St.

PAUL’S DEGREE & PG COLLEGE

(Affiliated to Osmania University)
Street No. 8, Himayathnagar, Hyderabad. Ph.No: 27602533

B.Com (IT) - I Year I Semester

Unit – I
Introduction to Computers:

Introduction to Computers: Definition, Characteristics & Limitations of Computers,

Functional Block Diagram of Digital Computer, Functions Of Control Unit and ALU in CPU
Concepts Of Primary and Secondary Memory, Input / Output Devices.

Meaning of a Computer:
Computer is a machine that can solve problems by accepting data performing certain operations
and presenting the results of those operations under the direction of detailed step- by-step
instructions. Such a set of sequenced instructions, which cause a computer to performparticular
operations, is called a program. The term computer has been derived from theword
“COMPUTE” which means calculate.

Definition of a computer
Computer is an electronic device, used for performing calculations and controlling operations
that be either expressed in logical or numerical terms.
The three main operations of computer are
1) Takes in data and instructions (input)
2) works with the data (processing)
3) puts out information (output)

Characteristics of a Computer:
The following are the main characteristics of a computer-
1. Speed
2. Accuracy
3. Reliable
4. Storage capacity
5. Versatile
6. Automatic (Programmable)
7. Diligent
8. Recreation
9. Networking capacity
10. Compactness
 Limitations of A Computer:
Like any modern technology computers is also not free from limitations-
➢ Computer is a machine and therefore it is only a device that needs human skill to
operate.
➢ It does not work on its own and needs set of instructions to be given.
➢ It does not have natural intelligence and hence has to be instructed about every
step in detail.
➢ It is not a decision maker and has to be programmed to take an action if some
conditions prevail.
➢ Finally it does not learn by experience unlike intelligent human beings.

History of computer:
The first counting device was used by the primitive people. They used sticks, stones
and bones as counting tools. As human mind and technology improved with time more computing
devices were developed. Some of the popular computing devices starting with the first to recent ones are
described below;

• Abacus- The history of computer begins with the birth of abacus which is believed
to be the first computer. It is said that Chinese invented Abacus around 4,000 years ago.
It was a wooden rack which has metal rods with beads mounted on them. The beads
were moved by the abacus operator according to some rules to perform arithmetic
calculations. Abacus is still used in some countries like China, Russia and Japan.

• Napier's Bones -It was a manually-operated calculating device which was

invented by John Napier (1550-1617) of Merchiston. In this calculating tool, he used 9
different ivory strips or bones marked with numbers to multiply and divide. So, the tool
became known as "Napier's Bones. It was also the first machine to use the decimal
point.

• Pascaline- Pascaline is also known as Arithmetic Machine or Adding Machine. It

was invented between 1642 and 1644 by a French mathematician-philosopher Biaise
Pascal. It is believed that it was the first mechanical and automatic calculator.
Pascal invented this machine to help his father, a tax accountant. It could only perform addition and
subtraction. It was a wooden box with a series of gears and wheels. When a wheel is rotated one
revolution, it rotates the neighbouring wheel. A series of windows is given on the top of the wheels to
read the totals. An image of this tool is shown below;
• Stepped Reckoner or Leibnitz wheel:
It was developed by a German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz in 1673. He
improved Pascal's invention to develop this machine. It was a digital mechanical calculator which was
called the stepped reckoner as instead of gears it was made of fluted drums. See the following image;
• Difference Engine: In the early 1820s, it was designed by Charles Babbage who is known
as "Father of Modern Computer". It was a mechanical computer which could perform simple
calculations. It was a steam driven calculating machine designed to solve tables of numbers like
logarithm tables.
 • Analytical Engine:
This calculating machine was also developed by Charles Babbage in 1830. It was a mechanical
computer that used punch-cards as input. It was capable of solving any mathematical problem
and storing information as a permanent memory.

• Tabulating Machine
It was invented in 1890, by Herman Hollerith, an American statistician. It was a mechanical
tabulator based on punch cards. It could tabulate statistics and record or sort data or
information. This machine was used in the 1890 U.S. Census. Hollerith also started the
Hollerith also Tabulating Machine Company which later became International Business
Machine (IBM) in 1924
• Differential Analyzer
It was the first electronic computer introduced in the United States in 1930. It was an analog device
invented by Vannevar Bush. This machine has vacuum tubes to switch electrical signals to perform
calculations. It could do 25 calculations in few minutes.

• Mark I
The next major changes in the history of computer began in 1937 when Howard Aiken planned to
develop a machine that could perform calculations involving large numbers. In 1944, Mark I computer
was built as a partnership between IBM and Harvard. It was the first programmable digital computer.

Generation of computers:

❖ First Generation of Computers-

The first generation used vacuum tube technology and were built
between 1946 and 1959. Vacuum tubes were expensive and produced a lot of
heat, which made these computers very expensive and only affordable to large
organizations.
Here are two of the main advantages of first generation:
• The first generation was tough to hack and was quite strong.
• The first generation could perform calculations quickly, in just one-thousandth of a second.
Here are two of the main disadvantages of first generation:
• They consumed high amounts of energy/electricity.
• They were not portable due to their weight and size.

❖Second Generation of Computers-

The second generation of computers was developed in the late 1950s and 1960s. These
computers replaced vacuum tubes with transistors making them smaller, faster and more
efficient. This was done as transistors were more reliable than vacuum tubes, required less
maintenance and generated less heat.
Here are two of the main advantages of second generation:
• They provided better speed and improved accuracy.
• Computers developed in this era were smaller, more reliable, and capable of using less power.
 Here are two of the main disadvantages of second generation:
• They were only used for specific objectives and required frequent maintenance.
• The second generation of computer used punch cards for input, which required frequent
maintenance.

❖ Third Generation of Computers-

The third generation of computers emerged between 1964 and 1971. This
generation used microchips or integrated circuits, making it possible to create
smaller, cheaper, and much faster computers.
Here are two of the main advantages of third generation:
• The use of integrated circuits made them more reliable.
• Smaller in size and required less space than previous generations.
Here are two of the main disadvantages of third generation:
• Advanced technology was needed to manufacture IC chips.
• Formal training was necessary to operate third-gen computers.

❖ Fourth Generation of Computers -

Fourth generation computers were developed in 1972 after third generation that used
microprocessors. They used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits, which
contained about 5000 transistors capable of performing complex activities and
computations.
Here are two of the main advantages of fourth generation:
• Fourth generation computers were smaller and more dependable.
• GUI (Graphics User Interface) technology was used in this generation to provide users with
better comfort.
Here are two of the main disadvantages of fourth generation:
• They use complex VLSI Chips, and VLSI Chip manufacturing requires advanced technology.
• To build these computers, Integrated Circuits (ICs) were required, and to develop those,
cutting-edge technology was needed
 ❖ Fifth Generation of Computers-
The fifth generation of computers emerged after the fourth generation and is still being
developed. Computers of fifth generation use artificial intelligence (AI) to perform
various tasks. These computers use programming languages such as Python, R, C#, Java,
etc., as input methods.
Here are two of the main advantages of fifth generation:
• These computers are lightweight and easy to move around.
• They are easier to repair and parallel processing technology has improved in these computers.
Here are two of the main disadvantages of fifth generation:
• Using it for spying on people.
• Fear of unemployment due to AI replacing jobs.
Here are the examples of the fifth generation:
• Laptop
• Desktop
• NoteBook
• Chromebook
❖ Comparison of computer Generations:

Elements of a Computer:
A computer consists of three basic elements/components such as hardware, software and
memory.
Hardware:
✓ The physical devices that make up a computer are referred to as hardware.
✓ It includes the tangible aspects of computers and can be touched such as mouse, printers,
monitor, microphone, scanner etc..

Software:
✓ The software of the computer includes operating system which executes all the programs
 and instructions given by the user.
✓ The computer software itself is categorized into two

1. System Software
➢ It is collection of programs designed to operate, control, and extend the processing
capabilities of the computer itself. System software are generally prepared by
computer manufactures. These software products comprise of programs written in
low-level languages which interact with the hardware at a very basic level. System
software serves as the interface between hardware and the end users.
➢ Includes the software execution by the computer itself such as Windows and
DOS.

2. Application Software
➢ Application software products are designed to satisfy a particular need of a
particular environment.
➢ Application software may consist of a single program, such as a Microsoft'snotepad
for writing and editing simple text. It may also consist of a collection of programs,
often called a software package, which work together to accomplish a task, such as
a spreadsheet package.
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM OF COMPUTER:

• A Computer, like a human brain, receives data and instruction, stores them and
processes the data according to the instructions given to it.
• It receives data from input devices, stores them in memory and displays them through
on an output device

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

CPU is the component of computer system with the circuitry to control interpretation and
execution of instructions. It performs the process in parts of Input-Process-Output cycle. The
components of CPU are mounted (Fixed) on the main circuit board, called the “motherboard”.
The various components of a Central Processing Unit are:
1. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU).
2. Control Unit.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

➢ It is that part of CPU where actual data processing occurs.
➢ All mathematical operations (+, -, *, /) and all comparisons (>, <, =) take place in this
unit.
➢ In addition to arithmetic functions, the ALU also performs logic functions.
Control Unit
➢ It is a component of CPU that control and coordinates the flow of data between
different components of computer
➢ It interprets instructions it receives from memory and directs the sequence of events
necessary to execute the instruction.

MEMORY
The memory is that part of the computer where programs and data are stored. There are two
types of memory:
1. Primary Memory
 2. Secondary Memory

INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES:

The CPU provides the means for the fast and efficient processing of data into usable
information. For computer processing, data needs to be entered into the computer (input) and
the result of processing needs to be communicated to the user (output).
Any hardware item which is attached to the main unit of a computer that houses the
CPU is referred to as a Peripheral Device.

➢ INPUT: Input is the process of entering and translating incoming data in machine-
readable form. The data to be entered are often referred as input. Input process involves
data preparation, processing and accuracy checks.
There are two types of input device: manual and automatic.
▪ A Manual Input Device requires a human hand to control i.e. (Mouse,
Keyboard, Scanner, Camera, track ball, joystick, and Graphics tablet.)
▪ An Automatic Input Device inputs data without the need for human
intervention (once the device has been set up), e.g. MICR, OMR, barcode reader,
webcam, microphone.
➢ OUTPUT: The result of processing is also often referred as output.
Output is divided into two general categories:
Output that can be readily understood and used by humans.
Output to secondary storage devices that hold the data to be used as input for further
processing by computer.

INPUT DEVICES:
An input device is a peripheral device through which data are entered and transformed into
machine-readable form. Let us have a look at various input
devices available.

1. Keyboards

Standard keyboard is the most common and familiar input device.

A typical computer keyboard contains all letters, numbers,
symbols of a regular typewriter, plus other keys.

2. Mouse
A mouse is a pointing device. It usually contains one or three
buttons: as the user rolls it on a flat surface, the mouse controls
cursor movement on the screen. When the user presses one ofthe
button operations.
Advantages:
• Easy to use
• Not very expensive
• Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.

3. Joystick
A joystick is a most popular input device used to play video games. A joystick uses
a level to control the position and speed with which the joystick is moved into digital
signals that are sent to the computer to control the cursor movement.

4. Track Ball
A track ball uses a hard sphere to control cursor movement. The ball can be
rotated by hand in any direction. The track ball translated the sphere’s
direction and speed of rotation into a digital signal, used to control the
cursor.

5. Touch Screen
A touch screen registers input when a finger or other object comes in beams
and ultrasonic acoustic waves. Infrared beams crisscross the surface of the
screen and when a light beam is broken, that location is recorded.

6. Light Pen
A light pen is also a pointing device like mouse. It can be used to choose
a displayed menu option. The pen contains a photocell placed in a small
tube. As the user moves the tip of the pen over the surface of the screen,
it detects the light coming from a limited field of view. The light from the
screen causes the photocell to respond and this electric response is
transmitted to the process, which can identify the menu option that is
triggering the photocell. Light pen is useful for graphics work, especially for Computer Aided
Design (CAD) purposes.
7. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is an interpretation by computer of a line of
character written in special magnetic ink. These characters can be read by human eye as well.
There are several advantages associated with the use of MICR:
• Checks may be roughly handled, folded, smeared, and stamped. But they
can still be read with a high degree of accuracy.
• People can easily read the magnetic ink characters.
The main limitation of MICR is that only the 10 digits and 4 special characters
needed for bank processing are used. No alphabetic characters are available.

8. Magnetic strips

They are thin bands of magnetically encoded data that are found at the back of usually, Credit
cards, Debit cards etc. the data stored on the card vary from application to another. Data in
the form of magnetic strips cannot be seen or interpreted by simply looking at the card and so
it can be highly sensitive or personal.

9. Optical Recognition / Scanners

Optical Recognition when a device scans a printed surface and translates the image the scanner
sees into a machine-readable format that is understandable by the computer. Optical
Recognition can be of the following types

i. Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)

It uses mark sensing to scan and translate, based on its location,

which is a series of pen or pencil marks into a computer readable
form. For instance, the objective type multiple choice question
paper we get in the bank recruitment exam. A computerized optical mark reader scores the tests
by identifying the position of the mark

ii. Optical Bar Recognition (OBR)

This is slightly more sophisticated type of optical recognition. An

optical bar reader recognizes and interprets bar codes or product codes
which are arranged to represent data, such as the name of the
manufacturer, and the type of the product etc. on the basis of the width
of the lines. A scanner reads the bar code, and the computer then
matches the price and product.
iii. Optical character recognition (OCR)

This is most sophisticated type of optical recognition. An optical card

reader works in much the same way as a human eye. It recognizes
specially shaped numerical and alphabetic characters.

10. Microphone

A microphone can be attached to a computer to record sound (usually through a sound card
input or circuitry built into the motherboard). The sound is digitized—turned into numbers that
represent the original analog sound waves—and stored in the computer for later processing and
playback.

OUTPUT DEVICES:

An Output Device is a peripheral device that allows a computer to communicate

information to humans or another machine by accepting data from the computer and
transforming them into a usable form.

1. Visual Display Unit (Monitor)

A monitor is a television like device used to display input data or information,allowing
users to view the results of processing. The combination of monitor with thekeyboard is called
a terminal.
Quality of a monitor often judged as in terms of resolution, which is a measure of the
number of picture elements, or pixels, a screen, contains. A pixel is the smallest increment of
a display screen that can be controlled individually. The higher the number of pixels, the clearer
and sharper is the image. Screens for the monitor are of two types:
1. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT): On this type of screen, a data image can be produced by
moving an electron beam across a phosphor-coated screen. CRT has display screen 25
lines of 80 characters each. It is used in most desktop monitors. Some CRT screens
are monochrome (1 color) while other produce many color.
2. Flat Panel Display: To overcome the limitation of CRT like bulky in size, high power
consumption, flickering screen Flat panel display is used. The most common form of
flat panel display is the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), which produces images by
aligning molecular crystals and an LED display which uses an array of light-
emitting diodes as a video display. An LED panel is a small display, or a component
of a larger display.

2. Printer
Produces output usually in the form of text on a paper.
Printers are classified based on the contact between the printer head and the paper into
• Impact printers
• Non Impact printers
 Impact printers:
Impact Printers use a print head containing a number of metal pins which strike an inked
ribbon placed between the print head and the paper.
Printers

Impact printers

Character printer Line printer

Daisy wheel Drum Chain

Dot matrix
printer printer printer
printer

Character Printers: Character printers print character by

character. The different character printers are:
Dot Matrix
Daisy Wheel

Dot Matrix Printer

It uses printer heads containing a 9-24 pins these pins
produced pattern of dots on the paper to form a character.
Dot matrix printers are very popular as they are relatively
inexpensive and typically print at speed of 100-600 characters per second. These printers can
give us draft quality, standard quality and near letter quality prints

Daisy Wheel Printer: This printer gives us letter quality print

but is slow, typically 25 to 55 characters per second. It is a
circular printing element which has a plastic or metal wheel on
which the shape of each character stands out in relief. A hammer
presses the wheel against a ribbon, which in turnmakes an ink
stain in the shape of the character on the paper. Daisy-wheel
printers produce letter-quality print but cannotprint graphics.

Line Printers: The line printer is a form of high speed impact printer in which one line of
type is printed at a time. Print speeds of 600 to 1200 lines-per-minute (approximately 10 to
20 pages per minute. Types of line printers
 • Drum Printer
• Chain Printer

Typical typeface of a drum printer with staggered characters.

A fixed font character set is engraved onto the periphery of a number of print wheels.
The wheels, joined to form a large drum (cylinder), spin at high speed and paper and an inked
ribbon is stepped (moved) past the print position. As the desired character for each column
passes the print position, a hammer strikes the paper from the rear and presses the paper against
the ribbon and the drum, causing the desired character to be recorded on the continuous paper.

Non Impact Printers:

Non-impact printers are much quieter than impact printers as their printing heads do not
strike the paper. The main types of non-impact printer are:
– Thermal Printer
– Laser Printer
– Ink Jet Printer
1. Thermal Printer
Characters are formed by heated elements being placed in contact with special heat
sensitive paper forming darkened dots when the elements reach a critical temperature.
2. Laser Printer
When speed and quality are required and cost is no factor
a laser printer is the solution. They produce images on paper by
directing a laser beam at a minor, which bounces the beam on to
a drum. The laser leaves a negative charge on the drum to which
positively charged black toner powder will stick. As the paper
rolls by the drum, the toner is transferred to the paper. Laser
printer uses buffer to store an entire page at a time that is why
they print very fast at rate of approximately 21,000 lines or 437
pages per minute.
3. Ink-Jet Printer
Ink-Jet printer forms character on paper by spraying ink
from tiny nozzles through an electrical field that arranges the
charged ink particles into characters at the rate of approximately
250 characters per second. The ink is absorbed into the paper and
dries instantly. Various colors of ink can be used. Although
this might sound like a messy way of printing, ink-jet printers are reliable, but expensive.

3. Plotter
A Plotter reproduces drawings using pen that are attached
to movable arms. The pens are directed across the surface of a
stationary piece of paper. High quality bar graphs, pie charts created with a plotter
give a verygood quality product.

4. Sound Card and Speakers

A sound card captures sounds and changes

them into digital binary numbers that are stored
as files in your computer.

When outputting
sounds the sound
card reverses the
process and changes
binary data held in
the sound files into
analogue signals
thatare used control
the
speakers attached to the computer. Speakers convert
analogue audio signals into the equivalent air vibrations in order to make audible sound.
A pair of speakers plugs into the computer’s sound card.

5. Projector
Projector may refer to:
• Image projector, a device that projects an image on
a surface 3D projection, a method of mapping
three- dimensional points to a two-dimensional
plane.
• Video projector, a device that projects a video
signalfrom computer, home theater system etc.
• Movie projector, a device that projects moving
pictures from a filmstrip Slide projector.