BASICS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM.

What was the quote of Albert Einstein?

“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid: humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant:
together they are powerful beyond imagination. ” – Albert Einstein

Advantages of the computer are: -

 Computer education enhances creativity and thinking skills of students.

 Computer education provides efficient and better use of technology.
 Computer education provides more job opportunities.
 Computer education proves beneficial for better communication.
 Computer education helps in creating a better education environment.

What is computer?

A computer is an electronic device that performs a function based on given set of instructions called a program.
Programs enable computers to perform an extremely wide range of tasks. Without the program they cannot do
anything. A computer accepts data, processes it and produces information.

What is processing data?

The process of turning data into information to increase their usefulness and adding values for particular
purpose is known as data processing.

Some features of the computers are: -

o Speed: - computers can carry out millions of instructions per second. The speed of computer is denoted
as nanosecond and picosecond.
o Accuracy: computers work at a very high speed without losing accuracy.
o Versatility: computers can do different types of tasks efficiently.
o Storage capacity computers have the ability to store data and programs.

Evolution of computer: -

Names Inventor Year Uses

Abacus: Mesopotamian people | 3500BC | used to perform simple calculation.

Napier’s Bone: John Napier | 17th century | multiplication of any numbers.

Pascal’s machine: Blaise Pascal | 1642 | add & subtract, multiply through repeated
addition/subtraction.

Leibnitz’s calculator: Gottfried Leibnitz| 1671 | multiplication and division.

Jacquard’s Loom: Joseph Jacquard | 1801 | multiplication & division use of punch card.

Babbage Diff. Engine: Charles Babbage |1833 | all your arithmetic operations.

Hollerith’s Machine: Herman Hollerith | 1887 | used punched card for storage.

Mark I: American Computer Engineer | 1943 | pre – programed instructions automatically.

What does computer of different generation refer?

Generation of computer refers to the different advancements of computer technology. It is often used in
relation to the hardware of computers.

There are five different generations of computer.

First generation computers (1939 - 1954):

 They use vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for storage.
 They were larger in size as the size of the room.
 They were very expensive and used only in scientific purposes.
 It can be programmed in machine languages.
 It is consist of only 0s and 1s.
 They can solve one problem at a time.
 Input was fed using punched cards and paper taps and output was generated as printouts.

Second generation computer (1955 - 64):

 They were manufactured using transistor.

 Transistors were highly reliable compared to tubes.
 Those computers were more powerful, more reliable, less expensive and smaller than first generation.
 Magnetic Disk and Magnetic tapes were the main secondary storage of the second generation.
 They are moved towards symbolic or assembly languages.
 For examples: IBM604, IBM1401,etc

Third generation computer (1965 - 1975):

 They replaced transistors with Integrated Circuits (IC), known as chips.

 Integrated chips boost up increased the speed and efficiency of computers.
 They were more powerful, more reliable, relatively less expensive and faster.
 For example: IBM’s 360 series and 370 series.

Fourth generation computer (1976 – present):

 They are replaced with microprocessor instead of chips.

 Microprocessor was lunched in fourth – generation computers.
 They are more powerful, compact, reliable and affordable.
 Semiconductor memories are replaced with the magnetic core memories.
 It gave raise to personal computers (PC).
 It is faster accessing and processing speeds and increased memory capacity helped in new OS.
 GUI made more use- friendly.

Fifth generation computers (Present – Beyond):

 It was initiative by Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (1982).

 It is based on artificial intelligence (AI).
 AI is the emerging brunches in computer science. Its method is to make computer think like humans.
 Parallel processing and superconductor technology have made AI a reality.
 A superconductor is a conductor through which electricity can travel without any resistance resulting
faster transfer of information.
 They are still in development.

Uses of the computers are:

 1. Education: computers are used in sector for taking online classes, online examination, etc.
2. Home: computers are used at homes for several purposes like watching movies, online bill payment, etc.
3. Government: computers are used to keep records on legislative actions, Internal Revenue Services, etc.
4. Communication: computers are used to communicate through e-mails, chat and video conferencing.
5. Entertainment: computers are used to listen to music, watch movies online, play games and many more.

Limitations of computers:

The computer system does not have the power to take decisions on their own because they do the
process all essentials of making. They can program to make decisions. They are programmed to complete each
and every task. They can do any type of task; all that is requires is the right program to do it.

Computers have five major operations:

1. Accepting data or instructions.

2. Processing.
3. Storing data.
4. Displaying results.
5. Controlling and coordinating all operations inside a computer.

Input Unit:

The input unit consists of input devices that are attached to the computer. Examples: keyboards, mouse, etc.

Output Unit:

The output unit consists of the output devices attached to the computer. Examples: monitor, `CPU, etc.

What do we mean by CPU?

The CPU is the brain of the computer system. All calculation and comparisons are made inside the CPU and the
CPU is also responsible for activating and controlling the operating of other units of a computer system.

The CPU consists of three basic components:

a. Arithmetic and logic Unit (ALU).

b. Control Unit (CU).
c. Registers.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): The ALU does arithmetic calculation and takes logical decisions. Some
of the operation of the arithmetic are (+, -, x, /) and logical (<, >, =,<=, >=) operations.

Control Unit: the control unit of a computer system manages and coordinates the operations of all the
other components of the computer system.

Types of memory:

1. Internal memory: all computers have internal memory to store programs and data while the
computer is running.
It has two different types of memory:
 RAM (Random Access Memory): It holds data, programs and instructions for
computer. The CPU can access data directly from RAM almost immediately. It is also
called read/write memory. It is a volatile memory.
 ROM (Read Only Memory): Information once stored remains fixed, it cannot be
changed. It can be only read and used. It is a non-volatile memory. E.g, PROM, etc.
2. External Memory: it is a permanent storage for data and programs for later use. It is a non-
volatile memory. It can store large amount of data.
 Some of the secondary memory devices are:
 Floppy disks: It is a flexible disk with a magnetic coating in. it is one of the oldest types
of portable storage device. Now it is not in use because of its less storage capacity.
 Hard disks: It is a set of disks known as platters, each with its own read/write head. It is
coated with a magnetic material and stacked with space between them. Data is recorded
on the surface of the disks magnetically.
 Blue-ray disks: it is similar to a CD or DVD but can store up-to 17GB of data.

Hardware: it represents to the physical components of a computer system. It can seem or touched. Input
devices, Output devices, etc. are some examples of hardware.

Software: it represents the set of programs that directs the computer hoe to work. It is a set instruction to
perform a specific task. Without this hardware cannot do anything on its own. It is written by programmers
using programming languages.

There are two types of software:

1. System software.
2. Application software.

System software: it is set of programs designed to operate hardware and control the internal operations
of a computer. It makes a platform to run application software. Examples: Utilities, operating system,
etc.

Application software: it is set of programs developed to carry out complete operations for a specific
purpose. Those programs are written by the programmer in programming languages to perform a
specific task. For example: payroll processing software and many more.