Introduction to

Computers
By

Arshad Latif

1
History

 When the human race started doing

some trade, it felt a need for a
calculating device.
 The first calculating device, which
was used 2000 years ago was called
Abacus.
 The next change came after about
1600 years.
 It was the mechanical desk
calculator developed around 1800
A.D.

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History contd..

 In 1833, Prof. Charles

Babbage, the father of the
computer, developed a machine
called Analytical Engine which
was a revolution n the history.
 Analytical Engine was the vase
for the modern digital computer .

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Generations

 The first generation computers,

which were introduced in
1950's.They used vacuum tubes.
 The second-generation computers
used transistors.
 A very large number of circuit
elements (transistors, diodes,
resistors, etc.,) can be integrated into
a very small (less than 5mm square)
surface of silicon and are thus
named IC.
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Generations contd..

 The introduction of integrated circuits

(ICs), also known as chips opened
the door for the development of third
generation computers.
 The third generation computers
used small-scale integrated
circuits (SSI) which contain about
10-20 components.

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Generations contd..

 The microprocessor brought the fourth

generation of computers, as thousands of
integrated circuits were built onto a single
silicon chip.
 Fifth generation computing devices,
based on artificial intelligence, are still in
development, though there are some
applications, such as voice recognition,
that are being used today. The use of
parallel processing and superconductors
is helping to make artificial intelligence a
reality.

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Parts of a Computer

1. Hardware.
The hardware are the parts of
computer itself including the
Central Processing Unit
(CPU) and related microchips
and micro-circuitry,
keyboards, monitors, case
and drives (floppy, hard, CD,
DVD, optical, tape, etc...).

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Parts of a Computer

2. Software:
The software is the information
that the computer uses to get
the job done. Software needs to
be accessed before it can be
used. There are many terms
used for process of accessing
software including running,
executing, starting up, opening,
and others.
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Basic Computer Concepts

 A computer is an electronic
device capable of executing
instructions, developed based
on algorithms stored in its
memory, to process data fed to
it and produce the required
results faster than human
beings.

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Main Concepts

 An algorithm is a finite sequence of

instructions. Each instruction should
be precise, capable of being carried
out by a machine in a finite time.
 An algorithm can be expressed in a
graphical form know as a flow chart.
 A programming language is a
precise notation used to express
algorithms.

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Main Concepts

 An algorithm expressed in a
programming language is called
a computer program .
 Data are the raw facts and
figures that are fed into the
computer to be processed.
 Data organized in a meaningful
manner is called Information.
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 Basic Units

 A computer is designed using four

basic units. They are:
1. Input Unit:
Computers need to receive data
and instructions in order to solve
any problem. Therefore we need to
put the data and instructions into
the computer. The input unit
consists of one or more input
device. The keyboard and mouse
of a computer are the most
commonly used input devices
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Basic Units

2. Central Processing Unit (CPU):

It is the main part of a
computer system like the heart
of a human being. It interprets
the instructions in the program
and executes one by one.
It consists of three major units:

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Basic Units

 Control Unit:
It controls and directs the transfer of
program instructions and data
between various units.
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) :
Arithmetic operations like (+,-,*,^,/),
logical operations like (AND, OR,
NOT) and relational operations like
(<,>,<=,>=) are carried out in this
Unit.

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Basic Units

 Registers:
They are used to store instructions
and data for further use.
3. Memory Unit:
It is used to store the programs
and data.
4. Output Unit:
It is used to print/display the
results, which are stored in the
memory unit. Monitor is also an
output unit.

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Buses

 The components of a computer

are connected by using buses.
A bus is a collection of wire that
carry electronic signals from one
component to another. There
are standard buses such as
Industry Standard Architecture
(ISA).

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Data Representation

 Bits and Bytes :

Data in Computers are represented
using only two symbols '0' & '1'.
These are called " Binary digits" (or)
"BITS" for short. A set of 8 bits is
called a byte and
1024 bytes =1 kilobyte
1024 kilobytes =1 megabyte
1024 megabytes =1 gigabyte
1024 gigabytes =1 terabyte
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Binary numbers

 Binary numbers are formed

using the positional notation.
Powers of 2 are used as weights
in the binary number system. A
binary number system. A binary
number 10111, has a decimal
value equal to
1*24+0*23+1*21+1*20=23.

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Hexadecimal Numbers

 High valued binary numbers will

be represented by a long
sequence of 0's and 1's. A more
concise representation is using
hexadecimal representation.
The base of the hexadecimal
system is 16 and the symbols
used in this system are
0,1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F.
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Input Devices

 The most common input device is the

Keyboard. It is used to input letters,
numbers, and commands from the user.
 Mouse is a small device held in hand and
pushed along a flat surface. It can move
the cursor in any direction. In a mouse a
small ball is kept inside and the ball
touches the pad through a hole at the
bottom of the mouse. These days mouse
without ball and without wire connecting
to port are also available.

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Input Devices contd..

 Magnetic Ink Character

Recognition (MICR) is a method
in which human readable
characters are printed on
documents such as cheque
using special magnetic ink. The
cheque can be read using a
special input unit, which can
recognize magnetic ink
characters.
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Input Devices contd..
 Optical Mark Reading and Recognition
(OMR) is a method in which special pre-
printed forms are designed with boxes
which can be marked with a dark pencil
or ink. Such a document is read by a
document reader, which transcribes the
marks into electrical pulses which are
transmitted to the computer. These
documents are applicable in the areas
where responses are one out of a small
number of alternatives and the volume of
data to be processed is large. For
example:
Multiple choice questions examinations
in which large number of candidates
appear.
Market surveys, population survey etc.

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 Input Devices contd..

 An optical scanner is a device used to

read an image, convert it into a set of 0's
and 1's and store it in the computer's
memory. The image may be hand-written
document, a typed or a printed document or
a picture.
 In bar code reading, small bars of varying
thickness and spacing are printed on
packages, books, badges, tags etc., which
are read by optical readers and converted
to electrical pulses. The patterns of bars are
unique and standardized.

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Input Devices contd..

 Speech Input Unit is a unit,

which takes spoken words as its
input, and converts them to a
form that can be understood by
a computer.
 Joy stick is also an input
device. It is used to control the
objects while playing the games.

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Output Devices

 Visual Display Units (VDU) or monitors

are used to visually interface with the
computer and are similar in appearance to
a television.
 We can print out information that is in the
computer onto paper using a printer. By
printing we create what is known as a 'hard
copy'.
 Impact Printers use a print head
containing a number of metal pins which
strike an inked ribbon placed between the
print head and the paper.

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Output Devices contd..

 Non-impact printers are much

quieter than impact printers as their
printing heads do not strike the
paper.
Most non-impact printers produce
dot-matrix patterns.
Examples are thermal printers,
inkjet printers and laser printers.
 Plotters are used to produce graphs
or diagrams.
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Memory

 The space used by a computer

to hold the program that is
currently running, along with the
data it needs; also used to run
programs and process data.
 There are two main types of
memory:
RAM and ROM.
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Main Types of Memory
 RAM (Random Access Memory) is
the best known form of computer
memory. RAM is considered
“Random Access" because you can
access any memory cell directly if
you know the row and column that
intersect at that cell.
 Read-Only Memory (ROM), also
known as firmware, is an integrated
circuit programmed with specific
data when it is manufactured. ROM
chips are used not only in
computers, but in most other
electronic items as well
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Other Types of Memory
 Flash memory is used for easy and
fast information storage in such
devices as digital cameras and home
video game consoles. It is used
more as a hard drive than as RAM.
 SRAM (Static Random Access
Memory) uses multiple transistors,
typically four to six, for each memory
cell but does not have a capacitor in
each cell.
 DRAM (Dynamic Random Access
Memory) has memory cells with a
paired transistor and capacitor
requiring constant refreshing.
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 Other Types of Memory
contd..
 FPM DRAM (Fast Page Mode
Dynamic Random Access Memory)
was the original form of DRAM. It
waits through the entire process of
locating a bit of data by column and
row and then reading the bit before it
starts on the next bit.
 EDO DRAM (Extended Data-Out
Dynamic Random Access Memory)
does not wait for all of the processing
of the first bit before continuing to the
next one.

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Other Types of Memory
contd..
 Cache section of a computer's
memory is one which retains
recently accessed data in order
to speed up repeated access to
the same data. It can be either
a reserved section of main
memory or an independent
high-speed storage device.

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Other Types of Memory
contd..
 Some memory caches are built into
the architecture of microprocessors.
Such internal caches are often called
Level1 (L1) caches.
 Most modern PCs also come with
external cache memory, called
Level 2 (L2) caches. These caches
sit between the CPU and the DRAM.
 Both L1 and L2 are composed of
SRAM.
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SIMM and DIMM

 SIMM (Single Inline Memory

Module) is a circuit board on
which RAM memory chips are
mounted. It has a 32-bit path to
the memory chips.
 DIMM (Dual In-Line Memory
Module) is a small circuit board
that holds memory chips. It has a
64-bit path to the memory chips.
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Operating Systems

 The software controlling a computer. It

performs all the basic tasks required by all
computers such as accessing the disk
drive, reading the keyboard and
transferring data to the screen. There are
many operating systems currently
available in the market.
The most common ones are the:
Microsoft Windows and LINUX and OS/2.
Windows is product of Microsoft and not an
open source whereas LINUX is an open
source. Linux is a flavor of UNIX.

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Operating Systems contd..

 Some other operating systems are:

1. MS-DOS (Disk Operating System).
2. Solaris.
3. UNIX.
4. MAC/OS (Macintosh runs only on
Apple computers).
5. IBM OS/2 Warp.

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Classification of Operating Systems

 Multi-User :
Allows two or more users to run programs at the
same time. Some operating systems permit
hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.
E.g. Linux, UNIX, Windows 2000.
 Multiprocessing :
Supports running a program on more than one
CPU. E.g. Linux, UNIX, Windows 2000.
 Multitasking:
Allows more than one program to run concurrently.
E.g. UNIX, Windows 2000.

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Classification of Operating Systems

 Multithreading :
Allows different parts of a single
program to run concurrently. E.g.
Linux, UNIX, Windows 2000.
 Real time:
Responds to input instantly. General-
purpose operating systems, such as
DOS and UNIX, are not real-time.
Embedded systems are mostly the
real time systems. E.g. LynxOS.

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Hard Disk
 A storage device that holds large amounts
of data, usually in the range of hundreds to
thousands of megabytes. Although usually
internal to the computer, some types of
hard disk devices are attached separately
for use as supplemental disk space. "Hard
disk" and "hard drive" often are used
interchangeably but technically, hard drive
refers to the mechanism that reads data
from the disk. These days 80 GB hard disk
is commonly used. The price difference
between 40 GB and 80 GB is less than
Rs.500.

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Other Storage Media

 A soft magnetic disk. It is called

floppy because it flops if you
wave it. It is also called diskette.
It is portable unlike hard disk.
Floppies came in three basic
sizes . These are 8-inch,
5 ¼ inch and 3 ½ inch.
 Some other common types are
as follows:
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Other Storage Media contd..

 Magnetic Tape is also a storage media. It is a

flexible tape. These days used for back ups.
their draw back is this that they are sequential.
 CD-ROM (Compact Disk ROM)
is an optical disk format used to hold
prerecorded text, graphics and sounds. It may
be read only, recordable and also rewritable.
 DVD-ROM (Digital Video Disk ROM)
represents a new generation of high-density
CD-ROM disks,
which are read by laser and have both write
once and rewritable capabilities.

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THANK YOU

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