BASIC COMPUTER CONCEPTS
Generations
Generations of computers Technology Employed
First Generation Computer (1940-1956) Vacuum tubes
Second Generation Computer (1956-1963) Transistor
Third Generation Computer (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
Fourth Generation Computer (1971-Present) VLSI
Fifth Generation Computer (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence
Computer
C- Commonly
O- Operating
M- Machine
P- Particularly
U- Used for
T- TRADE and
E- Educational
R- Research
What is a computer?
A computer accept data from an input device and
processes it into useful information which it displays
on its output device.
It is a collection of hardware and software
components .it can store a large amount of
information and perform various scientific and
Mathematical tasks.
It manipulate the data according to specified rules
(process), produce information (output) from the
processing, and store the results for future use.
Computers Have Two Main Parts
1. Computer Hardware
2. Computer Software
Computer Hardware
Computer Hardware is the physical
part of the computer system, the
machinery and equipment.
What is Computer Software?
Computer Software are programs that tell the
computer what to do.
Examples
Microsoft Word-word processing program
Microsoft PowerPoint-presentation program
Microsoft Excel-work book program used to
track, calculate, and analyze numeric data
Units OF MEMORY
Bits :- it is the smaller unit of information. it can
hold only 2 no. 0 and 1.
1 byte 8 bits
1 Byte 1 character
1 kilobyte(KB) 1024 Byte
1 mega byte (MB) 1024 kb
1 Giga Byte (GB) 1024 MB
1 Tera byte 1024 GB
1 peta byte 1024 TB
Block Diagram of computer system
Storage unit
Secondary storage
Input Device Output Device
Primary storage
Control unit
A.L.U
Central processing unit
Input Devices
Input device send data and instruction to
the central processing unit.
Input Device
Examples
Keyboard
Mouse
M.I.C.R.
O.M.R
Output Device
Output devices make processed data available to
the user.
Output Device Examples
Printers
Impact
Nonimpact
Display Devices
CRT
LCD
Storage Devices
Removable
Floppy disk, or diskette
Compact Disc CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM
DVDs – DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW,
DVD-RAM
Zip disk
Flash disk/USB drive
Tape
Non-Removable
Hard disk
Central Processing Unit
The part of computer that executes programs
instructions
Is known as a processor or CPU. It has two component
1- Control Unit
2- ALU
The control unit
1. The control unit the control unit tells the rest of
the computer that how to carry out a program
Instruction. It is responsible for controlling and
transferring of data and instruction among other
unit of a computer
Memory
Memory, also called random access memory, or RAM,
consists of electronic components that store data,
instructions, and information, as needed by the
processor.
it is also know as primary storage or main memory
This memory held the data only temporarily ,it is
stored only as long as the computer is turned on.
The arithmetic/logic unit
The Arithmetic/Logic unit (ALU) performs two
types of operations -
logical and arithmetic.
Arithmetic operations are the fundamental
mathematics operations consisting of Addition,
Multiplication, subtraction and division .
Logical operations consist of comparison. That is, two
pieces of data are compared to see whether one is
equal to, less than or greater than the other
Elements of Computer
A computer system comprises the following five
elements.
1) Hardware
2)Software
Elements of
3)People Computer
4)Procedures
5) Data/Information
Functions of computers
A computer does mainly the following four function.
1-Received Input:-Accept information from outside through
various input Devices like keyboard, Mouse
2-Process Information:- perform Arithmetic or logical operations
on the information.
3-produce Out Put:- communicate information to the outside world
through O.UTPUT Like .Monitor and printer
4-Store Information – Store the information in storage device like
HDD , CD etc.
Component of Computers
Computer system can be divided into four parts
1. Hardware – provides basic computing resources.
CPU, Memory,I/O Devices.
2. Operating System-resource allocator, manages all
resources.
3. Application programs:-define the way in which the
system resources are used to solve the problem.
4. Users-People , machine etc.
