What is Computer ?

The word “Computer” comes from the word “Compute”

Which means to calculate.
A Computer may be defined as an electronic machine which
process the data supplied ( input -- both numeric & non numeric) and
produces the desired result (output) according to the given
instructions .

Characteristics of a computer system

1 it works very fastly.
2 It has a big memory to store data and information.
3 It does not get boring and tired due to monotonous and
repetitive works.
4 It gives an accurate results.
5 It executes the instructions most obediently.
6 It works on the principle of GIGO(garbage in garbage out)
7 It can connect with another computer for sharing data
and information
• A set of instruction is called a program.
• Step by step instruction of program is
called an algorithm.
• Command that tells computer what to do
are called instruction.
• A computer is programmable, multiuse
that accepts data- raw facts and figures
and processes, or manipulates, it into
information that can use, such as
summaries or totals. Its purpose is to
speed up problem solving and increase
productivity.
• Data: are raw facts or elementary descriptions of things, events,
activities, and transactions that are captured, recorded, stored, and
classified but not organized to convey any specific meaning.
• Examples of data would include grade point averages, bank
balances, or the number of hours employees worked in a pay period.
• Information: is collection of facts (data) organized in some manner
so that they are meaningful to a recipient, for example, if we include
student name with grade point averages, customer names with bank
balances, and employees' wages with hours worked, we would have
useful information.
• Knowledge: consists of information that has been organized and
processed to convey understanding experiences, accumulated
learning, and expertise as it applies to a current business problem or
process.
Basic Operation of Computer :
It performs 5 basic operations :
(1) Input :The process of entering data and instructions into the computer
system.( Accepting the data from Keyboard, Mouse etc.
(2) Processing : Performing arithmetic , logical operations on data in
order to convert them into useful information. Processing the data (both
numeric and non-numeric)as per
instruction to convert into desired output.
(3) Output : The process of producing useful information or results for the
user, such as a printed report or visual display. Producing the output
through the Monitor or Printer etc.
(4) Storage : Saving data and instructions so that they are available for
processing as and when required. Storing the data and information &
retrieving when required.
(5) Control : Direct the manner and sequence in which all of the above
operations are performed. Every task is performed in a well controlled
manner sequentially.
Parts and its functions: CPU
MEMORY
(RAM / ROM)

OUTPUT
INPUT CU DEVICE
DEVICE
(Control Unit)

ALU
(Arithmatic & Logical
Unit)

Fig.BLOCK DIAGRAM of a Computer System

In fig. Complete line indicates flow of data,dotted line indicates the signals from the
CU to other units
(a) Input Devices. (b) CPU(CU & ALU) (c)Output devices. (d) Storage
devices (MEMORY).
(a) Input devices : The Devices which is used to input the list of
instructions and data from outside.
e.g. Keyboard, Mouse, scanner, lightpen, trackballs, OCR, OMR,
BCR, MICR, POS terminal (point of sale), joystick, touchscreen,
microphone etc.
(b) CPU:Central Processing unit (CPU) is the Heart of Computer
System.It consists of CU ( Control Unit ) and ALU (Arithmetic and
Logical Unit ).This unit carries out all the processes and interface and
co-ordinates with other under peripherals with controlling signals of
CU.
(c) Output devices : The devices which are used to produced the result.

e.g. Monitor, Printers,plotters, speakers etc.

(d) Storage (MEMORY): It is device which is
used to store data/ information.
It is of three types : (i) Primary/ Main
Storage.
e.g RAM and ROM
(ii) Secondary Storage / External
e.g hard disk, floppy, cd, dvd, pen drive etc.
(iii) Registers.
RAM (Random Access Memory): `

It is the storage location within the computer where all

data and instructions required for current working are stored.
The significant feature of the RAM is that data can be read from
it, as well as written onto it. It is a temporary or Volatile
memory. It means as soon as the power is switched off, any
information stored in the memory will be lost.
ROM (Read Only Memory):
It comes with programs already built into it. These are
the programs the computer requires for its internal working. The
significant feature of ROM is that data/programs can only read
from it. No data / programs can be written onto it. It is Non-
Volatile, as it retains anything within it irrespective of the power
being on or off.
 Five basic ROM types:

1.ROM - Read Only Memory.

2.PROM - Programmable Read Only Memory.
3.EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read Only
Memory.
4.EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable
Read Only Memory.
5.Flash EEPROM memory.
 Cache Memory
• Cache memory, also called CPU memory,
is random access memory (RAM) that a
computer microprocessor can access
more quickly than it can access regular
RAM. This memory is typically integrated
directly with the CPU chip or placed on a
separate chip that has a
separate bus interconnect with the CPU.
• A CPU cache is a cache used by
the central processing unit (CPU) of
a computer to reduce the average time to
access data from the main memory. The
cache is a smaller, faster memory which
stores copies of the data from frequently
used main memory locations
 Processor or Virtual Storage
• · 1 Bit = Binary Digit
· 8 Bits = 1 Byte
· 1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte
· 1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte
· 1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte
· 1024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte
· 1024 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte
· 1024 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte
· 1024 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte
· 1024 Zettabytes = 1 Yottabyte
· 1024 Yottabytes = 1 Brontobyte
· 1024 Brontobytes = 1 Geopbyte
A Computer system works with the combination of two things
Hardware and Software:
Hardware(H/W) : The Physical Components (which we can see and
touch) of the computer are called Hardware e.g., Keyboard,
printer, CDs, Mouse ,cpu,electical circuits , hard disk etc
Software :The set of Sequenced instructions(programs) of the
computer to perform the specific task is called software.
It is of Three types : (a) System Software/OS (b) Application
Software.(S/W) ( c) Programming language
System Software: It comprises of those programs that control and
support the computer system and its data
processing applications.
e.g.DOS,Windows95,98,2000,ME(MilleniunEdition), XP(Experience),
NT(New Technology), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Unix,
Linux etc.
• Application Software : It is the software which are created for
specific application.
e.g., Notepad,Wordpad,ms-paint,MSWord,Tally and
Programming Language:-
The software with which one can prepare
programs(instructions)written in , for solving
problems.
i.e Basic,Pascal,Fortran,ADA,LISP,C,C++,C#,Visual
Basic,Visual C++,Java etc.
Computer languages
1) Low level language or machine language.
Language which is written in binary system i.e. using
only 1 and 0 is known as low level or machine language. Low
level language is directly recognized by the computer and do
not require any translator either interpreter or compiler. It is
very difficult to write a low level or machine language as each
and every character needs to be written in terms 1 and 0.
2) Assembly language.
Language which is written by using some mnemonic
symbols like-ADD,SUB,COMP,MUL etc. This assembly
language is not directly recognized by the computer and
hence it needs a software called assembler to convert into low
level language.
 Compiler & Interpreter
• A compiler searches all the errors of a
program and lists them. If the program is
error free then it converts the code of
program into machine code and then the
program can be executed by separate
commands. An interpreter checks the
errors of a program statement by
statement.
3) High level language
The common languages which are
recognized by human beings but not by the
computer are known as high level language.
High level language needs any translator either
interpreter or compiler. Examples are-
BASIC,PASCAL,FORTRAN,ADA,LISP,C,C++,
C#,Visual Basic,Visual C++,Java etc.
 SOME IMPORTANT TERMS

1.Icon: The small pictures or graphics displayed on the

desktop or any window is called icon.
2. Desktop: the front most screen on which
the icons, windows and the out put of the programs
are displayed is called desktop
3.Task bar: the rectangular bar that contains start
menu is called task bar. it is generally located at the
bottom corner of the desk top. the taskbar can be
placed in the four corner by holding down left mouse
button at the right bottom corner of the task bar and
drag upto the desired corner.
4.Dialogbox:A Special window that contains option
button,command buttons,check box,text box etc.
An icon may represent one of the following things:
1 A folder or a subfolder
2 A document
3 A file
4 A program
5 A group of application programs
6 A drive name
 Action Technique
1To open My Computer • 1 Press Windows Logo
key + E together
2To open Search window • 2 Press Windows Logo
key + F together
• 3 Windows Logo key + R
3To open Run window
together
• 4 Windows Logo key +
4To open Search window CTRL + F together
for searching other
computer on the network
 ACTION TECHNIQUE
• To open login window • Press windows Logo
key + L together
• To restart computer • Press CTRL + Alt +
(warm booting) Delete keys together.
• To rotate desktop • Press CTRL + Alt +
upside down in Down arrow ( )
Windows XP
 To know about the properties of a computer like computer name,
operating system type, RAM size, CPU Type, CPU speed,

1. Right Click on my computer icon on the

desktop
2. Properties
 Data and Information
• Data: Data is the name given to basic
facts and entities such as names and
numbers. Eg. Date, number, weight, cost.
• Information: information is data which
has been converted into a more useful or
intelligible form. Eg. Time table , Report
Card.
 DOS (Disk Operating System)
DOS is an operating system(group of programs)which
can manage a computer system through commands.
ie DOS uses CUI (Character User Interface)type of
interface.
Two types of DOS commands
1. Internal Commands:Commands which are always
available in the memory and can be executed without
using any other files are called internal commands.
eg. Md ,cd,rd,copy,dir,date,time,vol,label,path etc.
2. External Commands:Commands which are not always
available in the memory and can’t be executed without
using any other files are called external commands.
eg. Xcopy,diskcopy,find,sort,subst etc.
MEMORY: It is the storage area of a computer
system where all the data and information before
processing as well as after processing are
stored.Memory is of two types: 1.Primary Memory.
2.Secondary Memory.
DRIVE: A drive is a part of memory which may
contain directories,subdirectories and files.
Note:To see how many drives are available in
your computer --just double click left mouse
button on the My computer icon on the desktop.
A drive is designated by a capital letter of an english
alphabet followed by a colon(:).A computer may
have 1 or more drives.
e.g A:
Indicates Floppy drives
B:
 ROOT DIRECTORY
The starting directory of a drive is
called its root directory.
Root directory of c drive is C:\
Root directory of floppy drive is A:\
Root directory of cd rom drive is D:\ or E:\
or F:\
To return to root directory from current working
directory,use the command
CD\
Directory: It is a part of memory which is
reserved for a particular user. A directory may
contains subdirectories and files.A drive may
have n number of directories.A directory should
have a specific name like
Ram,Sam,Tomba,Chaoba etc.
Sub-Directory:A directory created under a
directory is known as subdirectory. A
subdirectory also should have a specific name
like Ram,Sam,Tomba,Chaoba etc.
File: A file is a collection of related
information.
Naming of a file: A file name has two parts
1 Primary name that may have 8 characters at
the most and should be alphanumeric(ie
from a to z and 1 to 9 and other characters
like –(underscore $,&,#,@,!,%,( ) { } ~ etc.
2 Secondary or extension that may have 3
characters at the most.
e.g f1.txt , f1.abc , file1.def , ram.txt , f1.exe
ram_bio.txt , p1.com , f1.sys , f2.rtf , f3.doc
f4.xls , f5.ppt , f6.c , f7.cpp ,
student.dbf ,employee.prg , yahoo.htm ,
f1.bmp, f1.jpg, f1.jpeg, f1.bat
Note: A file name should not contain other characters
like ? / \ [ ] + : | < > = , ; etc

The primary name and the extension should

be separated by a period(.)