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Chapter1 Computer System

Q) What is computer?
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to accept data (input), process it and
generate result (output).
 A computer works through the interaction of hardware and software.

Q) What is hardware?
The physical components of computer are called as hardware.

Q) What is software/program?
A software is a set of instructions that tells the computer what to do.
 Example of computers
Desktop pc, laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart tv,server.

Q) Draw the block diagram of a computer system. Briefly write about the
functionality of each component.
 A computer system primarily comprises of
1. Input devices
2. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
3. primary memory (memory)
4. secondary memory (storage devices)
5. Output devices
 All these components function together as a single unit to deliver the desired output.
Block diagram of a computer system.
Secondary memory

Primary memory (RAM)

Control Unit (CU)

Input device Output device

Arithmetic Logic
Unit(ALU)

Registers

Central Processing Unit(CPU)

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1. Input Devices

 The input devices are used to accept the data from the user.
 Computer understand only two digit (0 and 1)
 So, the input devices convert the input data into a digital form that is acceptable by the
computer system.
 Some examples of input devices include keyboard, mouse, scanner, touch screen, etc.
2. Primary memory:

 Data entered through input device is temporarily stored in the RAM of the computer system.
 Example of primary memory: RAM, ROM,Cache memory
3. Secondary memory

 Secondary memory are used to store the data and instructions permanently for future use.
 Example of secondary memory: Harddisk,Floppy disk,Pen drive,CD,DVD
4. Central Processing Unit (CPU)

 CPU is the electronic circuitry of a computer that carries out the actual processing and usually
referred as the heart of the computer.
 It is commonly called processor or microprocessor .
 The instructions and data are sent to CPU through software program.
 The CPU consist of three components —
1) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) 2) Control Unit (CU) 3) Registers
 ALU performs all the arithmetic and logic operations as per the instruction in a program.
 CU controls sequential instruction execution, interprets instructions, guides data flow by
sending signal to memory, ALU and input or output devices.
 Registers: While processing, the CPU stores the data as well as instructions in a high –speed
memory called registers.
5. Output Devices

 Output devices are used to display the information or result stored in memory(RAM).
 Output devices converts digital information stored in RAM into human understandable form.
 Examples of output devices
monitor, printer, plotter, projector, headphone, speaker,
How CPU works
1. The data and instruction are stored in memory(RAM).
2. The CPU then fetches the data and instruction from the memory and performs arithmetic
and logic operations as per the given instruction and stores the result back to memory.
Note 1:Specially designed braille keyboards are also available to help the visually impaired for
entering data into a computer.
Note 2: Data could be text ,picture ,image,audio,video.

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Q) Explain the evolutIon of computer(5 marks)

 The evolution of computing devices
1. Abacus (500 BC)
2. Pascaline (1642)
3. Analytic Engine(1834)
4. Tabulating Machine(1890)
5. Turing Machine(1937)
6. EDVAC/ENIAC (1945)
7. Transistors(1947)
8. Integrated Circuit(1970)
1. Abacus: (500 BC)
 Computing is attributed to the invention of ABACUS almost 3000 years ago.
 It was a mechanical device capable of doing simple arithmetic calculations only.
2. Pascaline(1642):
 Blaize Pascal invented a mechanical calculator known as Pascal calculator or Pascaline .
 Pascaline was used to do addition and subtraction of two numbers directly.
 It was also used to do multiplication and division through repeated addition and
subtraction.
3. Analytic Engine(1834)
Charles Babbage invented analytical engine, a mechanical computing device for inputting,
processing, storing and displaying the output, which is considered to form the basis of modern
computers.
4. Tabulating Machine(1890)
Herman Hollerith designed a tabulating machine for summarizing the data stored on the
punched card. It is considered first step towards programming.
5. Turing Machine(1937)
The Turing machine concept was a general purpose programmable machine that was
capable of solving any problem by executing the program stored on the punched cards.
6. EDVAC/ENIAC (1945)
 John Von Neumann introduced the concept of stored program computer which was capable
of storing data as well as program in the memory.
 The EDVAC and then the ENIAC computers were developed based on this concept.
7. Transistor(1947): Vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors developed at Bell Labs, using
semiconductor materials.

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8. Integrated Circuit(1970)
 An Integrated Circuit (IC) is a silicon chip which contains entire electronic circuit on a very
small area.
 The size of computer drastically reduced because of ICs.
Note: A punched card is a piece of stiff paper that stores digital data in the form of holes at
predefined positions.
The Von Neumann architecture:

 It consists of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) for processing arithmetic and logical instructions,
a memory to store data and programs, input and output devices and communication
channels to send or receive the output data.
 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) is the first binary programmable
computer based on Von Neumann architecture.
Note: In 1965, Intel co founder Gordon Moore introduced Moore’s Law which predicted that the
number of transistors on a chip would double every two years while the costs would be halved.

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1. LSI(Large Scale Integration)

LSI of electronic circuits allowed integration of complete CPU on a single chip, called
microprocessor(1970).
2. VLSI(Very Large Scale Integration )
Integrating around 3 million components on a small-sized chip termed as VLSI(1980).
3. SLSI(Super Large Scale Integration)
Further advancement in technology has made it feasible to fabricate high density of
transistors and other components (approx 106 components) on a single IC called SLSI .
Summarize:
1. IBM introduced its first personal computer (PC) for the home user in 1981
2. Apple introduced Macintosh machines in 1984.
3. Graphical User Interface (GUI) based operating systems by Microsoft introduced, like
Window.
4. Command Line Interface (CLI), like UNIX or DOS introduced.
5. Around 1990s, the growth of World Wide Web (WWW) further accelerated mass usage of
computers.
6. Further developed Laptops, smartphones, tablets and other personal digital assistants.
7. Further computing devices includes the wearable gadgets, such as smart watch, lenses,
headbands, headphones, etc.
8. Further, smart appliances are becoming a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), by leveraging
the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

3. Computer memory
 A computer system needs memory to store the data and instructions for processing.
 Whenever we talk about the ‘memory’ of a computer system, we usually talk about the main
or primary memory.
 The secondary memory (also called storage device) is used to store data, instructions and
results permanently for future use.

Units of Memory

 A computer system uses binary numbers(1100100) to store and process data.

 The basic units of memory, are called bits.
 A bit could be 0 or 1 ( binary digits )
 These bits are grouped together to form words
 A 4-bit word is called a Nibble.
 8-bit word is called a Byte,
 Examples of nibble are 1001, 1010, 0010, etc.
 for example, 01000110, 01111100, 10000001

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Measurement of units for digital data

Unit Description Number of bytes
Bit 0 or 1 -
Nibble 4 bit -
Byte 8 bit 1 bytes
KB( Killobyte) 1KB=1024 byte 210 bytes
MB( Megabyte) 1MB=1024KB 220 bytes
GB( Gigabyte) 1GB=1024MB 230 bytes
TB( Terabyte) 1TB=1024GB 240 bytes
PB( Petabyte) 1PB=1024TB 250 bytes
EB( Exabyte) 1EB=1024PB 260 bytes
ZB( Zettabyte) 1ZB=1024EB 270 bytes
YB( Yottabyte) 1YB=1024ZB 280 bytes
Types of Memory :Computers have following types of memory —
1. Primary memory
2. Secondary memory
[Link] Memory
Types of primary memory
(i) Random Access Memory (RAM)
(ii) Read Only Memory (ROM)
(iii) Cache memory

Q) Difference between RAM and ROM

RAM ROM
 It stand for Random Access  It stand for Read only
Memory memory.
 RAM is a volatile memory  ROM is a non volatile
means its content are lost memory means its content
when power is turn off. are not lost when power is
turn off.
 RAM stores all launched  ROM stores startup
software application after program (boot loader)
starting the computer. that loads the operating
system into RAM.

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C) Cache Memory
Q) What is cache memory?
Ans: To speed up the operations of the CPU, a very small high speed memory called cache
is placed between the CPU and the RAM.
 It keeps frequently accessed data from primary memory(RAM). RAM
 RAM is faster than secondary storage, but not as fast as
a CPU( processor). Cache
 . So, because of RAM, a CPU may have to slow down.
CPU
Q)Write the difference between primary memory and secondary memory.

Primary memory Secondary memory

It stores the data Its stores the data permanently.
temporarily as long as
power supply is
on(RAM)
Examples for primary Example for secondary memory are
memory are Hard-disk,CD,DVD,pen drive,memory
RAM,ROM card
RAM is volatile, it loses The secondary memory is non-
all information once volatile,it doesn’t loses information
power goes off. even if power goes off.
It is faster than It is slower compared to primary
secondary memory memory
It has limited storage It has larger storage capacity.
capacity.
It is expensive It is cheaper
RAM is referred as main Secondary memory are called as storage
memory. devices
The CPU interacts CPU cannot directly interact with
directly with the RAM to secondary memory.
perform read or write
operation.
Programs and data are Contents of secondary storage needs to
loaded into the primary be first brought into the memory(RAM)
memory(RAM) before for the CPU to access.
processing

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4. Data transfer between memory and CPU using bus

Data need to be transferred between the CPU and primary memory as well as between
the primary and secondary memory.

Q) What is bus? Explain different types of bus

Ans: Data are transferred between different components of a computer system using
physical wires called bus.
Bus is of three types
(i) Data bus to transfer data between different components,

(ii) Address bus to transfer addresses between CPU and main memory.
(iii) Control bus to communicate control signals between different components of a
computer.

Note:
1. Data bus,control bus ,address bus collectively make the system bus.
2. A data bus is bidirectional.
3. The control bus and address bus are unidirectional.
4. The address of the memory location of RAM that the CPU wants to read or write
from is specified in the address bus.
5. bus is also used for data transfer between a USB port and hard disk or between a
hard disk and main memory.

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5. Microprocessors

Q)What is microprocessor? Mention and explain the features of

microprocessor.
A processor (CPU) which is implemented on a single microchip is called microprocessor.
or

A microprocessor is a small-sized electronic component inside a computer that performs basic

arithmetic and logical operations on data.

Features of microprocessor
Microprocessors are classified on the basis of different features which include
1.) chip type 2) word size 3) memory size 4)clock speed 5)core
(1) Chip type could be LSI , VLSI, SLSI
(2) Word size is the maximum number of bits that a microprocessor can process at a time.
 4 bit word, 8-bit word,16 bit word,64 bit word
(3) Memory Size: Depending upon the word size, the size of RAM varies. 1kB , 1MB , 16MB ,
4GB , 64GB.
(4) Clock Speed
 Clock speed simply means the number of pulses generated per second by the clock inside
a computer.
 The clock speed indicates the speed at which the computer can execute instructions.
 Earlier, clock speed was measured in Hertz (Hz) and Kilohertz (kHz).
 But with advancement in technology and chip density, it is now measured in Gigahertz
(GHz), i.e., billions of pulses per second.
(5) Cores
 Core is a basic computation unit of the CPU.
 Single core processor- performing only one task at a time.
 multicore processor- performing multiple tasks
 CPU with two core is called dual-core
 CPU with four core is called quad-core
 CPU with eight core is called octa-core
Note:

 These days, a microprocessor is built over an integrated circuit comprising millions

of small components like resistors, transistors and diodes.
 Microprocessors have evolved over time in terms of their increased processing
capability, decreasing physical size and reduced cost.
 Currently available microprocessors are capable of processing millions of instructions
per millisecond.

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 Table 1.2 lists different types of microprocessors along with their generation, time
period, and underlying technology since their inception in early 1970s.

Microcontrollers
Q) What is the difference between microcontroller and microprocessor?
Microcontroller Microprocessor
The microcontroller is a small computing device which But microprocessor that has
has a CPU, a fixed amount of RAM, ROM and other peripherals only a CPU on the chip
embedded on a single chip .
Example: washing machine, digital camera, remote
controller, microwave are few examples of microcontroller.

 The structure of a microcontroller is shown in Figure 1.9.

 Because of the very small size of the microcontroller, it is embedded in another device
to perform a specific functionality.
 For example, the microcontroller embedded in a fully automatic washing machine is
used to control the washing cycle (wash,rinse,spin) without any human intervention.

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6. Data and InformatIon

Q)What is data?
Data is a raw and unorganised facts that are processed to get meaningful information.

Q) What is information?
The processed data is called information.

 A computer system considers everything as data, be it instructions, text,pictures, songs,

videos, documents, etc.
 A computer is primarily for processing data.
 Internally everything is stored in binary form (0 and 1),
 But externally, data can be input to a computer in the text form consisting of English
alphabets A–Z, a–z, numerals 0 – 9, and special symbols like @, #, etc.
 Data like image is a collection of Red, Green, Blue (RGB) pixels,
 Data like video is made up of frames
 Data like a fee receipt is made of numeric and non-numeric characters.

Q) Explain different Types of data with examples.

There are three types of data

a) Structured data b)Unstructured data c) Semi-structured data

Structured data Unstructured data Semi structured data

Data which follows a strict Data which are not organized in a Data which have no well-
record structure is pre-defined record format is called defined structure but maintains
called structured data. Unstructured data. internal tags or markings to
separate
data elements are called
semi-structured data.
Example include Examples include Examples include
1. Sales transactions audio and video files, 1. email document
2. Online railway graphics, text documents, 2. HTML page(web page)
ticket Bookings social media posts, 3. comma separated
3. ATM transactions satellite images, values (csv file),
4. Time table newspaper
Such data with pre-specified Such data are unstructured as they
tabular (row/column)format consist of textual contents as well as
may be stored in a data file to graphics, which do not follow a
access in the future. specific
format

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Structured data may be

sorted in ascending or
descending order.

In semi structured dara, each data value is

preceded by a tag (Name, Month, Class,
Attendance) for the interpretation of the data
value while processing.
(A) Data Capturing:It involves the process of gathering data from different sources in the digital
form. This capturing may vary from simple instruments like keyboard, barcode readers

(B) Data Storage: It is the process of storing the captured data for processing later.

(C) Data Retrieval: It involves fetching data from the storage devices, for its processing

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Computer work through the interaction of hardware and software

Hardware

7) Software

Q) What is software?
Ans: The hardware is of no use on its own. Hardware needs to be operated by a set of
instructions. These sets of instructions are referred to as software.

 It is that component of a computer system, which we cannot touch or view physically.

 Software comprises the instructions and data to be processed using the computer
hardware.
 The computer software and hardware complete any task together.

Q) What is soft copy?

Ans: A document or image stored on the hard disk or pen drive is referred to as a soft-copy.
 Monitor displays soft copy.

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Q) What is hard copy?

Ans: Once printed, the document or an image is called a hard-copy.
Need of Software
 The sole purpose of a software is to make the computer hardware useful and
operational.
 Software acts as an interface between human users and the hardware.
 We cannot instruct the hardware of a computer directly.

Software can be broadly classified into three categories.

1. System software
2. Programming tools
3. Application software.

Types are System Software are

1. Operating Systems(OS)
2. System utilities
3. Device drivers, etc.

Types of Application Software

1. General Purpose Software

2. Customized Software

System Software
Q) What is system software?
The software that provides the basic functionality to operate a computer by interacting directly
with its hardware is termed as system software.
Or
The software which makes the hardware functional is termed as system software.

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A system software knows how to operate and use different hardware components of a
computer.
 It provides services directly to the end user, or to some other software.
Examples of system software include
1) Operating systems 2) System utilities 3) Device drivers, etc.
(1) Operating System
 The operating system is a system software that operates the computer.
 An operating system is the most basic system software, without which other software
cannot work.
 The operating system manages other application programs and provides access and security
to the users of the system.
 Some of the popular operating systems are
1. Windows
2. Linux
3. Macintosh
4. Ubuntu
5. Fedora
6. Android
7. iOS.

(2) System Utilities Software used for maintenance and configuration of the computer
system is called system utility.

 Some system utilities are shipped with the operating system for example
1. disk defragmentation tool
2. formatting utility
3. system restore utility
 Another set of utilities are those which are not shipped with the operating system but
are required to improve the performance of the system, for example,
1. anti-virus software
2. disk cleaner tool
3. disk compression software, etc.

(3) Device Drivers

 The device driver acts as an interface between the device and the operating system.
 As the name signifies, the purpose of a device driver is to ensure proper functioning of a
particular device.
 It provides required services by hiding the details operations performed at the hardware
level of the device.

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Note:
 When it comes to the overall working of a computer system, the operating system does
the work.
 But everyday new devices and components are being added to a computer system.
 It is not possible for the operating system alone to operate all of the existing and new
devices, where each device has diverse characteristics.
 The responsibility for overall control, operation and management of a particular device
at the hardware level is delegated to its device driver.

Programming Tools
 In order to get some work done by the computer, we need to give instructions.
 Computer languages are developed for writing these instructions.
 It is important to understand here that computers and humans understand completely
different languages.
 While humans are able to write programs in high-level language,
 Computers understand machine language.
 There is a continuous need for conversion from high level to machine level language, for
which translators are needed.
 Also, to write the instruction, code editors (IDLE in Python) are needed.
 We will briefly describe is here
1. The programming languages
2. language translators
3. Program development tools.

Classification of Programming Languages

 Different types of computer programming languages are developed to simplify the

coding.
 Two major categories of computer programming languages are
1. low-level languages
a) machine language
b) assembly language.
2. high-level languages.

Note: Low-level languages are machine dependent languages

1. Machine language:

1) Machine language uses 1s and 0s to write instructions .

2) Machine languages are directly understood and executed by the computer.
3) Don’t require language translator

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4) Machine dependent
5) Writing a code and finding error in machine language is difficult.
6) Example of machine language
1000100100101

1110101010111

2. Assembly language
 To simplify the writing of code, assembly language was developed that allowed usage of
English-like words and symbols instead of 1s and 0s.
 But one major drawback of writing a code in assembly language is that the code is
computer specific(machine dependent)
 The code written for one type of CPU cannot be used for another type of CPU.
 Not directly understood by computer
 It needs assembler as a language translators.
 Finding error in assembly language is easier than machine language
 Example of assembly language:
MVI R1,10
MVI R2,20
ADD R1,R2

3. High level language

 High level language uses English like sentences for instruction which follows a set of
rules.
 High level languages are not directly understood by the computer.
 The language translators like compiler and interpreter are needed to translate high-level
language codes into machine language code.
 Examples of high level language include C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
 Machine independent
 Writing a code and finding error in high level language are easy.
 Example
x=10
y=20
sum=x+y
print(sum)

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Language Translators

The language translator converts source code to object code

Error(bug)

Language
translator
Source code Object code

What is source code? What is object code?

A program written in assembly or high-level A program written in machine language

language is called source code. is called Object code

Human understand source code Computer understand object code

 As the computer can understand only machine language, a translator is needed to convert
program written in assembly or high level language to machine language.
 The three types of language translators
1. Assembler
2. Compiler
3. Interpreter.
Q) What is assembler?
Ans: The translator used to convert the code written in assembly language to machine language
is called assembler.

Compiler Interpreter

Compiler translates whole program Interpreter translates one line at a time

at a time
Compiler converts high level language Interpreter also converts high level language
program into machine language program into machine language program.
program
Debugging is difficult Debugging is easy

It requires more time It requires less time

Note : Python uses interpreter as a language translator.

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Program Development Tools

Q) What is IDLE?

Ans: In order to simplify the program development, there are software called Integrated
Development Environment (IDLE) consisting of text editor, building tools and debugger.

 Example of IDLE: Python IDLE, Netbeans, Eclipse, Atom, Lazarus.

 A program can be typed, compiled and debugged from the IDLE directly.
 Whenever we decide to write a program, we need a text editor.

Q) What is text editor?

 An editor is a software that allows us to create a text file where we type instructions and
store the file as the source code.
 Then an appropriate translator is used to get the object code for execution.

Q) What is Debugger?

Ans: Debugger, as the name implies, is the software to detect and correct errors in the source
code.

Application software:

Definition : Application software is meant for the user to perform specific task .

 The software works on top of the system software is termed as application software.
 There are again two broad categories of application software —
1. General purpose software
2. Customised application software.

General Purpose Software Customised application Software

These are ready-made application These are custom or tailor-made application software,
software can be used by end users as per that are developed to meet the requirements of a
their requirements. specific organisation or an individual.

Example: Examples of user-defined software include

 MS word  Websites
 Excel  School management software,
 Power point  accounting software
 Adobe Photoshop
 GIMP
 Mozilla web browser

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Proprietary software or Freeware or Free and Open Source Software

A software can be

1. Freeware
2. Free and Open Source Software(FOSS)
3. Proprietary software
 It is depending upon the terms and conditions of the person or group who has developed
and released that software.

Q) Write note on Free and Open Source software (FOSS)

Definition: The developers of some software provide their source code as well as the software
freely to the [Link] software is known as Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

1. For example, the source code of operating system Ubuntu is freely accessible for
anyone .
 Examples of FOSS include Python, Libreoffice, Openoffice, Mozilla Firefox, etc.

Q) Write a note on Freeware.

Definition:The Software which are freely available for use but source code may not be
available. Such software are called freeware.

 Examples of freeware are Skype, Adobe Reader, etc.

Q) Write a note on Proprietary software.

Definition: When the software to be used has to be purchased from the vendor who has the
copyright of the software, then it is a proprietary software.

 Examples of proprietary software include Microsoft Windows, Tally, Quickheal, etc.

8) Operating System(OS)

 It is the most important system software.

 It also controls various application software and device drivers, manages system security
and handles access by different users.
 An operating system (OS) can be considered to be a resource manager which manages all
the resources of a computer, i.e., its hardware including CPU, RAM, Disk, Network and other
input-output devices.
 Examples of popular OS are Windows, Linux, Android, Macintosh.

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Q) What is User interface of OS?

Ans: A user interface is a software component which is a part of the operating system and whose
job is to take commands or inputs from a user for the operating system to process.

 The objective of an operating system is to provide an interface to the user through which
the user can interact with the computer.

Q) Mention and explain the types of user interfaces of OS

1) Command-based Interface
2) Graphical User Interface (GUI)
3) Touch-based Interface
4) Voice-based Interface
5) Gesture-based Interface

1)Command-based Interface:

 Command-based interface requires a user to enter the commands to perform different

tasks like creating, opening, editing or deleting a file, etc.
 Examples of operating systems with Command-Based Interface include MS-DOS and
Unix.

2) Graphical User Interface :

 Graphical User Interface (GUI) lets users run programs or give instructions to the
computer in the form of icons, menus and other visual options.
 Examples of operating systems with GUI interfaces include Microsoft Windows, Ubuntu,
Fedora and Macintosh, among others.

3) Touch-based Interface

 Today smartphones, tablets and PCs allow users to interact with the system simply using
the touch input.
 Examples of popular operating systems with touch based interfaces are Android and iOS.
(smart phone)
 Windows 8.1 and 10 (computers) also support touch-based interfaces.

4) Voice-based Interface

 Users today can use voice-based commands to make a computer work in the desired
way.

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 Some operating systems which provide voice-based control to users include iOS (Siri),
Android (Google Now or “OK Google”), Microsoft Windows 10 (Cortana) and so
5) Gesture-based Interface
Some smartphones based on Android and iOS as well as laptops let users interact with the
devices using gestures like waving, tilting, eye motion and shaking.

Q) What is Operating System? Explain the functions of Operating System .(5 marks)

Definition:Operating system is an interface between the user and the computer and supervises
the working of computer system, i.e., it monitors and controls the hardware and software of the
computer system.

Functions of Operating System .

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

1) Process Management

A program under execution is known as process.

Operating system manages multiple processes, allocation of required resources to
processes, and exchange of information among processes .
 As CPU is the main resource of computer system,other resouces are
RAM,input/output devices,file.
2) Memory Management (RAM)
 Operating system manages the main memory(RAM) because multiple processes are
reside inside main memory.
 The main task of operating system is to allocate and free memory from running
processes.
 Because primary or main memory of a computer system is usually limited
3) File Management
 Operating system also manages all the files stored in the secondary memory.
 File management involves the creation, updation, deletion and protection of these
files in the secondary memory are done by the operating system.
 Data and programs are stored as files.
4) Device Management
 The OS manages Input/Output devices and other hardware connected to the
computer.
 The OS interact with the device driver for a particular device.

Shruthi M. J., Lecturer in Computer Science

Chapter 1 :Computer System 23 | P a g e

Summary

1. A computing device, also referred as computer, processes the input data as per given
instructions to generate desired output.
2. Computer system has four physical components viz.
(i) CPU,
(ii) Primary Memory and Secondary memory
(iii) Input Device
(iv) Output Devices.

They are referred to as hardware of computer.

3. Computer system has two types of primary memories viz. (i) RAM, the volatile memory
(ii) ROM, the non-volatile memory.
4. System bus is used to transfer data, addresses and control signals between components
of the computer system.
5. A microprocessor is a small-sized electronic component inside a computer that performs
basic arithmetic and logical operations on data.
6. Microcontroller is a small computing device which has a CPU, a fixed amount of RAM,
ROM and other peripherals embedded on a single chip.
7. Software is a set of instructions written to achieve the desired tasks and are mainly
categorised as
i) System software
ii) Application software.
ii) Programming tools
8. Hardware of a computer cannot function on its own. It needs software to be operational
or functional.
9. Operating system is an interface between the user and the computer and supervises the
working of computer system, i.e., it monitors and controls the hardware and software of
the computer system.

Shruthi M. J., Lecturer in Computer Science