Chapter 1 - Computer Introduction

Computer: Definition
Any device capable of processing information to produce a desired result, typically perform their work in three well-
defined steps: (i) accepting input, (ii) processing the input according to predefined rules (programs), and (iii)
producing output is called a computer.
The main characteristics of a computer are:
 It responds to a set of instruction provided from an input device.
 It processes the provided set of instruction.
 It gives out the meaningful result after processing the instructions.

Characteristics of Computer

Speed:
Computer can perform very complex calculations at very enormous speed. Generally, the speed of computer is
measured in terms of fraction of second.
 Milliseconds – One thousandth of a second (1/1000).
 Microseconds – One Millionth of a second (1/1000000).
 Nanoseconds – One billionth of a second (1/1000000000).
 Picoseconds – One trillionth of a second (1/1000000000000).

Storage:
A computer system can store a huge amount of information which may be used as future reference. Few storage
devices are Hard disk, CD-ROMs, Pen drive etc. The storage capacity is measured in terms of:
8 Bits 1 Byte
1024 Bytes 1 Kilobyte (KB)
1024 Kilobytes 1 Megabyte (MB)
1024 Megabytes 1 Gigabyte (GB)
1024 Gigabytes 1 Terabyte (TB)

Accuracy:
Computer always performs its tasks without making any mistake if the instruction is provided correctly. So the
accuracy of computer is cent percent.

Versatility:
Computer has a wide range of application and is used in different fields such as education, science & technology,
astronomy, business, entertainment, medicines etc.

Diligence:
Computer is capable of doing the required tasks again and again without affecting its speed, accuracy and efficiency.

Non-intelligent:
Computer is a dumb machine and it cannot do any work without instruction from the user. So a computer cannot take
its own decision as we can.

Capabilities of Computer
a) It performs computation at enormous speed with 100% accuracy rate.
b) It performs the provided job repeatedly without getting bored and tired.
c) It provides us information which can be used in future for different purposes.

Limitations of Computer
Although computer are very useful device and applied n various fields but there are limitations of computer.
a) Computer does not have its own intelligence. It is a dull machine.
b) Computer can not memorize and recall as needed by it.
c) Instructions are needed to perform any task.
Advantages of Computer
a) It is a reliable machine and performs the task with 100% accuracy rate.
b) Comparing with human being it is much faster.
c) It can be very useful while doing repeated tasks.
d) It is versatile as it can do many types of jobs once at a time.
Disadvantages of Computer
a) Computer is expensive and still not affordable.
b) Repair and maintenance is required frequently.
c) People are becoming too much dependent on computers.
d) Very difficult to maintain the privacy.
e) Skilled user is required to work with the computer.
f) It cannot be used on the dusty and the rough environment.
Application of Computer
Computer is used in large areas such as banking, education, hospital, industries, research, hospital, data processing,
science and engineering, offices, railways, advertisement, communication, library, simulation, weather forecasting
etc.

a) Banking & Financial Company - Computer are used in bank and financial company for electronic money
transfer, statistical report, voucher, ledger, balance sheet etc.
b) Education - Computer can be used as teaching learning tool, result processing, students' data processing,
question preparation, handouts and note preparation etc.
c) Industries - Industrial research, budgeting, process control all are computer based in modern industries.
d) Hospital - In hospitals, computers are applied in medicine, surgery, research, diagnose disease etc.
e) Science & Engineering - Computer is a strong tool for every branch of engineering such as civil, electrical,
computer, aeronautic, ceramics, chemical etc.
f) Advertisements - Computers are used for advertisement such as business advertisement, film advertisement.
It is also used to make cartoon films, special effects and image processing.
g) Communications - E-mail, e-fax, internet etc are computer based communications. The computer and Internet
integration is the backbone of recent communication.
h) Library - Computer software are used for the management of library. It is used for keeping books, borrowing
books, updating the records etc.
History and Evolution of Computers

Mechanical Calculating Devices

a) Abacus
 Created by Chinese about 3000 years ago.
 The first mechanical aid to calculations.
 Calculations are performed by manipulating the beads.
 It is a rectangular box, divided into two parts by mid bar, upper part is called heaven consists of two beads
and each bead equal to value 5 and lower part is called earth, consists of five beads and each bead equal to
value 1.
b) Napier’s Bone
 Invented by John Napier, a Scottish mathematician (1550-1617) in 1614.
 Multiplication tables were inscribed on strips of wood or bone.
 Possible to perform calculations with two numbers.
 It is mainly used for multiplication table.
c) Slide Rule
 Invented by William Oughtred (1574-1660), an English mathematician in 1620.
 An analog device used the principle of logarithms.
 Could perform simple multiplication and division problems.
 Consists of 2 graduated scales, devised in such a way that suitable alignment of one against other makes it
possible to obtain products, quotients etc.
d) Pascaline
 Developed by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) in 1642 to help his father’s tax work.
 It contains eight dials, gears and wheels.
 It was capable of performing additions and subtractions up to 8 digits.
 It could add and subtract by the movement of wheels, not used for division and multiplication.

e) Stepped Reckoner
 Developed by Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz (1646-1716), a German Mathematician & philosopher in 1694.
 It could evaluate square roots by series of stepped additions.
 The centerpiece of this machine was its stepped-drum gear design.
 Could perform all four of the basic arithmetic functions – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

f) Difference Engine
 Designed by Charles Babbage (1792 – 1871) an English mathematician, in 1822.
 It could solve equations.
 This project could not be completed due to lack of funds.
 It is housed in the Science Museum, London and is till in perfect working order.

g) Analytical Engine
 Developed by Charles Babbage in 1833.
 It had a ‘store’ for storing data and intermediate results.
 It had an output device to produce printed results.
 It had a unit for calculation called ‘mill’.
 All the modern computers are based on analytical engine (input-process-output).

h) Hollerith Tabulator
 Developed by an American Dr. Herman Hollerith (1869-1926) in 1887.
 It used punched cards for input, output and instructions.
 This machine was used by American Department of Census to compile their 1890 census.
 In 1896, he founded the tabulating machine company which was renamed as IBM (International Business
Machine) later.

Charles Babbage (1792-1871)

 A professor of mathematics developed a machine called Difference Engine in 1822.
 In 1833, he developed the Analytical Engine.
 He is known as the ‘Father of the Modern Computer’ as his invention Analytical Engine had far more of the
characteristics of modern computers.

Lady Augusta Ada Lovelace (1816-1852)

 An English mathematician (daughter of English Poet Lord Byron) carried forward the work of Charles
Babbage.
 She developed programs for performing mathematical calculation on the Analytical Engine.
 She was the first computer programmer.
 One programming language ‘Ada’ was named after her.

John Von Neumann (1903 – 1957)

 He was the doctorate in mathematics from the University of Budapest on set theory.
 He designed the EDVAC with team of J.P. Eckert and J.W. Mauchly.
 He introduced the concept of having a stored program in memory in 1945.
 This concept led to the beginning of the first generations of computers.

Electro-Mechanical Computers
a) Mark-I
 Designed by Howard Aiken (1900-1973), a Harvard engineer in 1937.
 It was the first automatic electromechanical computer.
  It was 51 ft. long, 8 ft. tall and 3 ft. wide having 18000 vacuum tubes.
 It used instructions stored in paper tapes and punched cards.
 It consists of 7 lakhs 50 thousands parts.
b) ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer)
 First electromechanical digital computer.
 Built in 1937-1942 at Lowa State University by John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry.
 It introduced the ideas of binary arithmetic and logic circuit.
 It used punch cards as secondary storage.
Electronic Computers
a) ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator)
 Designed by Dr. John W. Mauchly and Dr. J. P. Eckert, completed in 1946.
 It was built from 18,000 vacuum tubes, and 70,000 resistors.
 Power consumption – 50,00,000 Kilowatt and floor space – 1,800 square feet.
 It could add two numbers in 200 microseconds and multiplication of two numbers in 2800 microseconds.
b) EDSAC ( Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)
 Designed by Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University, mathematical laboratory in 1947.
 It was the first operational stored-program computer.
 It contains 3000 vacuum tubes and operated on 30 Kilowatt.
 It used a mercury delay line storage system.
c) EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
 Designed by J. Mauchly and J.P. Eckert at Pennsylvania University and was completed in 1950.
 It included a stored-program, a central processor and a memory for both data and programs.
d) UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)
 Produced by Universal Accounting Company & set up by John Mauchly and J.P. Eckert in 1951.
 It consisted of magnetic tape for data input and output.
 It was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer designed for commercial use.
Computer Generations

The evolution of modern digital computing took place in five distinct phases known as computer generations, which
are classified on the basis of their speed, capacity, reliability, components used etc.
a) First Generation Computers (1945-1956)
 Major components – Vacuum Tubes
 Very slow, large in size, consumed a lot of electrical power.
 The operating speed was measured in terms of milliseconds.
 Storage capacity was too small only 1 to 4Kb.
 They used machine level programming language.
 Few 1st Gen. Computers – Mark – I, ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, UNIVAC etc.
b) Second Generation Computers (1956 – 1963)
 Major components – Transistors
 Smaller and faster than first generations computers.
 The operating speed was measured in terms of microseconds.
 Magnetic tapes were used as secondary storage media.
 They could understand high level language such as COBOL.
 Few 2nd Gen. Computers - LEO Mark III, ATLAC, UNIVAC I, ICL 1901 etc.

c) Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)

 Major components – IC (Integrated Circuits)
 Smaller, efficient and more reliable than previous computers.
 The operating speed was measured in terms of nanoseconds.
 Magnetic disks were used as secondary memory.
 They has input and output devices such as keyboard and monitors.
 Few 3rd Gen. Computers - IBM 360 Series, ICL 1900 Series, VAX 1/780 etc.
d) Fourth Generation Computers – (1971 – Present)
 Major components – Microprocessor
 The size was greatly reduced.
 The operating speed increased beyond picoseconds.
 Many sophisticated programs for special application were available.
 Magnetic and optical storage devices with capacity more than 500GB were used as secondary memory.
 Few 4th Gen. Computers – Pentium I/II/III/IV, HP 3033, APPLE II etc.

e) Fifth Generation Computers – (Present and Beyond)

 Major components – ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration)
 The concept of AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been introduced to take its own decision.
 Bio chips and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) are used as memory devices.
 Extremely high-speed processing capability.
 Large uses of natural language processing and user friendly.
 Few 5th Gen. Computers projects – ICOT program in Japan, MCC project in the USA etc.

Vacuum Tubes
 The vacuum tube was invented by Lee De Forest in 1907.
 Lee De Forest was born o\in Council Bluffs, Lowa (USA) in August 26, 1873.
 It is a set of metal electrodes and grids contained in a glass or metal tube.
 The Vacuum tube was used in First generations computers.
 Formerly used for amplification and switching in electronic circuits, now used in CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

Transistors
 Short for: transfer resistor
 It is a solid state semi-conductor device which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization,
signal modulation etc.
 It transfers a signal from a low resistance to high resistance.
 It was invented in 1947 by three Bell Lab scientists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley.
 Used in second generation computers as major components.

Integrated Circuits (IC)

 An IC is a circuit consisting of a large number of electronic components placed on a single silicon chip by a
photolithographic process.
 Jack Kilby invented it in 1958.
 Used in third generation computers as major components.
 IC is used for a variety of devices, including microprocessor, audio and video equipment and automobiles.

Microprocessor
 The microprocessor is a computer processor built onto a single piece of silicon, known as a wafer or chip.
 First microprocessor is Intel 4004 developed by American Intel Corporation in 1971.
 Used in fourth generation computers as a major component.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A branch of computer science that refers to the use of computer in such a way that they are able to reason and draw,
recognize voice and have language processing ability is called AI.

Biochip
The future device will be used in 5th generation computers, made of large organic molecules and a genetically
engineered protein is called Biochip.
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Types of Computer

Computers are classified according to their application, work, size, capacity, speed, brand, model etc.

Computers

On the basis of On the basis of On the basis of On the basis of

Work Size Model Brand

Analog Super XT IBM PC/ Branded

Digital Mainframe AT IBM Compatible

Hybrid Mini PS/2 Apple/Macintosh

Micro

1. Classification based on Work (or function or application)

On the basis of the technology that is used for the functioning of the computers, they can be divided in three
categories: digital, analog and hybrid.

a) Analog Computer
 Analog computers work upon continuous data.
 Analog computers measure physical magnitudes such as voltage, temperature, current and pressure.
 E.g. Thermometer, Speedometer etc.

b) Digital Computer
 Digital computers work upon discontinuous data.
 These computers work on binary digits 0 and 1.
 Two types of digital computers:
 Special Purpose Computer – Digital Clock, Calculator
 General Purpose Computer – PC in computer lab

c) Hybrid Computer
 Hybrid computers are computers that comprise features of analog computers and digital computers.
 The digital component normally serves as the controller and provides logical operations, while the analog
component normally serves as a solver of differential equations.
 E.g. Computers used in ICU of hospital, jet planes etc.

2. Classification based on Size

We can classify the computers on the basis of size as below:

a) Super Computer
 Super Computers contain several processors which work together to make it immensely powerful and
fast.
 Used to forecast the weather and global climates, in military research and defense system.
 Used in seismography, plasma and nuclear research, in encrypting and decoding sensitive intelligence
information.
 E.g. CRAY, NEC Super SXII, CYBER 205 etc.

b) Mainframe Computer
 Powerful multi-user computer used in large business organizations, examination, industries and defense
to process complex data.
 It uses several CPU for data processing.
 More than 100 users can use at a time.
 Used in Credit card processing, Air traffic control system etc.
 E.g. IBM S/390, ICL 39 etc.
 c) Minicomputer
 Larger and more powerful than most microcomputers but are smaller and less powerful than mainframe
computer systems.
 A multi-user computers and supports more than dozens of people at a time.
 Used in university, large business organizations to process complex data.
 E.g. PDP-11, VAX etc.
d) Microcomputer
 Microcomputer has its CPU on one microprocessor.
 It is a single-user machine i.e. only one user can work at a time.
 Commonly used in offices, homes, schools, shops to perform different data processing jobs.
 E.g. IBM PCs, Apple Mac. etc.
3. Classification based on Model
On the basis of model, microcomputers are classified as below:

a) XT (Extended Technology) Computer

 It has 8086 or 8088 microprocessor.
 Its processing speed is 4.7 MHz and cannot support GUI (Graphics User Interface) based OS.

b) AT (Advanced Technology) Computer

 It has 80286 or more advanced microprocessor and faster than XT Computers.
 It supports GUI based OS (Operating System) and applications.

c) PS/2 (Personal System -2 ) Computer

 It uses refined architecture and faster than AT computers.
 It is a laptop computer with rechargeable and battery based system.
 It is operated with OS/2 operating system.

4. Classification based on Brand

On the basis of brand the following three categories are available.

a) IBM PC (International Business Machine Personal Computer)

 These computers are manufactured by IBM Company.
 IBM manufactured mainframe computers followed by mini and microcomputers.
 The microcomputer manufactured by IBM Company is called as IBM PC.
 These computers are more reliable, durable and have better quality.

b) IBM Compatible
 It has the same functional characteristics and the principles of IBM PC.
 They are cheaper and their parts are easily available in the market.
 Most of the microcomputers used in Nepal are IBM Compatibles.

c) Apple/Macintosh Computer
 Macintosh Computers are manufactures by Apple Company.
 The Apple Computers have their own software and hardware and are different from IBM computers.
Most of the Desktop Publishing houses use Apple/Macintosh because they have high quality graphics.
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