computer COMPUTER STUDIES

TERM ONE

What is a Computer?
A computer is an electronic device operating under the control of
instructions stored in its memory unit that accepts data through its input
devices, processes it through its processing unit, output it through its
output devices and stores the results for future use.

OR A computer is an electronic device that accepts data then performs

arithmetic and logical operations that manipulate or change data and
finally produces new results from that data.
A computer accepts data from an input device, processes it into useful
information, and then displays it using its output devices. The computer
has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data.

What is information?
Information refers to data (row facts) that has been processed.

Characteristics of Modern computers

A computer’s power is derived from its capability to perform the

processing cycle operations (input, process, output and storage) with
great speed. The characteristics of modern computers include: -

1. Speed: The computer is a very high speed electronic device. The

operations on the data inside the computer are performed through
electronic circuits according to the given instructions. The data and
instructions flow along these circuits with high speed that is close to
the speed of light. Computers can perform millions or billions of
operations on the data in one second. The computer generates
signals during the operation process; therefore the speed of a
computer is usually measured in mega hertz (MHz) or gigahertz
(GHz). It means a million cycle units of frequency, is 1 hertz per
second. Different computers have different speed.
2. Reliability: The electronic components in modern computer have
very low failure rate. The modern computer can perform very
complicated calculations without creating any problem and
produces consistent (reliable) results.
3. Accuracy: In addition to being very fast, a computer is also a very
accurate device. It gives accurate output result provided the correct
input data and set of instructions are given to the computer. It
means that output totally depends on the given instructions and
input data. If input data is in-correct then the resulting output will
be in-correct. In computer terminology it is known as garbage-in
garbage-out (GIGO).
4. Storage: Computers can store enormous amounts of data and can
make this data available for processing any time it’s needed. Using
current storage devices, the data can be transferred quickly from
 storage to memory, processed, and then stored again for future
use. The stored data and programs are available any time for
processing.

5. Diligence: A computer can continually work for hours without

creating any error, getting tired or making mistakes. It does not get
tired while working and after hours of work it performs the
operations with the same accuracy as well as speed as the first one.
6. Adaptability: Computers can work in very dangerous places. They
can solve labour problems or do hazardous jobs in a hostile
environment. They can work in areas where the human brains can
error, for instance, observing the motion of very fast moving
particles. They can also work with different types of data and
information like graphics, audiovisual characters etc.
7. Versatility: Versatile means flexible. Modern computers can
perform different kinds of tasks one by one simultaneously. It is the
most important feature of computer. At one moment you are
playing a game on computer, the next moment you are composing
and sending an email etc. For example, in colleges and universities
computers are used to deliver lectures to the students.
8. Consistency: People often have difficulty to repeat their
instructions again and again. For example, a teacher may find it
difficult to repeat a same lesson in a class room again and again.
Computers can repeat actions consistently (again and again)
without loosing its concentration.
9. Retrieving data and programs: The data and programs stored
on the storage media can be retrieved very quickly for further
processing.
10. Precision: Computers are not only fast and consistent but they
also perform operations very accurately and precisely. For example,
in manual calculations and rounding fractional values (That is a
value with a decimal point can change the actual result). In
computer however, you can keep the accuracy and precision up to
the level you desire. The lengthy calculations remain always
accurate.
11. Arithmetical and Logical Operations: A computer can perform
arithmetical and logical operations. In arithmetic operations, it
performs the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on
the numeric data. In logical operation it compares the numerical
data as well as alphabetical data.
12. Automation: A computer can automatically perform operations
without interfering with the user during the operations. It controls
automatically different devices attached to the computer. It
executes automatically the program instructions one by one.
13. Communications: Today computer is mostly used to exchange
messages or data through computer networks all over the world.
For example information can be received or sent through the
internet with the help of a computer.

Why do we study computer

(i) To acquire general knowledge and skills in the use of a
computer and other related technology.
 (ii) To use a variety of computer technologies to access,
analyze and interpret information.
(iii) To understand important issues of a technology based
society and exhibit them using computers.
(iv) To attain computer skills required for employment.
(v) To acquire knowledge as a foundation of other studies in
computer technology.
Advantages of using computers
v. Easy and inexpensive storage of data.
v. Computers are fast in doing work.
v. Computers give accurate results unless the
mistake was done by the user. This is when the
concept of garbage in garbage out (GIGO) applies.
v. Computers help us do research.
v. Computers ease communication.
v. There is good record keeping with limited
mistakes when using computers.
v. Computers are multitasking machines unlike
humans who can only handle one job at a time.
v. Computers are very useful in medical diagnosis,
patient monitoring and general hospital
administration.
v. Massive increase in productivity. Etc.

Disadvantages of using computers

v. Computers are bad on health.
They create physical illness,
cause skeletal problems due to
poor sitting postures etc.
v. Computer viruses. When a
computer acquires a virus, it can
lead to loss of data.
v. Computers lead to
unemployment. Jobs that can be
done by many people can be
handled by a single computer.
v. Greater complexity of life -
everyone now has to learn a lot
of skills even to use computers
at a simple level.
v. They also generate a lot of extra
work such as answering emails,
and producing high quality
documents for all occasions
(before, you might just scribble
something down.)
v. Computers lead to deskilling.
People forget how to do simple
things like mental arithmetic. It's
easy to think that you have
understood a topic, just because
you can download a fact sheet
about it.
 v. Violation of privacy. This is when
hackers log into your computer
and steal personal information.
Etc.

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS

The Origin – Humans wanted machines that could relieve them from
routine tasks that are boring and time consuming so that they rather
concentrate on other tasks that require creativity hence they started
developing simple tools and instruments which can assist them in
performing simple arithmetic operations; such tools include abacus, slide
rule etc. As time went by, technologies of the time made it possible to
develop electronic machines like computers.

THE EARLY COMPUTING TOOLS/DEVICES

1. Abacus (5000BC): The development of a computer began with a

calculator and these have been around for a long time. The abacus was
probably the first mechanical calculator with moving parts which were
used in performing arithmetic calculations. This device is a frame with
beads strung on wires or rods which were used in different places at about
the same time. The abacus was probably developed in ‘China’ and it is
still in use around the world today. It is possible to temporarily store
beads on this device and the position of each bead determines its value.

2. Napier’s bones: In the 17th century, another mathematical device

came around in 1614. This was through the efforts of Scotsman John
Napier and his invention was called Napier’s bones. He invented a set of
multiplication table on ivory sticks that could slide back and forth to
indicate certain results. Napier’s bones was a rectangular rod with
readings written on them that led users to do division and multiplication
by adding number position bones.

3. The slide rule (1620): Various special slide rules have been
devised for the solution of the widely applicable engineering
formulas or for business calculations such as determination of
simple interest, compound interest accumulation and depreciation.

The English mathematician William Ought-red invented the Rectilinear

and less commonly the used circular slide rules and shortly after the
discovery of logarithms. It operated on the principal that all mathematical
computations may be carried out on sets of sliding scales. The device
looks much like a heavily calibrated rule with a movable mid section. The
mid section was called the sliding centre scale, which was engraved with
fine lines to allow the user align different logarithmic scales. The slide
rule was a mechanical device formerly used by engineers and scientists
for rapid and approximate multiplication, addition, subtraction, division,
extraction of roots, rising powers and other simple computations. The
computational accuracy possibly depends on the size of the side rule and
on the care with which the scales were printed.

MECHANICAL COMPUTERS (Mechanical era) 1623-1945

This was a period from 1623 – 1945. Machines were characterized with
mechanical gears, moving parts, electoral mechanical relays and they
sued punched cards as a means of storage.

Pascal’s calculator (1642): A French mathematician and philosopher

Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical digital calculator that could
perform addition and subtraction of whole numbers.
This was a polished Brass box containing a sophisticated mechanical
calculating mechanism comprised of gears. Digits from O – 9 were
arranged on wheels. When a wheel was fired in a complete revolution, it
increased the adjoining wheel by one digit. The calculator was called the
Pascaline. This machine was later improved by Leibniz to perform the
additional operation of multiplication and division.

Babbage’s Engine (1822): A differential and Analytical engine is a

machine which was brought by English Mathematician called Charles
Babbage that combined the concept of mechanized calculation and stored
programs in the machine. His first machine was a difference engine
(1822). It was a multiple adding machine designed to compute and print
tables of polynomials (an expression of finite length constructed from variables and
constants) by repeated addition of differences. He later invented the
analytical engine twelve years later (1834) considered by many to be a
direct forerunner of the modern computers. The differential engine was
able to compute mathematical tables. Although the device did not have
memory, Babbage’s later idea for the analytical engine would have been a
true programmable computer if the technology of his time had been able
to build it.

Arithmometer (1785 - 1870): In 1820, Charles Xavier Thomas De

Colmar, a scientist of France, invented a calculating machine that could
perform simple arithmetic calculations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. This calculating machine was named as
Arithmometer.
Hollerith’s Tabulator: In 1890, an American scientist Herman
Hollerith used the idea of punched board system and introduced the
punched cards as input media in computer. He developed the first electro-
mechanical punched card tabulator. This machine could read information
that had been punched into cards. These cards were maintained in stack
form. Solutions to different problems could be stored on different stacks of
cards and accessed when needed. Invention of punched cards opened a
gate to modern data processing. IBM and other computer manufacturers
came in this field and started production of computers that could use
punched cards as input media. These computers could perform arithmetic
calculations and sort numbers. Data were fed through punched cards. As
compared to today's computers, these computers were slow in data
processing. Usually, these computers could process 50 - 220 cards per
minute and each card holding about 80 decimal numbers (or characters).
The punched cards provided a means of input/output (I/O), and memory
storage.

Boolean algebra: Boolean algebra is the algebra of logic; it was

introduced by English mathematician George Boole in 1847 for designing
logic circuits inside the computer. The Boolean algebra's rules or
principles are used to design the circuits inside the chips. The design of a
particular circuit is based on a set of logical statements. These statements
return either true (or 1) or false (or 0). Boolean algebra uses two binary
numbers 0 and 1.

ENIAC (1943 – 1946): ENIAC stands for "Electronic Numerical Integrator

And Calculator". It was the first electronic computer. It was developed in
1943 by J.P. Eckert and John Mauchly at the Moore School of Engineering,
university of Pennsylvania in USA. It contained about 18,000 vacuum
tubes and occupied more than 1,500 square feet with weight of 30 tons.

The ENIAC was programmed by physically connecting electrical wires in

the proper order. It was very difficult to detect errors and to change the
program. Similarly, it could store and manipulate limited amount of data
hence its limited use.

EDVAC (1946 - 1952): ENIAC was programmed by physically connecting

electrical wires in the proper order. The operation of ENIAC was very
difficult due to its wiring boards. This problem was overcome by a new
concept of stored program presented by John Von Neumann.

John Von Neumann gave an idea that a computer should have a very
simple, fixed physical structure, and yet be able to perform any kind of
computation without the need for any physical change in the unit. Von
Neumann’s idea usually referred to the stored-program technique.

According to Von Neumann theory "data and programs can be stored in

the memory of computer for automatically performing the operations.
Thus the machine can itself alter either its program or data".

EDVAC stands for "Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer". It

was designed to store program concepts by Dr. John Von Neumann. It
could store programs and perform arithmetic and logical operations. The
programs and data were fed in this computer through punched paper
tape.
Von Neumann also introduced the idea of storing both instructions and
data in the binary form. The Von Neumann theory was universally
adopted. So computing and programming became much faster and
efficient. The theory also became essential for future generation of high-
speed digital computers.

EDSAC (1947 - 1949): EDSAC stands for "Electronic Delayed Storage

Automatic Computer". It was developed in 1949 at Cambridge University
by groups of scientists headed by Professor Maurice Wilkes.

UNIVAC-1 (1951): UNIVAC stands for Universal Automatic Computer. It

was also developed by J.P. Eckert & John Mauchly (designers of ENIAC) in
1951. It was the first digital computer. The programs and data were fed in
this computer through magnetic tape.

In 1952, the International Business-Machines (IBM) Corporation introduced

the 701 commercial computers. After this, improved models of the
UNIVAC and other 700-series machines were introduced. In 1953, IBM
produced the IBM-650 computer and sold over 1000 of these computers.

CATEGORIES, CLASSIFICATION AND FUNCTIONS OF COMPUTERS

COMPUTER GENERATION
A generation refers to the state of improvement in the development of a
product from one period to another. This term is also used in the different
advancements of computer technology. With each new generation, the
circuitry has gotten smaller and more advanced than the previous
generation. As a result of miniaturization speed, power and memory of
computers, have proportionally increased. New discoveries are constantly
being developed that affect the way we live, work and play.

Therefore, computers can be divided into five generations depending

upon the technologies used. These are:

1. First Generation (1940 - 1959)

2. Second Generation (1959 - 1964)
3. Third Generation (1964 - 1970)
4. Fourth Generation (Since 1971)
5. Fifth Generation

1. First Generation Computers (1940- 1959)

The vacuum tube technology was used in first-generation computers.

ENIAC, EDSAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC-1 etc. machines belong to the first
generation of computers. The machine language only was used in first-
generation computers.

They used vacuum tubes as their active element (circuitry) which was
their main technological feature.

Disadvantages of the first computer generation:

1. They used too much electricity.
 2. They were very slow in speed (data processing).
3. They were very big in size.
4. They were very expensive.
5. They had limited storage capacity.
6. They produced a lot of heat.
7. They were not very accurate.
8. They needed a lot of air conditioning
9. They had a very big circuitry.
10. Were not reliable.
11. Constant maintenance was required
12. Difficult to program, because they used only machine
language

Advantages
The main advantages of first-generation computers were:

1. These computers were the fastest of their time.

2. They were programmed using machine language.
3. The electronic digital computers were introduced due to the vacuum
tube technology.
4. Used punched cards to input and output data.
5. Used symbolic language.

2. Second Generation Computers (1959 - 1964)

The transistor technology was used in second-generation computers.

These were their main circuitry. A transistor is an electric switch that
allows or does not allow electronic signals to pass. This is smaller in size
and more reliable than the vacuum tube. Therefore, the transistor
technology was used in computers in place of vacuum tube technology.
The programming assembly language was also introduced in second-
generation of computers.

Advantages
The main advantages of second-generation computers as compared to
first-generation computers are:

1. Low in cost
2. Smaller in size
3. Fast in speed
4. Less heat generated
5. More reliable and accurate in calculations
6. Consume low power
7. Used for commercial purposes
8. Portable compared to the first generation
9. Assembly language was introduced. This language was easy to write
a program than machine language.

Disadvantages
The main disadvantages of this computer generation were:

1. Air-conditioning required
2. Commercial production was difficult and these were very costly
 3. Constant (or frequent) maintenance required
4. Only used for special purposes

3. Third Generation Computers (1964 - 1970)

The Integrated Circuits (IC) were the main innovation for the third-
generation computers. In a small IC chip (5 mm square size) a circuit is
designed having a large number of electronic components like transistors,
capacitors, diodes, resistors etc. Initially, an IC contained only about ten to
twenty components. Thus the IC technology was named as Small Scale
Integration (SSI). The third-generation was based on IC technology and
the computers were designed using this technology.

Advantages
The main advantages of third-generation as compared to previous
generations of computers were:

1. Smaller in size
2. Production cost was low
3. Faster in computational speed
4. More reliable
5. Low power consumption
6. Maintenance cost was low because failure rate of hardware was low
7. Used magnetic disk for external storage
8. More storage capacity
9. Easily portable
10. Easy to operate
11. Upgraded easily
12. Widely used for various commercial applications all over the
world
13. Lower heat generated
14. High-level languages were commonly used
15. Many input/output devices were introduced such as mouse
and keyboard etc.
16. Introduction of operating systems like Multics.
17. Introduction of networking computers.
18. Remote processing and sharing.

Disadvantages
The main disadvantages of third-generation computers were:

1. Air-conditioning required
2. Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacture of the
chips

4. Fourth Generation Computers (1971 - )

The microchip technology was introduced in this generation of computers.

With the advancement in IC technology, LSI (Large Scale Integration)
chips were developed. It was possible to integrate over 30,000 or more
components on to single LSI chip. After LSI, the VLSI (Very Large Scale
Integration) was developed and the development of microprocessor
possible. It was expected that more than one million components would
be integrated on a single chip of VLSI. Using VLSI technology, the entire
CPU (Central Processing Unit) was designed on a single silicon chip. The
use of microprocessor as CPU introduced another class of computers
called the microcomputers. These microprocessors were developed by
Ted Hoff of Intel. Thus fourth-generation may be called Microcomputer
generation.

Advantages
Advantages of fourth-generation as compared to previous generation
computers are:

1. Smaller in size
2. Production cost is very low
3. Very reliable
4. Hardware failure is negligible
5. Easily portable because of their small size
6. Air conditioning is not compulsory
7. Very high processing speed
8. Main memory capacity increased
9. Very large internal and external storage capacity
10. Used advanced input & output devices such as optical
readers, laser printers, CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives etc.

Disadvantages

1. The main disadvantage of fourth-generation computers is: Highly

sophisticated technology required for the manufacture of
microprocessor chips.

Fifth Generation Computers

The main drawback of first to fourth generation computers is that the

computers have not their own thinking power. These are totally depending
upon the instructions given by the users.

Fifth generation computers are supposed to be the ideal computers, but

do not yet fully exist. These are characterized by the use of artificial
intelligence and natural language. These are to be developed with the
aim of narrowing the gap between human beings and the present day
computers. Fifth generation computers use artificial intelligence systems
that accept to achieve human like qualities of intelligence including the
ability to reason. The scientists are working to design such computers that
will have the following features.

1. Having their own thinking power

2. Making decisions themselves
3. Having capabilities of learning
4. Having capabilities of reasoning
 5. Having large capacity of internal storage
6. Having extra high processing speed
7. Having capabilities of parallel processing

In these computers, the following technologies will be used:

 ULSIC (Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuits) technology

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology also called the knowledge
Processor. The AI means automatic programs that let the machines
to think and decide themselves. The programming languages LISP
(List Processor) and PROLOG (Programming with Logic) are used for
artificial intelligence. The scientists at ICOT in Japan use the
PROLOG to develop the Artificial Intelligence software.

USES OF COMPUTERS

Computer is playing very important role in every field of life. Computers

are everywhere such as at home, at school. In daily life a large number of
activities are dependent on computers. The main fields where computer is
playing very important role are:

1. Education: Education is the process of developing knowledge through

instructions. The instructions are received from people such as parents,
teachers etc. and from printed material such as books, journals etc.
Today, the modern technique to get knowledge is by using computers.

Most schools use computers in classrooms and labs to teach students.

Some educators prefer to deliver their lectures by computer-based
presentations. In schools, colleges and universities, students use software
packages to complete their assignments.

2. Entertainment: Computer has also played a very important role for

the entertainment of humans. For example, to play video games at home,
different games software is available. Similarly, software is available to
watch movie films and to listen to music. Today the movie files and
famous songs are mostly available on CDs or on the web at very low cost.
You can listen to music while you work on the computer.

On the web, you can view fine art images, online museums and galleries.
Some artists sell their works online and others display them for your
viewing pleasure.

3. E-Commerce: E-commerce (electronic commerce) or e-trade or e-

business is a financial business transaction conducted electronically
between business partners over computer network (such as on Internet).
With e-commerce, transactions can occur instantaneously and globally.
This saves time for participants on both ends. The users can buy, sell and
exchange products or services via computer network. Today, many mobile
computers can also access the internet using wireless.

There are many applications of e-commerce such as home banking,

buying stocks, collaborating electronically with business partners around
the globe, marketing and advertising products, providing services to the
customers etc. There are several types of e-commerce like collaborative
commerce business-to-commerce, consumer-to-consumer, mobile
commerce etc.

The following services are mostly used in e-commerce or e-business.

(i) E-Mail: It is the most popular service through which we can
electronically send and receive messages anywhere in the world. The
spoken messages are sent and received through voice mail.
(ii) Video Conferencing: A video conference is a meeting between two
or more people residing at various places. They can watch and talk with
each other. They use a network (i.e. Internet). To participate in a video
conference, you need a video camera, a microphone, speaker and
software (special video conferencing software). Video conferencing also
needs a computer with a large memory and fast processor.

Video conferencing provides a complete simulation of a normal meeting

environment, enabling both parties to see, hear and present material, just
as if they are in the same room.
(iii) Electronic Shopping (E-Shopping): Many businesses now have
websites that allow internet users to buy goods or services. Shopping can
take place using a computer at home, or at a cybercafe. The e-shop can
be anywhere in the world and it remains open 24 hours a day. You can
purchase any goods such as books, software, movies, computers, cars,
airline tickets etc. on the web.
(iv) Electronic Banking: One of the most popular uses of e-commerce is
electronic banking. An electronic banking is also known as cyber-banking.
It includes various banking activities conducted from home, a business, or
on the road instead of a physical bank location. In all over the world,
about 95 percent banks are online.
4. Health Care: Nearly every area of the medical field uses computers,
such as laboratories, researches, scanning, monitoring, pharmacy etc.,
which are helping the doctors to diagnose diseases and many other
purposes.

The main uses of computer in medical field are described below:

(i) Maintaining Patient History and Other Records: The complete
bio-data as well as medical history of patient is recorded into the
computer before check up of patient. The complete medical history
(current and previous) is delivered to the related doctor for the check up
of patient. In this way, much of the doctor's time is saved.

In addition to patient history, other information about doctors, medicines,

chemicals and equipments is also maintained. It is very easy and efficient
way to organize records than paper-based records. Any information about
patients, doctors, equipments etc. can be retrieved very easily and
quickly. In hospitals, mostly all the medical wards are interconnected
through network. For example, if a patient is allocated a specific ward but
being examined by a consultant and receiving treatment in other areas
(wards) of the hospital, his detail can be viewed and updated at any
terminal on the hospital's LAN network.
(ii) Patient Monitoring: The electronic scanning units (medical
equipments) used in hospital can also be attached to computers. These
are very expensive and are used to monitor the patient continuously. Thus
computers are normally used in the following medical units of hospitals.

 ICU (Intensive Care Unit)

 Operation Theater
 Recovery Room
 Medical Ward
 ECG (Electrocardiography)

The medical equipment with sensors attached to the patient that detects
changes of heart rate, pulse rate, blood pressure, breathing and brain
activity. If any unbalancing situation occurs, computer activates the
alarming device, which creates sound and alerts the medical staff. The
data is also logged and used to analyze the change in a patient's condition
over a period of time.

(iii) Diagnosis of Diseases: Computer is also used in hospital for

diagnosis. For example, laboratory tests on blood and tissue chemistry
have become dependent on computer analysis.

One common use of computer is hospital is to scan the body of patient. A

special scanner is used for this purpose. A scanner sends electromagnetic
rays through a patient body and sensors detect that how much patient's
body have affected to any type of cancer (or disease). For example, the
CAT (Computerized Axial Topography) scanner passes rays over the
patient. A CAT scanner takes many X-rays around the body. It displays an
image that enables physicians to look beneath the patient's skin. As the
scanner passes over the patient, it displays and image of bone and tissue
structure of patient on a computer screen.

(iv) Telemedicine: Another improvement in the medical field is the

telemedicine. In telemedicine, you can access medical care centers using
computers.

(v) Computer-Aided Surgery (CAS): Many surgeons also use computer

aided surgery while they are in training. It is used to learn surgical
techniques. The physicians and dentists also use the computer aided
learning (CAL) program.

Many websites also provide up-to-date medical fitness, information etc.

These websites also maintain databases about various problems and their
solutions. There are also medical chat rooms on the internet.

5. Science: Computer is used in all branches of science to collect and

analyze data. The scientists also use internet to collect the latest
information around the world. Today, it is impossible to carry out scientific
researches without use of computers. In all branches of science, it is
mainly used to get accurate experimental results, for example to get
accurate forecasting of weather etc.
6. Publishing: In the field of publishing, computer is playing very
important role such as to publish the books, magazines and newspapers
etc. The publishers use computer and word processors and graphics
software to design pages of the books or magazines. Many writers and
publishers use Internet to collect information that is used for compiling a
new book or magazine. Some websites allow you to download the entire
book, called an electronic book (e-book). The journalists also use the
notebook computers and digital cameras to capture and record news.

7. Traveling: Computer is also playing very important role in traveling by

car or airplane to arrive easily and safely at your destination. Today many
vehicles manufactured use special electronic equipments in the car that
controls various activities of the car. These cars have GPS (Global
Positioning System) receiver that reports your vehicle's location. These
cars also have "Onboard Navigation Systems" that have the following
features.

 Track the vehicle if it is stolen

 Provide emergency services
 Provide directions
 Provide roadside assistance
 Perform remote diagnostics if a warning light appears on the
dashboard
 To make hotel and restaurant reservations

Today many vehicles also include options such as screens with e-mail and
internet access, printers, fax capability etc. Airlines also provide online
access. The passengers can connect their notebook or hand held
computer to the web during their flights. Some airlines also provide web
surfing devices to their passenger during their flights.

Computers are also used in cars to monitor fluid levels, temperatures,

electrical systems etc.

8. Government: A government runs the country by making policies and

provides citizens with up-to-date information. Most of the government
departments have their own websites. The computers are used in all
government offices to perform various activities. The government
agencies use computers as part of their daily routine.

9. Home: Like other electronic devices used in home such as TV. set,
washing machine etc. computer has also become the need of every
person at home. It is used at home as an educational tool for children. But
it is also used at home to keep records, write letters, prepare budgets,
connect with others to send and get information on the internet, to watch
films and to listen to music.

10 Agriculture: The agricultural scientists use computers for analyzing

the agricultural data. The students of agriculture also use computers to
get latest information about agriculture on the internet. The farmers also
use computer to get information about crops and to calculate bills and
cost per acre as well as to get information about crop market prices.
12. Industry: In industry, computers are used to control the
manufacturing system and continuous running of the machinery. These
also help in monitoring temperature, pressure, check the quality and
accuracy and measurement needed in the manufacturing process.

 Assembling & spray-painting cars

 Lifting of heavy equipments, power cables etc.
 Testing blood samples
 Performing experiments in artificial satellites and radioactive
environment etc.

13. Military or Security: Computers are used in making and designing

latest weapons like missiles, bombs etc.

14. Research: Computers are used by scientists to research about

several things in their field e.g. the doctors research about medicine,
diseases etc.

COMPUTER KEYBOARD AND KEYS

The keyboard is the most commonly used input device. It is used to feed
data and instructions into a computer. It is similar to an electric
typewriter. A keyboard contains keys for each alphabetic characters,
digits and special characters. The data and instructions are feed into the
computer by pressing the related keys on the keyboard. The keyboard has
some additional keys for specific functions. Keyboard used with personal
computer typically have from 101 to 105 keys.

On laptops and many other handheld computers, the keyboard is built into
the top of the system unit. Usually, these keyboards are smaller in size
and have fewer keys like 85 keys.

Some old type computers have built-in keyboards. Now-a-days, the

computer has a separate keyboard. It is easily plugged into the computer.
A keyboard is connected to the serial or USB port on the system unit. A
 2.
Numeric
Keypad: A
set
standard of
computer keyboard is also referred to as QWERTY keyboard. This
numeric
name represents the first left most letters on the top alphabetic line of the
keys
keyboard. andSome advanced keyboards do not require the cable to connect
arithmetic
with the computer. They enter data into the computer through wireless
operator
technologies such as radio waves or infrared light waves. These types of
keys on the
keyboards are known as cordless or wireless keyboards.
right of
keyboardof the Keyboard
Division
similar to
Acalculator
keyboard may be divided into five parts. There are:
keys is
referred to
1. Alphanumeric keypad or typewriter area.
as [Link]
Numeric keypad.
Keypad.
3. Screen It Navigation keys.
also has an
4. Editing keys.
extra Enter keypad.
5. Function
key and
Num Lock
key.
1. The
Alphanumeric Keypad: This area is like a typewriter, it is because
Num Lock
of this area a keyboard is referred to as Typewriter. The user uses this
key is
area to used
enter general information into the computer. Typists usually
to activate
use this area of keyboard. This area consists of:
or
deactivate
 Alphabetic character keys "A" to "Z" and lower case letters "a" to
the "z".
numeric
 Numeric keys "0" to "9".
keypad.
 Many other special keys like Spacebar, Enter key, Ctrl key etc.
The
numeric Used to move the cursor left, right, up and down on the
keypad is screen. These are also referred to as cursor keys.
mostly
used for
numeric
data entry.

3. Screen
Navigatio
n Keys:
The keys
that are
normally
used in
word
processor
or other
application
programs
to move
the cursor
around the
document
on the
screen are
referred to
as
navigation
4. Editing
Keys: The
keys that are
normally
used in word
processor or
other
application
programs for
editing
(modifying)
the
document
are referred
to as editing
keys. The
most
important
editing keys
are:
Arrow
Keys
Page Up Used to move the cursor one page up of a document on the
Key screen.
Page Used to move the cursor one page down of a document on
Down Key the screen.
Used to move the cursor to the end of line or to end of screen
End Key
or document.
Used to move the cursor to the top left of the screen on
Home Key
beginning of document.
Delete Key Used to delete the characters towards the right of cursor
position.
Backspace Used to delete the characters from the current cursor
Key position towards the left.
Used to insert new line or paragraph into text editing
Enter Key programs. It is also used to enter selected command into
the computer.
Tab Key Used to insert a tab.
Caps Lock Used to change lowercase letters mode to uppercase and
Key vice versa.
Used to change insert mode to overwrite mode and vice
Insert Key
versa.

5. Function Keys: There are 10 or 12 function keys on the top of

keyboard that are labeled as F1, F2,........ F12. These keys are
referred to as Function Keys. These are used to perform special
functions. The function of each key depends upon the software
being used on the computer. The designer of the software assigns
these keys in his software as shortcut keys to perform specific
tasks. For example, in most software the function key F1 is used
to get online help about the software running on the computer.
Many keyboards also have a Windows Key. When Windows key is pressed,
the Start Menu is displayed.

The advanced keyboards also include buttons that allow the user to
access the computer's CD or DVD drive. Adjust speaker volume, open an
e-mail program, start a web browser and search the Internet. Some
keyboards also provide the USB ports used to plug the USB device directly
to the keyboard instead of system unit.

SOME KEYBOARD COMBINATIONS AND THEIR USES

 F1: Help
 CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu
 ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
 ALT+F4: Quit program
 Windows Logo+L: Lock the computer (without using
CTRL+ALT+DELETE)
 ALT+double click: Displays properties
 CTRL+C: Copy
 CTRL+X: Cut
 CTRL+V: Paste
 CTRL+Z: Undo
 CTRL+B: Bold
 CTRL+U: Underline
 CTRL+I: Italic
 F10: Activates menu bar options
 SHIFT+F10 Opens a shortcut menu for the selected item (this is the
same as right-clicking an object etc.

WHAT IS A POINTING DEVICE

A pointer represents a small symbol on the screen. It usually appears on

the screen in Graphical User Interface (GUI). For example, an arrow
appears on the screen in Windows environment.

A pointing device is an input device that is used to control a pointer on the

screen. Usually, the pointing device is used to select items on the screen,
to select commands from the commands menu, to draw graphs etc. For
example, the engineers use pointing devices to draw graphs. The Mouse,
Joystick, Trackball, Touchpad, Light Pen etc. are examples of pointing
devices.

Mouse: Mouse is a pointing input device. It is the most commonly used

pointing device in Windows environment on the personal computers. The
mouse has two or three buttons on the top of its body. Mouse is used to
select any option from a group of options by pointing the mouse pointer
on it and then clicking one of the mouse buttons.

A mouse also allows the user to create graphics such as lines, curves and
freehand shape on the screen. The graphic designer cannot draw graphs
without mouse. A mouse is connected to a serial port or USB port on the
system unit.
The most popular types of mouse and their functions are:

Mechanical Mouse: It has a rubber or metal ball at its bottom and an

electronic circuit containing sensors. When the mouse is rolled over a flat
surface the pointer moves in the same direction. The sensors detect the
direction of movement of ball and electronic circuit translates the
movement of the mouse into signals and then feeds it as input in the
computer.

Optical Mouse: It has no moving parts and is more expensive than

mechanical mouse. It has no ball inside it. It uses the laser technology to
detect the mouse movement by optical sensors.

Cordless Mouse: Cordless or wireless mouse is not directly connected

with computer. It uses the wireless technology, such as radio waves or
infrared light waves. It enters input signals into the computer in similar
way as cordless keyboard.

Trackball: A trackball is also a pointing input device. It is like a mouse

but it is a stationary pointing device with a ball on its top. It is a hard box
with a rolling ball at the top and one or more buttons that work just like
mouse. The ball is rolled or rotated with finger to move the cursor or
pointer around the screen. Like the mouse, a specific item is selected by
pointing with trackball and then pressing with one of the buttons. The
trackball is usually available with laptop computers and is fixed on the
keyboard.

Some cordless trackball are also available. They are not directly
connected to the computer with wire and acts like a remote control for the
pointer. They are especially useful when giving presentations because the
presenter often walks around the room instead of sitting at a computer.

Touchpad: A touchpad is also known as track pad. It is a small, flat,

rectangular stationary pointing device. It has sensitive surface of 1.5 or 2
inches square. To move the pointer slide your finger tips across the
surface of the pad. Some touchpad have one or more buttons around the
edge of the pad that work like mouse buttons. The touchpad pointing
device is mostly used in laptop computers and is built-in on the keyboard.

Joystick: Joystick is also a pointing input device. It has a small box with a
moving handheld stick and buttons. The handheld stick is used to control
the movement of pointer on the screen. The button of the joystick is
pressed to activate certain events. The joystick input device is used to
play games.

Light Pen: Light pen is another pointing input device. It can detect
presence of light. It is a handheld pen shaped device with a photocell
mounted at its front-end. When the front-end of the pen is touched with
the monitor screen, the photocell detects or senses a position of display
screen. This device also has a button. The user points to the object to be
selected on the screen with light pen and then presses the button on the
pen. Light pen devices are used by engineers, graphic designers etc.
these devices require special monitors. Light pen is used in Personal
Digital Assistant and other types of handheld computers.

The electric light pen input device is generally used with designing
software. In designed display screen data can be entered with a light pen
by pointing to the screen positions. A spot appears on the display screen
at the location where a pen is touched and it is sensed by the photocell.
The computer program controls the input signal of this device.

Digitizer: A Digitizer also known as a Graphic Tablet. It is a flat,

rectangular electronic plastic board (or pad). Each location on the digitizer
points to corresponding computer screen. It is mainly used for making
maps and engineering drawings. The input device like stylus or puck (or
cursor) is used to trace drawings and sketches on the digitizer.

When you draw on a digitizer with the help of a stylus or cursor, it

converts the movements of stylus or cursor into digital signals that are
later sent into the computer. Thus digitizer makes it easy to enter free-
hand drawing in the computer.

Stylus: Stylus is ballpoint like pen. It is used to write text or draw lines (or
to create sketches and images) on a specially designed graphics screen or
digitizer. Stylus is known as Electronic Pen. Stylus used in some advanced
graphics systems is known as Digital Pen. Typically digital pen provides
more functionality than stylus.

Stylus is used in graphic applications such as Computer-Aided Design

(CAD) and engineering drawings etc. It has the capability of erasing text
or lines.

Some personal computers and mobile computers or devices use touch

screens that allow to input data as well as to make selections on the
screen using a stylus or digital pen. PDAs use stylus and tablet PCs
typically use digital pen. These computers or devices use special software
called Character Recognition. This software translates hand written letters
and symbols into a form that the computers can use and process them.

Cursor: The cursor is an input device. It is also use to trace drawings and
sketches on a graphic tablet or digitizer. It looks like a mouse, except it
has a window with crosshairs, so the user can see through to the digitizer.
Cursor is also referred to as Puck.

COMPUTER CARE AND SAFETY

How to care for your computer:

1. Keep your work area clean.
2. Save your work often.
3. Hold disks and CD-ROMs by the edges.
4. Close all programs before you shut down your computer.
5. Don't bring food or drinks near your computer.
6. Dust your computer and shake dirt out of the keyboard.
7. Keep magnets away from your computer and disks. Magnets can erase
information.

Computer Lab Rules and Regulations

Below are rules and regulations for computer lab users.
1. Pupils are prohibited to enter the lab unless authorized by the teacher.
2. Scan external storage Medias before using them.
3. Report all problems related to the system to the teacher.
4. Do not attempt to repair or tamper with lab equipment.
5. Be responsible when using equipment, software and facilities in the lab.
6. Do not move any equipment from its original position.
7. Do not remove or load any software into the computer.
8. Do not change the settings in the computer.
9. Save all work in external storage device and not in the computer.
10. Do not bring in bags, food and drink into the lab.
11. Turn off the computer accordingly after use.
12. Switch off all power supplies before leaving the lab.
13. Internet facility is strictly for educational purposes only.
14. Teachers should record the use of computer lab in the lab logbook.
15. All users should record the use of computers in the computer logbook.
16. The Lab should be kept clean and tidy at all times.

Maintenance of computers:
1. Never turn your computer off with the power switch until Windows has
shut down. Whenever possible, recover from crashes by pressing the Ctrl
+ Alt + Delete keys at the same time. Press them again to reboot your
computer.
2. Its highly recommend that you purchase a UPS (uninterruptible power
supply) for your computer. This will keep your computer from crashing
during power outages, and will protect your computer from low and high
voltage occurrences.
3. Backup any data you cannot afford to lose to at least two separate
physical drives. Backup all data to external hard drives, Zip disks, CD-
ROMs etc.
4. Run Scandisk and Defragmenter at least once a month. This will keep
your hard drive healthy and prevent crashes.
5. Never unplug peripherals from the computer when it is powered up.
Unplugging with the power on can short out the connector socket or the
motherboard.
6. Do keep at least 300 MBs of your C: drive free for Windows to use. If
you use Windows XP or Vista then you should have 400-600 MBs of free
space on your C: drive. If you do not have enough free space you will
choke Windows.
7. Do not let a lot of programs load up when you start your computer.
They use valuable memory and Windows Resources (Windows internal
workspace).
8. Do use a virus checker regularly.
9. If you have a high speed Internet connection you need a firewall
program. A firewall program keeps those who want to hijack your
computer from gaining access to your system.
10. Keep track of the software disks you receive with your computer and
new peripherals. These disks contain valuable software drivers and
programs for Windows and are needed when Windows must be reloaded.

Ethics and Integrity in computer use

Everyone within the school computer lab who uses the school computing
and communications facilities has the responsibility to use them in an
ethical, professional and legal manner. This means that users agree to
abide by the following conditions:

 The integrity of the systems must be respected. This means that

users of systems will not divulge passwords, pins, private keys or
similar elements to anyone else, and they will not exploit sessions
left open or otherwise misappropriate or steal the "identity" of
another user.
 Privacy of other users must not be intruded upon at any time.
 Users must recognize that certain data are confidential and must
limit their access to such data to uses in direct performance of their
duties.
 The rules and regulations governing the use of facilities and
equipment must be respected. Persons responsible for computing
devices connected to the network will ensure that those devices are
maintained in a secure state in accord with related policy.
 No one shall obtain unauthorized access to other users' accounts
and files.
 The intended use of all accounts, typically for research, instruction
and administrative purposes, must be respected.
 Commercial use is prohibited.
 Users shall become familiar with and abide by the guidelines for
appropriate usage for the systems and networks that they access.

COMPUTER HAZARDS

Eye Strain: avoid facing directly into bright light (coming from behind
your computer screen), install an anti-glare screen, and adjust the
brightness controls on the screen until they are comfortable to your eyes.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Adjust your chair or table height to have your
elbow angle at 90-100 degrees, position your keyboard so that you don't
have to bend your hands uncomfortably upward to reach the keys; place a
raised wrist rest on the table in front of the keyboard if necessary.
Neck and Back Strain: Check your posture - sit up straight. Preferably
chairs should be on wheels, have backrest tilt adjustment, and have arms.
Conjunctivitis (itchy, bloodshot eyes) and Dermatitis: Be sure the
screen doesn't flicker or wave - this could indicate that service or
adjustment is needed, look away from the screen periodically and don't
forget to blink - your eyes need the moisture.

TERM TWO
CATEGORIES OF COMPUTERS
Computers can also be divided into three categories depending upon their
instruction and form of input data that they accept and process. These
are:

1. Analog Computers
2. Digital Computers
3. Hybrid Computers

1. Analog Computers: The word "Analog" means continuously varying in

quantity. The analog computers accept input data in continuous form and
output is obtained in the form of graphs. It means that these computers
accept input and give output in the form of analog signals. The output is
measured on a scale. The voltage, current, sound, speed, temperature,
pressure etc. values are examples of analog data. These values
continuously increase and decrease. The analog computers are used to
measure the continuous values.

Examples of Analog Computers:

1. The mercury thermometer is an example of analog device because

it measures the length of a mercury column continuously.
2. Analog clock - it measures the time by means of the distance
continuously covered by the needle around a dial.
3. Speedometer.
4. Tire-pressure gauge.
5. Barometer
6. Anemometer
7. Weighing scale

The analog computers have low memory size and have fewer functions.
These are very fast in processing but output return is not very accurate.
These are used in industrial units to control various processes and also
used in different fields of engineering.

2. Digital Computers: The word "Digital" means discrete. It refers to

binary system, which consists of only two digits, i.e. 0 and 1. Digital
data consists of binary data represented by OFF (low) and ON (high)
electrical pulses. These pulses are increased and decreased in
discontinuous form rather than in continuous form.

In digital computers, quantities are counted rather than measured. A

digital computer operates by counting numbers or digits and gives output
in digital form. A digital computer represents the data in digital signals 0
and 1 and then processes it using arithmetic and logical operations.

Examples of digital computers are

a) Calculators
b) Personal computers
c) Digital watches
d) Digital thermometers
e) Cellular phone etc.
Today most of the computers used in offices and homes are digital
computers.
The main features of these computers are:

 Give accurate result.

 Having high speed of data processing.
 Can store large amount of data.
 Easy of program and are general purpose in use.
 Consume low energy.

3. Hybrid Computers: The hybrid computers have best features of both

analog and digital computers. These computers contain both the digital
and analog components. In hybrid computers, the users can process both
the continuous (analog) and discrete (digital) data. These are special
purpose computers. These are very fast and accurate. They are used in
scientific fields. In hospitals, they are used to watch patient's health
condition in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). They are also used in telemetry,
spaceships, missiles etc. Examples of hybrid computers include; Cellular
phones, personal computers, ICU etc.

Differentiate between Analog and Digital Computers

ANALOG DIGITAL
1. Accept input data in 1. Accept input data in digital
continuous form and output is form and output is received in
measured on a scale. digital form.
2. It may have some errors in 2. Output is accurate.
output. 3. Have large internal memory.
3. Have low internal memory. 4. Have large number of
4. Have fewer functions. functions.
5. It is used only in scientific, 5. It is general purpose in use.
industrial and medical fields. 6. It is low in cost.
6. It is costly. 7. It is easily programmed.
7. It is not easily programmed.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Computers are classified according to their data processing speed,
amount of data that they can hold and price. Due to rapidly improving
technology, we are always confused among the categories of computers.

Depending upon their speed and memory size, computers are classified
into following four main groups.
 1. Supercomputer.
2. Mainframe computer.
3. Mini computer.
4. Microcomputer.

1. Supercomputer: Supercomputer is the most powerful and fastest,

and also very expensive. It was developed in 1980s. It is used to process
large amounts of data and to solve the complicated scientific problems. It
can perform more than one trillion calculations per second. It has large
number of processors connected in parallel form. So parallel processing is
done in this computer (Parallel processing is the ability of an entity to
carry out multiple operations or tasks simultaneously). In a single
supercomputer thousands of users can be connected at the same time
and the supercomputer handles the work of each user separately.
Supercomputers are mainly used for:

 Weather forecasting.
 Nuclear energy research.
 Aircraft design.
 Automotive design.
 Online banking.
 To control industrial units.

The supercomputers are used in large organizations, research

laboratories, aerospace centers, large industrial units etc. Nuclear
scientists use supercomputers to create and analyze models of nuclear
fission and fusions, predicting the actions and reactions of millions of
atoms as they interact. The examples of supercomputers are CRAY-1,
CRAY-2, Control Data CYBER 205 and ETA A-10 etc.

Characteristics of Super Computers;

(i) They are large in size
(ii) They have high speed than any other computer.
(iii) They are very expensive.
(iv) They process large amounts of data because they have
multiple processors.

2. Mainframe Computers: Mainframe computers are also large-scale

computers but supercomputers are larger than mainframe. These are also
very expensive. The mainframe computer specially requires a very large
clean room with air-conditioner. This makes it very expensive to buy and
operate. It can support a large number of various equipments. It also has
multiple processors. Large mainframe systems can handle the input and
output requirements of several thousand of users. For example, IBM,
S/390 mainframe can support 50,000 users simultaneously. The users
often access the mainframe with terminals or personal computers. There
are basically two types of terminals used with mainframe systems. These
are:

i) Dumb Terminal: Dumb terminal does not have its own CPU and
storage devices. This type of terminal uses the CPU and storage devices of
mainframe system. Typically, a dumb terminal consists of monitor and a
keyboard (or mouse).
ii) Intelligent Terminal: Intelligent terminal has its own processor and
can perform some processing operations. Usually, this type of terminal
does not have its own storage. Typically, personal computers are used as
intelligent terminals. A personal computer as an intelligent terminal gives
facility to access data and other services from mainframe system. It also
enables to store and process data locally.
The mainframe computers are specially used as servers on the World
Wide Web. The mainframe computers are used in large organizations such
as Banks, Airlines and Universities etc. where many users need frequent
access to the same data, which is usually organized into one or more huge
databases. IBM is the major manufacturer of mainframe computers. The
examples of mainframes are IBM S/390, Control Data CYBER 176 and
Amdahl 580 etc.

Characteristics of Mainframe Computers;

(i) They are very large in size and have very high storage
capacity.
(ii) More than one user can make use of the machine at the
same time.
(iii) They support a wide range of peripherals.
(iv) They have a large data storage capacity.
(v) They are sensitive to variations of weather such as
temperature, humidity, dust etc hence they should be kept
in air conditioned rooms.
(vi) Special qualified operators and programmers are required
for its operation.

3. Minicomputers: These are smaller in size, have lower processing

speed and also have lower cost than mainframe. These computers are
known as minicomputers because of their small size as compared to other
computers at that time. The capabilities of a minicomputer are between
mainframe and personal computer. These computers are also known as
midrange computers.

The minicomputers are used in business, education and many other

government departments. Although some minicomputers are designed for
a single user, most are designed to handle multiple terminals.
Minicomputers are commonly used as servers in network environment and
hundreds of personal computers can be connected to the network with a
minicomputer acting as server like mainframes, minicomputers are used
as web servers. Single user minicomputers are used for sophisticated
design tasks.

The first minicomputer was introduced in the mid-1960s by Digital

Equipment Corporation (DEC). After this IBM Corporation (AS/400
computers) Data General Corporation and Prime Computer also designed
the mini computers.

Characteristics of Mini Computers;

(i) They are smaller than Mainframe computers.
 (ii) They have less data storage capacity than Mainframe
computers.
(iii) They have a small capacity in speed than Mainframe
computers rather slower in processing data than the
mainframes.
(iv) They are cheaper compared to Mainframe Computers.

4. Microcomputer: The microcomputers are also known as personal

computers or simply PCs. Microprocessor is used in this type of computer.
These are very small in size and not costly. The IBM’s first microcomputer
was designed in 1981 and was named as IBM-PC. After this many
computer hardware companies copied the design of IBM-PC. The term
“PC-compatible” refers to any personal computer based on the original
IBM personal computer design.

The most popular types of personal computers are the PC and the Apple.
PC and PC-compatible computers have processors with different
architectures than processors in Apple computers. These two types of
computers also use different operating systems. PC and PC-compatible
computers use the Windows operating system while Apple computers use
the Macintosh operating system (MacOS). The majority of microcomputers
sold today are part of IBM-compatible. However the Apple computer is
neither an IBM nor a compatible. It is another family of computers made
by Apple computer.

Personal computers are available in two models. These are:

1. Desktop PCs
2. Tower PCs

A desktop personal computer is most popular model of personal

computer. The system unit of the desktop personal computer can lie flat
on the desk or table. In desktop personal computer, the monitor is usually
placed on the system unit.

Another model of the personal computer is known as tower personal

computer. The system unit of the tower PC is vertically placed on the desk
of table. Usually the system unit of the tower model is placed on the floor
to make desk space free and user can place other devices such as printer,
scanner etc. on the desktop. Today computer tables are available which
are specially designed for this purpose. The tower models are mostly used
at homes and offices.

Microcomputers are further divided into following categories.

a) Laptop computer
b) Workstation
c) Network computer
d) Handheld computer

a) Laptop computer: Laptop computer is also known as notebook

computer. It is small size (85-by-11 inch) notebook computer and can fit
inside a briefcase. The laptop computer is operated on a special battery
and fully a functional microcomputer. It is mostly used during journeys. It
can be used on your lap in an airplane. This is the reason it is referred to
as a laptop computer.

The memory and storage capacity of laptop computer is almost equivalent

to the PC or desktop computer. It also has a hard disk, floppy disk drive,
Zip disk drive, CD-ROM drive, CD-writer etc. it has a built-in keyboard and
built-in trackball as pointing device. Laptop computer is also available with
the same processing speed as the most powerful personal computer. It
means that laptop computer has same features as personal computer.
Laptop computers are more expensive than desktop computers. Normally
these computers are frequently used by business travelers.

b) Workstations: Workstations are special single user computers having

the same features as personal computer but have the processing speed
equivalent to minicomputer or mainframe computer. A workstation
computer can be fitted on a desktop. Scientists, engineers, architects and
graphic designers mostly use these computers.

Workstation computers are expensive and powerful computers. These

have advanced processors, more RAM and storage capacity than personal
computers. These are usually used as single-user applications but these
are used as servers on computer network and web servers as well.

c) Network computers: Network computers are also version of personal

computers having less processing power, memory and storage. These are
specially designed as terminals for network environment. Some types of
network computers have no storage. The network computers are designed
for network, Internet or Intranet, for data entry or to access data on the
network. The network computers depend upon the network’s server for
data storage and to use software. These computers also use the network’s
server to perform some processing tasks.
In the mid-1990s the concept of network computers became popular
among some PC manufacturers. As a result several variations of the
network computers quickly became available. In business, variations of
the network computer are Windows terminals, NetPCs and diskless
workstations. Some network computers are designed to access only the
Internet or an Intranet. These devices are sometimes called Internet PCs,
Internet boxes etc. In homes, some network computers do not include
monitor. These are connected to home television, which serves as the
output device. A popular example of a home-based network computer is
Web TV, which enables the user to connect a television to the Internet.
The Web TV has a special set-top box used to connect to the Internet and
also provides a set of simple controls which enable the user to navigate
the Internet, send and receive e-mails and to perform other tasks on the
network while watching television.

Network computers are cheaper to purchase and to maintain than

personal computers.

d) Handheld computer: In the mid 1990s, many new types of small

personal computing devices have been introduced and these are referred
to as handheld computers. These computers are also referred to as
Palmtop Computers. These handheld computers are sometimes called
Mini-Notebook Computers. This type of computer is named handheld
computer because it can fit in one hand while you operate it with the
other hand. Because of its reduced size, the screen of handheld computer
is quite small. Similarly it also has small keyboard. The handheld
computers are preferred by business travelers. Some handheld computers
have a specialized keyboard. These computers are used by mobile
employees, such as meter readers and parcel delivery people, whose jobs
require them to move from place to place.

The examples of handheld computers are:

i) Personal Digital Assistance

ii) Cellular telephones
iii) H/PC Pro devices

i) Personal Digital Assistance (PDAs): The PDA is one of the more

popular lightweight mobile devices in use today. A PDA provides special
functions such as taking notes, organizing telephone numbers and
addresses. Most PDAs also offer a variety of other application software
such as word processing, spreadsheet and games etc. Some PDAs include
electronic books that enable users to read a book on the PDA’s screen.

Many PDAs are web-based and users can send/receive e-mails and access
the Internet. Similarly, some PDAs also provide telephone capabilities.

The primary input device of a PDA is the stylus. A stylus is an electronic

pen and looks like a small ballpoint pen. This input device is used to write
notes stored in the PDA by touching the screen. Some PDAs also support
voice input.

ii) Cellular phones: A cellular phone is a web-based telephone having

features of analog and digital devices. It is also referred to as Smart
Phone. In addition to basic phone capabilities, a cellular phone also
provides the functions to receive and send e-mails & faxes and to access
the Internet.

iii) H/PC Pro Devices: H/PC Pro drive is new development in handheld
technology. These systems are larger than PDAs but they are not quite as
large as typical notebook PCs. These devices have features between PDAs
and notebook PCs. The H/PC Pro device includes a full-size keyboard but it
does not include disk. These systems also have RAM with very low storage
capacity and slow speed of processor.

Characteristics of micro computers;

(i) They use micro processors to process data.
(ii) They can be used any where.
(iii) They are smaller than other computers.
(iv) They can be used by anyone.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS ACCORDING TO PURPOSE

According to purpose, computers can be classified as;
(a) General purpose computers
(b) Special purpose computers

GENERAL PURPOSE COMPUTERS

General purpose computers are designed to carry out a variety operation
e.g. Phones, Personal computer etc. They follow instructions, thus virtually
all computers from micro to mainframe are general purpose. Even
computers in toys, games and single-function devices follow instructions
in their built-in program. In contrast, computational devices can be
designed from scratch for special purposes. These devices manipulate
data without a detailed, step-by step control by human hand and are
designed to be used for many different types of problems. A PC or a Mac
and other types of computers, can do a huge amounts of things. They can
be used by different people for completely different kinds of jobs. They are
general purpose computers.

SPECIAL PURPOSE COMPUTERS

Special purpose computers are designed for a particular job. They are
used to solve problems of a specific nature. Special purpose computers
are designed to do specific kinds of jobs. A TV, a washing machine, an
iPod, a thermometer etc. are all forms of computers, but they have only a
small range of things that they can do, and are designed specifically to do
them.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS BY FUNCTION

STAND-ALONE
Refers to a device that is self-contained, which does not require any other
devices to function. For example, a fax machine is a stand-alone device
because it does not require a computer, printer, modem, or other device.

Advantages of using stand-alone computers

- Performance - the system doesn’t share resources

- Control - the user has full control of the system
- Security - no chance of online hack
- There is reduced likelihood of virus infection.
- A stand alone computer can be a lot faster because you can
streamline it to operate only the functions needed for the task at
hand.
- Easy to troubleshoot or isolate a problem.
- Privacy

Disadvantages of using stand-alone computers

- Costly
- The system can become redundant quickly
- Maintenance - software repair tasks require physical presence
- Sharing is impossible
- Software upgrades not possible
 - Real-time backup is almost impossible

NETWORKED COMPUTERS

A computer network is a collection of computers and devices connected

by communications channels that facilitates communications among users
and allows users to share resources with other users.
Advantages of using networked computers

- You can share files with all the other computers on the network.
- You can share printers.
- You can send documents back and forth easily.
- Increased Storage Capacity. A standalone computer might fall
short of storage memory, but when many computers are on a
network, memory of different computers can be used in such
case.
- Cost effective. There are many softwares available in the market
which are costly and take time for installation. Computer
networks resolve this issue as the software can be stored or
installed on a system or a server and can be used by the
different workstations.

Disadvantages of Computer Networks

- Security Issues: One of the major drawbacks of computer

networks is the security issues involved. If a computer is on a
network, a computer hacker can get unauthorized access by
using different tools.
- Rapid Spread of Computer Viruses: If any computer system in a
network gets affected by computer viruses, there is a possible
threat of other systems getting affected too. Viruses get spread
on a network easily because of the interconnectivity of
workstations.
- Expensive Set Up: The initial set up cost of a computer network
can be high depending on the number of computers to be
connected.
- Dependency on the Main File Server: In case the main File Server
of a computer network breaks down, the system becomes
useless.

REAL-TIME SYSTEMS
In computing, real-time refers to a time frame that is very brief, appearing
to be immediate. When a computer processes data in real time, it reads
and handles data as it is received, producing results without delay. For
example, a website that is updated in real-time will allow its viewers to
see changes as soon as they occur, rather than waiting for updates to be
visible at some later date.

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS
This is a system in which separate programs perform separate functions
with communication and data-passing between functional programs that
perform standardized I/O routines and a common data-base. Such
systems allow flexibility in addition/revision/deletion of various processing
functions without disrupting the entire system.

Advantages of humans over computers;

Human Virtues Computer virtues

Thinking Computational speed
Judgment Accuracy
Creativity Dependability
Flexibility Consistence
Mobility Versatility

COMPONENTS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM

Computer is an electronic machine that is used to solve different kinds of
problems according to a set of instructions given to it. Computer consists
of different units that perform various functions. All the operations of the
computer are controlled by the program instructions. These program
instructions are known as software. A system is a group of related
components that make up a body to perform a specific function. The
computer along with various units and software that performs different
activities in data processing is collectively known a computer system. A
computer system is divided into two sub-systems:

1. Computer Software
2. Computer Hardware

Computer Software
A set of instructions given to the computer, in form of machine code, that
tell the computer what to do and how to perform the given task of the
user is known as computer software.

OR

A set of instructions given to the computer in machine code to solve

problems or to control different operations of the computer is known as
computer software. The software is developed in computer programming
languages. You can not feel, touch or see software inside the computer
memory.

Computer Hardware
The physical parts of a computer are known as computer hardware. You
can touch, see and feel the hardware. The hardware consists of electronic
circuits and mechanical equipment used to perform various functions in
the computer. The hardware components are:

1. Input devices
2. Output devices
3. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
4. Memory unit
5. Storage devices
Components of a Computer system
The internal architectural design of computers differs from one system
model to another. However the basic components and their functions are
the same for all computer systems. The construction of a typical computer
(PC) is very simple. It contains different components. Each component
performs a specific function in the computer system.

Input Devices
The devices that are used to enter data and instructions into the computer
are called input devices. In old computers the punched card readers,
paper tape readers were used as input devices. Now-a-days the most
commonly used input devices are Keyboard and Mouse.
Output Devices
The computer processes the given input data and gives the output. The
devices that are used to get output from a computer in readable from are
called output devices. A number of output devices are available. Some
commonly used output devices are video display units (VDU) and printers.

Central Processing Unit

Central Processing Unit is simply called as CPU. It is the main component
of a computer and it is also called the Processor. The processor used in
microcomputers is referred to as Microprocessor. CPU is considered the
brain of the computer. It performs all operations of data according to
program's instructions. It executes the program instructions and tells
other parts of the computer what to do. The CPU fetches instructions of
program from main memory and executes them one by one. The CPU also
has the ability to decide which instruction will be executed next.

The CPU is divided into two main parts of sub-units. These are:

1. Control Unit (CU)

2. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
3. Memory

1. Control Unit (CU): The control unit is the most important component
of the CPU. It controls and coordinates the activities of all the other units
of the computer. The control unit is considered as the logical hub of the
computer. It acts as a central nervous system for the other components of
the computer.

For example the control unit receives the data and instructions from the
input devices and stores them in the main memory. It performs all these
functions by issuing commands to the relevant units of the computer.

The control unit also controls the execution of instructions given to the
computer. It fetches the instructions and data from the memory unit. It
decodes and executes the instructions one by one.

2. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

Arithmetic Logic Unit or simply ALU is another important component of

CPU. It performs the arithmetic and logical operations on the data. When
the control unit encounters an instruction related to performing arithmetic
or logical operation on data, it passes that instruction to ALU.

 In arithmetic operations ALU performs the addition, subtraction,

multiplication and division.
 In logical operations ALU compares the numerical data as well as
alphabetical data. For example, it checks whether the first number
is greater than the second, less than second or equal to second etc.
It must be noted that some of the logical operations can be done on
test data. For example when you want to search for a word in a
document, the CPU matches each word of the document with the
given word. Actually the ALU compares each word of document with
the given word through relational equal operator (=).

The ALU consists of a number of registers and adder circuits. A register is

a temporary storage device which holds data and instruction as long as it
is being interpreted (decoded) and executed. When the data and
instructions are fetched from main memory for processing, these have to
be stored in one of the registers of the CPU.

MICROPROCESSOR AND COPROCESSOR

Microprocessor: The processor used in microcomputer is referred to as

Microprocessor. Today the microprocessor is used in microcomputers and
is designed in a single chip, which fits into a special socket on the
motherboard. The most fundamental part of the motherboard is the
microprocessor chip. In personal computers two types of microprocessors
are used. These are:

i) Intel Microprocessor: This microprocessor made by Intel Corporation

is commonly used in microcomputers. You can say that 90% of the
microcomputers use this type of microprocessor. Actually the Microsoft
Windows operating system is developed to run on Intel microprocessor.
Intel company has marketed its microprocessors under the names
Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II (P2), Pentium III (P3), Pentium IV (P4),
Core 2 Dual (C2D) etc. Today the most advanced microprocessor chip of
Intel is C2D. Many ads for PCs contain the logo "Intel Inside" to show that
the systems run an Intel microprocessor.

ii) Motorola Microprocessor: Motorola microprocessor is made by

Motorola. It is used in personal computers of Apple. Macintosh operating
system is developed to run on Motorola microprocessor.

Coprocessor: A coprocessor is a special additional processor chip that

helps the processor of a computer in performing specific tasks. The math-
coprocessor is an example of coprocessor. In modern computer math-
coprocessor is specifically used to perform very large and complex
mathematical calculations. The math-coprocessor is also known as
floating-point coprocessor or numeric-coprocessor. The computers having
coprocessors are used for engineering, scientific and graphic applications.
MEMORY

What is RAM?
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. The main memory or primary
storage is referred to as RAM. It is volatile memory. It consists of memory
chips that can be read from and written to by the processor. When the
computer is powered on, operating system files load into RAM from the
storage device such as a hard disk. Then operating system remains in
RAM as long as the computer has continuous power.

The control unit performs the following functions for main memory.

 Stores the data and instructions (entered from input unit) into the
RAM (or main memory).
 Provides the data and instructions from main memory to other parts
of the computer.
 Stores the processed results back into the RAM (or main memory).

RAM plays a very important role in data processing. The program and the
data must be transferred to RAM before running the program to process
the data. The processor processes the data according to the program
instructions by fetching the data and instructions from the RAM. The
processor interprets and executes the program instructions while the
program is in RAM. During this time the content of RAM may change. RAM
can hold multiple programs simultaneously, provided the computer has
enough RAM to accommodate all the programs.

The storage capacity of RAM or main memory is measured in bytes. A

byte is a group of 8-bits. One character takes one byte of memory. The
amount of data and program size are also measured in bytes. A Bit is an
abbreviation of Binary Digit. It is defined as the smallest basic unit of
storage in the computer memory that has value 0 or 1. A Word is a group
of bits representing data or instructions that form the basic information
unit of the computer. A word may have the length of 8-bits, 16-bits, 32-
bits or more. Thus, a word of 16-bits size is called as 2-byte word.

1 Byte = 8-Bits
1 Kilo Byte = 1024 Bytes
1 Mega Byte = 1024 Kilo Bytes
1 Giga Byte = 1024 Mega Bytes
1 Tera Byte = 1024 Giga Bytes

RAM plays an integral part in the internal operation of the processor.

Microcomputers come with different amounts of RAM which are from
128MB to 2GB and above. Computer specifications normally indicate the
type of processor, the clock speed of the processor and the amount of
RAM in the computer. More RAM means the computer can use powerful
programs. It also improves the data processing speed of the computer.

Memory Module
RAM consists of more than one chip. RAM chips usually reside on a
memory module which is a small circuit board. Memory slots on the
motherboard hold memory modules. There are three types of memory
modules. These are:

SIMM: SIMM stands for Single Inline Memory Module. It has pins of
opposite sides of the circuit board that connect together to form a single
set of contacts. A SIMM has RAM chips on only one side. Each SIMM can
hold 4 MB to 128MB RAM.

DIMM: DIMM stands for Dual Inline Memory Module. It has pins on
opposite sides of the circuit board that do not connect and thus form two
sets of contacts. SIMM and DIMM hold the SDRAM chips. A DIMM has RAM
chips on both sides.

RIMM: RIMM stands for Rambus Inline Memory Module. It holds the
RDRAM chips.

The RAM is further divided into:

1. DRAM
2. SRAM

1. DRAM: DRAM stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory. DRAM is

the most common type of RAM used to store data & instructions. In order
to maintain data in DRAM chip, the chip is refreshed frequently (hundreds
of time a second), otherwise data may be lost. During the refreshing
process the CPU has to wait to read & write data in DRAM. It is because
DRAM decreases the processing speed of the computer.

Today many DRAM chips exist and most of which are faster than the basic
DRAM. The most important are:

SDRAM: SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic RAM. SDRAM are much
faster than basic DRAM chips because they are synchronized to the
system clock. Often in computer ads, the speed of SDRAM is expressed in
megahertz (MHz).

RDRAM: RMRAM stands for Rambus Dynamic RAM. It is faster and more
expensive than SDRAM because it uses pipelining technique. It is used in
Intel P4. Today most of PCs use SDRAM or RDRAM.

2. SRAM: SRAM stands for Static Random Access Memory. It is faster

than DRAM because it does not have to be refreshed frequently and the
CPU does not have to wait to read & write data. SRAM chips however are
more expensive than DRAM chips. Special applications such as cache use
SRAM chips.

What is ROM?
ROM stands for Read Only Memory. The ROM contains instructions that
are permanently stored by the manufacturers when they manufacture the
chips. In fact recording data and instructions permanently into this kind of
memory is called "burning in the data". The instructions stored in ROM
can only be read but cannot be modified. This is the reason why it is
called Read Only Memory.

ROM is a semiconductor chip programmed at the time of its manufacture

and is not re-programmable by the user. The programs stored in ROM are
called firmware. It is a non-volatile memory. The contents of ROM are not
lost when the computer is turned off.

ROM contains the Basic Input / Output System (BIOS is a set of

instructions that are automatically activated when the computer is turned
on). It means that a computer uses the instructions of ROM at the time of
booting for the following purposes.

 To check different units of computer system.

 To load the operating system into computer memory etc.

Many other devices also contain ROM chips. For example a printer has a
ROM chip that contains data or information for fonts. You can say that
each electronic device has ROM chip that contains information about that
device.

The ROM is further divided into:

1. PROM
2. EPROM
3. EEPROM

1. PROM: PROM stands for Programmable Read Only Memory. PROM is a

blank ROM chip on which the user can write his own program instructions
and data but only once. However once the program or data is written in
PROM chip, it cannot be changed. The programmer uses micro-code
instructions to write information in a PROM chip. Once the programmer
writes the micro-code on the PROM chip, it functions like a normal ROM
chip.

2. EPROM: EPROM stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only

Memory. It is another important form of read only memory. Like PROM, it
is initially blank and the user or manufacture can write his own program or
data by using special devices. Unlike PROM the data written in EPROM
chip can be erased by using special purpose devices and ultraviolet rays.
So programs or data written in EPROM chip can be changed and new data
can also be added on this form of ROM. When EPROM is in use, its
contents can only be read. Once ROM or PROM is programmed, its
contents cannot be changed but EPROM overcomes this problem.

3. EEPROM: EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM.

This kind of ROM can be re-written by using electrical devices and so data
stored on this ROM chip can be easily modified.
Computer Mother Board Parts
The motherboard is the main circuit board of the system unit. It is also
referred to as system board. Many electronic components are connected
to the motherboard and some components are built into it. The processor
chip and memory chips are plugged (installed) into the motherboard. The
motherboard contains sockets or slots in which electronic components are
installed. You can say that motherboard is the master circuit board in a
computer.

i. CMOS: CMOS stands for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. It

is similar to RAM and is a high-speed but it is non-volatile memory. It uses
batter to retain information even when the power to the computer is off.
The contents of CMOS can be changed very easily.

CMOS is a special type of memory, which stores the configuration

information about the computer such as information about type of disk
drives, keyboard, monitor system’s current date and time, password,
system startup information etc.

ii. Cache Memory: Data and program instructions are moved from RAM
to CPU's registers during data processing. It is most time consuming
method and CPU has to waste a lot of time to access data from memory.

Cache memory is similar to RAM but it is extremely fast than RAM. It is

normally used between RAM and CPU. Cache speeds up processing speed
of computer and CPU stores frequently used instructions and data in it.
When the program is running and the CPU needs a specific data or
program instruction, the CPU first checks for it in cache memory. If the
data is not there, the CPU reads the data from RAM into its registers, but it
also loads a copy of the same data or instruction in cache memory. The
next time the CPU uses it if required again and saves the time needed to
load it from RAM.

iii. Expansion Slot: PC motherboard has two or more expansion slots

used to add new components to the computer. The slots hold adapter card
also called expansion card. The adapter card provides connections to
peripherals. A peripheral is a device that connects to the system unit and
is controlled by the CPU. Examples of peripherals are modem, disk drive,
printer, scanner, keyboard, mouse etc.

The memory (RAM) chips are also inserted into the expansion slot to
expand the size of memory. Similarly network interface card is inserted
expansion slot to connect the computer to network and so on.

The types of adapter cards with their functions are given below.

Accelerator Card: It is used to increase the speed of processor.

I/O Card: It is used to connect input/output devices such as printer,

mouse keyboard etc.

Game Card: It is used to connect joystick.

Disk Controller Card: It is used to connect disk drives.

Modem Card: It is used to connect computers through telephone line or

cable television line.

Network Card: It is used to connect to other computers and peripherals

in local area network.

PC-to-TV Connector Card: It is used to connect a television.

Sound Card: It is used to connect a speaker or microphone.

TV Tuner Card: It is used for viewing television channels on the

computer monitor.

Video Card: It is used to connect a monitor.

In modern computers, motherboard includes all necessary capabilities and

doesn’t require adapter cards. For example, sound and video functions
may be built into the mother board. Now-a-days, computers have plug
and play capabilities. It means that a computer automatically can
configure an adapter card when it is installed into it. In these computers,
you can easily plug in a device and turn on the computer. The device is
ready to use or the device is ready to play its role.

iv. Computer Buses: We know that data and instructions inside the
computer are stored and moved from one unit to another in the form of
bits. Actually the bits are moved in the form of electric pulses. Therefore,
computer bus is defined as: The electric paths through which computer
(CPU) sends and receives data and instructions (and also sends command
signals) to and from different components of computer are called
computer buses.

The computer bus is a backbone of the computer. A computer cannot

perform any function without it. The computer bus is like electric wiring
used to create circuits. However computer buses are used to connect
devices with the CPU.

Typically a bus consists of 40 to 150 electric wires or lines running parallel

to each other. One line can carry one bit at a time. The capacity of a
computer bus depends on the number of data lines it contains. For
example a bus with 16 lines can transfer 16 bits at a time.

In the past the performance of computer buses was measured by the

number of bits they could transfer at one time. Hence, the newest 64-bit
buses are typically considered the fastest for data transfer. However
performance of buses was measured according to their data transfer
rates. It was measured in Mbps (Megabits per second).

Today data transfer rate of a computer bus is measured in MHz. Every bus
also has a clock speed, just like the processor. The clock speed for a
computer bus is measured in hertz (Hz). Most of today's processor have a
computer bus clock speed from 100 MHz to 400 MHz (one Mega Hertz is
equal to one million ticks per second). The higher the computer bus clock
speed, the faster the transmission of data. It means that due to higher the
computer bus clock speed, application running and data accessing speed
will be very fast.

A computer has two basic types of buses. These are:

1. Expansion buses
2. System buses

1. Expansion Buses: Expansion buses are also referred to as External

Buses. These buses connect the external devices such as keyboard,
mouse, modem, printer etc. to the processor. Expansion buses allow the
processor to communicate with the peripherals. We connect a peripheral
with the system unit through a port on an adapter card, which is inserted
into an expansion slot on the motherboard.

The basic types of expansion buses are:

ISA Bus: ISA stands for Industry Standard Architecture. It is most

common and slowest bus used to connect mouse, modem card, sound
card and low-speed network card.

PCI Bus: PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect. PCI is a high-
speed local bus used to connect video card, sound card and high-speed
network card. This bus transfers data about four times faster than the ISA
bus. Today most of the PCs have a PCI bus as well as ISA bus.

AGP Bus: AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port. AGP bus is specially
designed by Intel to improve the transmission speed of video and 3-D
graphics. The AGP bus provides a faster, dedicated interface between the
video card and memory.

USB: USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. In a computer with a USB, USB
devices can be connected to each other outside the system unit and then
single cable attaches to the USB port. The USB port then connects to the
USB, which connects to the PCI bus on the motherboard. This bus
eliminates the need to install cards into the expansion slots.

2. System Buses: The system buses are also called the Internal Buses.
The system buses are the part of motherboard that connect the processor
to the main memory as well as other devices which reside on the
motherboard. The system buses are classified according to their functions
as:

a) Data Bus: The electric path through which the contents of data (or
actual data) are transferred from one unit to another is called Data Bus.
Actually the data bus is a group of parallel wires. The number of wires in
the bus affects the speed at which data can transfer from one component
of computer to another. Each wire can transfer one bit of data at a time. A
data bus with 8 wires can transfer 8 bits (one byte) of data at a time. The
modern PCs have 64-bit data bus and can transfer 8 bytes of data at a
time. The data bus connects the CPU, memory unit and other hardware
devices on the motherboard.

b) Address Bus: We know that the components of computer are

connected to one another through the system bus. So it is important to
assign a unique ID to each component. This ID is called the address of
that component. Therefore the computer bus, which is used to identify
different components of a computer as well as to specify the address of
different memory locations is called address bus. For example when a
computer component wants to communicate with other component, it
specifies the address of the destination component. Similarly when CPU
wants to write some data at memory location 932, it places the address of
main memory and the address of location i.e., 932, on the address bus.
When the main memory sees its address on the address bus, it reads the
data from the data bus and writes it to the specified location within the
main memory.

The capacity of address bus depends upon the number of its wires. If the
address bus has 8 wires then CPU can address 256 bytes of memory, i.e.
28 = 256. Now-a-days most CPUs have 32-bit address buses can address 4
GB of memory.

c) Control Bus: the electric path, through which the control unit sends
out control signals (commands) to control the sequence of operations that
take place while a program is being executed, is called control bus. For
example, the control unit directs the transfer of data from the main
memory to the ALU for arithmetic or logical operations. Similarly data flow
between secondary memory and main memory is controlled by the control
unit through this bus.

The control bus directly connects the CPU, main memory and I/O ports.
We know that many system devices are connected to the data bus but
only one of these is enabled at a time. The CPU provides the enabling
signal through the control bus lines. For example if the CPU wants to read
data from the port attached to the keyboard, it will perform this activity as
follow:

 Sends out the address of keyboard port on the address bus.

 Enables keyboard port by sending a signal to it on a control bus line.
 Reads the data from the data bus. The data is put on it by the port.

Power Supply

Power supply is an electrical component inside the system unit that

converts the A.C power into D.C power. Power Supply supplies the correct
voltage or power to all parts of the computer. It is a simple electrical
system, which takes 240 or 110 A.C voltages and converts them into D.C
voltages of 3V, 6V, 12V and 24V. The D.C voltage is required to operate
different components of a computer.
Some externals peripherals such as external modems, speakers etc. have
an A.C adapter, which converts the A.C power into D.C power that the
peripheral requires.

COMPUTER PORTS

The input, output and communication devices are connected to the

system unit through a special device called the port. It is an interface or
connecting socket on the outside of system unit. It provides a standard
way of communication between the computer and its input and output
devices. For example, keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, modem etc.
come with a cable and a multiple connector. The device is linked with the
computer by plugging its connector into a port. The term jack sometimes
is used to identify audio and video ports.

The back of the system unit contains many ports. Some modern PCs also
have ports on the front of the system unit. Ports have different types of
connectors. A connector joins a cable to a device or peripheral. One end of
the cable attaches to the connector on the system unit and the other end
of the cable attaches to a connector on the device.

Types of Ports

A system unit may contain many ports of different types. The main types
of ports are serial port, parallel port and USB port. Most personal
computers have at least one serial port, one parallel port and two USB
ports. The types of ports are described below.

1. Serial Port

A serial port provided a connection for transmitting data one bit at a time.
The data is serial port is transmitted one bit at a time through a single
wire. However the serial port consists of multiple wires. The other wires
control the flow of data. The COM port (communication port) on the
system unit is one type of serial port. The IBM computers have maximum
four serial ports, which are designated COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4.

The transmitting of data through serial port is very slow because data is
transmitted one bit at a time. The mouse, keyboard, modem etc. are
connected to serial port. Modem is connected to the serial port because
data through telephone line is communicated in a specific frequency.
Serial ports conform to either the RS-232 or RS-422 standard, which
specifies the number of pins used on the ports connector. Two common
connectors for serial ports are 9-pin male connector and 25-pin male
connector.

2. Parallel Port

A parallel port provides a connection for transmitting data 8-bits at a time.

The devices that are connected to the parallel port have a data cable with
eight parallel separate data lines. The printer is connected to the parallel
port. The IBM computes have maximum 3 parallel ports, which are
designated LPT1, LPT2, LPT3. In most microcomputers LPT1 port is used
as a standard parallel port. The transmitting of data through parallel ports
is faster than serial port.

3. USB Port

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. Today it is the most popular standard
port used in PCs of both IBM compatible and Apple computers. The USB
allows up to 127 devices to be connected to the bus via a single port.
Today personal computers typically have 2 to 4 USB ports either on the
front or back of the system unit. The USB hub is also available to connect
multiple devices with a computer having a single USB port. A USB hub is a
device, which is plugged into a USB port on the system unit and contains
multiple USB ports into which you can plug multiple devices.

USB port also supports hot plugging and plug & play. It means that you
can attach devices with a computer while computer is running. You have
not to restart the computer after attaching the device.

4. SCSI Ports

These are used for transmitting fast data up to seven devices in a daisy
chain. Pronounced “skuzzy” a SCSI (small computer system interface)
port allows the flow of data at speeds of (32 bits at a time) higher than
those possible with serial and parallel ports. The term daisy chain means
that several devices are connected to one after the other, so that data for
the seventh device has to go through the six devices first.

5. Dedicated ports

These are normally designed for keyboards, mouse, phones, etc. So far
general purpose ports have been considered but at the back of the
system unit are also other ports like the dedicated ports. There are also
jacks for speakers and microphones and modem that connect to the
telephone jacks.

6. Infrared ports

These are used for cable less connections over a few feet. When you
handle a remote unit to change channels on a TV set, you are using
invisible radio waves of the type known as infrared waves. An infrared
port allows a computer to make a cable less connection with infrared
capable devices such as some printers. This connection requires an
unobstructed line of sight between transmitting and receiving ports and
they can be only a few feet apart.

INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES

The input-output or I/O devices provide the means of communication

between the computer and the user. The input and output devices are the
hardware components that allow the user to input data and instructions
into the computer and to receive the processed data. The data and
instructions are given to the computer through input device. The
computer processes the data according to the given instructions and
output is received onto the output device or it is stored permanently on
the storage device.

Various types of input/output devices are available and used for different
types of applications. The I/O devices are slower as compared to the
speed of CPU and primary storage. It is because the speed of I/O devices
depends upon the mechanical movement of the components of the
devices. It is not possible for the I/O devices, the CPU and primary storage
to have the same speed.

Input Devices

Input is any data or instructions entered into the computer in the form of
signals. The input into the computer can be entered:

 Through keyboard (by typing characters).

 By selecting commands (icons) on the screen and then clicking
using the mouse.
 By pressing finger on a touch screen.
 By speaking into a microphone.
 By sending image through digital camera.
 By scanning data printed on paper through scanner etc.

Therefore, the devices that are used to enter data and instructions or
commands into the computer are called input devices. The input devices
are the eyes and ears of computers. In old computers the punched card
readers, paper tape readers were used as input devices. Now-a-days, the
commonly used input devices are:

Keyboard Mouse
Touchpad Trackball
Joystick Light Pen
Digital Scanner Barcode reader
Microphone, etc.

Now-a-days, the most popular input devices are keyboard and

mouse. The other input devices are used for special purposes.

INPUT SCANNING DEVICES

Scanning devices convert scanned text and images into a form that the
computer can process. There are three types of scanning devices; optical
scanner, barcode readers, and character and mark recognition devices.

OPTICAL SCANNER
This is simply known as a scanner. It inputs documents consisting of text
or images or both and converts them to machine readable form. These
devices simply recognize light, dark and coloured areas that make up
individual letters or images. There are two basic types of optical
scanners; flatbed and portable scanners. A flat bed scanner is much like a
copy machine. The image to be scanned is placed on a glass and scanner
records the image from below. A portable scanner is typically a hand held
device that slides across the image, making direct contact. Optical
scanners are powerful tools for a wide variety of end users including
graphics and advertising professionals who scan images and combine
them with text.

BARCODE READERS
These types of scanners are used in grocery stores. These devices are
either hand held wand reader or platform scanners. They contain
photoelectric cells that translate the barcode symbols into digital code
known as American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) or
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange (EBCDIC). ASCII file is
commonly used term to refer to a text file that contains only data set to
conform to the American standard. Almost all supermarkets use electric
cash registers and barcode system called the Universal Product Code
(UPC). The electric cash register uses a barcode reader to scan each
product’s UPC then sends the code to the computer which has the
description, latest price and inventory level of each product. The
computer processes the input to update the inventory level and to provide
the electronic cash register with the description and price for each
product.

CHARACTER AND MARK RECOGNITION DEVICES

These are devices that are able to recognize special characters and
marks.

Optical Character Recognition

OCR systems can recognize many different OCR fonts as well as
typewriter and computer printed characters. Advanced OCR systems can
recognize hand printing. When a text document is scanned into the
computer, it is turned into a bitmap, which is a picture of the text. OCR
software analyses the light and dark areas of the bitmap in order to
identify each alphabetic letter and numeric digit. When it recognizes the
character, it converts it into ASCII text. With OCR processing, text
documents are scanned, then photographed and stored as pictures in the
computer. OCR software converts the picture into actual text characters,
which take up less room on disks.

Magnetic-ink Character Recognition Reader (MICR)

A magnetic – Ink Character Recognition (MICR) reader is used to read text
printed with magnetized ink. MICR is used almost exclusively by the
banking industry for cheque processing. Each cheque in your cheque
book has pre-coded MICR characters on the lower left edge; these
characters represent the bank number, your account number and the
cheque number. When a cheque is presented for payment, the bank uses
an MICR inscriber to print the amount of money the cheque in MICR
characters in the lower – right corner. Each cheque is inserted into an
MICR reader, which sends the check information including the amount of
the cheque to a computer for processing. When you balance your cheque
book, you should verify that the amount printed in the lower-right corner
is the same as the amount written on the cheque. The banking industry
has established an international standard not only for bank numbers, but
also for the font of the MICR characters. This standardization makes it
possible for you to write cheques in another country.

Optical Mark Recognition

Optical mark recognition (OMR) devices read hand drawn marks such as
small circles or rectangles. A person places these marks on a form, such
as test, survey or questionnaire answer sheet. The OMR device first reads
a master document, such as an answer key sheet for a test to record
correct answers based on patterns of light; the remaining documents then
are passed through the OMR device and their patterns of light are
matched against the master document.

Image Capturing Devices

Optical scanners like traditional copy machines can make a copy from an
original photo or document. For example, an optical scanner can make a
digital copy of a photograph. Image capturing Devices, on the other hand,
create or capture original images. These devices include digital cameras
and digital video cameras.

Digital Camera: Digital Cameras are similar to traditional camera except

that images are recorded digitally on a disk or in the camera’s memory
rather than on film, and them downloaded, or transferred to your
computer. You can take a picture, view it immediately and even place it
on your own Web page, within no time.
Digital Video Camera: Unlike traditional video camera, digital video
camera record motion digitally on a disk or in the camera’s memory. Most
have the capability to take still images as well. WebCams (Web Cameras)
are specialized digital video cameras that capture images and send them
over the Internet. WebCams have become increasingly popular with
individuals for video conferencing.

DIGITIZING DEVICES
Digitizing Devices convert a sketch or figure into a form that can be
processed by a computer. These devises have some type of flat surface
and a writing device. As the user moves the writing device across the
surface, the digitizing device records the movements as a series of points
and sends this information to the computer. Two widely used digitizing
devices are Graphics tablets.

Graphics tablets
Devices that use special graphics surface or tablet and a special stylus
pen like device or a puck. Either the user directly sketches on the tablet
or traces images that have been placed on the tablet. Graphics tablets
are specialized devices that are used by artists for creating illustrations,
by mapmakers to record or trace maps, and by engineers to digitally save
mechanical drawings. A puck is a device that looks similar to a mouse,
except that is has a window with cross hairs so the user can see through
to the tablet.

AUDIO INPUT
Audio input is the process of entering (recording) music, speech, or sound
effects. To record high quality sound, your personal computer must have
a sound input device such as microphone, tape player or audio CD player,
each of which plugs into a port on the sound card. External MIDI devices
such as an electric piano keyboard also can connect to the sound card for
audio input.

Microphone: A device that converts sound waves into analog electrical

signals. Additional hardware can convert the microphone’s input digital
data that a computer can process: for example, to record multimedia
documents or analyze sound signals.

Speech Recognition
In the conversion of spoken words into computer text, speech is first
digitized and then matched against a dictionary of coded waveforms. The
matches are converted into text as if the words were types on the
keyboard. Speaker – dependent systems require that users verbalize
samples into the system in order to tune it to their individual voices.
Speaker – independent systems do not require tuning and can recognize
limited vocabularies such as numeric digits and a handful or words. For
example, such systems have replaced human operators for telephone
services such as collecting calls and credit card calls. Discrete voice
recognition systems are used for dictation; by require a pause between
each word. Continuous voice recognition understands natural speech
without pauses. Speaker – independent continuous systems that can
handle large vocabularies are expected to become common very soon.

ASSISTIVE INPUT DEVICES

Assistive devices or accessibility hardware do allow people with visual or
other physical problems to use computers. Some assistive devices are
specifically designed for the disabled. Other assistive devices use
standard devices that have been adapted with specialized software and
hardware. For example, voice recognition systems are combined with
special programs that read screen content and allow input based on the
user voice. A good example of such device includes alternative
keyboards.

ALTERNATIVE KEYBOARDS
Alternative Keyboards are designed to allow those with limited mobility to
enter data and text. There are many types of Alternative Keyboards, each
designed to meet the special needs of a different group. For example,
there are large print keyboards for those who have limited eyesight and
on-handed keyboards, with a contoured arrangement of the keys for use
with a single hand. Braille keyboards use keys identified by raised dots.
Various pointing devices have been adapted or redesigned for use by the
disabled. Joysticks, trackballs, touch pads and touch screen are often
modified for assistive input purposes. However, some are specifically
designed devices. For example, the Alternative Mouse devices accept
feet and or head movements to control the mouse pointer and to select
commands.

MOTION CAPTURE DEVICES

Motion Capture devices are designed to follow the movements of a
disabled individual and translate those movements into commands the
computer can process. These devices allow users with limited mobility to
interact with a computer. One of the methods is called head tracking. It
records head movements and uses movements to enter data and to issue
commands. Another similar method tracks eye movements and eye
blinks.

VIDEOCONFERENCING
A videoconference is a meeting between two or more geographically
separated individuals who use a network or the Internet to transmit audio
and video data. To participate in a videoconference, you must have a
microphone, speakers, and a video camera mounted on your computer.
As you speak, members of the meeting hear your voice on their speakers.
Any image in front of the video camera, such as a person’s face, displays
in a window on each participant’s screen. A white board provides multiple
users with an area on which they can write or draw. As the cost of
videoconferencing hardware and software continues to decrease, more
people and companies are taking advantage of this cost-effective way to
conduct business meetings, corporate training and educational classes.
Many home computers now also include a video camera as standard
equipment. These cameras are allied PC cameras or Webcams. They
allow the home user to see people at the same time as they communicate
on the Internet. Devices that capture data straight from source
documents include optical scanners, optical character recognition devices,
optical mark recognition devices, bar code scanners, and magnetic ink
character recognition readers. Data collection devices are designed and
used to obtain data directly at the location where the event takes place.
Digital cameras record colour images as intensities of red, green and blue.
Audio input is the process of entering (recording) music, speech or sound
effects. Speech recognition is the conversion of spoken words into
computer and storing the video on a hard disk or some other medium. A
videoconference is a meeting between two or more geographically
separated individuals who use a network or the Internet to transmit audio
and video data.

OUTPUT DEVICES
Output is processed data or information. When input data is processed,
computer generates several types of output, depending upon the
hardware and software used and the requirements of the user. The user
uses output on a screen, prints it from the printer or can hear it through
speakers or head sets. There are several forms of output that can be
produced depending on the type of device used e.g. audio, text, graphics,
videos etc.
Therefore, output is normally classified as:

Softcopy The output received on the display screen or in the audio or

Output video form is called softcopy output. This kind of output is not
tangible meaning it can not be touched. The most popular and
commonly used softcopy output device is display screen
(monitor).
Hardcopy The output printed on the paper is called hardcopy. The
Output printers and plotters devices are used for this purpose.

Sound The output received into the form of sound is called sound
Output output. The speakers are most commonly used to receive the
sound output.

An output device is a hardware component used to get output

from the computer. A number of output devices are available. The
commonly used output devices include display device (Monitor), printer,
speaker and headset, plotters, projectors, Braille (these translate machine
language into symbols and language the blind can understand), etc.

A fax machine is both and input and output device. This is designed to
send and receive both images and documents over telephone lines.
DISPLAY DEVICES

Display devices are devices that convey text, graphics and video
information. Information shown on a display device is often referred to as
called soft copy, because the information exists electronically and is
displayed for a temporary period of time. These devices include CRT
monitors, flat panel displays and high definition televisions.

The most important feature of a display device is clarity. Other equally

important aspects include resolution, dot per inch, refresh rate and size.

Resolution: Images are formed on the monitor by a series of dots or

pixels (picture elements). Resolution is expressed as a matrix of these
dots of pixels. For example, many monitors today have a resolution of
1,280 pixel columns by 1,024 pixel rows for a total of 1310720 pixels. The
higher a monitor’s resolution the greater the clarity of the image
produced.
Dot per inch: This is the distance between each pixel. Most monitors of
today have a dot per inch of .31 mm (31/100 th of a millimeter) or even
less. The lower the dot per inch the shorter the distance between pixels,
this means the higher the clarity of images produced.
Refresh rate: This indicates hoe often a display image is updated or
redrawn on the monitor. Most monitors operate at a rate of 75 hertz,
which means that the monitors redraw 75 times each second. Images
displayed on monitors with refresh rates lower than 75 hertz appear to
flicker and can cause eyestrain.
Size: Measured by the diagonal length of the monitor’s viewing area.
Common sizes are 15, 17, and 21 inches. The smaller the monitor the
better the quality of images displayed.

INTRODUCTION TO MONITORS

Cathode Ray Tube Monitors (CRT): There are display devices that
consist of a screen housed in a plastic or metal case. A colour monitor
displays videos, tests and graphics in colour. Monitors that display one
colour are called monochrome monitors. A monochrome monitor displays
text, graphics and video information in one colour (usually white, amber
or green) on a background. To enhance the quality of their graphics
display, some monochrome monitors use gray scaling, which involves
using many shades of gray from white to black to form the images.

Flat Panel displays: Is a light weight thin screen that consumes less
power less power than a CRT Monitor. Two common types of flat-panel
displays are Liquid crystal display (LCD) and Gas plasma. LCDs are
commonly used in laptop computers, hand held computers, digital
watches, calculators etc. Most LCD displays are coloured but some
devices use monochrome LCD displays to save battery power. LCD does
not use a cathode ray tube to create images on the screen it instead uses
a liquid crystal display that has special molecules called liquid crystals
that are deposited between two sheets of material.

Gas plasma Monitors: Some large businesses or power users prefer gas
plasma monitors, which can measure more than 24 inches and hang
directly on walls. These monitors use gas plasma technology, which
substitutes a layer of gas for the liquid crystal material in an LCD monitor.
When voltage is applied, the gas glows and produces pixels that form an
image. They offer large screen sizes and higher display quality than LCD
monitors, but are much more expensive.

VIDEO CARDS

To display colour, a colour monitor works in together with a video card,

which is included together with today’s personal computers. A video card
converts digital output into an analog video signal that is sent through a
cable to the monitor. The monitor separates the video signal into red,
green and blue signals. The three dots, one red, one blue and one green,
are combined to form a single pixel. The number of colours that a video
card can display is determined by the number of bits it uses to store
information about each pixel e.g. an 8-bit video card uses 8 bits to store
information about each pixel. Another name for video card is graphics
card or video adopter.

PRINTERS

What is a printer?

A printer is an output device that produces information that has been

processed by the computer onto a physical medium i.e. Paper,
transparent film. The printed information is referred to as hardcopy.

TYPES OF PRINTERS

Printers are the most common output devices used to get prints of
documents on the paper. The print out resolution is measured in dots per
inch. A printer is connected to a parallel port or a USB port of a system
unit by a cable.

Different printers have different printing mechanisms. Therefore printers

are classified into 2 categories depending upon their printing
mechanisms. These are:
 1. Impact Printers
2. Non-Impact Printers

1. IMPACT PRINTERS

An impact printer forms characters and graphics on the paper with the
strike of hammer on a ribbon or forms characters and graphics on a piece
of paper by striking a mechanism against an ink ribbon that physically
contacts the paper. Examples of impact printers include the dot matrix,
the Line printer, daisy wheel, drum printers, and chain printers. The two
most commonly used are dot-matrix and line printers.

Characteristics of Impact printers;

7. They are noisy while printing.
7. They use continuous sheet of paper.
7. They apply an ink ribbon to transfer the character
images paper.
7. Do not print in colour.
7. They don’t change font apart from dot matrix.
7. They print multiple copies.
7. They print on stencils etc.

Dot Matrix Printer

In the early years, the dot matrixes were the most commonly used
printing devices. A dot matrix printer makes a hard copy by printing one
character at a time. A dot matrix printer prints output on a paper by using
a mechanism called a print head, which contains a matrix of tiny pins
arranged in rows and columns. On receiving instructions from the
computer, the printer can push any of the pins out in any combination. It
prints each character or any symbol as pattern of dots. When pins on the
head strike on inked ribbon, it creates dots that form characters and
graphics. Typically a print head contains 9 to 24 pins. The print quality
depends on the number of pins that a print head contains. The high
number of pins means the printer prints more dots per character so that
the print out quality is higher. The low quality dot matrix printer’s print
head contains 9 pins while the high quality printer’s print head contains
24 pins.

Dot matrix printer can use tractor feed paper also called continuous feed
paper, in which sheets of paper are joined together end to end. The pages
have holes along the sides to help feed the paper through the printer.

The speed of dot matrix printer is measured by the number of characters

per second (CPS) it can print. The speed of dot matrix printer is from 52 to
500 CPS. The printing quality is measured in dot per inch (DPI). In dot
matrix printer, it is about 100 to 300 dpi.

Line printer

This is an impact printer that prints one line at a time. The two types of
line printer technologies are the band printers and the line matrix printers.
Line printers are still widely used in industrial environments and can print
multipart forms at a very rapid rate. E.g. 1000 pages per minute (ppm)
line printer printing on 3-part forms is the equivalent of a 50 ppm laser
printer. The line printer was typically enclosed in a cabinet that
completely sealed it off from the outside world. This used to be essential
when line printers were extremely noisy. Today’s line printers are even
quieter than the laser printers.

2. NON-IMPACT PRINTERS

A non Impact printer forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper

without actually striking the paper but uses spray ink while others use
heat and pressure to create images. Because these printers don’t strike
the paper, they are much quieter than the impact printers.

The main characteristics of non-impact printers are:

i. They produce no noise while printing

ii. They can change fonts while printing
iii. They print one copy at a time
iv. They print in colour
v. A printer head doesn’t touch the paper
vi. Faster than impact printers
vii. Print high quality output.
viii. They print all types of graphics

The examples of non-impact printers are; Laser printer, Inkjet printers,

thermal printers plotters, etc.

Inkjet Printer

The Inkjet printer is non-impact character printer and prints one character
at a time. The Inkjet printer has fine spray nozzles that create the image
of character or graphics on the paper (without striking the paper) by
spraying tiny or small drops of ink onto the paper.

The print head of Inkjet printer contains ink filled print cartridges. Each
cartridge has fifty to several hundreds small ink nozzles. Each nozzle in
the printer cartridge is similar to an individual pin on a dot matrix printer.
The combination of the nozzles is activated to form the shape of character
or image on the paper. Most Inkjet printers have at least 2 print
cartridges: one containing black ink and the other containing colour. A
single cartridge can print up to 300 pages. These cartridges can be
refilled.

Colour Inkjet printer has 4 ink nozzles: Blue, Red, Yellow and Black. These
4 colours are used in almost all colour printing because it is possible to
combine them to create any colour. Inkjet printers have become the most
popular types of colour printers for use in offices and business because of
their lower cost.

The printing quality of Inkjet printer is measured by the number of tiny ink
drops per inch (dpi) it can spray. Most Inkjet printers range from 300 to
2400 dpi. Printers with higher dpi usually are more expensive but having
high printing quality.

The speed of an Inkjet printer is measured by the number of pages per

minute (ppm) it can print. Its printing speed is up to 15 ppm.

In the early years, the Inkjet printers needed a special paper, and each
sheet had to dry before you could touch it. Today you can use normal
photo copy paper and the ink is dry within a few seconds. Inkjet printers
normally use individual sheets of paper placed in a removable or
stationary tray.

Laser Printer

A Laser printer is the fastest and high quality non-impact printer. Laser
printers are most expensive than Inkjet printers and their print quality is
also higher. The print quality and printing speed of Laser printers make
them ideal for offices and business.

Laser printers work like photo copiers. A Laser printer creates images on
the paper using a laser beam and powdered ink called toner. The laser
beam produces an image on a special drum inside the printer. The laser
printer uses heat and pressure to transfer the image from the drum to the
paper. Laser printers for personal computers use individual sheets of
paper placed in a removable tray.

The Laser printer can print text and graphics in very high quality
resolution. The commonly used Laser printers have resolution of 300 or
600 dpi. The printing speed is from 5 to 30 ppm. The high quality Laser
printers have resolution from 600 to 2400 dpi. The printing speed of these
printers is also more than 150 ppm.

The price of Laser printer depends on the quality and printing speed. The
colour printers are most costly than black and white Laser printers. The
higher the resolution and speed the more expensive the printer.

Thermal printers

This is a low medium resolution printer that uses a type of coated paper
that darkens when heat is applied to it. The paper is passed by a line of
heating elements that burn dots on to the paper. This is typically used in
barcode printers. It was widely used in early fax machines.

Plotters and large format printers

These are sophisticated printers used to produce high quality drawings

such as blue prints, maps, circuit diagrams and signs. Because these
diagrams can be quite large, these printers can typically handle paper
with widths up to 60 inches. Some plotters and large format printers use
individual sheets of paper, while others take large rolls. These printers
are used in specialized fields such as engineering, drafting and graphic
art. They are very costly. Two types of plotters are Pen plotters and
electrostatic plotters.

A pen plotter uses one or more coloured pens, light beams or a scribing
device to draw on paper or transparencies. Pen plotters produce
continuous lines whereas most printers generate lines by printing a
closely spaced series of dots.

An electrostatic plotter uses a row of charged wires called styli to draw

an electrostatic pattern on a special coated paper and then uses toner on
the pattern. The printed image contains series of very small dots, which
provide high quality output.

Storage Devices
Storage refers to media on which data, instructions and information are
kept. The devices that record and retrieve this data, instructions and
information are called storage devices.

Storage devices are used to store data and programs permanently

on storage media. A storage device is a computer hardware component
that writes and reads data to and from storage media. Writing data means
recording data from memory to a storage medium. Reading or retrieving
data means transferring data from storage medium into the computer’s
memory for use by the operating system or application program. When
storage device writes data (or programs) on the storage medium, it
performs the function of an output device. Similarly, when storage device
reads data from disk and loads it into RAM, it performs the function of an
input device. It is because; storage devices are also referred to as I/O
storage devices.

A storage media is the physical material on which data and programs are
stored. It is non-volatile and is used to store information permanently for
future use. The storage capacity of storage media is the number of bytes
the storage media can hold. A large amount of data and programs can be
stored on it. Its storage capacity is up to Gigabytes (GB) for personal
computers. For example, a typical hard disk has storage capacity of 160
GB (approximately 80 billion bytes) or more. The application software and
system software are stored on the secondary storage. Examples of
secondary storage are floppy disk, Zip disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, CDs
and DVDs.

The main memory or RAM of the computer is volatile. It cannot be used as

permanent storage because when computer is switched off, its contents
are erased. Its storage capacity is also very small.

The speed of a storage device and memory is defined by access time. The
access time of storage device is measured as the amount of time that a
storage device takes to locate and retrieve a specific data on the storage
medium. Similarly, the access time of RAM is measured as the time
required to deliver data from RAM to the processor. The access time of
storage device is slower than access time of memory.
Magnetic Storage Devices
The diskette drives, tape drives and hard disk drives are examples of
magnetic storage devices. These devices are used to write and read data
to and from the diskettes, tapes and hard disks. The surfaces of diskette,
tape and hard disk are coated with magnetic material such as iron oxide
or ferrous oxide, which can be magnetized (i.e. which reacts to a magnetic
field).

The surfaces of disks and magnetic tapes are coated with millions
of tiny iron particles so that data can be stored on them. Each of these
particles can act as a magnet. The write/read heads of disk drives or tape
drives contain electromagnets that generate magnetic fields in the iron on
the storage medium as the head passes over the disk or tape. The
presence of a magnetic field represents a ‘1’ bit and its absence
represents a ‘0’ bit.

The data reading process from magnetic disk or tape is reversed. In

reading process, no current is flowing through and read/write heads have
no magnetic field. Because the storage medium has a magnetic field but
the head does not, the storage medium charges the magnet in the head,
which causes a small current to flow through the head in one direction or
the other depending on the polarity of the field. The disk or tape drive
senses the direction of the flow as the disk or tape passes by the head. In
this way data is sent from the read/write head into memory in the form of
electric pulses.

The information stored in a disk can be read many times without affecting
the stored data. So the reading operation is non-destructive. But the
writing of new data erases data previously stored at that location of the
disk or tape.

Magnetic Disk

Now-a-days, magnetic disk is commonly used in computers as

secondary storage. A magnetic disk is a circular metal or plastic disk
coated on both sides with magnetic recording material (ferrous oxide).
The data on magnetic disk is recorded as magnetic fields. The data and
instructions are accessed directly or randomly. The disk drives are used to
write and read data. The data is stored both sides of the disk (i.e. side 0
and side 1), and each side has its own read/ write head.

The magnetic disks are available with different types. There are two
fundamental types of magnetic disks.

i) Floppy disk or interchangeable disk

ii) Hard disk or fixed disk

ORGANIZING DATA ON MAGNETIC DISK
Before data is stored on the magnetic disk, it is prepared through
operating system. Actually the disk's surface is magnetically mapped. The
process of mapping the surface of disk to provide a structure for storing
data is called formatting.

During formatting a disk, the disk drive creates a set of magnetic

concentric circles called tracks. A floppy disk has 80 tracks on each side of
the disk. Similarly, a hard disk may have hundreds of tracks on each side
of each platter. Each track is further divided into pie-shape areas called
sectors. The information is stored into sectors. In one sector, 512 bytes
are stored. The disk surface may have some bad sectors. When a disk is
formatted, the operating system marks the bad sectors as unusable and
these are not used to store data.

The number of tracks on the disk and number of sectors per track depend
on the density of the disk. Each track and sector is assigned a unique
number or address. The data is read or written with reference of a sector
number. The computer goes directly to the specified sector and reads or
writes data. The disk drive reads or writes on a whole sector at a time.

For reading and writing purposes sectors are grouped into clusters. A
cluster is a smallest unit of disk space. Each cluster, also called an
allocation unit, consists of two to eight or more sectors. The number of
sectors per cluster depends upon the size and type of the disk as well as
depends upon the operating system. For example, a cluster consists of
four sectors for a floppy disk and up to sixty-four sectors for a hard disk.
Each cluster holds data of only one file, however if the size of the file is
larger than the cluster then that file may be stored in many clusters.
Similarly, if the size of the file is very small, i.e. 10 bytes, then it uses an
entire cluster and other sectors of the cluster remain unused.

The Windows operating system divides the disk into four areas. These are:

1. Boot Master Record

2. File Allocation Table (FAT)
3. Root Folder
4. Data Area

1. Master Boot Record

The boot record is a small program that helps to load the operating
system from disk into memory during the booting process. It is an area of
the disk that contains boot record and other information about the disk
such as the number of bytes per sector and the number of sectors per
track of the disk. The boot record is stored in this area of the disk when an
operating system is being transferred to the disk. In case of non-system
disk, this area of disk is not used by operating system. The boot record is
activated through BIOS when computer is switched on. A boot sector virus
usually attacks the master boot record.
2. File Allocation Table (FAT)

FAT is a log that contains the record of each file stored on the disk and
status of each section. When a file is stored on the disk, the operating
system checks the status of disk, stores the data of the file in unused data
area, writes the file name, its size, its location etc. in the FAT.

When a file is opened and new data is added into it, the operating system
checks the FAT for free areas and stores data in it. The data of a single file
may be stored in different areas (nonadjacent areas) on the disk. These
areas are linked together through pointers. The pointers in the FAT allow
accessing all data of the file. This technique of storing files on a disk is
called fragmenting and the files stored are called fragmented files.
The fragmented files take longer time to save and to load data.

3. Root Folder

A folder is also called directory. The files are organized into folders on the
disk. A folder may contain files or other folders (known as subfolders). The
top folder on any disk is known as the root folder. Other folders and
subfolders (directory structure) are created under Root Folder. The root
folder is created automatically by operating system when a disk is
formatted. The root folder cannot be deleted.

4. Data Area

The part of the disk where actual data of files is stored is the Data Area.
The FAT contains the record of this area. The data of the stored files is
accessed from this area with the reference of a FAT. If the FAT area is
corrupted then data stored in Data Area cannot be accessed.

FLOPPY DISK

A floppy disk is a magnetic storage media. The floppy disk is a plastic disk
coated on both side with magnetic recording material (ferrous oxide). It is
also called simply a diskette. IBM invented the floppy disk in 1972. The
size of the first floppy disk was 8-inches and had flexible plastic cover.
Next generation of floppies was 5.25 inches disk. Today, the standard
floppy disk size of 3.5 inch and has a rigid plastic cover. The size of disk
refers to the diameter of disk and not refers to the storage capacity. The
high-density disks are smaller in size but larger in storage capacity. The
storage capacity of floppy disk is very low (i.e. maximum storage capacity
is 1.44 MB).

Typically, floppy disks are used to transfer small files to and from
personal computers. Floppy disk is also used in some digital cameras to
store pictures. Today, floppy disks are not widely used as they were ten
years ago because of their low storage capacity. The maximum age of
floppy disk is about 7 years.

Today, most commonly used floppy disk is 3.5 inch diameter diskette. It is
also referred to as Micro Floppy Diskette. The read/write window of micro
disk is always closed with a Metal Shutter. The shutter automatically
opens when the disk is inserted into the disk drive. The micro disk also
has a write-protected notch at one of its corners. A write protected-notch
is a small opening that has a tab that slide to cover the notch. If the write
protected-notch is opened, the floppy drive cannot write data on the disk.
However, in this case data can be read only from the disk. To write data
on the disk, the write protected-notch must be closed.

Diameter (inches) Description Capacity

Double sided, high-
5.25 1.25 MB
speed
Double sided, Double-
3.5 720 MB
density
Double sided, High-
3.5 1.44 MB
density

Uses of diskettes/floppy disks

(a) Software distribution and installation
(b) Data transfer.
(c) Backing up information by making duplicate copies.

Care for the diskettes/floppy disks

i. Don't get floppy disks hot, or leave them in direct sunlight.

ii. Keep disks away from magnetic fields, and other sources of Electro
Magnetic Fields, including computer monitors.
iii. Don't eject the floppy disk until the light on the front of the drive is
off, and until all files on the floppy disk have been saved and closed.
iv. Protect disks from dirt; dust and liquids.
v. Carry disks in a disk case or box; they can be damaged by being
dropped or by crashing around in book bags or briefcases.
vi. Don't touch the surface of the disk (inside of the plastic cover).
[Link]'t use damaged disks or disks with a faulty shutter (the metal
part that slides). This can damage the floppy drive of the computer,
or cause the disk to get jammed in the drive.

FLOPPY DISK DRIVES

Floppy disk drive is a hardware component used to write and read

data to and from the floppy disk. Personal computers and laptop
computers have a floppy disk drive installed inside the system unit. Some
computers use external floppy disk drive, in which the drive is a separate
device with a cable that plugs into a port on the system unit. If a
computer has one floppy disk drive, it is named as drive A (In case of two
Floppy drives, one is named as drive A and second as drive B) by
operating system. Most standard floppy disks today are high density. The
computer must have the high-density floppy disk drive to access the high-
density disks. The high-density disk drive can also access the lower
density disks.

The floppy disk drive includes a motor that rotates the disk on a spindle. It
also contains write/read head that writes and reads data to and from the
disk when disk rotates. The floppy disk rotates at approximately 300
revolutions per minute. Most floppy disk drives have light emitting diodes
(LED) that emit light when drive is accessing the floppy disk. A floppy disk
should not be removed from the drive when the LED is on.

ZIP DISK

A Zip disk is a type of magnetic storage media with a storage capacity

ranging from 100 MB to 800 MB. It is used to back up data. ZIP disk is
similar to floppy disk but its storage capacity is about 100 (or more) times
greater than floppy disk. It is also more reliable storage medium than
floppy disk. Like floppy disk, the data can be easily transferred from one
computer to another by using Zip disk.

A Zip disk drive is used to write and read data to and from the Zip disk.
The Zip disk drive cannot read data from floppy disk. It is not commonly
used in personal computers. Most of the users use the external Zip drive,
which can be connected to the USB port or parallel port on the system
unit to write and read data to and from the Zip disk.

HARD DISK

Today, a hard disk is the most commonly used storage device in

personal computers and laptop computers. Most application programs and
operating systems require hard disk for installation and operation. A hard
disk, also called a hard disk drive contains one or more metal platters
mounted on a central spindle, like a stack of rigid diskettes. A hard disk is
actually, a stack of platters. Each platter is coated on both sides with
magnetic material. Both surfaces of each disk or platter are used to store
information except for the top and bottom platters.

The hard disk and drive is a single unit. It includes the hard disk, the
motor that rotates the platters. Each platter has two read/write heads, one
for each side. The hard disk has also arms that move the read/write heads
to the proper location on the platter to read or write data. The entire unit
is enclosed in an airtight, sealed case. It is permanently fixed within the
system unit and this is the reason it is referred to as a fixed disk.

A platter has a flat circular shape. The surface of the disk is logically
divided into circular tracks, which are subdivided into sectors. The set of
tracks of different platters that are at a particular head position are
referred to as cylinders.
However, the basic storage unit is a sector. All sectors contain the same
number of bytes. Usually, in a single sector 512 bytes are stored. The total
capacity of a disk can be calculated by multiplying together, the following:

 Number of cylinders, which is the same as the number of tracks per

surface.
 Number of read/write heads.
 Number of sectors per track.
 Number of bytes per sector.

Today, the storage capacity of a hard disk in PCs is from 40 GB to

200 GB and more. The storage capacity of hard disk is determined from
the number of platters it contains and their density. A platter is made of
aluminum, glass, or ceramic and is coated with an alloy material that
allows storing data magnetically on the disk’s surface. Like floppy disk,
hard disk is formatted before data is stored on it. The operating system
makes logical tracks on both sides of each platter and divides each track
into sectors. Each platter of hard disk has a very high density. A large
number of tracks are made on each surface of the platter.

Hard Disk Performance

The performance of the hard disk depends on the following factors.

1. Seek Time

Seek time is the time required to move a read/write head to a

particular cylinder or track. Seek time is variable, because it will take
more time to reach track 300 from track 1 than to reach track 100.
Therefore, seek time is expressed as average seek time.

2. Rotational Latency

Once a cylinder or track is selected, the disk controller waits until the
read/write head reaches to an appropriate sector. The time required to
reach the head at the beginning of an appropriate sector is called
rotational latency or rotational delay.

3. Transfer Time

Transfer time is the time required to transfer data, read from the disk into
main memory. Alternatively, it is the time required to write data on the
disk from main memory.

4. Assess Time

Access time is the sum of seek time, rotational delay and transfer time.

Mathematically it is written as;

Access time = Average Seek Time + Rotational Latency + Transfer Time

Once the read/write head is in position, the read or write operation is

performed. Typically, a disk can transfer several megabytes of data per
second. Therefore, the value of seek time and rotational latency is in
milliseconds.

MAGNETIC TAPE

Magnetic tape is the most popular and oldest storage medium used to
store large amount of data and instructions permanently. The magnetic
tape is a plastic ribbon with width 0.25 inch to 1 inch and one side coated
with magnetic recording material (ferrous-oxide or iron-oxide), which can
be magnetized. Data is stored on the tape in the form of magnetic field,
i.e. magnetized and non-magnetized spots representing l’s and 0’s
respectively. Like magnetic disk, magnetic tape is also formatted before
to store data on it. The tape is divided into vertical columns called frames
and each frame is further divided into horizontal rows called tracks (or
channels). Each frame represents one character and each track of frame
stores one bit for the code of character. Typically, a frame is divided into 9
tracks. The first 8 tracks are used for recording the code of specific
character and ninth track is used for recording the parity bit or check bit.
The parity bit is used to detect errors during reading or writing data on the
tape.

Like sound recording tape, the data and instructions on the

magnetic tape can be recorded and erased again and again. The amount
of data that can be stored on a tape depends on its length, its type and
density. Magnetic tape media is especially used for backing up of data.
The storage capacity of tape is up to 100GB and offers an inexpensive
way to store a lot of data on a single cassette.

Magnetic Tape Drive

Magnetic tape drive is a device that writes/reads data to and from a

magnetic tape. The write head encodes the magnetic signals on the tape
as it moves across the write head. Similarly, the read head reads the
stored data from the tape and transfers it into the RAM. The information is
stored on the tape, one after the other in sequential order. When you
want to access a specific data on tape, the drive has to scan all the data
on the tape up to the data you want. Therefore, it is a slow process to
access data. The computer also takes more time to load program
instructions from the tape into the RAM.

Optical Storage Devices

Today, the most widely used and reliable storage devices are the optical
storage devices. These devices use laser technology to store and read
data to and from the disk. The most popular optical storage devices are:
CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, CD-Recordable drive, CD- Rewritable drive
etc. Today, all PCs also contain one CD-ROM drive. These devices use
laser light to write/read data to and from the optical storage media such
as CDs (compact disks). A large amount of data, software, movies and
songs etc. can be stored on a single CD. Some optical storage media is
read-only while others are read and write.

An optical storage media consists of a flat, round, portable metal disc,

which is coated with a thin metal or plastic or other material that is highly
reflective. These discs usually are 0.75 inches in diameter and less than
one-twentieth of an inch thick.

The information on the optical disk is stored in the form of pits and
lands. The pits are the tiny reflective bumps that are created with laser
beam. The lands are flat areas separating the pits. A land reflects the
laser light, which is read as binary digit 1. A pit absorbs or scatters light,
which is read as binary digit 0. The high-powered laser beam creates the
pits. A lower-powered laser light reads data from the disk. Like tracks on a
magnetic disk, the tracks of an optical disk are divided into sectors but
shape of these sectors is different from the sectors of the magnetic disk.

The operating system assigns a letter to the optical storage devices that
come after all the hard disks and other portable disks. For example, if a
computer has one floppy drive, one hard disk, one Zip disk drive and one
CD-ROM drive then letters assigned to drives will be as under:

'A' for floppy disk drive

'C' for Hard disk drive

'D' for zip disk drive

'E' for CD-ROM drive

CD-ROM

CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc Read-Only-Memory. CD-ROM is a type of

optical disc that uses laser technology to store and to read data to and
from the disc. A large amount of data can be stored on a single disk. Once
the information is stored on the CD-ROM, it becomes permanent and
cannot be changed (altered). The information can only be read for
processing. Therefore, it is called Compact Disc Read Only Memory.

Now-a-days CDs are commonly used in personal computers. The CD-ROM

is removable and can be used to transfer data from one computer to
another like a floppy disk. The storage capacity of CD-ROM is 1000 times
greater than floppy disk. A typical CD-ROM has storage capacity from 650
MB to 1GB. Today, most of the software are available on the CDs. The
software companies distribute their products on the CDs. For example
Microsoft Office is available on one or two CDs. Similarly, Windows
operating system is also available on one CD.
Advantages of using the CD-ROM

Large storage capacity: Up to 650 MB of data fit on a single 5-inch disc.

Smaller than the original 5.25-inch floppy disk, a CD holds almost 2000
times as much information.
Portability: The CD is a portable medium.
Data cannot be changed: A CD is read-only, which prevents accidental
erasure of programs or files.
Sturdiness: More durable than the standard 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch disks,
CDs are not magnetic media and thus are not subject to the same dangers
posed by proximity to electrical sources or magnets.
Special capabilities: CD-ROMs are audio-capable, allowing special
compression of audio, image, and video data. They can be used to play
standard audio CDs and have the capacity to store and record video data.

Hard Disk Drives vs. CD-ROMs

 With the cost of hard disk drives falling and the amount of available
data storage rising, the hard drive is still king of the storage media.
 A CD platter is composed of a reflective layer of aluminum applied
to a synthetic base that is composed of polymers. A layer of
transparent polycarbonate covers the aluminum. A protective
coating of lacquer is applied to the surface to protect it from dust,
dirt, and scratches.

CD-ROM drive

The CD-ROM drive is used with computer to read the information

from the CD-ROM. The data transfer rate of first CD-ROM used with
computer was 150 KBps (Kilobytes per second). It was known as single
speed drive and is denoted by X. This rate is much slower than that of a
typical hard disk drive that reads data at a rate of 5 to 15 MBps
(megabytes per second). Today, CD-ROM drives have transfer rates
ranging from 48X to 75X or more. For example, a 48X CD-ROM drive has a
data transfer rate of 7,200KBps (i.e. 48 x 150 = 7200) or 7.2 MBps. It
means that the higher the number, the faster the CD-ROM drive. However,
the faster CD-ROM drives are more expensive

DVD-ROM

DVD stands, for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc. DVD-ROM is an
extremely high capacity optical disc with storage capacity from 4.7 GB to
17 GB. DVD disc is specially used to store movie films. It is also used to
store huge databases, music, complex software etc.

The latest generation of DVD-ROM disks actually uses layers of data

tracks; it is because the storage capacity of DVD-ROM is very high. The
DVD-ROM drive or DVD player reads data from the first layer, and then
looks through it to read data from second layer and so on.
 Some DVD-ROMs are double sided. It means that data is stored on
both sides of the disc. A DVD-ROM looks like a CD-ROM. Although the size
and shape is similar to CD-ROM but DVD-ROM stores information in
different manner a DVD-ROM drive can read ordinary CD-ROM disks.

CD-R

CD-R stands for Compact Disc Recordable. It is a blank disk that is used to
store information. The user can also write data on an optical disc. The
process of writing data on the optical disc is called burning. A locally
developed CD-R can be used in any CD-ROM drive. A CD-R is functionally
equivalent to a pre-recorded CD-ROM. Mostly the users use the CD-R to
store their valuable data and software. It must be noted that once data is
written on the CD-R. It cannot be changed. However, you can store data
on other part of the disk until it is full. Each part of a CD-R can be written
only one time and can be read as many times. Many utility programs are
available to write data on CD-R but the most popular and commonly used
software for personal computers is "Nero Burning ROM". Windows has its
own built-in software to write data on CD-R.

Today most of the important data is backed up on the CD-R and it is the
most reliable medium. The CD-writer is used to write data on CD-R.

The main disadvantage of CD-R is that information can be written only

once. These cannot be overwritten and erased. The CD-R is also slow in
accessing data as compared to hard disk.

CD-Writer

A CD-writer or recorder (or simply CD-R drive) is used to write data on

CDR disks. Usually, a CD-writer can read information from CD as well as
write information on CD. The locally produced CD-R disks are created with
CD Writers. Today, most of the PCs have CD writer.

The speed of these drives is up to 48X or more. These drives are more
expensive than ordinary CD-ROM.

CD-RW

CD-RW stands for compact Disc Rewritable. The CD-RW is a new

generation of optical disk. It is erasable disc. The user can write and over-
write data on the CD-RW disc many times. The CD-RW disc is also referred
to as erasable CD (or CD-E). The CD-RW acts like a floppy and hard disk
that allow users to write and re-write data. However, the reliability of the
disc tends to decrease, each time you rewrite data.

Both CD-R and CD-RW are used for taking backup of important data from
a hard disk. These are also used to create audio CDs.

CD-RW Drive
You must have a CD-RW drive to write data on the CD-RW. These drives
have read and write speed is up to 48X or more but the re-write speed is
10x or more. The CD-RW drive is advanced and more expensive than CD-
R drive. It can write data on both CD-R and CD-RW discs and also can read
data from them. Today, most of the PCs have CD-RW drive.

MOBILE STORAGE DEVICES

There are numerous types of mobile storage devices. The most important
ones are:

1. Online Storage
2. Smart Cards
3. Flash Memory Devices

1. Online Storage: Online storage is a website on the Internet

that offers the storage of data for free or against some payment through
credit card. The capacity of storage depends upon the packages offered
by the website owner. Through the website, data is stored on a computer
which remains online 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

When you connect to the website, you can browse through your allocated
memory space just as you browse with the help of Windows Explorer on
your personal computer. Thus you can access your data/information
wherever you travel throughout the world. National or international
travelers having laptops or handheld computers mostly enjoy the online
storage facilities. Many companies offer online storage facilities but
[Link] is a famous online storage service that allows
users to store, access, and organize files.

2. Smart Cards: A smart card is a small card normally of the size of

credit card or ATM card. Thus you can store data/information in the card
and sometimes miner processing of data/information can also be made by
its built-in microprocessor. In order to read and write data on a smart
card, you need a special device called smart card reader.

There are two types of smart cards:

1. Intelligent Smart card

2. Memory Smart card

An Intelligent Smart card contains a built-in microprocessor and has input,

processing, output, and storage facilities. Whereas a Memory Smart card
gives only data storage facility. Many digital cameras, laptops and
handheld computers nowadays use smart cards.

3. Flash Memory Devices: Flash memory is a type of non-volatile

memory that can be erased electronically and reprogrammed, similar to
EEPROM. Most of the PCs also use flash memory to hold their startup
instructions.
Flash memory is also known as Flash ROM. The Flash memory is used to
upgrade I/O devices by upgrading the new software purchased from
market into the Flash memory. The early I/O devices were upgraded by
replacing the old circuit board or chip with a new one. It was a time
consuming and costly method. The Flash memory solves this problem of
the user. When new hardware devices are added to the computer, the
information about devices are configured and stored in the flash memory.
It is available in size up to 512MB. It does not require a battery to
maintain its contents.

Flash memory chips are also used in mobile computers and devices to
store data and programs e.g. these are used in PDAs, digital cellular
telephones, digital voice recorders, pagers etc. When you enter names
telephone numbers and addresses into PDAs, a flash memory chip stores
the data. The flash memory is also used in digital camera. When we take
pictures with digital camera, these are stored in a flash memory rather
than on photographic film.

TERM 3 WORK
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SOFTWARE

A set of instructions (in machine code) given to the computer to solve user
problems and to control different operations of the computer is know as
computer software. Software describes a set of instructions that control
the computer. Software consists of a set of programs, procedures and
other related documentation associated with a computer. The software is
developed in using programming languages. A computer program is a
set of instructions that direct a computer to perform some processing
functions.

The Computer software is classified into two main categories:

1. Application software.
2. System software.

1. Application Software

A set of programs used to solve particular problems of users through

computer is called Application software. It is also known as application
package. There are several packages available for various purposes.
These are used by users who do not know computer programming. The
users solve their problems by using ready packages more easily and
quickly. Application software is part of software that helps a user to
produce documents, perform calculations, manage financial resources,
create graphics, compose music, play games, maintain files of information
etc.

Application soft ware can be categorized into four:

(a) Productivity software
(b) Business software: - Software used to run a company. It
specifically excludes games and entertainment products.
 (c) Educational software: - The type of software used for educational
matters or it is computer software whose primary purpose is
teaching or self-learning or it is software designed to facilitate
teaching and learning.
(d) Entertainment software: - This includes fruity loops, PCDJ red,
Music match, etc.
.
Productivity software: This is a type of software that is designed
for individual use and helps a user to work more effectively. The most
popular productivity softwares are:

1. Word processing software.

2. Spreadsheet software.
3. Database Management System software.
4. Graphics software.
5. Communication software.

Word Processing Software: This software is used to create and to edit

documents such as letters, reports, essays etc. The word processing
software provides several features for document editing and formatting.
In. editing process, text is entered into the document, deleted, copied or
moved to another location etc. In formatting process, different formats
can be applied on the text to make the document more attractive before
it’s printed on the printer. Examples of word processing software
programs are: Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Kingsoft, papyrus, Atlantis,
Nota Bene, word star, etc.

Word Processing vs. Desktop Publishing

Both word processing and desktop publishing are similar in many ways
but different in areas that cover the publication of documents.

The similarities between the two are:

 Both tools deal with text that can be formatted.

 Both tools can work with tables and pictures.
 Both tools have many similar features like WordArt, Clip Art, and
text styles.

The differences between the two are:

 Word processing involves creation, editing, and printing of text while

desktop publishing involves production of documents that combine
text with graphics.
 Word processing is difficult to layout and design as compared to
desktop publishing. Thus, desktop publishing is used to work on
things like newsletters, magazines, adverts, and brochures where
layout is important. Word processing documents are common for
simple memos, letters, manuscripts, and resumes.
 When creating a desktop publisher, the first page is blank and a text
frame must be added to add text. This is unlike the wordprocessing
in which text can be directly entered into the blank page.
  With desktop publishing, users can easily manipulate text and
graphics and try new ideas. In contrast to this, word processingtools
are adding more page layout features. Thus, the line that draws the
difference between the two hardly exists now.

Spreadsheet Software: This is the software that helps the user to work
with numbers. It displays a grid of rows and columns on the screen. Data
is entered into the cells of the sheet. The intersection of a row and a
column is known as cell. Each cell has a unique address. The numbers
and formulas are entered into the cells and the computer can
automatically perform the calculation on numerical data in cells.

The spreadsheet software is commonly used for business application such

as for performing financial calculations and recording transactions. The
examples of spreadsheet software are: Microsoft excel, visual calculator,
Lotus 1-2-3, Frame work, Ragtime, Spread32, GS-calc, Xoom office,
Microsoft works, Soft maker office, etc.

Database Management Software: Database management software is

used to create and manage databases. A database is a collection of
related information or records on any subject such as records of the books
in a library, information about the students of a college etc.

Database Management Software stores and manages records in

databases. These records can be accessed very quickly when required.
Examples of Database Management Software are: Microsoft Access,
Oracle, dBase III plus, dBase IV, Paradox, etc.
Presentation Graphics Software: The presentation graphic software is
used to create slides for making presentations. The presentation graphic
software also has pre-drawn clip art images, which can be inserted into
slides and can be modified. Examples of presentation graphic software
are: Power point, Harvard graphics, Apple keynote, Songpro, Zoho, Magic
point, Scala multimedia, Showlogic, Paint brush, Adobe Illustrator, corel
draw, etc.

Communication Software: The Communication software is used to

exchange information electronically. It is most commonly used software to
send and receive information on the Internet. It also allows sending and
receiving faxes directly. The computer files can also be transferred from
one PC to another through this software. Examples of this software are
Internet Explorer, Mozilla fire fox, Opera etc.

2. System Software

System software is a set of programs that control the operations of a

computer and its devices. It creates links between user and computer as
well as controls the execution of application programs. System software
are essential for a computer to do work, without this software no link can
be created between user and computer. Roles that system software
performs include: starting up the computer; opening, executing and
running applications; storing, retrieving and copying files; formatting
disks; reducing file sizes and backing up the contents of the hard disk.
The examples of system software are:

 Operating systems.
 Utility programs.
 Device Drivers.
 Programming languages

Operating System: An operating system controls and co-ordinates the

overall operations of the computer system and the devices attached to it.
It manages the computer hardware, controls the execution of application
programs and provides the set of services to the users. The operating
system acts as an interface between user and the computer. The users
interact with the operating system indirectly through application
programs.

The operating system is stored on the storage device such as hard disk,
CD-ROM, floppy disk (or in ROM). When a computer is switched on, the
operating system is transferred from the storage device into main
memory through ROM program. The handheld devices have the entire
operating system in the ROM. One cannot update this type of operating
system.

Operating system manages all the operations of the computer and

performs basic tasks such as;

 Accepts input from input devices.

 Sends output to output devices.
 Manages the application programs in memory.
 Manages the files on the storage devices.
 Manages & controls the I/O devices etc.

The operating system is responsible for managing hardware resources. An

application program cannot access input/output devices or execute
program instructions itself. The operating system performs these tasks
through CPU on behalf of application programs. The operating system acts
as a platform on which various application programs are executed. The
user requests the application program to perform a particular task and the
application program refers the request of user to the operating system.
Figure below shows the actual position of an operating in a computer
system.
There are two types of operating systems:

i) Single-user: This type of operating system allows only one user at a

time. The most popular single user operating systems are; MS-DOS and
PC-DOS.

ii) Multi-user: This type of operating system allows multiple users or it

supports multiprogramming. More than one user programs are loaded and
active in the main memory at the same time. Popular multi-user operating
systems include UNIX, LINUX, OS/2 etc.

Some of the examples of operating systems are:

 Disk Operating System (DOS).

 Operating System 2 (OS/2).
 Linux
 Unix
 Netware
 Mac OS
 Windows: this includes Windows 3X, Windows 98, Windows 2000,
Windows Millennium, Windows XP, Windows NT server and
workstation, Windows Vista, Windows 95, Windows CE, Windows 7,
and Windows 10 etc.

FUNCTION OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM

When computer is turned on the operating system is loaded into the main
memory from the disk. Most of the operating systems perform similar
functions. The main functions performed by the operating system are:

1. Booting a Computer: To boot a computer means to start or restart a

computer. The operating system consists of a supervisor portion and a set
of system programs. When the computer is switched on, the supervisor
portion of the operating system known as kernel is loaded in the RAM
from the disk. There are two types of booting.
Cold Boot - When computer is switched on from the off state which is
done by turning on the switches, is known as cold booting.

Warm Boot - The process of restarting a computer that is already

powered is called Warm Boot.

Each time the computer is booted, the important components of operating

system are loaded from disk into the RAM. The most important component
of operating system is called the Kernel. The Kernel is the core of an
operating system; it performs various functions remaining inside the RAM,
such as management of memory, input/output devices, application
programs etc. The Kernel is memory resident program of operating
system. It means that Kernel remains in memory while the computer is
on. The other parts of operating system are non-resident and these are
loaded into RAM as and when required.

When you switch on your computer, some messages are displayed on

screen. These include the information about the computer manufacturing
company and information about various components of computer etc. The
computer checks different devices attached with computer. The steps, of
booting process are described below:

1. When you turn on the computer, the electric signals make active the
processor chip. The processor loads the instructions stored in ROM.
These are the computer’s startup instructions called Firmware. It is
the BIOS (Basic Input /Output System), which is automatically
activated when’ computer is turned on and tests the computer
hardware. This type of testing is called Power-On Self Testing
(POST).
2. After the POST, the BIOS searches the operating system files called
system files on the disk and loads these into RAM and then the
operating system takes control of the computer.

If there is any problem in loading the operating system or operating

system not found on disk, then BIOS displays a message on the, screen
such as "non-system disk or disk error".

2. User-interface: User interface means how the user interacts with the
computer to perform various tasks. User runs the application programs,
opens the document, enters the data, prints the output reports etc. All
these are examples of user interfacing. The operating system plays the
main role for interfacing between user and computer. The hardware
devices like keyboard, mouse and monitor etc. are used for interfacing.

There are two main types of user interfaces. These are:

a. Command-line user interface

b. Graphical user interface.

a) Command-line User Interface: In command-line user interface, the

operating system provides a prompt line on the computer screen. The
command is typed manually from keyboard to perform a specific task. The
commands are given to the computer according to the rules and syntax of
the commands. The operating system like DOS is an example of
command-line interface. The keyboard is used for interfacing in DOS.

LIST OF SOME DOS COMMANDS

1. ASSIGN — Assign a drive letter to an alternate letter.

2. BATCH — Recovery console command that executes a series of
commands in a file.
3. BREAK — Enable / disable CTRL + C feature.
4. CD — Changes directories.
5. CHKDSK — Check the hard disk drive running FAT for errors.
6. CHKNTFS — check the hard disk drive running NTFS for errors.
7. CLS — clears the screen.
8. CMD — Opens the command interpreter.
9. COLOR — Easily change the foreground and background color of the
MS-DOS window.
10. COMP — Compares files.
11. COMPACT — Compresses and uncompress files.
12. CONTROL — Open control panel icons from the MS-DOS
prompt.
13. CONVERT - Convert FAT to NTFS.
14. COPY — Copy one or more files to an alternate location.
15. DATE — View or change the systems date.
16. DEFRAG — Re-arrange the hard disk drive to help with loading
programs.
17. DEL / ERASE — Deletes one or more files.
18. DELTREE — Deletes one or more files and/or directories.
19. DIR — List the contents of one or more directory.
20. DISKCOMP — Compare a disk with another disk.
21. DISKCOPY — Copy the contents of one disk and place them on
another disk.
22. DOSKEY — Command to view and execute commands that
have been run in the past.
23. EDIT — View and edit files.
24. ENABLE — enables and disables a service or driver.
25. EXIT — Exit from the command interpreter.
26. FASTHELP — Displays a listing of MS-DOS commands and
information about them
27. FDISK — Utility used to create partitions on the hard disk
drive.
28. FIND — Search for text within a file.
29. FINDSTR — Searches for a string of text within a file.
30. FORMAT — Command to erase and prepare a disk drive.
31. HELP — Display a listing of commands and brief explanation.
32. LABEL — Change the label of a disk drive.
33. MD — Command to create a new directory.
34. MEM — Display memory on system.
35. MKDIR — Command to create a new directory.
36. MORE — Display one page at a time.
37. MOVE — Move one or more files from one directory to another
directory
 38. PRINT — Prints data to a printer port.
39. PROMPT — View and change the MS-DOS prompt.
40. RD or REMDIR— Removes an empty directory.
41. REN or RENAME — Renames a file or directory.
42. SCANDISK — Run the scandisk utility.
43. SCANREG — Scan registry and recover registry from errors.
44. SHUTDOWN — Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS
prompt.
45. START — Start a separate window in Windows from the MS-
DOS prompt.
46. SYS — Transfer system files to disk drive.
47. TIME — View or modify the system time.
48. TREE — View a visual tree of the hard disk drive.
49. TYPE — Display the contents of a file.
50. UNDELETE — Undelete a file that has been deleted.
51. VER — Display the version information.
52. VOL — Displays the volume information about the designated
drive.
53. XCOPY — Copy multiple files, directories, and/or drives from
one location to another.
54. TRUENAME — When placed before a file, will display the whole
directory in which it exists

b) Graphical User Interface (GUI): In Graphical User Interface, the

operating system provides graphical images on the computer screen,
which are known as icons or command buttons that represent objects. For
example, application programs, commands, disk drives, files etc. are
provided in the form of icons. The user clicks the icon to open the
document or to execute the command. Microsoft Windows operating
system is an example of GUI. The mouse is most commonly used in
Windows to select and to execute the commands (or to open any
computer resources).

An icon in Windows is a small picture or object that represents a file,

program, web page, or command. Most of the time, the icon picture
relates to the function of the item that it represents. For example, if the
icon is attached to an e-mail program, it might be a picture of a letter.
Icons are located on the desktop, in the start menu, and various other
places.
The following are the differences between DOS and Windows

1. DOS uses CLI (command line interface), whereas Windows used GUI
(graphical user interface)..
2. DOS does not support networking, Windows does.
3. DOS is a single user OS, Windows is Multi-user.
4. DOS is a single tasking OS, Windows is Multitasking.
5. Dos is a single threading OS, Windows is a Multithreading.
6. DOS uses FAT 16 file system, Windows uses FAT 32.
7. Server administration is not possible in DOS but possible in
windows.

3- Running Programs: The operating system also provides the interface

between the programs and the user. Through programs, the user
accesses other computer resources such as printer, backing storages or
other application programs. Actually, in programs the built-in instructions
known as “system calls” are used which request for the services from the
operating system. When you want to save a document in word processing
program for the first time, the Save As command is applied, “Save As”
dialog box appears. Similarly, when Open command is applied to open a
document; “Open” dialog box appears with a list of files or documents. In
this way, the program requests the services from the operating system.
The application program sends the request to the operating system and
the departing system gives the results back to the application program.
Similarly, in data communication, information is sent and received via the
operating system.

The main services that an operating system provides to programs are:

 Saving the data from memory in files on the disk.

 Loading the files from disk into memory.
 Sending the document on the printer.
 To copy or move data from one document to another or from one
program to another.
 To services the hardware.
 To prepare the disk to store data etc.

4- Managing Files: The data and programs are stored permanently on

the disk for future use. Application software such as word-processing,
spreadsheet, database management system etc. may have hundreds of
files. The Windows operating system also has a large number of files.
Similarly, when you prepare a document, in word processor, it is stored on
the disk by giving a file name. The files are placed or stored in the folders
or directories. A folder may contain files or sub-folders. The operating
system keeps track of all the folders and files and sub-folders. The
operating system maintains a list of these folders and files in the starting
area of disk called the FAT (File Allocation Table). The FAT is created when
the new disk is formatted by Operating system. The FAT area of disk
contains the names of files, addresses of the disk where the data or
contents of the respective files are stored. When new file is saved or name
of file is changed or file is deleted, the operating system updates the
information in the FAT. The operating system also keeps track of different
disk drives by assigning names to them. For example, floppy disk drives
are assigned letter A and B. The hard disk is assigned letters C and up.
The CD-ROM drive has the first available letter following the hard drive(s)
letters.

The files are organized in folders so that you can quickly find or search the
files, a folder can contain sub-folders. You can create a tree like structure
known as hierarchical file system. You cast see the names of files and sub-
folders in folder through the file viewer utility program. Windows Explorer
is an example of file viewer utility program.

5. Memory Management: The memory unit has very important role for
data processing. The processor takes data and program instructions from
RAM during processing. The data and programs are loaded from disk into
RAM. The operating system loads the data and programs into RAM and
allocates the memory areas and manages these properly. When the
program is closed, the operating system clears the memory area allocated
to that program and its data.

During data processing some operating systems use the hard disk as
memory. It is called the virtual memory. During processing, operating
system transfers some of data from RAM to hard disk and reloads again
when required. The operating system exchanges the data and programs
between RAM and hard disk. The data or programs are stored in hard disk
in temporary file called the swap file. The word “swap” means exchange.
This technique of swapping data between memory and hard disk is called
Paging. Operating system spends a lot of time in paging process, instead
of executing the application software; this is referred to as Thrashing.

Virtual Memory is a feature of an operating system that enables a process

to use a memory (RAM) address space that is independent of other
processes running in the same system, and use a space that is larger than
the actual amount of RAM present, temporarily relegating some contents
from RAM to a disk, with little or no overhead.

6. Scheduling Jobs: A job is an activity or operation that a processor

performs. It may be receiving data from input device, sending output to
output device or loading data from disk into RAM etc.

The operating system determines the order in which the jobs are to be
processed. Sometimes, the operating system processes jobs on a first-
come first-serve basis. But in some situations, one user may have higher
priority than the other users. In this case, the operating system has to
adjust the schedule of jobs. Sometimes, a device is busy in processing a
job and another job is sent to that device. For example, three documents
are sent to printer but the printer can print only one document at a time.
In this case, the operating system places the other documents in buffers.
A buffer is a temporary storage area in memory, which is used to place
data. In this case, operating system uses buffers with print jobs. This
process is called Spooling. Multiple print jobs are arranged in a queue in
the buffer.

7. Configuring Devices: The functions of devices attached to the

computer are controlled by the special system software called device
drivers. The device driver tells the operating system how to communicate
with a device. Each device has its own device driver. When you boot a
computer, the operating system loads each device’s driver. If you attach a
new device or hardware such as scanner to computer then you have to
install its driver. Usually the operating system has the built-in device
drivers for commonly used input/output devices such as mouse, keyboard,
etc. The operating system automatically installs these drivers.

8. Establishing Internet Connection: The operating system also

provides means to establish a connection between your computer and the
ISP (Internet Service Provider) Server. Some operating systems also have
built-in browser program used to access the information on the Internet.
The information downloaded from the Internet is managed by the
operating system in RAM as well as in the disk.

9. Controlling Network: Some Operating systems are specially

developed, for networking. These operating systems are called the
Network Operating Systems or NOSs. A network operating system
organizes and co-ordinates multiple users and makes it possible to access
and share resources on network. The account of a new user is created on
the network as well as the account of an old user is deleted if not
required. The overall functions of users are controlled by the network
operating system. The network operating system also has security
features. Each user on the network is required to give a user name and
password to access the network. The accounts of users cannot be
accessed by un-authorized persons.

10. Task Management: A computer can perform many tasks at a time.

For example, in word processing it accepts input data, stores data on the
disk and prints out a document simultaneously. Some operating systems
can handle more than one program at the same time. For example, you
are downloading information from the Internet through browser, listening
to music, printing a document through word processing program, entering
data into a worksheet etc. Each program is displayed in a separate
window on the screen. The operating system manages all these tasks.
Some operating systems have single user functionality and can support
only one user at a time. The operating systems can perform the following
tasks.

i) Multi Tasking: In multitasking, more than one program can be

executed at a time on a single computer. Some operating systems allow
multitasking. In multitasking, you can run multiple programs concurrently,
when multiple programs are running in different application windows, the
one in the foreground is called the active window and others are in the
background. You can easily switch between different application programs
running on the computer.

ii) Multi Programming: In multiprogramming, different users can

simultaneously run two or more programs. This type of tasking is
controlled by the multi-user operating systems on mainframe or
supercomputers where thousands of users can perform different tasks at
same time.

iii) Multiprocessing: In multiprocessing, multiple programs (more than

one program) are executed on different processors at same time. This
type of processing is very fast.

iv) Time Sharing: In Time Sharing, a single computer processes the

tasks of multiple users at the same time. Time-sharing is used when
multiple users are connected to a single computer in a communication
network.

v) Multithreading: In multithreading operating systems, a running

program can start the execution of another program before the
completion of its own execution. The started program (called child
program) in turn can trigger the execution of other programs and so on.
These child programs are called threads and the top most program is
called parent program. Parent program’s execution proceeds on the
completion of execution of all its child programs or threads.

vi) Virtual Memory: Some operating systems use virtual memory to

manage multiple programs simultaneously. Virtual memory is actually a
portion of secondary storage like hard disk, which is linked with actual
memory (i.e. RAM). Thus a greater memory space becomes available to
running programs. This increases the speed of computer and user can run
programs, which are larger than actual RAM space.

vii) Spooling: Spooling is a technique in which an operating system uses

buffers (a segment of memory) to place data before transferring it from or
to input/output devices. This is done because sometime earlier data is
being processed while the new data arrives. For example, a computer
sends some data to a printer. In the meanwhile new data arrives for
printing while the previous data is still being printed. This new data can
now be placed in a buffer, which will be fed to the printer later on
whenever the printer completes its previous job.

TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

In the past, the operating systems were computer or device dependent.

An operating system running on one machine could not be run on another
different model machine. When a manufacturer introduces a new
computer or new model of computer then an operating system has to be
developed to operate that machine. The application programs often would
not work on the new computer because the applications were designed to
work with a specific operating system.

Some operating systems are still device dependent. Now-a-days,

operating systems are mostly device or computer independent and can
run on computers made by different companies. The operating systems
are divided into different categories. Three basic categories are:

1. Personal computer operating system.

2. Network operating system.
3. Embedded operating system.

1. Personal Computer Operating System

The personal computer operating systems are also called the stand-alone
operating systems or single user operating systems that are used to
operate personal computers. The examples of personal computer
operating system are:

DOS: DOS stands for Disk Operating System. It is a single user operating
system used in microcomputers. It is an example of a command line
interface operating system. Microsoft Corporation developed it for IBM
8086 microprocessor computers. It was the most popular operating
system in microcomputers before the Windows.

The DOS is updated periodically. It has different versions like DOS 3.0,
DOS 3.1, DOS 3.2, DOS 7.0 and soon. Today it is rarely used.

Mac OS: Mac OS was developed by Apple Corporation in 1984 for

Macintosh. This operating system provides the GUI. It was one of first
operating system that introduced the GUI.

Windows: Microsoft Windows introduced by Microsoft. It is most used and

powerful GUI operating system.

2. Network Operating System

A network operating system is an operating system that supports the

network. A network operating system typically resides on a server and
controls the devices or computers connected to the network. The
examples of the network operating system are:

* Windows NT Server

*Windows 2000 Server

* UNIX

* Solaris

* Novell’s Netware

Windows NT Server: Windows NT Server is developed by Microsoft for

Client/Server networks. The Server in the network uses this operating
system and the Client computer uses Windows NT workstation.

Windows 2000 Server: Windows 2000 Server is an upgraded form of

Windows NT Server. It is also used in networking. It consists of three
products:

1. Windows 2000 server

2. Windows 2000 Advanced server
3. Windows 2000 data center server

UNIX: UNIX is a multi-user and multi-tasking operating system. It is very

popular operating system used in microcomputers or Supercomputers. It
provides the command line interface. It was developed at AT&T Bell
Laboratories in USA. Microsoft Company of USA also developed a version
of UNIX, which is named as XENIX. It is mainly used in network
environment because it has powerful security features.

Solaris: Solaris is a version of UNIX. It was developed by Sun

Microsystems. It is a network operating system designed specifically for E-
commerce applications. It has very advanced security features and is
used for online transaction systems. The client computers also use a
version of Solaris called CDE (Common Desktop Environment).

Novell's Netware: Novell's Netware is network operating system

designed for client/server networks. It has two portions: Server portion
resides on the network server and Client portion resides on each client
computer connected to the network.

The Server portion of the network operating system controls the devices
such as printers, computers connected to the network as well as
managing the files and application software on the Server. The Client
portion establishes the communication between Client computer and the
Server. The Client computers also have their own operating systems such
as Windows, DOS etc.

3. Embedded Operating System

Different special electronic devices (or handheld computers) are also

controlled by the operating systems that are stored into a ROM chip.
These operating systems are called the Embedded Operating Systems.
The examples of embedded Operating system are:

* Windows CE

* Pocket PC 2002

* Palm operating system

Windows CE: Windows CE is designed for the use in wireless

communication devices, smaller computer such as handheld computer, in-
vehicle devices etc. Windows CE interface is similar to that of Windows
operating system. This operating system also supports multitasking,
Internet access, e-mails etc. Many application programs such as Microsoft
Word, Microsoft Excel etc. that are developed for windows operating
system can be run with Windows CE.

Pocket PC 2002: Pocket PC 2002 is, also developed by Microsoft and is

used on a specific type of handheld computer called the pocket PC. It is
similar to Windows XP operating system and is used to access Internet,
listen to music, and watch a video and to create word processing and
spreadsheet documents etc.

UTILITY PROGRAMS

A large number of utility programs are available for the service of

hardware and software. These are system software that performs specific
tasks usually related to managing computer hardware or software. Most
operating systems include several utility programs but many other utility
programs are available on CDs or can be downloaded from the Internet.
The most important utility programs are described below.
1. File Viewer

A File Viewer is a utility program that is used to view the contents of files
as well as to manage files. For example, Windows operating system has
the “Windows Explorer” Utility program. This program is also used to
perform various operations on files.

2. File Compression

File compression program is a utility program that is used to shrink the

size of file. It reduces the size of file. The compressed file takes up less
space on the storage media. The compressed files are also referred to as
zipped files. Usually these files have extension .ZIP. A single compressed
file may have large number of files or folders. Mostly, the files are
compressed to send the files with e-mail or to upload the files on the
Internet. Through this technique data is transferred from one location to
another very easily and quickly.

When you receive or download a compressed file from the Internet then
you have to un-compress the zip file. The unzip utility program is used for
this purpose. When the zip file is un-zipped, all the files and folders
contained in that file are restored to their original form. The Windows XP
operating system has also built-in features to compress as well as unzip
files. The other popular utility programs for file compression and un-
compression are PKZIP, PKUNZIP, WINZIP, WINRAR AND POWER ARCHIVER
etc.

3. Diagnostic Utility Programs

The diagnostic utility program is used to diagnose the problems about the
computer hardware and software. These programs trace out the problem
and give the suggestion about how to handle the problem.

4. Un-Installer

The un-installer program is used to properly un-install the software from

the computer and all related files and folders or entries. The Windows
operating system has built-in utility program that can be used to install as
well as to un-install a program or software. This utility program is found in
“Control Panel” with icon “Add/Remove programs”. You can also install
other “un-installer” utility programs such as McAfee’s un-installer etc.

5. Disk Scanner

This utility program is used to detect and to remove the physical as well
as logical problems on the disk (hard disk or floppy disk). It also removes
the unnecessary files such as swap files on the disk. The physical problem
on the disk represents the bad sectors or scratches on the surface of disk.
The logical problem specifies the problem in accessing data such as error
in data file, error in FAT (file allocation table). The Windows operating
system has built-in disk scanner called the Scandisk.
6. Disk Defragmenter

This utility program is used to re-organize the files and un-used space on
the disk, so that operating system can access data more quickly. When
operating system stores data on the disk, it stores the data in the first
available sector on the disk. In this case data of a file is stored on disk in a
scattered form; it is referred to as “File is fragmented”. The fragmentation
slows down the accessing speed of computer. In Defragmentation
process, the data of each file is stored in continuous sectors. The Windows
operating system has built-in utility program called Disk Defragmenter
used for this purpose.

7. Backup Utility

This utility program is used to make the backup of the selected

files/folders or entire hard disk on zip disk, tape, floppy disk or CD-R. The
backup utility programs also compress the files so that the size of backup
files can be reduced. It is a good practice to make the backup of the
important data. Important data may be corrupted due to attack of virus or
problem may occur in the hard disk due to any reason etc. The backed up
data may be restored on the hard disk when required. The Restore
program is used to restore the back up data. The Windows operating
system has the built-in Backup utility program.

8. Antivirus

The special programs that are used to detect and remove the viruses from
the computer are called antivirus programs. A large number of anti-virus
programs are available: The McAfee, Norton, Avast are examples of most
popular anti-virus programs. There is no such anti-virus program available
which alone can detect all types of viruses.

A good anti-virus program automatically checks for the infected files every
time you insert a disk or download files and e-mails from the Internet. It is
recommended that you must regularly upgrade anti-virus program in your
computer. The latest versions of these programs are available on the
Internet and you can upgrade your anti-virus program free of cost. You
must visit the site of the manufacturer of the anti-virus (or antiviral)
program and follow the procedure to upgrade anti-virus program.

Another most important thing about the anti-virus programs is that these
programs not only detect and remove the viruses present inside your
computer but also protect the computer from new viruses getting to the
computer.

9. Screen saver

This is a utility that causes the monitor’s screen to display a moving

image or blank screen if no keyboard or mouse activity occurs for a
specified period of time. When a keyboard or mouse activity occurs, the
screen returns to the previously displayed image. Screen savers were
originally developed to prevent the problem called ghosting, in which
images could get permanently etched on a monitor’s screen.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER VIRUSES

A computer virus is a computer program specifically designed to damage

or causes an irregular behavior in other programs in the computer. It can
also be a small program that gets into your computer and disturbs the
normal functions of the computer and destroys the important data stored
in the computer. The computer virus cannot damage hardware, only data
or software is corrupted. The computer file (data or program) to which a
virus is attached is called an infected file.

A program, which is infected by a virus, is known as an infected program.

When an infected program is loaded for execution, the virus is
automatically loaded into the memory and attaches itself to all those
programs that are in memory or loaded into memory.

Basically a virus is designed to carry out tasks like; to be able to replicate

itself from one computer to another, to be able to position itself in the
computer system in such a way that it is possible to destroy software
programs or data files. A properly engineered virus can have a
devastating effect, which can disrupt productivity. Back in March, 1999,
the Melissa virus was so powerful that it forced Microsoft and a number of
other very large companies to completely turn off their e-mail systems
until the virus could be contained. The ILOVEYOU virus in 2000 had a
similarly devastating effect.

A software bug is the term used to describe an error, mistake, failure, or

fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or
unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs
arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's
source code or its design, and a few are caused by compilers producing
incorrect code. Reports detailing bugs in a program are commonly known
as bug reports, fault reports, problem reports, trouble reports, or change
requests.

Causes of Viruses

Following are the means through which viruses may be transferred from
one computer to another.

(i) E-Mail

Now-a-days, most of the viruses spread due to receiving e-mail messages

that contains viruses. When a user opens such an infected message, the
virus is also loaded into the computer memory and attaches copies of it-
self with many other program files loaded into the memory. This virus is
also transferred to other computers when e-mail messages are sent from
the infected computer to them.
(ii) Networks

Another way of spreading virus is by using Internet and other networks.

For example, when you download some executable file or data on the
Internet or from a shared disk on the Network, the infected files may be
attached with the downloaded data that ultimately infects the computer.

(iii) Removable Storage Media

One important means of exchanging data is through the use of removable

media like floppy disks, CDs and flash devices. So, when you copy the
data from one computer to another by using a removable media, the
infected files can be transferred to your computer.

(iv) Pirated Software

The virus can also infect your computer by using pirated software. The
software, which is installed onto your computer without license is referred
to as pirated software. Some companies may intentionally attach some
virus programs into their software. This program will only activate when it
does not find some special files like licensed files on your computer.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER

There are several things that you should do to protect your computer from
virus infections:
1. Use a high-quality anti-virus program, and be sure to update it
regularly. Use it to scan any files, programs, software, or diskettes
(even new software from a commercial company) before you use
them on your computer.

2. Make back-up copies of important documents or files and store

them on separate storage media. Making backups will also protect
your information against accidental file deletion and other data
loses or damages.

3. Whenever you use a computer in a public lab, be sure to reboot or

run “cleanup” before you start your session and log out when you
end your session.

4. Do not share commercial software with anyone. It is a violation of

the author’s copyright to distribute such material, and it is a way to
spread viruses.

5. When you get public domain (PD) software for which the author has
granted permission to make copies, get it from a reliable source.
(For example, an individual you do not know is not a reliable source)
Before you run PD material, use an antivirus program to inspect for
known viruses.

6. Always scan your disks and files after using them on another
computer
7. Always scan all files you download from the Internet.
SYMPTOMS OR SIGNS OF VIRUS ATTACKS ON A COMPUTER
SYSTEM
Usually, there is no simple way to know when you have a virus. Some
viruses exhibit strange behavior that tells you immediately that they are
on your system, but so many viruses mimic other system problems i.e.
“There is usually no way to rule out a virus as a possible cause of strange
software or system behavior on your PC”. Virus writers usually write
software normally designed to avoid detection, and to cause trouble. This
means that viruses are designed to mimic natural processes in your PC so
that you do not think you have a virus infection. They often make your
system behave in strange ways that could also be the result of a software
problem, a driver fault or even a hardware problem. For example, a virus
can make strange things print on the screen but so can a driver problem,
or a bad BIOS setting. A virus can make the system spontaneously reboot
and so can a bad power supply, or an operating system problem, or an
overheating processor. Since viruses are so common, and they can
exhibit so many strange types of behavior, and many of these behaviors
are similar to other real hardware and software problems, a virus scan is
always recommend. Until virus infection has been cleared as a potential
source of the problem, it does not make much sense to look for a real
hardware or software cause. For example, many symptoms of resource
conflicts are similar to the symptoms of virus infection.

The following are some of the symptoms or signs of virus attacks on a

computer system.
 Spontaneous system reboots.
 System crashes/hang-ups.
 Application crashes.
 Corrupted hard disk data.
 Partitions that seem to “disappear”.
 System slowdowns.
 Hard disks that won’t boot
 Computer programs take longer to load than normal
 The computer’s hard drive constantly runs out of free space
 The floppy disk drive or hard drive runs when you are not using it
 New files keep appearing on the system and you do not know where
they came from.
 Strange sounds or beeping noises come from the computer or
keyboard.
 Strange graphics are displayed on your computer monitor.
 Files have strange names you do not recognize.
 You are unable to access the hard drive when booting from the
floppy drive.
 Program sizes keep changing.
 Conventional memory is less than it used to be and you can not
explain it.
 Programs act erratically.

Seeing any of the following behaviors on your computer system should

make you get a clean current antivirus.
  Strange messages: System messages are kind of strange, such as
“NO BASIC ROM - System Halted”). This might show that you have a
memory resident virus a you should take immediate action.
 Odd Text Games: If you type at the command prompt in DOS and
the letters start moving around on the screen in strange patterns, or
each letter you type is changing to a random colour, or ASCII
graphics move around the screen “eating” other characters, or
anything strange like that, chances are high that you have a virus.
 Changing File Sizes or time/Date Stamps : File-infector viruses
commonly increase the size of files that they infect, and some can
affect date/time stamps as well. There is normally no ordinary
reason for an executable file to increase in size (unless you apply a
patch to the program or something similar.) Time/Date stamps are
more easily changed, but still normally remain static over the life of
a program.
 Disappearing Files: If you used a program yesterday and now it is
not there any more, and you are sure that you did not delete it; a
virus may have deleted it for you.

COMPUTER SECTIONS NORMALLY ATTACKED BY VIRUSES

Viruses can enter computers in many ways. Once a virus has entered a
system, it will generally hide until it is unknowingly run by the user. A
virus will not act until it has been run or some pre-established condition
has been met, such as a specific date. The effects of a virus may not be
noticed for some time after it has infected a computer. Viruses can enter
several components of a computer’s operating and file system which
include:
 System Sectors/Boot Records – Viruses can infect the parts of
the system that are used to run programs and perform functions
such as start up and shut down.
 Files – Viruses can infect program files. These viruses stick to
program files such as com, exe, sys, etc. Some viruses hide in the
memory of the computer at first, while others simply attack a
specific software program, such as Microsoft Word.
 Macros – Viruses can infect macro or data files.
 Disk Clusters – Viruses can infect files through the disk directory
 Source Code – Viruses can be in additional code that is added to
the actual program source code.
 Visual Basic Worms – these worms use the Visual Basic
programming language to control a computer and perform tasks.

TYPES OF SCANNERS

There are many different types of antivirus software that have been
developed over the years. Originally, there was just the regular scanner,
which searched through the hard disk looking for known viruses. As
viruses get more complicated, antivirus software has had to get more
complicated as well. In addition to getting smarter about how they detect
viruses, new software is made available to detect and prevent virus
infection in different ways. The following are the general types of virus
scanners that are usually used on PCs today:
a. Conventional Disk Scanners: It is run when the user requests
it, and it scans the contents of the disks, directories or files that
the user wants, for any boot sectors and/or files that contain
viruses that it recognizes, based on the description information of
the virus in its virus definition files. Usually run manually by the
user either as a preventive maintenance activity or when a virus
is suspected, scanning can also be automated through the use of
a program scheduler. This is the most common type of virus
scanning program.
b. Memory-Resident Scanners: some antivirus software now
come with a special program that sits in the background while
you use your PC and automatically scans for viruses based on
different triggers. These programs typically can be configured to
automatically scan programs as they are run or scan floppy
disks when you issue a shutdown command to the operating
system. This type of scanner offers increased protection and
more chances of catching a virus before it does any damage.
The value is in performance and convenience; if you set it to scan
every program as it is run, you have to wait for it to do this
before you execute any file.
c. Behaviour-based Detection: Some products offer an option
where they will sit in memory and look for so-called “virus-like
behavior” or “suspicious activities”. In real meaning, these
programs are looking for the types of actions taken on files or
boot sectors that might be performed by a virus trying to spread.
Commonly, this software will look for and trap: writes to hard disk
boot sectors (like the “virus protection’ setting common in many
BIOSes), writes to floppy boot sectors, attempts to format the
hard disk, or writes to existing program files. This type of virus
protection can generally catch viruses “red-handed”; the problem
is the annoyance of dealing with all the false positives, where the
program catches “virus-like behaviour” which is perfectly
innocent.
d. Startup Scanners: Antivirus products often come with a
special program that is designed to be run every time the PC is
booted up. It does a quick scan of the disk’s boot sectors and
critical system files (instead of a full disk scan which takes a long
time). The idea is to catch critical viruses, especially boot sector
viruses, before the PC boots up (which can give the virus chance
to spread).
e. Inoculation: This is a totally different approach to virus
detection. Instead of looking for the viruses themselves, this
technique looks for the changes that the viruses make to files
and boot sectors. Starting with a clear system, the software
“inoculates” each boot sector and program file by storing a
snapshot of information about it based on its content and size.
Then, periodically, it re-examines these files to see if anything
has changed. If it has, then the utility will inform you; if you
haven’t made the change, a virus may have. The main
advantage of this type of virus detection is that since it is looking
at the effects of the virus, it does not need to know what the
virus itself is; this means it will detect even new viruses without
requiring updated virus definition files all the time. The main
 drawback of this scheme (and why it is not that often used) is
that it generates a lot of false positives. This happens because
there are so many legitimate ways that a file can change without
a virus being responsible. To use this method effectively you
must re-inoculate new files so they are protected, and be
prepared to deal with a lot for potential virus “catches” that
really are not viruses.

EXAMPLES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE PROTECTION

3. McAfee Antivirus
3. Kaspersky Antivirus
3. Node32 Antivirus
3. CA Antivirus
3. Trend Micro Antivirus
3. Bullguard Antivirus
3. Avast Antivirus
3. AVG Antivirus
3. Norton Antivirus
3. Sophos Antivirus
3. AntiVir Antivirus
3. Avira Antivirus
3. Panda Antivirus
3. etc.

For files infected with viruses, these are usually one of three results:

 File can be Disinfected Automatically: Many viruses can be

removed from the files automatically and perfectly by most good
antivirus software. This is not always the case, but usually the
antivirus program can tell if it is able to repair an infected file or
not, and will tell you in advance.
 File Requires Special Disinfection: Some viruses can be
removed but require special tools to do this. If this is the case,
the manufacturer of the virus software will make these
disinfectors available for download on their web site.
 File Cannot be Disinfected: Some types of viruses cannot be
removed from files, or can only be removed by damaging the
host program. Sometimes the antivirus software is what
causes the damage through imperfect disinfection. For this
reason, it makes sense in some ways to try to copy the affected
file to a floppy disk and try disinfecting it there. (Many antivirus
products will back up the file before trying to disinfect it). If the
file is damaged, try a different virus remover, which may be
better at dealing with this particular type of virus. However,
often the file damage is unavoidable this is usually because the
damage was done at the time that the file was infected. In this
case, removing the file and restoring from a backup is the best
option.

WHAT ONE SHOULD DO IF ONE FINDS A VIRUS ON A COMPUTER

- Install the latest virus updates available for your anti-virus
software. (Generally, you can get these updates at the anti-
virus program web site.) Then run the anti-virus, software
 to identify the virus. Most software will ask users to choose
whether to clean the virus, delete the file, or ignore it when
a virus is found.
- After getting rid of a virus, run your anti-virus software
again to make sure the virus has been eradicated.
- Find an Internet web site that contains descriptions of
viruses and search for information about the virus you have
found on your computer.
- If you get an e-mail virus, contact everyone in your address
book and tell them to be on the lookout for suspicious e-
mails and attachments. Do not send any e-mails until you
are sure the virus has been cleaned from your computer.

SAFE COMPUTING PRACTICES

There are several things you can do to help protect your computer against
viruses:
 Anti-Virus Software - If you do not have an anti-virus software
program, get one.
 Scan Your Computer on a Regular Basis.
 Update your anti-Virus Software on a Regular Basis – Keep your anti-
virus software up-to-date. Do this at lest weekly and more often if
there are new reports of a new virus threat.
 Back-up your files on a regular basis. Always maintain copies of
files you can’t do without, just in case your computer gets infected
and crashes.
 Turn off E-mail preview function if your e-mail software has one.
 Scan Floppy Disks from other computers with anti-virus software
before you use the disk. Simply place the disk in your floppy drive
and run the anti-virus software program. If a virus is found, most
programs will give you several choices about what to do, such as
removing the virus, doing nothing, or deleting the file that contains
the virus.
 Protect Your Floppy Disks – Write protect any floppy disk you place
into another computer. If the other computer has a boot sector
virus, the write-protect on the disk will prevent it from becoming
infected with the virus.
 Scan Downloaded Files with anti-virus software before you use or
run them.
 Scan All E-mail Attachments - If you receive an attachment you
need to view, scan it with anti-virus software before you open it.
 Beware of E-Mail Attachments from Unknown sources – If you
receive an unexpected attachment from some unknown source,
delete it. Never open attachments for files that end in .vbs (Visual
Basic Script) or .js (Java Script). Viruses often travel in these types
of files.
 Be Alert – Pay attention to news about virus alerts. You might want
to subscribe to a virus alert e-mail notice from one of the anti-virus
software makers.

TYPES OF VIRUSES
Antivirus and antispyware software is designed to remove and prevent
computer viruses and spyware from reaching your computer and causing
problems with your system. These programs scan the code of every file on
your computer for traces of viruses and spyware, and if found, the file is
quarantined until the code can be removed or the file deleted.

Some viruses do little but replicate and others can cause severe harm or
adversely effect program and performance of the system. A virus should
never be assumed harmless and left on a system.

Most common types of viruses are mentioned below:

Resident Viruses: This type for virus is a permanent type that dwells in
the RAM memory from there is can overcome and interrupt all the
operations executed by the system corrupting files and programs that are
opened, closed, copied, renamed etc.

Direct Action Viruses: A virus that replicates itself and takes action
when it is executed. When a specific condition is met, the virus will go
into action and infect files in the directory or folder that it is in and in
directories that are specified in the [Link] file PATH. This batch
file is always located in the root directory of the hard disk and carries out
certain operations when the computer is booted.

Overwrite Viruses: Viruses of this kind are characterized by the fact that
they delete information contained in the files that they infect, rendering
them partially or totally useless once they have been infected. The only
way to clean a file infected by an overwrite virus is to delete the file
completely, thus losing the original content. Examples of this virus
include: Way, [Link], Trivial.88.D.

Boot Virus: This type of virus affects the boot sector of a floppy or hard
disk. This is a crucial part of a disk, in which information on the disk itself
is stored together with a program that makes it possible to boot (start) the
computer from the disk. The best way of avoiding boot viruses is to
ensure that floppy disks are write-protected and never start your
computer with an unknown floppy disk in the disk drive. Examples of boot
viruses include: Polyboot.B, AntieXE.
Macro Virus: Macro viruses infect files that are created using certain
applications or programs that contain macros. These mini-programs make
it possible to automate series of operations so that they are performed as
a single action, thereby saving the user from having to carry them out one
by one. Examples of micro viruses: Relax, Melissa.A, Bablas, 097M/Y2K.

Directory Virus: directory viruses change the paths that indicate the
location of a file. By executing a program (file with the extension. EXE or.
COM) which has been infected by a virus, you are unknowingly running
the virus program, while the original file and program have been
previously moved by the virus. Once infected it becomes impossible to
locate the original files.
Polymorphic Virus: Polymorphic viruses encode themselves in a
different way (using different algorithms and encryption keys) every time
they infect a system. This makes it impossible for anti-viruses to find
them using string or signature searches (because they are different in
each encryption) and also enables them to create a large number of
copies of themselves. Examples include; Elkern, Marburg, Satan Bug, and
Tuareg.

File Infectors: This type of virus infects programs or executable files

(files with .EXE or .COM extension). When one of these programs is run,
directly or indirectly, the virus is activated, producing the damaging
effects it is program to carry out. The majority of existing viruses belongs
to this category, and can be classified depending on the actions that they
carry out.

Companion Viruses: Companion viruses can be considered file infector

viruses like resident or direct action types. They are known as companion
viruses because once they get into the system they “accompany” the
other files that already exist. In other words, in order to carry out their
infection routines, companion viruses can wait in memory until a program
is run (resident viruses) or act immediately by making copies of
themselves (direct action viruses). Some examples include: Stator,
Asimov.1539, and Terrax.

Fat Virus: The file allocation table or FAT is the part of a disk used to
connect information and is a vital part of the normal functioning of the
computer. This type of virus attack can be especially dangerous, by
preventing access to certain sections of the disk where important files are
stored. Damage caused can result in information losses from individual
files or even entire directories.

Worms: A worm is a program very similar to a virus; it has the ability to

self-replicate, and can lead to negative effects on your system and most
importantly they are detected and eliminated by anti-viruses. Examples
of worms include: PSWBugbear.B, Lovgate.F, Trile.C, Sobig,D, Mapson.

Trojans or Trojan Horses: another nasty breed of malicious code is

Trojans or Trojan horses which, unlike viruses, do not reproduce by
infecting other files, nor do they self-replicate like worms. They are
known to operate within the legitimate software’s until the time comes for
them to be activated to cause damage.

Logic Bombs: Is a code that is activated due to some programmed

occasion. They are not even programs in their own right but rather
hidden segments of other programs.

WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows is a popular operating system. It is developed by Microsoft

Corporation of USA. This is why it is referred to as Microsoft Windows.
Nowadays it is most commonly used in personal computers.
Windows is a graphical user interface (GUI) operating system. It is very
easy to learn and to operate and is a user-friendly operating system. It
provides the commands and application programs in the form of small
pictures called icons. The user gives the commands to the computer by
simply clicking the icons with mouse.

Like other operating systems, Windows has a collection of programs that

manage and co-ordinate the overall operations of a computer system. The
user interacts with the computer by using input pointing devices such as
mouse, trackball, light pen etc. in addition to the keyboard.

The application program, in Windows operating system, is opened with

rectangular area on the desktop. This rectangular area is known as
window. In Windows operating system multiple programs can be
simultaneously opened in multiple windows. This is why this operating
system is referred to as Windows. The user can switch between programs
very easily. You can also transfer information from one program to
another through copy & paste commands.

Windows has different versions such as Windows 3.0, 3.1, to 3.11 and 95,
98, ME (Millennium Edition) to Windows 2000 Professional and Windows
XP Professional. The Windows products 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 are operated under
DOS operating system. The Windows 95, 98, ME to 2000 Professional and
Windows XP professional are independent operating systems.

Now-a-days Windows XP Professional version is one of the most popular

operating systems used, on PCs. Windows 2000 Professional looks like
Windows 98 but has advanced features than Windows 98. For example,
Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional includes
Windows NT technology. The main difference between the Windows
operating system and DOS is that: Windows is a graphical user interface
while DOS is a command line interface.

Using Mouse in Windows

The mouse is a very important input device used in Windows. It is used to

interact with the computer in Windows environment. When the Windows is

loaded successfully, an arrow ( ) appears on the desktop. This arrow is

known as mouse pointer. The pointer moves in the direction in which you
move the mouse. The mouse has two (or three) buttons on its top surface.
These are; left or primary mouse button on the left side and the other
right button on the right side.

Different actions can be performed with a mouse in Windows

environment. The most common mouse actions are:

Point - It means to position the mouse pointer on the desired icon or

object by moving the mouse over flat surface.
Click - It means to quickly press and release the mouse button (left
button) without moving the mouse. This action is usually used to select
icons, to select menu commands or to choose options in a dialog box.

Right Click - It means to quickly press and release the right-button of

mouse without moving the mouse. This action is usually used to display a
shortcut menu.

Double Click - It means to quickly press and release the mouse button
twice without moving the mouse. This action is usually used to select and
open an object.

Drag - It means to place the mouse pointer on an object then press and
hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse. The mouse pointer
along with the object will move across the screen. When the mouse
pointer reaches at desired location then release the button. This action is
used to move objects such as application window, icons or text from one
location to another on the screen.

Windows Desktop

The colored area on the monitor’s screen that contains small images, or
graphic objects and a taskbar at bottom of screen is called Desktop. It is
called Desktop because the surface of screen looks like a desk with
objects you might have on your own personal desk. Actually, desktop is
the interface of Windows, which contains the icons, taskbar etc. that allow
the user to interact with the computer to perform different operations.

Icons

In Windows, program applications, computer files and hardware devices

etc. are represented in the form of small images known as icons. Usually
the icon of the object represents its purpose. For example, icon of “My
Computer” on the desktop is a small picture of computer that contains the
resources of the computer.

The icons are divided into various groups such as:

 System icons.
 Application icons.
 Folder icons.
 File icons.
 Command icons.
 Drive icons.

Normally an icon is selected with single click and opened with double
click.
Button

It is a click-able object used to perform an action. It is like an icon but it

may have a name that represents the purpose of button. Usually, the
buttons arc used to give input to the computer to perform an action The
Start button () is an example, which has both name and icon. The toolbar
buttons in most Windows program applications are examples of button
icons.

Taskbar

The bar at the bottom of desktop that displays the current performing task
or programs running on the computer is known as taskbar. It also contains
the Start button used to start a program or to perform a task. The Taskbar
can also be placed at left, right or top of the desktop.

The primary functions of taskbar are:

 When an application program is opened, a button for that

application program is created on the taskbar. The user can run
multiple programs at a time in Windows. The taskbar acts as a
launching pad for all the application programs being opened. It also
keeps record of all the current working and all opened programs.
 When multiple programs are running, the button of each program is
created on the taskbar. The user can switch from one program to
another by simply clicking the button of that program in the taskbar.
The window of the currently active program is displayed in the
foreground on the desktop. The button of the active program is
highlighted in the taskbar. The taskbar automatically resizes the
program buttons when new programs are opened.
 The taskbar also has a system tray, displayed at the right most side
of the taskbar. It contains a clock that displays the current time,
icons of volume control, waiting e-mail, printing document, anti-
virus program etc.

INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

A language is defined as the way of communication between two persons.

Therefore, computer-programming language is defined as a way of
communication between user and the computer. The instructions are
given to the computer to perform a specific task. These instructions are
given to the computer according to the rules of programming language.

Computer programming languages are used to prepare computer

programs or software. Early computer programs were prepared directly in
machine language i.e. in binary code. It was very difficult to prepare a
program in machine code. Today, there are several programming
languages; each programming language has its own rules for writing the
program. Each language is also used for specific purpose. For example,
FORTRAN is used for scientific purposes, COBOL for business solutions,
Ada for defense applications etc.

Programming languages are divided into two types:

1. Low-level languages
2. High-level languages

Low-Level Languages

The programming languages that are very close to machine code (0s and
1s) are called low-level programming languages. The program instructions
written in these languages are in binary form. The examples of low-level
programming languages are machine language & assembly language.

1. Machine Language

The instructions in binary form, which can be directly understood by the

computer (CPU) without translating them, are called machine language or
machine code. Machine language is also known as first generation of
programming language. Machine language is the fundamental language of
the computer and the program instructions in this language. This
language is different for different computers. It is not easy to learn.
Machine languages only run on the computers they were developed for.

2. Assembly Language

It is another low-level programming language because the program

instructions written in this language are close to machine language.
Assembly language is also known as second generation of programming
language. With assembly language, a programmer writes instructions
using symbolic instruction code instead of binary codes. Symbolic codes
are meaningful abbreviations such as SUB is used for subtraction
operation, MUL for multiply operation and so on. Therefore, this language
is also called the low-level symbolic language. The set of program
instructions written in assembly language are called mnemonic code.
Assembly language provides facilities for controlling the hardware. A
program containing the Assembly language is called a source program.
One major disadvantage of using an assembly language is it has to be
translated into machine language before a computer can understand it.
This is done by a program called the assembler.

High-Level Languages

The programming languages that are close to human languages (e.g. like
English language) are called the high-level languages. The examples of
high-level languages are FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, PASCAL, C++ etc.
The high-level languages are similar to English language. The program
instructions are written using English words, e.g. print, input etc. But each
high-level language has its own rules or grammar for writing program
instructions. These rules are called syntax of the language. The program
written in high-level language must be translated to machine code before
running it. Each high-level language has its own translator program.

The high-level programming languages are further divided into:

1. Procedural languages
2. Non-Procedural Languages
3. Object-Oriented Programming Languages

Procedural Languages

Procedural languages are also known as third Generation languages

(3GLs). In a procedural language, a program is designed using procedures.
A procedure is a sequence of instructions having a unique name. The
instructions of the procedure are executed with the reference of its name.

In procedural programming languages, the program instructions are

written in a sequence or in a specific order in which they must be
executed to solve a specific problem. It means that the order of program
instructions is very important. Some popular procedural languages are
described below:

1. FORTRAN

FORTRAN stands for Formula Translation. It was developed in 1957 for IBM
computers. It was the earliest high-level programming language used to
introduce the concept of modular programming. It has been revised many
times. Its commonly used version is FORTRAN 77.

2. COBOL

COBOL stands for Common Business Oriented Language. It was developed

in 1959. This high-level language was specially developed for business
and commercial applications; it was suitable for handling large amount of
data such as:

 To prepare payroll.
 To process credit and debit account.
 To control inventory system and many other business applications.

3. PASCAL

This programming language is named in the honour of Pascal, a

mathematician and scientist who invented the first mechanical calculator.
It is a structured programming language and popular in computer science
developed in 1971. It is suitable for scientific fields.
4. ADA

It is developed in 1980 and is named in the honour of Lady Augusta ADA.

She is the first lady computer programmer. The high-level structured
language Pascal was used as a model for the development of ADA
language.

This language is mainly used for defense purposes such as for controlling
military weapons like missiles etc.

5. C-Language

Dennis Ritchi and Brian Karnighan developed it in 1972 at Bell

Laboratories. It is a high-level language but it can also support assembly
language codes (low-level codes). C-language is also referred to as
middle-level language. The program written in C can be compiled and run
on any type of computer. In other words, programs written in C-language
are portable.

C-language is a structured programming language. The main feature of C-

language is that, it uses a large number of built-in functions used to
perform various tasks. The user can also create his functions.

C-language was designed for writing system software. Today, a lot of

software is written in C. They include operating systems and application
programs. UNIX operating system is also developed in C. Like assembly
and machine language, C- language also provides facilities for controlling
the hardware. It is also used to solve business and scientific problems. It is
a general- purpose language.

Non-Procedural Languages

Non-procedural programming languages are also known as fourth

generation languages. In non-procedural programming languages, the
order of program instructions is not important. The importance is given
only to “what is to be done”. With a non-procedural language, the user
(programmer) writes English like instructions to retrieve data from
databases. These languages are easier to use than procedural languages.
Thus the non-technical users can access data from databases using non-
procedural languages. These languages provide the user-friendly program
development tools to write instructions. The programmers don’t have to
spend much time coding the program. The most important non-procedural
languages and tools are discussed below.

1. SQL

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL is very popular database
access language and is specially used to access and to manipulate the
data of databases. The word Query represents that this language is used
to make Queries (or inquiries) to perform various operations on data of
database. However, SQL can also be used to create tables, add data,
delete data, update data of database tables etc.

2. RPG

RPG stands for Report Program Generator. This language was introduced
by IBM to generate business reports. Typically, RPG is used for application
development on IBM midrange computers, such as AS/400.

Object Oriented Programming Languages

The object oriented programming concept was introduced in the late

1960s but now it has become the most popular approach to develop
software. In object oriented programming, the software is developed by
using a set of interfacing objects. An object is a component of program
that has a set of modules and data structure. The modules are also called
methods and are used to access the data from the object. The modem
technique to design the program is object-oriented approach. It is a very
easy approach, in which a program is design by using objects. Once an
object for any program is designed, it can be re-used in any other
program. Now-a-days, most popular and commonly used object oriented
programming (OOP) languages are C++ & JAVA.

1. C++

C++ was developed in early 1980s by Bjarne Stroustrup. It is an object-

oriented programming (OOP) language. It is an extension of C
programming language. C++ includes all the elements of the C language
plus additional features for working with objects, classes, events and other
object-oriented concepts. Most of the application programs, such as word
processing and spreadsheet program are developed in C++. It can also be
used to develop database systems and web applications.

2. JAVA

Java is another powerful object oriented-programming language. It was

developed in 1991 by Sun Microsystems. It is very similar to C++ but it is
especially used for web page designing. The Java programming language
is a general-purpose language, Like C & C++, any kind of problem can be
solved in this language.

The Byte Code Interpreter program is used to run the Java program. This
program is also called the Java Virtual Machine. The byte-code interpreter
is not dependent on any specific computer. It can be used on any
computer.

Java applets are developed in Java language. A java applet is a small Java
program that runs inside another program such as web browser. Both -
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator can run Java applets. The Java
applets are embedded into web pages to rotate images, for animations
and to access databases on the Internet.
3. Visual Programming Language

The term visual programming refers to creating or developing Windows-

based applications or graphical user interface applications. The visual
programming languages, sometimes called fifth-generation languages.
These are object-oriented programming languages. These languages
provide visual or graphical interface facilities to develop GUI applications.
The most popular and widely used visual programming language is Visual
Basic (VB).

Visual Basic (VB)

Visual Basic is an object-oriented programming language. Visual Basic was

developed by Microsoft Corporation of USA in 1991. It is used to create
application programs that can only be executed into Windows operating
system. The commands of application programs are appeared on the
screen in the form of small buttons or images and pull down menus etc.
Each of these is referred to as an object.

Visual Basic has large number of built-in controls or objects displayed into
its toolbox during program designing. Using these objects, the
programmer can design the application very easily and rapidly.

Advantages of High-Level Languages

There are several advantages of high-level programming languages. The

most important advantages are:

1. Easy to Learn: The high-level languages are very easy to learn than
low-level languages. The statements written for the program are similar to
English statements.

2. Easy to Understand: The programs written in high-level language by

one programmer can easily be understood by another because the
program instructions are similar to the English language.

3. Easy to Write a Program: In high-level language, a new program can

easily be written in a very short time. The larger and complicated software
can be developed in few days or months.

4. Easy to Detect & Remove Errors: The errors in a program can be

easily detected and removed. Mostly the errors occur during the
compilation of new program.

5. Built-in Library Functions: Each high-level language provides a large

number of built-in functions or procedures that can be used to perform
specific tasks during designing of news programs. In this way, a lot of time
of the programmer is saved.
6. Machine Independence: Programs written in high-level language are
machine independent. It means that a program written on one type of
computer can be executed on another type of computer.

LANGUAGE PROCESSORS

We know that a computer understands instructions in machine code, i.e.

in the form of 0s and 1s. It is difficult to write computer program directly
in machine code. Nowadays, the programs are written mostly in high-level
languages, i.e. BASIC, C++, PASCAL, etc. A program written in any high-
level programming language (or written in assembly language) is called
the Source Program.

The source code cannot be executed directly by the computer. The source
program must be converted into machine code to run it on the computer.
The program translated into machine code is known as Object Program.

Every language has its own language processor (or translator). Therefore,
language processor is defined as: The special translator system software
that is used to translate the program written in high-level language (or
Assembly language) into machine code.

The language processors are divided into three types.

1. Compilers
2. Interpreters
3. Assemblers

1. Compiler: The language processor that translates the complete source

program as a whole in machine code before execution is called compiler.
The C and C++ compilers are best examples of compilers.

The program translated into machine code is called the object program.
The source code is translated to object code successfully if it is free of
errors. If there are any errors in the source code, the compiler specifies
the errors at the end of compilation. The errors must be removed before
the compiler can successfully compile the source code. The object
program can be executed a number of times without translating it again.

2. Interpreter: The language processor that translates (converts) each

statement of source program into machine code and executes it
immediately before translating the next statement is called Interpreter. If
there is an error in the statement the interpreter terminates its translating
process at that statement and displays an error message. The BASIC is an
example of interpreter. The Interpreter differs from compiler that
translates the entire source program into object program before
execution.

The main advantage of Interpreter is that it makes it easy to trace out and
correct errors in the source program.
The main disadvantages of Interpreter are:

 It is a time consuming process of translating and executing

statements one by one.
 Each time the program is run, the source codes translated and
executed have a translator program (Interpreter) permanently in
your computer.

3. Assembler: An assembler is third type of translator program. It is used

to translate the program written in Assembly language into machine code.
An assembler performs the translation process in a similar way as a
compiler. But assembler is the translator program for low-level
programming language, while a compiler is the translator program for
high-level programming languages.

Difference between Compiler & Interpreter

The main difference between compiler and interpreter is:

Compiler Interpreter
1) It translates the statements of
1) It translates source code into
the source code one by one and
object codes as a whole.
execute immediately.
2) It creates an object file. 2) It does not create an object file.
3) Program execution is very fast. 3) Program execution is slow.
4) Translator program is not required 4) Translator program is required to
to translate the program each time translate the program each time
you want to run the program. you want to run the program.
5) It does not make it easier to
5) It makes it easier to correct the
correct the mistakes in the source
mistakes in the source code.
code.
6) Most of the high-level 6) A few high-level programming
programming languages have languages have Interpreter
compiler program. program.

DEVICE DRIVERS
A device driver is a program that controls a particular type of device that
is attached to your computer. There are device drivers for printers,
displays, CD-ROM readers, diskette drives, etc. When you buy an
operating system, many device drivers are built into the product.
However, if you later buy a new type of device that the operating system
didn't anticipate, you'll have to install the new device driver. A device
driver essentially converts the more general input/output instructions of
the operating system to messages that the device type can understand.

Some Windows programs are virtual device drivers. These programs

interface with the Windows Virtual Machine Manager. There is a virtual
device driver for each main hardware device in the system, including the
hard disk drive controller, keyboard, and serial and parallel ports. They're
used to maintain the status of a hardware device that has changeable
settings. Virtual device drivers handle software interrupts from the system
rather than hardware interrupts. In Windows operating systems, a device
driver file usually has a file name suffix of DLL or EXE. A virtual device
driver usually has the suffix of VXD.

A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer

bus or communication subsystems to which the hardware connects. When
a calling program invokes a routine in the driver the driver issues
commands to the device. Once the device sends data back to the driver,
the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are
hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide
the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-
dependent hardware interface.

Because of the diversity of modern hardware and operating systems,

drivers operate in many different environments. Drivers may interface
with:

 Printers
 Video adapters
 Network Cards
 Sound cards
 Low-bandwidth I/O buses of various sorts (for pointing devices such
as mice, keyboards, USB, etc.)
 Computer Storage devices such as hard disk, CD-ROM and floppy
disk buses (ATA – Advanced Technology Attachment, SATA – Serial
Advanced Technology Attachment, SCSI - Small Computer System
Interface)
 Image Scanners
 Digital Cameras