MODULE MODULE | UNDERSTANDING THE COMPUTER. «\, Oe Unit 1 Basie Concepts Par Woh Unit 2 Historical Overview of the Compute F Unit 3 Classification of Computers UNIT 1 — BASIC CONC TS CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Definitions 3.2 Methods of Data Processing 3.3. Characteristics of a Computer 3.4 The Computer System 40 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tator-Marked Assignment 7.0 Referenves/Further Reading 10 INTRODUCTION ‘The computer is fast becoming the universal machine of the 21“ o Early compiuters were large in size ancl too expensive to be ow individuals, ‘Thus they were confined to the laboratories ai research institutes. They could only be programmed by cov engineers, The basic applications were confined to undertaking complex ealeulations in science and engineering. Today, the computer is no Jonger confined to the luboratory, Computers and, indeed. comput have become embedded in almost every item we use. Computing is becoming ubiquitous, Its application transcends science, engines ‘communication, space science, aviation, financial institutio sciences, humanities, the ovilitary, transportation, manufacturing, extractive industries to mention bat « few. This unit presents the background information about computers. mputerrOw 70 COMPUTER SCIEN 2.0 OBJECTIV At the end of this unit you should! be able define the compuiter explain data processing explain data and informat identity methods of data processing mention the churacteristics of « computer 3.0. MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Definitions ly defined as a tool or machine used Computer: [Link] is bas for processing date to give required information. It is capable of taking input data through the keyboard (input unit), storing the input tata in a diskette, hard disk or other medium, the central processing unit (CPU) and sult (output) on the screen or the Visual Disph PROCESSING Fig. 1: A schematic diagrant to define a computer provessing it giving out the re: Unit (VDU), (DATA) (INFORMATION), 4s about ¢ person, abject The term data refers to fa Data: or place, eg. name, age, complexion, school, class, height et. Information: This is referred to as processed data or a meaningful statement, e.g. net pay of workers, examination results of students, list of successful candidates in an examination or interview ete 3.2 Methods of Data Processing The following are the three major methods that have been widely used for data processing over the years . The Manual method,AGE 202 MODULE? © The Mechanical method and © The Computer method. ‘The Manual Method 3. processing involves the use of chalk, wall, These devices, machines or tools facilitate sting, sorting and ions, The manual method of dat pen, pencil and the like human efforts in recording, classifying, manipuls presenting data or information, The manual data processing operats veal! considerable manual efforts. Thus, the manual method is cumbersome, tiresome, boring, fnistrating and time consumung. Furthermore, the processing of data by the manual method is likely to be affected by hhuman errors. When there are errors, then the reliability, accuracy, neatess, tiiness, and validity of the data would be in doubt, ‘The manual method does not allow for the processing of large volumes of data on a regular and timely basis ‘The Mechanical Method “The mechanical method of dita processing involves the use of machines sacha the typewriter, roneo machines, adding machines and the like, These machines facilitame human efforts in recording, classifying, ranipulating, sorting and presenting data or information. The mechanical operations are basically routine in nature, "There i$ virtually no ereative thinking. Mechanical operations are noisy, hazardous, ere prone and untidy, ‘The mechanical method does not allow for the processing of large volumes of data continuously and timely, ‘The Computer Method ‘The computer method of carrying out data proce major features: ssing has the following Data can be steadily and continuously processed . ‘The operations are practically not noisy There is a store where dat temporarily and permanent. . Errors can be easily and neatly corre ‘Output reports are usually very neat, in various forms suc! ett Accuracy and reli Below are further attr indispensable tool for humans. rcted. jnbility are highly enhanced ta and instructions can be stored decent and can be produced has adding graphs, diagrams and pictures putes of a computer which make an &3.3 Characteristics of a Com © Bpeed:. "The oi ae an, manipulate tary 1 + Accuracy: Its secur 4 i han, technological T ic + Stocage: Wes both intemal mod px uctions. This capactt where K—1024 memory locations aoa + Automatic: Once: program is in the computer's men tun automatically each time itis opened, The individual hss litle © Reliability: a machine, a computer does not suf I" traits of ti and lack of concentration. It will perform the last job with the same speed and [Link] the first job ev ' 1 if ten million jobs are involved + Flexibility: tt can perform any type of task onge it can be reduced 10 logical steps. Modem computers ean be use perfarm a variety of functions like online processing, multi programming, real time processing etc 3.4 The Computing System of the computer system, the user an The computing system is made-up computer is operated. the environment in whic The Computer System The computer system is made up of the hardware and the software The Hardware puter hardware comp ui ng unit and The oo prises the input unit, the proce the output unit put unit comprises those media through which data is fed into the keyboard, mouse, } trackb Examples inc compitt and scant sp of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALL nit is made The processin ‘tand the main memory. The main me sry is made up of the Read Only mmory (RAM). the control wi , the primary mem Memory (ROM the Random Access Met 166MODULE? Computing enyironm Building | Furniture and fittings Air conditioner Voltage stabilizer Fig, 2d: Computing environment 4.0 CONCLUSION machine used for'a variety of purposes. Its use 2 to the advantages of the and mechanical ‘The computer is a transcends all areas of human endeavours owiny computer method of data processing over the manual methods of data processing. 5.0 SUMMARY This unit has taught the following: Jecttonic device that can accept data, . The computer is any ¢ process it ‘and produce an output a « ‘The computer method. of data processile is sapetior to the cranial and mechanical methods of daa processiie «The computing system is made up of the computer system, the users and the computing environment. 169AG 2 INIT ; UNIT 2 A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE COMPUTER CONTENTS 20 WU pS 3.0 Main Content Flag éolohs 3.1 A Brief History of Computer Technology 3.2. First Generation Electronic Computers (1937-1953) Muratne 3.3. Second Generation (1954-1972) J 3.4 — Third Generation (1903-1972) 3.5 Fourth Generation (1972-1984) 3.6 _ Fifth Generation (1984-1990) 3.7 Sixth Generation (1990-Date) 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-Marked Assigament 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION TMi m attempt is made in this unit to present in:chronological order the various landmarks and milestones in the development of the computer. Based on the milestone achievement of each era, the computer evolution is into generations. The generational classification, however, is not rigid as we may find one generation eating into the next. 2.0 OBJECTIVES At the end of this tmit you should be able to: the processes leading to the emergence of the modern of Computer Technology ic computing would include a multitude of diverse ih as the ancient Chinese abacus, the Jacquard loom (1805) Babbage’s “analytical engine” (1834). It would alsoAGE 202 InrropucTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE include a discussion of mechanical, analog and dij it 2 : igital computing Ea e Tate as the 1960s, mechanical devices, such as the ee aes Still found widespread application in science and esa rie brid the early days of electronic computing devices, & iscussion about the relative merits of analog ¥5 digital mpnters. In fact, as late as the 1960s, analog computers were routinely used to solve systems of finite difference equations arising 1! a ‘modeling. In the end, digital computing devices proved 10. the power, economics and scalability necessary fo deal with large scale cor ‘ons. Digital computers now dominate the computing world in all areas ranging from the ‘hand calculator to the supercomputer “Therefore, this brief sketch of the anil are pervasive throughout society. ent of $c romping, is limited t0 the area of digital: computers. tion Electronic Computers (1937 — 1953) at various times as the, first ed electronic switches, i the Janical relays. In principle ‘since they would have no ill new at that ti n ity. Electronic “components é could “open” and “Selose” about 1,000 times faster than mechanical switches. The earliest attempt to ipuild an clectronic computer was by J. V. a professor of physics and mathematics at Towa State, in 1937. Atanasoff set out to ‘puild a machine that would help his graduate students solve systems of partial differential equations. By (941, he and a student Clifford Berry had succeeded in building a machine that could solve 29 simultaneous equations with 29 unknowns. However, the machine was not programmable, and was more of an electronic calculator. ‘A second early electronic machine was Colossus, designed by Alan veer ‘This machine played anMODULE 7 importa i i a ft odes used by the German army in World Wid thc inn cf nie a ein to the field of computer science wadlen the coda - me, mathematical formalism widely wal Gis aoece dere is functions. The existence of Colossus Foci sad tig alee a the war ended, and the credit due to el ds ae - oa one of the first working ‘The first general purposes i p programmable clectronic computer was the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), built by J. Presper Eckert and ve iniversity of Pennsylvania. deserves the credit for the stored program idea, the is significant as an example of the power of i that characterise modern computational ognising that functions, in the form of a sequence of a computer, can be encoded as numbers, the EDVAC instructions could be stored in the computer's memory rical data. The notion of using numbers to represent step used by Goedel in his incompleteness theorem Von Neumann, as a logician, was quite familiar 's background in logic, combined with Eckert andAGE 202 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE Lomaagianets! eienng skills, formed a very powerful y during this period was very primitive. The first uit in machine code, i.e. programmers directly ‘were, these first electronic machines were quil nce incering, Atanasotf estimated that i ‘successful computer, the UNIVAC; in 1952, 45 minutes after the polls closed and with 7% of the vote counted, UNIVAC predicted Eisenhower would defeat Stevenson with 438 electoral votes (he ended up ‘with 442). : 3.3 Second Generation (1954 — 1962) ‘The second generation saw several important developments at all levels of computer system design, from the technology used to build the basic circuits to the programming languages used to write scientific applications. Electronic switches in this era were based on discrete diode and transistor technology with a switching time of approximately 93 microseconds, The first machines to be built with this technology include TRADIC at Bell Laboratories in 1954 and TX-0 at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. Memory technology was based on magnetic cores which could be accessed in random order, as opposed to mercury delay lines, in which data was stored as an acoustic wave that passed sequentially through the medium and could be accessed only when the data moved by the I/O interface tant innovations in computer architecture included index registers for controlling loops and floating point units for calculations based on real numbers, Prior to this accessing successive elements in an array was quite tedious and often involved writing self-modifying codes (programs which modified themselves as they ran; at the time viewed asnopuLE? a powerful application of fundamental ition of the principle tha hand ea same, this practice tee ears a ene tee point operations fig in most high level a oe exity, Bompaleehy ban Grae ane coe ener ere carly Computer; but were done in hardware i second as During this seco oe cataae a Sertion many high level programming languages Were Introduced, icluding FORTRAN (1956), ALGOL (1958), and IBM 704 and on he ao machines of this era include the latter introduced VO processors f throvstipar between UO-devieessad-nain memory. ae The second generation also saw the first two supercomy 8 supercomputers designed specifically for numeric processing in scientific mplisatons The tenn supercomputer” is generally reserved for a machine that is an order of magnitude more powerful than other machines ofits era, Two machines of the 1950s deserve this title. The Livermore Atomic Research Computer (LARC) and the IBM 7030 (aka Stretch) were carly examples of machines that overlapped memory operations with processor operations and tiad primitive forms of parallel processing, 3.4 Third Generation (1963 — 1972) The third generation brought huge gains in computational power Innovations in this era include the use of integrated circuits, oF ICs (semiconductor devices with several transistors built into one physical component), semiconductor memories starting to be used instead of magnetic cores, mictoprogramming as @ { i for efficiently designing complex processors, the coming of age of pipelining and other forms of parallel processing, ‘and the introduction of ‘operating systems and time-sharing. “The first ICs were based on small-scale integrati (SSI) cireuits, which rad around 10 devices per circuit (or “chip”), and evolved to the use of medium-scale integrated (MSI) circuits, which had up to 100 devices per chip. Multilayered printed circuits were developed and core memory was replaced by faster, solid state memories, Computer designers began to take advantage of parallelism by using multiple functional units, ing CPU and 1/0 operations, and pipelining (internal parallelism) in ‘poth the instruction stream and the data stream. In 1964, developed the CDC 6600, which was the first architecture to. use functional parallelism. By using 10 separate ional units that could operate simultaneously and 32 independent memory banks, the CDC 6600 was able to attain a computation rate of! million floating point operations per second (1 Mflops). Five years laterNTRODUCTION x tlease a ased the 7 600, he 7600, with its vector processoy also Pipelined Seymour Gr ’ lunctional unit ur Cray, ‘The CDE YeclOt PEOCESSOF and was capa s,s considered to be the first 1, released dur able of executing at 10 Mflops 3 CDE 6600. It emploe the same period, was to ap It employed |, was roughly twice ai e istructio: a md integer functicnsd sa stuston look abcad,separnte Noatn s the point 360-195 tS and pipe 6 ee pipelined instruction si 5 Geifomiicn, ane to the CDC 7600, deriving. much fi endo soy the SOLOMON eloped by Westinghouse Corporation, and the ILIAC IV joint i eget by Burroughs, the Department of Defence and the Fe rene iio, was represeoatve of the fret parallel comer se etait Aten Scientific Computer (TI-ASC) and the : Were pipelined vector processors that ¢ the viability of that design and set the processors. unstrated andards for subsequent vecto Early in this third generation, Cambridge and the University of London couperated in the development of CPL (Combined Programming Language, 1963). CPL was, according to its authors, an attempt ta capture only the important features of the complicated and sophisticated ALGOL. However, the ALGOL CPI was large with many features that wete hard to learn, In an attempt at further simplification, Martin Richards of Cambridge developed a subset of CPL called BCPL (Basic Computer Programming Language, 1967). 3.5 Fourth Generation (1972 — 1984) The next generation of computer systems saw the use of large scale integration (LS] 1000 deviees per chip) and very large scale integration (VLSI 100,000 devices per chip) in the construction of computing elements. At this scale entire processors will fit onto @ single chip, and for simple systems the entire computer (processor, main memory, and V/O controllers) can fit on one chip. Gate delays dropped to about Ing per gate. Semiconductor memertes replaced core memories as the main memory in most systems; until this time the use of semiconductor memory in oat systems wes limited to registers and cache. During this period, high speed vector processors, such as the CRAY 1, CRAY X-MP and CYBER 205 dominated the high performance computing Scene Computers with large main memory, such as the CRAY 2, began to ’A variety of parallel architectures began to appear; however, during this period the parallel computing efforts were of a mostly experimental nature and most computational science was carried out on vector processors. Microcomputers and workstations were introduced and saw wide use as alternatives (0 time-shared mainframe computers.Moputs ah lev lnguages ssh as FP : i 5 imperative style of Pace ae iaatmineyyber ered en, yle of Pascal, C. Fi ng style as opposed to the programmer ‘ORTRAN, et al. 1 p Wie sd [Link]. Ina declarative style, @ computed, leaving many deta Pecifisation oF what should be compiler an, may details of how i shoul be computes to te Une, Bu ee vane tem. ‘These languages are not yet in wide eee om fomisitg as notations for programs tha will ran on Company Pralel compuners (systems with ovet 1,000 processors) Sona established languages started to use sophisticated stent techniques to improve codes, and compilers for vector processors were able to vectorise simple lope (erst sna tions that would initiate an operation over an entire vector) ‘Two important events marked the early part of the third generation: the development of ihe C programming language and the UNIX operating system, both at Bell Labs, In 1972, Dennis Ritchie, seeking to mect the design goals of CPL and generalise Thompson's B, developed the C fanguage. Thompson and Ritchie then used C to write a version of UNIX for the DEC PDP-11. This C-based UNIX was soon ported wo many different computers, relieving users from apps fae ao ‘operating system each time they change computer hardware ora peat is mow de Taco andar on virally &1Y computer system. An event in the development of computational science wat 2 eeMaton of the Lax report Tn 1982. the US Department of Defence (DOD) and National ace Foundation. (NSF) sponsored & on Large Scale Computing in Science: Engineering, chaired by Peter D, Lax. “The Lax Report stated that agaressive and focused forsie initiatives in i ‘computing, especially in Japan, were in sharp contrast to ‘absence of coordinated national attention in the ‘United States. ‘The feport ‘that university researchers had ‘access to high performance computers. t visible of the respi 7INTRODUCTION To computer SiateNec are available free the ‘substantial high perfomm Laboratories, especially the Do sites, h 3.6 Fifth Generation (1984 — 1999) \ \ The development of the next generation of computer systems 4 characterised mainly by the acceptance of parallel: processing. Until thi time, parallelism was limited to. pipelining and vector Processing, or at \ introdtaer se Processors sharing jabs. The fifth generation saw the; \ inttoduction of machines with hundreds of processors that could all be: | Norking on different parts of @ single program. The scale of integration. \ vas meonductors continued at an incredible pace, so that by 1950 was possible to build chips with a million components — and Semiconductor memories became standard on all computers. Dither new developments were the widespread tse of computer net and the increasing use of single-user workstations. Prior to 1985, with each processor working on a different user's job. c Sequent provided a library of subroutines that would allow ‘0 write programs that would use more than one processor, the machine was widely used to explore parallel algorithms and Programming techniques. Ba entueneck and large ystems (using more proceso) s this built. The largest iPSC-1 had 128 processors. kicinsae sara pul Pree carn, 7” pale deter yas avon inthis style of machine, known a x dataparaile ot SIMD, te several thousand very simple processors. All processors i + direction ofa single control unt; i. ifthe control unit sys “adMODULE copy of ®, Machines in this class is cf 8 include the Connection Machine ft Thinking Machines, ic, and the Ml fom Moan Ines - ee ae {this period wan sill dominated by vector parallel models, ti wufacturers of vector processors introduced those pervllitackit there were yery few (two to eight) processors in ee a want In the area of computer networking, both wide fates rk (WAN) and. local area network (IAN) technology: veloped at a ropid pace, stimulating a transition from the traditional ‘mainframe computing environment towards a distributed computing ‘nvitonment in which each user has their own workstation for relatively simple tasks (editing and compiling programs. reading mail) but sharing expensive resources such us file servers and supercomputers technology (a style of internal organisation of the CPU) and plummeting costs for RAM brought tremendous gains in computational i Of relatively low cost workstations and seryers, This period also "& murked! increase in both the quality and quantity of scientific ‘visualisation. -. 4.7 Sixth Generation (1990 to date) itions between generations in computer technology are hard to “especially as they are taking place. Some changes, such as the vacuum tubes 10 transistors, are immediately apparent #5 changes, but others are clear only in retrospect. Many of in computer systems since 1990 reflect gradual ‘over established systems, and thus it is hard to claim they it a transition to anew “generation”, but other developments will sis section, we offer some assessments about recent developments n ‘trends that we think will have @ significant impact on science. hi pees cine with many gains in parallel computing, ‘the hardware area and in improved understanding of how to lop algorithms to exploit diverse, massively parallel architectures. Paralle systems now compete with vector processors in terms of total computing power and, most especially, parallel systems to dominate the Combinations of parallel/vector architectures are well established, and one corporation (Fujitsu) has announced plans to build a system with ‘over 200 of its high and vector processors. Manufacturers have set themselves the goal of achieving teraflops (10,. arithmetic operations per second) performance by the middle of the decade, and it is clear this 179UNIT3 COMPUTER APPLICATIONS [0M ul ONS IN GOVERNMENT, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, TRANSPORT, COMMUNIC XANSI A ATIONS, RECREATION AND THE MILITARY CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Objective 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Science and Engineering 3.2. Marketing Departments 3.3. Agriculture 34 Lawaand Justice 3.5 Health Care 3,6 Transport and Communication 3.7 Government 3.8 The Militar 3.9 Recreation, Amusement and Gaming 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION ‘This unit discusses in detail the application of computers in the following fields: science and engineering, health care, transpos and communication, recreation, government and the military 2.0 OBJECTIVE ‘At the end of this unit you should be to: «mention and explain the application of computers in more areas of life than we have discussed before now 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Science and Engineering Computers are commonly used to find accurate solutions to both scientific and engineering problems. Weather forecasting has now become a daily activity to which the computer has proved very useful in providing information on the kind of weather we are likely to expect 309AGE 202 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE oe a period of time. Such accurate predictions help the farmers, airline pgten navigators and other activities which depend on the weather + their operations. Computer aided critical path study is used to monitor the optimum and efficient use of time, money, material and human resources in the execution and implementation of projects. Such critical path study is used successfully in various projects, for example, the construction of roads, bric buildin, ufacturing, th duct of oe fe gs, manufacturing, the con lication of in computer is the monitoring and techniques, to provide indicators as to how ‘body, economy, weather, demographicMODULE? Age 302 (i) Engineering and Architecture : ®) ae nnd drawing with very high precision, accuracy and at kK ») peo vee : senision the behaviour of engineering oF ©) Developing the prototype of, say, am aircraft, ® motor caf, assembly plant and so on. It is possible to test and monitor the Performance of these systems without serious financial commitments 4) Fabricating, constructing and assembling the component parts of \ machines such as motor cars, aircraft and engineering plants without any hazards 3.2.1 Marketing Departments (@) Comparative analysis of products of two or more companies with 1 view to predicting some arcas of improvement. (6) Market survey, statistical analysis of proportional, market gains and prediction of new market areas. (©) Creation of consumer awareness and appreciation of products, 33 Agriculture | (@) Keeping records of soil, rainfall, weather conditions, land size, crops, and chemicals and ultimately processing the records to } Sstimate soil fertility and yield per hectare over a number of years. yt oe (&) Keeping records, of poultry and animal husbandry farm with a | view to estimating the feed mix and environmental conditions Pa desirable for optimal yield. e : (©) Assessing the behaviour patterns ‘of farmers in a cooperative gs vs venture, and assisting in matching the farmers that have identical behaviour with a view to optimizing their productivity. e 3.4 Law and Justice e (a) Modelling and simulating legislative procedures. ash (b) Indexing, storage and retrieval of law reports. 10 (c) Indexing, storage and retrieval of ‘court proceedings. w (d) Assisting the human experts in crime investigation. (e) Statistical analysis ‘of criminal and civil cases in the law court and estimating the rate of growth. (f) Assisting the court registrar in the allocation of cases to courts. (g) Monitoring and evaluating congestion in police custody and prisons. Identifying the causes of ‘crime and assisting with the provision of i curative measures.3.5 Health Care The delivery of health care facilities has been one of the motable arcis in which computer applications have proved most beneficial to mankind. The computer is used to conduct fast and accurate laboratory tests for blood, urine, stool and so on, The computer is used in the diagnosis and physiological monitoring of patients” life during surgical operation and intensive care programmes. There is also a wide range of application packages for the scientific preparation and administration of drugs, x-Tay techniques. blood bank management and so on. An equally important application ‘of the computer is the computer simulation provided in the training of medical and paramedical staff and students. Computers ate being used to perform routine clerical fanctions in hospitals such as keeping records of hospital admission and discharges, administration of drugs and prescriptions and other hospital administrative functions. Furthermore, the computer is used to provide a data bank of medical history to meet the data needs of health insurance schemes and vital health care statistical reports. ‘The summary that can be drawn about the use of computers in hospitals is as follows: (@) Keeping and reviewing in a timely, effective and efficient manner the records of patients, staff, drugs and equipment. (b) — Monitoring the temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat and a host of other parameters of patients, and raising the alarm when an abnormal situation is about to occur. (c) Assisting medical practitioners in the diagnosis of patients’ diseases. (d) Assisting medical practitioners in the prescription of drugs to patients, and ultimately the treatment of patients. (e) Assisting medical practioners in the monitoring, controlling and reviewing of basic health services, birth rate, death rate, and outbreak of disease and a host of others. 3.6 Transport and Communication The most dramatic computer application is witnessed in the transport and communications sectors, with increased sophistication geared towards making life easier and safer for mankind. Today, mankind world-wide is linked by computer controlled orbiting communications satellites. Telecommunications and computing are today electronically linked together, As a result, information can now be transmitted around the globe on the radio, television, telex, facsimile and so on through wv202 MODULE 7 Man's advancement in information technology has led to the development of the popular computer controlled electronic mail service which provides a more effective and efficient method of disseminating information to users in a computer network environment. The electronic mail service now provides faster, more convenient and cheaper electronic flow of information than. telephone, fax and telex ion. Computer application in communications has led to the use of computer terminals at home, This development enables viewers to read electronic newspapers on television while the teletext provides computerised information to viewers’ on events around the globe in the field of Politics, business, transport, sports, airlines, hotel reservations and many others. The Cable News Network (CNN) is a practical example, Computer application is now felt in traffic control and vehicle maintenance, Traffic congestion in cities is monitored by computer controlled traffic switching system which controls traffic flows. Computer aided input devices in the form of raileards or tickets are used to operate automatic gates in underground railway lines. When a ticket coated with magnetic stripes is slotted downwards into a device, the gate automatically opens for you to enter while you take your ticket. The device will return your ticket if it is valid for another journey; if not, it will keep the ticket and allow you to go. A passenger with an invalid ticket is given a red message and there is no way he or she can enter ‘through the gate. In the delivery of postal services, the computer is used to sort letters according to post codes. In the field of aeronautics, computer simulations are used to train pilots while air traffic movements are monitored by computer controlled radars, The scheduling of trains, subways, in real-time is also aided by sophisticated computer systems, Another important computer application is the introduction of | computer devices to improve personal safety on aircraft and motor vehicles, and also to detect engine faults and help in the maintenance of aircraft and motor vehicles. 3.7 Government The business of governance is serious business. In a multi-cultural, multilingual, multi-ethnic, setting such as Nigeria, a lot of complex and often conflicting variables interplay or are taken into consideration before a broad-based decision can be taken, Computers can assist government business in the following ways:AGE 202 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE (a) Planning (b) Decision marking (©) Policy formulation (4) Monitoring and control of operations The availability of data, timely access to the data and timely reporting on the data are very crucial to the above listed business of government. Computers can be used to: (a) Keep accurate records of government assets and periodically estimate the market value and insurance value. (b) Keep accurate records of the population, behaviour patterns, and consumption patterns of utilities, and estimate the distribution of basic needs such as electricity, water, telephone and postal services. 7 (c) Keep records of government revenue and expenditure and assist government in monitoring, controlling and evaluating the revenue and expenditure, (d) Keep records of government employees with view to: (i) Preventing ghost workers (ii) Estimating the strength of the human resources of government (iii) Producing statistical data on employees (c) _ Issue identity cards to the citizens. check the incidence of ghost voting, multiple voting and other ©202 MODULE 7 Training the personnel through the use of simulated war situations. Reconnaissance surveys, Automatic detection of ‘mines. Monitoring and tracking of planes with a view to bringing down any unauthorised plane flying in the nation’s airspace. Monitoring operations in the military base, Launching of missiles from distant military bases to the enemy territory, Such missiles are programmed to ensure that only the desired targets are hit. Manufacture of state-of-the-art military hardware and consumables, Communication and transmission of highly coded classified military information. Military games, adventures and expeditions. Keeping records of military personnel and logistics. Keeping records of military assets — hardware a Management of military stock with a view to maintaining war- ready stock of materials, ammunition and assets at any point in time. Monitoring the environmental and storage conditions of lethar weapons in order to prevent accidents, like sudden explosions — ‘caused by improper storage. . Generation and maintenance of necessary data that would forecast.AGE 202 4.0 CONCLUSION The universal machine, aes clearly assertion, 5.0 SUMMARY {i this unit, we have discussed in detail the application of computers in ‘he following fields:ae MODULE 7 os a THREATS TO THE COMPUTER Unit | Computer Virus UNIT1 COMPUTER vinUs CONTENTS 1,0 Introduction 2.0 Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Computer Virus 3.2 Mode of Transmission of Computer Virus 3.3 Virus Properties 3.4 How Viruses May Infect Files 3.5 What Viruses May Do 3.6 Deteoting Viruses 4.0 Conclusion 5.0. Summary 6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 7.0 References! Further Reading 13.0 INTRODUCTION i fears of having computers is viruses. Viruses are ame designed entirely for destruction and havoc. ‘Viruses malicious Se ope who cet Ino & ot about PORN © know a lot about computers. 14.0 OBJECTIVES ‘At the end of this unit, you should be able to: nm :r MODULE 7 won memory tesident, which Glet the computer, Means @ program must be run in order to A viru s can be a stealth Virus: Stealth viruses first attach themselves to files on the computer, virus onde oo attack the computer. This causes the Viruses can ae ae a strats and infect a system, and infect with a u : Because viruses are generally written by ferent individuals and do not infect the same locations ‘of memory and or files, thi igi diskette eee that multiple viruses can be stored in one file, Viruses can make the system nm i : ran ever show outward signs: Some ‘vinises will hide changes made, such as when infecting a file, he file will stay the same size ‘Viruses can stay on the computer even if the computer is formatted: Vinee have the capability of infecting different portions of the computer such as the CMOS battery or master. 3.4 How Viruses May Infect Files Viruses can infect any files, however they usually attack com, .exe, sys, -bin, .pif or any data files. Viruses have the capability of infecting any file. However they will generally infect executable files or data files such as Word or Excel ‘documents which are opened frequently. Viruves can increase the e's ste: however this can be IRA Vieuves eating le, wrases wil generally ineease the is of Pon ars more sophisticated vires, these changes can ve hie. Viruses eam delete les as the Mes are run: Because most Wiss Mirna memory and Yen run once the rogram i in memory the virus can delete the file. ‘viruses cam corrupt es randomly: Some destructive viewscs 2% Tt Yard w destroy random daa but insend randomly delete or comps files. ‘Vireses can. enuse-nee protect errors when excenting 2° Tit Ferme ce proected dks Virose may need to wate fhemscives fies ch ve exceed. Brae of is dkete wie poeJ INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE jruses may use @ separate nal file to another extension, Viruses can convert .exe files to .cdm fil file to run the program and rename the origit so the .exe is run before the .com. Viruses can reboot the computer when a file is rum:Various ‘computers may be designed to reboot the computer when run. 3.5 What Viruses May Do nce when you are The following are possibilities you may exper infected with a virus. Remember that you also may be experiencing any of the following problems and not have a virus Once the hard drive is infected, any disk that is non-write protected that is aovessed can be infected. q A virus may: Deleted files, Insert various messages in files or on programs ‘Changes volume label Mark clusters as bad in the FAT. Randomly overwrite sectors on the hard disk Replace the MBR with own code Create more than one partition Attempt to access the hard disk drive which can result in error messages such as invalid drive specification. Cause cross linked files Cause a “sector not found” error Cause the system to run slowly Create logical partitions created. Partitions decrease in size Display directory as garbage Modify order, so files such as Com will start at the beginning of the directory Cause hardware problems such as keyboard keys not working, printer problems and modem problems | Disable ports such as LPT or COM ports ie MEPEIS cre 66 6 6 8 6 6 Cause keyboard to be remapped Altes the system time/date Cause the system to hang or freeze randomly it Cause activity on HDD or FDD randomly E Increase file size , Increase or decrease memory size Randomly change file or memory size Ah Extend boot times Oe iMODULE 7 + Increase disk access times + Cause the computer to make strange noises, make music, clicking noises or beeps * Display pictures i + Cause different types of error messages 3.6 Detecting Viruses The most commonly used method of protecting against and detecting viruses is to purchase a third party application designed to scan for all types of viruses. Alternatively, a user can look at various aspects of the computer and detect possible signs indicating a virus is on the computer, While this method can be used to determine some viruses, it cannot clean or determine the exact virus you may or may not have. 4.0 CONCLUSION Computer viruses are perhaps the greatest threats to the computer. If not detected and promptly cured, a computer virus attack could lead to the total breakdown of the computer. With the aid of our discussion in this unit, you should be able to prevent, detect and clean yiruses in & computer installation. 5.0 SUMMARY ‘This unit has taught the following: (a) Computer viruses are programs written by programmers with the aim of causing havoc to the computer. a (b) Computer viruses could lead to malfunctioning and total breakdown of the computer. (c) Computer viruses are transferred ftom one computer to another through the use of infected storage media such as diskette, flash drive, CDROM, or across a computer network, @ There are antivirus packages specially written to prevent, detect and clean viruses. 6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT hath a virus? x What ei es and similarities between biologics . ie a re im mk te es esAGE 202 / Ps INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIT ; T3 CLASSIFICATION OF CMODULE 7 The Digital Computer 1 eals with, inthe form of digits, ‘The data it deals WA h This represents its variabl ‘er symbols, are converter hether representing numbers, letters or ot ie Bie) Erma anti tosis cempubr. TRECGUA IEEE a processing after which the binary digits are converted back to alpha Fumeric form for output for human use. Because of the fact that businiess applications like inventory control, inyolcIne and payroll deal + discrete values: (separate, disunited, discontinuous) they are best processed with digital computers. As a result of this, digital computers sre mostly used in commercial and business places today The Analog Computer Itmeasures rather than counts. This type of computer sets up a model of a eyaiem. The common type tepresents its variables in terms of electrical voltage and sets up circnit analog to the equation connectiis the variables, ‘The answer ean be either by using a voltmeter to read the iin of the variable required, or by feeding the voltage into a plotting device, Analog computers hold dats in the form of physical variables rather than numerical quantities. In theory, analog computers give sn cxact answer because the answer has not been approximated to the nearest digit. Whereas, when we try to obtain the answers using ® digital voltmeter, we often find that the accuracy is less than that which could have been obtained from an analog computer. It is almost never used in business systems. It is used by scientists and engineers to solve systems of partial differential equations, It is also ‘ised in controlling and monitoring of systems in such areas hydrodynamics and tocketry in production. ‘There are two useful properties of this computer once it is programmed. / IWis simple to change the value of a constant or coefficient and study the effect of such changes noe |, This possible to link certain variables to a time pulse to study changes with time as a variable, and chart the result on an X-Y plotter. The Hybrid Computer In some cases, the computer user may wish to obtain the output from an analog computer. as processed by a digital computer or vice versa. To achieve this, he set up a hybrid machine where the two are connected and the anglog-computer may be regarded as a peripheral of the digital in theTRODUCTION 19 COMPUTER SCIENCE This kind of machine is usually 4 special-purpose device built for a specific task. ft needs a conversion element which pis analog inputs, and outputs digital values. Such converters ars There is a need for a converter from analog to digital real-time response on a continuous Ic has the advantage of givin isis. Complex calculations ean be dealt with by the digital elements, wereby requiring a large memory, and giving accurate results after rogramming. They are mainly used in aerospace and process contro! pplicati 3 Classification by Purpose ing on their flexibility in operation, computers are classified as either special purpose or general purpose Special-Purpose Computers A special purpose computer is one that is designed to solve a restricted ems, Such computers may even be designed and built to ich machines, the steps or operations that the f probh handle only one job. In puter follows may be built into the hardware. Most of the puters used for military purposes fall into this class. Other examples of special purpose computers include: Computers designed specifically to solve navigational probl Computers designed for tracking airplanes or missiles Computers used for process control applications in industries ery, chemical manufacture, steel processi power generation Compu plants and glass rs used as robots in factories like vehicle assembly industries. General Attributes of Spectil-Purpose Computers are usually very efficient for the tasks for , a-purpose computer which they are specially design The’ ate very much less complex than the general-purpose computers simplicity of the circuiting stems from the fact that provision is made only for limited facilities, nee they They are very much cheaper than the general-purpose type § involve fewer components and are less complex. at 4, ans naters 19Moputie? General-Purpose Computers sLpupose computers are computers designed to handle a wid of problems. Theoretically, a general-purpose compa aque by meas of some ely alteibe inten fo Balle problems that can be solved by computation. In/praeti¢e. however, = limitations imposed by memory size, speed and the type 0: puvioutput devices. Examples of areas where general purpose omputers are employed include the following: * Payroll * Banking © Billing * Sales analysis * Cost accounting * Manufacturing scheduling * Inventory control ral Attributes of General-Purpose Computers * — General-purpose. computers are mote flexible than special Purpose computers. Thus, the former ean handle a-wide spectrum of problems, . They are less efficient than the special-purpose computers due to such problems as the following: They have inadequate storage They have low operating speed Gomeuination of the various tasks and subsections may take time General-purpose computers are more complex. than special Purpose computers 34 Classification of Computers According to Capacity In the past, the capac size. Today, how of computers was measured in terms of physical ct, physical size is not a good measisre of capacity Rrvause "modem twehnology has made it possible 0 achieve he, Tessure Of capacity today is the volume of work that a comput sel, The volume of work that a given computer handles is closely tied w the cost and to the memory size of the vefaaat. Therefore, most authorities today acvept rentel price as the ard for ranking computers. Here, both memory size and oost-alvall by d to rank (Classify) computers into three main categories asora? + Microcomputers + Medium/mini/small computers + Large computer/mainframes, Microcomputers Microcomputers, also known @s single board computers, cheapest class of computers. In the microcomputer, we do Central Processing Unit (CPU) as we have in Rather we have a mi ns, Examples a (HP), Dell and Toshiba, Different Types of Personal Computers (Microcomputers) Normally, personal computers are placed on the desk; hence they are referred to as desktop Personal computers, Still other types are available under the categories of personal computers, They are: . Laptop Computers: These are small size types that are battery. . Notebook Computers: These are like laptop computers. but smaller in size. Though small, the notebook computer comprises all the components of a full system, . Palmtop Computers; ‘The palmtop computer is far smaller in size. Ad, te components are complete as in any ofthe above bra ‘tis made smaller so that it ean be held on the palm, Uses of the Personal Computer A personal computer can perform the following functions: * — Itcan be used to produce documents like memos, reports, letters and briefs, It can be used to calculate budgets and accounting tasks It can analyse numeric functions It can ereate illustrations It can be used for electronic mails "tan help in making schedules and planning projects Tt can assist in Searching for specific information from lists or from reports, a tee y» Monuie 7 \dvantages of the Personal Computer The Personal computer is versatile: it can be used in any . establishment + Ithas faster speed for processing data > can deal with several data ata time . i attend to several users at the same time, thereby being able {0 process several jobs at a time . Itis capable of storing several data ’ * Operating the personal computer gives less fatigue . It is possible to network personal computers, that is, linking of two or more computers. Disadvantages of the Personal Computer * The personal computer is costly to maintain * Iti very fragite and complex to handle . It requires special skit ¢o operate * With inventions and innovations everyday, the personal computer is at the risk of becoming obsolete * It can lead to unemployment, especially in less developed countries Mini Computers Mini computers have memory capacity in the range ‘128. 256 Kbytes? and are also not expensive but reliable and smaller in size compare to Mainframe. They were first introduced in 1965; when DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) built the PDP — § 04 ie ee -Other mini computers are Mainframe Computers mainframe Computers, often ca ‘apacity of the Order of ‘4 bytes’ "xecute Up to 100 MIPS (Meanw, led number crunchers have memory and are very €xpensive. They can hile Instructions Per Second). They ‘ystems and are used by many people for a variety ofmwTRODUCTIC 4.0 CONCLUSION Computers are classified based on three major criteria namely size, (YP of signal being processed, and purpose, The classification adopted at any Point in time depends on the issues involved. For instance, if our go# to process different kinds of signals or to accept one type of sign convert to another form of signal, we should look in the realm of analog or digital or even the hybrid computers. This, of course, calls for a converter such as analog to digital converter or digital to analog converter as the case may be. 1 is nd 5.0 SUMMARY In this unit we have been able to study the following: * Computers can be classified based on three major criteria: size, type of signal being processed, and purpose. * Based on size, computers are classified as mainframe, mini computer and microcomputer. * Based on the type of signal being processed, computers are classified as analog, digital and hybrid * Based on purpose. computers are classified as general-purpose or special-purpose computers. * — Microcomputers now come in different forms due to the continued reduction in size as a resuilt of advances in electronic technology. Microcomputers could be desktop, laptop or palmtop. 6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT 1, Classify computers based on type of signal. 2. Based on the signal being processed, to what category each of these computing equipment belongs: petrol pump, thermometer, cellphone, anti-aircraft radar control in the military, and weather forecasting equipment at the meteorological station. =