UNIT-I 1. What is a computer? The term computer is derived from the word compute, which means to calculate.

A Computer is an electronic machine, devised for performing calculations and controlling operations that can be expressed in either logical or numerical terms. 2. What are the characteristics of computer? The characteristics of computer are Speed Diligence Versatility Accuracy Reliability Storage Capability Resource sharing 3. Write short notes on Holleriths Tabulator. Holleriths Tabulator was invented by Herman Hollerith in 1889. The Jacquard loom concept of computing is used. The method used cards to store data, which was fed into the machine that compiled results automatically. 4. Expand ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, and UNIVAC. ENIAC- Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator EDVAC- Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer EDSAC- Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator UNIVAC - Universal Automatic Computer 5. What does generation represent in a computer terminology? List the various generations. In computer terminology the word generation is described as a stage of technological development or innovation. The various generations are First Generation (1940- 1956) Second Generation (1956-1963) Third Generation (1964- Early 1970s) Fourth Generation (Early 1970s Till Date) Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) 6. What is a transistor? A Transistor is made up of semi conducting material like germanium and silicon. It usually has three leads and performs electrical functions such as voltage, current, power amplifications with low power requirements. 7. What is an IC? IC - Integrated Circuit consists of a single chip usually silicon with many components such as transistors and resistors fabricated on it. Integrated Circuits replaced several individual wired transistors.

8. List few characteristics of third generation computers. The third generation computers were based on Integrated Circuit (IC) technology. The computational time was reduced to nanoseconds. Extensive use of high level languages was possible. Users interacted with these computers through keyboards and monitors interfaced with the operating systems. 9. What is an expert system? An expert system is defined as computer information system that attempts to mimic the thought and reasoning of experts in specific areas. 10. How are the computers classified? Computers are classified based on their data processing capabilities, physical size, performance and application areas. They are classified as Micro computers o Desktop computers o Laptops o Hand-held devices Mini Computers Mainframe Super Computers 11. What are micro computers? A micro computer is a small. Low cost digital computer, which usually consists of a microprocessor, a storage unit, an input channel and an output channel, all of which may be on one chip inserted into one or more PC boards. Example: IBM-PC Pentium 100, IBM-PC Pentium 200 and Apple Macintosh 12. What is a desktop computer? A Desktop Computer, also known as Personal Computer is principally intended for stand alone use by an individual. They are not expensive for individuals or small business organizations. Major manufactures are DELL, APPLE, and IBM. 13. What are handheld computers? Hand held computers also called as Personal Digital Computers (PDA) is a computer that can be conveniently stored in a pocket of sufficient size and used while the user is holding it. Pen or electronic stylus is used for input. Example: Apple Newton, Casio, Cassiopeia and Franklin eBookMan. 14. What are the advantages of laptop computers? The advantages of laptop computers are The laptop computers are portable i.e they can be carried anywhere. They have rechargeable batteries and hence do not require constant power supply. 15. What are mini computers? A mini computer is a small digital computer, which normally is able to process and store less data than a mainframe but more than a micro computer. The speed of mini computers is less than mainframe computers and more than micro computers.

Example: PDP 11, IBM (8000 series) and VAX 7500. 16. What are mainframe computers? Mainframe computers are ultra-high performance computers made for highvolume, processor-intensive computing. It supports large volume of data processing, high performance online transaction systems, extensive data storage and retrieval. Example: IBMs ES000, VAX 8000 and CDC 6600. 17. What are super computers? Super computers are special purpose machines designed to maximize the number of FLOPS (Floating Point Operation Per Second). Any computer below one gigaflop/sec is not considered as super computers. Example: CRAY-I, Cyber 205 and PARAM. 18. What is hardware? Hardware refers to all visible devices that are assembled together to build a computer system. These include various input devices, central processing unit, output devices and memory. Eg: Hard disk, Printers, Keyboard. 19. What is software? Software is a generic term for organized collection of computer data and instructions. It is responsible for integrating and managing the hardware components of a computer and to accomplish specific tasks. 20. What are the components of a computer system? The basic components of a computer system are Input Devices Central Processing Unit Arithmetic Logic Unit Control Unit Registers Output Devices Memory Primary Memory Secondary Memory 21. What is an input device? Input devices are electromechanical devices that allow user to feed information into the computer system for analysis, storage and to give commands to the Central Processing Unit. It captures information and translates it into a form that can be processed by Central Processing Unit. E.g.: Keyboard, Joystick, Scanners. 22. What are the two forms of output? The two forms of output are Hard copy Soft copy Hard Copy- The physical form of the output is known as the hard copy.

Soft copy- The electronic version of the output which resides in the computer memory or on disk is known as soft copy. 23. What are registers? Registers are special purpose, high speed temporary memory units that hold various types of information such as data, instructions, addresses and the intermediate results of calculations. Registers are part of CPUs working memory, which is a special additional storage location that offers advantage of speed. 24. List the different types of registers. Instruction Register Data Register Memory Address Register Memory Buffer Register Accumulator Program Counter 25. What is the function Accumulator? The accumulator is a general purpose register used for storing temporary results and results produced by the Arithmetic Logic Unit. 26. What is the function of a Program Counter? A Program Counter keeps track of the next instruction that is to be executed. 27. What is the function of an Instruction Register? An Instruction Register holds the instruction to be decoded by the control unit. 28. What is the function of Memory Address Register? A Memory Address Register holds the address of the next location in the memory to be accessed. 29. What is the function of Memory Buffer Register? A Memory Buffer Register is used for storing data either coming to the CPU or data being transferred by the CPU. 30. What is the function of Data Register? A Data Register is used for storing the operands and other data. 31. What are the differences between primary and secondary memory? Primary Memory Primary memory stores data and instructions for processing. It is also known as main memory. Secondary Memory Secondary Memory is used for storing data and instructions. It is also known as auxiliary memory or external memory.

It is a volatile memory

It is a memory.

non-volatile

It has a limited storage It has a larger storage capacity capacity. 32. What is a number system? List the categories of number system. Number system defines the set of values that is used to represent the quantity. The number systems are categorized as Positional Number System Non-Positional Number System 33. What are the types of number system? The types of number system are Binary number system Decimal number system Octal number system Hexadecimal number system 34. What does base in a number system represent? The word base or radix means the quality of admissible marks used in a given number system. The admissible marks are the characters such as Arabic numerals, Latin Letters which are used to represent the numerical magnitude of a quantity. 35. List the bases and the permissible digits in various number systems Number System Binary Decimal Octal Hexadecimal Base 2 10 8 16 Set of Digits 0,1 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, A,B,C,D,E,F

36. Determine the decimal equivalent of (B14)16 B =11 Hexadecimal number Weight of each bit Weighted Value Solved Multiplication 162 162 * 11 2816 1 161 161 * 1 16 4 160 160 * 4 4

Sum of weight of all bits is 2816+16+4 = 2836

Answer: The decimal equivalent is (2836)10 37. Determine the octal equivalent of (010111)2 Binary number 010 Octal number 2

111 7

Answer: The octal equivalent is (27)8 38. Determine the decimal equivalent of (750)8 7 Octal number Weight of each bit Weighted Value Solved Multiplication 82 82 * 7 448 5 81 81 * 5 40 0 80 80 * 0 0

Sum of weight of all bits is 448+40+ = 488 Answer: The decimal equivalent is (616)10