FUNDAMENTALS OF

COMPUTING
Jeffin Joseph

Asst Professor
BIMS

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

Computer-derived from a Latin word computare

which means to compute or to calculate
Definition
The computer is an electronic device which converts
raw data into valid (or) meaningful information.

BASIC OPERATIONS OF A COMPUTER

Input : It is the process of capturing or acquiring the
raw data.
Process :It is the transformation process to convert the
input into output.
Output :It is the result, which comes from the
transformation process or it is the outcome of the
process.
Storing: It is the process of saving the data or
information or instruction , so that they can be
retained and retrieved whenever required.
Controlling: It is the process of directing the manner
and sequence in which all the operations are to be
performed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Speed
Speed is the most important characteristics of a
computer. Computers have more speed to perform
jobs instantaneously. It can perform in a few
seconds , the amount of work that a human being
can do in an entire year.
A powerful computer is capable of adding two
twenty digit numbers in 300 nano seconds

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Accuracy
The accuracy of the computer is consistently high.
The computers are perfect accurate and precise. It
never makes any mistake.

Automatic
The computer works automatically, once programs
are stored and data given to it. Constant
supervision is not required .Individual instructions
are transferred one after other to the control.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Diligence
The computer can go working continuously and
does not suffer from human traits of tiredness
and lack of concentration.
If three million calculations have to be
performed ,it will perform the third millionth
instruction with exactly the same accuracy and
speed as the first instruction.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Versatility
The computer can be put to various jobs and has
applications in various fields.
Computers have key role in fields such as space
exploration, weather forecasting,research,office
automation,teaching,railways,medicine,industry,
and banking.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMPUTER

Storage
The computers processes limitless quantities of
data and information. With more and more
auxiliary storage devices, which is capable of
storing huge amount of data ,the storage capacity
of computers is unlimited.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Micro computer

Minicomputers

Mainframes

Super computers

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Microcomputers
Smaller computers
CPU is usually a single integrated circuit
Minicomputer
Minicomputers are scaled up version of micro
computers with moderate speed and storage capacity

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON SIZE AND CAPACITY

Mainframe
Mainframe computers are implemented using two
or more central processing units.
It is capable of supporting hundreds of users
simultaneously.
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is an extremely fast computer
that can perform hundreds of millions of
information's per second.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON UTILITY

General Purpose computers

Special purpose computers

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON HARDWARE DESIGN

Analog
Digital
Hybrid

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
BASED ON MODE OF USE

Palmtop PCS
Laptop PCs
Personal computer
Work station
Mainframe system
Clients and Servers

BASIC COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

The architecture of the computers have not

changed but the technology used to accomplish
those operations may vary from one computer to
another.
However, the basic computer organization
remains the same for all the computer systems.
In 1950s it took a room full of vacuum tubes and
equipment to perform the tasks that are now
replaced with a single chip, not bigger than a
child's thumb nail.

ARCHITECTURE
The basic architecture of a computer system consist
of .

The input unit

Central processing unit
Output unit

ARCHITECTURE

INPUT UNIT
Computers must need the data and instructions
in order to solve any problem.
Therefore, we need to put the data and
instructions into the computers .
The input unit consists of one or more input
devices.
The keyboard of the computer is one of the type
of input devices used in the computer system.

FUNCTIONS OF INPUT UNIT

Accept data and instruction from the outside
world.
Convert it to a form that the computer can
understand.
Supply the converted data to the computer
system for further processing.

Input may be pressing a key in the keyboard or

moving of the mouse.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

It is the heart of the computer system.ie all
operations are carried out in this unit only.

It performs all calculations

It takes all decisions
It controls all units of the computer

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

The CPU can be subdivided into the following four
sub-system.
1)Control unit
2)Arithmetic logic unit
3)Memory unit
4)Secondary Storage

CONTROL UNIT
The control unit instruct the computer how to
carry out a program instruction.
It controls and co-ordinates the entire computer
system.
The input unit does not know when to receive
data and where to put the data in the storage
unit after receiving it.
The control unit gives the necessary instructions
to the input device

CONTROL UNIT
The control unit instructs the input unit where to
store the data after receiving it from the user.
In the same way, it controls the flow of data and
instructions from the storage unit to ALU.
It also controls the flow of the results from ALU
to the storage unit.
The control unit also controls what should be
sent to the output unit.

ARITHMETIC AND LOGICAL UNIT

Arithmetic logic unit performs all the arithmetic

and logical operations.Arithematic operations
like Addition,Substraction,Multiplication and
Logical operations such as comparison are
performed by ALU.
Whenever any calculation has to be done, the
control unit transfers the required data from the
storage unit to ALU.

MEMORY UNIT

Memory is part of a computer which holds data

for processing and other information. It is called
main memory.
The information given from the input unit is
immediately stored in the main memory.
It is a Temporary Storage (volatile ) i.e. when the
power is OFF, the stored information in the main
memory is lost, to avoid this situation ,we can
store immediately in secondary memory.

SECONDARY MEMORY
The secondary memory is used like an archive. It
may store several programs,documents,databases
etc.
The program that you want to run on the
computer is first transferred to the primary
memory before it can run.
Similarly, after running the program, if u need to
save the results ,you will transfer them to
secondary memory.
The secondary memory is slower and cheaper
than the primary memory.
It is non volatile.

OUTPUT UNIT
Devices used to get the response or result of a
process from the computer is called output.
The output unit of a computer provides the
information and results of a computation to the
outside world.
Printer display screen are commonly used output
devices.

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

Hardware
CPU

Peripherals

Software
System

Software
Application software

HARDWARE
CPU COMPONENTS

Motherboard
All the electronic components in a PC are
mounted on a Printed Circuit Board(PCB),called
the motherboard.

Processor
The microprocessor or the central processing
Unit is the computers most important
component.

HARDWARE
CPU COMPONENTS

RAM chips
When a computer is switched on and is running a
program(RAM ) is used to hold the program and its
data. But when the computer is switched off, anything
in RAM is lost.

Hard disk drive

It is our computers main permanent storage units,
holding large amounts of data and storage.

TYPES OF MEMORY AND DEVICES

Memory can be classified into

Primary or main memory

Secondary Memory
Primary memory
In all computers semi-conductors are used for
primary memory storage. It is divided into two
portions

RAM
ROM

READ ONLY MEMORY

It is inbuilt in the computer at the time of its

production.
ROM is otherwise called firmware also.
It stores a set of instructions permanently which
instructs the computers how to work.
PROM
EPROM

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

This is apart of computers local memory where
the computer stores all the data and instructions
it receives from the input and the results as it
works through the calculations.
The RAM requires very littlie time for access to
each data and is considered to be the fastest
memory.

ROM
It is non-volatile
memory
The contents are
permanent
Cost effective
Available in high
storage capacity
Processing speed is
low

RAM
It is a volatile
memory
The contents are
temporary
Cost is very high
Available in smaller
capacity
Processing speed is
high

SECONDARY MEMORY

Floppy disk

Magnetic tapes

Hard Disk

CD-ROM

CACHE MEMORY

A small memory between CPU and main memory

is called cache memory.

.
CPU

CACHE
MEMORY

Primary
memory

Secondary
memory

CACHE MEMORY
Advantages

It stores the current information

Reduces the access time
Increases the performance
Increases the speed of CPU
Fast accessing

INPUT OUTPUT DEVICES

Keyboard

Monitors

Mouse

Scanner

Printer

Cables and connectors

COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Introduction
The

computer is a machine and it can not think and

do its own. Since it has no intelligent quotient, it
must be instructed to carry out any task.
Hence it is required to specify the set of sequential
instructions that the computer can perform to solve
any task.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Software
It is basically the set of instructions grouped
into programs that make the computer to
function in the desired way. It is a collection of
programs to perform a particular task
Program
A program is the set of instructions written in
any high level language that can be understood
by the computer

COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Software

System
Software

Application
Software

Operating
Systems

Word
Processors

Compilers

Spreadsheets

Assemblers

Image
processors

SYSTEM SOFTWARE & APPLICATION

SOFTWARE
System software is a collection of programs
designed to operate ,control and extend
processing capabilities of computer and which
makes the operation of a computer system more
effective and efficient.
Application software is a set of programs ,that
allows the computer to perform a specific data
processing job for the user .It helps the user to
work faster more effectively and more
productively.

BASICS OF PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES

Language is the communication media, the

computer languages are used to communicate
with the computers.
Computer languages are formed with the group
of instructions,offenly called programs.

BASICS OF PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES

Language

Machine

Assembly

High level

MACHINE LANGUAGES

The machine language is formed with the help of

binary digits. These are so named as the machine
can directly understood the programs.
Advantages

The computer can understand the instructions

immediately
No translation needed

Disadvantages

Machine Dependent
Programming is very difficulty

MACHINE LANGUAGE
In a machine language the procedure of adding 3
and 9 is performed as follows
Equivalent binary for 3
10 = 00112

Equivalent binary for 910 =10012

0011
1001
1100(2)

Hence answer is 1100(2) =12 10

ASSEMBLY LEVEL LANGUAGE

This language is formed with the help of
mnemonic codes.
The programs can be written using codes instead
of 0 s and 1 s
These programs must be translated into the
machine understandable form

ASSEMBLY LEVEL LANGUAGE

Advantages
Easy to understand
Easy to modify and isolate error

Disadvantages
Machine dependent language
Requires translator
Difficult to write

ASSEMBLY LEVEL LANGUAGE

In assembly level language the addition of 3 and
4 is performed as follows.
Say A=3 B=4

MVI A
( move a value to accumulator)
ADD B
( add B with contents of accumulator)
STA C
(Store accumulator contents to C)
HLT
(Halt the program)

HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES

These languages are in the form of normal

English. So programming in these languages are
very easy, but it also requires a translator to
translate this program into machine
understandable form.
Advantages

Easy to write and understand

Easy to isolate an error
Machine independent language

Disadvantages

Needs translator
Requires high execution time

HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE

In high level language the addition of 3 and 9 is

performed as follows
LET A=3
LET B=9
LET C=A+B
PRINT C
END

DIFFERENCE B/W
MACHINE,ASSEMBLY,HIGHLEVEL LANGUAGE
Feature

Machine

Assembly

High level

Form

0,s and 1,s

Mnemonic
codes

Normal English

M/c
Dependency

Independent

Dependent

Independent

Translator

Not needed

Needs

Needs

Execution Time Less

Less

High

Nature

Difficult

Difficult

Easy

Memory Space

Less

Less

More

C LANGUAGE OVERVIEW
The

C programming language is a general-purpose,

high-level language that was originally developed by
Dennis M. Ritchie to develop the UNIX operating
system at Bell Labs.
The UNIX operating system, the C compiler, and
essentially all UNIX applications programs have
been written in C. The C has now become a widely
used professional language for various reasons.
Easy to learn
Structured language
It produces efficient programs.
It can handle low-level activities.
It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms

WHY C++?
C++ is a statically typed, compiled, generalpurpose, case-sensitive, free-form programming
language that supports procedural, objectoriented, and generic programming
It is the object oriented implementation of C
C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting
in 1979 at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey,
as an enhancement to the C language and
originally named C with Classes but later it was
renamed C++ in 1983.

ADVANTAGES OF JAVA
Platform

independent: Unlike many other programming

languages including C and C++, when Java is compiled, it
is not compiled into platform specific machine, rather into
platform independent byte code.
This byte code is distributed over the web and interpreted
by virtual Machine (JVM) on whichever platform it is
being run.
Simple: Java is designed to be easy to learn. If you
understand the basic concept of OOP,Java would be easy
to master.
Secure: With Java's secure feature, it enables to develop
virus-free, tamper-free systems. Authentication techniques
are based on public-key encryption.

WHAT IS AN IDE ?

Visual Studio.NET and Net Beans

SCRIPTING LANGUAGES
Ahigh-level

programming languagethat
isinterpretedby another program atruntime rather
thancompiled by the computer's processor as other
programming languages (such asCandC++) are.
Scripting languages, which can be embedded
withinHTML, commonly are used to add
functionality to a Web page, such as different menu
styles or graphic displays or to
servedynamicadvertisements.
These types of languages are client-side scripting
languages, affecting the data that the end user sees
in abrowserwindow.
Javascript,ASP.NET,PHP

LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS
Compiler: It is a program which is used to
convert the high level language programs into
machine language.
Assembler: It is a program which is used to
convert the assembly level language programs
into machine language
Interpreter: It is a program, it takes one
statement of a high level language program,
translates it into machine language instruction
and so on.

COMPARISON BETWEEN COMPILER

AND INTERPRETER
Compiler

Interpreter

A compiler is used to compile an

An Interpreter is used to

entire program and an

executable program is generated
through the object program.

translate each line of the

program code immediately as it
is entered.

The executable program is

The executable program is

stored in a disk for future use or

to run it in another computer.

generated in RAM and the

interpreter is required for each
run

The compiled programs run

The interpreted programs run

faster.

slower

Most of the languages use

A very few languages use

compiler.

interpreters