CLASSIFICATION OF

COMPUTERS
Computers can be classified by three ways

1. Based on the type/ data handling capabilities

2. Based on purpose
3. Based on the size
 I. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON DATA HANDLING
CAPABILITIES
1. ANALOG COMPUTERS
● Designed to process analog data
● Analog data - is continuous data that changes continuously and cannot have
discrete values - such as speed, temperature, pressure and current
● They measure continuous changes in physical quantity and generally render output
as reading on a display.
● It can directly accept data from the measuring devices.
● These are machines designed to perform arithmetic operations on numbers where
numbers are represented by physical quantities.
Eg:- Speedometer, mercury thermometer
Applications
● Many application in scientific and industrial process.
● For simulating physical systems,or automatically controlling industrial
process.
● Widely used in research.
● Used in manufacturing units where temperature, pressure & liquid flow are to
be monitored continuously.

Drawbacks
● Do not have the ability to store data in large quantities.
● Arithmetic functions performed by the units are more complex.
● The cost of hardware required to provide high degree of accuracy is high.
2. DIGITAL COMPUTER
● Designed to perform calculations and logical operations at high speed.
● It accepts raw data as digits or numbers.
● Its input is discrete & may consists of numbers, characters & special symbols.
● Processes it with programs stored in its memory to produce the output.
● It generates digital signals representing bit patterns(binary notation) consisting of
only 1s & 0s.
Eg:- All modern computers(like laptops, desktops etc)

Advantages
● Ability to store large volumes of data
● Ability to perform these operations at extremely high speed.
3. HYBRID COMPUTER
● Has features of both analog & digital computers.
● Integration of both analog & digital computer components is obtained by
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter.
● Its basic objective is to obtain the best properties of both computing philosophies.
● It is fast like analog computer & has large memory capacity and highly accurate like
digital computers.
● It can process both continuous & discrete data.
● Widely used in specialized applications where both data is to be processed.
● Especially in scientific applications or in controlling industrial processes.

Hybrid computers can be obtained in 2 ways:

(i). By interconnecting a digital & analog computer via a hybrid interface.
(ii). An analog interface can be integrated as part of central processor of a digital
computer.
 II. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON PURPOSE
Digital computers are classified into two based on the purpose:

1). General Purpose Digital Computer

● It is also known as all purpose digital computer.
● It can be use for any type of applications such as business applications, payroll etc.
● It is very much flexible.

2). Special Purpose Digital Computer

● Designed to perform a specific task and it lacks flexibility.
● Designed to be efficient in certain class of applications.
Eg:- computers installed in washing machines, aircraft control systems etc.
 III. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON SIZE

● Computers come in sizes from tiny to monstrous in both appearance and power.
● The size of the computer needed by a person or organization depends on the computing
environments.
Eg:-
The National weather service provided by the meteorological department of India keep
watching on the weather fronts of many continents has requirements different from those of
a two wheeler dealer’s service department for keeping track of their inventory.

● Classification of computers can be characterized by cost, size, storage capacity, no: of

users and processing speed.
They can be broadly classified as:
1. Supercomputer
2. Mainframe computer
3. Miniframe computer
4. Workstation
5. Micro Computers or Personal Computers
 III. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON SIZE

1. SUPERCOMPUTER
● Supercomputers, the biggest of all, have greater computing capacities.
● For achieving, higher speed of computing is to use many processors to work in
parallel.
● They are one of the fastest & powerful computers and are very expensive.
● They are employed for specialized applications that require immense amount of
mathematical calculations.
● They are designed to process huge amount of data.
● They can process trillions of instructions in a second and has thousands of
interconnected processors.
 ● Supercomputers are designed using multiprocessing and parallel processing to achieve
much faster processing speed than mainframe.
● They use this processing power to work on just one complex problem at a time instead of
sharing processing time with many users.
Eg:-
In meteorological department the fast processing seed of a supercomputer is used for a single
purpose - forecasting the weather

Drawbacks
● One of the problems of building computers of so much power is the tremendous amount
of heat generated by the machine.
● Thus, an elaborate cooling system is required.
● Major manufacturers of supercomputer, tackles this problem by cooling machine with
liquid coolants.
● Cray also designs some of their computers in a special curved shape that helps the
machines to dissipate the heat generated by certain components.
Uses

● Model Global Weather- High speed and large memory size is required to solve real
time weather forecast.
● They are used to model the actions and reactions of nuclear fission.
● There is a need of supercomputer to solve mathematical problems in disciplines
such as aerodynamics, seismology, metrology and plasma physics.
● Oil companies uses it for petroleum exploration by analyzing rock formation and
samples.
● Military strategists uses it to simulate defense scenarios.
● Cinematic specialists uses them to produce sophisticated movie animations.
● They are mostly used at research centres of some government agencies.
● Used for activities such as stock analysis, automobile design, sophisticated artwork
etc.
Examples of Supercomputers:-

● CRAY 3 (Control Data Corporation)

● Cyber 205 (ETA Systems Incorporation)
● PARAM 8000/PARAM Padma (India’s first supercomputer), designed and built by
the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
● PARAM Siddhi, AIRAWAT, Pratyush, and Mihir are some of the supercomputers in
India.
2. MAINFRAME COMPUTER

● Next step down from supercomputers, in terms of speed and storage capacity are
mainframes.
● Mainframe are large, relatively expensive machines that offer extensive problem-solving
capabilities
● It can have memory capacities measured in gigabytes and more.
● Their operating systems usually handle multiple applications within a time sharing
environment.
● This provides many users with the ability to perform different processing tasks
simultaneously.
● Data storage is primarily on hard disks.
● Mainframe is a large computer, in particular one to which other computers can be
connected so that they can share facilities the mainframe provides.
● These computers are designed to handle tremendous amount of input, output and
storage.
● They often act as host computers ie, computers that serve as central receiving and
switching computers in computer networks.
● It also act as a database server, that is, the database is controlled by mainframe
computer that can handle the input and output needs of all terminals connected to it.

Uses
● Mainframe computers are used in research organizations, large industrial
banks,hospitals, airline and railway reservations where large databases are required.
● Insurance companies use mainframe to process millions of policies.
● They need online processing of large number of transactions, and require computer
systems having massive data storage and processing capabilities.
● Used when a large number of users need to share a common computing facility.
● They can serve as the heart of a teleprocessing system with remote connections all over
the world.
It consists of following components:
1. Host, front-end, and back-end computers ⇒
● A mainframe system usually consists of several subordinate computers in addition to
the main or host computer.
● Host and other computers are located in a system room to which entry is restricted to
system administrators and maintenance staff only.
● Host computer carries out most computations, and has direct control of all other
computers.
● Other computers relieve the host computer of certain routine processing
requirements.
Example:- a front-end computer handles all communications to/from all user terminals, thus
relieving host computer of communications-related processing requirements. Similarly, a
back-end computer handles all data I/O operations, thus relieving host computer of locating
an I/O device and transferring data to/from it.
2. Console(s) ⇒
● One or more console terminals (located in system room) connect directly to the host
computer.
● System administrators use them to monitor the system's health, or perform some
system administration activities such as changing system configuration, installing new
software, taking system backup, etc

3. Storage devices ⇒
● For large volume data storage, users connect several magnetic disk drives (located in
system room) directly to the back-end computer.
● Host computer accesses data on these disks via the back end computer.
● In addition, there are few tape drives and a magnetic tape library for
backup/restoration of data.
4. User terminals ⇒
● User terminals serve as access stations.
● Users use them to work on the system.
● All user terminals are in users' room, some of them may be located at geographically
distributed locations.
● Since mainframe systems allow multiple users to use the system simultaneously,
their operating systems support multiprogramming with timesharing.

5. Output devices ⇒
● User terminals also serve the purpose of soft copy output devices.
● However, for hard copy outputs, there are one or more printers and one or more
plotters connected to back-end computer.
● These output devices are also located in users' room so that users can easily access
them to collect their outputs.
3. MINIFRAME COMPUTER

● The next step down from mainframe computers, in terms of speed and storage capacity
are miniframe computers.
● Also known as minicomputers.
● It is an mid-size computer that can perform the same kind of applications as a
mainframe but has less storage capacity, processing power and speed than a mainframe.
● It is functionally intermediate between a microcomputer and a mainframe.
● Minicomputers are floor standing or desktop devices, frequently connected to a
mainframe to perform subsidiary operations.
● They are purchased by smaller businesses and are sufficiently compact to be located in a
typical office environment.
● Some minicomputers are uniprocessor systems whereas some are multiprocessor
system.
● Minicomputers have operating systems with multitasking and network capabilities
enabling them to serve more than one user.
● It serves as a centralized storehouse for cluster of workstations or as a server.
For example, a team of architects working on different subsystem within the same building
could be directly linked to the office minicomputer that maintains everyone's files and
documentation.
● A mini computer can support more than 100 terminals simultaneously.
● Generally the processing speeds and related capabilities of minicomputers exceed those
of microcomputers and more peripheral devices can be attached to them.
Advantages of Minicomputers

● Its affordability ie, cost effectiveness small businesses that were unable to purchase an
expensive central computer can afford to purchase minicomputers.
● It is commonly used as dedicated computers ie, used exclusively for one processing
function.
Example, for program development or payroll preparation

The major minicomputer manufacturers include DEC, Data General, IBM and Hewlett
Packard.
4. WORKSTATION
● Between minicomputers and microcomputer, in terms of processing power, there is a
class of computers know as workstations.
● Workstations are high end PCs and typically only one person uses it at a time.
● These are powerful desktop computers designed to meet the computing needs of
engineers, architects and other professionals.
● These computers are used for technical or engineering applications (CAD/CAM), desktop
publishing, software development, multimedia applications for creating special
audio/video effects in movies and so on.
● It provides a moderate amount of computing power and relatively high quality graphics
capabilities.
● It generally performs a specific job with great expertise, accordingly, they are of different
types such as graphics workstation, music workstation and engineering design
workstation.
● Workstations generally come with
○ more processing power than an average PC
○ fast microprocessor,
○ large amount of RAM & hard disk capacity
○ high speed graphic adapters
○ large & high-resolution graphic screen
○ inbuilt network support and
○ a graphical user interface.
● Most workstations also have mass storage device such as a disk drive, but a special
type of workstation, called diskless workstation, comes without a disk drive
● Common operating systems for workstations are UNIX and Windows NT.
● Workstations are also single user computers like PC but are typically linked
together to form a local area network although they can also be used as
stand-alone systems.
5. MICROCOMPUTER
● The microcomputer is a scaled-down version of the mainframe, and is also known as
personal computer.
● It is a small, relatively inexpensive, general purpose computer that is designed for
individual use.
● It has a microprocessor as a central processing unit, memory, storage area, input unit
and output unit.
● Businesses use personal computers for word processing, accounting, desktop
publishing, and for running spreadsheet and database management applications.
● Although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, these systems are
normally linked together to form a network.
● In 1981, IBM called its first microcomputer the IBM PC.
● Personal computer is a type of microcomputer primarily intended for stand-alone use
by an individual.
● A few of the major personal computer manufacturers are APPLE, IBM, Dell,
Hewlett-Packard etc.
● Microcomputers includes:
Laptops
Palmtop Computers
Notebook Computers
Laptops
● In recent years design changes have reduced the size of some microcomputers, making
computer technology portable and affordable.
● Laptop computers are roughly the size of a large notebook.
● Their power source-a battery is completely self-contained yet can be recharged from an
electrical outlet.
● Laptops, sometimes called notebook computers.

Palmtop Computer
● Small enough to hold in one hand and operate with the other.
● Palmtops may have specialized keyboards or keypads for data entry applications or have
small qwerty keyboards

Notebook Computer
● Portable computer that typically weighs less than six pounds (heavier than a pocket
computer, lighter than a laptop)
 Notebook Computers

Palmtop Computers
6. CLIENT SERVER COMPUTERS
● It is possible to interconnect several computers that can communicate with each other over
a network.
● In such a computing environment multiple users can share several resources/services for
cost-effective usage.
● The shared resources/services can be best managed centrally.
A few examples of such resources/ services are:
1. File server ⇒ It provides a central storage facility to store files of several users on a
network.
2. Database server ⇒ It manages a centralized database and enables several users on a
network to have shared access to same database.
3. Print server ⇒ It manages one or more printers, and accepts and processes print requests
from any user in a network.
4. Name server ⇒ It translates names into network addresses enabling different computers
on a network to communicate with each other.
● In these cases, it is usual to have one process that "own" a resource of service and is in
charge of managing it.
● This process accepts requests from other processes that want to use the resource or
service.
● The process that owns the resource and does this management is called a server
process and the computer on which the server process runs is called a server computer.
● Other processes that send service requests to the server are called client processes, and
computers on which client processes run are called client computers.
● In client-server computing environment, it is common for a server to use services of
another server, and hence, be both a client and server at the same time.
7. HANDHELD COMPUTERS
● A handheld computer is a small computing device that can be used by holding in hand.
● Obviously, its size, weight, and design are such that a user can use it comfortably by
holding in band.
● It is also known as palmtop because it can be kept on palm and operated.

(i). Tablet PC
● A tablet PC a miniaturized laptop.
● It usually provides all features of a laptop with some differences.
● A tablet PC is much lighter than a laptop.
● A user can rotate, turn around and flip the screen of a tablet PC.
● Usually, a tablet PC comes with a specially designed pen that a user can use to write
directly on the screen.
● Usually, tablet PCs have voice recognition feature that allows voice input capable
applications to accept voice commands.
(ii). PDA/Pocket PC

● PDA was introduced initially as a Personal Information Manager (PIM) device.

● PIM features includes contact list, calendar, task list, e-mail, pocket word processing
application, pocket spreadsheet & other applications.
● PDA has a decent size LCD screen with a pen for handwriting recognition.
● With add-on memory card, user can increase its storage as required.
● Some PDAs also provide USB extension port.
● Almost all PDAs have digital camera capability and also have network capability
using WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.
● PDAs come with several options of operating systems ranging from MS-Windows
Mobile, Symbian OS, Linux, Blackberry OS, etc.
(iii). Smartphone

● Smartphone is a fully functional mobile phone with computing power.

● The major distinction between a PDA and smartphone is that while PDA is
mostly a computing platform like PC with optional phone capability, smartphone
is a cell phone with PDA-like capability.
● In essence, smartphone in voice centric whereas, PDA is data centric.
 Classification of Computers
Summary 1. Based on the type/ data handling capabilities
(i). Analog Computers
(ii). Digital Computers
(iii). Hybrid Computers
2. Based on purpose
(i). General Purpose Computers
(ii). Special Purpose Computers
3. Based on the size
(i). SuperComputers
(ii). Mainframe Computers
(iii). Miniframe Computers
(iv). Workstations
(v). MicroComputers
(vi). Client Server Computers
(vii). Handheld Computers