INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

FUNDAMENTALS
MODULE 1
COMPUTER: EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT

 Globalization of computer-based environment

 The proliferation and mass advances of information technology have profound effects
on different societal sectors, particularly the technological merger of computers and
communication producing an information environment.
OBJECTIVES:

 Define the term computer including its capabilities and limitations

 Familiarize with the history and development of computer
 Distinguish the different types of computers
 Understand the concept of data processing
WHAT IS A COMPUTER?
 An electronic digital device designed to accept and store input data, process data and
appropriate output information under the control of a stored sequence of
instructions
 an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form,
according to instructions given to it in a variable program.
 According to webopedia, it is a programmable machine. It has (2) two principal
characteristics: it responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner
and it can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).
 It is a device that accepts information (in the form of digitalized data) and
manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on
how the data is to be processed.
THE TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENTS

 The repetitive process of computation leads to people

becoming bored in computing such as navigational table, tide
charts, and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs.
People were doing these things everyday and this is the reason
why people invented computers, that is to aid in numerous
computation required everyday.
COMPUTING AID THAT PEOPLE INVENTED

The Abacus
 The first computing aid that were used to help them in their computation.
The Napier’s Bone
 An abacus created by John Napier for calculation of products and quotients of
numbers that was based on Arab mathematics and lattice multiplication.
The Slide Rule
 Used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for "scientific" functions
such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but is not normally used for addition
or subtraction.
 The Calculating Clock/ Schickard Calculator
 Consisted of a six-digit machine that could add or subtract.
The Pascaline
 The first calculator or adding machine to be produced in any quantity and actually used.
It could only do addition and subtraction, with numbers being entered by manipulating
its dials.
 designed and built by the French mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal between
1642 and 1644
The Step Reckoner
 The first calculator that could perform all four arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.
 invented by German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz around 1672
and completed 1694
The Difference Engine
 An automatic, mechanical calculator
designed to tabulate polynomial functions.
 By 1822 the English mathematician
Charles Babbage who is considered as
Father of the Computer today was
proposing a steam driven calculating
machine the size of a room
The Hollerith's Tabulating Machine
 the electro-mechanical tabulator.
 On the tabulator's desk to the right
is a press-like device which would
bring an array of pins into contact
with a punch card.
The Mark I
 The first large-scale
automatic digital
computer in the USA by
Howard H. Aiken, built
at IBM and shipped to
Harvard in February
1944.
The Apple I
 An early personal computer.
 They were designed and hand-
built by Steve Wozniak
The PDP-12
 A 12 bit machine introduced in 1969.
Applications included applied
psychology, chemistry, patient
monitoring, and industrial testing.
The IBM Personal
Computer
 The original version and
progenitor of the IBM PC
compatible hardware
platform.
The Personal Computer
 any general-purpose computer
whose size, capabilities, and original
sales price make it useful for
individuals, and which is intended to
be operated directly by an end user,
with no intervening computer
operator.
Netbooks
 A branch of subnotebooks, a rapidly
evolving category of small, lightweight,
and inexpensive laptop computers
suited for general computing and
accessing Web-based applications; they
are often marketed as "companion
devices", i.e., to augment a user's other
computer access.
CAPABILITIES OF COMPUTERS

 It is self directing
 Ability to store and retrieve information
 Ability to perform mathematical operations and solve complex formulas
at high speed and great precision
 Ability to perform logic operation
 Ability to communicate with user or with other machines
LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 It can only do what is designed or programmed to do

 It cannot correct input data
 It cannot think and derive meanings from objects
 It can only process jobs expressed in a finite number steps leading to a
precisely defined goals
 It cannot completely avoid making errors due to power fluctuations,
system malfunctions and human disorders
CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 According to technology
 First generation (1940-1946) – used of vacuum tubes (ENIAC)
 Second generation (1956-1963) – transistor for circuitry and magnetic core for memory
 Third generation (1964-1971)- integrated circuits
 Fourth generation (1971-present) – microprocessors
 Fifth generation (present and beyond) – artificial intelligence
CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 According to storage capacity or memory size

 Mainframes and super computers
 Minicomputers
 microcomputers
MAINFRAME COMPUTERS

 Mainframe computers were the first type of

computer introduced in the 1950s. They
were used exclusively by large businesses.
They typically support 100 to 500 users at
one time. They are very expensive and are
used for very large processing tasks.
Financial and government institutions are
typical users of mainframes.
MINICOMPUTER

 Minicomputers are not as big as mainframes. They support between 10 and 100 users.
Advances in technology made them smaller and less expensive than their mainframe
counterparts. They made computing more affordable for a large number of users, such as
academic institutes and medium-size businesses.
MICRO COMPUTERS

 Personal computers are small self-

 Portable computers work very similarly to
contained computers with their own their personal computer counterpart. The
central processing unit. Personal difference is that they are smaller and
computers have made computing power more lightweight. This makes them very
available to business and home users at an useful for people on the move.
affordable price. Personal computers are
the number one choice for most
businesses.
ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER

Hardware Software
 System software
 Computer system
 DOS, WINDOWS, MACINTOSH,
 Computer peripherals UNIX, LINUX
 Telecommunicatin networks  Application software
 Packaged software,
 Customized software
 Procedure
 Operating instructions for people who
will use the information system
ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER

Data People
 Is the raw material of information  End users – users or clients
 Can take many forms  Information system specialists – people
who developed and operates
information systems
DATA PROCESSING

 Is a process of transforming data into desired output

 Input
 Process
 Output
 Storage
QUIZ NEXT MEETING  !!!