COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS

UNIT I : Content
Introduction:
Definition of Computers
History of Computers
Generation of Computers
Block diagram of Computer
Classification of Computers.
UNIT I: Definition of Computers

 Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user
and processes it under the control of set of instructions (called program), gives the
result (output), and saves it for the future use.
 Computer is an electronic data processing device which accepts and stores data input,
processes the data input, and generates the output in a required format.
UNIT I: History of Computers
History repeats but lets be
prepared to make good use of it
UNIT I: History of Computers
UNIT I: History of Computers

 600 BC – Abacus – Simple addition and subtraction.

 Cardboard Multiplication Calculator or Napier Bone: It is a manual
calculating device designed by John Napier. It was designed in early 17th
century and was even used till 1890.
UNIT I: History of Computers

Difference Engine & Analytical Engine:

 Charles Babbage, aka “Father of Computers” designed a difference engine in 1822 which produce reliable
tables.
 In1842, designed analytical engine, capable of performing the arithmetic function with an average speed of 60
additions per minute and it could print result automatically.
 Lady Augusta Ada King is the first female programmer.
 Thefirst computer was invented by Charles P. Babbage in 1822 but it was completed in 1871 by his son Helmet P.
Babbage.
 Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine
contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory concept and is the first
general-purpose computer.
UNIT I: History of Computers

Punched Card
A step towards automated computing was the development of punched
cards, which were first successfully used with computers in 1889 by Herman
Hollerith, 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. Hollerith brought
punched cards to business in 1896, later merged with other companies and
renamed as International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers

First generation of computers

 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) in 1946 by Eckert and Mauchly at University of
Pennsylvania.
 Used high speed vacuum tube switching devices.
 Primarily very small memory.
 200 microseconds to add two digits and 2800 microseconds for multiplication.
 1946 Von Neumann proposed concept of stored program (ie, storing instructions and data in the memory)
 Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) in 1949
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers

First generation of computers

 UNIVAC – commercial computers in 1950
 Used vacuum tubes (half watt per tube)
 10,000 tubes
 Machine language
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Second generation of computers
 Transistors – Bardeen Brattain and Shockely in 1947.
 Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors are
 Made of germanium semiconductors- highly reliable
 Switch state 0 to 1 in microseconds, one 10th of time less
10 times more reliable,
10 times faster
10 times less power Consumption
10 times less space
10 times cheaper
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Second generation of computers
 Memory capacity in 2nd gen was 100KB
 During this time,
 Magnetic core were invented which can be magnetized in either clockwise
or anti clockwise direction to represent 0 or 1
 Higher reliability of computers and large memory availability led to higher
level languages.
 FORTRAN, COBOL, Algol, SNOBOL
 Higher CPU speed, magnetic tape, disk storage led to the development of
operating system.
 Applications: Payroll, Inventory, marketing production planner, ledger
system.
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Third generation of computers (1965) Integrated Circuits (IC)
 Integrated Circuits= transistors+resistors+capacitors
 Small scale IC  10 transistors per chip
 Medium scale IC  100 transistors per chip
 Speed went up by factor of 10
 Reliability increased by a factor of 10
 Power consumption reduced by a factor of 10
 Size reduced by a factor of 10

 Effect  CPU with 1 million instructions per seconds.

 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Third generation of computers (1965-75) Integrated Circuits
(IC)
 During this time,
 Main memory reached 4 MB
 Magnetic disk improved. 100MB per drive
 Time shared operating systems were developed
 Applications: airline reservation system, interactive query
systems
 High level languages improved.
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers

Fourth generation of computers – Microprocessor First decade

(1975-85)
 Large and Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI)  50,000 transistors
per chip
 Memory size 16MB with a cycle time of 200 nsec
 Price reduced, personal computers became affordable
 MSDOS
 Networks of computers and distributed computer systems developed.
 Disk memory became very large  1000 MB/drive
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Fourth generation of computers –Second decade (1986-2000)
 Speed of microprocessors and size of main memory and hard disk
wen up by a factor of 4 every 3 years.
 Alpha microprocessor was designed – 9.3 million transistors in a
single chip, driven by 300 MHz clock and could carry out a billion
operations per second.
 It had built in 64 bit floating point arithmetic unit, 64 bit address bus
 Cache memory – 64 KB and 32 register to store temporary operand.
 Intel – Pentium
 UNIT I: Generation of Computers
Fourth generation of computers –Second decade (1986-2000)
1 GB disk on workstation became common,
 Storage – 100 GB,
 Optical storage 650 MB on a 5.25 disk, DVDROM – 17 GB
 Fibre LAN – transmit 100 MB/sec to 1 GB/sec
 WWW – Internet – Java – Java applet – Java script
C Programming language, C++
UNIT I: Generation of Computers
 Fifth generation of computers
 Artificial Intelligence
UNIT I: Block diagram of Computer

Block diagram of Computer

UNIT I: Classification of Computers
Palm PCs

Laptop PCs

Personal Computers (PCs)

UNIT I: Classification of Computers
 Workstations : Workstation, a high-performance computer system that is basically
designed for a single user and has advanced graphics capabilities, large storage capacity,
and a powerful microprocessor (central processing unit).

 Servers :
UNIT I: Classification of Computers
 Mainframe Computers: Mainframe computers or mainframes also known as "big iron" are
computers used primarily by large organizations for critical applications; bulk data processing, such
as census, industry and consumer statistics, and enterprise resource planning; and transaction
processing.

 Super Computers: A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to

a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in
floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS).
  PARAM 8000 India's first super computer.
 India is ranked 23rd in the world. As of June 2020, PRATYUSH is the fastest supercomputer in
India.
 Pratyush and Mihir are the supercomputers established at Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology (IITM), Pune and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF),
Noida respectively. As of January 2018, Pratyush and Mihir are the fastest supercomputer in India
with a maximum speed of 6.8 PetaFlops at a total cost of INR 438.9 Crores.
UNIT I: Classification of Computers
 Distributed computer system: Distributed computing is a model in which
components of a software system are shared among multiple computers to
improve efficiency and performance.
 According to the narrowest of definitions, distributed computing is limited to
programs with components shared among computers within a limited
geographic area.

 Parallel computers: Parallel computing is a type of computation in which

many calculations or the execution of processes are carried out simultaneously.
 Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be
solved at the same time.