THE COMPUTER SYSTEM

The computer system needs two main components to make it function – the computer hardware and the
software.

The Computer Hardware

This refers to objects that you can actually touch, like disks, disk drives, display screens, keyboards, printers,
boards, and chips.

Central
Processing
Unit

Control
Input Unit Output
Devices Devices
Arithmetic
and Logic
Unit

Main
Memory

Secondary
storage

Organisation of a computer system

The Central Processing Unit (CPU)

It is the heart of the computer. It executes machine instructions. These instructions are encoded in binary
form (i.e. 1s and 0s) corresponding to the operation of digital circuitry (on/off). The Control Unit of the
CPU fetches instructions one by one from the main memory, retrieves data for each instruction from the
main memory as needed, and stores the result back in the main memory. The control unit sends signals that
tell other units of the computer system what to do.

A machine instruction does very detailed work; for example,

 An arithmetic operation, such as addition of two numbers.
 A logical operation, such as a comparison of two values, or inverting all the bits of a value: changing
0s to 1s and vice versa.
 The movement of data from one location to another, including input from or output to a peripheral
device.
  The selection of which program instruction to be executed next, depending on a certain condition.
This ability to carry out sequence of instructions conditionally or repeatedly defines much of the
computer’s power

When arithmetic and logical operations are to be carried out, the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) of the CPU is
used. This circuitry can add or multiply operands, as well as perform logical operations (such as
comparison, AND, or OR).

Main Memory
To be ready for execution, the programs and the data they require must be transferred into the main memory.
The main memory of the computer consists of a large number of locations, identified by their addresses as
shown below.

Address Contents
A bit
0 10111010
A byte
1 01001011

2 11100010

Highest 00111110
Address

The elementary unit of representation is a bit (short for binary digit). The value of a bit is either 0 or 1.
Character representations are built out of combinations of bit, with each character represented by a sequence
of bits, called byte. Thus each memory location, identified by its own address, Can store one letter, digit, or
a special symbol (e.g. *) encoded in the binary code used by the machine. Processors can generally fetch
from the main memory and manipulate larger sequences of bits at one time; such an entity is called a word.
Thus, a 32-bit machine has a word that equals 4 bytes.

A thousand byte is referred to as a Kilobyte (1KB), a million bytes as a Megabyte (1MB), a thousand,
million bytes as a Gigabyte (1GB) and a million, million bytes as a Terabyte (1TB).

Today’s main memory are made of semiconductor chips, which are referred to as random access memory
(RAM), since it takes the same amount of time to access any randomly chosen location.

Even though a computer’s main memory contains a number of such chips, its capacity is still limited as
compared to the total requirements for the storage of data and programs. In addition to this, semiconductor
RAMS are volatile: when power is removed, their contents disappear.

Secondary storage device

To extend memory capacity in a cost effective manner and to provide more permanent memories, secondary
storage devices are used. Such devices include the hard disk, floppy disks, flash drives and others.
Input and output device
Input and output devices transfer programs and data between the outside world and the main memory.
Together with the secondary storage, these devices are called peripherals. They can be configured as the
system’s objectives require.

Input Devices
Input devices are used to supply programs and data to the computer system. Examples of input devices
include:

Keyboards, Mice, Joysticks, Scanners, Terminals (including point of sales terminals), Voice recognition
devices, Video cameras, Optical character readers (OCR), Magnetic ink character readers (MICR), Bar code
readers, Punched cards reader, Magnetic stripes reader.

Output Devices
Output devices are used to deliver the results of the execution to users. Examples of output devices include:

Monitor (visual display unit), Printers, Plotters, Terminals, Floppy disks, Flash drives etc.
The Computer Software
The computer software is the abstract part of the computer system. It is not something you can see or touch.
It simply represents a set of instructions that are carried out by the computer system. There are two types of
software: the system software and the application software.

A) System Software
System software control the hardware resources, carry out housekeeping functions for the effective
performance of the computer system. There are three different categories of system software:

 Operating system
 Language translators
 Utilities

Operating System
The operating system is an interface between the computer hardware and the user (and application software).
It is a collection of programs designed to control (and manage) the operations of the computer system. It
controls input and output peripherals. It tells the computer how to work and set up an environment in which
the computer can execute other application programs. Examples of operating systems are:

➢ DOS (Disk Operating System): it is a single user operating system for personal computers. MS DOS
(from Microsoft Coporation) PC DOS (IBM) are variances.

➢ UNIX, LINUX and other variances: multiuser operating systems that allow multiple users to access a
system via terminals.

➢ Machintosh Operating System (MacOS): was the first Graphical User Interface (GUI) platform.

➢ Windows Operating system: another GUI-based operating system

Language Translators
These are designed to convert programs written in either High Level Language or Assembly language to
machine codes. There are 3 categories of language translators:

 Compiler:- this converts program written in high level language to machine codes. The program
written in high level language is the source code while the result of the compilation is the object
code. For example, FORTRAN, PASCAL, etc.
 Interpreter:- it also converts instructions in high level language to machine codes, but contrary to
the mode of operation of the compiler, the conversion is done line by line. Example of an interpreter
is the BASIC language.
 Assembler:- this converts program written in assembly language to an equivalent machine code.
Example is the Microsoft Assembler.

Utilities
These are designed to enhance the capabilities of the operating system. This is by carrying out tasks that are
beyond the capabilities of the operating system and also carrying out operating system tasks in a more
efficient way. Examples of utilities include antivirus programs, disk partitioning programs, spooling
programs, etc.
B) Application Packages
This class of software is designed for a specific purpose such as writing letters, memo, playing games, etc.
Examples of application packages are word processing software, spreadsheet software, graphical software,
accounting software, etc.