DETAIL INTRODUCATION

ABOUT COMPUTER
 WHAT IS A COMPUTER?
• A COMPUTER IS A "BOX" THAT YOU PUT SOME "STUFF" IN, THE BOX DOES "STUFF" WITH IT, AND THEN THE
BOX HAS SOME WAY OF SHOWING THE WORLD WHAT IT HAS DONE. THE STUFF YOU PUT INTO A
COMPUTER IS CALLED DATA, AND GETS INTO THE COMPUTER USING THE INPUT. DATA IS SIMPLY A FORM OF
INFORMATION. YOU CAN PUT DATA INTO A COMPUTER BY YOUR KEYBOARD, A MOUSE, A TRACKPAD, A
CAMERA, AN INFRARED SENSOR; ANYTHING THAT WILL GIVE THE COMPUTER MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
THE WORLD AROUND IT. BASED ON WHAT INFORMATION THE COMPUTER HAS GOTTEN, IT CAN DECIDE TO
DO STUFF WITH IT. WHAT THE COMPUTER DOES WITH INFORMATION IS KNOWN AS PROCESSING. A
COMPUTER WILL PROCESS INFORMATION DIFFERENTLY BASED ON WHAT KIND OF DATA IT HAS GOTTEN. IT
DECIDES HOW TO PROCESS USING A SET OF INSTRUCTIONS IT HAS, CALLED A PROGRAM. ONCE THE
COMPUTER HAS DONE SOME PROCESSING, THERE SHOULD BE A WAY TO SHOW THE WORLD WHAT IT HAS
DONE. THIS IS USUALLY DONE THROUGH A SCREEN, BUT CAN ALSO BE DONE WITH A SPEAKER, LEDS, A
LASER, A ROBOTIC ARM; ALL OF THESE ARE CALLED OUTPUTS.
• A BASIC COMPUTER CONSISTS OF THREE MAJOR
COMPONENTS; INPUT/OUTPUT, THE PROCESSOR, AND
MEMORY.
• INPUT AND OUTPUT PROVIDE A WAY TO INTERACT
WITH A COMPUTER:
• KEYBOARD
• MOUSE
• DISPLAY
• POWER BUTTON
• CAMERA
• THE PROCESSOR, OR CPU, IS THE PART THAT DOES PROCESSING. THE CPU CAN BE SAID
TO MANIPULATE DATA:
• ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION (THIS MAKES YOUR DATA SECURE.)
• MATH
• LOGIC
• THE MEMORY GIVES YOUR COMPUTER A PLACE TO STORE INFORMATION THAT
IT MIGHT NEED IN ORDER TO PROCESS DATA WELL. THE PROCESSOR CAN BE
TOLD TO USE THE MEMORY BY SPECIFYING IT AS THE INPUT OR OUTPUT. SOME
THINGS THAT MIGHT BE STORED IN MEMORY MIGHT BE:
• PHOTOS FROM A CAMERA (A CAMERA IS AN INPUT)
• A PROGRAM
• A TEXT DOCUMENT
The way components inside a computer fit together helps describe how the computer works. Data comes
through the Input, and is sent to the CPU. The CPU processes the data, normally based on the data or a
program which is in memory; for example, in modern computers, When you press the power button on
your computer, there is some data (a program) that is automatically sent to the processor from memory.
When a CPU is finished processing some data, the result can be sent back to memory or it is sent to the
output.
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS/HISTORY
• HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER. THE COMPUTER IS A PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE THAT CAN STORE,
RETRIEVE, AND PROCESS DATA. IT WAS DESIGNED IN THE 19TH CENTURY.
• NOTABLE HISTORY
• COMPUTERS WERE INITIALLY LARGE MACHINES THAT COULD FILL ENTIRE ROOMS. SOME WERE OPERATED USING
LARGE VACUUM TUBES THAT FORMED THE BASIS OF TODAY'S TRANSISTORS. IN ORDER TO OPERATE SUCH
MACHINES, PUNCH CARDS WERE USED. ONE OF THE FIRST SUCH EXAMPLES OF THIS WAS THE JACQUARD
LOOM. IN 1833 CHARLES BABBAGE INVENTED HIS DIFFERENCE ENGINE, AN EARLY CALCULATOR. TOGETHER
WITH THE PUNCH CARD DESIGN, HE CREATED THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE. REGRETTABLY THE ENGINE NEVER SAW
COMPLETION DUE TO POLITICAL ISSUES.
• OVER TIME COMPUTERS BECAME MORE AND MORE POWERFUL, WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE UBIQUITOUS
MICROPROCESSOR DRIVING FORWARD DEVELOPMENT. GORDON MOORE, ONE OF THE CO-FOUNDERS OF
INTEL, INVENTED MOORE'S LAW, WHICH PREDICTED THAT THE NUMBER OF TRANSISTORS THAT COULD BE
PLACED ON AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT INEXPENSIVELY DOUBLED EVERY 2 YEARS. THIS LAW HAS HELD TRUE TO A
CERTAIN DEGREE, AND IT CAN BE SEEN IN MOTION EVERY DAY WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF MORE AND MORE
POWERFUL MICROPROCESSORS AND LARGER HARD DRIVES AND MEMORY MODULES.
A microprocessor running the SPARC architecture
 NOTABLE COMPUTERS
• HERE ARE SOME COMPUTERS THAT CAME AND WENT IN THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING. SOME MODERN
EXAMPLES ARE ALSO SHOWN HERE.
• Z1
• THE Z1 WAS A MECHANICAL COMPUTER DESIGNED BY KONRAD ZUSE IN 1935 AND FIRST BUILT IN 1936. IT
WAS A BINARY ELECTRICALLY-DRIVEN MECHANICAL CALCULATOR WITH LIMITED PROGRAMMABILITY, READING
INSTRUCTIONS FROM PUNCHED TAPE.

A replica of the Z1
 ENIAC
• A BEHEMOTH OF A MACHINE WEIGHING 27 TONNES, ENIAC STOOD
FOR ELECTRICAL NUMERICAL INTEGRATOR AND COMPUTER. ORIGINALLY PLANNED FOR USE IN CALCULATING
ARTILLERY FIRING TABLES, ON COMPLETION IN 1946 ITS FIRST TASKS WERE TO PERFORM CALCULATIONS FOR
HYDROGEN BOMB DESIGN. THE ENIAC USED THOUSANDS OF VACUUM TUBES AND A PUNCH CARD
MECHANISM. WORKING OUT THE PROGRAMMING ON PAPER TOOK WEEKS, AND PERFORMING THE
NECESSARY WIRING TOOK DAYS. THE ENIAC SAW SERVICE UNTIL OCTOBER 2, 1955.
•ALTAIR 8800
• A MICROCOMPUTER DESIGN FROM 1975, THE ALTAIR IS
CONSIDERED TO HAVE STARTED THE PERSONAL COMPUTER
REVOLUTION. IT WAS THE TARGET OF MICROSOFT'S FIRST
PRODUCT: A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE CALLED ALTAIR BASIC.
THE COMPUTER WAS SOLD AS A KIT REQUIRING ASSEMBLY BY
THE USER, ALTHOUGH PRE-ASSEMBLED KITS COULD BE BOUGHT
FOR A HIGHER PRICE. THE ALTAIR DEFIED SALES FORECASTS BY
SELLING THOUSANDS INSTEAD OF HUNDREDS TO COMPUTER
HOBBYISTS, ACCELERATING A GROWING HACKER CULTURE.
 COMMODORE 64
• AN 8 BIT COMPUTER INTRODUCED IN JANUARY 1982, THE COMMODORE 64 ROSE TO BECOME THE BEST
SELLING PERSONAL COMPUTER OF ALL TIME. OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS SUCH AS WORD PROCESSORS,
SPREADSHEETS AND DATABASES WERE AVAILABLE, BUT DUE TO ITS ADVANCED GRAPHICS AND AUDIO SYSTEMS,
ALONG WITH THE INCLUSION OF A CARTRIDGE SLOT, THE COMMODORE WAS SEEN AS A GAMING DEVICE
RATHER THAN A PRODUCTIVITY TOOL, WITH OVER 20,000 GAMES RELEASED, AND EVEN GAME DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS THE SHOOT'EM-UP CONSTRUCTION KIT.

Commodore 64C system with 1541-II floppy drive

and 1084S RGB monitor.
 MACINTOSH
• FIRST INTRODUCED BY APPLE IN 1984, THE MACINTOSH WAS THE FIRST POPULAR COMPUTER TO USE A MOUSE
AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) RATHER THAN A COMMAND LINE INTERFACE, AND WAS INITIALLY USED
PRIMARILY AS A DESKTOP PUBLISHING TOOL.
• THE MACINTOSH IS FAMOUS FOR ITS 1984 ADVERTISEMENT.

•IBM PC
• THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL CURRENT PERSONAL COMPUTERS, THE IBM PC WAS INTRODUCED IN 1981. IT WAS
CAPABLE OF RUNNING 3 DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS AT LAUNCH, THE MOST POPULAR BEING PC DOS.
BECAUSE OF ITS SUCCESS, MANY MANUFACTURERS WERE ENCOURAGED TO CREATE CLONES WITH THE SAME
FEATURE SET AS THE PC, WHICH WE USE TODAY AS OUR COMPUTERS.
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS/COMPUTER
• 1SUPERCOMPUTER
TYPES.
• 2MAINFRAME
• 3SERVER
• 4WORKSTATION
• 5THE PERSONAL COMPUTER OR PC
• 6MICROCONTROLLER
The Columbia Supercomputer - once one of the fastest.
1.SUPERCOMPUTER
• SUPERCOMPUTERS ARE THE FASTEST AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMPUTERS. THEIR HUGE PROCESSING POWER
MEAN THEY CAN BE USED FOR COMPLEX APPLICATIONS SUCH AS PREDICTING PROTEIN FOLDING PATTERNS
(SOMETHING REALLY REALLY COMPLEX). THEY'RE NORMALLY USED TO SOLVE VERY COMPLEX SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING PROBLEMS. SUPERCOMPUTERS GET THEIR PROCESSING POWER BY TAKING ADVANTAGE
OF PARALLEL PROCESSING; THEY USE LOTS OF CPUS AT THE SAME TIME ON ONE PROBLEM. A TYPICAL
SUPERCOMPUTER CAN DO UP TO TEN TRILLION INDIVIDUAL CALCULATIONS EVERY SECOND.
 2.MAINFRAME
• THEY COME SECOND TO SUPER COMPUTERS. THEY HAVE THE FOLLOWING FEATURES:
• THEY ARE LARGER IN SIZE COMPARED TO OTHER COMPUTERS.
• HAVE LARGER CAPACITY AND ARE MORE POWERFUL IN TERMS OF PROCESSING SPEED
3.SERVER
• SIMILAR TO MAINFRAMES IN THAT THEY SERVE MANY USES WITH THE MAIN DIFFERENCE THAT
THE USERS (CALLED CLIENTS) DO THEIR OWN PROCESSING USUALLY. THE SERVER PROCESSES
ARE DEVOTED TO SHARING FILES AND MANAGING LOG ON RIGHTS.
• A SERVER IS A CENTRAL COMPUTER THAT CONTAINS COLLECTIONS OF DATA AND
PROGRAMS. ALSO CALLED A NETWORK SERVER, THIS SYSTEM ALLOWS ALL CONNECTED
USERS TO SHARE AND STORE ELECTRONIC DATA AND APPLICATIONS. TWO IMPORTANT
TYPES OF SERVERS ARE FILE SERVERS AND APPLICATION SERVERS.
 4.WORKSTATION
• WORKSTATIONS ARE HIGH-END, EXPENSIVE COMPUTERS THAT ARE MADE FOR MORE
COMPLEX PROCEDURES AND ARE INTENDED FOR ONE USER AT A TIME. SOME OF THE
COMPLEX PROCEDURES CONSIST OF SCIENCE, MATH AND ENGINEERING CALCULATIONS
AND ARE USEFUL FOR COMPUTER DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING. WORKSTATIONS ARE
SOMETIMES IMPROPERLY NAMED FOR MARKETING REASONS. REAL WORKSTATIONS ARE NOT
USUALLY SOLD IN RETAIL.
• THE MOVIE TOY STORY WAS MADE ON A SET OF SUN (SPARC) WORKSTATIONS PERHAPS THE
FIRST COMPUTER THAT MIGHT QUALIFY AS A "WORKSTATION" WAS THE IBM 1620.

 Sun SPARCstation
 5. THE PERSONAL COMPUTER OR PC
• PC IS AN ABBREVIATION FOR A PERSONAL COMPUTER, IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS A MICROCOMPUTER. ITS
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND LOW COST ARE APPEALING AND USEFUL FOR ITS USERS. THE CAPABILITIES OF
A PERSONAL COMPUTER HAVE CHANGED GREATLY SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS. BY
THE EARLY 1970S, PEOPLE IN ACADEMIC OR RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SINGLE-
PERSON USE OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM IN INTERACTIVE MODE FOR EXTENDED DURATIONS, ALTHOUGH THESE
SYSTEMS WOULD STILL HAVE BEEN TOO EXPENSIVE TO BE OWNED BY A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. THE
INTRODUCTION OF THE MICROPROCESSOR, A SINGLE CHIP WITH ALL THE CIRCUITRY THAT FORMERLY
OCCUPIED LARGE CABINETS, LED TO THE PROLIFERATION OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS AFTER ABOUT 1975. EARLY
PERSONAL COMPUTERS GENERALLY CALLED MICROCOMPUTERS, SOLD OFTEN IN KIT FORM AND IN LIMITED
VOLUMES AND WERE OF INTEREST MOSTLY TO HOBBYISTS AND TECHNICIANS. BY THE LATE 1970S, MASS-
MARKET PRE-ASSEMBLED COMPUTERS ALLOWED A WIDER RANGE OF PEOPLE TO USE COMPUTERS, FOCUSING
MORE ON SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS AND LESS ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROCESSOR HARDWARE.
THROUGHOUT THE 1970S AND 1980S, HOME COMPUTERS WERE DEVELOPED FOR HOUSEHOLD USE, OFFERING
SOME PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY, PROGRAMMING AND GAMES, WHILE SOMEWHAT LARGER AND MORE
EXPENSIVE SYSTEMS (ALTHOUGH STILL LOW-COST COMPARED WITH MINICOMPUTERS AND MAINFRAMES)
 6.MICROCONTROLLER
• MICROCONTROLLERS ARE MINI COMPUTERS THAT ENABLE THE USER TO STORE DATA, DO SIMPLE COMMANDS
AND TASKS, WITH LITTLE OR NO USER INTERACTION WITH THE PROCESSOR. THESE SINGLE CIRCUIT DEVICES
HAVE MINIMAL MEMORY AND PROGRAM LENGTH BUT CAN BE INTEGRATED WITH OTHER PROCESSORS FOR
MORE COMPLEX FUNCTIONALITY. MANY SUCH SYSTEMS ARE KNOWN AS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS. EXAMPLES OF
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS INCLUDE SMARTPHONES OR CAR SAFETY SYSTEMS.
• MICROCONTROLLERS ARE IMPORTANT, THEY ARE USED EVERYDAY IN DEVICES SUCH AS APPLIANCES AND
AUTOMOBILES.

A microcontroller
  Introduction to Computers → Hardware and software
HARDWARE
• HARDWARE REFERS TO THE PHYSICAL ELEMENTS OF A COMPUTER. ALSO REFERRED TO AS
THE MACHINERY OR THE EQUIPMENT OF THE COMPUTER. EXAMPLES OF HARDWARE IN A
COMPUTER ARE THE KEYBOARD, THE MONITOR, THE MOUSE AND THE PROCESSING UNIT
HOWEVER, MOST OF A COMPUTER'S HARDWARE CANNOT BE SEEN; IN OTHER WORDS, IT
IS NOT AN EXTERNAL ELEMENT OF THE COMPUTER, BUT RATHER AN INTERNAL ONE,
SURROUNDED BY THE COMPUTER'S CASING. A COMPUTER'S HARDWARE IS COMPRISED
OF MANY DIFFERENT PARTS, BUT PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE IS THE
MOTHERBOARD. THE MOTHERBOARD IS MADE UP OF EVEN MORE PARTS THAT POWER
AND CONTROL THE COMPUTER.
• IN CONTRAST TO SOFTWARE, HARDWARE IS A PHYSICAL ENTITY, WHILE SOFTWARE IS A
NON-PHYSICAL ENTITY. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ARE INTERCONNECTED, WITHOUT
SOFTWARE, THE HARDWARE OF A COMPUTER WOULD HAVE NO FUNCTION. HOWEVER,
WITHOUT THE CREATION OF HARDWARE TO PERFORM TASKS DIRECTED BY SOFTWARE
VIA THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (BOX), SOFTWARE WOULD BE USE
  SOFTWARE
• SOFTWARE CAN ALSO BE DESCRIBED AS A COLLECTION OF ROUTINES, RULES AND SYMBOLIC LANGUAGES
THAT DIRECT THE FUNCTIONING OF THE HARDWARE.
• SOFTWARE IS CAPABLE OF PERFORMING SPECIFIC TASKS, AS OPPOSED TO HARDWARE WHICH ONLY PERFORM
MECHANICAL TASKS THAT THEY ARE MECHANICALLY DESIGNED FOR. PRACTICAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS DIVIDE
SOFTWARE SYSTEMS INTO THREE MAJOR GROUPS:
• SYSTEM SOFTWARE: HELPS RUN COMPUTER HARDWARE AND COMPUTER SYSTEM. COMPUTER SOFTWARE
INCLUDES OPERATING SYSTEMS, DEVICE DRIVERS, DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS AND MORE.
• PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE: SOFTWARE THAT ASSISTS A PROGRAMMER IN WRITING COMPUTER PROGRAMS.
• APPLICATION SOFTWARE: ALLOWS USERS TO ACCOMPLISH ONE OR MORE TASKS.
• THE TERM "SOFTWARE" IS SOMETIMES USED IN A BROADER CONTEXT TO DESCRIBE ANY ELECTRONIC MEDIA
CONTENT WHICH EMBODIES EXPRESSIONS OF IDEAS SUCH AS FILM, TAPES, RECORDS, ETC. SOFTWARE IS THE
ELECTRONIC INSTRUCTION THAT TELLS THE COMPUTER TO DO A TASK.
  FIRMWARE
• FIRMWARE IS A PROGRAM FOR THE HARDWARE.
• IT IS AN EMBEDDED CODED (PROGRAM) FOR THE HARDWARE. SO, THAT IT CAN
PERFORM ITS FUNCTION SPECIFICALLY FOR WHICH DEVICE IS MADE.
• EVERY DEVICE HAS INBUILT FIRMWARE. THAT GIVES THE DEVICE ABILITY TO PERFORM
ITS WORK. THERE ARE LOTS OF DEVICES THAT USE A SCREEN AND BUTTONS. THE
DEVICE CONSISTS OF FIRMWARE THAT INSTRUCT THE DEVICE TO PERFORM CERTAIN
FUNCTIONS ON GIVEN COMMAND
• EXAMPLES ARE A VIDEO CARD AND SOUND CARD.
• FIRMWARE CAN BE EXPLAINED AS PROGRAMMING INSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE STORED
IN A READ-ONLY MEMORY AND CAN ONLY BE USED BY CONNECTING THEM WITH
SOFTWARE.
• IT IS USED SO THAT PROCESSING HAPPENS QUICKER AS IN VIDEO AND SOUND CARDS
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS/BASIC OPERATIONS
Contents
•1Input
•2Output Whatever goes into the computer. Input
•3Processing can take a variety of forms, from
•4Storage commands you enter from the keyboard
to data from another computer or device.,
 Input
Whatever goes into the computer. Input can take a
variety of forms, from commands you enter from the
keyboard to data from another computer or device. A
device that feeds data into a computer, such as a
keyboard or mouse, is called an input device.
OUTPUT
• ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF A COMPUTER. OUTPUT
CAN BE DISPLAY SCREENS, LOUDSPEAKERS, AND PRINTERS.
 PROCESSING
• THE PROCESSOR IS THE BRAIN OF A COMPUTER. IT'S ALSO CALLED THE "CPU"(CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT) AND
IT IS A MICROCHIP.

 Storage

Computer data storage is referred to as storage or memory, which

can save digital data. Examples are RAM, hard disks or removable
memory sticks.