Computer Programming

[ECEg-1052]

Chapter One:
Computer Systems Overview

Compiled by Amanuel Z.(MSc.)

Outline
 Introduction
 Functional Components of a computer system and organization
 Hardware and Software
 How Computers Store Data
 Introduction
What is a Computer?
 An electronic device operating under the control of
instructions stored in its own memory unit.

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Cont’d...
 An electronic device that stores and process data, in
doing so:
➔
Receive data (input)
➔
Processes data arithmetically and logically
➔
Produce information (output) from the processing
➔
Store information (output) for future use

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 The four operations are referred to as the information
processing cycle:
➔
Input,
➔
Process,
➔
Output, and
➔
Storage.
 Computers transform raw data into information.

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Types of Computer
 Based on their task or purpose.
➔
General purpose computers:- may be applied to any solvable
problem
Example: Personal Computer(PC)
➔
Special purpose computers: designed for a particular purpose or
task.
Example: Calculator
 Based on their size and performance.
➔
Microcomputers ➔
Mainframe computers
➔
Minicomputers ➔
Supercomputers

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 Functional Components of a
computer system and organization
 Regardless of the type of operation to be performed,
the work of a computer can be characterized as an
input → process → output model:
➔
The input stage is performed by the Input Unit
➔
The process stage is performed by the Central
Processing Unit
➔
The output stage is performed by the Output Unit

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Input Unit
➔
Accept data from external source and convert it to signals
sent to the CPU.
➔
Is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a
computer.

Examples of input devices:

➔
Keyboard
➔
Mouse Mouse
➔
Scanner
Scanner
➔
Touch Screen Input

Keyboard 8
Cont’d...

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

 Is the “brain” of the computer.
 It retrieves instructions from memory and executes them.
 The CPU has two main parts, these are:
➔
The Control Unit
➔
The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

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The Control Unit


The control unit controls and coordinates the actions
of the other components.

It controls the fetching of instructions from the main
memory and the execution of the instructions.

It also controls input and output devices and passes
data to the second component, the ALU.

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Cont’d...

The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

 The arithmetic/logic unit performs:
➔
numeric operations
•
addition,
•
subtraction,
•
multiplication,
•
division
➔
logical operations
•
comparisons 11
Cont’d...
Output Unit
 Accept signals from the CPU and output the data to the end user.
 Make the information resulting from processing available for use
 Examples of Output Devices:
✔ Printers
✔ Computer Screens (Display Unit) (Monitor)
✔ Speakers
✔ Plotter

Monitor Printers Speakers 12

Cont’d...
Memory
 Often called main memory or Primary memory.
 It consists of two types:
➔
ROM(Read Only Memory)
➔
RAM(Random Access Memory)

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Random Access Memory or RAM
Stores:

Instructions waiting to be executed

Data needed by those instructions

Results of processed data

RAM requires continuous power to maintain its
information, therefore if the computer loses power, any
unsaved information in RAM will be lost.

RAM is temporary.

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ROM - Read Only Memory


Contains permanent programs

Power up test programs and bootstrap loader which loads
the operating system of the disk.

Since the main memory is temporary, secondary
memory space is needed to store data and information
permanently for later use.

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Cont’d...

Hardware components of a computer and main memory

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Buses:
The pathways that allow “data” and other communications to travel inside the
computer.

Data bus carries data to be processed

Address bus carries the location where the data is to be located during
processing.

Control bus carries the signals between the processor and other devices.
Memory
Memory

Input Central
Input Centralprocessing
processingunit
unit(CPU)
(CPU) Output
Output

Disk
Disk Disk
Disk
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 Hardware and Software
 A computer system consists of hardware and software for its
proper function.
Hardware
➔
The term hardware refers to all of the physical devices, or
components, that a computer is made of.
➔
A computer is not one single device, but a system of
devices that all work together.
Software
➔
Software are programs written to perform specific tasks.
➔
For example, word processors are programs that you use to
write letters, papers, and even books.
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 There are two general categories of software:
➔
System software and
➔
Standalone (application software).

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System software

Control the computer.

The system program that loads first when you turn on
your PC is called the operating system.

Without an operating system, the computer is useless.

The operating system monitors the overall activity of the
computer and provides services.

Some of these services include memory management,
input/output activities, and storage management.

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Standalone (application software)
 Perform a specific task.
For examples
➔
Word processors,
➔
Spreadsheets, and
➔
Games
 The operating system is the program that runs
application programs.

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 How Computers Store Data

When you press A on your keyboard, the computer
displays A on the screen.

But what is actually stored inside the computer’s main
memory?

What is the language of the computer?

How does it store whatever you type on the keyboard?

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
Electrical signals are used inside the computer to process
information.

There are two types of electrical signals: analog and digital.
Analog signals
➔
are continuous wave forms used to represent such things
as sound.
➔
Audio tapes, for example, store data in analog signals.
Digital signals
➔
Represent information with a sequence of 0 s & 1 s.
➔
A 0 represents a low voltage, and a 1 represents a high
voltage.
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
Computers use digital signals.

The language of a computer, called machine language,
is a sequence of 0 s and 1 s.

Every letter, number, or special symbol (such as * or
{ ) on your keyboard is encoded as a sequence of bits,
each having a unique representation.

The most commonly used encoding scheme on
personal computers is the seven-bit American Standard
Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

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American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

The ASCII data set consists of 128 characters numbered 0 through
127.

That is, in the ASCII data set, the position of the first character is 0,
the position of the second character is 1, and so on.

In fact, A is the 66th character in the ASCII character code, but its
position is 65 because the position of the first character is 0.

Inside the computer, every character is represented as a sequence of
eight bits, that is, as a byte.

Now the eight-bit binary representation of 65 is 01000001.

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Note

The number system that we use in our daily life is
called the decimal system, or base 10.

Because everything inside a computer is represented as
a sequence of 0s and 1s, that is, binary numbers, the
number system that a computer uses is called binary,
or base 2.

We indicated in the preceding paragraph that the
number 1000001 is the binary representation of 65.

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Cont’d...

There are other encoding schemes, such as


EBCDIC (used by IBM) - consists of 256 characters.

Unicode - consists of 65,536 characters.

To store a character belonging to Unicode, you need
two bytes.

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Thank You !

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