Computer

A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in

its own memory that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules,
produce information (output), and store the information for future use.

Functionalities of a computer

Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:

. Takes data as input.

. Stores the data/instructions in its memory and use them when required.

. Processes the data and converts it into useful information.

. Generates the output.

. Controls all the above four steps.

Computer Components

Any kind of computers consists of Hardware and Software.

Hardware

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer

system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer
such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage,hard drive disk (HDD),
system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of
which are physical objects that can be touched.

Input Devices

Input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment to provide data
and control signals to an information processing system such as a computer or other
information appliance.

Input device translate data from form that humans understand to one that the computer
can work with. Most common are keyboard and mouse.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

A CPU is a brain of a computer. It is responsible for all functions and processes.

Regarding computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer
system.
The CPU is comprised of three main parts :

• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) : Executes all arithmetic and logical operations.
Arithmetic calculations like as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Logical operation like compare numbers, letters, or special characters.

• Control Unit (CU) : controls and co-ordinates computer components.

1. Read the code for the next instruction to be executed.

2. Increment the program counter so it points to the next instruction.

3. Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in memory.

4. Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register.

5. If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to complete, instruct

the hardware to perform the requested operation.

• Registers : Stores the data that is to be executed, “very fast storage area”.

Primary Memory:-

1. RAM : Random Access Memory (RAM) is a memory scheme within the

computer system responsible for storing data on a temporary basis, so that it can
be promptly accessed by the processor as and when needed. It is volatile in nature,
which means that data will be erased once supply to the storage device is turned
off. RAM stores data randomly and the processor accesses these data randomly
from the RAM storage. RAM is considered “random access” because you can
access any memory cell directly if you know the row and column that intersect at
that cell.

2. ROM (Read Only Memory) : ROM is a permanent form of storage. ROM stays
active regardless of whether power supply to it is turned on or off. ROM devices
do not allow data stored on them to be modified.

Secondary Memory :-

Stores data and programs permanently :its retained after the power is turned off

1. Hard drive (HD): A hard disk is part of a unit, often called a “disk drive”, “hard
drive”, or “hard disk drive”, that store and provides relatively quick access to
large amounts of dat on an electromagnetically charged surface or set of surfaces.

2. Optical Disk: an optical disk drive (ODD) is a disk drive that user laser light as
pat of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives
 can only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and
recorders, also called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs
are common types of optical media which can be read and recorded by such
drives. Optical drive is the generic name; drives are usually described as “CD”
“DVD”, or “Bluray”, followed by “drive”, “writer”, etc. There are three main
types of optical media: CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc. Cds can store up to 700
megabytes (MB) of dat and DVDs can store up to 8.4 GB of dat. Blu-ray discs,
which are the newest type of optical media, can store up to 50 GB of data. This
storage capcity is a clear advantage over the floppy disk storage media (a
magnetic media), which only has a capacity of 1.44 MB.

3. Flash Disk

A storage module made of flash memory chips. A Flash disks have no mechanical
platters or access arms, but the term “disk” is used because the data are accessed
as if they were on a hard drive. The disk storage is emulted

Output Devices

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to

communicate the results of data processing carried out by an information
processing system (such as a computer) which converts the electronically
generated human-readable form.

Example on Output Devices:

1. Monitor 2. LCD Projection Panels

3. Printers (all types) 4. Computer Output Microfilm (COM)
5. Plotters 6. Speaker(s)
7. Projector

Note : Basic types of monitors are

a) Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

b) Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)

c) Light Emitting Diode (LED)

Printer types :

a) Laser Printer
 b) Ink Jet Printer

c) Dot Matrix Printer

Software

Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions,
often broken into two major categories: system software that provides the basic non-
task- specific functions of the computer, and application software which is used by users
to accomplish specific tasks.

Software Types

A) System Software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the

individual hadaware components of a computer system so that other software and
the users of the system see it as a functional unit without having to be concerned
with the low-level details such as transferring data from memory to disk, or
rendering text onto a display. Generally, system software consists of an operating
system and some fundamental utilities such as disk formatters, file managers,
display managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and management tools,
and networking and device control software.

B) Application Software is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just running
the computer system. Application software may consist of a single program, such
as an image viewer; a small collection of programs (often called a software
package) that work closely together to accomplish a task, such as a spreadsheet or
text processing system; a larger collection (often called a software suite) of related
but independent programs and packages that have a common user interface or
shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of closely integrated
word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.; or a software system , such as a
database management system, which is a collection of fundamental programs that
may provide some service to a variety of other independent applications.

Comparison between Application Software and System Software

System Software Application Software

Computer software, or just Application software, also
software is a general term known as an application or
primarily used for digitally an “app”, is computer
stored data such as software designed to help
computer programs and the user to perform specific
other kinds of information tasks.
 read and written by
computers. App comes
under computer software
though it has a wide scope
now.
Example : 1) Microsoft Windows 1) Opera (Web
2) Linux Browser)
3) Unix 2) Microsoft Word
4) Mac OSX (Word processing)
5) DOS 3) Microsoft Excel
(Spreadsheet software)
4) My SQL
(Database Software)
5) Microsoft
PowerPoint (Presentation
Software)
6) Adobe Photoshop
(Graphics Software)

Interaction: Generally, users do not Users always interact with

interact with system applicationsoftware while
software as it works in the doing different activities.
background.
Dependency : System software can run Application software cannot
independently of the run without the presence of
application software. the system software.