COMPUTER SYSTEM
What is a computer?
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to accept data, process it and generate
results.
What is a computer system?
A computer along with additional hardware and software together is called a computer system
Explain with help of a block diagram the function components of a computer
CPU: Electronic circuit of a computer that carries out the actual processing and is referred to as the
brain of the computer. It is commonly called a processor.
CPU Has two main Components ALU and 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 instruction and guides data flow through the
computer’s memory, ALU, input or output devices.
The CPU is given instructions and data through programs.
The CPU Then fetches the program and data from the memory and performs Arithmetic and logic
operations as per the given instructions and stores the result back to the memory.
Primary memory:
It is an essential component of a computer system. The CPU interacts directly with the primary to
perform, read or write operations.
It is of two types via
(i) RAM (Random Access Memory)
(ii) ROM (Read only Memory)
(i) RAM: Volatile memory, as long as power is supplied to the computer, it retains data in it, But as
soon as 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.
RAM is usually referred to as main memory and it is faster than the secondary memory or storage
devices. It is faster the secondary memory or storage device.
(ii) ROM: 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.
Primary memory has limited storage capacity and is either volatile (RAM) Or Non Volatile (ROM).
Secondary memory is non volatile and has larger storage capacity than primary memory.
But it cannot be accessed directly by the CPU.
Contents of secondary storage need to be first brought into main memory for the CPU to access.
Eg: Hard Disk Drive (HDD), CD/DVD, Memory card etc.
Differentiate between Hardware and Software
Ans: Hardwares are physical components of a computer system. It needs to be operated by a set of
instructions called software.
Eg: Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard etc
Software is that component of a computer system, which we cannot touch or view physically. It
comprises the instructions and data to be processed using the computer hardware.
Eg: Libre Office, Microsoft Word, Windows 7 or 10
Explain Cache Memory.
To speed up the operations of the CPU, every high speed memory is placed between the CPU and
the primary memory is known as cache memory. It stores the copies of the data from frequently
accessed primary memory locations thus, reducing the average time required to access from primary
memory.
bit: Binary digits 0 and 1 are called bits
Words: bits together grouped form words
Nibble: A 4 bit word is called Nibble
Byte: 2 Groups of 4 or 8-bit word is called Byte
What is the need of a Software?
The sole purpose of a software is to make the computer hardware useful and operational. A software
knows how to make different hardware components of a computer work and communicate with each
other as well as with end-user
Categories of Software:
(i) System Software
(ii) Programming tools
(iii) Application Software
(i) System software:
The software that provinces basic functionality to operate a computer by interacting directly with its
constituent hardware is termed as system software.
Eg: Operating systems, System utilities, Device drivers
Operating systems: It is the most basic system software, without which other software cannot work.
IT manages other application programs and provides access and security to the users of the system
Eg: Linux, Android, iOS, Windows
System Utilities:
Software used for maintenance and configuration of computer system
Device drivers:
Device drivers ensure proper functioning of a particular device.
Responsibility for overall control, operation and management of a particular device at the hardware
level is delegated to its device driver. It acts as an interface between the device and operating system.
(ii) Programming tools:
In order to get some work done by the computer, we need to give instructions which are applied on
the input data to get desired outcomes. Computer languages are developed for writing these
instructions.
Programming Language
Two major categories of computer programming languages are low-level languages and high-level
languages.
Low-level languages 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 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. However, these languages are not directly understood by the computer.
Hence, translators are needed to translate high-level language codes into machine language.
Examples of high level language include C++, Java, Python, etc.
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. Then an
appropriate translator is used to get the object code for execution. In order to simplify the program
development, there are software called Integrated Development Environment (IDE) consisting of text
editor, building tools and debugger. A program can be typed, compiled and debugged from the IDE
directly. Besides Python IDLE, Netbeans, Eclipse, Atom, Lazarus are few other examples of IDEs.
Debugger, as the name implies, is the software to detect and correct errors in the source code.
Language Translators
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
The three types of translators used in computing systems are assembler, compiler and interpreter.
Assembler: The translator used to convert the code written in assembly language to machine
language is called assembler.
Compiler: Converts source code to Machine code
Interpreter: Translates one line at a time instead of the whole program at one go. Interpreter takes one
line, converts it into executable code if the line is syntactically correct, and then it repeats these steps
for all lines in the source code.
(iii) Application Software
Different users need the computer system for different purposes depending upon their requirements.
Hence, a new category of software is needed to cater to different requirements of the end users. This
specific software that works on top of the system software is termed as application software.
General Purpose Software:
The application software developed for generic applications, to cater to a bigger audience in general
are called general purpose software.
Eg: Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Mozilla web browser, iTunes, etc
Customised Software:
These are custom or tailor-made application software, that are developed to meet the requirements of
a specific organisation or an individual.
Eg: Websites, Office softwares
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. It also controls various application software and device drivers, manages system security
and handles access by different users.
Eg: Windows, Linux, Android, Macintosh
Different types of Operating Systems:
(i) 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.
Eg: MS-DOS and Unix
(ii) 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.
Example: Microsoft Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora and Macintosh
(iii) 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 like opening an app, closing an app, dialing a number, scrolling across apps,
etc.
(iv) 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. For users who cannot use the input devices like the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreens,
modern operating systems provide other means of human-computer interaction. Users today can use
voice-based commands to make a computer work in the desired way
Eg: iOS (Siri), Android (Google Now or “OK Google”), Microsoft Windows 10 (Cortana)
(v) 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.
