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UNIT 1 - FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTERS:

1. INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS:
 The word computer comes from the word “compute”, which means, “to calculate”.
 Thereby, a computer is an electronic device that can perform arithmetic operations at high
speed
 A computer is also called a data processor because it can store, process, and retrieve data
whenever desired

1.1 Computer Definition

Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes data as an input from the user and processes it
under the control of a set of instructions, produces a result and saves it for future use.
1.2 Characteristics of Computers
The followings are the characteristics of computer:
1) Automatic: Given a job, computer can work on it automatically without human interventions
2) Speed: Computer can perform data processing jobs very fast, usually measured in microseconds
(10-6), nanoseconds (10-9), and picoseconds (10--12)
3) Accuracy: Accuracy of a computer is consistently high and the degree of its accuracy depends
upon its design.
4) Diligence: Computer is free from monotony, tiredness, and lack of concentration. It can
continuously work for hours without creating any error and without grumbling
5) Versatility: Computer is capable of performing almost any task, if the task can be reduced to a
finite series of logical steps
6) Power of Remembering: Computer can store and recall any amount of information, because of its
secondary storage capability. It forgets or looses certain information only when it is asked to do so
7) No I.Q.: A computer does only what it is programmed to do. It cannot take its own decision in this
regard
8) No Feelings: Computers are devoid of emotions. Their judgment is based on the instructions given
to them in the form of programs that are written by programmer. I BSc Computer Fundamentals and
Programming in C UNIT 1

1.3 Evolution and History of Computers

 Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical adding machine in 1642
 Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz invented the first calculator for multiplication in 1671
 Keyboard machines originated in the United States around 1880
 Around 1880, Herman Hollerith came up with the concept of punched cards that were extensively
used as input media until late 1970s
 Charles Babbage is considered to be the father of modern digital computers
 He designed “Difference Engine” in 1822
 He designed a fully automatic analytical engine in 1842 for performing basic arithmetic functions
 His efforts established a number of principles that are fundamental to the design of any digital
computer-

1.4 Types of Computers

Followings are the types of computers
i. Microcomputer
ii. Minicomputer
iii. Mainframe computer
iv. Supercomputer
v. Workstation
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i. Microcomputer:
 Microcomputer is also known as a personal computer.
 It is a general-purpose computer that is designed for individual use.
 It has a microprocessor as a central processing unit, memory, storage area, input unit and output
unit.
 Laptops and desktop computers are examples of microcomputers.
 They are suitable for personal work that may be making an assignment, watching a movie, or at
office for office work.

Characteristics of a microcomputer:
o It is the smallest in size among all types of computers.
o A limited number of software can be used.
o It is designed for personal work and applications. Only one user can work at a time.
o It is less expansive and easy to use.
o It does not require the user to have special skills or training to use it.
o Generally, comes with single semiconductor chip.
o It is capable of multitasking such as printing, scanning, browsing, watching videos, etc.

ii. Minicomputer:
 It is a midsize multiprocessing computer.
 It consists of two or more processors and can support 4 to 200 users at one time.
 Minicomputers are used in institutes and departments for tasks such as billing, accounting and
inventory management.
 A minicomputer lies between the mainframe and microcomputer as it is smaller than mainframe
but larger than a microcomputer.

Characteristics of minicomputer:
o It is light weight that makes it easy to carry and fit anywhere.
o It is less expensive than mainframe computers.
o It is very fast compared to its size.
o It remains charged for a long time.
o It does not require a controlled operational environment.

iii. Mainframe computer:

 Mainframe computers are designed to support hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously.
 They can support multiple programs at the same time. It means they can execute different
processes simultaneously.
 These features of mainframe computers make them ideal for big organizations like banking and
telecom sectors, which need to manage and process high volume of data.

Characteristics of Mainframe Computers:

o It can process huge amount of data, e.g. millions of transactions in a second in the banking sector.
o It has a very long life. It can run smoothly for up to 50 years after proper installation.
o It gives excellent performance with large scale memory management.
o It has the ability to share or distribute its workload among other processors and input/output
terminals.
o There are fewer chances of error or bugs during processing in mainframe computers. If any error
occurs it can fix it quickly without affecting the performance.
o It has the ability to protect the stored data and other ongoing exchange of information and data.

iv. Super computer:

 Supercomputers are the biggest and fastest computers.
 They are designed to process huge amount of data.
 A supercomputer can process trillions of instructions in a second.
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 It has thousands of interconnected processors.

 Supercomputers are particularly used in scientific and engineering applications such as weather
forecasting, scientific simulations and nuclear energy research.
 The first supercomputer was developed by Roger Cray in 1976.

Characteristics or applications of supercomputers:

o It has the ability to decrypt your password to enhance protection for security reasons.
o It produces excellent results in animations.
o It is used for virtual testing of nuclear weapons and critical medical tests.
o It can study and understand climate patterns and forecast weather conditions
o It helps in designing the flight simulators for pilots at the beginner level for their training.
o It helps in extracting useful information from data storage centers or cloud system. For example, in
insurance companies.
o It has played a vital role in managing the online currency world such as stock market and bitcoin.
o It helps in the diagnosis of various critical diseases and in producing accurate results in brain
injuries, strokes, etc.
o It helps in scientific research areas by accurately analyzing data obtained from exploring the solar
system, satellites, and movement of Earth.
o It also used in a smog control system where it predicts the level of fog and other pollutants in the
atmosphere.

v. Workstation:
 Workstation is a single user computer that is designed for technical or scientific applications.
 It has a faster microprocessor, a large amount of RAM and high speed graphic adapters.
 It generally performs a specific job with great expertise; accordingly, they are of different types such
as graphics workstation, music workstation and engineering design workstation.

Characteristics of workstation computer:

o It is a high-performance computer system designed for a single user for business or professional
use.
o It has larger storage capacity, better graphics, and more powerful CPU than a personal computer.
o It can handle animation, data analysis, CAD, audio and video creation and editing.

1.5 Basic Organization of a Digital Computer

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 Input Unit: A input unit of a computer system performs the following functions:
 It accepts (or reads) instructions and data from outside world
 It converts these instructions and data in computer acceptable form
 It supplies the converted instructions and data to the computer system for further processing
 Output Unit: An output unit of a computer system performs the following functions:
I BSc Computer Fundamentals and Programming in C UNIT 1
Arpitha K, Dept. of CS Mandya University, Mandya 6

 It accepts the results produced by the computer, which are in coded form and hence, cannot be
easily understood by us
 It converts these coded results to human acceptable (readable) form
 It supplies the converted results to outside world
 Central Processing Unit:
 It is the brain of a computer system
 It is responsible for controlling the operations of all other units of a computer system
 Arithmetic Logic Unit: Arithmetic Logic Unit of a computer system is the place where the actual
executions of instructions take place during processing operation
 Control Unit: Control Unit of a computer system manages and coordinates the operations of all
other components of the computer system
 Storage Unit: The storage unit of a computer system holds (or stores) the following :
 Data and instructions required for processing (received from input devices)
 Intermediate results of processing
 Final results of processing, before they are released to an output device
 There are two types of storage - primary and secondary storage

Primary storage
 Used to hold running program instructions
 Used to hold data, intermediate results, and results of ongoing processing of job(s)
 Fast in operation
 Small Capacity
 Expensive
 Volatile (loses data on power dissipation)

Secondary 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
 Non Volatile (Retains data even without power)

Software is a set of instructions, data, or programs that run on a device to operate

computers and perform specific tasks. It's the opposite of hardware, which is the physical part of a
compute
There are 3 types of software, they are
i. Application software
ii. System software
iii. Utility software

i. Application software:-
 It is a group of program designed to accomplish a single task or a group of related tasks
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 Ex: Power point, MS word etc

ii. System software:

 It is a background software that enables the application software to interact with each other
 It acts as interface between hardware and user application-
 Ex: windows XP, windows 7, etc

iii. Utility software:

 An application software that assist system software in doing their work is called utility software
 Ex: Antivirus software, backup software, etc
I BSc Computer Fundamentals and Programming in C UNIT 1
Arpitha K, Dept. of CS Mandya University, Mandya 16
III> Utility software
 Utility software refers to software programs that add functionally to program that add functionality
to computer and helps to perform in better way

 Utility software mainly focuses on how computer infrastructure such as hardware, operating
system, software etc, operates

 Utility software easier to build than system software

 Utility software depends on the specifications of the system.

 Utility software can be downloaded either from web or comes pre-installed

 Utility Software is mostly free to install in computer.

 Examples of utility software are: Avast antivirus, disk tools, backup software etc.

6. COMPUTER LANGUAGES
There are 3 categories of computer languages:
i. Machine level language
ii. Assembly level language
iii. High level language
6.1 Machine level language
 This is the only language that the computer understands without using a translation program
I BSc Computer Fundamentals and Programming in C UNIT 1
Arpitha K, Dept. of CS Mandya University, Mandya 17

 Normally written as strings of binary 1’s and 0’s

 A typical machine language instruction format

 OPCODE tells the computer which operation to perform from the instruction set of the computer
 OPERAND tells the address of the data on which the operation is to be performed
 Sample machine language program

 Advantages of machine language:

 It can be executed very fast
 Disadvantages of machine language:
 Machine dependent
 Difficult to program
 Error prone
 Difficult to modify
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6.2 Assembly level language

 It overcomes the limitations of machine language programming by
 Using alphanumeric mnemonic codes instead o-f numeric codes for the instructions in the
instruction set

Ex: using ADD instead of 1110(binary) or 14(decimal) for instruction to add I BSc Computer
Fundamentals and Programming in C UNIT 1
Arpitha K, Dept. of CS Mandya University, Mandya 18

 Allowing storage locations to be represented in the form of alphanumeric address instead of

numeric addresses

Ex: representing memory locations 1000, 1001, and 1002 as FRST, SCND, and ANSR respectively
 Providing pseudo-instructions that are used for instructing the system how we want the program to
be assembled inside the computer’s memory
 An example program of assembly language as shown below

Planning the Computer Program: C

Techniques of Problem Solving:
1. Algorithm: The term algorithm refers to the logic of the program. It is a step by step
description of how to arrive at a solution to a given problem
The characteristics of an Algorithm are as follow:
1. Each instruction should be precise and unambiguous.
2. No instruction should repeat infinitely.
3. It should give the correct result at the end.
Advantages of an algorithm
1. It is a step-by-step representation of a solution to a given problem ,which is very easy to
understand
2. It has got a definite procedure.
3. It is independent of programming language.
4. It is easy to debug as every step got its own logical sequence.
Disadvantages of an algorithm
1. It is time consuming process.
2. It is difficult to show branch and looping in the algorithm
Some Examples of algorithms:

Some Examples of algorithms:

Example 1 : Write an algorithm to print „Good Morning‟.

Step 1: Start
Step2: Print „Good Morning‟
Step 3: Stop
Example 2 :
Write an algorithm to find area of a rectangle.
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Take length and breadth and store them as L and B?
Step 3: Multiply by L and B and store it in area Step
4: Print area
Step 5: Stop
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Flow chart
Flowchart is a program designing tool in which standard graphical symbols
are used that illustrates the sequence of operations to be performed to
solve a given problem. In other words, it is a pictorial representation of an
algorithm or a process. It is also known as the Flow Diagram. In a Flowchart
the commands or statements of algorithm are shown as a special type of
shapes. Different types of shapes are used for different types of statements,
and within those figures, that statement is written briefly. These shapes are
connected with each other with the help of arrows, which show the flow of
operation or processing.

Types of Flowcharts

There are many types of flowcharts, each is designed to represent different

kinds of processes and information. Some common types of flowcharts are:
 Process Flowchart: It represents the sequence of steps in a process. They
are frequently used in business process modeling, manufacturing, and
project management
 Swimlane Flowchart: It organizes the process into different lanes, each
representing a different person or department and is used for illustrating
how different teams or departments collaborate within a process
 Workflow Diagram: It represents how tasks, documents, or information
move through a system and is commonly used in office processes or
software development
 Data Flow Diagram (DFD): It focuses on detailing the inputs, processes,
and outputs. Used in system design and analysis to model the flow of
data within a system
 Decision Flowchart: It focuses on mapping out decision points within a
process and the possible outcomes of each decision. It is used in
decision-making scenarios

Symbols Used In Flowchart

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Symbol Purpose Description

Indicates the
flow of logic
Flow line by
connecting
symbols.

Represents
Terminal(Stop/ the start and
Start) the end of a
flowchart.

Used for
input and
Input/Output
output
operation.

Used for
arithmetic
operations
Processing
and data-
manipulation
s.

Used for
decision
making
Decision
between two
or more
alternatives.

Used to join
On-page
different
Connector
flowline

Used to
connect the
Off-page flowchart
Connector portion on a
different
page.

Represents a
group of
statements
Predefined
performing
Process/Function
one
processing
task.
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Examples of flowcharts in programming

1. Add two numbers entered by the user.

2. Find the largest among three different numbers entered by the user.

Pseudocode is a way of writing or describing programming code or algorithms in

a natural language such as English. Pseudocode cannot be compiled nor executed as it is
only meant to be read by humans. It is also known as 'false code' or 'representation of
code.
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Pseudocode is a way to describe an algorithm or computer program without using a

specific programming language or syntax. It's often used as a rough draft for coding
projects, and is written in a way that's easy to understand for programmers of any skill
level.
Here are some tips for writing pseudocode:
 Use simple language: Use everyday language and simple terms to make the
algorithm easy to understand.
 Focus on the algorithm: Focus on the algorithm itself, not how it's implemented.
 Break down the problem: Break the problem into smaller, more manageable steps.
 Use indentation: Use indentation to improve readability, especially when enclosing
instructions within a loop or conditional clause.
 Write one statement per line: Limit each line to one statement.
 Include essential details: Clearly describe the algorithm's inputs, outputs, and
necessary steps.
 Keep it concise: Avoid long or complex explanations.
 Avoid computer language words: Avoid words that are associated with a specific
computer language.