Introduction to Computer

The word “Computer”, derived from Latin. The 4 functions of computer:

1. Input
2. Processing
3. Output
4. Storage

Data: Unprocessed raw facts and figures.

Information – Processed and Organized form of data.

History of Computer:

ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

EDSAC - Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator

Generations of Computer: Computers are built of electromechanical, before generation.
Imp Points:

1. Siddhartha was the first computer developed in India.

2. Alan Turing is known as the father of the modern computer.
3. John Von Neumann was introduced first architecture of computer in the year 1948.

Classification of Computer:

1. Micro Computer: Portable Computer. E.g., PC, Laptop/Ultra book/Notebook, Handheld or

Palmtop, Tablet Computer, Workstation Computer.
2. Mainframe Computer: These types of computers having large internal memory storage and
comprehensive range of software. Mainframe computer serves as a backbone for the entire
business world. It is considered as the heart of a network of computers or terminals that allow a
large number of people to work at the same time.
3. Mini Computer: These are being used as central computer which is known as “Server”.
4. Super Computer: The speeds of supercomputers are measured in FLOPS (Floating Point
Operations per Second).
a. CRAY-1 was the world’s first supercomputer introduced by Seymour R CRAY in 1976.
b. PARAM was the first supercomputer developed in India in 1990. Latest - PARAM
Rudra Supercomputer (inaugurated in Sep - 2024).
5. Analog Computer – Speedometer, Seismograph etc.,
6. Digital Computer – Desktop (PC)
7. Hybrid Computer – ECG and DIALYSIS machines.

Computer Architecture:
System unit is a metal or plastic
case that holds all the physical parts of
the computer. The components that
process data are located in it.

Input Unit: gives info to computer. Ex:

Keyboard, Mouse etc. The functions
are:
 1. It accepts the instructions and data from the user.
2. It converts these instructions and data in computer in acceptable format.
3. It supplies the converted instructions and data to the computer system for further processing.

Output Unit: displays the result to user. Ex: Monitor, Printer, Plotter. The functions are:

1. It converts the coded results (which cannot be easily understood by user) to human acceptable
form.

Central Processing Unit: It consists of a set of registers, arithmetic logic unit and control unit, which
together interpret and execute instructions in assembly language. It is a Single Integrated Circuit and
microprocessor.

1. The CPU transfers instructions and input data from main memory (Primary Storage unit) to
registers, i.e. internal memory.
2. The CPU executes the instructions in the stored sequence.
3. When necessary, CPU transfers output data from registers to main memory.

The sub – systems of CPU are:

 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): ALU contains

the electronic circuitry that executes all
arithmetic and logical operations on the
available data. ALU uses registers to hold the
data that is being processed. The operations
performed are:
o Logical operations (AND, NOT, OR, XOR).
o Arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).
o Bit-shifting operations (shifting or rotating a word by a specified number of bits to the
left or right with or without sign extension).
o Comparison operations (=, <, < =, >, > =)
 Control Unit: CU coordinates with the input and output devices of a computer. It directs the
computer to carry out stored program instructions by communicating with the ALU and the
registers. It organizes the processing of data and instructions.
o The basic function of control unit is to fetch the instruction stored in the main memory,
identify the operations and the devices involved in it and accordingly generate control
signals.
 Memory Unit: It has primary memory (main memory) and secondary memory (auxiliary
memory).
o The input data which is to be processed is brought into main memory before processing.
o Secondary unit is used to permanently store data, programs and output. This unit does
not deal directly with CPU.

Motherboard: also known as the main board (or) logic board (or) system board (or) planar board.
All the other electronic devices and circuits of computer system are attached to this board like, CPU,
ROM, RAM, expansion slots, PCI slots and USB ports.
Computer Bus: A bus is a set of wires used for interconnection, where each wire can carry one bit of
data. In other words, bus is a set of electronic signal pathways that allows information and signals to
travel between components inside or outside of a computer.

1. Internal Bus/System Bus  connects components inside the motherboard like CPU and system
memory. Ex: Control bus, Address Bus, Data Bus.
2. External Bus: also called Expansion Bus

NOTES:

 Buffer is a temporary storage where register holds the data for further execution.
 Accumulator is a register in a CPU in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are
stored.
 The speed of processor is measured in millions of cycles per second or megahertz (MHz) by
clock speed.

Instruction Cycle: sequence of events that takes place as an

instruction is read from memory and executed.

1. Fetching the instruction from the memory.

2. Decoding the instruction for operation.
3. Executing the instruction.
4. Storing in memory.

The processor must have two inputs: instructions and data. The
instructions tell the processor what actions are needed to be performed on the data. An instruction is
further divided into two parts: operation (op-code) and operand.

 The op-code represents action that the processor must execute and operand defines the
parameters of the action and depends on the operation.

NOTES:

1. Machine cycle is defined by the time that takes to fetch two operands from registers and
performs ALU operation and stores the result in a register.
2. Pipelining improves execution speed by putting the execution steps of several instructions into parallel.
It is called implement instruction prefetch.

Computer Hardware: physical components of a computer that can be seen and touched by
the user.

Input devices: an electro mechanical device that allows the user to feed data into the computer for
analysis and storage and to give commands to the computer. They accept instructions from the user
and convert the accepted instructions into the machine language. Ex: keyboard, mouse, trackball,
joystick, light pen, touch screen, barcode reader, OMR, OCR, MICR, smart card reader, biometric sensor, scanner,
Mic, web cam, PC card etc.
Imp Points:

1. Cursor Control Keys: 4 (left, right, up, down).

2. Shift Key also called Combination Key.
3. Shortcut key to open start menu  Windows key (or) Ctrl + ESC.
4. QWERTY keyboard has 104 keys.
5. Caps Lock and Num Lock keys are called “Toggle Keys”.
6. Shift, Ctrl, Alt keys are called “Modifier Keys”.
7. Dot Pitch: It refers to the diagonal distance between two colored pixels. The smaller the dot
pitch, the better the resolution.
8. Refresh Rate: It is the number by which per second. The higher the refresh rate, the more solid
the image looks on the screen.

Computer Memory:
Primary Memory/Main Memory/Internal Memory: Main
memory is volatile in nature; it means that when the power is
turned OFF, the contents of this memory are lost forever. It is
classified into:

1. RAM: also called read/write memory.

a. The programs and data that the CPU requires
during execution of a program are stored in this
memory.

b. It is a volatile memory as the

data loses when the power is
turned off.
c. RAM is further classified into
two types- SRAM (Static
Random Access Memory) and
DRAM (Dynamic Random
Access Memory).
2. ROM:
a. Stores crucial information
essential to operate the
system, like the program
essential to boot the computer.
b. It is not volatile.
c. Always retains its data.
d. Used in embedded systems or where the programming needs no change.
e. Used in calculators and peripheral devices.
f. ROM is further classified into 3 types:
i. PROM (Programmable read-only memory) – It can be programmed by user. Once
programmed, the data and instructions in it cannot be changed.
 ii. EPROM (Erasable Programmable read only memory) – It can be reprogrammed. To
erase data from it, expose it to ultra violet light. To reprogram it, erase all the
previous data.
iii. EEPROM (Electrically erasable programmable read only memory) – The data can be
erased by applying electric field, no need of ultra violet light. We can erase only
portions of the chip. It is most flexible type of ROM and is now commonly used
for holding BIOS.

NOTE: Flash Memory: It is a kind of semiconductor based non-volatile rewritable memory, used in
digital camera, mobile phone, printer, etc.

Secondary Memory/Auxiliary Memory/Permanent

Memory: Data in secondary memory cannot be
processed directly by the CPU, it must first be copied
into primary memory, i.e. RAM. It is also non - volatile
in nature. Examples are:

1. Magnetic Storage: Hard disk, Floppy Disk,

Magnetic Tape
2. Optical Storage: CD, DVD, Blu – ray Disc.
3. Solid State Storage: Pen/Flash Drive, Memory
Card.

Basic units of Memory measurement:

Operating System:
An Operating System (OS) is a program which acts as an interface between the user and the
computer hardware. The functions are:

1. Process Management
2. Memory Management
3. File Management
4. Device Management
Types:

1. Batch Processing Operating System: In this operating system, a number of jobs are put together
and executed as a group. Ex: UNIX.
2. Single User Operating System: Operating system for personal computer (PC) is a single user
OS. Ex: MS – DOS, Windows 9X.
3. Multi User Operating System: It is used in computer networks that allow same data and
applications to be accessed by multiple users at the same time. Ex: OpenVMS (Virtual Memory
based OS).
4. Multi Tasking OS: It also allows the user to switch between the running applications. Ex:
Linux, UNIX, Windows 95.
5. Time Sharing OS: It allows multiple users or processes to concurrently share the same system
resources, such as the CPU, memory, and peripherals. Ex: Mac OS.
6. Real Time OS: These operating systems are designed to respond to an event within a
predetermined time. They are often used in applications such as flight reservation system,
military applications, etc. Ex: LINUX.

User Interface:

1. Graphical User Interface (GUI): It enables a

person to communicate with a computer through
the use of symbols, visual metaphors and
pointing devices.
2. Character User Interface (CUI)/Command Line
Interface (CLI): CUI is a mechanism of
interacting with a computer system or software by
typing, commands to perform specific tasks.
CUI only uses text types one after another just as
commands used in MS-DOS.

NOTES:

1. Spooling is the process of sending data to a spool (or buffers or temporary storage area) of
computer’s memory.
2. Kernel is the core of the operating system that supports the process by providing a path to the
peripheral devices.

Programming Languages:
Low Level Language (LLL): 2 types

1. Machine Language/Machine Code/Object Code/Binary Language: Only language

understood by the computers.
2. Assembly Language: It uses structured commands as substitutions for numbers, allowing
humans to read the code easier than looking at binary codes.
Medium LL: It is designed to improve the translated code before it is executed by the processor.

High LL: The main advantage of high level languages over low level languages is that they are easier to
read, write and understand. Ex: BASIC, C, FORTRAN, Java, Pascal, etc.

Language Translator:

1. Assembler: It converts a program written in assembly language into machine language.

Assembly language consists of mnemonic codes, which are difficult to learn and are machine
dependent.
2. Interpreter: It converts a HLL program into machine language by converting it line-by-line. If
there is any error in any line, it stops the execution of the program immediately and reports to
the user at the same time.
3. Complier: It converts HLL program into machine language, which can be understood by the
processor. For each high level language, the machine requires a separate compiler. Compiler
converts the entire HLL program in one go and reports all the errors of the program along with
the line numbers.
Components of Microsoft Word:

1. Title Bar: It shows the name of the application and name of the file. It consists of three control
buttons, i.e. Minimize, Maximize, and Close.
2. Standard/Quick Access Toolbar: It displays the symbol for the common operation like Open,
Print, Save, etc.
3. Ribbon: It is a set of tools and commands across the top of the screen. It consists of a panel of
commands which are organized into a set of tabs. The Ribbion Tabs are:
a. Home tab Consists of Clipboard (Cut, Copy, Paste), Font (Size, Color, Bold, Italic,
Underline), Paragraph (Bullets/ Numbering, Indent), Styles, Editing (Find and Replace).
b. Insert tab Consists of Pages (Cover Page, Blank Page, Page Break), Tables (Table),
Illustrations (Picture, ClipArt, Shapes, SmartArt, Chart), Links (Hyperlink, Book mark,
cross-reference), Header & Footer, Text (TextBox, Date & Time, Object), Symbols
(Equation, Symbol). Page number
c. Page Layout tab Consists of Themes, Page Setup, Page Background, Paragraph, and
Arrange.
d. References tab Consists of Table of Contents, Footnotes, Citations & Bibliography,
Captions, Index, and Table of Authorities.
e. Mailings tab Consists of Create, Start Mail Merge, Write and Insert Fields, Preview
Results and Finish.
f. Review tab consists of Proofing (Spelling & Grammar, Thesaurus, and Translate),
Comments, Tracking, Changes, Compare, and Protect.
g. View tab Consists of Document Views (Print Layout, Full Screen Reading), Show/Hide,
Zoom, Window, Macros, etc.
4. Ruler: It appears on the top of the document window. It allows to format the horizontal or
vertical alignment of text in a document.
5. Status Bar: It displays the information such as page number, current page, current template,
column number and line number, etc.
6. Work Area: It is the rectangular area of the document window that can be use to type the text.
It is also called as workplace.
7. Cursor: It is also called insertion pointer. It denotes the place where text, graphics or any other
item would be placed when you type, overwrite or insert them.
 Ctrl + Shift + W --> It underlines only words but not the spaces between them

Components of Microsoft Excel:

 1. Ribbon: Excel Ribbon is the technical term for the row of Tabs above Formula bar. Excel
Ribbon is a strip of buttons and icons in Excel Workbook window where Excel commands are
located. The buttons and icons of Excel Ribbon are grouped in to different tabs based on the
category of their functionalities. Clicking a tab in the tab list changes the Tab of Excel Ribbon.
2. Ribbon Options: When you click Ribbon Options button, three different options related with
the display of Ribbon is shown. Available options in Excel 2019 are "Auto-hide Ribbon", "Show
Tabs", "Show Tabs and Commands".
3. Tab List: Tab List is where different Ribbons are displayed as Tabs in Excel Ribbon. Different
Tabs contain commands with similar functionalities which are grouped together.
4. Quick Access Tool Bar: Quick Access Tool Bar (QAT) is located above Excel Ribbon. It is used
to hold commonly used commands. Quick Access Tool Bar (QAT) is always visible, regardless
of which tab is selected. By default, the Quick Access Tool Bar (QAT) contains the Save, Undo
and Redo button. The Quick Access Tool Bar (QAT) is customizable so that we can add
commonly used commands there.
5. Formula bar: Excel Formula bar is located at the top of the Excel Worksheet window. Excel
Formula bar has three parts. The left most is the "Cell Name Box", middle one "Formula Bar
Buttons" and right one is the contents of the currently selected cell. The data or formula entered
in the Active cell will appear in right-most section.
6. Column Letters: Each column in Excel Worksheet is identified using letters from A to XFD.
From A to XFD, there are total of 16384 columns available.
7. Row Numbers: Each Row in Excel Worksheet is identified using numbers from 1 to 1048576.
From 1 to 1048576, there are total of 1048576 rows available.
8. Active Cell: The thick border outline around the cell indicates that it is the Active cell inside
Excel Worksheet. The Active cell inside Excel Worksheet is used to identify the cell which is
currently active. The Active cell is where the focus is on and where the data will be entered.
9. Cell Name Box: Cell Name box is where the Active Cell Name is displayed.

Shortcut keys of EXCEL:

Shift + F11 - Insert new worksheet

DATABASE:
Data: Raw and unorganized facts.

Information: When data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context to make it
useful or meaningful.

Types:

1. Network DB: data is represented as a collection of records.

2. Hierarchical Database: data is organized in the form of tree with nodes.
3. Relational Database: data is stored in the form of tables.