Programming

Fundamentals
Lecture # 02
Classification and Organization of Computers

Instructor: Ms. Nazish Yousaf

 Contents
• Computer for Individual Users
• Classification Of Computers
• Computer Organization
 Computer For Individual Users

The six primary types of computers

• Desktop computers
• Work stations
• Notebook computers PC
• Tablet computers
• Hand held computers
• Smart phones
 Desktop
• Most Common.
• Perform Array of tasks.
• Communicate, produce music, edit photographs
and play videos games etc.
• Main Component: System Unit
• System unit: Containing Unit Processing and
storage devices
 Workstations
• Specialized, single-user.
• More powerful than standard Desktop.
• Used among Scientists Engineers animators who
need greater speed to perform sophisticated
tasks.
• High-resolution monitors and accelerated
graphics-handling capabilities.
• suitable for advanced architectural or engineering
design, modeling, animation , and video editing .
 Notebook Computers
• 8.5 by 11 inches.
• Notebooks are fully functional microcomputers.
• Because of their portability, notebook PCs fall in
to a category of devices called Mobile Computers.
• Docking Station: include a large monitor, a full-
size keyboard and mouse.
• It provides notebook computer to be connected to
different devices or in a network
 Tablet PC
• Newest development
• fully-featured computers
• Accept input inform of Special Pen
• Tablet PCs run specialized versions of standard
programs and can be connected to a network
 Handheld PC
• Popular type is PDA (Personal Digital
Assistance)
• Used for special applications:
• taking notes,
• displaying telephone numbers and addresses
• agendas
• PDAs can be connected to larger computers
to exchange data.
• Access Internet via Wireless Connection
 Smart Phones
• These phones offer advanced features that are
not found in cellular phones
• Including:
• Web e-mail access
• Special software such as
• Digital camera, music player
Classification of
Computers
 Classifications of Computers
• Mainframe Computers
• Micro Computers
• Mini Computers
• Network Servers
• Super Computers
 Mainframe Computers
• Used in Large Organizations
• Insurance Companies
• Banks
• User accesses the mainframe’s resources
• through a device called a Terminal
• There are two kinds Terminals
• Dumb: does not process or store data ; it is simply
an input/output (I/O) device
• Intelligent: Performs processing with no storage
Mainframe Computers
 Micro Computers
• It is defined as a computer that has
microprocessor as its CPU.
• All discussed above are Micro-Computers
Micro Computers
 Mini Computers
• Capabilities between Mainframes and PC
• Also called Midrange computers.
• Designed for a single user
• Serve the input and output needs of hundreds of
users at a time
• Users can access a central minicomputer through a
standard PC
Mini Computers
 Network Servers
• Individual Computers connected to one or more centralized
computers are called “Network Server”
• It is Powerful PC with special s/w equipment
• When set up in groups called clusters.
• They may mount in a larger racks or reduced to small units
called blades
• Larger networks have group of servers with different
purposes
• Supporting a certain set of users
• Printing tasks etc.
Network Servers
 Super Computers
• Most powerful computers
• Process huge amount of data
• More than trillion calculations per second
• Handles Complex Computations
• Examples: Nuclear Fission, Weather Forecasting
• Thousand of processors
Super Computers
 Computer
Organization
 Storage (Memory)
• Primary Storage
– Used to hold data, ongoing job’s instructions,
intermediate results
– Fast in operation
– Small capacity, expensive, volatile
– Ex: RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM
• Secondary Storage
– Used to store stored program & data
– Slower, large capacity, cheaper, persistent
– Ex: Hard Disk, Magnetic Tape, Floppy, CD, Flash
 Memory Hierarchy
Cache
Memory
MainMemory
On-line, Direct-access,
and sequential access secondary
storage such as hard disk
Off-line, Direct-access, and sequential
access secondary storage such as magnetic tape,
floppy disk, zip disk, worm etc
Mass storage device such as tape library, CD etc
 CPU
• Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU)
– Actual execution of the instruction takes place
– Arithmetic Operations like: add, subtract, etc
– Logic Operation: <, >, and, or, etc
• Control Unit (CU)
– Manages & coordinates all other components of a
computer system.
– It acts like a central nervous system of computer
– Ex: It decides when to execute which instruction
 Input Devices
• Keyboard
• Point & Draw devices
– Mouse, Trackball, Joystick
• Data Scanning Devices
– Image Scanner, OCR, Barcode reader, MICR
• Digitizer
– Used to pictures, maps etc to digital form
• Electronic Card
• Speech Recognition system
Output Device
• Monitors
• Printers
• Screen Image Projector
 Basic Terminologies
• Hardware
– Physical devices of a computer system
• Software
– A Set of programs
• Program
– Sequence of instructions written using a computer
language to solve a small problem.
• Software Package
– A group of program that solve a specific type of job
 H/W vs S/W
• S/W makes H/W usable
• They are complementary to each other
• Same H/W may perform different jobs using
different S/W
Types of S/W
• System Software
– Are designed to control/manage and extend
the processing capabilities of a computer
system.
• Application Software
– Designed to solve a specific problem or to do a
specific task.
Logical System Architecture
HARDWARE
(Physical
devices/components of a
computer system)
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
(Constitute the operating and
programming environment)
APPLICATION SOFTWARE
(Software that do a specific task to solve a
specific problem)

USERS
(Normally interact with the system via the user
interface provided by the application S/W)
Q/A