Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB

By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

Chapter 1 : Introduction to computer

1.1.1 INTRODUCTION
Definition
A computer is an electronic machine, devised for performing calculations and controlling
operations that can be expressed either in logical or numerical terms.
Applications
The applications domain of a computer depends totally on human creativity and
imagination
it covers a huge area of applications including education, industries, government
medicine, scientific
research, low and even music and arts.
• Millions of complex calculations can be done in a mere fraction of time
• Difficult decisions can be made with unerring accuracy for comparatively little cost
1.1.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER
Speed
Computer process data at an extremely fast rate – millions of instructions per second in
few seconds, a computer can perform a huge task that a normal human being may take
days or even years to complete.
The speed of a computer is calculated in Mhz
Accuracy
Besides efficiency, computer are accurate as well. The level of accuracy depends an the
instructions and the type of machine being used.
Diligence
Computer being a machine does not suffer form the human trailts of tiredness and lack of
concentration
Reliability
Reliability is the measurement of performance of a computer, which is measured against
some predetermined standard for operation without any failure.

Storage capability
The main memory of the computer is relatively small and it can hold only a certain
amount
of information, therefore, the data is stored on secondary storage devices such as
magnetic tape or disks.
Versatility
It can perform multiple taks simultaneously with great ease. For example, at
one moment it can be used to draft a letter, another moment it can be used to play
music an in between, one can print a document as well.
All this work is possible by changing the program.
Resource sharing
It made the sharing of costly resources like printer possible.
Apart from device sharing data and information can also be shared among group of
computers, thus creating a large information and knowledge base.
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

1.1.3 EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS

• In the beginning, when the task was simply counting or adding, people used either their
fingers or pebbles along lines in the sand.
In order to simplify the process of counting, people in Asia Minor built a counting
device called abacus. This device allowed users to do calculations using a system of
sliding beads arranged on a rack.
• With the passage of time, many computing devices such as Napier bones and slide rule
were invented.
• In 1642, a French mathematician, Blaise Pascal invented the first functional automatic
calculator.
This brass rectangular box, also called a Pascaline, used eight movable dios to adds
sums eight figures long.
• In 1694, german mathematician Gottfried wilhem von Leibniz extended pascal’s design
to perform multiplication, division and to find square root. This machine is known as
Stepped Reckoner.
• The real beginnings of computers as we know them today, however, lay with an English
mathematics professor, Charles Babbage.
In 1822, he proposed a machine to perform differential equations, called a Difference
Engine.
• In 1889, Herman Hollerith, who worked for us census bureau, also applied the Jacquard
loom concept to computing.
Hollerith’s method used cards to store data, which he fed into a machine that complled
the results mechanically .
Mark I, which was built as a partnership between Harvard Aiken and IBM in 1944.
This electronic calculating machine used relays and electromagnetic components to
replace mechanical components
• In 1946, John Eclcert and John Mauchy of developed ENIAC (electronic numerical
integrator and calculator)
Thus computer used electronic vacuum tubes to make internal parts of the computer
• Eckert and mauchy also proposed the development of EDVAC ( electronic discrete
variable automatic computer.
It was the first electronic computer to use the stored program concept introduced by
John von Neumann.
• In 1949, at the Cambridge university, Maurice wilkes developed EDSAC (electronic
delay storage automatic calculator)
This machine used mercury delay lines for memory and vacuum tubes for logic.
• The Eckert – mauchy corporation manufactured UNIVAC ( universal automatic
computer) in 1951 and its implementation marked the real beginning of the computer
era.
1.1.4 COMPUTER GENERATIONS
[Link] First Generation (1940-56) : Vacuum Tube
First generation computer were vacuum tubes/thermionic value based machines these
computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
A magnetic drum is a metal cylinder coated with magnetic iron-oxide material on which
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

data and programs can be stored.

Input was based on punched cards and paper tape and output was in the form of
printouts.
For example: ENIAC, EDVAC AND UNIVAC.
Characteristics of First Generation Computers.
• These computers were based on vacuum tube technology.
• These were the fastest computing devices of their time.
• These computers were very large, and required a lot of space for installation.
• These were non-portable and very slow equipments.
[Link] Second Generations (1956-63): Transistors
A transistor is made up of semiconductor material like germanium and silicon. It usually
had three leads and performed electrical functions such as voltage, current or power
amplification
with low power requirement.
Since transistor is a small device, the physical size of computers was greatly reduced.

omputers became smaller, faster, cheaper, energy-efficient and more reliable than their
predecssors.
Magnetic cores- were used as primary memory and magnetic disks as secondary storage
devices. However, they still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
For example: PDP – 8 , IBM 1401 and IBM 7090
Characterstics of Second Generation Computer.
• These machines were based on transistor technology
• These were smaller as compared to the first generation computers.
• These were more portable and generated less amount of heat.
[Link] Third Generation (1964 – Early 1970), Integrated Circuits
The development of the integrated circuit was the trait of the third generation computer.
Also called an ic, an integrated circuit consists of a single chip with many components
such as
transistors and resistors fabricated on it.
Integrated circuit replaced several individually wired transistor. This development made
computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers
through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with operating system.
For example : NCR 395 and B6500
Characteristic of Third Generation Computer
• These computers were based on integrated circuit (ic) technology.
• They were able to reduce computational time from micro seconds to nano seconds.
• Extensive use of high – level language became possible
[Link] Fourth Generation (Early (1970 – Till Date) Microprocessors)
The technology of this generation was still based on the intergrated circuit, these have
been
made readily available to use because of the development of the microprocessor.
The fourth generation computers led to an era of large scale integration (LSI) and very
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

large scale integration (vlsi) technology. LSI technology allowed thousands of transistors
to be
constructed on one small slice of silicon material whereas vlsi squeezed hundreds of
thousands of
components on to a single ewp
ULTRA – large scale integration (ULSI) increased that number into millions the fourth
generation computer became more powerful compact, reliable and affordable.
For example: apple ii, attair 8800 and CRAY-

Characteristics of Fourth Generation Computers

• Fourth generation computers are microprocessor based systems
• These computers are very small
• GUI an d pointing devices enable users to learn to use the computer quickly
• Interconnection of computers leads to better communication and resource sharing
[Link] Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond): Artificial Intelligence
A computer would learn from its mistakes and possess the skill of experts the starting
point
for the fifth generation of computers has been set in the early 1990. The expert system it
defined as
a computer information system that attempts to mimic the thought process and
reasoning of experts
in specific areas three characteristics can be identified with the fifth generation computer
these are.
Mega chips
Fifth generation computers will use super large scale integrated (SLSI) chips, which will
result in the production of microprocessor having millions of electronic components on a
single chip
Parallel processing
A computer using parallel processing accesses several instructions at once and works on
them at the same time through use of multiple central processing units.
Artificial intelligence: (AI)
AI comprises a group of related technologies expert systems (ES), natural language
processing (NLP) speech recognition, vision recognition and robotics.
1.1.5 CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Four major categories: micro, mini, mainframe and super computers

Micro computers
A micro computer is a small, low cost digital computer, which usually consists of a
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

microprocessor, a storage unit, an input channel and an output channel, all of which may
be on one
chip inserted into are or several pc boards.
IBM – pc,Pentium 100, ibm-pc Pentium 200 and Apple Macintosh are some of the
example
of micro computers
Micro computers include desktop, laptop and hand – held models such as PDAS
(personal)
digital assistants.
Desktop computer
Desktop computer also known as personal computer (pc) is principally intended per
stand
alone use by an individual micro computer typically consist of a system unit a display
monitor, a
keyboard internal hard disk storage and other peripheral devices.
Some of the major personal computer manufactures are Apple, IBM, Dell and Hewlett
Packard.
Laptop
A laptop is a portable computer that is a user can carry it around. Laptops are small
computer
enclosing all the basic features of a normal desktop computer.
The biggest advantage of this computer is that one can use this computer anywhere and
at
anytime, especially when are is travelling
Hand held computers
A hard-held, also called personal digital assistant (PDA), is a computer that can
conveniently
be stored in a pocket and used while the user is holding it.
PDAs are essentially small portable computers and are slightly bigger than the common
calculators.
Some example of PDAs are Apple Newton, Casio Cassiopeia and Franklin ebook man
Mini computers
The mini computer is a small digital computer whose process and storage capacity is
lesser
than that of a mainframe, but more than that of micro computer.
Its speed of processing data is in between that of a mainframe and a micro computes,
generally, it is used as desktop device that is often connected to a mainframe in order to
perform the auxiliaxy operations.
Mini computers are usually multi-user systems, so these are used in interactive
applications
in industries, research organisations colleges and universities.
High – performance workstations with graphics I/o capability use mini computers
Some of the widely used mini computers are PDP II, IBM (8000 series) and VAX 7500.
Mainframe computer
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

A mainframe is an ultra – high performance computer made for high – volume, processor
–intensive computing. It consists of a high end computer processor, with related
peripheral devices,capable of supporting large volumes of data processing systems and
extensive data storage and retrieval. Mainframes are the second largest of the computer
family, the largest being super computers.
Mainframe allows its user to maintain large information storage at a conrralised location
and be able to access and process this data from different computers located at different
locations It is typically used by large businesses and for scientific purpose.
Examples of mainframe computers are IBM’s E5000, VAX8000 and CDC6600

Super computers
Super computers are the special purpose machine, which are specially designed to
maximize the numbers of FLOPS (floating point operation per second). Any computer
below one gigaflop/sec is not considered a super computer. A super computer has the
highest processing speed at a given time for solving scientific and engineering problems.
Essentially, it contains a number of cpu, that operate in parallel to make it faster. Its
processing speed lies in the range of 400 – 10,000 MF LOP’s (millions of floating point
operation per second).
Super computers are used to solve multivariant mathematical problems of existent
physical processes, such as aerodynamics, metrologis, and plasms physics.
The largest commercial use of super computers is in the entertainment advertising
industry, CRAY – 3, Cyber 205 and PARAM are some well known super computers.

1.1.6 BASIC COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

The block diagram of the computer system have the following three units, each functional
unit corresponds to their basic operations performed as described in details.
(a) Input unit
(b) Central processing unit
(c) Output unit
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

(a) Input Unit

• Accept data and instructions from the outside world.
• Convert it to a form that the computer can understand
• Supply the converted data to the computer system for further processing
• The input unit is used to send information or instructions or commands to the
computer.
The data received from the input input unit is immediately stered in main memory and
then processed.
Following are the some of the input devise.
(i) Keyboard
(ii) Mouse
(iii) Light pen
(iv) Joystick
(v) Ocr (optical character recognizer)
(vi) MICR (magnetic ink character recognizer)
(vii) OMR ( optical mark recognizer)
(b) Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• It performs all calculations and all decisions.
• It controls and co-ordinates all units of the computer
• It interprets instructions of a program
• It stores data temporarily and monitors external requests.
The CPU is sub-divided into the following sub-system.
(i) Control unit
(ii) Arithmetic and logical unit
(iii) Memory unit
(a) Primary storage
(b) Secondary storage.
(i) Control unit
The control unit instructs the computer how to carry out program instructions. It directs
the flow of data between memory and arithmetic logical unit.
The input unit does not know when to receive data and where to put the data in the
storage unit after receiving it similarly, the control unit instruces the input unit where to
store the data after receiving it from the user.
In the same way, it controls the flow of data and instructions from the storage unit to ALU
during program execution the control unit fetches instructions from the primary
memory, decodes them to determine the operations required, and then sets up
instructions
execution.
Eg. To add two numbers or to read a character from a keyboard. A number registers are
associated with the control unit.

ii) Arithmetic And Logical Unit

Arithmetic and logical unit performs all the arithmetic and logical operations.
Arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and logical operations,
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

such
as comparisons are performed in ALU.
All calculations are performed in the arithmetic and logical unit (ALU) of the computer
ALU also does comparisons and take decision .
Example: it can check if the number A is less than equal to or greater than the number
B. once the calculations or the logical operation is performed by ALU, then the result is
transferred to the storage unit.
(iii) Memory unit
Memory is the part of computer which holds data for processing and other information
it is also called as main memory or primary memory.
A device that stores program instructions or data used by the cpu when performing a
given function.
Memory is a device, which is used to store information temporarity/permanently, it is
the place where the information is safekeeped. Secondary memory, such as disk storage,
is
functionalty considered I/O because it is accessed through the I/O system.
(a) Primary storage
The primary storage is also called as “main memory” stores and access information
very fastly. This is generally used to hold the program being currently executed in the
computer, the data being received from the input unit, the intermediate and final results
of the program.
Primary storage is also known as system memory, internal, temporary and “RAM”
▪ Installed on the main computer board (motherboard)
▪ Typically comprised of ICs (integrated circuits)
▪ Fast access – usually in the order of nano seconds
(b) Secondary storage
The secondary storage is also known as Auxiliary Storage it may store several programs,
documents, databases etc

The program that we want to run on the computer is first transferred to the primary
memory before it can run. Similarly, after running the program if need to save the result,
we will transfer them to the secondary storage.
The secondary memory is slower and cheaper than the primary memory. Some of the
commonly used secondary memory devices are Floppy diskette, Zip diskette, Hard disk
and Magnetic disks and Tapes etc.
(c) Output unit
Devices used to get the response or result of a process from the computer is called
output output unit is the communication between the user and the computer.
The output unit of a computer provider the information and results of a computation to
the outside world.
Computers do not work in the decimal system, they work in the binary system. Therefore
if required, the output unit also converts the binary data into a form that users can
understand.
Commonly used output devices are.
Coordination Of Computer Sciences VRSP USTHB
By PhD . SLIMANI Oussama

▪ Visual display unit (VDU) or monitor

▪ Printer
▪ Computer output microfilm
▪ Plotter.

Computer Viruses
Viruses: A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For
example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program.
Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the
chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc.
•E-mail viruses: An e-mail virus travels as an attachment to e-mail messages, and
usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people
in the victim's e-mail address book. Some e-mail viruses don't even require
a double-click -- they launch when you view the infected message in the
preview pane of your e-mail software [source: Johnson].
•Trojan horses: A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to
do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you
run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate
automatically.
•Worms: A wormis a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security
holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another
machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine
using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.
What are some tips to avoid viruses and lessen their impact?*
 Install anti-virus software from a reputable vendor. Update it and use it
regularly.
 In addition to scanning for viruses on a regular basis, install an "on access"
scanner (included in most anti-virus software packages) and configure it to start
each time you start up your computer. This will protect your system by
checking for viruses each time you run an executable file.
 Use a virus scan before you open any new programs or files that may contain
executable code. This includes packaged software that you buy from the store
as well as any program you might download from the Internet.
 If you are a member of an online community or chat room, be very careful
about accepting files or clicking links that you find or that people send you
within the community.
 Make sure you back up your data (documents, bookmark files, important email
messages, etc.) on disc so that in the event of a virus infection, you do not lose
valuable work.
*