CHAPTER TWO

2 COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

Group 1
2.1 Computer System System is an organized relationship among functioning units or
components. The purpose of computer system is to solve a problem by processing data in to
information. There are many types of data, some of them are:
- Text data: consists of standard alphabets (A – Z, a – z), numbers (0 -9), special characters (%,
$, &, +,* - -) –

Graphic data: consists of stick pictures such as drawings, graphs, photographs etc. –

Audio data: Include any music & voice. –

Video data: consists of motion pictures such as moving clip, pictures of a conference etc.
o Generally computer systems have two components, i.e. hard ware and software.
 Hard ware: is the physical part of a computer that you can see and touch with our hand.
 Software: is the internal component of the computer that used to control, integrating, and
managing the hard ware components and to accomplish specific tasks.
2.1.1 Computer Hard ware:
Hard ware: is the physical part of a computer that you can see and touch with our hand. A hard
ware composed of different units. These are:
- Input device
- Central Processing Unit (CPU)
- Out put device
- Storage unit.
Input Unit: An input device can be defined as an electromechanical device that allows the user
to feed information (data) in to the computer for analysis, storage, and to give commands to the
computer. Data and instruction are entered in to the computer’s main memory through an input
device. Input device captures information and translates it in to a form that can be processed and
used by other parts of the computer. After processing the input data, the computer provides the
result with the help of output devices. Input devices play a major role in the processing of any
data via the computer system because the output of the computer is always based on the given
input. The most common used input devices are: - Keyboard
- Mouse
- Scanner
- Digital camera
Key board: - is the most common data entry device, and has different shapes and size. The keys
on the keyboard are often classified as follows Functional key: assigned specific commands by
the current application. E.g. F1 – help, F2 –setup Alphanumeric keys (typing keys) - Letters and
numbers Punctuation keys - comma, period, semicolon, etc. Special keys- caps lock, spacebar,
shift,enter etc. Control keys- these keys provide cursor and screen control. Eg arrow keys, home,
page down etc. In detail the following are descriptions of the keyboard.
Escape key - Generally used to abort some actions.
Function keys - functions vary from program to program.
Enter key - used to enter commands and to create blank lines in a document.
Backspace key - used to move the cursor backwards, deleting backward.
Tab key - used to access tab stop.
Caps lock key - works like the shift lock. - Key on a typewriter.
Shift key - used to produce upper case letters and sometimes to invoke commands
Control key & Alt key - commonly used in combination with other keys to enter commands e g.
Control home.
Insert key - used to enter characters.
Arrow keys - used to move the cursor around the display screen.
Delete keys - used to delete characters.
Number lock keys - used to activate the numeric keypad.
Print screen keys - used to print the contents of the screen. 18 of 67
 Mouse: is a small hand-held pointing device, which is rectangular-shaped with a rubber ball
embedded at its lower side and buttons on the top. The rubber ball used to move the cursor and
the button used to initiate to do some action, and it has two buttons, the right button and left
button.
- Right click – used to produce a ‘pop-up’ menu.
- Left click – carries out an action, such as starting an application.
Types of mouse
Mechanical - has a rubber or metal ball on its underside that can roll in all directions.
Mechanical sensors within the mouse detect the direction the ball is rolling and move the screen
pointer accordingly.
Opto -mechanical - same as mechanical mouse, but uses optical sensors to detect motion of the
ball.
Optical : it doesn’t have mechanical moving part and uses a laser to detect the mouse’s
movement.
Scanner: is a device that used to convert hard copy in to soft copy form.
- Used to scan or read text and picture and converted them to computer usable form.
- Save the scanned image as a graphic file in the computer.
Digital Camera: - Stores images digitally rather than recording them on a film. Once a picture
has been taken, it can be downloaded to a computer system and then manipulated with an image
editing software.
 Central Processing Unit (CPU) The CPU or the microprocessor (or simply processor) is
referred as the brain of computer system. It controls all internal and external devices, and
performs arithmetic and logical operations. The processor operates only on binary data that is
composed of 1’s and 0’s corresponding to electrical switches ON or OFF. It performs,
supervises, and controls the arithmetic operations (Addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division) and logical functions (such as ‘is A grater than B’?), primary storage, or main memory,
provides the temporary locations inside the computer where the data and instructions are stored
while processed. The functions of the processor can be summarizing as:
- Carrying out arithmetic and logical functions
- Controlling the use of main storage (memory) to store data and instructions.
- Controlling the sequence of operations

Controlling all the parts of the computer system. The CPU consists of three main subsystems.
These are: - Control unit
- Arithmetic and Logical unit
- Registers These three sub systems work together to provide the operational capabilities of the
computer.
As buses carry people from one place to another place, the system bus carries information
from
one unit to another.
System bus is a collection of wires through which data is transmitted from one unit to another in
computer system (CPU, memory, and I/O devices). It is further divided in to three logical units,
namely the address bus, data bus, and control bus.
Data Bus: it transfers the actual data between the processor, memory, and the I/O devices.
Address Bus: It informs the CPU about the location of the data residing in the memory.
Control Bus: It is responsible for making CPU, memory, and I/O devices work together as a
functional system, carrying signals that report the status (ready, not ready) of various units.
 Control Unit The control unit can be thought of as the heart of the CPU. It controls the I/O
devices and transfer of data to and from the primary storage. It reads and interprets instructions
that retrieve from the main memory. It controls the flow of instructions from memory to CPU or
from ALU to registers. The control unit repeats a set of four basic operations: fetching, decoding,
executing, and storing.
Fetching: is the process of obtaining a program instruction or data item from memory.
Decoding: is the process of translating the instruction in to commands the computer can execute.
Executing: is the process of carrying out the commands.
Storing: is the process of writing the result to memory.
 Generally, it performs all the control functions of the computer.
 It retrieves the instruction from memory.
 Translates those instructions into computer functions and sends signals to other computer
hardware units to carry out those functions.
 It is also responsible for determining the next instruction to be executed by the computer.
 In general it serves as the computer traffic cope.
 Arithmetic Logical Unit As the name suggests, the arithmetic logical unit carries out
arithmetic and logical operations on the data made available to it. For simple understanding, the
ALU can be divided in to arithmetic unit and logical unit.
Arithmetic Unit: - contains the circuitry that is responsible for performing the actual computing
and carrying out the arithmetic calculations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division. It can perform these operations at a very high speed. 20 of 67
Logical Unit: - The importance of the logical unit is the ability it provides to the CPU to make
logical operations based on the instructions provided to it. Logical unit uses statements such as
AND, OR, and NOT. This is useful when you have a set of instructions to execute only if certain
conditions are true.
 Registers: The registers are special purpose, high speed temporary memory unit. They hold
varies types of information such as data, instructions, addresses, and the intermediate results of
calculations. Essentially, they hold the information that the CPU is currently working on.
Registers can be thought of as CPU’s working memory. As the size of the registers increase, the
computer processing activities also increase. To execute an instruction, the control unit receives
it from the main memory and places in to the register.
 Registers are paths or conduits that connect the Arithmetic Logical Unit to the main memory.
 When an instruction loaded from main memory, it is placed first in the register to wait
instructions from the control unit.
 Data are also stored in registers prior to execution in the ALU.
 Output devices(Units):
- Peripheral devices which used to convert machine readable information in to human readable
form
- Display the processed data in hard copy form/soft copy form. Hard copy is the physical form of
output (paper form). But soft copy is the electronic version of an output, which usually resides in
computer memory or on disk. Soft copy is not tangible (cannot be touched) The most common
used output devices are:
- Printers
- Plotters
- Monitors
- Projectors
- Speakers
o Printer: prints information and data from the computer on to paper. Printers are divided in to
impact printers and nonimpact printers.
- Impact printers: use some sort of physical contact with the paper to produce an image. Eg. dot
matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, drum printers
- Nonimpact printers: forms characters and images without making direct physical contact b/n
printing mechanism and paper. E.g. ink-jet printer, laser jet printer.

Plotters: is a pen based output device that is attached to a computer for making vector graphics.
- It is used to draw high –resolution charts, graphs, maps, circuit diagrams.
- They are mainly used for computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing
(CAM) applications such as printing out plans of houses or car parts.
- These are also used with programs like AUTO CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) to give
graphic out puts.
o Monitor: is the most frequently used soft copy output device. It used to display the processed
data.
o Projectors: are output devices, which are used to project information from a computer on to a
large screen. There are two types of projectors, LCD( Liquid crystal display) and DLP(digital
light processing)
Speaker: is an output device, which is used to magnify sound

Group 2 AND 4

 Storage device Devices used to store data or program files. There are two types of storage
devices.
- Primary storage devices
- Secondary storage devices.
A. Primary storage devices: are used to store data that are process and execute for immediately.
An example of primary storage device is a Memory. Memory is the electronic holding place for
instructions and data where the computer’s microprocessor can reach quickly. CPU requires
memory to handle the intermediately results and to store the final output. The primary memory
(storage device) also implemented by two types of memory technologies. Random access
memory (RAM) and Read only memory (ROM).
- Random Access Memory (RAM):- directly provides the required information to the processor.
RAM can be defined as a block of sequential memory locations, each of which has a unique
address determining the location and those locations contain a data element. It
stores programs and data that are in active use. It is volatile in nature, which means the
information stored in it remains as long as the power is switched ON. As soon as the power is
switched OFF, the information contained in it vanishes (lost). In RAM we can write data on it
and read data from it. RAM also divides further in to two.
- Dynamic Random Access Memory: It holds the data in dynamic (keeping on refreshing)
manner with the help of a refresh circuitry.
- Static Random Access Memory: Along with SRAM is essential for a system to run optimally,
because it is very fast as compared to DRAM. It retains the data as long as power is provided to
the memory chips. It does not need to be ‘refreshed’ periodically.
Features of RAM

We can write data on it and read data from it.

- It is volatile in nature, means the information stored in it lost, if a power suddenly failure.
- It stores data and instruction temporarily.
- Read Only Memory (ROM):- This type of primary memory can only be read, not written. In
other words, CPU can only read from any location in the ROM but cannot write.
Features of ROM
- The contents of ROM are not lose even in case of a sudden power failure, making it non-
volatile in nature.
- It is also random access in nature.
- It reads only, but cannot write.
- It contains permanent recorded instruction.
Cache Memory: is a piece of very fast memory, made from high speed static RAM that reduces
the access time of the data. It is very expensive and generally incorporated in the processor,
where valuable data and program segments are kept. This enables the processor to access data
quickly whenever it is needed. The cache facilitates the system to catch up with the processors
speed.
B. Secondary storage device: are devices used to store data file and program files permanently.
Secondary storage devices are designed as a backup to the main storage, and they store data on a
long-term basis. Benefits of secondary storage devices are:
- Non-volatile- it does not lose its content even when its power is turn of.
- Capacity – they can store large amount of data.
- Cost- it is less expensive than Primary storage device.
- Portability – they can be easily ported from one computer to another.
Example:
- Floppy disk- is a direct access secondary device that used to store information. It is cheap,
small in size, portable and compact. It read and written by a floppy disk drive.
- Hard disk- a smooz metal plate coated on both sides with a thin film of magnetic material.
Permanently fixed within a system unit. It has high storage capacity than floppy disk, and it is a
random access storage media.
- CD/DVD: these types of storage media are removable optical disks used to store data. The first
one (CD) is that in which the data once written cannot be erased. It is stored permanently over
it. While the second type of the CD’s or the DVD’s are 23 of 67 called as the rewritable; where
in the data that is once written can be erased completely and the same storage device can be used
again for storing the different data.
- Flash disk: is a secondary storage device used to read and write on it like floppy disk. It has
higher storage capacity, and more reliable than floppy, but it is more expensive.

Group 3 and 5
2.1.2 Computer Soft ware: is set of instructions that used to control, integrating, and managing
the hard ware components and to accomplish specific tasks. There are two components of soft
ware. These are
- System soft ware and
- Application soft ware.
A System soft ware: is a soft ware that coordinates the activities of users, hard ware, data files
and other soft ware called application soft ware. System soft ware is also categorize in to three,
namely,
- Operating system
- Language translator
- Utility Program
 Operating system: is a program or set of programs that manage the computer systems resource
and control its overall functioning.
Operating system carried out the following activities
 It control the overall activities of a computer
 It direct all processing activities with in a computer
 It decided where a program stored or retrieved
 Calling other system software when needed
 Schedule the jobs
 Handle communication between the components of the computer for instance application
software and user.
 Allocating storage facilities activating input/output devices. It means that it decided where data
should be stored.
 It process command from user entered through input device and interpret the commands and
cause the necessary action to be taken.
The most common operating system softwares are
 Disk operating system(DOS)
 UNIX
 Microsoft window 2000 professional
 Microsoft window XP 24 of 67
 Language translator: are programs or systems soft ware that translates application programs
written in a high-level language and assembly language in to machine language (the CPU can
understand). Language translators divided in to three main categories.
 Assembler: is a program that translates assembly language to machine language.
 Compiler: is a program that translates high-level language to machine language.
 Interpreter: A program that executes instructions written in a highlevel language. There are
two ways to run programs written in a highlevel language. The most common is to compile the
program; the other method is to pass the program through an interpreter. An interpreter
translates high-level instructions into an intermediate form, which it then executes. In contrast, a
compiler translates high-level instructions directly into machine language.
 Utility Program: is a program used to support, enhance, expand, and secure existing
programs and data in the computer system. Most common functions of system utilities include:
 Back up: sometimes data files can get corrupt, or get accidentally deleted. In such a case, data
backups become very useful. A backup system utility is essential for those organizations that
want to keep their data intact.
 Data recovery: used to recover data. Since, disk drives or other hardware may fail, these
utilities are essential to recover data.
 Virus protection: Antivirus scans for the hard disk for any kind of virus.
 Disk management: includes defragmenting disks, data compression software, and formatting
disk tools.
B. Application software:
The most often seen software by a general user is the application software. It is used to
accomplish specific tasks rather than just managing a computer system. It is software specially
designed to satisfy a particular need. It does real tasks for user.
 Easy to use and understand
 Easily accessible from market
 Each designed for specific task
Application software may be used for a variety of reasons:-
Word processors: a word processor is a software package which is mainly used to process text.
It has different facilities such as check grammar and spelling to apply different formatting to text
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E.g. Ms-word, word perfect and word star
Spread sheet: a spread sheet is a big electronic paper divided into columns and rows which is
designed to enter data into the rows and columns of the spread sheet and make statistical
analysis, calculation and so on. E.g. Ms Excel
Database management system: a DBMS is software package used to store, manipulate and
manage large amount of data (records).
E.g. SQL & Ms Access
Graphics soft ware: those are software used for drawing and painting picture, draw charts and
graphs to produce architectural and engineering design.
E.g. CAD & Draw perfect