Informatics Practices Class XI (As per CBSE Board)

Chapter 1
Computer System
A computer is an electronic device, under the control of instructions stored in its memory
that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules (Program) on
processor & produces information (output), and store the information for future use.

Data vs Information
Data are raw numbers or other findings which, by themselves, are of limited value.

Information is data that has been converted into a meaningful and useful context.
Computers are being used extensively nowadays in everyday life/every field In the form of
laptop, desktop, smartphone, gadgets etc.

Advantages of computer
• Speed

• Accuracy

• Huge storage

• Versatility

• Tirelessness Disadvantages of computer

• Data security issue

• Computer crimes

• Health risk

• Bad impact on environment if not properly disposed of.

Any digital computer performs five functions in gross term.

1. Take data as input.

2. Stores data/instructions.

3. Process those stored data.

4. Generate the output.

5. Control all above steps.

Computing:- The use of a computer to process data or perform calculations or the act of
calculating or reckoning through computer is known as computing.
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING DEVICES

Abacus is known to be the first mechanical calculating device. Which was used to be
performed addition and subtraction easily and speedily? This device was a first develop Ed
by the Egyptians in the 10th centaury B.C, but it was given it final shape in the 12th century
A.D. by the Chinese educationists.

NAPIER’S BONES John Napier’s of Scotland invented a calculating device, in the year 1617
called the Napier Bones. In the device, Napier’s used the bone rods of the counting purpose
where some no. is printed on these rods. These rods that one can do addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division easily. Pascal's calculator in the year 1642, Blaise Pascal a French
scientist invented an adding machine called Pascal’s calculator, which represents the position
of digit with the help of gears in it.

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING DEVICES

Leibniz Calculator In the year 1671, a German mathematics, Gottfried Leibniz modified the
Pascal calculator and he developed a machine which could perform various calculation
based on multiplication and division as well. Analytical Engine In the year 1833, a scientist
form England knows to be Charles Babbage invented such a machine. Which could keep our
data safely? This device was the first mechanical computer.

Charles Babbage is also known as the father of the computer. One of the ideas, which went a
long way in making computers that they are today, is the ‘Stored Program Concept’ which
Charles Babbage gave while designing an automatic machine for calculations. That is why, he
is considered as the ‘Father of Modern Computers’.

Mark 1 computer: Mark 1 computer Howard Aiken of Harvard University, in collaboration

with IBM Corporation designed a fully automatic machine in 1937-1944. This machine used
electrically actuated switches called ‘Relays’.

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING DEVICES ENIAC : eniac (Electronic Numerical Integrator and

Computer) The development of vacuum tubes made it possible to build better computers. In
1943, during the second world war, the ENIAC was constructed at the Pennsylvania
University to satisfy military needs. This marked the beginning of development of modern
computers. EDSAC- in full Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, the first full-size
stored-program computer, built at the University of Cambridge, Eng., by Maurice Wilkes and
others to provide a formal computing service for users.

EDSAC was built according to the von Neumann machine principles enunciated by the
Hungarian American scientist John von Neumann and, like the Manchester Mark I, became
operational in 1949.

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING DEVICES CDC 6600 - The first supercomputer, the Control Data
Corporation (CDC) 6600, only had a single CPU. Released in 1964, the CDC 6600 was actually
fairly small — about the size of four filing cabinets. It cost $8 million at that time. and
operated at up to 40MHz, squeezing out a peak performance of 3 million floating point
operations per second (flops). PARAM 8000 - in 1991, C-DAC rolled out India’s first
indigenous supercomputer: PARAM 8000. A multiprocessor machine, PARAM 8000 was
benchmarked at 5G flops, making it the second fastest supercomputer in the world at that
time. Pratyush-As of January 2018, Pratyush and Mihir are the fastest supercomputer in
India with a maximum speed of 6.8 Petaflops at a total cost of INR 438.9 Crore.

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING DEVICES SPC - The first smartphone, created by IBM, was
invented in 1992 and released for purchase in 1994. It was called the Simon Personal
Communicator (SPC). iPhone - 2007- Enter Steve Jobs One of the most influential years for
smartphone evolution was 2007. It was year Steve Jobs and the team at Macworld revealed
the very first iPhone. Not only was this the sleekest touch screen device to hit the market.
The device was offered at a 4GB level ($499) and 8GB ($599). 2020- The World At Our
Fingertips -And just like that, we’ve reached modern day. Since the launch of the iPhone
thirteen years ago, we’ve -The advent of the Android— Google’s answer to the iPhone,
Hundreds of hardware iterations of Android smartphones, The rise of apps (and the
monetization of them)

GENERATION OF COMPUTER Components of a computer system and them inter connection/

Block diagram of computer System Microprocessor unit (mpu) = (CU+ALU) control unit +
arithmetical / logical unit CPU=MPU + Memory

Input/Output

Units Input Unit A device through which data and programs from the outside world enter
the computer system. Output unit A device through which results stored in the computer
memory are made available outside the computer system.

Central processing unit – Comprises three parts

1. Arithmetic/Logic Unit Performs basic arithmetic operations such as addition and

subtraction Performs logical operations such as AND, OR, and NOT. Most modern ALUs have
a small amount of special storage units called registers that can be accessed faster than main
memory.

2. Control unit It organizes the computer to work computer as single unit & generates
control signals for various devices regarding read/write or execute operation

3. Memory A collection of cells, each with a unique physical address Most computers are
byte-addressable Cell at address 11111110 contains 10101010

RAM and ROM

Random Access Memory (RAM) Memory in which each location can be accessed and
changed Read Only Memory (ROM) Memory in which each location can be accessed but not
changed RAM is volatile, ROM is not Secondary Storage Devices Magnetic Tape mass
auxiliary storage device.

Secondary Storage Devices Hard disk Fixed Head HDD / Movable head HDD A hard disk is a
set of stacked disks. Each disk has data recorded electromagnetically in concentric circles, or
tracks, on the disk Hard Drive Types

1. Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA)

2. Serial ATA (SATA)

3. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) 4. Solid State Drives (SSD) Up to 12 TB sized HDD
is available in the market.

Input Devices Input devices can send data or information to a computer or another device.

Keyboard: It is an input device which sends data in to the computer. The data send depends
on the key pressed by the user.

Mouse: A mouse is a small handheld input device which controls a cursor in a graphical user
interface. It can move and select text, files, folders etc. on our computer according to the
user input.

Scanner: Scanner optically reads and document, file or image and then changes it into
digital signal and sends to the computer. OMR: optical mark recognition/ reader, is used to
read marks on a document and send them to computer.

OCR: OCR stands for optical character Recognition, is an input device which reads printed
text and sends that to computer.

MICR: Magnetic Ink Character Reader is an input device which generally finds application is
banks to process cheques.

Microphone: it receives audio generated by some input source and sends the same to a
computer.

Webcam: it sends the captured images to a computer.

Graphics Tablets: This input device is used to draw using hand.

Trackballs: an upside, down mouse, encased within a socket. Is a cursor control device.

Barcode reader: It is used to read the barcode of various items and feed the same to
computer.

Gamepad: Also known as joy pad is the input controller for video games. Joystick: these
input devices are used to control video games.

Output Devices A device that can receive data from computer or another device and create
output with that data is called output device.
Monitor: A monitor is an output device that is responsible for receiving data from a
computer and displaying that information as text or images for users to see.

Speakers: Receives sound signal from a computer and then plays that sound signal and thus
we hear songs or music or any other audio.

Projector: Gets data from a computer and displays or projects the same information onto a
screen or a wall. Projector cannot directly accept data from a user and send that data to
another device.

Both Input / Output Devices An input/output device is capable of receiving data from users
or other devices and also sending data to another devices or computers. That means a
device which can be used as both input device and output device are called Input / Output
(I/O) devices.

Some examples of input/output devices are as:

USB drive: Also known as pen drive or flash stick works as both input device to computer
and as an output device.

USB drives receive or save data from a computer as an input and it can also send data to a
computer or another device.

Facsimile: Facsimile or FAX machine has a scanner which is an input device and a small
printer to provide output.

Modems: It is used to transmit and receive data from one computer to another computer or
other devices using telephone lines.

CD-RW drives and DVD-RW drives: Receives data from a computer as input to copy onto and
save into writable CD or DVD. We also use CDs or DVDs to transfer data to a computer.

Touch Screen: Touch screen is both input and output device. By touching the screen input is
provided and being a screen, it is used as an output device.

Headsets: Headset consists of speaker as an output device and microphone functions as an

input device.

Computer Software

Computer software is a set of instructions, programs, or data that tells a computer what to
do. It’s the non-physical part of a computer system, unlike hardware, which is the physical
machinery. Software enables users to perform tasks, run applications, or manage systems.

There are two main types:

1. System Software: Manages hardware and provides a platform for other software
(e.g., operating systems like Windows, macOS, Linux).
 2. Application Software: Performs specific tasks for users (e.g., web browsers, word
processors, games).

Software is written in programming languages (e.g., Python, C++) and can be installed,
updated, or run on devices to enable functionality, from simple apps to complex systems like
AI or databases.

A language processor is a type of system software that translates programs written in a

programming language into machine code that a computer can execute. It bridges the gap
between human-readable code and machine-readable instructions.

Types of Language Processors:

1. Compiler: Translates an entire program written in a high-level language (e.g., C++,

Java) into machine code all at once, creating an executable file. Example: GCC for
C/C++.

2. Interpreter: Executes code line-by-line without creating an executable file, translating

and running each instruction on the fly. Example: Python interpreter.

3. Assembler: Converts low-level assembly language (closer to machine code) into

machine code. Example: NASM for x86 assembly.

A system utility is a type of system software designed to manage, maintain, and optimize a
computer's performance, resources, and security. These tools help ensure the operating
system and hardware run smoothly by performing specific tasks like file management,
system monitoring, or troubleshooting.

Common Types of System Utilities:

1. Disk Management Tools:

o Disk Cleanup: Removes temporary files, cache, or unused data (e.g., Windows
Disk Cleanup).

o Disk Defragmenter: Reorganizes fragmented data on a hard drive for faster

access (e.g., Defragged).

o Partition Manager: Manages disk partitions (e.g., GParted).

2. Backup and Recovery Tools:

o Creates backups of files or system images and restores them in case of data
loss (e.g., Windows Backup and Restore, Mac Time Machine).

3. System Monitoring Tools:

 o Tracks system performance, CPU usage, memory, or network activity (e.g.,
Task Manager, Resource Monitor).

4. Security Utilities:

o Antivirus Software: Detects and removes malware (e.g., Windows Defender).

o Firewall: Monitors and controls network traffic for security (e.g., Comodo
Firewall).

5. File Compression Tools:

o Reduces file size for storage or transfer (e.g., WinRAR, 7-Zip).

6. Driver Management Tools:

o Updates or installs device drivers for hardware compatibility (e.g., Driver

Booster).

7. System Cleanup Tools:

o Removes unnecessary files, fixes registry errors, or optimizes startup

processes (e.g., CCleaner).