CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
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COMPUTER
• A computer can be defined electronic devices that is designed to accept
data,perform the required mathematical and logical operations at high
speed and output the results.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTERS
• Speed :The Speed of the Computer is usually given in nanosecond and
picoseconds(10^-9 and 10^-12)
• Accuracy:A Computer is very fast,reliabl,and robust electronic device.It always gives
accurate results.
• Automatic : Computer can perform task without any human interventation.
• Diligence: Computers are never get tired of a repetitive task.
• Memory:The computer can store large amount of data in memory and secondory
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Versatile: Versatility is quality of being flexible.Today ,computers are
used in our daily life in different fields. For example they are used as
personal computers (PC’s) for home use,for business oriented
task,weather forcasting,space
Exploration,teaching,railways,banking,madicine and so on
No.IQ: Computer still do not have any decision making abilities of their
own .They need guidance to perform various task.
Economical: using computer reduces manpower requirements and leads
to an elegant and efficient way of performing various tasks.
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STORED PROGRAM CONCEPT
All digital computers are based on the principle of stored program concept, which
was introduced by Sir John von Neumann in the late 1940s. A stored program
architecture is a fundamental computer architecture wherein the computer
executes the instructions that are stored in its memory.
Key characteristic features :
•Before any data is processed, instructions are read into memory.
•Instructions are stored in the computer’s memory for execution.
•Instructions are stored in binary form (using binary numbers—only 0s and 1s).
•Processing starts with the first instruction in the program, which is copied into a control unit circuit. The
control unit executes the instructions.
•Instructions written by the users are performed sequentially until there is a break in the current flow.
•Input / Output and processing operations are performed simultaneously. While data is being
read/written, the central processing unit (CPU) executes another program in the memory that is ready for
execution.
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GENERATION OF COMPUTERS
The word generation means the state of improvement in the product
development process. Similarly, computer generation refers to the different
advancements of new computer technology.
First Generation (1942-1955) - Vacuum Tubes
The first generation computers used very large number of vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are prime examples of first-generation computing
devices.
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Advantages: Fastest calculating device of their time
Disadvantages:
1. Dissipate a lot of heat
2. Consume a lot of electricity
3. Very bulky in size
4. Frequently down due to hardware failures.
5. Needed constant maintenance because of low mean time between failures
6. Limited commercial use because these computers were difficult to program
7. Very expensive
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Second Generation (1955-1964) Transistors
•The second generation computers were manufactured using transistors.
•While first generation computers were programmed using machine language,
second generation computers moved towards symbolic, or assembly languages,
which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words.
•At this time, high-level programming languages like COBOL, FORTRAN, ALGOL
and SNOBOL were also being developed.
•Second generation computers were first to store instructions in memory,
which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.
•Second generation computers were first developed for the atomic energy
industry.
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Advantages:
1. Consumed less electricity and thus dissipated less heat as compared to first
generation computers
2. Faster, cheaper smaller and more reliable than first generation computers
3. Could be programmed using assembly language and high level languages
4. Had faster primary memory and a larger secondary memory
Disadvantages:
1. Second generation computers were manufactured using transistors that had to
be assembled manually. This made commercial production of computers difficult
and expensive.
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Third Generation (1964-1975) Integrated Circuits
• The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third
generation of computers.
• These computers had few megabytes of main memory and magnetic disks which
could store few tens of megabytes of data per disk drive.
• High level programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN were standardized
by ANSI
• Some more high level programming languages like PL/I PASCAL and BASIC were
introduced at this time.
• Third generation computers were the first to implement time sharing operating
systems.
• Input to these computers could now be provided using keyboards and mouse.
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Advantages:
1.Faster than second generation computers and could perform 1 million transactions per
second.
2. Smaller, cheaper and more reliable than their predecessors
3. These computers had faster and larger primary memory and secondary storage
4. Widely used for scientific as well as business applications
5. During this generation of computers, standardization of existing high level
languages and invention of new high level languages was done
6. Had time sharing operating system which allowed interactive use of computer by one
or more users simultaneously thereby improving the productivity of the users.
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Fourth Generation (1975-1989) Microprocessors
•The microprocessor started the fourth generation of computers with thousands of
integrated circuits built onto a single silicon chip.
• Semi-conductor memories were used which were very fast, even the hard disks
became cheaper, smaller in size and larger in capacity.
• For input, floppy disks (in addition to magnetic tapes) were used to port data and
programs from one computer to another.
• During this period many new operating systems were developed like MS-DOS MS-
Windows UNIX and Apple’s proprietary operating system.
•Development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld devices.
•In this period, several word processing packages, spreadsheet packages and graphics
packages were introduced.
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Advantages:
1. Smaller, cheaper, faster and more reliable
2. Consumed less electricity and therefore dissipated less heat
3. Had faster and larger primary memory and secondary storage
4. Could be used as general purpose computers.
5. GUIs enabled people to learn to work with computers very easily. So the use
of computers in both office and home became widespread.
6. Networks allowed sharing of resources thereby efficient utilization of
computer hardware and software
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Fifth Generation (1989-Present)
•The fifth generation computers are completely based on a new concept of
artificial intelligence.
• Although such computers are still in development, there are certain
applications like voice recognition which is widely being used today.
•In the fifth generation of computers the aim is to develop devices that
respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-
organization.
• The two most common are LISP and Prolog.
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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Computers can be broadly classified into four categories based on their speed,
amount of data that they can hold, and price.
Classification of Computers
Super Computers Mainframe Computers Mini Computers Micro Computers
Dumb Intelligent
Terminal Terminal
Desktop Laptop Workstation Network Handheld
Smartphones Tablet PCs
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Computer can be boardly classified into four categories based on their speed ,amount
of data that they process and price
1 supercomputer
2 Mainframe computers
3 Minicomputers
4 Microcomputers
Super Computers:
It is fastest most powerful and most expensives computer, developed in 1980’s to
process large amount of data and to solve complex scientific problems,supports
thousands of user at a time and perform trilion operation in one second.
Mainframe Computers: These are large scale computers but smaller than super
computers. These are very expensive and need very large clean room with air
conditioning there by making them very costly to deploy.
->Dumb Terminal: It consists only monitor and keyboard and don’t have memory and
processor.
->Intelligent Terminal: These terminals have their own processor and used to access
the data and other services from the mainframe system.
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Mini Computers: These are smaller, cheaper, and slower than
mainframes, they are called mini computers because they were
smallest computers of their times. These are widely used in business,
education, hospitals, govt. organization etc.
Microcomputers:These are commonly known as PCs are very small
and cheap
These are classified into following categories
Desktop: The system unit of the desktop PC can be placed on a flat
desk widely used in homes and office
Laptops: These are very handy and can be carried out from one
place to other place, they are worked on battery the memory storage
capacity is same as PCs.
Workstation: These are single user Computers processing speed is
very high.These are used by Scientists,architects and grapic
designer also used as servers in a network.
Network Computers: These have less processing power, memory
and storage than a desktop computer used as terminals in a network
for webtv is equipped with set-top box that is used to connect internet
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Handheld Computers: These computers are very small in size and
hence they have small size screens and keyboard.
Some Examples are:
Smart phones
Tablet PCs
Smart Phones: These days cellular phones are web-enabled
telephones,in addition to basic phone capability ,they are used to access
the internet,send emails,edit word documents,create an excel sheets
and presentation lots more.
Tablet PC: A Tablet PCs are smaller than laoptops but bigger than smart
phone, have user friendly interface and portablity touch screen etc.,uses
android operating system which gives high performances.
Uses are:
View presentations
Videoconferencing
Reading Newspaper,ebook
Watching monies, playing games, sharing picture,video,documents
Browsing the internet
These are best used in crowd places such as airports,coffee chops
where size and portability matters.
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APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
• Word Processing • Sports
• Internet • Travel and Tourism
• Digital Audio or Video Composition Simulation
• Desktop Publishing • Astronomy
• e-Business • Education
• Bioinformatics • Industry and Engineering
• Health care • Robotics
• GIS and Remote Sensing • Decision Support Systems
• Meteorology • Expert Systems
• Multimedia and Animation
• Legal System
• Retail Business
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BASIC ORGANIZATION OF A COMPUTER
A computer is an electronic device which basically performs five major operations
which includes:
1) accepts data or instructions (input)
2) stores data
3) process data
4) displays results (output) and
5) controls and co-ordinates all operations inside a computer
Data and INPUT STORAGE OUTPUT Results
instructions
CPU
CONTROL UNIT
ARITHMETIC Flow of data and instructions
LOGIC UNIT
Control exercised by control unit
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Input: This is the process of entering the data and instructions into the computer
system, and these can be entered by using different input devices such as key
board,mouse,scanner and track ball.
Storage: Storage is the process of saving data and instructions permanently in
the computer so that can be used for processing.It also stores intermediate and
final results.
A computer has two types of storage areas
Primary storage: It is also known as main memory ,is the storage area that is
directly accessible by the CPU at very high speeds.
It stores the data and parts of the program,intermediate results,and jobs that are
currently being worked on by the computer.
It is volatile memory as the power switched off the contents of the memory are
all erased.example RAM
Secondary Storage: It is also known as auxiliary memory.
It is cheaper,non-volatile,and used to permanently store the data and programs.
For example magnetic disk c and d drives for future use.
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Output: Output is the process of giving the result of dataprocessing to the
outside world.the results are given through output devices such as
monitor,and printer.
Control: The Control unit (CU) is the central nervous system of the entire
computer system. It manages and controls all the components of the
computer system.
It decides the manner in which the instructions will be executed and
operations performed and takes care all step-by-step processing of all the
operations performed in the computer.
Processing: The process of performing operations on the data as per the
instruction s performed by the user is called processing. Data and instructions
are taken from the primary memory and transferred to ALU,
Which performs all sort of calculations. The intermediate results may be
stored in primary memory, as it might required again. When the processing
completes the final result is transferred to main memory to ALU. The data
may be moved multiple times before processing is over.
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