things are done in
proper fashion.
 Control unit of a computer system manages and
coordinates the operation of all other components of the
computer system.
It obtains instructions from a program stored in main
memory and interprets the instructions.
 Central Processing Unit

 Its brain of Computer system.

 The ALU and the CU of a computer system are jointly known as the central
processing unit.
 In a human body the brain takes all major decisions and other parts of the body
function as directed by brain. Similarly
 In computer system, The CPU performs all major calculations and
comparisons, and also activates and controls the operations of other units of
computer system.
 The System Concept
A system has following three characteristics
1. A system has more than one element
2. All elements of a system are logically related
3. All its elements of a system are controlled in a manner to achieve
the system goal.
A computer has integrated components (input unit, output unit,
storage unit, and CPU), which work together to perform the steps
called for in an executing program, it is a system.
 The System Concept
• Input & output units cannot function until they receive signals
from the CPU.
• Similarly, storage unit or CPU alone is of no use. Usefulness of
each depends on other units and is realizable only when we
integrate all units to form a system.
• Hence, we refer computer as a system (Computer System)
Thanks