UNIT -: 1.
Computer System
1.1 Preliminaries
Computer: an electronic device that can be programmed to accept data
(input), process it, and generate results (output).
A computer along with additional hardware and software together is
called a computer system.
Components: a central processing unit (CPU), memory, input/output
devices, and storage devices.
All these components function together as a single unit to deliver the
desired output.
1.1.1 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
It is the electronic circuitry of a computer that carries out the actual
processing and usually referred as the brain of the computer.
It is commonly called processor also. Physically, a CPU can be placed on
one or more microchips called integrated circuits (IC). The ICs comprise
semiconductor materials.
The CPU has two main components — Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and
Control Unit (CU).
ALU performs all the arithmetic and logic operations that need to be done
as per the instruction in a program.
CU controls sequential instruction execution, interprets instructions and
guides data flow through the computer’s memory, ALU and input or
output devices.
CPU is also popularly known as microprocessor.
1.1.2 Input Devices
The devices through which control signals are sent to a computer
are termed as input devices.
These devices convert the input data into a digital form that is
acceptable by the computer system.
Some examples of input devices include keyboard, mouse, scanner,
touch screen, etc.
1.1.3 Output Devices
The device that receives data from a computer system for display, physical
production, etc., is called output device.
It converts digital information into human-understandable form.
For example, monitor, projector, headphone, speaker, printer, etc.
1.2 Evolution of Computer
1.3 Computer Memory
A computer system needs memory to store the data and instructions for
processing.
1.3.1 Units of Memory
A computer system uses binary numbers to store and process data.
The binary digits 0 and 1, which are the basic units of memory, are called
bits. Further, these bits are grouped together to form words.
A 4-bit word is called a Nibble. Examples of nibble are 1001, 1010, 0010,
etc.
A two nibble word, i.e., 8-bit word is called a byte, for example, 01000110,
01111100, 10000001, etc.
1.3.2 Types of Memory
Computers have two types of memory — primary and secondary.
(A) Primary Memory
Program and data are loaded into the primary memory before processing.
The CPU interacts directly with the primary memory to perform read or
write operation.
It is of two types viz. (i) Random Access Memory (RAM) and (ii) Read Only
Memory (ROM).
RAM is volatile, i.e., as long as the power is supplied to the computer, it
retains the data in it.
But as soon as the power supply is turned off, all the contents of RAM are
wiped out. It is used to store data temporarily while the computer is
working.
ROM is non-volatile, which means its contents are not lost even when the
power is turned off.
It is used as a small but faster permanent storage for the contents which
are rarely changed.
For example, the startup program (boot loader) that loads the operating
system into primary memory, is stored in ROM.
(B) Cache Memory
RAM is faster than secondary storage, but not as fast as a computer
processor. So, because of RAM, a CPU may have to slow down.
To speed up the operations of the CPU, a very high speed memory is
placed between the CPU and the primary memory known as cache.
It stores the copies of the data from frequently accessed primary memory
locations, thus, reducing the average time required to access data from
primary memory.
When the CPU needs some data, it first examines the cache. In case the
requirement is met, it is read from the cache, otherwise the primary
memory is accessed.
(C) Secondary Memory
Primary memory has limited storage capacity and is either volatile (RAM)
or read-only (ROM).
Thus, a computer system needs auxiliary or secondary memory to
permanently store the data or instructions for future use.
The secondary memory is non-volatile and has larger storage capacity
than primary memory.
It cannot be accessed directly by the CPU. Contents of secondary storage
need to be first brought into the main memory for the CPU to access.
Examples of secondary memory devices include Hard Disk Drive (HDD),
CD/DVD, Memory Card, etc., as shown in Figure 1.7.
1.4 Microprocessors
A processor (CPU) which is implemented on a single microchip is called
microprocessor.
Nowadays, almost all the CPUs are microprocessors. Hence, the terms are
used synonymously for practical purpose.
1.4.1 Microprocessor Specifications
A) Word Size
Word size is the maximum number of bits that a microprocessor can
process at a time.
At present, the minimum word size is 16 bits and maximum word size is
64 bits.
(B) Memory Size
Depending upon the word size, the size of RAM varies.
As word size increased to 64 bits, it has become feasible to use RAM of
size upto 16 Exabytes (EB).
(C) Clock Speed
Computers have an internal clock that generates pulses (signals) at
regular intervals of time.
Clock speed simply means the number of pulses generated per second by
the clock inside a computer.
The clock speed indicates the speed at which the computer can execute
instructions.
It is now measured in Gigahertz (GHz), i.e., billions of pulses per second.
(D) Cores
The core is a basic computation unit of the CPU.
Earlier processors had only one computation unit, thereby capable of
performing only one task at a time.
With the advent of multicore processors, it has become possible for the
computer to execute multiple tasks, thereby increasing the system’s
performance.
CPUs with two, four, and eight cores are called dual-core, quad-core and
octa-core processors, respectively.
1.5 Software
Hardware needs to be operated by a set of instructions.
These sets of instructions are referred to as software.
It is that component of a computer system, which we cannot see
physically.
1.5.1 Need of Software
Depending on the mode of interaction with hardware and functions to be
performed, the software can be broadly classified into three categories
viz.
(i) System software, (ii) Programming tools and (iii) Application
software.
1.5.2 System Software
The software that provides the basic functionality to operate a computer by
interacting directly with its constituent hardware is termed system software.
(A) Operating System
As the name implies, the operating system is a system software that
operates the computer. An operating system is the most basic system
software.
Some of the popular operating systems are Windows, Linux, Macintosh,
Ubuntu, Fedora, Android, iOS, etc.
(B) System Utilities
Software used for maintenance and configuration of the computer system
is called system utility.
For example, disk defragmentation tool, formatting utility, system restore
utility, etc. anti-virus software, disk cleaner tool, disk compression
software, etc.
(C) Device Drivers
As the name signifies, the purpose of a device driver is to ensure the
proper functioning of a particular device.
When it comes to the overall working of a computer system, the operating
system does the work.
But every day new devices and components are being added to a
computer system.
The responsibility for overall control, operation, and management of a
particular device at the hardware level is delegated to its device driver.
1.5.3 Programming Tools
In order to get some work done by the computer, we need to give
instructions that are applied to the input data to get the desired outcome.
Computer languages are developed for writing these instructions.
(A) Classification of Programming Languages
Two major categories of computer programming languages are low-level
languages and high-level languages.
Low-level languages
LLL are machine dependent languages and include machine language and
assembly language.
Machine language uses 1s and 0s to write instructions which are directly
understood and executed by the computer.
High level languages
HLL are machine independent and are simpler to write code into.
Instructions are using English like sentences and each high level language
follows a set of rules, similar to natural languages.
Examples of high level language include C++, Java, Python, etc.
(B) Language Translators
As the computer can understand only machine language, a translator is
needed to convert program written in assembly or high level language to
machine language.
The program code written in assembly or high-level language is called
source code.
The source code is converted by a translator into the machine
understandable form called object (machine) code.
As we have different types of computer languages, different translators are
needed to convert the source code to machine code.
The three types of translators used in computing systems are assembler,
compiler and interpreter.
The translator used to convert the code written in assembly language to
machine language is called assembler.
The Compiler converts source codes written in high level language (source
code) into machine code.
An interpreter translates one line at a time instead of the whole program
at one go. Interpreter is always needed whenever a source code is to be
executed.
(C) Program Development Tools
Whenever we decide to write a program, we need a text editor. An editor
is a software that allows us to create a text file where we type instructions
and store the file as the source code.
In order to simplify the program development, there are software called
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) consisting of text editor,
building tools and debugger.
1.6 Operating System
An operating system (OS) can be considered to be a resource manager
which manages all the resources of a computer, i.e., its hardware
including CPU, RAM, Disk, Network and other input-output devices.
Examples of popular OS are Windows, Linux, Android, Macintosh and so
on.
The first work of OS is to provide services for building and running
application programs.
When an application program needs to be run, it is the operating system
which loads that program into memory and allocates it to the CPU for
execution.
When multiple application programs need to be run, the operating system
decides the order of the execution.
The second objective of an operating system is to provide an interface to
the user through which the user can interact with the computer.
1.6.1 OS User Interface
(A) Command-based Interface
Command-based interface requires a user to enter the commands to
perform different tasks like creating, opening, editing or deleting a file,
etc.
The user has to remember the names of all such programs or specific
commands which the operating system supports.
(B) Graphical User Interface
Graphical User Interface (GUI) lets users run programs or give instructions
to the computer in the form of icons, menus and other visual options.
Icons usually represent files and programs stored on the computer and
windows represent running programs that the user has launched through
the operating system.
(C) Touch-based Interface
Today smartphones, tablets and PCs allow users to interact with the
system simply using the touch input.
Using the touchscreen, a user provides inputs to the operating system,
which are interpreted by the OS as commands.
(D) Voice-based Interface
Modern computers have been designed to address the needs of all types
of users including people with special needs and people who want to
interact with computers or smartphones while doing some other task.
Users today can use voice-based commands to make a computer work in
the desired way.
Some operating systems which provide voice-based control to users
include iOS (Siri), Android (Google Now or “OK Google”), Microsoft
Windows 10 (Cortana) and so on.
(E) Gesture-based Interface
Some smartphones based on Android and iOS as well as laptops let users
interact with the devices using gestures like waving, tilting, eye motion
and shaking.
