FUNDAMENTALS OF

COMPUTING

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

Computer-derived from a Latin word computare

which means to compute or to calculate
Definition
The computer is an electronic device which converts
raw data into valid (or) meaningful information.

BASIC OPERATIONS OF A COMPUTER

Input : It is the process of capturing or acquiring the
raw data.
Process :It is the transformation process to convert the
input into output.
Output :It is the result, which comes from the
transformation process or it is the outcome of the
process.
Storing: It is the process of saving the data or
information or instruction , so that they can be
retained and retrieved whenever required.
Controlling: It is the process of directing the manner
and sequence in which all the operations are to be
performed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Speed
Speed is the most important characteristics of a
computer. Computers have more speed to perform
jobs instantaneously. It can perform in a few
seconds , the amount of work that a human being
can do in an entire year.
A powerful computer is capable of adding two
twenty digit numbers in 300 nano seconds

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Accuracy
The accuracy of the computer is consistently high.
The computers are perfect accurate and precise. It
never makes any mistake.

Automatic
The computer works automatically, once programs
are stored and data given to it. Constant
supervision is not required .Individual instructions
are transferred one after other to the control.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Diligence
The computer can go working continuously and
does not suffer from human traits of tiredness
and lack of concentration.
If three million calculations have to be
performed ,it will perform the third millionth
instruction with exactly the same accuracy and
speed as the first instruction.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Versatility
The computer can be put to various jobs and has
applications in various fields.
Computers have key role in fields such as space
exploration, weather forecasting,research,office
automation,teaching,railways,medicine,industry,
and banking.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Storage
The computers processes limitless quantities of
data and information. With more and more
auxiliary storage devices, which is capable of
storing huge amount of data ,the storage capacity
of computers is unlimited.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Micro computer

Minicomputers

Mainframes

Super computers

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Microcomputers
Smaller computers
CPU is usually a single integrated circuit
Minicomputer
Minicomputers are scaled up version of micro
computers with moderate speed and storage capacity

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Mainframe
Mainframe computers are implemented using two
or more central processing units.
It is capable of supporting hundreds of users
simultaneously.
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is an extremely fast computer
that can perform hundreds of millions of
information's per second.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON UTILITY

General Purpose computers

Special purpose computers

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON HARDWARE DESIGN

Analog
Digital
Hybrid

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON MODE OF USE

Palmtop PCS
Laptop PCs
Personal computer
Work station
Mainframe system
Clients and Servers

BASIC COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

The architecture of the computers have not

changed but the technology used to accomplish
those operations may vary from one computer to
another.
However, the basic computer organization
remains the same for all the computer systems.
In 1950s it took a room full of vacuum tubes and
equipment to perform the tasks that are now
replaced with a single chip, not bigger than a
child's thumb nail.

ARCHITECTURE
The basic architecture of a computer system consist
of .

The input unit

Central processing unit
Output unit

ARCHITECTURE

INPUT UNIT
Computers must need the data and instructions
in order to solve any problem.
Therefore, we need to put the data and
instructions into the computers .
The input unit consists of one or more input
devices.
The keyboard of the computer is one of the type
of input devices used in the computer system.

FUNCTIONS OF INPUT UNIT

Accept data and instruction from the outside
world.
Convert it to a form that the computer can
understand.
Supply the converted data to the computer
system for further processing.

Input may be pressing a key in the keyboard or

moving of the mouse.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

It is the heart of the computer system.ie all
operations are carried out in this unit only.

It performs all calculations

It takes all decisions
It controls all units of the computer

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

The CPU can be subdivided into the following four
sub-system.
1)Control unit
2)Arithmetic logic unit
3)Memory unit
4)Secondary Storage

CONTROL UNIT
The control unit instruct the computer how to
carry out a program instruction.
It controls and co-ordinates the entire computer
system.
The input unit does not know when to receive
data and where to put the data in the storage
unit after receiving it.
The control unit gives the necessary instructions
to the input device

CONTROL UNIT
The control unit instructs the input unit where to
store the data after receiving it from the user.
In the same way, it controls the flow of data and
instructions from the storage unit to ALU.
It also controls the flow of the results from ALU
to the storage unit.
The control unit also controls what should be
sent to the output unit.

ARITHMETIC AND LOGICAL UNIT

Arithmetic logic unit performs all the arithmetic

and logical operations.Arithematic operations
like Addition,Substraction,Multiplication and
Logical operations such as comparison are
performed by ALU.
Whenever any calculation has to be done, the
control unit transfers the required data from the
storage unit to ALU.

MEMORY UNIT

Memory is part of a computer which holds data

for processing and other information. It is called
main memory.
The information given from the input unit is
immediately stored in the main memory.
It is a Temporary Storage (volatile ) i.e. when the
power is OFF, the stored information in the main
memory is lost, to avoid this situation ,we can
store immediately in secondary memory.

SECONDARY MEMORY
The secondary memory is used like an archive. It
may store several programs,documents,databases
etc.
The program that you want to run on the
computer is first transferred to the primary
memory before it can run.
Similarly, after running the program, if u need to
save the results ,you will transfer them to
secondary memory.
The secondary memory is slower and cheaper
than the primary memory.
It is non volatile.

OUTPUT UNIT
Devices used to get the response or result of a
process from the computer is called output.
The output unit of a computer provides the
information and results of a computation to the
outside world.
Printer display screen are commonly used output
devices.

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

Hardware
CPU

Peripherals

Software
System

Software
Application software

HARDWARE
CPU COMPONENTS

Motherboard
All the electronic components in a PC are
mounted on a Printed Circuit Board(PCB),called
the motherboard.

Processor
The microprocessor or the central processing
Unit is the computers most important
component.

HARDWARE
CPU COMPONENTS

RAM chips
When a computer is switched on and is running a
program(RAM ) is used to hold the program and its
data. But when the computer is switched off, anything
in RAM is lost.

Hard disk drive

It is our computers main permanent storage units,
holding large amounts of data and storage.

TYPES OF MEMORY AND DEVICES

Memory can be classified into

Primary or main memory

Secondary Memory
Primary memory
In all computers semi-conductors are used for
primary memory storage. It is divided into two
portions

RAM
ROM

READ ONLY MEMORY

It is inbuilt in the computer at the time of its

production.
ROM is otherwise called firmware also.
It stores a set of instructions permanently which
instructs the computers how to work.
PROM
EPROM

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

This is apart of computers local memory where
the computer stores all the data and instructions
it receives from the input and the results as it
works through the calculations.
The RAM requires very littlie time for access to
each data and is considered to be the fastest
memory.

ROM
It is non-volatile
memory
The contents are
permanent
Cost effective
Available in high
storage capacity
Processing speed is
low

RAM
It is a volatile
memory
The contents are
temporary
Cost is very high
Available in smaller
capacity
Processing speed is
high

SECONDARY MEMORY

Floppy disk

Magnetic tapes

Hard Disk

CD-ROM

CACHE MEMORY

A small memory between CPU and main memory

is called cache memory.

.
CPU

CACHE
MEMORY

Primary
memory

Secondary
memory

CACHE MEMORY
Advantages

It stores the current information

Reduces the access time
Increases the performance
Increases the speed of CPU
Fast accessing