Department of Computing &

Technology

Iqra University,
Islamabad, Campus,
Pakistan.

Unit 4 - 6 1
 Unit 4-6

Introduction to Computer Concepts

COURSE CODE: CSC-101

Credit Hours: 4 (3+1) --- 2 lecture + 1 Lab.
Dr. Mohammed Yousuf Khan

Unit 4 - 6 2
 Microcomputer Parts
 Computer hardware
 The system unit, register size and bus size

 Speed of microprocessor

 Memory, bus, expansion slots and device controller

 Input and output devices

 Computer software
 System software

 Programming languages

 Application software

Unit 4 - 6 3
 Configuring a PC
A typical PC includes the following components:
 A microcomputer (the processor & other electronic
components)
 A keyboard for input
 A point-and-draw device for input (mouse)
 A monitor for soft copy (output)
 A printer for hard-copy (output)
 A high capacity hard-disk device (storage)
 A CD device/floppy disk device
 A microphone/audio & video components/LAN
card/modem
 A set of speakers etc

Unit 4 - 6 4
 The System Unit
 Represents
 Computer brain and computer memory
 Other useful parts or carrying out internal
operations
 It consists of
 Mother board
 Central processing unit (CPU) / microprocessor

Unit 4 - 6 5
 Mother Board / System Board
 Mother board is the physical foundation of
the PC.
 Represents the main circuit board.
 Hosts.
Following are attached to a mother board.
 The computer’s central processing unit (CPU).
 Support circuitry for I/O peripheral devices.
 Data communication bus.

Unit 4 - 6 6
 Mother Board (Continues …)
 Memory chips.
 Expansion slots for linking other circuit
board.
 External peripheral devices can be
linked to the processor via serial/parallel
ports.

Unit 4 - 6 7
 Mother Board (Continues …)
 Some common ports are:
- Serial port
- Parallel port
- SCSI port
- USB port
- Dedicated keyboard port
- Dedicated mouse port
- Irda port: infra red/ blue tooth port

Unit 4 - 6 8
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 Represents the computer’s virtual brain
 Carries out all internal operations
 Computations

 Data transfer

 Numerical comparison

Unit 4 - 6 9
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
CPU consists of:
 Control unit (CU)

 Controls the operations

 Arithmetical and logical unit (ALU)
 Arithmetical and logical operations
 Registers
 Storage locations for CU and ALU

Unit 4 - 6 10
 Register Size
 Computers can be distinguished from one
another by their word size, register size,
speed and capacity of main storage, where
the register size:
 Represents a storage space inside the CPU
 Holds numbers being manipulated
 The larger the register the larger the number
it can hold

Unit 4 - 6 11
 Register Size (Continues ..)
 Register’s size is expressed in bits
 A bit is a single binary digit
{(False or True), (Off or On) or (0 or 1)}
 Byte is a set of eight bits
 Example of a byte: 01001001
 One byte can express any number
between 0 and 255

Unit 4 - 6 12
 Register Size (Continues ..)
 Common register/word sizes are:

 8-lane bit way

 16-lane bit way
 32-lane bit way
 64-lane bit way

Unit 4 - 6 13
 Buses and Bus Size
 The bus is the common pathway through which the
processor sends/receives information's to/from
storage & I/O devices.
 Bits travel between memory devices and the
processor over address and data buses. For R/W,
control bus is used.
 Used for transferring program/instructions and
data to/from memory and CPU.
 Affects computer performance.
 How much data can be moved at a time.

 Has a direct relationship with registers where data

is stored.

Unit 4 - 6 14
 Speed of the Microprocessor
 Depends on the microprocessor design.
 Depend on the speed of the system clock.
 Clock ticks at a certain frequency.

 Computer operations require a certain number

of clock ticks.
 The faster the clock is the faster the computer.

 The speed is measured by no. Of cycles/second.

 It is expressed in units of frequency (hertz

Hz).
 1 megahertz (MHz) = 1 million cycles/second.
Unit 4 - 6 15
 Speed of …. Continue
 For example:
Time period, time taken for one clock cycle (T) is:
T= 1/frequency (f) or f = 1/T.
If f = 400 MHz then the time taken to complete one
clock cycle is.
T = 1/400 * 106 = 2.5 * 10-9= 2.5 n-sec.
Note: the shorter the clock cycle, the faster the
processor.
Speed units are: MIPS, FLOPS, GFLOPS & TFLOPS.

Unit 4 - 6 16
 Examples of CPUs
 8086 microprocessor
 8088 microprocessor
 80286 microprocessor
 80386 microprocessor
 80486 microprocessor
 Pentium series
 Itanium series
 … Etc
Unit 4 - 6 17
 Memory
 Primary memory
 Random access memory (RAM)

 Read only memory (ROM)

 Secondary memory
 Floppy disk drive (FDD)

 Hard disk drive (HDD)

Unit 4 - 6 18
 Primary Memory (RAM)
 Read write memory (RAM)
 Random access memory (RAM)
 A sequence of individual locations
 Each location has a unique address
 All addresses are equally accessible
 If the power is cut off the computer
content in the RAM is lost

Unit 4 - 6 19
 Primary Memory (RAM)
 The amount of RAM is another factor
involved in determining the power of a
computer
 If the RAM is high then the computer
 Can run complex programs
 Access data quickly

Unit 4 - 6 20
 Primary Memory (RAM)
 The units used to express memory size
are:
 1 byte (B) = 8 bits
 1 kilobytes (K) = 1024 B = 210 bytes
 1 megabytes (M) = 1024 K = 220 bytes
= 1 million bytes
 1gigabytes (G) = 1024 M = 230 bytes =
1 billion bytes

Unit 4 - 6 21
 Primary Memory (ROM)
 Read only memory (ROM)
 Used for storing system programs and
routines because it can only be read
 A collection of storage locations
 The information it has, stored at
manufacturing time and it can not be lost
 Hosts the POST (power-on-self-test) routines:
 Testing routines, test if everything is fine

Unit 4 - 6 22
 Secondary Memory (FDD)
Floppy disk drive (FDD)
 Works with floppy disks, which are:
 Flexible magnetic disk: inserted and moved
from FDD
 Cheap
 There are three types
 5.25” FD
 3.5” FD
 8” FD

Unit 4 - 6 23
 Secondary Memory (HDD)
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
 Use one or more rigid, magnetic

platters to hold information

 The disks are fixed inside
 They are fast and have greater capacity
than FD

Unit 4 - 6 24
 Expansion Slots

 Are internal connectors

 Allow you to plug an additional circuit
board into the motherboard

Unit 4 - 6 25
 Device Controller
 It is a circuit board
 It operates a piece of computer
equipment:
 Disk drive
 Display monitor
 Keyboard

Unit 4 - 6 26
 Input Devices
 Keyboard
 Device for entering text and
 Telling the computer what to do
 Mouse
 An additional auxiliary device
 Used as a source of input

Unit 4 - 6 27
 Output Devices

 Line printer
 Screen
 HDD

Unit 4 - 6 28
 System Software (Operating
Systems (O/S))
 It is the s/w that controls the execution of all
applications and system s/w programs.
 All h/w & s/w are under the control of the
o/s.
 One of the o/s program called kernel loads
other o/s & application program to RAM as
they are needed.
 It is the heart and the soul of a computer.

Unit 4 - 6 29
 O/S (Continues ….)
 Classes of operating systems.
 Single user, single tasking: single user on a
single micro that may not linked to a network.
 Single user, multi tasking: concurrent
execution of more than one program a time.
 Multi user, single tasking: single user on a
single micro that are linked to a network.
 Multi user, multi tasking: A combination of the
above two.

Unit 4 - 6 30
 O/S (Continues ….)
 Multiprocessing: more than one CPU
inside.
 Networking task of the O/S.

Some examples are:

Windows98, WindowsNT, Mac OS,
OS-9, Lynix etc.

Unit 4 - 6 31
 O/S (Continues ….)
Foreground & background programs:
The o/s rotates allocation of the
processor resource between foreground
and background.
Foreground is that part of the RAM
containing the active/current program.
Background are of low priority programs
or may be the backup of a program.

Unit 4 - 6 32
 Programming Languages
The instruction in a program are logically sequenced and
assembled. Each programming language has an instruction set
with several type of instructions.
Instructions are:
- I/O instruction: which direct the computer to read or write from
which device.
- Computation instruction: to perform arithmetic operations (add,
sub etc).
- Control instruction: which can alter the sequence of program
execution.
- Assignment instruction: for inter-transfer of data from RAM to
other locations.
- Format instruction: used with I/O instruction.

Unit 4 - 6 33
 Programming Languages ….
Types of programming languages are:
 Machine Languages (in 1 or 0 form).

 Assembler Languages (in mnemonics).

 High-level languages: (English like).

 Pascal, Cobol, Basic, C, Java, …

 Visual Languages: Icons for words.
 Macros: A sequence of frequently used
operations that can be recalled when needed.

Unit 4 - 6 34
 Platforms
 Platforms are the home for s/w.
 A platform is a h/w standard on which

s/w is developed.
It is defined by two elements:
- The processor (e.G. Pentium, PowerPC).

- The O/S ( e.G. Mac O/S, NT, OS9).

Unit 4 - 6 35
 Application Software
Application s/w are designed and written to
address a specific personal, business or
processing task.
It is the software that helps the user.
 Perform word processing.

 Use electronic spreadsheets to manage tables

to extract results.
 To create databases and manage them.

 To use the email facilities and access internet.

Unit 4 - 6 36
 Reviews:
 Processor parts, memory types, buses,
expansion slots, communication ports,
system software hardware, mother
board are discussed.

Unit 4 - 6 37