Chapter 1

Introduction
to Computers
CSC 101
Introduction to Computer and Computer
Information Systems
 1. Introduction
• Humans have always found it necessary to perform some
kinds of calculations, and over the centuries, people have
used many devices to perform these calculations.

• 1.1 Evolution of the Computer:

 1.1.1 Earliest Devices
• The earliest widely used mechanical calculating device,
abacus, was used by the Romans, Indians, Chinese, and
Japanese as early as 2000 BC.
 1.1.2 1600’s Mechanical
Calculator
• Pascal’s calculator Leibnitz calculator
Slide rule
 1.1.3 1800’s: Babbage
• Babbage analytical engine
 1.1.4 1940’s: Electromechanical
and Electronic Computers
• The world’s first programmable, electronic, digital
computers were Colossus computers, developed for
British codebreakers during WWII.
 ENIAC in USA
• In US, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer), the first general purpose, programmable
computer was designed to compute artillery firing tables
for US Army. ENIAC was completed in 1946.
 1.1.5 1950’s Commercial
Computers
• UNIVAC (updated version of ENIAC) was the first
commercially successful electronic computer produced in
US in 1951.
 IBM 650
• It was in the 1950’s that IBM entered the computer
business starting with the IBM 650, the first mass-
produced computer, with approximately 2000
installations.
 1.1.6 1960’s and Beyond
• Starting around 1960, computing hardware began to
convert from vacuum tube to solid state device (initially
transistors and later integrated circuits, Very Large Scale
Integration).
Punch Cards to GUI
GUI
 Networking and Internet
• The development of Internet allowed home and mobile
computers, including smart phones, to be used for
entertainment, finance (online banking), e-commerce
(online shopping), research (Google search),
communications (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Zoom), and
education.
• With so many uses for such a wide range of people, there
was a great proliferation of computers and some amazing
computer applications were developed.
 [Link] Artificial Intelligence
• In computer science AI research is defined as the study of
“intelligent agents”
• An intelligent agent is any device that senses its “environment”
and takes actions that maximizes chance of successfully achieving
its “goals.”
• Example: expert systems, Tesla’s autopilot
 [Link] Virtual Reality
• Virtual Reality refers to an experience taking place within
a simulated environment. Such an environment can be
similar to the real world, but might be completely
different from the real world.
 [Link].1 Haptic Technology
• Haptic Technology
(also known as
kinesthetic
communication or 3D
touch) refers to
technology that can
create an experience
of touch by applying
forces, vibrations, or
motions to the user.
 [Link] Voice User Interface
• A voice user interface (VUI) makes spoken human
interaction with computers possible. A VUI uses speech
recognition to understand spoken commands and answer
questions, and text to speech to play a reply.

• Example: iPhone’s Siri and Android’s Hey Google.

 1.1.7 Different Classes of
Computers
• [Link] Mainframe Computers
• Mainframe computers are computers used
primarily by commercial and government
organizations for critical applications and
bulk data processing such as census,
industry and consumer statistics, enterprise
resource planning and transaction
processing.
• Their high stability and reliability enable
them to run uninterrupted for very long
periods of time.
 [Link] Minicomputers
• Minicomputers are a class of
small computers that was
developed in mid-1960s and
cost much less than the
mainframe and mid-size
computers from IBM.
 [Link] Supercomputers
• Supercomputers are
computers that gave world-
class computational capacity.
In 2015, such machines could
perform quadrillions (1* 1015)
of floating point operations
per second. The first
supercomputer is CDC 6600
released in 1964.
 11/2021 Fastest Supercomputer
• In Nov. 2021,
Fugaku made by
Japanese Fujitsu
is the fastest
supercomputer
in the world.
• Before 11/2018,
China had two
fastest
supercomputers.
 6/2022 Fastest Supercomputer
• In 6/22, American Frontier at
Oak Ridge National Lab is
the fastest supercomputer.
• 8,730,112 cores.
• Perform 1102 Peta FLOP/sec
(quadrillion).
• In 6/24, still fastest
supercomputer.
 [Link] Personal Computer
• PCs (microcomputers) are
general-purpose computers whose
sizes, capabilities and prices make
them viable for individuals.
• They are intended to be operated
directly by end-users with no
intervening computer operations.
• In 1981, IBM announced their
IBM PC. PCs became popular
after that.
 [Link].1 Classes of Personal
Computers
• Desktop computers

• Laptop computers
 [Link] PDA’s
• Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
• As technology evolved, it became
possible to make computers small
enough to hold in one hand, and the
portable computer merged with the
pocket calculator to become PDAs.
• The term PDA appeared in 1992. In
1994, IBM introduced the IBM Simon,
the first PDA with mobile phone
functionality.
 [Link] Smartphones
• Smartphones typically
combine the features of a cell
phone with those of other
mobile devices, such as PDA,
media player and GPS. It is the
mobile phone functionality
that distinguished the smart
phone from the PDA.
 [Link] Tablet Computers
• The smartphone proved to be
too small for many users and,
starting around 2010, the
tablet computer emerged as a
device intermediate in size
between a smartphone and a
laptop.
 [Link] Embedded Computers
• The reduction in size, price,
and power consumption of
computer components has
made it possible to install
specialized computers in
many devices as embedded
systems.
• Examples:
• MP3 players, traffic lights,
factory controllers, car
computers, etc.
 [Link] Smart TV’s
• Computing capability has
also been built into many
home TV sets and this results
in what is called the “Smart
TV.”
• Smart TVs, much like
smartphones and other smart
home devices, offer Internet
connectivity and they support
a range of apps.
 1.1.8 Communications and
Networks
• With increased use of computers, it becomes important to
move data from one computer to another quickly and
efficiently.

• A computer network is a collection of computers and

hardware components (printers, modem, routers …)
interconnected by communication channels that allow
sharing of resources and information. The individual
entities connected to a network is called its nodes.
 Two General Types of Computer
Networks
• [Link] Client-Server Networks
• A client-server network employs only two types of nodes:
• A client is a computer used by a user to connect to a network and
make request to servers, e.g., your computer accessing Internet
• A server is a computer that receives and responds to requests from
client machines, e.g. web server.
 [Link] Peer to Peer Networks
• In a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, each node can
simultaneously act as both a client and a server and has
equivalent responsibilities and status.

• For example, BitTorrent, a file sharing application.

 [Link] Internet of Things
• This network of physical devices,
home appliances, and other items
embedded electronics, software,
sensors, actuators, with
connectivity through the Internet,
has come to be called the “Internet
of Things” (IoT).
 1.1..8.4 Video Telephony
• The improvement in
communication speed enabled
the development of the visual,
as well as audio
communication.
• The first major provider of
videotelephony services was
Skype, but Zoom has recently
become a dominant player in
the market after COVID-19
pandemic.
[Link] Virtual Private Networks
• As computers became ubiquitous, many business began
connecting their computers and computing equipment in
private local area network.
• If a business uses travelling salesmen, roaming
representatives, or branch offices, it would be impossible
to construct a private network connecting all its
users/nodes.
• Virtual Private Networks (VPN’s) make use of public
networks (usually Internet) for communications but give
the appearance/experience to users of working on a
private local network.
 How VPN Works
The VPN software will encrypt the message before sending it over the public
network and decrypt it after receiving the message.
 1.2 Computer Definition:
• The computers are no longer simply calculating devices,
but have been evolved into data processing devices.
• In order for the computer to process data, the data must
be available in the computer to be processed.
• A computer is controlled by sequence of commands which
is called a program.
• In order to function, a computer must have both a
processor and memory:
• Processor: (often called Central Processing Unit or CPU)
is a device which does the data processing. For every
action of the processor, there is a numerical code (called a
machine command). The collection of all the codes for all
actions of process is called the machine language for that
type of processor.
• Memory: a place where the data and machine commands
(program) can be stored.
 1.2.1 Information Processing
Cycle
• A computer works by continuously repeating four actions:
• Fetch: The processor fetches a machine command from the
memory.
• Decode: The processor identifies the command action
corresponding to the machine command.
• Execute: The processor performs the action corresponding to the
machine command.
• Store: If the action results some value, the value is stored in an
appropriate location.
Computer Architecture
 1.2.2 Hardware and Software
• Hardware refers to the physical components of the
system.

• Software refers to the computer programs that control

what the system does.
 1.3 Social Effects of Computers
• 1.3.1 Effects in the workplace
• Computing technology has greatly improved efficiently in the
workspace and increased productivity. Workers are required to use
computers and they need to know how to use them.
• Even jobs not requiring the use of computing technology are advertised
online.
• With widespread availability of computing communication, many jobs
that previously required the worker be physically present in the
workplace can now be done from home, especially after COVID-19
pandemic. It’s called telecommuting.
 1.3.2 Social Interactions
• Computer networking sand the Internet has created
greatly enhanced communication capabilities.
• One consequence is the phenomenon of online shopping
which increases the quantity and quality of goods
available for people.
• Another consequence is the expansion of social
networking (the practice of expanding one’s business
and/or social contacts by making connections through
individuals.).
 1.3.3 Political Effects
• The rise of social networking has had an enormous effect
on politics everywhere in the world.
• Barack Obama made effective use of Facebook and
Youtube for fundraising and promoting his policies.
• Donald Trump became famous for his use of Twitter/X.
 1.3.4 Effects in Education
• A application like BrightSpace is a Learning Management System (LMS).
• Many excellent educational software programs exist to help children
learn.
• Educational games as well as many other programs can improve a child’s
skill in a number of critical areas.
• The Internet provides students with a wealth of extra resources for
knowledge and research.
• Computing technologies allow remote learning during COVID-19
pandemic.
 1.3.5 Hacking and Malware
• Unfortunately, the widespread use of computers and
communications technology has given new avenues of
attack.
• We must now protect our children against cyberbullying,
our computers must be protected against malware and
business and individuals must protect their systems
against attacks by hackers.
• Malware refers to a variety of forms of hostile and
intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms,
Trojan horse, ransomware, spyware, adware,
scareware, and other malicious programs.
• Computer viruses
• A computer virus is a type of malware that when executed, replicates by
reproducing itself or infecting other programs by modifying them.
• Worms
• A computer worm is a standalone malware that replicates itself in order to
spread to other computers, usually through networks.
• Any code designed to do more than spread the worm is referred to as the
“payload.”
• The most common payload for worms is to install backdoor. This allows the
computer to be remotely controlled by the worm author as a “zombie.”
• Trojan horses
• A Trojan horse is any malware that is used to hack into a computer by
misleading users of its true intent.
• Although their payload may be anything, many modern forms act as a
backdoor, contacting a controller who can have unauthorized access to
the infected computer.
• Ransomware
• Ransomware is computer malware that installs covertly on a victim’s
device and that holds the victim’s data hostage or threatens to publish the
data until a ransom is paid.
• Spyware
• Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or
organization without their knowledge.
• Adware
• Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software that automatically
renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author.
• Scareware
• Scareware is software products that produce frivolous and alarming warnings
or threat notices.
• Malware is often disguised as
normal software, or comes
embedded in non-malicious
files.
• Our computers are often
defended by various types of
protection elements, including
firewalls, anti-virus
software, and various network
hardware.
 1.3.6 Computer Forensics
• Starting in early 1980’s, the increased accessibility of personal
computers began to lead to their increased use in criminal activity.
• The discipline of computer forensics emerged during this time as a
method to recover and investigate digital evidence for use in court.
• Computer forensics is used to investigate a wide variety of crime,
including child pornography, fraud, espionage, cyberstalking,
murder, and rape.
• The discipline is also used in civil proceedings as a form of
information gathering.
 1.3.7 Facial Recognition
Technology
• Facial recognition technology (FRT) is a biometric
technology that uses an automated process to identify
individual people based on facial features.
• FRT’s have become more popular through increasing
sophisticated devices and popular fads.
• But the use of face scanning and analysis features has
some long-term social impacts.
• [Link] Accuracy of FRT
• With high quality images, the top algorithms tested in 2018 had an
error rate of just 0.2% of searches.
• [Link] Use of FRT by Government and Law Enforcement
• In US, FRT is used by FBI, TSA, ICE, and police.
• In UK, London Metropolitan Police uses FRT in real-time CCTV
cameras to identify wanted persons.
• However, police use of FRT raises consent and privacy issues.
 [Link] Use of FRT by Private
Sector
• Retailers, casinos, financial institutions, apartment
buildings and other private-sector businesses are using
facial recognition to identify customers, prevent fraud and
theft, and authorize entry into rooms and buildings.
• FRT is used to secure access to digital media; open
smartphones and other hardware; and to record time and
attendance in the workplace.