Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K.

Sinha & Priti Sinha

Ref Page Chapter 1: Introduction to Computers

Slide 1/17
 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer

The word computer comes from the word “compute”,

which means, “to calculate”

Thereby, a computer is an electronic device that can

perform arithmetic operations at high speed

A computer is also called a data processor because it

can store, process, and retrieve data whenever desired
 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Data Processing

The activity of processingdata using a computer

is called
data processing
Data
Capture Data

Manipulate Data

Output Results

Information
Data is raw material used as input and information is
processed data obtained as output of data processing
 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Characteristics of Computers

1) Automatic: Given a job, computer can work on it

automatically without human interventions

2) Speed: Computer can perform data processing jobs

very fast, usually measured in microseconds (10-6),
nanoseconds (10-9), and picoseconds (10-12)

3) Accuracy: Accuracy of a computer is consistently high

and the degree of its accuracy depends upon its design.
Computer errors caused due to incorrect input data or
unreliable programs are often referred to as Garbage-
In-Garbage-Out (GIGO)

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Characteristics of Computers
(Continued from previous slide..)

4) Diligence: Computer is free from monotony, tiredness,

and lack of concentration. It can continuously work for
hours without creating any error and without grumbling

5) Versatility: Computer is capable of performing almost

any task, if the task can be reduced to a finite series of
logical steps

6) Powerof Remembering: Computer canstore and

recall any amount of information because of
secondary storage
its capability. It forgets or looses certain
information only when it is asked to do so

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Characteristics of Computers
(Continued from previous slide..)

7) No I.Q.: A computer does only what it is programmed

to do. It cannot take its own decision in this regard

8) No Feelings: Computers are devoid of emotions. Their

judgement is based on the instructions given to them in
the form of programs that are written by us (human
beings)

(Continued on next
slide)

Ref Page 03 Chapter 1: Introduction to Computers Slide 6/17

 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Evolution of Computers

Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical adding

machine in 1642
Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz invented the first
calculator for multiplication in 1671
Keyboard machines originated in the United States
around 1880
Around 1880, Herman Hollerith came up with the concept
of punched cards that were extensively used as input
media until late 1970s

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Evolution of Computers
(Continued from previous slide..)

Charles Babbage is considered to be the father of

modern digital computers

He designed “Difference Engine” in 1822

He designed a fully automatic analytical engine in

1842 for performing basic arithmetic functions

His efforts established a number of principles that

are fundamental to the design of any digital
computer

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Some Well Known Early Computers

The Mark I Computer (1937-44)

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1939-42)
The ENIAC (1943-46)

The EDVAC (1946-52)

The EDSAC (1947-49)
Manchester Mark I (1948)
The UNIVAC I (1951)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer Generations

“Generation” in computer talk is a step in technology. It

provides a framework for the growth of computer industry

Originally it was used to distinguish between various

hardware technologies, but now it has been extended to
include both hardware and software

Till today, there are five computer generations

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer Generations
(Continued from previous slide..)

Key hardware Key software Key Some

Generation representative
(Period) technologies technologies characteristics
systems

First Vacuum tubes Machine and Bulky in size ENIAC

(1942-1955) Electromagnetic assembly Highly unreliable EDVAC
relay memory languages Limited commercial EDSAC
Punched cards Stored program use and costly UNIVAC I
secondary storage concept
Difficult commercial IBM 701
Mostly scientific
production
applications
Difficult to use
Second Transistors Batch Faster, smaller, more Honeywell 400
(1955-1964) Magnetic cores operating system reliable and easier to IBM 7030
memory High-level program than previous CDC 1604
Magnetic tapes programming generation systems UNIVAC LARC
Disks for secondary languages Commercial production
storage Scientific and was still difficult and
commercial costly
applications

(Continued on next
slide)

Ref Page 13 Chapter 1: Introduction to Computers Slide 11/17

 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer Generations
(Continued from previous slide..)

Generation Key hardware Key software Key Some rep.

(Period) technologies technologies characteristics systems

Third ICs with SSI and Timesharing Faster, smaller, more IBM 360/370
(1964-1975) MSI technologies operating reliable, easier and PDP-8
Larger magnetic system cheaper to produce PDP-11
cores memory Standardization Commercially, easier CDC 6600
Larger capacity of high-level to use, and easier to
disks and programming upgrade than
magnetic tapes languages previous generation
secondary Unbundling of systems
storage software from Scientific, commercial
Minicomputers; hardware and interactive on-
upward line applications
compatible family
of computers

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer Generations
(Continued from previous slide..)

Generation Key hardware Key software Key Some rep.

(Period) Technologies technologies characteristics systems
Fourth ICswith VLSI Operating systems for Small, affordable, IBM PC and
(1975-1989) technology PCs with GUI and reliable, and easy its clones
Microprocessors; multiple windows on a to use PCs Apple II
semiconductor memory single terminal screen More powerful TRS-80
Larger capacity hard Multiprocessing and reliable VAX 9000
OS with concurrent mainframe
disks as in-built CRAY-1
programming systems
secondary storage languages and CRAY-2
Magnetic tapes and UNIX operating system supercomputers
floppy disks as portable CRAY-X/MP
with C programming Totally general
storage media language purpose machines
Personal computers Object-oriented design Easier to produce
Supercomputers based and programming commercially
on parallel vector PC, Network-based,
processing Easier to upgrade
and supercomputing
and symmetric applications Rapid software
multiprocessing development
technologies possible
Spread of
high-speed computer
networks (Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Computer Generations
(Continued from previous slide..)

Generation Key hardware Key software Key Some rep.

(Period) technologies technologies characteristics systems
Fifth ICs with ULSI Micro-kernel based, Portable computers IBM notebooks
(1989- technology multithreading, Powerful, cheaper, Pentium PCs
Present) Larger capacity distributed OS reliable, and easier SUN
main memory, Parallel to use desktop Workstations
hard disks with programming machines IBM SP/2
RAID support libraries like MPI & Powerful
PVM SGI Origin 2000
Optical disks as supercomputers
portable read-only JAVA PARAM 10000
storage media World Wide Web High uptime due to
hot-pluggable
Notebooks, Multimedia, components
powerful desktop Internet
PCs and Totally general
applications purpose machines
workstations More complex
Powerful servers, Easier to
supercomputing produce
supercomputers applications commercially,
Internet easier to upgrade
Cluster computing Rapid software
development
possible

Ref Page 13 Chapter 1: Introduction to Computers Slide 14/17

 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Electronic Devices Used in Computers of Different Generations

(a) A Vacuum Tube (b) A Transistor (c) An IC Chip

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Ref. Page
Chapter 2: Basic Computer Organization Slide 1/16
 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Learning Objectives
(Continued from previous slide..)

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

Control Unit (CU)

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Computer as a system

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

The Five Basic Operations of a Computer System

Inputting. The process of entering data and instructions

into the computer system

Storing. Saving data and instructions to make them

readily available for initial or additional processing
whenever required

Processing. Performing arithmetic operations (add,

subtract, multiply, divide, etc.) or logical operations
(comparisons like equal to, less than, greater than,
etc.) on data to convert them into useful information

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

The Five Basic Operations of a Computer System

Outputting. The process of producing useful information

or results for the user such as a printed report or visual
display

Controlling. Directing the manner and sequence in which

all of the above operations are performed

Ref. Page 15 Chapter 2: Basic Computer Organization Slide 5/16

 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Basic Organization of a Computer System

Storage Unit

Secondary
Storage

Program Information
Input Output
and (Results)
Unit Unit
Data Primary
Storage

Control
Unit
Indicates flow of
instructions and data
Arithmetic Indicates the
Logic Unit control exercised by
the control unit
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Input Unit

An input unit of a computer system performs the

following functions:

1. It accepts (or reads) instructions and data from outside

world
2. It converts these instructions and data in computer
acceptable form
3. It supplies the converted instructions and data to the
computer system for further processing

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Output Unit

An output unit of a computer system performs the

following functions:

1. It accepts the results produced by the computer, which

are in coded form and hence, cannot be easily
understood by us
2. It converts these coded results to human acceptable
(readable) form
3. It supplies the converted results to outside world

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Storage Unit

The storage unit of a computer system holds (or stores)

the following :

1. Data and instructions required for processing

(received from input devices)
2. Intermediate results of processing
3. Final results of processing, before they are released
to an output device

Ref. Page 17 Chapter 2: Basic Computer Organization Slide 9/16

 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Two Types of Storage

Primary storage

Used to hold running program instructions

Used to hold data, intermediate results,
and results of ongoing processing of job(s)
Fast in operation
Small Capacity
Expensive

Volatile (looses data on power dissipation)

(Continued on next
slide)

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Two Types of Storage

(Continued from previous slide..)

Secondary storage

Used to hold stored program instructions

Used to hold data and information of stored jobs
Slower than primary storage

Large Capacity
Lot cheaper that primary storage
Retains data even without power

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Memory Types
 Different Types of ROM

There are four types of ROM, which are mentioned below:

❖ Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only

Memory(EEPROM)

❖ Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory(EPROM)

❖ Programmable Read-Only Memory(PROM)

❖ Mask ROM
 Types Of RAM
There are two main types of RAM: Dynamic RAM (DRAM) and Static
RAM (SRAM).

DRAM (pronounced DEE-RAM), is widely used as a computer’s main

memory. Each DRAM memory cell is made up of a transistor and a
capacitor within an integrated circuit, and a data bit is stored in the
capacitor. Since transistors always leak a small amount, the
capacitors will slowly discharge, causing information stored in it to
drain; hence, DRAM has to be refreshed (given a new electronic
charge) every few milliseconds to retain data.

SRAM (pronounced ES-RAM) is made up of four to six transistors. It

keeps data in the memory as long as power is supplied to the system
unlike DRAM, which has to be refreshed periodically. As such, SRAM
is faster but also more expensive, making DRAM the more prevalent
memory in computer systems.
 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

Arithmetic Logic Unit of a computer system is the place

where the actual executions of instructions takes place during
processing operation

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Control Unit (CU)

Control Unit of a computer system manages and coordinates

the operations of all other components of the computer
system

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 Computer Fundamentals: Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Arithmetic Central
Logic Unit Control Unit = Processing
+ (CU)
(ALU) Unit (CPU)

It is the brain of a computer system

It is responsible for controlling the operations of

all other units of a computer system

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