Introduction to Computer System

Computer: A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to accept data

(input), process it and generate result (output).
Computer System:A computer along with additional hardware and software together is
called a computer system.
Block Diagram Of A Computer System

1) Central Processing Unit (CPU):

 It is the electronic circuitry of a computer that carries out the actual processing and usually
referred as the brain of the computer.
 It is commonly called processor.
 Physically, a CPU can be placed on one or more microchips called integrated circuits (IC).
 The ICs comprise semiconductor materials.
 The CPU is given instructions and data through programs.
 The CPU then fetches the program and data from the memory and performs arithmetic and
logic operations as per the given instructions and stores the result back to memory.
 While processing, the CPU stores the data as well as instructions in its local memory called
registers.
 Other than the registers, the CPU has two main components
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and Control Unit (CU).
 ALU performs all the arithmetic and logic operations that need to be done as per the
instruction in a program.
 CU controls sequential instruction execution, interprets instructions and guides data flow
through the computer’s memory, ALU and input or output devices. CPU is also popularly
known as microprocessor.

2) Input Devices:
 The devices through which control signals are sent to a computer are termed as input devices.
 These devices convert the input data into a digital form that is acceptable by the computer
system.
 Some examples of input devices include keyboard, mouse, scanner, touch screen, etc.,
 Data entered through input device is temporarily stored in the main memory (also called
RAM) of the computer system.
 For permanent storage and future use, the data as well as instructions are stored permanently
in additional storage locations called secondary memory.

3) Output Devices:
 The device that receives data from a computer system for display, physical production, etc., is
called output device.
 It converts digital information into human understandable form.
 For example, monitor, projector, headphone, speaker, printer, etc.
 A printer is the most commonly used device to get output in physical (hardcopy) form.
 Three types of commonly used printers are inkjet, laserjet and dot matrix.
 Now-a-days, there is a new type of printer called 3D-printer, which is used to build physical
replica of a digital 3D design.

Evolution of computer
➢ Abacus
 Approximately 4,000 years ago, the Chinese invented the Abacus.
 It was the first machine used for counting and calculating.
 It is made of a wooden frame, metal rods, and wooden beads Abacus was mainly used for
addition, subtraction and later for division and multiplication.
 Today, the abacus is still used widely in China and other Asian countries to count and
calculate, just as we use calculators.

➢ Napier’s bones
 In the early 17th century, John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, invented another calculating
tool.
 “Napier’s bones” was based upon manipulation of rods with printed digits.
 The rods were made of bone, ivory, wood or metal.
 The set consists of 10 rectangular blocks with multiples of a different digit on each of the
four sides.

➢ The slide Rule

 The slide Rule was invented by William Oughtred.
 It is based on the principle that actual distance from the starting point of the rule is directly
proportional to the logarithm of the numbers printed on the rule.
 The slide rule is emboided by the two sets of scales that are joined together, with a marginal
space between them.

➢ Adding Machine-Pascaline
 In 1642, at the age of 19, a French mathematician by the name of Biaise Pascal invented the
Pascaline.
 The Pascaline is known as the first mechanical and automatic calculator.
 The Pascaline was a wooden box that could only add and subtract by means of a series of
gears and wheels.
 It had a box with eight movable wheels called dials. When each wheel rotated one revolution,
it would then turn the neighbouring wheel.

➢ Leibniz Calculator
 Mathematician Gottfried Leibniz built a calculator in 1650 that could add, subtract, multiply
and divide the numbers.

➢ Jacquard loom
 In 1801, Joseph Mary Jacquard invented the Jacquard loom.
 A powered loom that used punched wooden cards to automatically weave incredibly detailed
patterns including pictures and text.
 This can be taken as the first “Read only Memory” device.

➢ Difference and Analytical Engine

 In the early 1820s, an English mathematician by the name Charles Babbage designed a
computing machine called the Difference Engine.
 This machine was to be used in the calculating and printing of simple math tables.
 In the 1830s, he designed a second computing machine called the Analytical Engine.
 This machine consisted five units, which became the basic principle for the development of
modern computer.
 Hence Charles Babbage is known as the "Father of Computers”.
 Lady Ada Lovelace in 1833 was a first computer programmer, who designed program for
Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
➢ 1890 AD – Hollerith Tabulating Machine
 In 1889, an American named Herman Hollerith invented a counting machine to count the
population of USA.
 This electronic machine is able to read the information on the punched cards and process it
electronically.
 Herman Hollerith was the founder of the company than became famous as IBM.

Von Neumann architecture

  It consists of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) for processing arithmetic and logical
instructions, a memory to store data and programs, input and output devices and
communication channels to send or receive the output data.
 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) is the first binary programmable
computer based on Von Neumann architecture.
 During the 1970s, Large Scale Integration (LSI) of electronic circuits allowed integration of
complete CPU on a single chip, called microprocessor.
 In 1980s, the processing power of computers increased exponentially by integrating
around 3 million components on a small-sized chip termed as Very Large Scale Integration
(VLSI).
 Further advancement in technology has made it feasible to fabricate high density of
transistors and other components (approx 106 components) on a single IC called Super
Large-Scale Integration (SLSI).
 IBM introduced its first personal computer (PC) for the home user in 1981 and Apple
introduced Macintosh machines in 1984.
 Introduction of Graphical User Interface (GUI) based operating systems by Microsoft and
others in place of computers with only command line interface, like UNIX or DOS.
 Around 1990s, the growth of World Wide Web (WWW) further accelerated mass usage of
computers.
 With the introduction of laptops, personal computing was made portable.
 This was followed by smartphones, tablets and other personal digital assistants.
 The next wave of computing devices includes the wearable gadgets, such as smart watch,
lenses, headbands, headphones, etc.
 Further, smart appliances are becoming a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), by leveraging
the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Computer Memory
 A computer system needs memory to store the data and instructions for processing.
 The secondary memory (also called storage device) is used to store data, instructions and
results permanently for future use.

Units of Memory
 A computer system uses binary numbers to store and process data.
 The binary digits 0 and 1, which are the basic units of memory, are called bits. Further, these
bits are grouped together to form words.
 A 4-bit word is called a Nibble. Examples of nibble are 1001, 1010, 0010, etc.
  A two-nibble word, i.e., 8-bit word is called a byte, for example, 01000110, 01111100,
10000001, etc.

Types of Memory
Computers have two types of memory — primary and secondary.
(A) Primary Memory
Primary memory is an essential component of a computer system. Program and data are
loaded into the primary memory before processing.
The CPU interacts directly with the primary memory to perform read or write operation.
It is of two types viz.
(i) Random Access Memory (RAM) and
(ii) Read Only Memory (ROM).

(i) Random Access Memory (RAM)

 RAM is volatile, i.e., as long as the power is supplied to the computer, it retains the
data in it. But as soon as the power supply is turned off, all the contents of RAM are
wiped out.
 It is used to store data temporarily while the computer is working.
 Whenever the computer is started or a software application is launched, the required
program and data are loaded into RAM for processing.
 RAM is usually referred to as main memory and it is faster than the secondary
memory or storage devices.

(ii) Read Only Memory (ROM)

 ROM is non-volatile, which means its contents are not lost even when the power is
turned off.
 It is used as a small but faster permanent storage for the contents which are rarely
changed.
 For example, the startup program (boot loader) that loads the operating system into
primary memory, is stored in ROM.

(B) Cache Memory

  RAM is faster than secondary storage, but not as fast as a computer processor.
 So, because of RAM, a CPU may have to slow down. To speed up the operations of
the CPU, a very high speed memory is placed between the CPU and the primary
memory known as cache.
 It stores the copies of the data from frequently accessed primary memory locations,
thus, reducing the average time required to access data from primary memory.
 When the CPU needs some data, it first examines the cache. In case the requirement is
met, it is read from the cache, otherwise the primary memory is accessed.
(C) Secondary Memory
 Primary memory has limited storage capacity and is either volatile (RAM) or read-
only (ROM). Thus, a computer system needs auxiliary or secondary memory to
permanently store the data or instructions for future use.
 The secondary memory is non-volatile and has larger storage capacity than primary
memory.
 It is slower and cheaper than the main memory. But, it cannot be accessed directly by
the CPU. Contents of secondary storage need to be first brought into the main
memory for the CPU to access.
 Examples of secondary memory devices include Hard Disk Drive (HDD), CD/ DVD,
Memory Card, etc.
 Secondary storage devices like SSD which support very fast data transfer speed as
compared to earlier HDDs.
 Also, data transfer between computers have become easier and simple due to the
availability of small-sized and portable flash or pen drives.

Data Transfer Between Memory And CPU

 Data need to be transferred between the CPU and primary memory as well as between
the primary and secondary memory.
 Data are transferred between different components of a computer system using
physical wires called bus.
 For example, bus is used for data transfer between a USB port and hard disk or
between a hard disk and main memory.

Bus is of three types —

(i) Data bus to transfer data between different components,
 (ii) Address bus to transfer addresses between CPU and main memory. The
address of the memory location that the CPU wants to read or write from is
specified in the address bus.
(iii) Control bus to communicate control signals between different components of a
computer.

 All these three buses collectively make the system bus.

 As the CPU interacts directly with main memory, any data entered from input
device or the data to be accessed from hard disk needs to be placed in the main
memory for further processing.
 The data is then transferred between CPU and main memory using bus.
 The CPU places on the address bus, the address of the main memory location
from which it wants to read data or to write data.
 While executing the instructions, the CPU specifies the read or write control
signal through the control bus.
 As the CPU may require to read data from main memory or write data to main
memory, a data bus is bidirectional.
 But the control bus and address bus are unidirectional.
 To write data into memory, the CPU places the data on the data bus, which is
then written to the specific address provided through the address bus.
 In case of read operation, the CPU specifies the address, and the data is placed
on the data bus by a dedicated hardware, called memory controller.
 The memory controller manages the flow of data into and out of the
computer's main memory.

Microprocessors
 A processor (CPU) which is implemented on a single microchip is called
microprocessor.
 Microprocessor is a small-sized electronic component inside a computer that
carries out various tasks involved in data processing as well as arithmetic and
logical operations.
 A microprocessor is built over an integrated circuit comprising millions of
small components like resistors, transistors and diodes.
 Microprocessors are capable of processing millions of instructions per
millisecond.

Microprocessor Specifications
Microprocessors are classified on the basis of different features which include chip type,
word size, memory size, clock speed, etc.
A)Word Size
 Word size is the maximum number of bits that a microprocessor can process at a time.
 At present, the minimum word size is 16 bits and maximum word size is 64 bits.
B)Memory Size
 Depending upon the word size, the size of RAM varies. Initially, RAM was very
small (4MB) due to 4/8 bits word size.
 As word size increased to 64 bits, it has become feasible to use RAM of size upto 16
Exabytes (EB).
C)Clock Speed
 Computers have an internal clock that generates pulses (signals) at regular intervals of
time. Clock speed simply means the number of pulses generated per second by the
clock inside a computer.
 The clock speed indicates the speed at which the computer can execute instructions.
 Earlier, it was measured in Hertz (Hz) and Kilohertz (kHz).
 But with advancement in technology and chip density, it is now measured in
Gigahertz (GHz), i.e., billions of pulses per second.
D)Cores
 Core is a basic computation unit of the CPU.
 Earlier processors had only one computation unit, thereby capable of performing only
one task at a time.
 With the advent of multicore processor, it has become possible for the computer to
execute multiple tasks, thereby increasing the system’s performance.
 CPU with two, four, and eight cores is called dual-core, quad-core and octa-core
processor, respectively.
Microcontrollers
The microcontroller is a small computing device which has a CPU, a fixed amount of RAM,
ROM and other peripherals all embedded on a single chip as compared to microprocessor that
has only a CPU on the chip.
 Keyboard, mouse, washing machine, digital camera, pendrive, remote controller,
microwave are few examples of microcontrollers.
 As these are designed for specific tasks only, hence their size as well as cost is
reduced.
 Because of the very small size of the microcontroller, it is embedded in another
device or system to perform a specific functionality.
 For example, the microcontroller in a fully automatic washing machine is used to
control the washing cycle without any human intervention.
 The cycle starts with the filling of water, after which the clothes are soaked and
washed; thereafter the water is drained and the clothes are spin dry.
 The simple use of microcontroller has permitted repetitive execution of tedious tasks
automatically without any human intervention, thereby saving precious time.

Data And Information

 A computer is primarily for processing data.
 For example, pictures, songs, videos, documents, etc.
 Data can also be raw and unorganised facts that are processed to get meaningful
information.

Data and Its Types

There are three types of data.
(A) Structured Data
 Data which follows a strict record structure and is easy to comprehend is
called structured data.
 Following table shows structured data related to monthly attendance of
students maintained by the school.

 It is clear that such data is organised in row/column format and is easily

understandable.
 Structured data may be sorted in ascending or descending order.
 Examples of structured data include sales transactions, online railway
ticket bookings, ATM transactions, etc.