Introduction to Computer

Systems

Dr. Mohammed Eunus Ali

(eunus@cse.buet.ac.bd)

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Objectives

To Be Able to Differentiate Computer and Computer

Science

To Learn the Basics of Computers and Computing

To Learn Programming using Python

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Topics

• Introduction to Computing
• Hardware and Software
• Networking, Internet, and Security
• Principles of Programming Languages
• Programming using Python

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A Modern Computer
• A modern computer can be defined as “a machine that
stores and manipulates information under the control
of a changeable program.”

• Two key elements:

– Computers are devices for manipulating information
– Computers operate under the control of a changeable program

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Computer = Powerful + Stupid !
• Powerful -- looking through masses of a data 
--Billions of "operations" per second
• Stupid 
--Operations are simple and mechanical 
--Lacks "insight"
• But computers still are incredibly useful
• That's what this class is about 
--Visit this funny computer world, see how it works 
--Understand what they can do 
--Not intimidated, computer is not a magic box
• Open your eyes computer world .. some students
interested more computer science

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How Does a Computer Work?

• Computer is driven by "code" (more detail later)

• Code is made of simple, mechanical instructions
• The computer runs the series of instructions
• Computers do not have insight
• Machine, following sequence of instructions

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So Useful !

• Think of all the useful computer features (phone,

camera) 
--Email, instant messaging 
--MP3 audio 
--Red-eye reduction
• If computers are so stupid... why are they so useful?

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Who Does This Mapping?

Programmers

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Programmers Make It Happen!

• Human programmer thinks of a useful feature 

--Creativity, insight about problems, computers, ...
• Programmer thinks through the solution
• Breaking it down, directing the computer
• Writing code for the computer
• This is what computer programming is
• Every useful feature you've ever used has this pattern
• Combine the best features of both sides: insight +
inexpensive/fast

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Hardware and Software

• "Hardware" refers the physical parts of the

computer, and "software" refers to the code that
runs on the computer.

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Chips and Transistors

• Transistor - important building block

• Chip - fingernail sized silicon
• Chip can contain billions of transistors e.g. CPU
chips, memory chips, flash chips
• "Solid state" - no moving parts
• Chips are very sensitive to dust..

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Moore’s Law*

• Transistors get smaller about every 2 years

• Can fit twice as many per chip
• In effect, transistors/computers get cheaper
• Observation vs. "law"
• $50 MP3 player bigger each year: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
• Cheaper, cheaper, cheaper
• Why computers are now in cars, thermostats, ...

*Moore's law (Gordon Moore, Intel co-founder) states that the density of
transistors on a chip doubles about every 2 years.
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Hardware

• CPU
• RAM
• Disk

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• CPU
– CPU - Central Processing Unit
– The brains
– Performs simple operations
– e.g. Add two numbers
– Run button ... code "runs" on the CPU
• RAM
– RAM - Memory
– Temporary, working storage bytes
– RAM is not persistent .. gone when power goes out
– e.g. You're working on a doc, then power goes out (vs. "Save")

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Persistent Storage
• Persistent storage
aka "non volatile" .. preserved when not powered
• File system - files, folders
• Hard drive - stores bytes as a magnetic pattern on a spinning disk
High pitch spinning sound you may have heard
• Flash drive - stores bytes as electrons in a chip
Solid state approach, aka "flash memory"
• Flash drive forms - usb key, SD card in camera, flash chips built into
a tablet
• Flash used to be very expensive, so most computers used drives
• However flash is getting cheaper (Moore's law)

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File System

• File System
– When you take a digital picture, where does it go?
– File system - organize the bytes of persistent storage
– "File" - a name, a handle to a block of bytes
– e.g. "flowers.jpg" refers to 48KB of image data

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Bits and Bytes

• Bit
– Bit - stores just a 0 or 1
– Can store/communicate 2 states
– e.g. 0 if by land, 1 if by sea (Revere's ride bit)
– Transistors on a chip can make a bit
– Too small to be much use on its own .. form into a byte
• Byte
– Byte - the most important unit of storage
– One byte can store one letter, e.g. 'a' or 'x'
– One byte is made of 8 bits

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Byte

• How much can one byte hold?

– 1 bit -- 0/1 -- 2 patterns
– 2 bits -- 00/01/10/11 -- 4 patterns
– 3 bits -- 000/001/010/011/100/101/110/111 -- 8 patterns
– 3 bit pattern has twice as many patterns vs. the 2 bit pattern
– 3-bit formed 0(the 4 2-bit patterns), 1(the 4 2-bit patterns again)
– So n bits has twice as many patterns as (n-1) bits
– What is the general formula for # patterns for n-bits?
– 2 ^ n (2 to the nth power)

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Kilobyte, Megabyte, …
• Kilobyte
– Kilobyte KB - 1024 bytes
– About a thousand bytes
– A small email text is about 2KB
– A 5 page paper might be 100KB
– Text does not take a lot of bytes to store compared to images or video
• Megabyte
– Megabyte (MB) - 1024 kilobytes
– About a million bytes
– MP3 audio is about 1 megabyte per minute
– A high quality digital picture is about 3 megabytes
– An audio CD is about 700 megabytes
• Gigabyte (GB), Terabyte (TB), …
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Gigahertz (speed)

• One gigahertz is 1 billion cycles per second (a

megahertz is a million cycles per second).
• Gigahertz is a measure of speed, very roughly the
rate that at a CPU can do its simplest operation per
second

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Computer vs. Computer Science
• It is not the study of computers!
“Computers are to computer science what telescopes
are to astronomy.” – E. Dijkstra
• Since a computer can carry out any process that we
can describe, the real question is “What processes
can we describe? “
• Put another way, the fundamental question of
computer science is simply “What can be computed?”

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Computer Science

Computer Science = mathematics + engineering + natural science

– Like mathematicians, computer scientists use formal languages to

denote ideas (specifically computations)
– Like engineers, they design things, assembling components into
systems and evaluating tradeoffs among alternatives
– Like scientists, they observe the behavior of complex systems,
form hypotheses, and test predictions

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Computer Program

• What is a computer program?

– A detailed, step-by-step set of instructions telling a computer what
to do
– If we change the program, the computer performs a different set of
actions or a different task
– The machine stays the same, but the program changes!

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Computer Program

• Software (programs) rule the hardware (the physical

machine)
• The process of creating this software is called
programming
• Why learn to program?
– The process of learning to program is an excellent opportunity to
practice problem solving skills, which is the single most important
skill for a computer scientist
– Having an understanding of programming helps you have an
understanding of the strengths and limitations of computers
– Helps you become a more intelligent user of computers
– Programmers are in great demand!
– Programming is a fun!!
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Hardware Basics

• The central processing unit (CPU) is the “brain” of a

computer
– The CPU carries out all the basic operations on the data
– Examples: simple arithmetic operations, testing to see if two
numbers are equal

• Memory stores programs and data

– CPU can only directly access information stored in main memory
(RAM or Random Access Memory)
– Main memory is fast, but volatile, i.e. when the power is
interrupted, the contents of memory are lost
– Secondary memory provides more permanent storage: magnetic
(hard drive, floppy), optical (CD, DVD)

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Hardware Basics

• Input devices
– Information is passed to the computer through keyboards, mice,
etc.
• Output devices
– Processed information is presented to the user through the
monitor, printer, etc.
• Fetch-Execute Cycle
– First instruction retrieved from memory
– Decode the instruction to see what it represents
– Appropriate action carried out
– Next instruction fetched, decoded, and executed
– Lather, rinse, repeat!

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Natural vs. Formal Languages

• Natural languages:
– The languages that people speak, such as Bengali, English, and
French. They were not designed by people (although people try to
impose some order on them); they evolved naturally
• Formal languages:
– The languages that people have designed for specific purposes,
such as representing mathematical ideas or computer programs; all
programming languages are formal languages
• Token:
– One of the basic elements of the syntactic structure of a program,
analogous to a word in a natural language
• Parse:
– To examine a program and analyze the syntactic structure
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Programming Languages

• Programming languages are formal languages that

have been designed to express computations

– Natural language has ambiguity and imprecision problems when

used to describe complex algorithms
– Programs expressed in an unambiguous , precise way using
programming languages
– Every structure in programming language has a precise form,
called its syntax
– Every structure in programming language has a precise meaning,
called its semantics

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Programming Languages

• High-level programming languages

– Designed to be understood by human
• Low-level programming languages
– Designed to be understood by machines (also known as machine
languages or assembly languages)
• High-level vs. Low-level
– It is much easier to program in a high-level language. Programs
written in a high-level language take less time to write, they are
shorter and easier to read, and they are more likely to be correct
– High-level languages are portable, meaning that they can run on
different kinds of computers with few or no modifications. Low-
level programs can run on only one kind of computer and have to
be rewritten to run on another

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Programming Languages

• High-level to low-level
– Computers can only execute programs written in low-level
languages. Thus, programs written in a high-level language have
to be processed before they can run.
– Two kinds of programs process high-level languages into low-level
languages: interpreters and compiler.
• Interpreter vs Compiler
– An interpreter reads a high-level program and executes it,
meaning that it does what the program says.
– A compiler reads the program and translates it completely before
the program starts running. In this case, the high-level program is
called the source code, and the translated program is called the
object code or the executable.

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