Table of Contents
OVERVIEW OF BASIC COMPUTING
Topic to be discussed
Computer: Definition, Classification, Organization i.e. CPU, register, Bus architecture, Instruction set, Memory & Storage Systems, I/O Devices, and System & Application Software. Computing Ethics, Computer Applications in e-business, Bio-Informatics, Health Care, Remote Sensing & GIS, Meteorology and Climatology, Computer Gaming, Multimedia and Animation, etc.
To start the discussion on computers firstly we discuss the difference between a computer and a calculator.
- The calculator doesn’t have the decision-making power that computers have.
- Calculator has limited storage space but in case of computer, we can increase our storage space.
- A computer is a programmable device but a calculator is not programmable.
- Calculator is a calculating devices but computer can calculate, analyze and put them together into final result, store it. Every computer has a calculator. It does lots of other work which a calculator cannot do.
- Computer has a calculator in it but the calculator hasn’t have a computer.
Computer???
The term computer is derived from computing. A computer is an electronic devices that transfer data & instructions as input from the user, process the data & perform user information known as output.
The electronic device is known as hardware & the set of instructions is known as software.
Basic Computer Operation
- INPUT: It accepts data and instruction through the input device.
- PROCESS AND CONTROL: It performs the action as per the instruction issued and process the given data.
- STORAGE: It stores the data and instruction for future execution.
- OUTPUT: It generates the desired output after executing the instruction and processing the input data.
Advantages Of Computer
- ACCURACY Computer performs complex and repetitive calculations with accurate results.
- MEMORY Store large amounts of data and information.
- USER FRIENDLY Provide information to the user in many different forms.
- FAST Perform fast execution or processing.
- LESS MANPOWER Manual requirement is less.
- BEST RESULTS Artificial intelligence, Decision making best results.
Fundamental Components of Computer
INPUT UNIT:
Input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer. Input devices take the raw data from the user to the computer for processing.
KEYBOARD :
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style device, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches.
MOUSE :
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two- dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user’s hands, with one or more buttons.
LIGHT PEN :
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer’s CRT display.
TOUCH SCREEN :
A touch screen is an electronic visual display that the user can control through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching the screen with one or more fingers. Some touch screens can also detect objects such as a stylus or ordinary or specially coated gloves.
JOY STICK :
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal control device in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or side-stick. It often has supplementary switches to control various aspects of the aircraft’s flight.
MICROPHONE :
A microphone is an example of a transducer, a device that changes information from one form to another. Sound information exists as patterns of air pressure; the microphone changes this information into patterns of electric current. The recording engineer is interested in the accuracy of this transformation, a concept he thinks of as fidelity.
MAGNETIC INK CHARACTER READER :
Magnetic ink character recognition, or MICR, is a character recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing and clearance of cheques and other documents. The MICR encoding, called the MICR line, is located at the bottom of a cheque or other voucher and typically includes the document type indicator, bank code, bank account number, cheque number and the amount, plus some control indicator.
SCANNER :
In computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image.
OPTICAL MARK READER :
Optical mark recognition (also called optical mark reading and OMR) is the process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.
SMART CARD READER :
A card reader is a data input device that reads data from a card- shaped storage medium. The first were punched card readers, which read the paper or cardboard punched cards that were used during the first several decades of the computer industry to store information and programs for computer systems.
BARCODE READER :
A barcode reader (or barcode scanner) is an electronic device for reading printed barcodes. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor translating optical impulses into electrical ones.
WEBCAM :
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its image in real time to a computer or computer network.
OUTPUT UNIT:
The output generated by the computer is sent to the output device.
MONITOR
A monitor or a display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube (CRT) about as deep as the screen size.
PRINTER
In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a representation of an electronic document on physical media such as paper or transparency film. Many printers are local peripherals connected directly to a nearby personal computer. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time.
Types of printer:
- Inkjet Printers
- Laser Printers
- Dot Matrix
SPEAKER
Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker.
PLOTTER
The plotter is an output device where a computer printer for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were used in applications such as computer- aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers.
Central Processing Unit
The CPU which is referred to as the brain of a computer is responsible for processing the data inside the computer system. It is also responsible for controlling all other components of computer system.
Main Operation of the CPU Includes
- FETCH: Fetching instruction from the memory issued by the user.
- DECODE: Decoding the instruction to decide what operation to be performed.
- EXECUTE: Execute the instruction.
- STORE: Store the result in the memory.
The structure of CPU:
CPU contains ALU, CU, and Register.
Arithmetic Logical Unit (ALU)
ALU is the combination of arithmetic unit and logical unit is used to perform arithmetic operation on the input data (+, – , *, /). Logical unit is used to perform logical operation on input data (<, >, <=, >=, =, OR, NOT, AND)
Control Unit (CU)
CU is an important component that controls the flow of data and information. It is important for the proper execution of the instruction.
Register (Memory Unit)
Registers are used to quickly accept, store, and transfer data and instructions that are being used immediately by the CPU, there are various types of Registers those are used forvarious purposes. Register are special purpose high-speed temporary storage areas forholding data, addresses, and instructions during processing of instruction. The register is alwaysintheCPU.
PC : – The program counter (PC) : just part of the instruction sequencer in some computers is a processor register. It keeps track of the next memory address of the instruction that is to be executed once the execution of the current instruction is completed. In other words, it holds the address of the memory location of the next instruction when the current instruction is executed
AC:-Accumulator: This Register is used for storing the Results that are produced by the System. When the CPU will generate Some Results after the Processing then all the Results will be Stored into the AC Register.
IR: – Instruction Register: store the instruction currently being executed.
MAR: – (Memory address register) This register holds the memory addresses of data and instructions. This register is used to access data and instructions from memory during the execution phase of an instruction. Suppose the CPU wants to store some data in the memory or to read the data from the memory. It places the address of the required memory location in the MAR.
MBR: – Memory buffer register : MBR stand for Memory Buffer Register. This register holds the contents of data or instruction read from, or written in memory. It means that this register is used to store data/instruction coming from the memory or going to the memory.
MDR: – (Memory Data register) : MDR is the register of a computer’s control unit that contains the data to be stored in the computer storage (e.g. RAM), or the data after a fetch from the computer storage. It acts like a buffer and holds anything that is copied from the memory ready for the processor to use it.
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