A computer has two major internal components that are of particular interest to us, namely its processor and

its memory. The processor as its name suggests is the unit that does the work of the computer system i.e. it executes computer programs.
Software is composed of instructions, which are executed (obeyed) by the processor. These instructions tell the processor when and what to read from a keyboard; what to display on a screen; what to store and retrieve from a disk drive and so on.

A computer program is a set of such instructions, that carries out a meaningful task. It is worth remembering at this stage that the processor can only perform a limited range of operations. It can do arithmetic, compare numbers and perform input/output (read information and display or store it). It is instructive to bear in mind that all computer programs are constructed from sequences of instructions based on such primitive operations. The processor itself is made up of a number of components such as the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and the control unit (CU). The ALU carries out arithmetic operations (e.g. addition and subtraction) and logical operations (e.g. and, or xor) while the CU controls the execution of instructions. Traditionally, the processor is referred to as the central processing unit or CPU. With the advent of microprocessors, the term MPU or microprocessor unit is also used. A microprocessor is simply a processor contained on a single silicon chip.

The memory is used to store information inside the computer while the computer is switched on. Disk storage is the commonest form of external storage, followed by the tape storage One form of memory is called RAM - random access memory. This means that any location in memory may be accessed in the same amount of time as any other location. Memory access means one of two things, either the CPU is reading from a memory location or the CPU is writing to a memory location. When the CPU reads from a memory location, the contents of the memory location are copied to a CPU register. When the CPU writes to a memory location, the CPU copies the contents of a CPU register to the memory location, overwriting the previous contents of the location. The CPU cannot carry out any other operations on memory locations. RAM is a form of short term or volatile memory. Information stored in short term storage is lost when the computer is switched off (or when power fails e.g. if you pull out the power lead!). There is therefore a requirement for permanent or long term storage which is also referred to as secondary storage or auxiliary storage. This role is fulfilled by disk and tape storage.

A very important component of a computer system is the bus system. This is used to transfer information between all system components. A bus is composed of a set of communication lines or wires. We refer to this bus as the system bus as it connects the various components in a computer system. Internally, the CPU has a CPU bus for transferring information between its components (e.g. the control unit, the ALU and the registers).

The system bus: the processor communicates with all devices via the system bus

Supercomputer - term used for the most powerful computer available at any time. These are typically tailored for very fast processing of what are known as number crunching applications. Such applications require a tremendous number of arithmetic calculations to be carried out. Weather forecasting is the classic example of such an application.

Mainframe - physically large and powerful systems capable of supporting hundreds users. They had relatively large amount of RAM (e.g. 1-2 Mb) and disk storage (e.g. 100 to 400 Mb).

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Minicomputers - smaller less powerful machines than mainframes, but were still multi-user machines. Microcomputers - small humble machines with 8-bit or 16-bit processors, 16Kb to 256Kb of RAM and 5 to 10 Mb of disk storage, used mainly for games and basic word processing.

In a distributed system, computers are connected together to form networks. Networks often provide services (e.g. e-mail, printing, database access) on one machine for all users of the network. The machine providing the service is called a server. The machines (users) using the service are called clients.

A computer network which is local to a building or campus is called a local area network or LAN. Wide area computer networks (WANs) are interconnected computer systems where the distance between the machines making up the network is anything from a few Kms to the other side of the globe. The connection of two networks is called internetworking. The term internetwork or internet is used to describe the composite network. The term Internet is now often employed to refer to a specific global network of computers that is widely used by people all over the world to communicate with each other. The internet has hundreds of millions of computers connected to it at the moment and the number of users is growing at a phenomenal rate.