FOC- computer basics unit I

Introduction to Computer
Computer is an electronic device which accepts input from the user, performs the operation
and displays the output to the user.

Characteristics of Computers
1. Speed:

The computers process data at an extremely fast rate, at millions or billions of instructions per
second. A computer can perform a huge task in a few . The speed of a computer is calculated
in MHz(megahertz).
2. Accuracy:

The computers are also accurate. The level of accuracy depends on the instruction and the type
of machine being used. Computer generated results are accurate.
3)Diligence:
Computer, being a machine, does not suffer from the human traits of tiredness and lack of
concentration. If four million calculations have to be performed, then the computer will
perform the last four-millionth calculation with the same accuracy and speed as the first
calculation.
4. Reliability

Generally, reliability is the measurement of the performance of a computer, which is measured

against some predetermined standard for operation without any failure. The major reason
behind the reliability of the computers is that it does not require any human intervention
between its processing operations.
5. Storage Capability:

Computers can store large amounts of data and can recall the required information almost
instantaneously. The main memory of the computer is relatively small and it can hold only a
certain amount of data; therefore, the data are stored on secondary storage devices such as
hard disks. Small sections of data can be accessed very quickly from these storage devices and
brought into the main memory, as and when required, for processing.
6. Versatility:

Computers are quite Versatile in nature. It can perform multiple tasks simultaneously with
equal priority.
7. Resource sharing:

Computer today have the capability to connect with each other. This has made the sharing of
costly resources link printer possible. Apart form device sharing ,data and information can
also be shared among groups of computers.

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EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS
• In the beginning, when the task was simply counting or adding people used either their
fingers or pebbles along lines in the sand.
• In order to conveniently have the sand and pebbles all the time, people in Asia Minor
built a counting device called abacus. This device allowed users to do calculations
using a system.
• With the passage of time in 1614, human kind invented many computing devices,
suchas Napier bones. Set of bones consisting of 9 rods. One rod for each digit( 1 to 9).
One constant rod is for 0. It took many centuries, however, for the next - significant
advancement in computing devices.
• SLIDE RULE was developed in the year 1633 by William Oughtred.
• In 1642, a French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, invented the first functional automatic
calculator called Pascaline. Also called Adding Machine/ Rotating Wheel calculator.
It had a box with eight movable wheels called dials. This is a predecessor to today's
calculator.
• In 1694, a German mathematician, Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz, extended Pascal's
design to perform multiplication, division and to find square root. This
machine is known as the Stepped Reckoner(Leibniz calculator).
• In 1801, JACQUARED LOOM was developed by JOSEPH MARY JACQUARD
which used punched card system. This can be taken as the first "Read Only
Memory(ROM)“ device.
• In 1822 Charles Babbage invented a calculating machine known as “Difference engine”
and Babbage is also called as father of computer. Later he modified it and named it as
“Analytical engine”.

• After that HOLLERITH’S TABULATING MACHINE was developed in the year

1889 by HERMEN HOLLERITH. He invented this counting machine to count the
population of USA.
• Under the sponsorship of IBM Mark - I computer was invented. it was capable of
performing subtraction, addition, division, multiplication etc.
• ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Interpreter And Calculator)was invented in 1946.
• EDVAC(Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was invented during
1946
• EDSAC(Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator)was introduced in 1949.
• UNIVAC(Universal Automatic Computer)was introduced in 1951. It was the first
commercially available electronic computer.

• In 1960, LARC (Livermore Advanced Research Computer) was introduced.

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GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS
• The history of computer development is often discussed with reference to the different
generations of computing devices.
• There are five generations of computers.
First Generation (1940 to 1956): Vacuum Tubes
• First-generation computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for
memory.
• The input was based on punched cards and paper tapes, and output was in the form of
printouts.

Characteristics of First-generation Computers (1940 to 1956): Vacuum

Tubes
• These computers were based on vacuum tube technology
• These computers were very large and required a lot of space for Installation
• Since thousands of vacuum tubes were used, they generated a large amount of heat
Therefore results were not accurate.
• These were non-portable and very slow equipment's.
• They were very expensive to operate and used a large amount of electricity
• These machines were unreliable and facing frequent hardware failures. Hence,
constant maintenance was required.
• Since machine language was used, these computers were difficult to program and use
Second Generation (1956 to 1963): Transistors
• Second-generation computers used transistors, which were superior to Vacuum tubes.
• Physical size of computers was greatly reduced. Computers became smaller, faster,
cheaper, energy efficient and more reliable than their predecessors.
• In second- generation computers, magnetic cores were used as the primary memory and
magnetic disks as the secondary storage devices. However, they relied on punched
cards to the input and printouts to the output.

Characteristics of Second-generation Computers

• These were based on transistor technology.
• Smaller as compared to the first-generation computers
• Computational time of these computers was reduced to microseconds from
milliseconds.

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• These were more reliable and less prone to hardware failure. Hence, they required less
frequent maintenance
• were more portable and generated less amount of heat still required air conditioning
• Assembly language was used to program computers. Hence, programming became
more time-efficient

Third Generation (1964 to Early 1970s): Integrated Circuits

• The development of the integrated circuit, also called an IC, was the trait of the third-
generation computers.
• An IC consists of a single chip (usually silicon) with many transistors fabricated on it
• ICs replaced several individually wired transistors. This development made computers
smaller in size, reliable and efficient
• Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third-generation
computers through keyboards and monitors
• It interfaced with the operating system allowed the device to run many different
applications simultaneously
Characteristics of Third-generation Computers(1964 to Early 1970s)
• These computers were based on IC technology
• These were able to reduce the computational tune from microseconds to nanoseconds
• These were easily portable and more reliable than the second-generation computers.
• These devices consumed less power and generated less heat. In some cases, air
conditioning was still required.
• The size of these computers was smaller as compared to previous-generation
computers.
• Since hardware rarely failed, the maintenance cost was quite low.
• Extensive use of high-level languages became possible such as FORTRAN, COBOL
• Commercial production became easier and cheaper.

Fourth Generation (Early 1970s to Till Date): Microprocessors

• The fourth generation is an extension of third generation technology.

• Many ICs built on a single silicon chip called microprocessor.

• The fourth-generation computers became more powerful, compact, reliable and

affordable.

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• Secondary memories such as hard disks became economical, smaller and bigger in
capacity.
• The other significant development of this era was that these computers could be linked
together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.
Characteristics of Fourth-generation Computers
• These computers are microprocessor-based systems.
• These are very small in size.
• These are the cheapest among all the other generation computers.
• These are portable and quite reliable.
• These machines generate negligible amount o heat, hence do not require air
conditioning.
• Hardware failure is negligible so minimum maintenance is required
• The production cost is very low.
• Interconnection of computers led to better communication and resource sharing.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond): Artificial Intelligence

• The dream of creating a human-like computer that would be capable of reasoning and
reaching at a decision through a series of "what-if-then" analyses has existed since the
beginning of computer technology.
• Such a computer would learn from its mistakes and possess the skill of experts. These
are the objectives for creating the fifth generation of computers.
• The starting point for the fifth generation of computers had been set in the early 1990s.
• The process of developing fifth-generation computers is still in the development stage.
• However, the expert system concept is already in use.

Three characteristics can be identified with the fifth-generation computers.

• Mega Chips: Fifth-generation computers will use Super Large Scale Integrated (SLSI)
chips, which will result in the production of microprocessors having millions of
electronic components on a single chip. Mega chips may enable the computer to
approximate the memory capacity of the human mind.
• Parallel Processing: Computers with one processor access and execute only one
instruction at a time. This is called serial processing. However, fifth-generation
computers will use multiple processors and perform parallel processing, thereby
accessing several instructions at once and working on them at the same time.
• Artificial Intelligence (Al): It refers to a series of related technologies that try to
simulate and reproduce human behavior, including thinking, speaking and reasoning.
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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
• These days, computers are available in many sizes and types.
• Some computers can fit in the palm of the hand, while some can occupy the entire room.
• Computers also differ based on their data-processing abilities.
• Based on the physical size, performance and application areas, we can generally divide
computers into four major categories: micro, mini, mainframe and supercomputers

Microcomputers
• A microcomputer is a small, low-cost digital computer, which usually consists of a
microprocessor, storage unit, an input channel and an output channel all of which may
be on one chip inserted into one or several PC boards, addition of power supply and
connecting cables, appropriate peripherals (keyboard, monitor, printer, disk drives and
others), An operating system and other software programs can provide a complete
microcomputer system.
• Also called as pc introduced in 1970 Contains 2 or more processors.
• The micro-computer is generally the smallest of the computer family.
• Originally, these were designed for individual users only.
• Nowadays they have become powerful tools for many businesses that when
networked together can serve more than one user.
• IBMPC Pentium 100, IBM-PC Pentium 200 and Apple Macintosh are some of the
examples of microcomputers.
• Microcomputers include desktop, laptop and hand-held models such as Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs).

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1. Desktop Computer:

• The desktop computer, also known as the PC, is principally intended for stand-alone
use by an individual.
• These are the most common type of microcomputers.
• Desktop comes in 2 styles: Desktop model and tower model
• In tower model both system unit and monitors are placed on a desk.
• In desktop model system unit is placed on a desk and monitor was placed on a system
unit.
• These microcomputers typically consist of a system unit, a display monitor, a
keyboard, an internal hard disk storage and other peripheral devices.
• The main reason behind the importance of the PCs is that they are not very expensive
for the individuals or the small businesses.
• Some of the major PC manufacturers are APPLE. IBM, Deli and Hewlett-Packard.
2. Laptop:

• A laptop is a portable computer that a user can carry around

• Laptop resembles a note book it is also known as the notebook computer.
• Laptops are small computers enclosing all the basic features of a normal desktop
computer.
• Advantage of laptops is one can use them anywhere and anytime.
• Especially when one is travelling, they do not need any external power as a
rechargeable battery is self-contained in them.
• However. they are expensive as compared to desktop computer
3. Hand-held Computers:

• A hand-held such as a PDA is a portable computer can conveniently be stored in a

pocket (of sufficient size) and used while the user is holding it.
• PDAs are essentially small portable Laptop computers and are slightlybigger than
the common calculators.
• A PDA user generally uses a pen or electronic stylus, instead of a keyboard for input.
• Since these computers can be easily fitted on the top of the palm, they are also known
as palmtop computers.
• Handheld computers usually have no disk drive; rather, they use small cards to store
programs and data.
• However, they can be connected to a printer or a disk drive to generate output or store
data.
• They have limited memory and are less powerful as compared to desktop computers.

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Minicomputers
• In the early 1960s, which referred to as minicomputers
• A minicomputer is a small digital computer, which normally is able to process and store
less data than a mainframe but more than a microcomputer
• It is about the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet.
• Consists of monitor and keyboard in a device called terminal(dumb terminal)
• Generally, these computers are used as desktop devices
• A minicomputer (sometimes called a mid-range computer) is designed to meet the
computing needs of several people simultaneously in a small- to medium-sized business
environment.
• It is capable of supporting from four to about 200 simultaneous users.

• Minicomputers are usually multi-user systems these are used in interactive applications
in industries, research, organizations, colleges and universities.
• They are also used for real-time controls and engineering design work.
Mainframes
• A mainframe is an ultra-high-performance computer made for high-volume, processor
intensive computing.
• It consists of a high-end computer processor, with related peripheral devices, capable
of supporting large volumes of data processing, high-performance online transaction
processing, and extensive data and retrieval.
• Normally, it is storage able to process and store more data than a minicomputer and far
more than a microcomputer.
• Moreover, it is designed to perform at a faster rate than a minicomputer and at even
faster rate than a microcomputer.
• Mainframes are the second largest (in capability and size) of the computer family, the
largest being the supercomputers.
• Mainframes can usually execute many programs simultaneously at a high speed.
• The mainframe allows its users to maintain a large amount of data storage at a
centralized location and to access and process these data supercomputers are designed for a
single process from different computers located at different locations.

• It is typically used by large businesses and for scientific purposes.

Supercomputers
• Supercomputers are the special-purpose machines, which are especially designed to
maximize the numbers of floating point operations per second .
• A supercomputer has the highest processing speed at a given time for solving scientific
and engineering problems.
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• Essentially, it contains a number of CPUs that operate in parallel to make it faster.

• Supercomputers help in many applications including information retrieval and
computer-aided designing(CAD)
• A supercomputer can process a great deal of data and make extensive calculations very
quickly.
• It can resolve complex mathematical equations in a few hours, which would have taken
many years when performed using a paper and pencil or using a hand calculator.
• It is the costliest and most powerful computer available today.
• They are also required by the military strategists and simulate defense scenarios.
• Cinematic specialists use them to produce sophisticated movie animations.
• Scientists build complex models and simulate them in a supercomputer.
• The largest commercial uses of supercomputers are in the entertainment/advertise
industry.

THE COMPUTER SYSTEM

• A computer can be viewed as a system, which consists of a number of interrelated
components that work together with the aim of converting data into information. In a
computer system, processing is carried out electronically, usually with little or no
intervention from the user.
• The instructions given to computers are called programs. Without programs computers
would be useless.
• The physical parts that make up a computer (the CPU. input. output and storage unit)
are known as hardware
• Any hardware device connected to the computer are known as a peripheral.
• Some examples of peripherals are keyboards, mouse and monitors.

Components of a Computer System

• A computer system comprises the following components:

1. Input Unit: This unit accepts instructions and data.

2. CPU: This unit performs processing of instructions and data inside the computer.
3. Storage Unit: This unit stores temporary and final results
4. Output Unit: This unit communicates the results to the user.

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Input Unit:
An input unit accepts instructions and data from the user with the help of input devices
such as keyboard, mouse etc. Since the data and instructions entered through different
input devices will be in different form, the input unit converts them into the form that
the computer can understand. After this, the input unit supplies the converted
instructions and data to the computer for further processing.

Central Processing Unit:

The CPU, also known as a processor, is the brain of the computer system that
processes data (input) and converts it into meaningful information (output).The CPU
works with data in discrete form, that is, cither 1 or 0. Eventually, the results of these
operations are translated into characters, numbers and symbols that can be understood
by the user. The CPU itself has three parts:
a. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): This unit performs the arithmetic (add, subtract)
and logical operations (and, or) on the data made available to it. Whenever an
arithmetic or logical operation is to be performed, the required data are transferred
from the memory unit to the ALU, the operation is performed and the result is
returned to the memory unit.
b. Control Unit: This unit checks the correctness of the sequence of operations. It
also controls the I/O devices and directs the overall functioning of the other units
of the computer.
c. Registers: These are the special-purpose, high-speed temporary memory units that
can hold information such as data. instructions. addresses and intermediate results
of calculations. Essentially, they hold the information that the CPU is currently
working on. The registers can be considered as the CPU's working memory.

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Storage unit:
d. Storage unit is used to store the input entered through the input unit before
processing starts(data) and to store the results produced by the computer before
supplying them to the output unit(information).
e. The storage unit of a computer comprises two types of memory/storage: primary
and secondary.
f. The primary memory, also called the main memory, is the part of a computer
that holds the instructions and data currently being processed by the CPU, the
intermediate results produced during the course of calculations and the recently
processed data. While the instructions and data remain in the main memory, the
CPU can access them directly and quickly. However, the primary memory is quite
expensive and has a limited storagecapacity.
g. Due to the limited size of the primary memory, a computer employs the secondary
memory, which is extensively used for storing data and instructions. It supplies
the
stored information to the other units of the computer as and when required. It is less
expensive and has higher storage capacity than the primary memory. Some commonly
used secondary storage devices are floppy disks, hard disks.

Output unit:
The output unit performs just opposite to that of input unit. It accepts the output (which
is in machine-coded form) produced by the computer, converts them into the user
understandable form and supplies the converted results to the user with the help of an
output device such as printer, monitor and plotter.

APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
h. In the last few decades, computer technology has revolutionized the businesses
and other aspects of human life all over the world. Practically, every company,
large or small, is now directly or indirectly dependent on computers for data
processing. Computers not only save time, but also save paper work.
1.Science:
i. Scientists have been using computers to develop theories, to analyze and to test
the data. The fast speed and the accuracy of the computer allow different scientific
analysesto be carried out.
j. They can be used to generate detailed studies of how earthquakes affect buildings
or pollution affects weather pattern.
k. Satellite-based applications would not have been possible without the use of
computers.
l. It would also not be possible to get the information of our solar system and the

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cosmoswithout computers.
2. Education:

• Computers have also revolutionized the whole process of education.

• Currently, the classrooms, libraries and museums are utilizing computers to make the
education much more interesting.
• Unlike recorded television shows, computer-aided education (CAE) and computer-
based training (CBT) packages are making learning much more interactive.
3. Medicine and Healthcare:

• There has been an increasing use of computers in the field of medicine.

• Now, doctors are using computers right from diagnosing the illness to monitoring a
patient's status during complex surgery.
• By using automated imaging techniques, doctors are able to look inside a person's body
and can study each organ in detail (such as CAT scans or MRI scans), which was not
possible few years ago.
• There are several examples of special-purpose computers that can operate within the
human body such as a cochlear implant, a special kind of hearing aid that makes it
possible for deaf people to hear.

4. Engineering/Architecture/Manufacturing:

• The architects and engineers are extensively using computers in designing and
drawings.
• Computers can create objects that can be viewed from all the three dimensions.
• By using techniques like virtual reality, architects can explore houses that have been
designed but not built.
• The manufacturing factories are using computerized robotic arms in order to perform
hazardous jobs.
• Besides, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) can be used in designing the product,
ordering the parts and planning production.
• Thus, computers help in coordinating the entire manufacturing process.
5.Entertainment:
• Computers are finding greater use in the entertainment industry.
• They are used to control the images and sounds.
• The special effects, which mesmerize the audience, would not have been possible
without the computers.
• In addition, computerized animation and colorful graphics have modernized the film
industry.
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6. Communication:

• E-mail or electronic mail is one of the communication media in which computers are
used.
• Through an e-mail, messages and reports are passed from one person to one or more
persons with the aid of computers and telephone lines.
• The advantage of this service is that while transferring the messages it saves time,
avoids wastage of paper, and so on.
• Moreover, the person who is receiving the messages can read the messages whenever
he is free and can save it, reply it, forward it or delete it from the computer.
7. Business Application:

• This is one of the important uses of the computer. Initially, computers were used for
batch processing jobs, where one does not require the immediate response from the
computer.
• Currently, computers are mainly used for real-time applications (like at the sales
counter) that require immediate response from the computer.
• There are various concerns for which computers are used such as in business
forecasting, to prepare pay bills and personal records, in banking operations and data
storage, in various types of life insurance business, and as an aid to management.
• Businesses are also using the networking of computers, where a number of computers
are connected together to share the data and the information.
• Use of an e-mail and the Internet has changed the ways of doing business
8.Publishing:
• Computers have created a field known as Desktop Publishing (DTP).
• In DTP, with the help of a computer and a laser printer one can perform the publishing
job all by oneself.
• Many of the tasks requiring long manual hours, such as making a table of contents and
an index, can be automatically performed using the computers and DTP software.
9. Banking:

• In the field of banking and finance, computers are extensively used. People can use the
Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services 24 hours a day in order to deposit and
withdraw cash.
• When the different branches of the bank are connected through the computer networks,
the inter-branch transactions, such as drawing cheques and making drafts, can be
performed by the computers without any delay

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