Computer

Parts of a computer
• A complete computer system consists of 4
parts
– Hardware
– Software
– Data
– users
 Hardware
• The mechanical devices that make up the
computer.

• Any part of the computer that you can touch.

• Examples: keyboard, mouse, motherboard,

printer, hard disk etc
 Hardware
• Computers hardware devices fall into 4
categories
1. Processor
2. Memory
3. input and output devices
4. Storage devices.
 Software

• Set of instructions or programs that tell the hardware how to

perform a task.

• It is a collection of programs to bring computer hardware

system into operation.

• It is represented in any high-level language such as BASIC,

COBOL, C, C++, JAVA, etc.

• Software instructions are programmed in a computer language,

translated into machine language, and executed by computer
 Software

• Software can be categorized into

– System software: System Software is a set of programs
that control and manage the operations of computer
hardware. Eg: Operating System

– Application software: tells the computer how to

accomplish specific tasks such as word processing,
spreadsheet software, Educational software,
Entertainment software etc
 System Software

• System software operates directly on hardware devices

of computer.

• It provides a platform to run an application.

• It provides and supports user functionality.

• Examples of system software include operating systems

such as Windows, Linux, Unix, etc. and compilers,
assemblers, antivirus etc
 System Software
• System Software is the type of software which is
the interface between application software and
system.

• Low level languages are used to write the

system software.

• The System Software is a general-purpose

software
 Application software
• Allows users to accomplish one or more tasks.

• It is a specific purpose software.

• It is a type of software which runs as per user

request.

• It runs on the platform which is provided by

system software.
 Application software

• High level languages are used to write the

application software.

• It includes word processing, web browsing

and almost any other task for which you might
install software.
 Application software
• Word-processing software:- It makes use of a computer for
creating, modifying, viewing, storing, retrieving, and
printing documents.

• Spreadsheet software:- Spreadsheet software is a numeric

data-analysis tool that allows you to create a
computerized ledger.

• Database software:- A database software is a collection of

related data that is stored and retrieved according to user
demand.
 Application software
• Graphics software:- It allows computer systems for
creating, editing, drawings, graphs, etc.

• Education software:- Education software allows a

computer to be used as a learning and teaching tool.

• Entertainment software:- This type of app allows a

computer to be used as an entertainment tool.
 Firmware

• Firmware is a software program or set of instructions

programmed on a hardware device.

• It is programmed to give permanent instructions to communicate

with other devices and perform functions like basic input/output
tasks.

• Firmware is typically stored in the flash ROM (read only memory)

of a hardware device.

• It can be erased and rewritten.

 Data
• Individual facts or pieces of information that
by themselves may not take much sense to a
person.

• A computers primary job is to process these

tiny pieces of data and convert them into
useful information.
 Users
• No computer is totally autonomous.

• People design, build, program and repair

computer system.
Functional Components of a Computer /
Architecture of a Computer System.
CPU
Functional units of a computer system
• Input Unit.
• Output Unit.
• Central Processing Unit.
– Control Unit
– Arithmetic Logic Unit.
• Memory Unit.
 1. Input Unit
• It connects external devices with computer system.
• It is the device through which information is fed into the
computer.
• Inputs can be data, text, program, audio, video.
• All information is converted into binary or digital form.
• Keyboard is the most commonly used input device.
• Examples are keyboard, Mouse, joystick, OCR, OMR, Magnetic
tape, disk etc.
• It accepts or reads the data and instructions from outside.
• It converts data and instructions into system understandable form.
• These converted instructions will be supplied to the system for
further processing.
 2. Output Unit
• It gives final output to the outside world.
• It converts internal information in a human
understandable form.
• The most commonly used output devices are VDU,
Printers, Plotters etc.
• It accepts the results produced by the system, which
will be of machine understandable form.
• It converts coded results to human readable form.
• It provides the converted results to the outside world.
 3. Central Processing Unit
• The CPU is the brain or nerve center of the
computer system.
• It interprets and carries out instructions.
• Controls and co-ordinates the operations of all
the devices.
• Main function of CPU is to fetch the
instruction from main memory and execute
the programs one by one.
 Control Unit.

• It controls and coordinates the entire activities

inside the CPU.
• It supervises input, process, store, retrieve and
output information.
• It gives instructions to transfer data from primary
memory and to ALU for processing.
• It transfers results from ALU to memory and to the
output unit for printing.
• It stores the program in primary memory and
executes the instructions one by one.
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit.

• All the arithmetic and logical operations are performed by ALU

• Arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division and
• Logical (Boolean) operations like and, or, not.
• It performs comparison operations to make decisions.
• Numbers are usually stored in registers, they are small and
very fast memories.
• Data and addresses are stored as string of binary digits.
• Data and instructions are stored in primary memory before
processing and are transferred to ALU as and when required.
 4. Memory Unit.
• It is the most important part of the computer system.
• It is used for the storage and subsequent retrieval of data and
instructions.
• It stores all the data and instructions to be processed.
• Store intermediate and final results of processing.
• The storage of the computer is known as memory.
• Without memory a computer cannot perform its task automatically.
• Memory of a computer is divided into a number of identical cells of
equal size, is called address or location.
• Data are stored inside the computer in the binary form.
• A bit is a binary digit either 0 or 1.
• Memory is made up of logic circuits or magnetic medias which stores
the digital information.
 Major Characteristics of memory.
Location.
– Internal – Main memory – Always placed with mother board.
– External – Secondary storage – Peripheral storage device.
Capacity.
• Memory is expressed in terms of bytes (1 byte = 8 bits)
• Common word length is 32 or 64 (8 & 16 is also there).
• Main memory capacity is of 4,8,16, 32, 64, 128, 256 MB
• External memory is expressed in terms of Giga bytes.
Method of accessing.
• Sequential Access.
• Random Access.
Speed
• Speed is evaluated on the basis,
• Access Time – Time required to locate and retrieve data from disk.
• Memory cycle time – Minimum time allowed between two successive requests for access.
• Transfer Rate – Rate at which data is transferred into or from memory.
Volatility
• Volatile – RAM – Temporary storage.
• Non-Volatile – ROM –Permanent storage.
Cost per bit of strage
• Cost per bit of storage is less compared to main memory.
 Measuring of Data Storage
Binary digIT (BIT)
• A bit may be either a zero (0) or a one (1). A bit is the smallest piece of information
that a computer can handle with. Electrical voltages have just two status or levels
(high or low). Usually low voltage is 0 and high voltage is 1.
BYTE
• A group of 8 bits is called a byte. In binary one byte is capable of representing
numbers ranging from 0 to 255.
NIBBLE
• A nibble is a string of 4 bits. BCD (Binary coded Decimal) numbers express each
decimal digit as a nibble. 1 byte = 2 nibble.
Measurement of units
• 1 BIT : 0 or 1
• 1 Nibble : 4 Bits
• 1 Byte : 8 BITs
• 1 KB : 1024 bytes (210)
• 1 MB : 1024 KB (220)
• 1 GB : 1024 MB (230)
• 1 TB : 1024 GB