UNIT 1
1.1 COMPUTER
A computer, in simple terms, can be defined as an electronic device that is
designed to accept data, perform the required mathematical and logical operations at
high speed, and output the result.
1.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTERS
A computer accepts data, processes it, and produces information. Here, data
refers to some raw fact or figure, and information implies the processed data. For
example, if 12-12-92 is the date of birth of a student, then it is data (a raw fact/figure).
However, when we process this data (subtract it from the present-date)and say that the
age of the student is 23 years, then the outcome is information.
The important characteristics of a computer (refer to Figure 1.1) are discussed in the
following text.
Speed
Computers can perform millions of operations per second, which means that
data that may otherwise take many hours to process is output as information in the
blink of an eye. The speed of computers is usually given in nanoseconds and
picoseconds, where I nanosecond = 1 x 10-9 seconds and 1 picosecond = 1 x 10-12
seconds.
Accuracy
A computer is a very fast, reliable, and robust electronic device. It always
gives accurate results, provided the correct data and set of instructions are input to it.
Hence, in the event of an error, it is the user who has (GIGO).
Automation
Besides being very fast and accurate, computers are automatable devices that
can perform a task without any user intervention. The user just needs to assign the
task to the computer, after which it automatically controls different devices attached
to it and executes the program instructions.
Diligence
Unlike humans, computers never get tired of a repetitive task. It can
continually work for hours without creating errors. Even if a large number of
executions need to be executed, each and every execution requires the same duration,
and is executed with the same accuracy.
Versatile
Versatility is the quality of being flexible. Today, computers are used in our
daily life in different fields. For example, they are used as personal computers (PCs)
for home use, for business-oriented tasks, weather forecasting. space exploration,
teaching, railways, banking, medicine, and so on.
Memory
Similar to humans, computers also have memory. Just the way we cannot store
everything in our memory and need secondary media, such as a notebook, to record
certain important things, computers also have internal or primary memory (storage
space) as well as external or secondary memory. While the internal memory of
computers is very expensive and limited in size, the secondary storage is cheaper and
of bigger capacity.
No IQ
Although the trend today is to make computers intelligent by inducing
artificial intelligence (AI) in them, they still do not have any decision-making abilities
of their own. They need guidance to perform various tasks.
Economical
Today, computers are considered as short-term investments for achieving long-term
gains. Using computers also reduces manpower requirements and leads to an elegant
and efficient way of performing various tasks. Hence, computers save time, energy,
and money. When compared to other systems, computers can do more work in lesser
time.
1.3 HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
Early computers were designed not for entertainment but for solving number-
crunching problems. These computers were punch-card based computers that took up
entire rooms. Today, our smartphones have much more computing power than that
was available in those early computers.
300 BC: The abacus was an early aid for mathematical computations and was
designed to aid human's memory while performing calculations. A skilled abacus
operator can add and subtract with the same speed as that of a person performing the
same calculation using a hand calculator. The invention of abacus is often wrongly
attributed to China. It was used by the Babylonians even in 300 BC and is still in use
today (in the Far East).
1822: English mathematician Charles Babbage designed a steam-driven calculating
machine that could compute tables of numbers. Though the project failed as he could
not complete the construction of the engine, it laid the foundation for the first
computer.
1890: Herman Hollerith, an American inventor, designed a punched card system to
calculate the 1880 census. The system completed the task in three years saving the US
government $5 million. Later Herman established a company that we today know as
IBM.
1936: British mathematician Alan Turing introduced a universal machine called the
Turing machine capable of computing anything that is computable. The central
concept of the modern computer is based on this machine.
1941: John Vincent Atanasoff, a Bulgarian-American physicist, and his graduate
student, Clifford Berry, at Iowa State College designed Atanasoff-Berry computer
(ABC) that could solve 29 equations simultaneously. It was the first time a computer
could store information in its main memory.
1943-1944: John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert built the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), which is considered as the grandfather of digital
computers. It filled a 20 x 40 feet room and had 18,000 vacuum tubes.
1946: Mauchly and Presper designed the UNIVAC, which was the first commercial
computer for business and government applications.
1947: William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories
invented the transistor. Soon vacuum tubes in computers were replaced by transistors.
1953: Grace Hopper developed the first computer language COBOL.
1954: The FORTRAN programming language was developed.
1958: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor
Corporation separately invented integrated circuit, which is commonly known as the
computer chip.
1964: Douglas Engelbart developed a prototype of the modern computer, with a
mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI). This was a remarkable achievement as it
shifted computers from a specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to
general public.
1969: Unix operating system was developed at Bell Labs. It was written in the C
programming language and was designed to be portable across multiple platforms.
Soon it became the operating system of choice among mainframes at large companies
and government entities.
1970: DRAM chip was introduced by Intel.
1971: Alan Shugart with his team in IBM invented the floppy disk which allowed
data to be shared among computers.
1973: Robert Metcalfe, a research member at Xerox, developed Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other hardware.
1974-1977: Personal popular. computers started becoming
1975: Paul Allen and Bill Gates started writing software for the Altair 8800 using the
new BASIC language. On April 4, they both formed their own software company,
Microsoft.
1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers and developed Apple
I, the first computer with
1969: Unix operating system was developed at Bell Labs.It was written in the C
programming language and was designed to be portable across multiple platforms.
Soon it became the operating system of choice among mainframes at large companies
and government entities.
1970: DRAM chip was introduced by Intel.
1971: Alan Shugart with his team in IBM invented the floppy disk which allowed
data to be shared among computers.
1973: Robert Metcalfe, a research member at Xerox, developed Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other hardware.
1974-1977: Personal computers started becoming popular.
1975: Paul Allen and Bill Gates started writing software for the Altair 8800 using the
new BASIC language. On April 4, they both formed their own software company
microsoft.
1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers and developed Apple
I, the first computer with a single-circuit board.
1977 : Apple II was launched that offered colour graphics and incorporated an audio
cassette drive for storage.
1978: WordStar, a word processor application, was released by MicroPro
International.
1979: VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet program for personal computers,
was unveiled.
1981: The first IBM personal computer was introduced that used Microsoft's MS-
DOS operating system. The term PC was popularized.
1983: The first laptop was introduced. Moreover, Apple introduced Lisa as the first
personal computer with a GUI with drop-down menus and icons.
1985: Microsoft announced Windows as a new operating system.
1986: Compaq introduced Deskpro 386 in the market, which was a 32-bit architecture
machine that provides speed comparable to mainframes.
1990: Tim Berners-Lee invented World Wide Web with HTML as its publishing
language.
1993: The Pentium microprocessor introduced the use of graphics and music on PCs.
1994: PC games became popular.
1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed the Google search engine at Stanford
University.
1999: The term Wi-Fi was introduced when users started connecting to the Internet
without wires.
2001: Apple introduced Mac OS X operating system, which had protected memory
architecture and pre-emptive multi-tasking, among other benefits. To stay
competitive, Microsoft launched Windows XP.
2003: The first 64-bit processor, AMD's Athlon 64, was brought into the consumer
market.
2004: Mozilla released Firefox 1.0 and in the same year Facebook, a social
networking site, was launched.
2005: YouTube, a video sharing service, was launched. In the same year, Google
acquired Android, a Linux-based mobile phone operating system.
2006: Apple introduced MacBook Pro, its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile
computer.
2007: Apple released iPhone, which brought many computer functions in the
smartphone.
2009: Microsoft launched Windows 7 in which users could pin applications to the
taskbar.
2010: Apple launched iPad, which revived the tablet computer segment.
2011: Google introduced Chromebook, a laptop that runs on the Google Chrome
operating system.
2015: Apple released the Apple Watch. In the same year, Microsoft launched
Windows 10.
After reading these interesting developments in computing technology, let us also
understand the evolution of computers through different generations.
Generation of computer
First Generation (1942-1955)
First Generation:
Duration:
1942-1955
Technology: vacuum tube
* Used as a calculating device.
*Performed calculations in milliseconds.
*To bulky in size & complex design.
*Re8quired large room to place it.
*Generates too much heat & burnt.
*Required continuously hardware maintenance.
*Generates much heat so must air-conditioner rooms are required.
*Commercial production is difficult & costly.
*Difficult to configure.
*Limited commercial use.
* ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC are example of 1st generation computer.
Second Generation:
Duration:
Technology:
1955-1964
Transistor
*10 times Smaller in size than 1st generation system.
* Less heat than 1st generation computers.
* Consumed less power than 1st generation system.
* Computers were done calculations in microseconds.
*Air-conditioner is also required.
*Easy to configure than 1st generation computers.
* More reliable in information.
* Wider commercial use.
* Large & fast primary/secondary storage than 1st generation computers.
Third Generation:
Duration:
1965-1975
Technology:
IC chip
* Smaller in size than 1st & 2nd generation computers.
* Perform more fast calculations than 2nd generation systems.
* Large & fast primary/secondary storage than 2nd generation computers.
* Air-conditioner is required.
* Widely used for commercial applications.
* General purpose computers.
* High level languages like COBOL & FORTAN are allowed to write programs.
*Generate less heat & consumed less power than 2nd generation computer.
Fourth Generation:
Duration:
1975-1989
Technology: Microprocessor chip
*Based on LSI & VLSI microprocessor chip.
* Smaller in size.
* Much faster than previous generations.
* Minimum hardware maintenance is required.
* Very reliable as computer to previous generation computers.
* Totally general purpose computer.
*Easy to configure.
*Possible to use network concept to connect the computer together.
*NO requirement of air-conditioners.
*Cheapest in price.
Fifth Generation:
Duration:
1989 to Present
Technology:
ULSI microprocessor chip
* Much smaller & handy.
* Based on the ULSI chip which contains 100 million electronic components.
*The speed of the operations is increased.
*Consumed less power.
*Air-conditioner is not required.
*More user friendly interface with multi-media features.
*High level languages are allowed to write programs.
*Larger & faster primary/secondary storage than previous generations.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Computers can be broadly classified into four categories based on their
speed, amount of data that they can process, and price (refer to Figure 1.8). These
categories are as follows:
Supercomputers
Mainframe computers
Minicomputers
Microcomputers
Supercomputers
The supercomputer is the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive
computer, Supercomputers were first developed in the 1980s to process large amounts
of data and to solve complex scientific problem.process.
Supercomputers use parallel processing technology and can perform more
than one trillion calculations in a second.
A single supercomputer can support thousands of users at the same time. Such
computers are mainly used for weather forecasting, nuclear energy research, aircraft
design. automotive design, online banking, controlling industrialunits, etc. Some
examples of supercomputers are CRAY-1. CRAY-2, Control Data CYBER 205, and
ETA A-10.
Mainframe Computers
Mainframe computers are large-scale computers (but smaller than
supercomputers). These are very expensive and need a very large clean room with air
conditioning, thereby making them very costly to deploy. As with supercomputers,
mainframes can also support multiple processors.The two types of terminals that can
be used with mainframe systems are as follows:
Dumb Terminals
Dumb terminals consist of only a monitor and a keyboard (or mouse). They do
not have their own CPU and memory and use the mainframe system's CPU and
storage devices.
Intelligent Terminals
In contrast to dumb terminals, intelligent terminals have their own
processor and thus can perform some processing operations. However, just like the
dumb terminals, they do not have their own storage space. Usually, PCs are used as
intelligent terminals to facilitate data access and other services from the mainframe
system.
Mainframe computers are typically used as servers on the World Wide Web.
They are also used in organizations such as banks, airline companies, and universities,
where a large number of users frequently access the data stored in their databases.
IBM is the major manufacturer of mainframe computers. Some examples of
mainframe.
Minicomputers
As the name suggests, minicomputers are smaller, cheaper, and slower than
mainframes. They are called minicomputers because they were the smallest computer
of their times. Also known as midrange computers, the capabilities of minicomputers
fall between mainframe and personal computers.
Minicomputers are widely used in business, education, hospitals, government
organizations, etc. While some minicomputers can be used only by a single user,
others are specifically designed to handle multiple users simultaneously. Usually,
single-user minicomputers are used for performing complex design tasks.
Microcomputers
Microcomputers, commonly known as PCs, are very small and cheap. The
first microcomputer was designed by IBM in 1981 and was named IBM-PC. Later on,
many computer hardware companies copied this design and termed their
microcomputers as PC-compatible, which refers to any PC that is based on the
original IBM PC design.
PCs can be classified into the following categories:
Desktop PCs
A desktop PC is the most popular model of PCs. The system unit of the
desktop PC can be placed flat on a desk or table. It is widely used in homes and
offices.
Laptops
Laptops are small microcomputers that can easily fit inside a briefcase.
They are very handy and can easily be carried from one place to another.
Workstations
Workstations are single-user computers that have the same features as
PCs, but their processing speed matches that of a minicomputer or mainframe
computer.
Network Computers
Network computers have less processing power. memory, and storage than
a desktop computer. These are specially designed to be used as terminals in a
networked environment.
Handheld Computers
The mid-1990s witnessed a range of small personal computing devices that are
commonly known as handheld computers, or mobile computers. These computers are
called handheld computers
Because they can fit in one hand, while users can use the other hand to operate them.
Handheld computers are very small in size, and hence they have small-sized screens
and keyboards. These computers are preferred by business traveller and mobile
employees whose jobs require them to move from place to place.
Some examples of handheld computers are as follows:
Smartphones
Tablet PCs
