Categories of Computers

Categories of Computers and

Computer Systems
 Computers are classified into two:
– A special-purpose computer
– A general-purpose computer
 Special-Purpose Computers
– Is a computer designed for a particular function,
executing the same stored set of instructions whenever
requested.
– For example
• microwave ovens
• washing machine
• medical diagnostic equipment
Categories of Computers and
Computer Systems
 General-Purpose Computers
– Is a computer that can be used for solving many
different types of problems.
– Available in many sizes and a wide range of
capabilities.
– Can be classified as follows:
• 1. Microcomputers
a. Laptop computers
b. Desktop computers
c. Workstations
• 2. Minicomputers
• 3. Mainframe computers
• 4. Supercomputers
Microcomputers

 Sometimes referred to as a personal computer (PC), is

one that can be placed on a desktop or carried from room
to room.
 The smallest microcomputers are known as laptop
computers or notebook computers.
 Desktop computers are compact microcomputer systems
that fit on a desk and are designed for use by individuals.
 A workstation is the largest type of microcomputer and
is generally used in scientific and engineering
applications.
Minicomputers
 More powerful and more expensive than
microcomputers.
 Are smaller and cheaper compared to
mainframes.
 Also can be server, which is used for managing
internal company networks or Web sites.
 Server computers are specifically optimized to
support a computer network enabling users to
share files, software, peripheral devices (such as
printers), or other network resources.
Mainframe Computer

 The largest computer, a powerhouse with

massive memory and e extremely rapid
processing power.
 It is used for very large business, scientific or
military application where a computer must
handle massive amounts of data or many
complicated processes.
Supercomputer

 Is highly sophisticated and powerful computer

that is used for tasks requiring extremely rapid
and complex calculations with hundreds of
thousands of variable factors.
 Used in many areas of scientific research,
weather prediction, aircraft design, nuclear
weapon and so on.
HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE
Recall
 Computers are automatic, electronic machines that
– accept data & instructions from a user (INPUT)
– store the data & instructions (STORAGE)
– manipulate the data according to the instructions
(PROCESSING)
– store &/or output the results to the user (OUTPUT)
Rationale
 A computer system is generally composed of
hardware and software.
 Hardware make up the physical components.
Software make up the set of instructions for the
computer. Without software, the computer will not
be able to perform the tasks that you would like it
to do.
Hardware
Basic Concepts of Computer Hardware
 although specific components may vary, virtually all
modern computers have the same underlying structure
– known as the von Neumann architecture
– named after computer pioneer, John von Neumann, who
popularized the design in the early 1950's
 the von Neumann architecture identifies 3 essential
components
1. Input/Output Devices (I/O) allow the user to interact with the
computer
2. Memory stores information to be processed as well as programs
(instructions specifying the steps necessary to complete specific
tasks)
3. Central Processing Unit (CPU) carries out the instructions to
process information
Von Neumann architecture
Von Neumann architecture
 This describes a design architecture for an electronic
digital computer with parts consisting of a processing unit
containing an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers,
a control unit containing an instruction register and
program counter, a memory to store both data and
instructions, external mass storage, and input and output
mechanisms. The meaning has evolved to be any stored-
program computer in which an instruction fetch and a data
operation cannot occur at the same time because they share
a common bus.
The Computer System
 Computer system consists of
– central processing unit (CPU)
– primary storage
– secondary storage
– input devices
– output devices
 Communications devices.
The System Unit
 What are common components inside the system unit?

 Processor
power supply drive bays
 Memory
 Adapter cards
 Sound card processor

 Video card
 Ports ports memory

 Drive bays
 Power supply

sound card
video card
 The System Unit
 What is the motherboard?

 Main circuit
board in system
unit
 Contains adapter
cards, processor
chips, and
memory chips
 Also called
system board
 The CPU
– manipulates raw data into more useful form and controls
the other parts of the computer system.
 Primary storage
– temporarily stores data and program instructions during
processing.
 Secondary storage
– devices store data and programs when they are not being
used in processing.
 Input devices
– convert data and instructions into electronic form for input
into the computer.
 Output devices
– convert electronic data produced by the computer system
and display them in a form that people can understand.
 Communication devices
– provide connections between the computer and
communications networks.
 Buses
– are circuitry paths for transmitting data and signals
among the parts of the computer system.
The CPU and Primary Storage
 The CPU is the part of the computer system where
the manipulation of symbols, numbers, and letters
occurs, and it controls the other parts of the
computer system.

The CPU
Processor
 What is the central processing unit (CPU)?

 Interpretsand carries Processor

Control
Control Arithmetic
Arithmetic
out basic instructions Unit
Unit Logic
Logic Unit
Unit (ALU)
(ALU)
that operate a computer
Instructions
 Control unit directs and Data
coordinates operations in Information

computer
 Arithmetic logic unit
Input Output
Devices
Data Memory Information
Devices
(ALU) performs
arithmetic, comparison,
Instructions
and logical operations Data
Information
 Also called the processor
Storage
Devices
Processor
 What is a machine cycle?
 Four operations of the CPU comprise a machine cycle

Step 1. Fetch
Obtain program instruction
or data item from memory

Memory
Step 2.
Step 4. Store Decode
Write result to memory Translate
instruction into
Processor commands
ALU Control Unit
Step 3. Execute
Carry out command
The CPU and Primary Storage
Central Processing Unit (CPU) Primary Storage

Arithmetic Logic Unit I

(ALU)
22 + 11 = 33 8
Control Unit # U

Data Bus
Address
Bus
Control
Bus
 Three kinds of busses linked between the CPU,
primary storage and the other devices in the
computer system:
– Data bus
• Pass information in bi-directional.
– Address bus
• Transmits signals for locating a given address in primary
storage, indicating where data should be placed.
– Control bus
• Transmits signal specifying whether to read or write data to or
from primary storage address, input device or output device.
 The characteristics of the CPU and primary
storage are very important in determining a
computer’s speed and capabilities
The Arithmetic-Logic Unit and
Control Unit
 An arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and control unit
is one of the core components of all central
processing units.
 The ALU performs the computer’s principal
logical and arithmetic operations.
 It adds, subtracts, multiples, and divides,
determining whether a number is positive,
negative, or zero.
 ALU must be able to determine when one quantity
is greater than or less than another and when two
quantities are equal.
 The control unit coordinates and controls the other
parts of the computer system.
 It reads a stored program, one instruction at a time
and directs other components of the computer
system to perform the program’s required tasks.
 Processor
Which processor should you select?
 The faster the processor, the more expensive the computer
Intel Processor Desired Clock Speed

Itanium or Xeon 1.3 GHz and up

3.0 GHz and up

Pentium family
2.4 GHz to 3.0 GHz

Up to 2.4 GHz

Celeron 2.2 GHz and up

Primary Storage
 Primary storage is a category of computer storage, often
called main memory.
 Has three functions:
– Stores all or part of the program that is being executed.
– Stores the operating system programs that manage the operation of
the computer.
– Holds data that the program is using.
 Data and program are placed in primary storage before
processing, between processing steps and after processing
has ended prior to being returned to secondary storage or
released as output.
 Memory
 How is memory measured?
 By number of bytes available for storage

Term Abbreviation Approximate Size

Kilobyte KB or K 1 thousand bytes

Megabyte MB 1 million bytes
Gigabyte GB 1 billion bytes
Terabyte TB 1 trillion bytes
 Modern primary storage devices include:
– Random access memory (RAM)
• is used for short-term storage of data or program instructions.
RAM is volatile. Its contents will be lost when the computer’s
electric supply is disrupted by a power outage or when the
computer turned off.
– Read-only memory (ROM)
• can only be read from. It cannot be written to. ROM chips
come from the manufacturer with programs already burned in,
or stored. ROM is used in general-purpose computers to store
important or frequently used programs, such as computing
routine for calculating the square roots of numbers.
Memory
 What is random access memory (RAM)?

Memory chips that can be

read from and written
to by processor
Most RAM is
Also called
volatile, it is lost
main memory
when computer’s
or primary
power is
storage
turned off

The more RAM a

computer has, the
faster it responds
Memory
How do program instructions transfer in and out of
RAM? RAM
Step 1. When you start the computer, certain
operating system files are loaded into RAM from
Operating system Operating system the hard disk. The operating system displays the
instructions interface user interface on the screen.

Step 2. When you start a Web browser, the

program’s instructions are loaded into RAM from
Web browser Web browser the hard disk. The Web browser window is
instructions window displayed on the screen.

Step 3. When you start a word processing

program, the program’s instructions are loaded
Word processing Word processing into RAM from the hard disk. The word
program instructions program window processing program, along with the Web Browser
and certain operating system instructions are in
RAM. The word processing program window is
displayed on the screen.
RAM

Step 4. When you quit a program, such as the

Web browser, its program instructions are
removed from RAM. The Web browser is no
longer displayed on the screen.

Web browser program Web browser

instructions are window is no longer
removed from RAM displayed on
desktop
Memory
 What are two basic types of RAM chips?

Do not have to
Most
be re-energized
common
as often as
type
DRAM
Static
RAM
Dynamic Faster and
Must be (SRAM)
RAM more reliable
re-energized (DRAM) than DRAM
constantly
chips

• Newer Type: Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM)

 Memory
 What
Memory chipsisthat
read-only
store memory (ROM)?
Nonvolatile memory, it is not
permanent data lost when computer’s
and instructions power is turned off
EEPROM
Three types: (electrically
erasable programmable
read-only memory)—
Firmware— Type of PROM
Manufactured with containing microcode
permanently written PROM
programmer
data, instructions, (programmable can erase
or information read-only
memory)—
Blank ROM
chip onto which
a programmer
can write permanently
Storage, Input, and Output
Technology
 Storage, input and output devices are called
peripheral devices because they are outside the
main computer system unit.
Secondary Storage Technology

 Secondary storage is used for relatively long

term storage of data outside the CPU.
 Secondary storage is nonvolatile and retains data
even when the computer is turned off.
 The most technologies are magnetic disk, optical
disk and magnetic tape.
 Storage
 What is storage?
– Holds data, instructions, and information for future use
 Storage medium is physical material used for storage
 Also called secondary
storage
 Storage
 How does volatility compare?
 Storage medium is nonvolatile—contents retained when
power is off
 Memory is volatile—holds data and instructions
temporarily ON OFF
Nonvolatile Volatile

Screen Display Display appears Display

disappears

Memory Data and Data and

(most RAM) instructions instructions erased
(chips on motherboard) available to user

Storage Medium Contents Contents

(floppy disks, Zip disks, available to user retained
hard disks, CDs)
Magnetic disk

 There are two kinds of magnetic disk:

– floppy disks
– hard disks
 Magnetic Disks permit direct access to individual
records so that data stored on the disk can be
directly accessed regardless of the order in which
the data were originally recorded.
 Disk storage is often referred to as a direct access
storage device (DASD).
 shutter
Magnetic Disks
shell
liner
 What is a floppy disk?

– Portable, inexpensive storage magnetic

coating
medium (also called diskette)
Thin, circular, flexible film metal hub
enclosed flexible thin film
in 3.5” wide plastic shell

• What is a floppy disk

drive?
– Device that reads from and
writes to floppy disk
• One floppy drive, named drive A
– Also called secondary storage
 Magnetic
 What Disks
is a hard disk?
hard disk installed
in system unit

– High-capacity storage
– Consists of several
inflexible, circular
platters that store items
electronically
– Components enclosed in
airtight, sealed case for
protection
 Magnetic Disks
What are tracks and
sectors?

Track Sector
is narrow stores up to
recording 512 bytes
band of data
that forms
full
circle on
disk

Formatting prepares disk for use and marks bad

sectors as unusable
 Magnetic Disks
 How does a hard disk work?

Step 3.
When software requests a
disk access, read/write
heads determine current
Step 2. or new location of data.
Small motor spins
platters while
computer is running.

Step 4.
Head actuator positions
read/write head arms over
Step 1. correct location on platters
Circuit board controls to read or write data.
movement of head actuator
and a small motor.
Optical Disk

 Also called compact disks or laser optical disks,

used laser technology to store data at densities
many times greater than those of magnetic disks.
 The most common optical disk system used with
PCs called CD-ROM (compact disk read only
memory).
 CD-ROM is read-only storage.
Optical Discs
 What are optical discs? Push the button to
slide out the tray.

 Flat, round, portable

metal discs made of
metal, plastic, and
lacquer Insert the disc,
 Can be read only or label side up.
read/write
 Most PCs include an
Push the same button
optical disc drive to close the tray.
Optical Discs
How does a laser read data on an optical disc?

disc label

lens lens Step 3.

pit land
Step 2. Reflected light is
If light strikes deflected to a
0 a pit, it scatters. 1 light-sensing diode,
If light strikes a which sends digital
land, it is signals of 1 to
Step 1. prism reflected back prism computer. Absence
toward diode. of reflected light is
Laser diode light- light- read as digital
shines a light sensing sensing signal of 0.
beam toward diode diode
disc. laser laser
diode diode
 Optical Discs
 How is data stored on an optical disc?

 Typically stored in
single track
 Track divided
into evenly
sized sectors
that store
items
single track
spirals to edge
of disc

disc sectors
 WORM (write once/read memory) or CD-R
(compact disk-recordable) optical disk systems
allow users to record data only once on an optical
disk.
 New CD-RW (CD-Rewritable) technology has
been developed to allow users to create rewritable
optical disks.
 Digital-video disks (DVDs) also called digital
versatile disks are optical disks the same size as
CD-ROMs but of even higher capacity (minimum
of 4.7 gigabytes of data).
 Optical Discs
 What is a CD-ROM?
 Compact disc read-only memory
 Cannot erase or modify contents
 Typically holds 650 MB to 1 GB
 Commonly used to distribute multimedia and complex software
 Optical Discs
 What are CD-Rs and CD-RWs?
Must have
CD recorder
or CD-R drive
CD-R (compact disc-recordable)
— disc you can write on once
c

Cannot erase
disc’s contents
CD-RW (compact disc-rewritable)
— erasable disc you can write on
ce

multiple times Must have

CD-RW software
and CD-RW drive
 Optical Discs
What is a DVD-ROM (digital
versatile disc-ROM or digital
video disc-ROM)?
 High capacity disc capable of
storing 4.7 GB to 17 GB
 Must have DVD-ROM drive or
DVD player to read DVD-ROM
 Stores databases, music,
complex software, and movies
 Optical Discs
 How does a DVD-ROM store data?
 Two layers of pits are used, lower layer is
semitransparent so laser can read through
 Some are double-sided
 Blu-Ray discs currently have a storage capacity of
up to 27 GB
Magnetic Tape
 Magnetic tape is an older storage technology that
still used for secondary storage of large volumes
of information.
 The principle advantages
– its inexpensiveness, its relative stability and its ability
to store very large quantities of information.
 The disadvantages
– its sequentially stored data and its relative slowness
compared to the speed of secondary storage media.
Tape
 What is tape?
– Magnetically coated plastic ribbon
capable of storing large amounts
of data at low cost
– Primarily used for backup
PC Cards

 What is a PC Card?
 Adds capabilities to computer
 Credit-card-sized device commonly
used in notebook computers
 Input and Output Devices
 Input devices
– Input devices gather data and convert them into electronic
form for use by the computer.
– Keyboard
• The principal method of data entry for entering text and numerical
data into a computer
– Pointing Devices
• A computer mouse is handheld device with point-and-click
capabilities that is usually connected to the computer by a cable.
• Touch screens allows users to enter limited amounts of data by
touching the surface of a sensitized video display monitor with
finger or a pointer.
 Source Data Automation
– Captures data in computer-readable form at the time
and place they are created.
– Optical Character Recognition (OCR) devices
translate specially designed mark, characters, and codes
into digital form.
– Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)
technology is used primarily in check processing for the
banking industry, which the bottom of typical check
contains characters identifying the bank, checking
account, and check number that are preprinted using a
special magnetic ink.
– A MICR reader translates these characters into digital form
for the computer.
– Handwriting-recognition devices such as pen-based
tablets, notebooks, and notepad are promising new input
technologies.
– These pen-based input devices convert the motion made by
an electronic stylus pressing on a touch-sensitive tablet
screen into digital form.
– Digital scanners translate image such as pictures or
documents into digital form.
– Voice input devices convert spoken words into digital form
for processing by the computer.
– Sensors are devices collect data directly from the
environment for input into a computer system.
 What Is Input?
 What is input?
 Data or instructions entered into memory of computer
 Input device is any hardware component that
allows users to enter data and instructions
 What Is Input?
 What are the two types of input?

 Data
 Unprocessed text,
numbers, images,
audio, and video
 Instructions
 Programs
 Commands
 User responses
 The Keyboard
 How is the keyboard
divided?
 Typing area
 Numeric keypad
 Function keys, special
keys that issue
commands
 Pointing Devices
 What is a mouse?
 Pointing device that fits under palm of hand
 Pointing device controls mouse buttons
wheel
movement of pointer, also button
called mouse pointer

 Mechanical mouse
ball
has rubber or metal
ball on underside

mouse pad
 Other Pointing Devices
 What is a trackball?
 Stationary pointing device
with a ball on its top or side
 To move pointer, rotate ball
with thumb, fingers, or palm
of hand
 Other Pointing Devices
What are a touchpad and a
pointing stick?

 Touchpad is small, flat,

rectangular pointing device
sensitive to pressure and motion
 Pointing stick is pointing device
shaped like pencil eraser
positioned between keys on
keyboard
 Other Pointing Devices
 What are a joystick and a wheel?

 Joystick is vertical
lever mounted
on a base
 Wheel is
steering-wheel-type
input device
 Pedal simulates
car brakes and
accelerator
 Other Pointing Devices
 What is a light pen?
 Handheld input device
that can detect light
 Press light pen against
screen surface and then
press button on pen
 Other Pointing Devices
 What is a touch screen?

 Often used with kiosks

 Touch areas of screen with
finger
 Keyboard and Pointing Devices
 What is a stylus and a digital pen?
 Looks like a ballpoint pen, but uses pressure to write
text and draw lines
 Used with graphics tablets, flat electronic boards
 Voice Input
 How does voice recognition work?
Step 1. A user dictates text into a microphone. Step 2. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) translates
sound waves into digital measurements computer can
process. Measurements include pitch, volume, silences, and
phonemes. Phonemes are sound units such as aw and guh.

10010111010110101100001101

Step 4. To narrow a list down, software presents user with

Step 3. Software compares
a list of choices or uses a natural language component to
spoken measurements with those
predict most likely match. User may correct any selection
in its database to find a match or
made by software.
list of possible matches.
Natural Language Engine
Matches
 Voice Input
What is a MIDI (musical instrument
digital interface)?
 External device, such as electronic piano
keyboard, to input music and sound
effects
 Digital Cameras
 How does a digital camera work?
Step 3. CCD generates an analog
Step 1. Point to the image to Step 2. Image is focused on a signal that represents the image.
photograph and take picture. chip called a charge-coupled
Light passes into the lens of the device (CCD).
camera. Step 4. Analog signal is converted
to digital signal by analog-to-
digital converter (ADC).

Step 5. Digital signal processor

(DSP) adjusts quality of image and
usually stores digital image on
miniature mobile storage media in
the camera.

Step 6. Images are transferred to a

Step 7. Using software
computer’s hard disk by plugging one
supplied with the
end of the cable into a camera and the
camera, images are
other end into a computer; or images
viewed on screen,
are copied to hard disk from storage
incorporated into
media used in the camera.
documents, edited, and
printed.
 Digital Cameras
 What is resolution?
 Sharpness and clarity of image
 The higher the resolution, the better the image
quality, but the more expensive the camera
 Pixel (picture element)
is single point in
electronic image
 Greater the number of
pixels, the better the
image quality
Video Input
 What is video input?
 Process of entering full-motion images
into computer
 Video capture card is
adapter card that converts
analog video signal into
digital signal that
computer can use
 Digital video (DV)
camera records video as
digital signals
 Video Input
 What are a PC video camera and a Web cam?

 PC video camera — DV camera used to capture video

c c

and still images, and to make

video telephone calls on Internet
 Also called PC camera
 Web cam — video camera
c c

whose output displays on

a Web page
 Scanners and Reading Devices
Flatbed

 What is a scanner?

 Light-sensing device that

Pen or
reads printed text and Handheld

graphics
 Used for image processing,
converting paper documents Sheet-fed

into electronic images

Drum
 Scanners and Reading Devices
How does a flatbed
scanner work?
Step 1. Document to be scanned is
placed face down on the glass window.
Step 2. Bright light moves underneath
scanned document.
Step 3. Image of the document is
reflected into a series of mirrors.

Step 4. Light is
converted to analog
electrical current that
is converted to
digital signal by an
analog-to-digital
Step 6. Users can print image,
converter (ADC).
e-mail it, include it in a document,
or place it on a Web page.
Step 5. Digital information is sent to
memory in the computer to be used by
illustration, desktop publishing, or
other software; or it is stored on disk.
 Scanners and Reading Devices
 What is an optical reader?

 Device that uses light source to read characters, marks,

and codes and then converts them into digital data
 Optical character recognition
(OCR) reads characters in
OCR font
 Optical mark recognition
(OMR) reads hand-drawn pencil
marks, such as small circles
 Scanners and Reading Devices
 What is a bar code reader?
 Uses laser beams to read bar codes
 Scanners and Reading Devices
What is a magnetic-ink character recognition
(MICR) reader?
 Can read text printed with magnetized ink
 Banking industry almost exclusively uses MICR
for check processing
 Biometric Input
 What is biometrics?
 Authenticates person’s identity
by verifying personal
characteristic
 Fingerprint scanner captures
curves and indentations of
fingerprint
 Hand geometry system measures
shape and size of person’s hand
Biometric Input
 What are examples of biometric technology?

 Voice verification system compares live

speech with stored voice pattern
 Signature verification system recognizes
shape of signature
 Iris recognition system reads
patterns in blood vessels in back
of eye
 Biometric data is sometimes stored
on smart card, which stores
personal data on microprocessor
embedded in card
 Output Devices
– Display data after they have been processed.
– Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
• The most popular form of information output.
• It works much like a television picture tube, with an electronic gun
shooting a beam of electrons to illuminate the pixels on the screen.
– Printers
• Produce a printed hard copy of information output.
• Include impact printers ( dot-matrix printer), and non-impact
printers (laser, inkjet, and thermal transfer printers).
– Plotters
• To created high-quality graphics documents with multicolored
pens to draw computer output.
• Slower than printers but are useful for outputting large-size
charts, maps or drawing.
– Voice output devices
• Converts digital output data into intelligible speech.
– Speakers
• To deliver an audio output such as music, that is connected to
the computer.
 What is
 What is output?
Output?
 Data that has been processed into a useful form,
 Output device is any hardware component that can convey
information to user

p. 300 Fig. 6-1 Next

 Display Devices

 What is a display device?

 Output device that visually conveys information

 Information on display device sometimes
called soft copy
 Monitor houses display device as separate
peripheral

p. 302
 CRT Monitors
 What is a CRT monitor?
 Contains cathode-ray
tube (CRT)
 Screen coated with tiny
dots of phosphor material
 Each dot consists of a red,
blue, and green phosphor
 Common sizes are 15, 17,
19, 21, and 22 inches
 Viewable size is diagonal
measurement of actual
viewing area
 CRT Monitors
How does video travel from the processor to a CRT
monitor?
 Video card (also called a graphics card) converts digital
output from computer into analog video signal
Step 5. Electron guns
Step 1. The fire the three color signals
processor sends Step 3. The to the front of the CRT.
digital video data analog signal is
to the video card. sent through a
cable to the CRT Step 4. The
monitor. CRT monitor
separates the
analog signal
into red, green,
and blue signals.
Step 6. An image is
displayed on the screen when
the electrons hit phosphor
Step 2. The video card’s dots on the back of the screen.
digital-to-analog converter
(DAC) converts the digital
 Printers
 What is a printer? portrait

 Output device that

produces text and
graphics on paper
 Result is hard copy, or
printout
 Two orientations: portrait
and landscape
landscape
Speakers and Headsets
 What is an audio output device?
 Computer component that produces music, speech, or
other sounds
 Speakers and headsets are common devices
 Speakers and Headsets
 What is voice output?

 Computer talks to you through speakers on computer

 Internet telephony allows you to have conversation
over Web
Software
Software
 recall:
– hardware refers to the physical components of
computers
– software refers to the programs that execute on the
hardware
 a software program is a sequence of instructions
for the computer (more specifically, for the CPU)
to carry out in order to complete some task
– e.g., word processing (Microsoft Word, Corel
WordPerfect)
– e.g., image processing (Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia
Flash)
– e.g., Web browsing (Internet Explorer, Mozilla 94
Firefox)
System Software
– Refers to programs that make the computer usable
and accessible to the developers and programmers of
applications software.
– Examples of system software:
– Operating systems
– Language translator
– Linker
– Loader
– Preprocessors
Operating system
 An organized collection of system programs which
serve as the interface between the user or application
and the computer.
 It manages the hardware resources:
– CPU management to facilitate sharing execution
time of processes
– Memory management to allocate memory
resources dynamically
– I/O management to handle reading and writing
devices
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 Disk Operating Systems (DOS)
 Disk Operating System (DOS) is a generic term
describing any operating system that is loaded
from disk devices when the system is started or
rebooted.
 It is not a user friendly OS since users need to
memorize commands and issue it by typing line
by line. This known as command line interface.
Very few end users use DOS nowadays.
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Microsoft Windows
 A graphical user interface (GUI) originally
running on DOS (Windows 3.x) that allows
multitasking or the ability to run several
programs at the same time.
 Windows 95 / Windows NT that no longer
runs on DOS
 About 75% of the world’s PCs use the
Windows operating system. The present
versions in use are Windows 98, Windows
Me and Windows 2000.
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Other operating systems

 IBM OS/2
 Macintosh OS
 SCO Unix
 Linux
 Other Proprietary OS

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Application Software
– programs that are developed to solve some specific
problems.
– A set of instructions designed to perform a specific task
such as word processing, accounting, cataloguing, library
management, animation, etc.
– There are two types of application software:
– application program to solve special classes of problems
– Application programs that you can write to solve your own
problems.
– Examples of application software:
– word processing
– database programs
– spreadsheets
– graphic programs
General purpose office software
 Word processing: Example, MS Word
 Spreadsheets: Example, Excel
 Database management systems: Example,
MS Access, Oracle
 Presentation/Graphics: Example, Power
Point, Corel

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special purpose software

 Desktop publishing software: Example,

Microsoft Publisher
 Imaging and drawing: Example, Corel
Draw, Photo Shop
 File management: Example: CDS/ISIS,
INMAGIC
 Library management software:
Example: Athena, GLAS, Innopac,
Library Solutions
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Programming Languages

 Programming Language is an agreed upon

format of symbols that allow a programmer to
instruct a computer to perform certain
predefined tasks.
 Provide features to support the data processing
activities, which include declaring variables,
evaluating numeric expressions, assigning
values to variables, reading and writing data to
devices, looping and making decisions.
 a. Machine Languages
– Is the natural language of a computer.
– Does not need to translate and is ready for immediate
execution.
– Machine language instruction is a binary string of 0s
and 1s.
• 010 1 1000 0001 0000 1100 0000 0001 0000
– Are machine-dependent - each computer type has its
own machine language.
– Programs written in machine languages are not portable
because programs written in for one type of computer
cannot be run on another type
 Assembly Languages
– Consists of English-like abbreviations.
– Easier to understand.
• L 1, GROSSPAY
• S 1, TAX
• ST 1, NETPAY
– Program written in assembly languages cannot be directly processed
by a computer.
– Must use language translators, called assemblers, to convert them to
machine code.
– Disadvantages:
• In general, each assembly language instruction corresponds to one
machine language instruction. Therefore, the programs written in them
are lengthy.
– Because of variations in assembly languages, programs written using
them are not portable.
 High-Level languages
– Instructions are quite English-like, and a single
instruction can be written to correspond to many
operations at the machine level.
– For example, the assembly language program can be
written in high-level languages as follows:
• Netpay = gross pay – tax
– Are easier to learn than machine or assembly
languages.
– Have to be converted to machine languages before
they can be executed using compilers, system
software that translates a source program into an
almost executable object program
 For example:
– COBOL – developed in the 1960s for business
transactions.
– FORTRAN – developed for mathematic calculations.
– Pascal - is a structured high-level language.
– C – is designed to support only procedure-oriented
programming. Popular language for developing system
applications such as operating system and compilers.
– Java – is an object-oriented language.
– C++ - is extension of C programming language that
support object oriented programming and procedure-
oriented approach.
some future trends in software
development
 More user friendly
 Bigger in size because of more
sophistication
 More customized
 More Web enabled
 More open
 More sophisticated programming languages
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