Lecture 1:

Basic Computer Concepts

Lyn Gabud
25 January 2017

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 Outline:
1) Basic Computer Concepts

What is a computer?

Why use computers?

Types of computers

Some computer terminologies
2) Basic Components of a Computer
3) Number Systems & Conversions

Gabud.CS11.
 Outline:
1) Basic Computer Concepts

What is a computer?

Why use computers?

Types of computers

Some computer terminologies
2) Basic Components of a Computer
3) Number Systems & Conversions

Gabud.CS11.
 What is a Computer?

A machine that performs a variety of tasks
according to specific instructions.

A data processing machine:
1. Input
2. Processor
3. Storage
4. Output

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Why use computers?

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 Types of Computers
(according to capacity)
1. Supercomputers

Fastest, very expensive, very large

Specialized and task specific computers used by
large organizations

Used for research and exploration purposes

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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/images/content/460445main_ACD10-0095-001.jpg

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 Types of Computers
(according to capacity)
2. Mainframe computers

Used for centralized processing and storage by
large organizations, such as goverment, banks,
insurance company

A powerful multi-user computer capable of
supporting many hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously.

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 Types of Computers
(according to capacity)
3. Minicomputers

Midrange in speed & size

A multi-user computer capable of supporting up to
hundreds of users simultaneously.
4. Microcomputers

Small and for individual use
a) personal computer
b) portable computer

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 Some Computer Terminologies

Program
―
Set of instructions written to describe a specific
task for the computer to perform.

Programming
―
Process of designing and implementing the
operations to be performed by the computer to
solve a particular problem or to accomplish a
specific task.

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 Some Computer Terminologies

System
―
Set of arrangement of parts that act together to
perform a function.
e.g. Human body consists of a set of systems.

Data
―
Any collection of facts. Raw material gathered from
one or more sources.

Information
―
“Processed” data. Organized & meaningful to the
person receiving it.
e.g. 1 – data; grade of 1 - information
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 Some Computer Terminologies

Codes
―
Set of symbols that represent another set of
symbols.

Application
―
Things that computer can do for the benefit of the
user.
e.g. payroll processing, record keeping

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 Some Computer Terminologies

Bit
―
Smallest and most basic unit of storage.

Byte : 8 bits

KiloByte (KB) : 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes

MegaByte (MB): 1048576 or 1000000 bytes

GigaByte (GB) : 1073741824 bytes or
1000000000 bytes

Gabud.CS11.
 Outline:
1) Basic Computer Concepts

What is a computer?

Why use computers?

Types of computers

Some computer terminologies
2) Basic Components of a Computer
3) Number Systems & Conversions

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 Basic Components of a Computer
1. Hardware (tangible)

Physical machines / parts that make up a
computer installation
2. Software (intangible)

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 3 Main Hardware Components
A) Central Processing Unit (CPU)

"brain" of the computer

follows the instructions in a program and performs the
calculations specified by the program

very simple brain (All that it can do is follow a set of simple
instructions provided to by the programmer)

http://6iee.com/524604.html
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 3 Main Hardware Components
B) Memory

data and instructions needed by the CPU to do its
appointed tasks can be found here

divided into several storage locations which have
corresponding addresses. The CPU accesses the
memory with the use of these addresses.

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 3 Main Hardware Components
B) Memory

Computer's MAIN
MEMORY is
considered as
VOLATILE storage.

SECONDARY
MEMORY (or
secondary storage),
such as floppy disks
and magnetic tapes,
are non-volatile.

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http://www.slideshare.net/siddiqueibrahim37/secondary-storage-31237464

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http://2static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Assembling_733252_5577795.jpg

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 3 Main Hardware Components
C) Input / Output (I/O) Devices

I/O devices get information from the user as well
as give messages out in return.
e.g. keyboard, printer

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 Software

consists of a group of integrated programs that
tells the hardware what to do

includes all information residing in the main
memory of the computer, all information residing
in secondary memory, and all instructions that the
CPU is able to execute

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Some Types of Computer Software
A. Operating Systems
» Program whose basic job is to make the
computer usable.
» Without it, a computer is just a collection of
CPUs, memory chips, and other peripherals.
e.g.: DOS, Windows, UNIX, Linux, OSX

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Some Types of Computer Software
B. Compilers
The computer understands only one language: machine
language. Machine language is in the form of ones and zeros
only. Since it is highly impractical for people to create
programs out of zeros and ones, there must be a way of
translating or converting a language which we understand
into machine language, for this purpose, there exists
compilers.
Used to convert programs from a source language to a target
language (i.e. machine language). One such source language
is called C, and the name of a popular C compiler is Turbo C.

Gabud.CS11.
 Outline:
1) Basic Computer Concepts

What is a computer?

Why use computers?

Types of computers

Some computer terminologies
2) Basic Components of a Computer
3) Number Systems & Conversions

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 Number Systems & Conversions

Numbers can be represented in a variety of
ways. The representation depends on what is
called the BASE. The following are the four (4)
most common representations.

Decimal

Binary

Octal

Hexadecimal

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 Number Systems & Conversions
Decimal

Base 10

Digits: 0 - 9

Examples:
1234510 (normally written as just 12345)
6789010 (normally written as just 67890)
14310 (normally written as just 143)
1110 (normally written as just 11)

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 Number Systems & Conversions
Binary

Base 2

Digits: 0 - 1

Examples:
110102
01112
102

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 Number Systems & Conversions
Octal

Base 8

Digits: 0 - 7

Examples:
750128
163458
7238
108

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 Number Systems & Conversions
Hexadecimal

Base 16

Digits: 0 – 9 and letters A – F (or a-f)

Examples:
1A24B16
DE56F16
1F0516
9C16

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 Number Systems & Conversions

Conversion

Decimal to Binary / Octal / Hexadecimal

Binary / Octal / Hexadecimal to Decimal

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 Number Systems & Conversions

Conversion

Binary to Octal

Octal to Binary

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 Number Systems & Conversions

Conversion

Binary to Hexadecimal

Hexadecimal to Binary

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 Summary:
1) Basic Computer Concepts

What is a computer?

Why use computers?

Types of computers

Some computer terminologies
2) Basic Components of a Computer
3) Number Systems & Conversions

Source: Rebecca Ong

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