WI

SDOWI
SDOM WAVEONLI
NEI
NSTI
TUTE

FOUNDATI
ONSOFCOMPUTERSYSTEMS
MODULE1:i
ntr
oduct
iont
ocomput
er
I
NTRODUCTI
ON
◇ Computersarepartofourdailylives-from [Link]
canuset
hem wel
l
,weneedt
ounder
standwhatacomput
eract
ual
l
yisandhowi
twor
ks.

◇ Thismodul eintr
oducesy outot hebasicsofcomput i
[Link]’l
lstar
tbydefi
ningacomput eras
anelectroni
cdev i
cethatturnsr aw dat
aintomeani ngf
ulinf
ormati
ont hr
oughprocessi
[Link]’l
l
l
earnwhyi t
’scall
ed“ el
ectr
onic”,the3keyst agesofInput→ Process→ Output,andthemai n
par
tslikethesystem unit
,CPU, monitor
,keyboard,
andmouse.

◇ We’ l
lalsocl
earupcommont er
msyou’ l
lkeepseei
ng:t
hediff
erencebet
weendatavs
i
nfor
mat i
on,whatisIT,CT,I
CT,andISmean,andwhy“GIGO-Gar
bageIn,Gar
bageOut
”isso
i
mportant.

Togi
v ey
oucontext
,we’l
ltakeaquicktri
pthr
oughhi
story-f
rom sti
cks,
stones,andtheabacust
o
Char
lesBabbage’sAnalyti
calEngi
ne,thenthr
oughthe5gener at
ionsofelectroni
ccomputer
s
fr
om bul
kyvacuum t
ubestotoday’
sAI-power
edmachines.

Bytheendofthi
smodul
e,you’
l
lunderst
andbasi
ccomput
erter
ms,i
dent
ifyhar
dwar
ecomponent
s,
andexpl
ainhowcomput
ersevolv
edintothef
ast
,smar
tdevi
cesweusetoday.

DEFI
NITI
ONOFTERMS

COMPUTER
A Comput eri s an el
ect
roni
c device thatprocesses data(user’s i
nput
)to
i
nformation(desir
edoutput
)
I
tissaidtobeel ect
roni
cbecauseituti
l
izeselect
ricsi
gnalstopr
ocessdata
Theprocessingismadepossiblebyasetofi nst
ructi
onscaledpr
l ogr
ams
Therefor
e,threekeyter
msinthedefini
ti
onofcomput erar
e:
I
nput
Process
Output

Bel
owisadiagr
am showingaPersonalComput
er(PC)cal
l
eddeskt
opcomput
ers
whi
charemostl
yusedinoff
ices,
busi
nesspremi
sesandathome.

At ypicaldeskt opcomput eri smadeupofasy stem uni tandper i

pheraldevices
suchasmoni tor( al
soknownasscr een),key boar dandmouse.
Asy stem uni thousest hebr ainoft hecomput ercalledCent ralProcessingUni t
(CPU)adal sodr ivers
Driversar eusedt ost ore, r
ecor dandr eaddat a
Dat aandI nfor mat i
on
Dat aisdef i
nedasr awf act sthatdonothav emuchmeani ngt otheuser.
I
tmayi ncludenumber s,letter
sandsy mbol s.
I
nf ormat ioni sthepr ocesseddat at hati smeani ngf ultot heuser .
I
not herway s,informat i
oni sthepr oductofdat aandpr ocess.
I
nf ormat i
onTechnol ogy( I
T)
I
nf ormat ionTechnol ogy( IT)r eferst ot heuseofhar dwar e,softwareandt heir
technol ogyt ocol lect,process, secur e,store, exchangeordi sseminateinformation.
Exampl esofhar dwar einclude: comput ers,PDAs, Smar tphonesandpr i
nters.
I
nf ormat ionmaybei naf orm oft ext,graphi cs, soundorv i
deo.
Communi cati
onTechnol ogy( CT)
Communi cat i
onTechnol ogy(CT)r eferst ot heuseofdev icesandcommuni cati
on
channel stot ransmi tinf
or mat i
oncor rectl
y,ef fi
cient l
yandcost -eff
ecti
vely.
 Suchdevi
cesincl
uder
adi
otr
ansmi
tt
erandr
ecei
ver
,tel
ephones,sat
ell
i
tes,f
ax
machi
nesetc.

Communi
cat
ionchannel
sincl
udet
elephonel
i
nesandr
adi
owav
es

I
nfor
mat
ionandCommuni
cat
ionTechnol
ogy(
ICT)

I
CT r ef
erst otheintegr
ati
on ofcommuni cati
on technologi
esand inf
ormati
on
technol
ogiesforthepurposepfacquir
ing,pr
ocessing,stori
ng,st
andar
diz
ingand
disseminat
inginf
ormati
onforpubl
icconsumption.

I
nfor
mat
ionSy
stems(
IS)

I
nfor
mati
onSy st
emsr ef
erstothesetofcomponent
snamelyper
sons,
procedur
es
orhar
dwareandsof t
wareresour
cesthatcol
l
ect,pr
ocessanddel
iv
erinf
ormati
on
i
nagivenorgani
zat
ion.

I
nformat
iontechnologyandI nfor
mat i
onsy stem aresomehow si
mil
ar,butthe
majordi
ffer
encebet weenthem isthatInformati
onsy st
em maynotnecessar
il
y
rel
yontechnol
ogicaldevi
ces,pen,paperandmanualf i
l
esmaybeusedwhi l
eITis
purel
yel
ectr
onicandittri
estoautomateISprocesses.

Gar
bagei
ngar
bageOut(
GIGO)

Thisi
saphrasewhi
chimpli
esthati
fincor
rectdataisenter
edinacomput erand
thecommandtopr
ocessi
tisgi
ven,t
hecomput erwil
lout
putincor
rectr
esul
t.

Thi
smeanst
hatacomput
eri
sjustamachi
ne,
itcannotdot
hingsoni
tsown.

◇ HI
STORYOFCOMPUTER
Beforecomput er
swereint
roduce,peoplewereusi
ngnon-
computi
ngdev
ices.
Non-comput i
ng devi
ces ar et ool
st hat wer
e used to per
for
m arit
hmet
ic
comput at
ionsmanuall
yormat hematicall
y.
Thesecomput ingdev
icesare:
Sti
cks
Stones
Abacus
Napierbones
LaPascalinemachine
◇ Abacus
AnabacuswasaChi nesecounti
ngi
nstrumentwhichdat
esbackt
o300BC.
Abacushasbead-
li
kepartsthatmovealongrods.
Eachbeadabov ethemi ddlebarstandsforf i
veunit
swhil
eeachbeadbel
ow
standsf
oroneunit
.
◇ Napi
erbones
Napi
erboneswasdevel
opedbyJohnNapier
,aScott
ishmat
hemat
ici
ani
nthe17th
Cent
ury
.
I
twasusedforper
for
mingmult
ipl
i
cati
onanddiv
isi
on.

◇ LaPascal
inemachi
ne
LaPascali
neisaccount
ingmachinethatwasmadebyBl
aisePascali
nthe17th
Centur
y.
Itwasusedforaddi
ti
onandsubt
ract
ion

◇ TheAnal
yti
calEngi
ne
Theanal
yti
cal
enginewasdesignedbyanEngl ishmathemati
cian,
Charl
esBabbage
i
n1832
Theengi
neisrecognizedasthef i
rstrealcomputerandBabbageast hefat
herof
computi
ng.
However
,duetotechnologi
cal
li
mi t
ations,Babbageneveri
mplementedit
.
Bel
owistheprot
otypeofanalyt
icalengine
 Anal
yti
calengi
nepr
otot
ype
◇ ELECTRONI
CCOMPUTERSANDTHEI
RGENERATI
ONS

I
ttooksever
alyear
saf
terChar
lesBabbagedesi
gnedanal
yti
calengi
net
ocomeup
wit
hanelect
roni
ccomputer
.

Computers are gener

all
y classi
fi
ed i
ntof
ive gener
ati
ons dependi
ng on t
he
technol
ogyusedtodevelopthem.

Fi
rstgener
ati
oncomput
ers(
1940’
sto1958)
Fi
rstgener
ati
oncomput er
swerever
ylargephysi
cal
l
yandusedt
housandsof
gadget
scall
edvacuum t
ubeort
her
mioni
cvalve.

Thedi
sadv
ant
agesoft
hesecomput
erswer
e

Theyconsumedal
otofpower

Theyemi
tt
edal
otofheat

Theyconst
ant
lybr
okedown

esof1stGener
Exampl ati
oncomput
ersar
e

El
ect
roni
cNumer
icI
ntegr
atorandCal
cul
ator(
ENI
AC)

El
ect
roni
cDi
scr
eteVar
iabl
eAut
omat
icComput
er(
EDVAC)

Usesof1stGener
ati
oncomput
ers
 ENIAC wasdevel
opedduringfi
rstwor
ldwart
omakecer
tai
ncal
cul
ati
onsf
or
const
ruct
ionofhy
drogenbomb

SecondGener
ati
onComput
ers(
1958-
1964)
Computer
sint hi
s gener
ati
on used a ti
nysoli
d-st
ate el
ect
roni
c dev
ice cal
l
ed
tr
ansi
stor
sthatweresmall
ert
hanv acuum t
ubes.

Thechar
act
eri
sti
csoft
hesecomput
ersar
ethat

Theypr
oducedl han1stGener
essheatt ati
on

Wer
emuchf
ast
er han1stGener
st ati
on

Wer
esmal
l
eri
nsi han1stGener
zet ati
on

Mor
erel
i
abl
ethan1stGener
ati
ons

Exampl
esofsecondgener
ati
oncomput
ersar
e:

I
BM 1401ANDI
BM 7070

UNI
VAC1107

ATLASLEOMar
kII
I

Honey
wel
l200

Usesofsecondgener
ati
oncomput
ers

Theywer
eusedmai
nlyf
orsci
ent
if
ic,
busi
nessappl
i
cat
ionsandcomput
ergames

Thi
rdGener
ati
oncomput
ers(
1964-
1970)
 Thet
hir
dgener
ati
oncomput
ersusedel
ect
roni
cdev
i edI
cecal
l ntegr
atedCi
rcui
t(I
C)
AnInt
egratedCi
rcui
tconsi
stsoft
housandsofsmal
ltr
ansi
storci
rcui
tspackedon
asemiconduct
orcal
ledsi
li
conchi
p

Char
act
eri
sti
csoft
hir
dgener
ati
oncomput
ers

Thir
dgenerat
ioncomputersemit
tedlessheat
,wer
esmalleri
nsize,
wer
eeasi
ert
o
st nd
program,
useandmaintainthan1 and2 Generat
ioncomputer
s

Exampl
esoft
hir
dgener
ati
oncomput
ersar
e

I
BM 360

I
CL19000ser
ies

Usesoft
hir
dgener
ati
oncomput
ers

Theyal
l
owpr
ocessi
ngmor
ethanonet
ask(
mul
ti
taski
ng)

Had mostappli
cati
ons such as wor
d pr
ocessorf
ort
ypi
ng,cal
cul
ator
s and
busi
nessappl
i
cat
ions

Four
thGener
ati
oncomput
ers(
1970t
opr
esent
)
Thegadgetusedi
nthi
sgener
atonwasLar
i geScal
eInt
egr
atedCi
rcui
t(LSI
)and
Ver
yLar
geScal
eInt
egr
atedCi
rcui
t(VLSI
)
Four
thgener
ati
oncomput
erswer
echar
act
eri
zedby

Ver
ylowemi
ssi
onofheat

Ar
esmal
li
nsi
ze

Easi
ert
ouseandmai
ntai
n

Exampl
esoff
our
thgener
ati
oncomput
ersar
e

I
BM 370

I
BM 4300

Honey
wel
lDPS-
88

Bur
roughs7700

Usesoff
our
thgener
ati
oncomput
ers

Useofmostappl
i
cat
ions

Usedt
odesi
gnf
inanci
alappl
i
cat
ions

Useofi
nter
netbecamecommon

Fi
ft
hgener
ati
oncomput
ers
Thesear
etoday
scomput
erst
hathav
ehi
ghpr
ocessi
ngpowerandspeed

Thesecomput
ershav
especi
alpr
ogr
am t
hatmi
michumani
ntel
l
igencer
efer
redt
oas
Ar
ti
fi
cialI
ntel
li
gence

Thesecomput
ersar
echar
act
eri
zedby
:

Useofar
ti
fi
cial
int
ell
i
gence

Connect
ivi
tyt
oint
ernet
Hav
esuper
iorhar
dwar
eandsof
twar
e

Ver
ysmal
li
nsi
ze

Usesoff
if
thgener
ati
oncomput
ers

Usedi
nexper
tsy
stem t
hati
susedi
ndeci
sionmaki
ng

CONCLUSI
ON

Modul
e1hasl
aidt
hef
oundat
ionf
orunder
standi
ngcomput
ersy
stems.

Westart
edbydefi
ningacomputerasanel ect
ronicdevi
cethatuseselect
ri
csignalsand
pr
ogramstoconvertdat
aintomeani ngfuli
nformati
onthroughthe3st ages:Input→
Pr
ocess→ Out
[Link] sofadesktopPC-t hesystem uni
t
wi
ththeCPUasthebrai
n,andperipher
alsli
kethemonitor,
keyboar
d,andmouse

Wealsocl
ari
fi
edkeyconcepts:t
hedif
fer
encebet
weendat
aandinf
ormati
on,ther
olesof
I
T,CT,I
CT,andIS,andwhytheruleGI
GO-GarbageI
n,Gar
bageOutmatt
ers.

Lookingathi st
ory,wesawhowhumansmov edfrom non-computi
ngdev i
ceslikesti
cks,
stones,abacus,NapierBones,andLaPascal i
netoChar l
esBabbage’ sAnalyt
icalEngine
:
@$Wet hentrackedtheevolut
ionthrough5generati
onsofelectr
oniccomput er
s:from
lar
ge, hotvacuum tubestofasttr
ansistor
s,I
Cchips,LSI/
VLSIchips,andtoday’s5thGen
AI-powered,int
ernet-
connect
edsy st
ems.

I
nshort:Comput
ersbeganasbasiccountingtool
sandhav etr
ansformedi
ntopowerful
,
compactdevi
cesthatcollect
,pr
ocess,st
ore,andshareinformat
[Link]
eri
ngt hese
basi
csgivesy
outhelanguageandconcept
sneededforal
lfutur
etopicsi
ncomputer