Introduction To Computer
Introduction To Computer
Introduction To Computer
COMPUTER
COMPUTER
The word computer comes from the “compute”, which
means, “ to Calculate”
Hardware
Software
Data
Users
THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF A COMPUTER
SYSTEM
Hardware: It consists of the mechanical parts that make up the compute as a
machine. The hardware consists of physical devices of the computer. Some
hardware devices are keyboard, monitor, hard disk drive, printer, processor and
motherboard etc.
Software: It is a set of instructions that tells the computer about the task to be
performed and how the task is to be performed. Software is also called program.
Program is a set of instructions, written in a language understood by the computer.
The hardware of the computer system can not perform any task on its own.
Software is the life of hardware. Software instructs the computer about the task to
be performed. Different software can be used on the same hardware to performed
different kinds of task.
Data: data are raw facts which by themselves may not
make much sense to a person. Computers process data in
various ways. Computers converting data into
information.
Users: users are people who write computer programs or
interact with the computer. They are also known as
liveware, humanware or peopleware. Programmers, data
entry operators, system analyst and computer hardware
engineers fall into this category.
APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
Computers are used in various areas of our life.
Education, entertainment, sports, advertising, medicine,
science and engineering, government, office and home
are some of the application areas of the computers.
Education: computers are extensively used as a tool for
imparting education. Educators use computers to
prepare their lectures. Computers are used to provide
distance education using the e-learning software and to
conduct online examinations. Researchers use computers
to get access to the research materials.
Entertainment: computers have had a major impact on
the entertainment industry. The user can download and
view movies, play games, book tickets for cinema. The
user can also listen music, share and create music by
using computers.
Sports: a computer can be used to watch a game, view
the scores and play games such as Chess etc.
Business: today’s companies perform basic functions by
using computers such as daily accounting activities,
payroll, inventory management etc. Today’s banks can
not exist without computer technology.
Health care: Computers are making health care more
efficient and accurate. The medical history of patients is
stored in the computers. Computers are also an essential
part of various kinds of sophisticated medical equipments
such as ultrasound machine, MRI machine etc.
Government: the government use computers to mange its
own operations and for e- governance. The websites of
different government departments provide information to
the citizens.
Home: computers have now an essential part of home
equipment. At home, people use computers to
communicate, to play games, to operate small home based
business and so on.
THE INPUT-PROCESS-OUTPUT
CONCEPT
A computer is an electronic device that
(1) accepts data,
(2) processes data,
(3) generates output,
(4) stores data.
Input :The computer accepts input data from the user via an
input device like keyboard. The input data can be
characters, word, text, sound, images, document, etc.
Input/ output Unit: the user interact with the computers via
I/O unit. The input unit accepts data from the users and the
output unit provides information to the users. The input unit
converts data into a form that is understandable by the
computer. Similarly, output unit provides the output in a form
that is understandable by the user. The input is provided to
the computer by using input devices such a keyboard, mouse
etc. the most popular output devices are monitor and printer.
Central Processing Unit: CPU controls, coordinates
and supervises the operations of the computer. It is
responsible for processing of the input data. CPU
consists of Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and Control
Unit (CU).
ALU performs all the arithmetic and logic operations on the
input data.
CU controls the overall operations of the computer.
Memory Unit: Memory unit stores the data,
instructions/program, intermediate results and output,
temporarily, during the processing of data. This memory
is also called the main memory or primary memory of
the computer.