College of Engineering and
Computational Sciences
Computer
Fundamentals
BET-EET
Charles P. Jamer
Computer
A computer is an electronic device,
operating under the control of
instructions stored in its own memory
that can accept data (input), process
the data according to specified rules,
produce information (output), and
store the information for future use .
Functionalities
of a computer
Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:
Takes data as input
Stores the data/instructions in its memory and use them when required.
Processes the data and converts it into useful information.
Generates the output
Controls all the above four steps.
PROCESSING
DATA
INFORMATION
Computer Components Any kind of computers consists of
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.
Computer
Hardware
Computer hardware is the collection of physical
elements that constitutes a computer system.
Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or
components of a computer such as the monitor,
mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard drive
disk (HDD), system unit (graphic cards, sound cards,
memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of which
are physical objects that can be touched.
Input Devices
Input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment to provide data and
control signals to an information processing system such as a computer or other information
appliance. Input device Translate data from form that humans understand to one that the
computer can work with. Most common are keyboard and mouse
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
A CPU is brain of a computer.
It is responsible for all functions and processes. Regarding computing
power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system.
The CPU is comprised of three main parts :
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): Executes all arithmetic and logical
operations. Arithmetic calculations like as addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. Logical operation like compare numbers,
letters, or special characters
Control Unit (CU): controls and co-ordinates computer components.
a. Read the code for the next instruction to be executed.
b. Increment the program counter so it points to the next instruction.
c. Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in memory.
d. Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register.
e. If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to
complete, instruct the hardware to perform the requested
operation.
Registers :Stores the data that is to be executed next, "very fast
storage area
PRIMARY MEMORY
RAM: Random Access Memory (RAM) is a memory scheme within the
computer system responsible for storing data on a temporary basis,
so that it can be promptly accessed by the processor as and when
needed. It is volatile in nature, which means that data will be erased
once supply to the storage device is turned off. RAM stores data
randomly and the processor accesses these data randomly from the
RAM storage. RAM is considered "random access" because you can
access any memory cell directly if you know the row and column that
intersect at that cell.
ROM (Read Only Memory): ROM is a permanent form of storage. ROM
stays active regardless of whether power supply to it is t
SECONDARY MEMORY
Stores data and programs permanently :its retained after the power is turned off
Hard drive (HD): A hard disk is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive,"
"hard drive," or "hard disk drive," that store and provides relatively quick
access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface
or set of surfaces.
Optical Disk: an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light
as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.
Some drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both
readers and recorders, also called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs,
and Blu-ray discs are common types of optical media which can be read and
recorded by such drives. Optical drive is the generic name; drives are usually
described as "CD" "DVD", or "Bluray", followed by "drive", "writer", etc. There
are three main types of optical media: CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc. CDs can
store up to 700 megabytes (MB) of data and DVDs can store up to 8.4 GB of
data. Blu-ray discs, which are the newest type of optical media, can store up
to 50 GB of data. This storage capacity is a clear advantage over the floppy
disk storage media (a magnetic media), which only has a capacity of 1.44
MB. 4
Flash Disk A storage module made of flash memory chips. A Flash disks
have no mechanical platters or access arms, but the term "disk" is used
because the data are accessed as if they were on a hard drive. The disk
storage structure is emulated.
Output Devices
An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the
results of data processing carried out by an information processing system (such as a
computer) which converts the electronically generated information into humanreadable form
Computer
Software
Software is a generic term for organized
collections of computer data and
instructions, often broken into two
major categories: system software that
provides the basic nontask-specific
functions of the computer, and
application software which is used by
users to accomplish specific tasks
Software Types
A. System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual
hardware components of a computer system so that other software and the users of the system
see it as a functional unit without having to be concerned with the low-level details such as
transferring data from memory to disk, or rendering text onto a display. Generally, system
software consists of an operating system and some fundamental utilities such as disk
formatters, file managers, display managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and
management tools, and networking and device control software.
Software Types
B. Application software is used to accomplish specific tasks
other than just running the computer system. Application
software may consist of a single program, such as an image
viewer; a small collection of programs (often called a software
package) that work closely together to accomplish a task, such
as a spreadsheet or text processing system; a larger collection
(often called a software suite) of related but independent
programs and packages that have a common user interface or
shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of
closely integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.;
or a software system, such as a database management system,
which is a collection of fundamental programs that may provide
some service to a variety of other independent applications.
What is Data Storage?
Storage: The permanent, long-term storing of
digital information is called data storage. Data is
stored on different physical and virtual storage
systems and media.
Data storage uses magnetic, optical, or mechanical
mediums to record and maintain data/information
to store, retrieve and process it. Data storage and
memory are important parts of computers, but they
do different things when storing and retrieving
information. Computer memory stores data and
instructions for the CPU to process tasks. Memory
is vital for computer efficiency and comes in many
forms.
How does Data Storage Work?
Generally, in modern computers, the storage devices are connected to the system
directly or using a network. Users send requests to the system to access and save data
on different storage devices. A method of collecting data and stored into the system
plays a vital role in the data storage, accessing and processing.
FORMS OF STORAGE
Mainly, there are three ways to store the data :
File Storage Block Storage Object Storage
This form of data storage Block storage is another data Object storage is also known
is a hierarchical form that storage form that organizes as object-based storage
organizes and stores data. and stores data into blocks. which is used to organize
and store large amounts of
unstructured data.
Unit of Measurements
Storage measurements: The basic unit used in
computer data storage is called a bit (binary digit).
Computers use these little bits, which are
composed of ones and zeros, to do things and talk
to other computers. All your files, for instance, are
kept in the computer as binary files and translated
into words and pictures by the software (which is
also ones and zeros). This two number system, is
called a “binary number system” since it has only
two numbers in it. The decimal number system in
contrast has ten unique digits, zero through nine.
Size example
1 bit - answer to an yes/no question
1 byte - a number from 0 to 255.
90 bytes: enough to store a typical
line of text from a book.
4 KB: about one page of text.
120 KB: the text of a typical pocket
book.
3 MB - a three minute song (128k
bitrate)
650-900 MB - an CD-ROM
1 GB -114 minutes of uncompressed
CD-quality audio at 1.4 Mbit/s
8-16 GB - size of a normal flash drive
Speed measurement:
The speed of Central Processing Unit (CPU) is measured by Hertz (Hz), Which represent
a CPU cycle. The speed of CPU is known as Computer Speed.
Computers
classification
Computers can be generally classified
by size and power as follows, though
there is Considerable overlap:
1. Personal Computer
A small, single-user computer based on a microprocessor. In addition to the microprocessor, a
personal computer has a keyboard for entering data, a monitor for displaying information, and a
storage device for saving data.
2. Work Station
A powerful, single-user computer. A workstation is like a personal computer, but it has a more
powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor.
3. Mini Computer
A multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds of users simultaneously.
4. Mainframe
A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously.
5. Super Computer
An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions of instructions per second.