1

CMP264 Systems analysis and design

Rules to be observed in this class

- Noise making is not accepted here

- Be respectful to others
- Obey all school rules
- Submit assignment on time
- If anybody wishes to contribute or ask question, such a person should raise
up his/her hand
- If you are late to class don’t disturb people already seated and participating
in the lecture but quietly find an empty seat
- Attendance will be taken for each lecture
- Making calls is prohibited during lectures
- Use of devices in lectures is discouraged since the screen of such devices
may disturb other category of students
- Diversity is encouraged. In my lecture the tall, the short, the rich, the poor,
the white, the black, the coloured, the able, the disabled, the tribal, the
nontribal, the religious, the nonreligious, the settler, the indigenes are
treated as equal without any preferential treatment for any group.
- No cheating of any form is allowed

Preliminary work

- CMP101: Introduction to Computer science

- The students are expected to know about computer systems.
- CMP 202 Computer programming I :
- CMP202 Computer programming II
In the two programming courses students have learnt some of the problem
solving techniques, how to write and compile their programs. Use computer
programming to solve minor real life problems.

System: A system is a collection of related components that work towards the

attainment of a common goal or objective. Examples of systems are (a) university
system (b) computer system (c) digestive system (d) solar system (e) Telephone
system(f)Transport system (g) drainage system (i) Defense system
 2

Components of a system: There are three (3) basic components of a system. These
are input, processing and output.

Consider the University system:

What are the components? The components include students, departments,

colleges/faculties, staff, laboratories, libraries, offices.

Common goal: teaching and research

Input into the university: candidates, research grants, funds etc

Processing: teaching, tutorials, mentoring, research

Output: graduates, research output

Consider the Computer system

Input into the computer system : data in various forms eg numbers, texts, images
etc

Processing: Various transformations like sorting, calculating. encrypting

Output : decrypted information, sorted data, results of computations etc

Classification of systems

Open vs close systems: an open system interacts with its environment to receive
input and generates output to its environment. Eg of open systems are computer
system, telephone system, defense system, transport system.

A closed system takes input from its environment but doesn’t generate any output
to the environment eg closed Furnace system where objects are burnt without any
output to the environment.
 3

Physical vs abstract systems

A physical system is a system whose components can be felt and touched.

Examples of physical systems are the computer hardware system, transport system,
the physical sub system of the telephone system,

Abstract system is a system that cannot be touched and felt, they may be
conceptual or formulae or models representing real life systems. Examples of such
systems are the software system. Software, when printed can be touched and felt.

Man- made vs natural system

Man- made system are system whose objective is clearly defined and known. They
are created to serve a specific purpose. The systems are created by man. Eg of
man-made systems are computer system. Natural systems are systems created by
nature. They may not have any specific objective. Eg of natural systems is the solar
system.

Computer Systems: This is a collection of the hardware, software and human-ware.

Eg of hardware are input devices, output devices, processors. Eg software include
OS, Compilers, application software. Eg of human-ware include programmers,
users, systems analyst, database analyst etc