QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CC101 - INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING

ASSIGNMENT No. 1
NAME: SCORE PERCENTAGE

STUDENT NO:
YEAR/SECTION:
DATE:

INSTRUCTIONS: Write an essay that will explain and discuss the following.
Kindly put your references at the footer of this document.

1. Identify the history of computers from its evolution,

2. Determine the classification of each computer according to its type,
3. Identify and describe the different components of a computer system,
4. Identify the different parts of computer, and;
5. Describe the function of different computer parts.

We are now living in a technology era where almost all of the people use smart phones,
computers, laptop and any gadgets especially in this pandemic. Face to face activities were
prohibited, so in order to move forward we tried the “new normal”. Classes, seminars, meeting, are
now online, even ordering products and food are now online. We may use our phones and computers
on our daily basis but do we wonder what is the history of what are we using. When and how did
these gadget evolved to what we have now?

In 1703, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz developed the binary number system which is at the heart of
modern computing. The binary number system is a way to convert a series of 0’s and 1’s into other
numbers, letters, and characters. Everything we see on screen and interact with on our computers is
converted into binary before the computer can process it. The magic of present-day computers is that
they process binary extremely quickly. Eventually in 1801 in France, Joseph Marie Jacquard invents
a loom that uses punched wooden cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers
would use similar punch cards.

Everything changes drastically in 1837 where an English mathematician Charles Babbage

conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers.
The project, funded by the English government, is a failure. More than a century later, however, the
world's first computer was actually built. Babbage is commonly referred to as the “Father of
Computers” for his work. Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, worked alongside Charles
Babbage to design the analytical engine in 1843. However, shortly afterward, she developed the first-
ever computer algorithm. She carefully considered what computers were capable of when developing
her algorithm. The result was a solution to Bernoulli numbers, a significant mathematical
advancement.

A step towards automated computing was the development of punched cards, which were first
successfully used with computers in 1890 by Herman Hollerith and James Powers, who worked for
the US. Census Bureau. They developed devices that could read the information that had been
punched into the cards automatically, without human help. Because of this, reading errors were
reduced dramatically, work flow increased, and, most importantly, stacks of punched cards could be
used as easily accessible memory of almost unlimited size. Furthermore, different problems could be
stored on different stacks of cards and accessed when needed.
 These advantages were seen by commercial companies and soon led to the development of
improved punch-card using computers created by International Business Machines (IBM), Remington
(yes, the same people that make shavers), Burroughs, and other corporations. These computers
used electromechanical devices in which electrical power provided mechanical motion -- like turning
the wheels of an adding machine. Such systems included features to: feed in a specified number of
cards automatically, add, multiply, and sort, feed out cards with punched results.

The start of World War II produced a large need for computer capacity, especially for the
military. New weapons were made for which trajectory tables and other essential data were needed.
In 1942, John P. Eckert, John W. Mauchly, and their associates at the Moore school of Electrical
Engineering of University of Pennsylvania decided to build a high - speed electronic computer to do
the job. This machine became known as ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator).

The size of ENIAC’s numerical "word" was 10 decimal digits, and it could multiply two of these
numbers at a rate of 300 per second, by finding the value of each product from a multiplication table
stored in its memory. ENIAC was therefore about 1,000 times faster then the previous generation of
relay computers. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes, about 1,800 square feet of floor space, and
consumed about 180,000 watts of electrical power. It had punched card I/O, 1 multiplier, 1
divider/square rooter, and 20 adders using decimal ring counters, which served as adders and also
as quick-access (.0002 seconds) read-write register storage. The executable instructions making up a
program were embodied in the separate "units" of ENIAC, which were plugged together to form a
"route" for the flow of information.

Early in the 50’s two important engineering discoveries changed the image of the electronic -
computer field, from one of fast but unreliable hardware to an image of relatively high reliability and
even more capability. These discoveries were the magnetic core memory and the Transistor - Circuit
Element.

These technical discoveries quickly found their way into new models of digital computers. RAM
capacities increased from 8,000 to 64,000 words in commercially available machines by the 1960’s,
with access times of 2 to 3 MS (Milliseconds). These machines were very expensive to purchase or
even to rent and were particularly expensive to operate because of the cost of expanding
programming. Such computers were mostly found in large computer centers operated by industry,
government, and private laboratories - staffed with many programmers and support personnel. This
situation led to modes of operation enabling the sharing of the high potential available.

Many companies, such as Apple Computer and Radio Shack, introduced very successful PC’s
in the 1970's, encouraged in part by a fad in computer (video) games. In the 1980's some friction
occurred in the crowded PC field, with Apple and IBM keeping strong. In the manufacturing of
semiconductor chips, the Intel and Motorola Corporations were very competitive into the 1980s,
although Japanese firms were making strong economic advances, especially in the area of memory
chips. By the late 1980s, some personal computers were run by microprocessors that, handling 32
bits of data at a time, could process about 4,000,000 instructions per second.

Computer has also different classification, depending on size, types and purpose. There are 3
types of computer, Analog, Digital and Hybrid. But why there are different types of computer? What
are their differences to each other?

The first type of computer is analog computer, it is design to process the analogue data.
Analogue data is continuous data that changes continuously and cannot have discrete values such as
speed, temperature, pressure and current. An analog computer performs tasks using continuous
data. They are used primarily to measure physical units like the voltage, pressure, electric current,
temperature, and convert them into digits.

It is also used to measure and perform arithmetic calculations of numbers, the length of an
object, or the amount of voltage that passes through a point in an electrical circuit. Analog computers
obtain all their data from some measurement way. Analog computers are mainly used in engineering
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

and in the science field because quantities like voltage, pressure, electric current, temperature are
used more in these areas, these types of computers give only approximate estimates.

Second type is the digital computer, it represents the digital computer’s letters, numerical
values, or any other special symbols. This computer is the computer that calculates the number for
processing the data. It can perform arithmetic operations such as addition, occurrence, subtraction,
multiplication, or division and all types of logical operations. Today, most of the computers available in
the market are digital computers. They are built to bring the solution of equations to an almost
unlimited precision, but in a bit slow manner compared to analog computers. To some extent, they all
have similar components for receiving, processing, sorting, and transmitting data and use a relatively
small number of essential functions to perform their tasks.

Digital computers use discrete electrical signals for operation rather than continuous electrical
signals as analog computers have, making them the most common form of computers today because
of their versatility, speed, and power. The desktop or laptop at our home is one the common and best
example of a digital computer.

And lastly the third type is the hybrid computer. It has the both feature of hybrid and analogue
computers. It is fast like analogue computer and has memory and accuracy like digital computers. It
can process both continuous and discrete data. So it is widely used in specialized applications where
both analogue and digital data is processed. For example, a processor is used in petrol pumps that
convert the measurements of fuel flow into quantity and price. The aim behind creating a hybrid
computer is to create a kind of work unit that offers the best of both types of computers. They are
extremely fast when driving equations, even when those calculations are incredibly complex.

A computer system is a set of integrated devices that input, output, process, and store data
and information. They are currently built around at least one digital processing device. There are five
main hardware components in a computer system: Input, Processing, Storage, Output/Input and
Communication devices.

Central Processing Unit, also known as “CPU”. It is the brain of a computer as it controls
operation of all parts. It consists of two components: Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), and Control Unit.
Data entered into computer is sent to RAM, from where it is then sent to ALU, where rest of data
processing takes place. All types of processing, such as comparisons, decision-making and
processing of non-numeric information takes place here and once again data is moved to RAM.
Control unit is a part of CPU extracts instructions, performs execution, maintains and directs
operations of entire system. Memory Unit, this is unit in which data and instructions given to computer
as well as results given by computer are stored. Unit of memory is "Byte".

The computer case. This is the part that holds all of the internal components to make up the
computer itself. It is usually designed in such a manner to make fitting a motherboard, wiring, and
drives as easy as possible. Some are designed so well that it is easy to make everything look tidy and
presentable too.

The motherboard is the main board that is screwed directly inside the computer case. All other
cards and everything else plugs directly into the motherboard, hence its name. The CPU, RAM,
drives, power supply, and more all get connected to it. Its function is to integrate all the components
so they can communicate and operate together.
 A good motherboard offers a wide amount of connectivity options. It also has the least amount
of bottlenecks possible. This allows all the components to operate efficiently and to fulfill their
maximum potential as they were designed to do.

RAM is a data storage device that can provide fast read and write access. RAM is also volatile,
which means that it loses all the stored data when power is lost. It keeps data ready for the CPU to
process. The speed of the RAM is a big contributor to the overall speed of a computer.It plugs directly
into a long slot that has contacts on either side of the slot.It, too, has a clock speed, just like a
processor. So, it can also be overclocked to deliver increased performance beyond the intended
specification.

Certain RAM modules are sold with a heat spreader. It helps dissipate the heat from the
individual memory IC’s, keeping them cooler. RAM has evolved like any other component. RAM used
on the motherboard often uses DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random
Access Memory) type memory.

A graphics card processes the data from the motherboard and sends the appropriate
information to the monitor for it to be displayed. It can do so using an HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, or VGA
connector. A graphics card can also be referred to as a video card or a display card. It takes the
burden of all the video processing from the main CPU. This gives a computer a big boost in
performance. A graphics card plugs into a PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)
slot on the motherboard. It is a serial expansion bus slot capable of a high amount of bandwidth in
two directions.

A hard drive is found in most computers. It’s usually a mechanical drive that stores all the data.
Apart from storing data, it can also be used as a boot drive to run the operating system from it. An
operating system is a software program that makes a computer useable like Microsoft Windows, for
example. The biggest vulnerability of a mechanical drive is its physically fragile nature. One bump the
wrong way can destroy a whole drive. A mechanical hard drive contains one or more platters that spin
anywhere between 5200 to 10000 RPM (revolutions per minute). The read and write heads are
spaced only about 0.002 (51 micro M) inches away from the platter.

A power supply mounts inside the computer case. This converts the AC mains supply from the
wall socket and supplies the correct DC voltages to all the components inside the computer.

And for the input device, a monitor is what you use to visualize the graphics data sent from the
computer’s graphics card. There are various types of monitors on the market. The most commonly
used is a LED-backlit LCD monitor. A keyboard is one of the ways to communicate with a computer.
Typing a key from the keyboard sends a small portion of data to tell the computer which key was
pressed. A mouse allows the user to move a pointer displayed on the monitor and experience a more
intuitive interaction with the computer.

Reference/s:
https://compscicentral.com/history-of-computers/
https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html
http://egov.uok.edu.in/elearningug/tutorials/7934_1_2016_161115135359.pdf
https://www.freetimelearning.com/basics-of-computer-science/analog-digital-hybrid-computers.php#:~:text=Hybrid%20Computer
%20has%20features%20of,and%20digital%20data%20is%20processed.
https://digitalworld839.com/classification-of-computers/
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/computer_concepts/computer_concepts_components_of_computer_system.htm#:~:text=Computer
%20systems%20consist%20of%20three,is%20stored%20in%20computer's%20memory.
https://computerinfobits.com/parts-of-computer-and-their-functions/
https://digitalworld839.com/parts-of-computer-pictures/
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY