What is a computer

A computer is an electronic device that can perform a variety of

operation according to a set of instruction called program

Hardware it refers to the physical parts of the computer ; the

ones that you can touch e.g. keybord moniter etc

Software it refers to the instrucation (program) that tell the

computer what to do

To understand the difference between hardware and software

consider a cd string songs or game the cd which you can touch is
an example is an example of hardware but can you touch songs/
games on it ? the songs game on cd can be thought of as software.
Without software the computer will not work

Data unprocessed raw facts and figures are data e.g. , a name
(ramu ), some marks (72.5%) , an year (2015) etc are data

Information it refers to the processed data that is meaningful

e.s./ above data can be converted into information as ‘’ ram who
passed in 2015 , 72.% marks

Fanctional components of a computer system

A computer , mainly ,has four funtion ;

1 accepts data _ input

2 processes data _ processing

3 produces result / output _ output

4 stores result _ storage

Input function it is responsible for providing the information in
the computer and is perfomed the by input unit for this purpose ,
input unit uses standard input devices shall be covered in next
chapter _ types of the harware

Output funtion ut it is reponsible for displaying the data input to

computr or the processed data in human readable form and is
performaed by output unit for this purpose the output unit uses
standard output device such as moniter or screen printer speaker
etc various output devices shall be covered in next chapter _
tyepes of hardware

Processing function this is responsible for carrying out the given

intstructions on given data it isperformed by cpu (central
processing unit)

Storage function it is responsible for stroing any kinds of

information permanently and is performed by storage unit varios
storage devices like hard disk cds dvds usb drives etc comprise of
this unit storage devices shall br covered in next chapter _ types
of hardware

Cpu_ the computer ; brain

1 alu (arithmetic logic unit)

This unit performs the computing function as given below

involving numbers arithmetic operation which include addition
subtraction multiplication anddivision all logic operations which
involve comparisons such as less than greater than or equal to the
results of these operations are stored in the registers or in
memory or sent to output devices
2 registers all data is temporarily stored in registers during the
execution of program registers offer very fast memory but very
limited in size

3 control unit (cu) the control unit of the cpu directs the entire
computer system to carry out or execute stored program
instrucation you can compare the control unit to a police officer
directing traffic at a busy intersection but instead of directing cars
the unit directs data flow between the computer processor
memory and input/output devices

1.7 characteristics of a computer

Strength of computer

1 speed

2 high storage capacity

3 accuracy

4 reliability

5versatility

Weaknesses of computer

1 lack of decision_ making power

2 iq zero

3 no heuristics

Special _purpose computer special _purpose computer is the one

that is designed to perform a specific task the instrucation
(program)to carry out the task are permanenthly stored in the
machine

General_purpose computer general_purose computer is the one

that can work on different types of program input to it and thus be
used in countless application the program are not permanently
stored but are input at the time of execution

Purpose wise digital computers can be special _purpose

computersor general_purpose computers but based on their
configuration i.e their size speed and capability they can be
categorized as follow

1 embedded computers

Theses computers are in the form of tiny chips embedded within

the circuit of appliance.

2 microcomputers/personal computers(pcs)

A microcomputers is a computer whose cpu is a microprocessor

those are normally single micro processor, single user system
disigned for performance basic operations like edocational traning
and small business applications,playing games etc.

3 minicomputer

Minicomputers also called mid-range servers, are more powerfull

computer than microcomputers in term of processing power and
capabilities.
4 mainframe computers

Mainframe computers are disigned to handel huge volume of data

and information these can sopport more than 100 users at same
time these very large and expensive computers have great
procesing speed and very large storage capacity and memory as
compare to minicomputers e.g icl 39, cdc 6600 etc.

5 super computers

Super computers are the most powerfull computer among digital

computer these consists of serveral processor running together
thereby making them immensely faster and powerfull these
computer are capable of handing huge amount of calculations
that the beyond human capabilities. E.g cray x-mp-14,cdc-205 etc.