BASIC STRUCTURE OF

COMPUTERS

Lesson 01
Type of data
• Alpha numeric data
Text, numbers, special characters
• Image data – video data, audio data
Characteristics Information
• Reliable
• Accurate
• Valuable
• Meaningful
• Timely
• Relevant
• Simple
• Flexible-same information to the different purposes
Computer types

A computer can be defined as a fast electronic calculating machine that

accepts the (data) digitized input information process it as per the list
of internally stored instructions and produces the resulting information.

List of instructions are called programs & internal storage is called

computer memory.
Primary memory(volatile memory)
• RAM
• ROM(non volatile)

Secondary memory
• Hard
The different types of computers are

• Personal computers: - This is the most common type found in homes,

schools, Business offices etc., It is the most common type of desk top
computers with processing and storage units along with various input and
output devices.

• Note book computers: - These are compact and portable versions of PC.
• Work stations: - These have high resolution input/output (I/O) graphics capability,
but with same dimensions as that of desktop computer. These are used in
engineering applications of interactive design work.

• Enterprise systems: - These are used for business data processing in medium to
large corporations that require much more computing power and storage capacity
than work stations. Internet associated with servers have become a dominant
worldwide source of all types of information.

• Super computers: - These are used for large scale numerical calculations required
in the applications like weather forecasting etc.
Functional unit: -
• A computer consists of five functionally independent main parts input,
memory, arithmetic logic unit (ALU), output and control unit.
• Input device accepts the coded information as source program i.e. high level
language. This is either stored in the memory or immediately used by the
processor to perform the desired operations. The program stored in the
memory determines the processing steps. Basically the computer converts
one source program to an object program. i.e. into machine language.

• Stored program concept - Von Neuman Architecture

Input unit: -

The source program/high level language program/coded information/simply data

is fed to a computer through input devices keyboard is a most common type.
Whenever a key is pressed, one corresponding word or number is translated into
its equivalent binary code over a cable & fed either to memory or processor.

• Joysticks, trackballs, mouse, scanners etc are other input devices.

• Memory unit: -

• Its function into store programs and data. It is basically to two types
• Primary memory
• Secondary memory
• Primary memory: - Is the one exclusively associated with the processor and
operates at the electronics speeds programs must be stored in this memory while
they are being executed. The memory contains a large number of semiconductors
storage cells. Each capable of storing one bit of information. These are processed
in a group of fixed site called word.

Computer has
Dynamic RAM >Static RAM
• 2 Secondary memory: - Is used where large amounts of data & programs
have to be stored, particularly information that is accessed infrequently.

• Examples: - Magnetic disks & tapes, optical disks (ie CD-ROM’s), floppies
etc.,
Fetch-execute cycle

• Fetch(ALU)

CU Gets instructions from the memory

• Decode(ALU)

CU Identifies what needs to be done

• Execute(CU)

CU Instructs the arithmetic unit to execute the instruction

• Store(CU)

The arithmetic unit will then store the result in the memory, as instructed by the control
memory.
• Arithmetic unit executes the instruction and stores the result in the
memory. This process is called Execution time E-time
• Instruction time I-time
• Fetch execute cycle = E-time + I-time
• Arithmetic logic unit (ALU):-

Most of the computer operators are executed in ALU of the processor like
addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, etc. the operands are brought
into the ALU from memory and stored in high speed storage elements called
register. Then according to the instructions the operation is performed in the
required sequence.
• Output unit:-
• These actually are the counterparts of input unit. Its basic function is to send
the processed results to the outside world.
Examples:- Printer, speakers, monitor etc.

• Control unit:-
• It effectively is the nerve center that sends signals to other units and senses
their states. The actual timing signals that govern the transfer of data between
input unit, processor, memory and output unit are generated by the control
unit.
• Basic operational concepts: -

• To perform a given task an appropriate program consisting of a list of

instructions is stored in the memory. Individual instructions are brought from
the memory into the processor, which executes the specified operations.
Data to be stored are also stored in the memory.
• The instruction register (IR):-

Holds the instructions that is currently being executed. Its output is available for the control circuits
which generates the timing signals that control the various processing elements in one execution of
instruction.

• The program counter PC:-

This is another specialized register that keeps track of execution of a program. It contains the
memory address of the next instruction to be fetched and executed.
Special purpose register
Compare and contrast memory
address registers and memory data
registers?
Memory Address Registers Memory Data Registers
holds the address of the current instruction that is to holds the contents found at the address held in the
be fetched from memory, or the address in memory to MAR, or data which is to be transferred to primary
which data is to be transferred. memory
The other two registers which facilitate communication with memory
are: -
• MAR – (Memory Address Register):- It holds the address of the
location to be accessed.
• MDR – (Memory Data Register):- It contains the data to be written
into or read out of the address location.
• Operating steps are
• Programs reside in the memory & usually get these through the I/P
unit.
• Execution of the program starts when the PC is set to point at the first
instruction of the program.
• Contents of PC are transferred to MAR and a Read Control Signal is
sent to the memory.
• After the time required to access the memory elapses, the address
word is read out of the memory and loaded into the MDR.
• Now contents of MDR are transferred to the IR & now the instruction
is ready to be decoded and executed.
• If the instruction involves an operation by the ALU, it is necessary to obtain
the required operands.
• An operand in the memory is fetched by sending its address to MAR &
Initiating a read cycle.
• When the operand has been read from the memory to the MDR, it is
transferred from MDR to the ALU.
• After one or two such repeated cycles, the ALU can perform the desired
operation.
• If the result of this operation is to be stored in the memory, the result is
sent to MDR.
• Address of location where the result is stored is sent to MAR & a write cycle
is initiated.
• The contents of PC are incremented so that PC points to the next
instruction that is to be executed.
• Bus structure: -
• The simplest and most common way of interconnecting various parts of the
computer.
• To achieve a reasonable speed of operation, a computer must be organized
so that all its units can handle one full word of data at a given time.
Single bus structure is
• Low cost
• Very flexible for attaching peripheral devices
• Multiple bus structure certainly increases, the performance but also
increases the cost significantly.
• Reduced Instruction Set Architecture (RISC) –
The main idea behind this is to make hardware simpler by using an
instruction set composed of a few basic steps for loading, evaluating, and
storing operations just like a load command will load data, a store
command will store the data.

• Complex Instruction Set Architecture (CISC) –

The main idea is that a single instruction will do all loading, evaluating, and
storing operations just like a multiplication command will do stuff like
loading data, evaluating, and storing it, hence it’s complex.
Instruction set CISC & RISC:-
Multiprocessor & microprocessors:-

Multiprocessor:
A Multiprocessor is a computer system with two or more central
processing units (CPUs) share full access to a common RAM. The main
objective of using a multiprocessor is to boost the system’s execution
speed, with other objectives being fault tolerance and application
matching.
Microprocessor

• Microprocessor is a controlling unit of a micro-computer, fabricated on a

small chip capable of performing ALU (Arithmetic Logical Unit) operations
and communicating with the other devices connected to it.