Computer Essentials

- PROF. MITESH JADAV

Computer Essentials
Program B. Com / B.B.A. / B.B.A.(H)
SEMESTER I
COURSE CODE 04LS1107
TITLE OF THE SUBJECT Computer Essentials
Computer Essentials: Course Contents:
➢ Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢ Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢ Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE (WORD)
➢ Unit IV - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE (EXCEL)
➢ Unit V - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE (POWERPOINT)
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Data
➢Instruction and Information
➢Characteristics of Computers
➢Various fields of application of Computers
➢ Input-output Devices (Hardware-Software- Middleware and Firmware)
➢Advantages and Limitations of Computer
➢Block Diagram of Computer
➢Function of Different Units of Computer
➢Classification of Computers.
➢Data Representation - Different Number System (Decimal- Binary- Octal and hexadecimal)
and their Interconversion.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Data- Instruction and Information
➢Data is the raw input that we provide to the computer for processing.
➢Instructions provided to the computer on how to process the data is called program.
➢The computer, after processing the data gives meaningful output in the form of Information.
➢Hardware are the physical components of the computer that we can see & touch.
➢Software is the set of programs ( a set of instructions is called program) provided to the
computer, telling how to operate.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Characteristics of Computers – Various fields of application of Computers
➢Some of the characteristics of computers are: Automatic, Speed, Accuracy, Diligence,
Versatility, Power of remembering, No I.Q., No Feeling.
➢Some of the applications of computer systems are: Banking, Education, Manufacturing,
Hospitals, Printing & Publishing, Entertainment, Business, Communications, Engineering,
Scientific Research etc.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Input-output Devices
➢Computer follows Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) cycle.
➢Computers have an input system to collect information known as receiving unit of the
computer.
➢Some Input Devices are: Keyboard, Mouse, Scanner, Optical Character Reader, Optical Mark
Reader, Light Pen, Touch Screen, Joystick.
➢The computer conveys the result, which is given by the processor using an Output System.
➢Some Output Devices are: Printer, Monitor, LCD, & Plotter.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Advantages and Limitations of Computer
➢Some of the advantages of computers are: Speed, Accuracy, Liability, Diligence, & Storage
Capacity.
➢Some of the limitations of computers are: Lack of decision making power & problem solving
capacity, not learning from past mistakes.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Block Diagram of Computer
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Function of Different Units of Computer
➢The system unit consists of the (a) Power Supply (b) Motherboard (c) disk drives
➢The following electronic components are mounted on the motherboard: CPU, Memory chips,
(RAM, ROM), Buses, Expansion slots/cards.
➢The CPU is also called the brain of the computer.
➢The CPU is composed of several units: Control Unit, Arithmetic Logic Unit, Registers & Clock
Unit.
➢ The Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) is the part where actual computations take place.
➢The Control Unit directs and controls the activities of the internal & external devices.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Function of Different Units of Computer
➢Computers memorize what has been collected, which is known as the Memory Unit. There are
two types of the memory inside the computer: RAM & ROM
➢Read Only Memory (ROM) can only be read. It cannot be changed. It contains the instructions
of the CPU.
➢Random Access Memory (RAM) is also referred to as main memory or primary storage.
➢Secondary Storage is used to hold the data and information for later use. Date is not wiped off
from secondary storage when the computer is switched off.
Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Classification of Computers.
➢Depending on different parameters computers can be classified into two categories:
➢Multi-user: Supercomputers, Mainframes, Minicomputers
➢Single-user: Workstations, microcomputers, Personal computers.
➢Printers can be divided into two major categories: Impact Printers & Non-Impact Printers.
➢Impact Printers: Dot Matrix, Daisy Wheel.
➢Non-Impact Printers: Ink Jet, Thermal Printer, Laser Printer.
➢The speed of the printer is measured in cps (characters per second), lpm (lines per minutes) or
ppm (pages per minutes)
 Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Different Number System (Decimal- Binary- Octal and hexadecimal) and their Inter -
Conversion.
➢Decimal Number system – base is equal to 10 because there are altogether ten digits or
symbols ( 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Successive position to the left of decimal point represents
units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. however notice that each position represent a specific
power of the base. For Example: 2586 (written as 258610) , 6 in unit position, 8 in tens position, 5
in hundreds position, 2 in thousands position. It’s value is written as :
(2 x 103) + (5 x 102) + (8 x 101) + (6 x 100) = 2000 + 500 + 80 + 6 = 2586
➢Binary Number System – base is equal to 2 because only two digits or symbols are used (0 &
1). Therefore decimal equivalent of binary number 10101 (written as 101012) is:
(1 x 24) + (0 x 23) + (1 x 22) + (0 x 21) + (1 x 20) = 16 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1 = 21
 Unit I - COMPUTER BASICS
➢Different Number System (Decimal- Binary- Octal and hexadecimal) and their Inter -Conversion.
➢Octal Number system – base is equal to 8 because there are altogether eight digits or symbols ( 0,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). The largest single digit is 7 (one less than base 8). Each position in an octal number
represents a power of the base (8). For Example: 2057 (written as 20578) , Therefore decimal
equivalent of octal number 2057 (written as 20578) is :
(2 x 83) + (0 x 82) + (5 x 81) + (7 x 80) = 1024 + 0 + 40 + 7 = 1071
Hence , 20578 = 107110
➢Hexadecimal Number System – base is equal to 16 because there are altogether sixteen digits or
symbols ( 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F). [A, B, C, D, E, F Representing decimal values 10, 11,
12, 13, 14 ,15 ,16 respectively.] For Example: decimal equivalent of 1AF (written as 1AF16) is:
(1 x 162) + (A x 161) + (F x 160) = (1x256)+(10x16)+(15x1) = 256 + 160 + 15 = 431
Hence , 1AF16 = 43110
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢Types of Software
➢Application software and system software
➢Compiler and Interpreter
➢Generations of languages - Low and High Level Languages
➢Computer Memory: Primary Memory & Secondary memory.
➢Cache memory-optical memory- Storage Media.
➢Introduction to Operating System - All Directory Manipulation-Creating Directory- Sub
Directory-Renaming-Coping and Deleting the Directory File Manipulation
➢Creating a File-Deleting- Coping- renaming a File Using accessories such as calculator- paint
brush- CD player etc.
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE

SOFTWARE

SYSTEM APPLICATION UTILITY

SOFTWARE SOFTWARE SOFTWARE
OPERATING SYSTEM
SINGLE USER OS

MULTIPROGRAMMING (MULT-ITASKING) OS

TIME SHARING (MULTI-USER) OS

MULTI PROCESSING OS

VIRTUAL STORAGE OPERATING SYSTEM

VIRTUAL MACHINE OS
LANGUAGE PROCESSOR
ASSEMBLER

INTERPRETER

COMPILER
PACKAGE
WORD PROCESSING PACKAGES

ELECRONIC SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

GRAPHICS, PRESENTATION, AND MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE

UTILITY SOFTWARE
FILE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

DISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

MEMORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

DATA COMPRESSION PROGRAMS

ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS

BACK-UP PROGRAM
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
MACHINE LANGUAGE ( FIRST GENERATION LANGUAGE)

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES ( THIRD GENERATION LANGUAGE )

FOURTH GENERATION LANGUAGES

MAJOR HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES
FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator)
COBOL ( COMMON BUSINESS ORIENTED LANGUAGE)
BASIC ( BEGINNERS ALL PURPOSE SYMBOLIC INSTRUCTION CODE)

PASCAL AND MODULE – 2

LOGO ( LOGIC ORIENTED GRAPHIC ORIENTED)
C LANGUAGE
C++
JAVA
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢A computer system consists of hardware and software for its functioning. Hardware is the
physical components of the computer.
➢Software provides the instructions to the computer. A set of instructions is called a program
and a set of programs is called software.
➢A software package is a group of programs that solve a specific problem or perform a specific
type of job.
➢Program that handle the functioning of our computer’s hardware are called system software.
➢An operating system is a set of programs, which control the a computer system’s hardware and
provides an interface between the hardware and a user or an application program.
➢Language processors are software that converts programs written in programming languages
into binary language or machine language.
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢Language Processors can be: (I) Assembler, that converts the programs written in assembly
language into machine language. (II) Interpreter, that converts a program into machine language
one line at a time. (III) Compiler, that converts the program into machine language, entire
program at a time.
➢Application software performs a specific function, which is the end-result of using the
computer. Two major categories are: 1) Package 2) Customized Software.
➢General Purpose software used by individual users according to their needs, is known as
Package. Customized software is tailor made according to the user needs.
➢Utility Software performs maintenance tasks of computer’s hardware or data.
➢Computer languages are used to write complex computer programs.
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢Assembly language uses mnemonic in place of 1s and 0s to represent the instructions.
➢High Level language instructions closely resemble human language and mathematical notation.
➢Most of the software can be divided into two major categories: System Software & Application
Software.
➢System Software is a set of one or more program designed to control the operation and extend
the processing capability of a computer system.
➢Application software is a set of one or more program designed to solve the specific problem or
do a specific task.
➢A few examples of system software are: Operating systems, Programming language
translators, utility programs, and communications software.
Unit II - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
➢A few examples of Application software are: Word Processing software, Spreadsheet Software,
database software, graphics software, personal assistance software, education software, and
entertainment software.
➢Firmware is software substituted for hardware and stored in a read-only memory (ROM) chip.
➢Middleware is defined as a set of tools and data that helps applications use networked
resources and services. It is a separate software layer that acts as “glue” between the client and
server parts of an application and provides a programming abstraction as well as masks the
heterogeneity of underlying networks, hardware, and operating system from application
programmers.
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY
COMPUTER
MEMORY

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY
MAIN MEMORY MEMORY
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY - MAIN
➢Every computer has a temporary storage area built into the computer hardware. Instructions
and data of a program reside in this area mainly when the CPU is executing the program. This
storage is known as primary storage, main memory or simply memory.
➢Any storage unit of computer system is characterized and evaluated based on following
properties – storage capacity, access time, cost per bit of storage, volatile, and random access.
➢A primary or main memory of a computer system is made up of several storage areas called
locations or cells. Each of these locations can be stored in fixed number of bits, called word
length of the memory.
➢In a word addressable computer, each numbered address location can store a fixed number of
characters (equal to its word length in bytes). In these computers, storage space is always
allocated in multiples of word length. On the other hand, in a character-addressable computer
each numbered address can store only a single character( A, B, 1, 2, +, - , etc.).
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY - MAIN
➢Main memory capacity of large computer systems is normally more than that of smaller
systems. This capacity is defined in terms of the number of bytes a computer system can store.
Memory capacity of a computer system is stated normally in terms of kilobytes (KB) which is
equal to 1024 (210) bytes of storage, or megabytes (MB), which equal to 1,048,576 (220) bytes of
storage, or gigabytes (GB), which is equal to 1,073,741,824 (230) bytes of storage.
➢A computer’s main memory is built of volatile RAM chips.
➢A special type of RAM, called read-only memory (ROM), is non volatile memory chip in which
data is stored permanently and cannot be altered by the programmer. There are two types of
read only memory (ROM) – manufactured programmed & user programmed. The later is
commonly known as Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) because a user can program it.
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY - MAIN
➢Once information is stored in a ROM or PROM chip it cannot be altered. However, Erasable
Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM) chips can be reprogrammed to store new
information. EPROM chips are of two types – Ultra Violet EPROM (UVPROM) and Electrically
EPROM ( EEPROM). EEPROM is also known as Flash Memory.
➢Cache memory is an extremely fast and small memory between CPU and main memory . Its
access time is closer to the processing speed of CPU. It acts as a high speed buffer between CPU
and main memory and is used to temporarily store very active data and instructions during
processing.
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY -
Secondary
➢Primary storage of a computer system has limited capacity and is volatile. Hence, additional
memory, called auxiliary memory or secondary storage, is used with most computer systems.
➢Secondary storage of a computer is non volatile and has low cost per bit stored, but it generally
has an operating speed far slower than that of primary storage.
➢A sequential access storage device is one in which arrival at the location desired may be
preceded by sequencing through other locations so that access time varies according to
location. On the other hand, a random access storage device is one in which any location in the
device may be selected at random, access to the information stored is direct, and approximately
equal access time is required for each location.
➢Magnetic Tape is the most popular sequential-access storage device. It consists of a plastic
ribbon usually half inch or one-fourth inch wide coated with a recording material that can be
magnetized. The tape ribbon is stored in reels, small cartridge, or cassette.
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY -
Secondary
➢Magnetic disk is the most popular direct access storage device. It consists of a thin, circular
plate made of metal or plastic, and coated on both sides with a recording material that can be
magnetized. The disk is stored in a specially designed protective envelope, cartridge, or several
of them may be stacked together in s sealed, contamination-free container.
➢All types of magnetic disks are broadly classified into two types – floppy disks & hard disks.
Floppy disks are made of flexible plastic whereas: hard disks are made of rigid metal. Depending
upon the type of packaging hard disk are further classified into zip disk, disk packs and
Winchester disks.
➢An Optical Disk storage system consists of a rotating disk coated with a thin metal or some
other highly reflective material. Laser Beam technology is used for recording / reading of data on
the disk
Unit II - COMPUTER MEMORY -
Secondary
➢Commonly used optical disks are CD-ROM, WORM (CD-R), CD-RW, and DVD. CD-ROM disk is a
read-only storage medium. WORM (CD-R) disk is a write once, read many storage medium. CD-
RW disk allows erasing of the previous content and writing on it multiple times. DVD was
designed primarily to store and distribute movies but is fast becoming mainstream optical disk
for all types of data storage.
➢Memory storage devices uses flash memory technology for secondary storage devices. Two
popular memory storage devices are flash drive (Pen Drive) and memory card (SD/MMC).
➢Mass storage devices uses multiple units of storage media to create a single secondary storage
device. Commonly used types of mass storage devices are disk array (also known as RAID),
automated tape library, and CD-ROM jukebox.
➢As a single type of storage is not superior in all aspect (speed of access, capacity, cost), most
computer system make use of a hierarchy of storage technologies known as storage hierarchy. A
typical storage hierarchy pyramid includes cache memory, main memory, secondary storage &
mass storage.
Unit II – OPERATING SYSTEM
➢Operating system is an integrated set of programs that controls the resources (CPU, memory,
I/O devices, etc.) of a computer system and provides its user with an interface or virtual machine
that is easier to use than the bare machine.
➢Main functions of most modern operating system are process management, memory
management, file management, security and command interpretation.
➢Efficiency of an operating system and overall performance of a computer system are measured
usually in terms of its throughput, turnaround time, and response time.
➢A process (also called job) is a program in execution. The main objective of process
management module of an operating system is to manage the process submitted to a system in
manner to minimize idle time of processors (CPU, I/O processors, etc.) of the system.
➢In a uniprogramming system, only one job is processed by the system at a time and all system
resources are available exclusively for the job until its completion.
Unit II – OPERATING SYSTEM
➢Multiprogramming is interleaved execution of two or more different and independent program
by a computer.
➢Multitasking is interleaved execution of multiple jobs ( often referred to as tasks of same user)
in a single –user system.
➢In multithreading, a process consists of an address space and one or more threads of control.
Each thread of a process has its own program counter, register states, and stack. However, all the
threads of a share the same address space. Threads are often referred to as lightweight
processes and traditional processes are referred to as heavyweight processes.
➢Systems having multiple CPU’s are called multiprocessing systems. They can execute multiple
processes concurrently. Multiple CPUs of these systems are used to simultaneously process
either instructions from different and independent programs or different instructions from the
same program ( known as parallel processing).
Unit II – OPERATING SYSTEM
➢Time sharing is a mechanism to provide simultaneously interactive use of a computer system
by many users in such a way that each one feels that he/she is the sole user of the system. It
uses multiprogramming with a special CPU scheduling algorithm to achieve this.
➢Memory management module of an operating system manages the main memory of a system.
Its job is to keep track of which parts of memory are in use and which are free. Its also allocates
memory to process when they need it, and de-allocates when they no more need.
➢In a multiprogramming memory model, multiple user processes can reside simultaneously in
main memory. The two memory management schemes used to facilitate this are
multiprogramming with fixed number of memory partitions and multiprogramming with
variable number of memory partitions.
➢Virtual memory is memory management scheme that allows execution of processes that might
not be loaded in main memory completely. The three basic concepts used for realization of
virtual memory are on-line secondary storage, swapping, and demand paging.
Unit II – OPERATING SYSTEM
➢A file is a collection of related information. Every file has a name, its data, and attributes.
➢File management module of an operating system takes care of file-related activities such as
structuring, accessing, naming, sharing, and protection of files.
➢Computer security deals with protecting various resources and information of a computer
system against destruction and unauthorized access. Commonly used approaches for this are
user authentication, access control and cryptography.
➢Command interpretation module ( known as command interpreter) of an operating system
serves as an interface for users to communicate with computers via its operating system. Two
broad categories of user interfaces supported by various operating systems are command-line
interface and graphical user interface (GUI).
➢The gap between functionality of an OS & needs of users frequently used program is often
bridged by a special category software known as capability enhancement software.
➢Some popular operating systems are: UNIX, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft
Windows NT, and LINUX.
Unit II – FILE EXTENSIONS
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢Introduction to Word Processing
➢Features
➢Formatting Documents
➢Paragraph Formatting
➢Indents- Page Formatting- Header and Footer
➢Bullets and Numbering- Tabs- Tables
➢Formatting the Tables- Finding and Replacing Text
➢Mail Merging
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢A word processor is software or a program that is used to write, edit, manipulate and print
text.
➢Word processors offers many features like speed, editing and formatting features, automatic
spelling and grammar checking, adding pictures and graphics, permanent storage, mail merge
and automating many more tasks.
➢Word automatically flows the entire word to the next line, in case the word is not fitting on the
previous line. This feature of word is called WORD WRAP.
➢Words offers feature to undo few of the last actions. You can redo them again if you want.
➢Word document can be viewed in different Layouts: Print layout, Normal View, Web Layout,
Outline View, Web Page preview and Print Preview.
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢Spelling mistakes appears with red underlines: grammatical errors appear with green
underlines.
➢Spelling mistakes of each word can be corrected or spelling checker can be used to correct
spelling and grammatical mistakes in the entire document.
➢Margin is the distance between the text area and the edge of the document. In word, margin
size can be changed for different documents.
➢Header and footer is the area in the top and bottom margin of the document, in which
information which needs to be repeated on pages is written like company logo, date etc. Header
& footer appear at the top and bottom of each page.
➢An Indent specifies the distance between page margin and the text written in the text area.
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢To enhance the document, formats can be applied – to specific characters ( like heading, titles),
to large sections (like paragraph) or to the entire page or document.
➢Text alignment is the positioning of the text with respect to the left and right margins. Text can
be aligned to left, right, centered, or justified.
➢Indents controls the horizontal placement of the text in lines and paragraphs. The Indents are
used to indent the text from the margin.
➢TAB stops are used to indent a paragraph or line, on pressing tab key. It can be left, right,
centered, or decimal.
➢Line spacing between lines can be set to single, double, 1.5 line or exactly to measurement
you want.
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢Set apart paragraphs or selected text from the rest of the document by adding borders and
shading.
➢Orientation refers to whether the text is to be printed or typed length-wise i.e. Portrait
orientation or printed or typed width-wise i.e. Landscape orientation.
➢Document can be previewed before printing, using the Print Preview option.
➢Word offers extensive help on various topics. Help can be taken from office assistant or using
“what’s this”
➢Drawing objects like AutoShapes, curves, lines, and WordArt, drawing objects can be very
easily inserted in Word Document, using DRAWING TOOLBAR.
➢Decorative text can be inserted using WordArt
Unit III - INTRODUCTION TO MS- OFFICE
(WORD)
➢Pictures can be inserted using ClipArt and from Files.
➢AutoCorrect features of Word can be used to automatically detect and correct typos,
misspelled words, grammatical errors, and incorrect capitalization.
➢A table is made up of rows and columns of cells. Tables are used to organize and present
information.
➢Word automates the task of writing envelopes or letter, where content is same, but general
information may be different and makes it very easy.
➢It has three important components: The Main Document, the Data Source, and the Merged
Document.
➢Mail merge is used to write multiple letters with same content but different name & address
on each.