COMPUTER BASICS

What is a Computer?
An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be programmed with instructions.
A computer is composed of hardware and software

Hardware & Software

The term hardware refers to the physical components of your computer such as the system unit, mouse,
keyboard, monitor etc. The software is the instructions that makes the computer work. Software is held
either on your computers hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD or on a diskette (floppy disk)

Hardware Components
Input Devices -- "How to tell it what to do
The Mouse - Used to drive Microsoft Windows
The Keyboard - The keyboard is still the commonest way of entering information into a
computer
Tracker Balls - an alternative to the traditional mouse and often used by graphic designers
Scanners - A scanner allows you to scan printed material and convert it into a file format that may
be used within the PC
Touch Pads - A device that lays on the desktop and responds to pressure
Light Pens - Used to allow users to point to areas on a screen
Joysticks - Many games require a joystick for the proper playing of the game
Output Devices -- "How it shows you what it is doing"
VDU - The computer screen is used for outputting information in an understandable format
Printers - There are many different types of printers.In large organizations laser printers are most
commonly used due to the fact that they can print very fast and give a very high quality output.
Plotters - A plotter is an output device similar to a printer, but normally allows you to print larger
images.
Speakers - Enhances the value of educational and presentation products.
Speech synthesizers - Gives you the ability to not only to display text on a monitor but also to read
the text to you
Types of software

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System software
System software is the software used to manage and control the hardware components and which allow
interaction between the hardware and the other types of software. Eg: operating system
Application software
Applications software (also known as 'apps') are designed to allow the user of the system complete a
specific task or set of tasks. Eg: web browsers, office software, games.

COMPUTER GENERATIONS
Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is/was being used.
There are totally five computer generations known till date.
First Generation
The period of first generation: 1946-1959. Vacuum tube based.
Some computers of this generation were:
ENIAC
EDVAC
UNIVAC
IBM-701
Second Generation
The period of second generation: 1959-1965. Transistor based.
In this generation assembly language and high-level programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL
were used.
Some computers of this generation were:
IBM 1620
IBM 7094
CDC 1604
CDC 3600
UNIVAC 1108

Third Generation
The period of third generation: 1965-1971. Integrated Circuit based. The IC was invented by Jack Kilby.
High-level languages (FORTRAN-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68 etc.) were
used during this generation.
Some computers of this generation were:
IBM-360 series
Honeywell-6000 series
PDP(Personal Data Processor)
IBM-370/168
TDC-316

Fourth Generation
The computers of fourth generation used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits
having about 5000 transistors and other circuit elements and their associated circuits on a single chip
made it possible to have microcomputers of fourth generation. All the high-level languages like C, C++,
DBASE etc., were used in this generation.

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Some computers of this generation were:
DEC 10
STAR 1000
PDP 11
CRAY-1(Super Computer)
CRAY-X-MP(Super Computer)
Fifth generation
In the fifth generation, the VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) technology,
resulting in the production of microprocessor chips having ten million electronic components. All the
high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc., are used in this generation.
Some computer types of this generation are:
Desktop
Laptop
NoteBook
UltraBook
ChromeBook

Computer peripheral

A computer peripheral is a device that is connected to a computer but is not part of the core computer
architecture. The core elements of a computer are the central processing unit, power supply, motherboard
and the computer case that contains those three components. Technically speaking, everything else is
considered a peripheral device.

Types of Peripheral Devices

There are many different peripheral devices, but they fall into three general categories:
1. Input devices
2. Output devices
3. Storage devices, such as a hard drive or flash drive

Storage Devices --"How it saves data and programs

Hard Disks
The speed of a hard disk is often quoted as "average access time" speed, measured in
milliseconds. The smaller this number the faster the disk. Capacity is 40GB-1TB. Hard disks costs are
falling rapidly and normally represent the cheapest way of storing data.
Diskettes (Floppy Disks)
It is very slow. Capacity is normally 1.44 Mbytes and it is very cheap.
CD-ROM Disks
Much slower than hard disks. The original CD-ROM is given a value of 1x speed, and
later, faster CD-ROMs are quoted as a multiple of this value. Capacity is around 650 MB - 700 MB
DVD Drives
Much faster than CD-ROM drives but not as fast as hard disks.Capacity is up to 17 GB.
Cost is s/lightly higher than CD-ROM drives.

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Memory - "How the processor stores and uses immediate data

Register
A register is one of a small set of data holding places that are part of a computer processor . A
register may hold a computer instruction , a storage address, or any kind of data (such as a bit sequence
or individual characters).
Cache
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.
Primary memory
Random-access memory (RAM) is a type of computer data storage. A RAM device makes it
possible to access data in random order, which makes it very fast to find a specific piece of
information. RAM devices are used in computer systems as the main memory. RAM is
considered volatile memory, which means that the stored information is lost when there is no
power. So, RAM is used by the central processing unit (CPU) when a computer is running to
store information that needs to be used very quickly, but it does not store any information
permanently.

There are two basic types of RAM :

(i) Dynamic Ram
(ii) Static RAM

DRAM(dynamic RAM) loses its stored information in a very short time (for milli
sec.) even when power supply is on. D-RAMs are cheaper & lower. Inside a dynamic
RAM chip, each memory cell holds one bit of information and is made up of two
parts: a transistor and a capacitor..

SRAM (static RAM) is random access memory (RAM) that retains data bits in its
memory as long as power is being supplied. Unlike dynamic RAM (DRAM), which

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 stores bits in cells consisting of a capacitor and a transistor, SRAM does not have to
be periodically refreshed. Static RAM provides faster access to data and is more
expensive than DRAM. SRAM is used for a computer's cache memory

ROM Read Only Memory

Read Only Memory (ROM) as the name suggests is a special type of memory chip that holds
software that can be read but not written to. Often network cards and video cards also contain
ROM chips.

Following are the various types of ROM:

MROM (Masked ROM)
PROM (Programmable Read only Memory)
EPROM(Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)
EEPROM(Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

How Computer Memory Is Measured

Bit - All computers work on a binary numbering system, i.e. they process data in one's or zero's.
This 1 or 0 level of storage is called a bit
Byte - A byte consists of eight bits.
Kilobyte - A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes.
Megabyte - A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes.
Gigabyte - A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes.
TeraByte - A terabyte(TB) consists of 1024 GB
PetaByte - A petabyte(PB) consists of 1024 TB

COMPUTER LANGUAGES
Just as humans use, computers also have their own languages that are specific to them.

Two Basic Types of Computer Language

Low-Level Languages: A language that corresponds directly to a specific machine

Low-level computer languages are either machine codes or are very close them. A computer
cannot understand instructions given to it in high-level languages or in English. It can only
understand and execute instructions given in the form of machine language i.e. binary. There are
two types of low-level languages:
Machine Language
Assembly Language
Machine Language
Machine language is basically the only language that a computer can understand .It consist of 0s
and 1s. The symbol 0 stands for the absence of an electric pulse and the 1 stands for the presence
of an electric pulse. Since a computer is capable of recognizing electric signals, it understands
machine language.

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 Advantages Disadvantages
Machine language makes fast and efficient use of the
All operation codes have to be remembered
computer.
All memory addresses have to be remembered.
It requires no translator to translate the code. It is
It is hard to find errors in a program written in the
directly understood by the computer.
machine language.
Assembly Language
Assembly language uses mnemonic codes and can combine in a maximum of five-letter
combinations e.g. ADD for addition, SUB for subtraction, START, LABEL etc.
Advantages Disadvantages
Assembly language is easier to
Like machine language, it is also machine
understand and use as compared to
dependent/specific.
machine language.
Since it is machine dependent, the programmer also
It is easy to locate and correct errors.
needs to understand the hardware.
It is easily modified.
High-Level Languages
High-level languages are basically symbolic languages that use English words and/or mathematical
symbols rather than mnemonic codes. Each instruction in the high-level language is translated into
many machine language instructions that the computer can understand.
Advantages Disadvantages
A high-level language has to be translated into the
High-level languages are user-friendly machine language by a translator, which takes up
time
They are similar to English and use
English vocabulary and well-known
symbols The object code generated by a translator might be
They are easier to learn inefficient compared to an equivalent assembly
They are easier to maintain language program
A program written in a high-level
language can be translated into many
machine languages and can run on any
computer for which there exists an
appropriate translator

Compilers
Compilers translate a source (human-writable) program to an executable (machine-readable)
program

Translate the entire program.

Convert the entire program to machine code, when the syntax errors are removed then
converted into the object code
Requires more main memory
Neither source nor the compiler are required for execution.

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 Slow for debugging and testing.
Execution time is less.

Interpreters
Interpreters convert a source program and execute it at the same time.

Translate the program line by line.

Each time the program is executed ,every line is checked for syntax error & then converted to
equivalent machine code directly.
Requires less main memory
Source program and the interpreter are required for execution.
Good for fast debugging and testing.
Execution time is more.

Information Network
LAN
A LAN (Local Area Network) is a system whereby individual PCs are connected together within
a company or organization
WAN
A WAN (Wide Area Network) as the name implies allows you to connect to other computers
over a wider area (i.e. the whole world).

Uses of Network
If ten people are working together within an office it makes sense for them all to be connected.
In this way the office can have a single printer and all ten people can print to it.
In a similar way other devices such as modems or scanners can be shared.
Even more useful is the ability to share information when connected to a network.

Computer Virus
Viruses are small programs that hide themselves on your disks (both diskettes and your hard
disk). Unless you use virus detection software the first time that you know that you have a virus is
when it activates.
The worst thing about a computer virus is that they can spread from one computer to another,
either via use of infected floppy disk, or over a computer network, including the Internet.

Booting
Booting is a startup sequence that starts the operating system of a computer when it is turned on.
A boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the computer performs when it is switched on.
Every computer has a boot sequence.

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 To boot a computer is to load an operating system into the computer's main memory or random
access memory (RAM). Once the operating system is loaded, it's ready for users to run applications.

There are two Types of Booting :

1) Warm Booting: when the system starts from the starting or from initial state means when we
starts our system this is called as warm booting. In the warm booting the system will be started from
its beginning state means first of all, the user will press the power button , then this will read all the
instructions from the ROM and the operating system will automatically gets loaded into the system.

2) Cold Booting : the cold booting is that in which system automatically starts when we are running
the system, for example due to light fluctuation the system will automatically restarts so that in this
chances damaging of system are more. And the system will no be start from its initial state so may
some files will be damaged because they are not properly stored into the system.

Computer networks
A computer network is a system in which multiple computers are connected to each other to
share information and resources.
Characteristics of a computer network
Share Resources from one computer to another
Create files and store them in one computer, access those files from the other computer(s) connected
over the network
Connect a printer, scanner, or a fax machine to one computer within the network

Following is the list of hardware's required to setup a computer network.

Network Cables
Distributors
Routers
Internal Network Cards
External Network Cards

Modem
Short for MODulate/DEModulate. The modem sends information from your computer across
the telephone system. The modem at the other end of the phone line, converts the signal back into a
format that can be used by the receiving computer.
Network Cables
It is used to connect computers. The most commonly used cable is Category5 cable RJ-45.
Repeater A repeater operates is used to regenerate the signal over the same network before the signal
becomes too weak or corrupted so as to extend the length to which the signal can be transmitted over the
same network.
Hub A hub is basically a multiport repeater.
Bridge A bridge is a repeater used for interconnecting two LANs
Router - A router is a type of device which acts as the central point among computers and other devices
that are part of a network.
Network Card - Network card is a necessary component of a computer without which a computer
cannot be connected over a network. It is also known as network adapter or Network Interface Card
(NIC). Network cards are of two types : Internal and External Network Cards.
Internet & Intranet

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 It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and
government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical
networking technologies.
Intranet is system in which multiple PCs are connected to each other. PCs in intranet are not
available to the world outside the intranet. Usually each company or organization has their own Intranet
network and members/employees of that company can access the computers in their intranet.