CMP 1103: Information and Communication Technology Lecture 03: The Computer

Definition The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century onwards though, the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, describing a machine that carries out computations. The meaning of the word computer has changed but has always lagged behind the capabilities of machines in use at the time. By 1946 several qualifiers where introduced to differentiate between the different types of machine. These qualifiers included analogue, digital and electronic. However, from the context of the citation, it is obvious these terms were in use prior to 1946. Basically, a computer is an electronic device capable of processing and manipulating binary numbers, taken either from an internal memory or from an external device, and outputting to either a memory device or to human-intelligible media, under the control of a series of stored instructions called a program. It is in this latter phase that a computer differs from a calculator, where the operator taps in a sequence of steps to perform the required operation, but if the operation is required again with different data then the operator must repeat the key taps in their entirety. Basic Computer Components The computer more accurately referred to as a Computer System has the following basic classes of components; hardware or software and optionally humans. Hardware is the tangible/physical computer equipment such as a CPU, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. Software is the computer programs, routines, and symbolic languages that control the function of the hardware, such as Windows, Word, Excel, etc. Classification of Computers There are a lot of terms used to describe computers. Most of these words imply the size, expected use or capability of the computer. While the term computer can apply to virtually any device that has a microprocessor in it, most people think of a computer as a device that receives input from the user through a mouse or keyboard, processes it in some fashion and displays the result on a
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screen. To define what a computer is it is necessary to develop a classification of computing devices. The following sections describe several different approaches to classifying computers. These classification approaches must be used in combination to unambiguously describe a given machine. Classification by Intended Usage The most obvious way to classify computing machines is by their usage. This approach is commonly employed by manufacturers of computers to describe their products and users of computers to describe the machines they interact with. a) Supercomputer Supercomputers are used for highly

A Supercomputer is a computer that leads the world in terms of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation, at the time of its introduction. calculation-intensive tasks such as weather forecasting, climate research (including research into global warming), molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), physical simulations (such as simulation of airplanes in wind tunnels, simulation of the detonation of nuclear weapons, and research into nuclear fusion), cryptanalysis, and the like. Military and scientific agencies are heavy users. Types of General-Purpose Supercomputers There are three main classes of general-purpose supercomputers:

Vector Processing Machines allow the same (arithmetical) operation to be carried out on a large amount of data simultaneously. Tightly Connected Cluster Computers use specially developed interconnects to have many processors and their memory communicate with each other, typically in NonUniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture. Processors and networking components are engineered from the ground up for the supercomputer. The fastest general-purpose supercomputers in the world today use this technology.

Commodity Clusters use a large number of commodity PCs, interconnected by highbandwidth low-latency local area networks.

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Special-Purpose Supercomputers Special-Purpose Supercomputers are high-performance computing devices with a hardware architecture dedicated to a single problem. This allows the use of specially programmed Field Programmable Gate Array chips or even custom Very Large Scale Integration chips, allowing higher price/performance ratios by sacrificing generality. They are used for applications such as astrophysics computation and brute-force code-breaking (cryptanalysis). Examples of Special-Purpose Supercomputers: Belle, Deep Blue, and Hydra, for playing chess Reconfigurable computing machines or parts of machines GRAPE, for astrophysics and molecular dynamics Deep Crack, for breaking the DES cipher MDGRAPE-3, for protein structure computation D. E. Shaw Research Anton, for simulating molecular dynamics

The Fastest Supercomputers Today The speed of a supercomputer is generally measured in flops (floating point operations per second); this measurement ignores communication overheads and assumes that all processors of the machine are provided with data and are working at full speed. It is therefore less than ideal as a metric, but is widely used nevertheless. As of June 2010, fastest supercomputer in the world is Crays Jaguar, located at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee recording a speed of 1.75 petaflop/s. Read more on this. A list of the 500 fastest supercomputers is maintained at http://www.top500.org/ The Mainframe Computer Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as "big iron") are large, powerful, and expensive computers used mainly by large companies for bulk data processing (such as bank transaction processing).

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The term arose during the early 1970s with the introduction of smaller computers which became known as minicomputers, so users coined the term "mainframe" to describe larger, earlier types. Modern mainframe computers' abilities are not so much defined by their CPU speed as by their massive internal memory, large, high-capacity external storage, fast high-throughput I/O, highquality internal engineering and resulting proven reliability, and expensive but high-quality technical support. These machines can and do run successfully for years without interruption, with repairs taking place whilst they continue to run. Often, mainframes support thousands of simultaneous users who gain access through "dumb" terminals and early mainframes either supported this timesharing mode or operated in batch mode where users had no direct access to the computing service, it solely providing back office functions. At this time mainframes were so called because of their very substantial size and requirements for specialized High-Voltage alternating Current (HVAC) and Electrical Power. Some mainframes have the ability to run (or "host") multiple operating systems and thereby operate not as a single computer but as a number of "virtual machines". In this role, a single mainframe can replace dozens or hundreds of smaller PCs, reducing management and administrative costs while providing greatly improved scalability and reliability. The reliability is improved because of the hardware redundancy noted above, and the scalability is achieved because hardware resources can be reallocated among the "virtual machines" as needed. This is much harder to do with PCs, because adding or removing hardware resources often requires the machine to be taken offline, and the hardware limitations are much more restrictive. When running as the host for many "virtual machines" a mainframe can provide the raw power for which they have always been valued, but also the flexibility provided by PC networks. Virtual Machine is software that creates a virtualized environment between the computer platform and its operating system, so that the end user can operate software on an abstract machine. Currently, IBM mainframes are dominant in the market, with Hitachi, Amdahl, and Fujitsu also producing machines. Prices start at several hundred thousand dollars.

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Comparison with Supercomputers The distinction between supercomputers and mainframes is not a hard and fast one, but generally one can say that supercomputers focus on problems which are limited by calculation speed while mainframes focus on problems which are limited by Input/output and reliability. As a consequence:

Supercomputers typically exploit massive parallelism, often with thousands of processors, while mainframes have a single or a small number (up to several dozen) of processors. Because of the parallelism visible to the programmer, supercomputers are quite complicated to program; in mainframes, the limited parallelism (if present) is usually hidden from the programmer.

Supercomputers are optimized for complicated computations that take place largely in memory, while mainframes are optimized for simple computations involving huge amounts of external data accessed from databases.

Supercomputers tend to cater to science and the military, while mainframes tend to target business and civilian government applications.

c)

Mini-Computer

Minicomputers are a largely obsolete class of multi-user computers which made up the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems (mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers) The term evolved in the 1960s to describe the "small" Third Generation computers that became possible with the use of the newly invented integrated circuit technology. They usually took up one or a few cabinets, compared with mainframes that would usually fill a room. As microcomputers developed in the 1970s and 80s, minicomputers filled the mid-range area between low powered microcomputers and high capacity mainframes. At the time microcomputers were single-user, relatively simple machines running simple program-launcher operating systems like DOS, while minis were much more powerful systems that ran full multiuser, multitasking operating systems like Unix. The classical mini was a 16-bit computer, while the emerging higher performance 32-bit minis were often referred to as superminis.

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Today at the turn of the millennium few minicomputers are still in use, having been overtaken by Fourth Generation computers built using a more robust version of the microprocessor technology that is used in personal computers. These are referred to as "servers", taking the name from the server software that they run (typically file server and back-end database software, including email and web server software). The decline of the minis happened due to the lower cost of microprocessor based hardware, the emergence of inexpensive and easily deployable local area network systems, and the desire of end-users to be less reliant on inflexible minicomputer manufacturers and IT departments / "data centers" with the result that minicomputers and dumb terminals were replaced by networked workstations and PCs in the latter half of the 1980s. During the 1990s the change from minicomputers to inexpensive PC networks was cemented by the development of several versions of Unix to run on the Intel x86 microprocessor architecture, including Solaris, Linux and FreeBSD/NetBSD. Also, the Microsoft Windows series of operating systems now includes server versions that support preemptive multitasking and other features required for servers, beginning with Windows NT. Significantly. d) Workstation

A workstation, such as a Unix workstation, RISC workstation or engineering workstation, is a highend desktop or deskside microcomputer designed for technical applications. Workstations are intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, although they can usually also be accessed remotely by other users when necessary. Workstations usually offer higher performance than is normally seen on a personal computer, especially with respect to graphics, processing power, memory capacity and multitasking ability. Workstations are often optimized for displaying and manipulating complex data such as 3D mechanical design, engineering simulation results, and mathematical plots. Consoles usually consist of a high resolution display, a keyboard and a mouse at a minimum, but often support multiple displays and may often utilize a server level processor. For design and advanced visualization tasks, specialized input hardware such as graphics tablets or a Space Ball can be

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used. Workstations have classically been the first part of the computer market to offer advanced accessories and collaboration tools such as videoconferencing capability. Following the performance trends of computers in general, today's average personal computer is more powerful than the top-of-the-line workstations of one generation before. As a result, the workstation market is becoming increasingly specialized, since many complex operations that formerly required high-end systems can now be handled by general-purpose PCs. However, workstations are designed and optimized for situations requiring considerable computing power, where they tend to remain usable while traditional personal computers quickly become unresponsive. e) Personal Computer - PC or Desktop Computer

A personal computer is an inexpensive microcomputer, originally designed to be used by only one person at a time. Personal computers were originally designed to be IBM PC compatible. The first generation of microcomputers that started to appear in the 1970s were less powerful and in some ways less versatile than business computers of the day (but in other ways more versatile, in terms of built-in sound and graphics capabilities), and were generally used by computer enthusiasts for learning to program, for running simple office/productivity applications, for electronics interfacing, and/or games, as well as for accessing Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's), general online services such as CompuServe, The Source, or Genie, or platform-specific services such as QuantumLink (US) or Compunet (UK). It was the launch of the VisiCalc spreadsheet, initially for the Apple II and later for the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore PET, and IBM PC that became the "killer app" that turned the microcomputer into a business tool. Later, Lotus 1-2-3, a combined spreadsheet (partly based on VisiCalc), presentation graphics, and simple database application, became the PCs own killer app. Good Word Processor programs also appeared for many home computers. The low cost of personal computers led to great popularity in the home and business markets during the 1980s. During the 1990s, the power of personal computers increased radically, blurring the formerly sharp distinction between personal computers and multi-user computers such as mainframes. Today higher-end computers often distinguish themselves from personal computers by greater reliability or greater ability to multitask, rather than by straight CPU power.
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Most modern personal computers use the IBM PC compatible hardware architecture, using x86compatible processors made by Intel, AMD, or Cyrix. The hardware capabilities of personal computers can usually be extended by the addition of Expansion cards. With regard to portability we can distinguish:

The Desktop/ Desk side Computer The Notebook or Laptop The PDA The WEARABLE COMPUTER

Non IBM compatible "Personal Computers" Despite the overwhelming popularity of the personal computer, a number of non IBM PC compatible microcomputers (sometimes also generically called Personal Computers) are still popular in niche uses. The leading alternative is Apple Computer's proprietary Power Macintosh platform, based on the PowerPC computer architecture, which is widely used for graphic design and related uses. Further PC and PW (Personal Workstation) types through time: Laptop Computer A laptop computer (also known as Notebook computer) is a small mobile personal computer, usually weighing around from 1 to 3 kilograms (2 to 7 pounds). Notebooks smaller than an A4 sheet of paper and weighing around 1 kg are termed subnotebooks and those weighing around 5 kg a desknote (desktop/notebook). Predecessors of the laptop include the Osborne 1 and the Macintosh Portable, each of which weighed 16-30 pounds (7 to 14 kg) (due in part to being powered by hefty lead acid batteries) but nonetheless offered novel mobile computing platforms. Laptops are generally popular among students, travelers, and telecommuters. Laptops are capable of many of the same tasks that desktop computers perform, although they are typically less powerful. Laptops contain components that are similar to those in their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and efficient power consumption. Laptops usually have LCD displays and smaller SODIMM (Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM)) chips for their RAM. In addition to a built-in
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keyboard, they may utilize a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a pointing stick for input, though an external mouse or keyboard can usually be attached. Current models use LiIon (Lithium ion) batteries, which have largely replaced the older NiMH (Nickel Metal hydride) technology. Typical battery life for most laptops is two to five hours with light-duty use, but may drop to as little as one hour with intensive use. Batteries gradually degrade over time and eventually need to be replaced, commonly after two to five years. Most modern laptops use an active matrix display, with screen sizes 14 inch (350 mm) or larger, and have PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) expansion bays for expansion cards. Internal hard disks are smaller2.5 inch (64 mm) compared to the standard desktop 3.5 inch (90 mm) driveand have lower performance. Display adapters and sound cards are integrated. Modern laptops can often handle sophisticated games but tend to be limited by their fixed screen resolution and display adapter type. Docking stations may be used for expanding connectors and quickly connecting many components to the laptop. Laptops generally cost around twice as much as a desktop machine of similar specification. Performance is always lower than that of a comparable desktop because of the compromises necessary to keep weight and power consumption low. Upgradability is severely limited: typically only the RAM and hard drive can be changed. Because nearly all functions are integrated into the proprietary-design mainboard to save space and power, laptops are difficult to repair economically. Outright replacement of faulty parts can include the display screen, drives, daughterboards, modem, storage devices and other components, but repair costs can be high, even when feasible. However newer laptop computers have now been able to rival their desktops and the term desktop replacement is a perfect description of this new situation (sometimes referred to as a "desknote"). Thanks to the development of powerful batteries some desknote developers have now started placing desktop components directly into these computers which makes them equal in performance with their desktop counterparts of similar specifications. Consequently, these new desknotes are much larger than predecessors which would be expected as they are using the larger components of desktops. This is also where that term desktop replacement comes into play since these computers are also too large to carry around; most people who purchase these
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computers use them mostly at their desk and then carry them only on a rare basis. The gap between these computers and desktops is shrinking, however laptops provide the most important aspect of mobility, which these desknotes are steering away from. A further category of ultra-light laptops has developed, which emphasizes the small, light profile of the genre (screen size of 12 inch diagonal or less), while packing as much performance as possible into the package. Popular laptops brands

Acer - TravelMate and Aspire Alienware Apple ASUS Clevo Compaq - EVO, Armada, and Presario Dell - Inspiron and Latitude ECS Computer iBook and PowerBook

Fujitsu - Lifebook Hewlett Packard HP Pavilion (laptop) and HP Omnibook

Hypersonic IBM - ThinkPad NEC - VERSA Sony - VAIO Toshiba - Dynabook, Portege, Tecra, satellite

Personal Digital Assistant - PDA Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are handheld devices that were originally designed as personal organizers, but became much more versatile over the years. A basic PDA usually includes a clock, date book, address book, task list, memo pad and a simple calculator. One major advantage of using PDAs is their ability to synchronize data with desktop, notebook and desknote computers. Some examples of PDAs:

Apple Newton BlackBerry Casio Cassiopeia Casio Pocket viewer Franklin eBookMan Handspring Visor

hp iPAQ Pocket PC (Originally Compaq iPAQ until HP merger in 2002) Nokia Series60 Palm Pilot, Tungsten, Treo and Zire Psion 5 Sharp Wizard and Zaurus
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Sony CLI Xircom REX 5000 and REX 6000

Dell's Axim

Wearable Computer A Wearable Computer is a small portable computer that is designed to be worn on the body during use. In this wearable computers differ from PDAs, which are designed for hand-held use. Wearable computers are usually either integrated into the user's clothing or can be attached to the body through some other means, like a wristband. They may also be integrated into everyday objects that are constantly worn on the body, like a wrist watch or a hands-free cell phone. The aim of wearable computing community is to develop new user interfaces that mediate (augment, deliberately diminish, or otherwise modify) non-computer activities, without interfering with the user's everyday tasks. The design of wearable computers is still a topic of research, and a variety of user interfaces are being proposed. Some wearable computers use key switches mounted to a grip, rather than to a board, as with a keyboard and trackballs as input devices, but many try to use more intuitive means of input like gesture, speech recognition or context awareness. The output may be presented through displays, lights, sound or even haptic interfaces. Some mediated reality (augmented, diminished, or otherwise modified reality) systems can also be considered wearable computers. Wearable computers of the 1970s were typically large, sometimes even requiring the user to wear a backpack. In the 1980s these systems were miniaturized to smart clothes (computer jackets) and eyeglasses, where the components were mounted outside the eyeglasses. In the 1990s covert or normal-looking systems were developed that had the appearance of ordinary clothing and eyeglasses, by way of an underwearable computer (worn under a shirt) and EyeTap eyeglasses. In 1998, a fully functional wristwatch computer system was designed and built, and later featured on the cover of Linux Journal.

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2.2.3 Classification by Implementation Technology A less ambiguous approach for classifying computing machines is by their implementation technology. The earliest computers were purely mechanical. In the 1930s electro-mechanical components (relays) were introduced from the telecommunications industry, and in the 1940s the first purely electronic computers were constructed from thermionic valves (tubes). In the 1950s and 1960s valves were gradually replaced with transistors and in the late 1960s and early 1970s semiconductor integrated circuits (silicon chips) were adopted and have been the mainstay of computing technology ever since. This description of implementation technologies is not exhaustive it only covers the mainstream of development. Historically many exotic technologies have been explored and abandoned. For example, economic models have been constructed using water flowing though multipleconstricted channels and between 1903 and 1909 Percy E. Ludgate developed a design for a programmable analytical machine based weaving technologies in which variables were carried in shuttles. Efforts are currently underway to develop optical computers that use light rather than electricity and the possibility that DNA can be used for computing is being explored. One radical new area of research that could lead to computers with dramatic new capabilities is the field of quantum computing but this is presently in it's early experimental stages. With the exception of quantum computers the implementation technology of a computer is not as important for classification purposes as the features that the machine implements. 2.2.4 Classification by Design Features Modern computers combine many fundamental design features that have been developed by various contributors over many years. These features are often independent of implementation technology. Modern computers derive their overall capabilities from the way these features interact. Some of the most important design features are listed below. Digital vs Analog A fundamental decision in designing a computer is whether it should be digital or analog. Digital computers process discrete numeric or symbolic values, while analog computers process
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continuous data signals. Since the 1940s digital computers have become by far the most common, although analog computers are still used for some specialized purposes such as robotics and cyclotron control. Other approaches, such as pulse computing and quantum computing are possible but are either used for special purposes or are still experimental. Binary vs Decimal A significant design development in digital computing was the introduction of binary as the internal Numeral system. This removed the need for complex carry mechanisms required for computers based on other numeral systems, such as the decimal system. The adoption of binary resulted in simplified designs for implementing arithmetic functions and logic operations. Programmability The ability to program a computer - provide it with a set of instructions for execution- without physically reconfiguring the machine is a fundamental design feature of most computers. This feature was significantly extended when machines were developed that could control the flow of execution of the program. This allowed computers to control the order in which the program of instructions was executed based on data calculated by the program as it executed. This major design advance was dramatically simplified by the introduction of binary arithmetic which can be used to represent various logic operations. Storage During the course of a calculation it is often necessary to store intermediate values for use in later calculations. The performance of many computers is largely dictated by; the speed with which they can read and write values to and from this memory, and the overall capacity of the memory. Originally memory was used only for intermediate values but in the 1940s it was suggested that the program itself could be stored in this way. This advance led to the development of the first stored-program computers of the type used today. 2.2.5 Classification by Capability Perhaps the best way to classify the various types of computing device is by their intrinsic capabilities rather than their usage, implementation technology or design features. Computers can be subdivided into three main types based on capability: Single-Purpose devices that can compute

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only one function (e.g. The Antikythera Mechanism 87 BC, and Lord Kelvin's Tide predictor 1876), Special-Purpose devices that can compute a limited range of functions (e.g. Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No 1. 1832 and Vannevar Bush's Differential analyser 1932), and GeneralPurpose devices of the type used today. Historically the word computer has been used to describe all these types of machine but modern colloquial usage usually restricts the term to generalpurpose machines. General-Purpose Computers By definition a general-purpose computer can solve any problem that can be expressed as a program and executed within the practical limits set by; the storage capacity of the computer, the size of program, and speed of program execution. In 1934 Alan Turing proved that given the right program any general-purpose computer could emulate the behavior of any other computer. This mathematical proof was purely as no general-purpose computers existed at the time. The implications of this proof are profound, for example, any existing general-purpose computer is theoretically able to emulate, albeit slowly, any general-purpose computer that may be built in the future. Computer's with general-purpose capabilities are called Turing complete and this status is often used as the capability that defines modern computers. Several computing devices with simplistic designs have been shown to be Turing complete. The Z3, developed by Konrad Zuse in 1941 is the earliest working computer that has been shown to be Turing Complete, so far (The proof was developed in 1998). While the Z3 and possibly other early devices may be theoretically Turing Complete they are impractical as general-purpose computers. They lie in what is humorously known as the Turing Tar-Pit - "a place where anything is possible but nothing of interest is practical" (See The Jargon File). Modern computers are more than theoretically general-purpose they are also practical general-purpose tools. The modern, digital, electronic, general-purpose computer was developed, by many contributors, over an extended period from the mid 1930s to the late 1940s, during this period many experimental machines were built that were possibly Turing complete (ABC, ENIAC, Harvard Mk I, Colossus etc see the History of computing hardware). All these machines have been claimed, at one time or another, as the first computer, but they all

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had limited utility as general-purpose problem solving devices and their designs have been discarded. Stored Program Computers During the late 1940s the first design for a Stored-Program Computer was developed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at The University of Pennsylvania. This design was intended to solve the problems encountered at the school while using the ENIAC which was already operational. The design has become known as the Von Neumann architecture, after the author of the document Jon von Neumann although others made significant contributions to the design. The design was planned to be implemented in a machine called the EDVAC but this machine was not operational until 1953. In order of first successful operation the first 5 stored-program computers, that implemented the von Neumann Architecture were: Manchester Mk I Prototype (Baby) Manchester University UK. June 21, 1948, EDSAC. Cambridge University. UK. May 6, 1949 BINAC USA ,April 1949 or August, 1949. CSIR Mk 1 Australia November, 1949 SEAC US May 9, 1950

The Stored Program design defined by the von-Neumann Architecture finally allowed computers to readily exploit their general-purpose potential. By storing the computers program in it's own memory it became possible to rapidly "jump" from one instruction to another based on the result of evaluating a condition defined within the program. This condition usually evaluated data values calculated by the program and allowed programs to become highly dynamic. The design also supported the ability to automatically re-write the program as it executed - a powerful feature that must be used carefully. These features are fundamental to the way modern computers work. To be precise, most modern computers are binary, electronic, stored-program, general-purpose, computing devices. Special Purpose Computers The Special-Purpose computers that were popular in the 1930s and early 1940s have not been completely replaced by General-Purpose computers. As the cost and size of computers has fallen

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and their capabilities have increased it has become cost effective to use them for special-purpose applications. Many domestic and industrial devices including; mobile telephones, video recorders, automotive ignition systems, etc now contain special-purpose computers. In some cases these computers are Turing-complete (Video Games, PDAs) but many are programmed once in the factory and only seldom, if ever, reprogrammed. The program that these devices execute is often contained in a Read Only Memory (ROM chip) which would need to be replaced to change the operation of the machine. Computers embedded inside other devices are commonly referred to as microcontrollers or embedded computers. Single-Purpose Computers Single-purpose computers were the earliest form of computing device. Given some inputs they could calculate the result of the single function that was implemented by their mechanism. General-Purpose computers have almost completely replaced single-purpose computers and in doing so have created a completely new field of human endeavor - Software Development. General-purpose computers must be programmed with a set of instructions specific to the task they are required to perform and these instructions are collectively known as computer software. The design of single-purpose computing devices and many special-purpose computing devices is now a conceptual exercise that consists solely of designing software. COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS Elements of a CIS (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) People Data/information Methods (Procedures) Equipment( hardware and software) Communication

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