Unit-1

Mr. Anurag Pandey

Assistant Professor
PSIT College of Engineering
Computer
► The term computer is derived from the word compute, which means to
calculate.
► A computer is a programmable machine.
► It respond to a specific set of instructions in a well defined manner.
► It can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).
► A computer is an electronic machine devised for performing calculations and
controlling operations that can be expressed either in logical or in numerical
terms.
► A computer is an electronic device that perform various operations with the
help of instructions to process the data in order to achieve desired results.
► The application domain of a computer depends totally on human creativity
and imagination.
Features / characteristics of computer
Speed
•The speed of computer is measured in Mega Hertz (MHz), that is,
one million instructions per second.
•At present a powerful computer can perform billions of operations
in one second.
•Micro computer range 300 Mhz to 2 Ghz
•Super computer operates at speed measured in nanoseconds and
even in picoseconds (one thousands or one million times faster
than microcomputers

Accuracy
•Besides the efficiency, the computer is also very accurate.
•The level of accuracy depends upon the instructions.
•Faulty instructions for data processing may lead to faulty results.
Diligence
•Being a machine, it does not suffer from the human traits of
tiredness and lack of concentration.
•If four million calculations have to be performed, then the computer
will perform the last four millionth calculation with the same
accuracy and speed as the first calculation.

Reliability
•Reliability is the measurement of the performance of a computer,
which is measured against some predetermined standard of
operations without any failure.
•Computer have built in diagnostic capabilities, which helps in the
continuous monitoring of the system.

Storage Capability
•Computer can store large amount of data and can recall the required
information almost instantaneously.
•The main memory of computer is small and holds certain amount of
data.
•The data are stored in secondary storage devices.
•Storage capacity of a computer is virtually unlimited. No. of auxiliary
storage devices can be added.
Versatility
•Computer can perform multiple task simultaneously
with equal ease.
•A computer can perform activities ranging from
simple calculation to performing complex CAD
modeling and simulation to navigating missiles and
satelites

Resource Sharing •In the initial stages of development, computer used

to be isolated machine.
•With the tremendous growth in computer
technologies, computer today have the capability to
connect with each other.
•This has made the sharing of costly devices like
printers, software possible.

No IQ

No feelings
Limitations of Computer
Lack of Intelligence
•Unable to think like human, cant tell fragrance of flower

Need of proper environment for

smooth functioning •Operate in dust free environment, need certain
temperature

Need of special language •Understand binary code like 0,1 and its combination,
which not commonly used by human and it uses special
software interpreter, compiler to convert natural
language to computer language
Computer can only perform what it
is performed to do.

Needs well-defined instructions to

perform any operations.

Computer’s use is limited in areas

where qualitative considerations are
important.
Classification/Types of Computers
Computers are available in many sizes and types.
Some computers can fit in the palm of the hand.
Some computer can occupy the entire room.
Based on the physical size, performance and application areas, we can generally
divide computer into four major categories.

•Classification/Types of Computers
•Micro Compute
○ Desktop
○ Laptop
○ Hand-held

•Mini Computer
•Mainframe Computer

•Super Computer
 Micro Computer
► A small, low cost digital computer.
► Usually consist of a microprocessor, a storage unit, and input channel and an output
channel.
► Microcomputers are designed for individual users only.
► The micro-computers are widely used & the fastest growing computers.
► These computers are the cheapest among the other three types of computers.
► The Micro-computers are specially designed for general usage like entertainment,
education and work purposes.
► Well known manufacturers of Micro-computer are Dell, Apple, Samsung, HP, Acer,
Sony & Toshiba.
► Microcomputers include desktop, laptop and hand held models such as PDA’s (Personal
Digital Assistant), Tablet PC’s, Smartphones, Calculators.
•Desktop
•Desktop computer is known as personal computer
•Consist of a system unit, a display monitor, a keyboard, an internal hard disk
storage and other peripheral devises.
•Not very Expensive
•Laptop
•A portable computer also known as notebook computer.
•It consist all the basis features of a normal desktop computer.
•Light weight, can be used anywhere at anytime.
•Uses a rechargeable battery for power supply
•More expensive than desktop computer

•Hand-held computer
•It can be stored in pocket
•Generally uses a pen or stylus instead of keyboard for input.
•Easily fitted on the top of the palm, also known as palmtop computer.
•No disk drive, uses small card to store programs and data, has limited storage
Minicomputer
A small digital computer, also known as mid-range computer.
It is able to process and store less data than a mainframe but more than a
microcomputer.
It does processing less rapidly than mainframe but more rapidly than a
microcomputer.
It is designed to meet the computing needs of several people simultaneously in a
small to medium sized business environment.
It is capable of sharing from four to about 200 simultaneous users.
Minicomputers are usually multiuser systems so these are used in interactive
applications in industries, research organisatons, colleges and universities.
 Mainframe Computer
► Mainframe computer is an ultra high performance computer made for high volume,
processor intensive computing.
► It is able to process and store more data than a minicomputer and far more than
microcomputer.
► Although Mainframes are not as powerful as supercomputers,
► Many large firms & government organizations uses Mainframes to run their business
operations.
► The Mainframe computers can be accommodated in large air-conditioned rooms
because of its size.
► Super-computers are the fastest computers with large data storage capacity,
Mainframes can also process & store large amount of data.
► Banks educational institutions & insurance companies use mainframe computers to
store data about their customers, students & insurance policy holders.
Supercomputer
► The most powerful computers in terms of performance and data processing are the
Supercomputers.
► It is especially designed to maximize the number of floating point operations per
second (FLOPS).
► Any computer below one gigaflop per second is not considered as supercomputer.
► These are specialized and task specific computers used by large organizations.
► These computers are used for research and exploration purposes, like NASA uses
supercomputers for launching space shuttles, controlling them and for space
exploration purpose.
► The supercomputers are very expensive and very large in size.
► It can be accommodated in large air-conditioned rooms; some super computers can
span an entire building.
► In 2003, India developed the PARAM Padma Supercomputer. It performs one trillion
processes per second.
Generation of Computer
► The generation of computer refers to the phases of improvement made to
different computing devices.
► The word generation is described as a stage of technological development or
innovation.
► A major technological development that fundamentally changed the way
computers operate, resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful,
and more efficient and reliable devices, characterizes each generation of
computer.
► According to type of “processor” installed in a machine, there are five
generation of computers.
First Generation (1940 to 1956): Vacuum Tubes
Second Generation (1956 to 1963): Transistors
Third Generation (1964 to early 1970s): Integrated Circuits
Fourth Generations (Early 1970s to Till date): Microprocessors
Fifth Generation (Present to Beyond): Artificial Intelligence
First Generation (1940 to 1956): Vacuum Tubes

► The computers of this generation based on vacuum tube technology.

► These were the fastest computing devices of their times.
► These computers were very large and required a lot of space. The weight was
about 30 tones.
► Thousands of vacuum tubes were used.
► Generated large amount of heat, therefore required air conditioning.
► These were non-portable and very slow equipment.
► Lacking in versatility and speed.
► Very expensive to operate and used large amount of electricity.
► Unreliable and prone to frequent hardware failures (constant maintenance).
► Used machine language, difficult to program and use, solve one problem at a
time.
► Example: ENIAC(Electronic Numeric Integrated And Calculator), IBM-701, IBM-650
Second Generation (1956 to 1963): Transistors

► These machines were based on transistor technology.

► These were smaller as compared to the first generation computers.
► The computational time of these computers was reduced to microseconds
from milliseconds.
► These were more reliable and less prone to hardware failure (less
Maintenance)
► These were more portable and generated less amount of heat.
► Assembly language was used to program computers, programming became
more time efficient.
► Second generation computers still required air conditioning.
► Manual assembly of individual components into a functioning was still
required.
► Example: IBM 7094, CDC 1604, CDC 3600
Third Generation (1964 to early 1970s): Integrated Circuits

► These computers were based on IC Technology (Integrated circuit)

► These were able to reduce the computational time from microseconds to
nanoseconds,
► These were easily portable and more reliable than the second generation
computers.
► These devices consumed less power and generated less heat. In some cases
air conditioning was required.
► The size of these computers was smaller as compared to previous generation
computers.
► Since hardware rarely fail, the maintenance cost was quite low.
► Extensive use of high level languages became possible.
► Manual Assembling of individual components was not required(Less
maintenance).
► Commercial production became easier and cheaper.
► Example: IBM 360, IBM 370
Fourth Generations (Early 1970s to Till date): Microprocessors

► These computers are microprocessor based system.

► These are very small in size
► There are cheapest among all the other generation computers.
► These are portable and quite reliable.
► These machines generate negligible amount of heat (Do not required A.C.)
► Hardware failure is negligible (Minimum maintenance is required)
► The production cost is very low.
► The GUI (Graphical user Interface) enabled users to learn to use computer.
► Interconnection of computers led to better communication and resource
sharing.
► Example: IBM 4341, STAR 1000
Fifth Generation (Present to Beyond): Artificial Intelligence

► The fifth generation of computers is based on the Ultra Large Scale integrated
(ULSI) technology that allows almost ten million electronic component to be
fabricated on one small chip.
► The fifth generation of computers is beginning to use AI (artificial
intelligence)
► Development of Parallel Processor.
► The invention of optical Disk technology.
► Development of centralized computers.
► They are the fastest and powerful computer to date.
► They are versatile for communication and resources sharing.
► They are able to execute a large number of applications at the same time and
that too at a very high speed.
► Example: Desktop, Laptop, NoteBook, UltraBook including Apple's Siri on the
iPhone and Microsoft's Cortana on Windows 8 and Windows 10 computers.
Components of Computer System
► To perform properly, the computer needs both hardware and software.
► Hardware consist of the mechanical and electronic devices, which can be
seen and touch.
► Software consist of programs, the operating system and the data that resides
in the memory and storage devices.
► The computer does has mainly the following four components:

•CPU: This unit perform processing of instructions and data inside the computer.

•Input unit: This unit accept instructions and data.

•Output unit: The unit communicate the results to the user.

•Storage unit: This unit stores temporary and final results.

 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
► Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main component or "brain" of a computer.
► It performs all the processing of input data and convert it into meaningful
information (output).
► Its function is to fetch, examine and then execute the instructions stored in
main memory of computer.
► CPU itself has three parts:
❖ Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU):
The arithmetic and logic unit of CPU is responsible for all arithmetic
operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well
as logical operations such as less than, equal to and greater than.
Whenever an arithmetic or logical operation is to be performed, the
required data are transferred from the memory unit to the ALU, the
operation is performed and the result is returned to the memory unit.
❖ Control Unit (CU):
❖ The control unit is responsible for controlling the transfer of data and
instructions among other units of computer.
❖ It is considered as a "Central Nervous System" of computer, as it manages
and coordinates all the units of computer.
❖ It obtains the instructions from the memory, interprets them and directs
the operation of the computer.
❖ It also performs the physical data transfer between memory and the
peripheral device.
❖ Registers:
❖ Registers are the small high speed circuits (memory locations) which are
used to store data, instructions and memory addresses (memory location
numbers), when ALU performs arithmetic and logical operations.
Input Devices: Keyboard
► Keyboard is the most popular input device for direct entry of data and
instructions into computer.
► The layout of keyboard comes in various styles such as QWERTY, AZERTY,
DVORAK.
► QWERTY is the most common layout in English language computer keyboard.
► The no. of keys on typical computer varies from 84 to 104.
► Computer keyboard has three types of keys:
Alphanumeric keys for typing character and numeric data
Punctuation keys like comma, period, colon, semicolon, question mark etc.
Special keys like function keys, control keys, arrow keys, caps lock, Page Up, Page
Down, Print Screen etc.
Pointing devices:
► A pointing device is used to communicate with the computers by pointing to location
on monitor screen.
► These devices do not require keying of character; instead the user can move a
cursor on the screen and perform move, click, or drag operations.
► The commonly used pointing devices are mouse, trackball, joystick, light pen, touch
screen and touchpad.

Mouse:
► It is a small hand-held pointing device with a rubber ball embedded at its lower side
and buttons on the top.
► It can be classified as a mechanical mouse and optical mouse based on technology it
uses.
► A mechanical mouse uses a rubber ball at the bottom surface, which rotates as the
mouse is moved along a flat surface to move the cursor.
► An optical mouse uses a light beam instead of a rotating ball to detect movement
across a specially patterned mouse pad.
► Trackball:
It resembles a ball nestled in a square cradle and serves as an alternative
to a mouse.
It has a ball which can be rotated by fingers in any direction, the cursor
moves accordingly.

► Joystick:
A joystick moves in all directions and control the movement of the cursor.
It used for the computer games.
It offers three types of control: digital, glide and direct.
Digital control allows movement in a limited no. of directions; up, down,
left, right.
Glide and direct control allows movement in all directions (360º).
Direct control joystick have the added ability to respond to the distance
and speed with which the user moves the stick.
► Light pen:
A light pen is a hand-held electro-optical pointing device which when
touched to or aimed closely at a connected computer monitor, will allow
the computer to determine where on that screen the pen is aimed.
It facilitates drawing images, and select object on the screen by directly
pointing to the objects.

► Touch Screen:
A touch screen is a special kind of input device that allows the direct
selection of a menu items or the desired icon with the touch of finger or
other object touched to the screen.

► Touchpad:
It is a device that works by sensing the movement of fingers across a small
sensitive surface and translating them into the pointer movement on the
screen.
It is generally used in laptops.
Scanner
► There are a number of situations when some information (picture or text) is
available on paper and is needed on the computer for further manipulation.
► A scanner is an input device that converts a document into an electronic
format that can be stored on the disk.
► The electronic image can be edited, manipulated, combined, and printed by
using the image editing software.
► Scanner are also called optical scanner as they use a light beam to scan the
input data.
► The most common type of scanner are hand-held scanner and flatbed
scanner.
► Handheld scanner: Consist of LEDs, which are placed over the document to
be scanned.
► Flatbed Scanner: It looks similar to a photocopier machine. It consist of a box
containing a glass plate on its top, which is used for placing document to be
scanned. Larger in size, and more expensive than hand-held scanned.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition(MICR)

► Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) uses highly stylized character

shapes printed in a special ink containing particles that can be magnetized.
► This ink induces a current in a reading circuit, which is proportional to the
area of ink being scanned.
► The MICR reader can only identify characters.
► Banking industry uses this device for sorting of cheques.
► The MICR codes read from the cheques are transmitted to an online computer
for sorting and processing automatically.
Voice Speech Devices:
► Speech recognition is one of the most interactive system to communicate with
the computer.
► Speech recognition is the ability of a machine or program to identify words
and phrases in spoken language and convert them to a machine-readable
format.
► Google's speech recognition software is the industry leader.
Google Speech-to-Text recognizes 120 languages, Windows 10 Speech
Recognition (Windows), Apple Dictation (iOS, macOS)
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
► It is the process of detecting the presence of intended marked responses.
► An optical mark reading is done by a special device known as optical mark
reader.
► In order to be detected by a OMR reader, a mark has to be positioned
correctly on the paper and should be significantly darker than the surrounding
paper.
► OMR Technology enables a high speed reading of large quantities of data and
transferring this data to a computer without using a keyboard.
► This technology is used to read answer sheet (objective types test).
► OMR has a better recognition rate than OCR because fewer mistakes are made
by machines to read marks than in reading handwritten characters.
Bar Code Reader:
► Bar Code is a machine readable code in the form of a pattern of parallel
vertical lines of varying widths.
► It is commonly used for labelling goods that are available in super markets
and numbering books in libraries.
► This code is sensed and read by a bar code reader using reflective light.
► Bar code readers are either hand held (Used for stationary items)or fixed
mount (Used in super markets).
► It makes capturing data faster and more accurate.
► A bar code scanner can record data five to seven times faster than a skilled
typist.
► A bar code data entry has an error rate of about 1 in 3 million.
► Bar code readers are widely used in super markets, departmental store and
libraries.
Digital Camera:
► A digital camera stores images digitally rather than according them on a film.
► Once a picture has been taken, it can be transferred to a computer system,
and then manipulated with an image editing software and printed.
► Making photos with digital cameras is both inexpensive and fast because there
is no film processing.
Output Devises:
► Output can be displayed or viewed on a monitor,
printed on a printer, or listened through speakers or
headset.
► There are two basic categories of output:
► The output which can be readily understood and used by
humans.
► Another is stored on secondary storage devices so that
the data can be used as input for further process.
► The output which can be readily understood and used
by human beings are of two forms : hard copy and
soft copy. On the basis of it, the output devices are
classified into hard copy and soft copy output devices.
► The printers, plotters and microfilms are the most
commonly used output devices.
► The monitor, voice response systems, projectors,
headphones and headset are some commonly used
input devices.
Printer
► A printer prints information and data from the computer onto paper.
► The quality of printer is determined by the clarity of a print it can produce.
► Resolution is used to describe the sharpness and clarity of an image.
► The resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch). The more the dpi, better
will be the quality of image.
► Printers are divided into two basic categories.
Printer

Impact Non-impact
Printer Printer

Daisy Wheel Dot Matrix Drum Inkjet Laser

Printer Printer Printer Printer Printer
Dot Matrix Printer

► Dot matrix printer uses the oldest printing technology and it prints one
character at a time.
► It prints character and images as pattern of dots.
► The speed of dot matrix printers are measured in character per seconds (cps).
► The speed can vary from about 200 to 500 cps.
► Dot matrix printer are inexpensive and have low operating costs.
► These printers are able to use different types font, different line densities
and different types of paper.
► The limitation of dot matrix printer is that it prints only in black and white.
► It is used where carbon copy is needed and quality is not too important.
Daisy Wheel Printer
► The daisy wheel printer named so because the print head of this printer
resembles a daisy flower, with printing arms that appears like the petal of the
flower.
► These printers are referred to as letter quality printer as the print quality is
as good as that of a high quality typewriter.
► These printers are slow and have speeds up to 90cps (character per seconds).
► They can not prints graphics and can not change fonts unless the print wheel
is physically replaced.
► More expensive than dot matrix printer.
Drum Printer:
► The dot matrix and daisy wheel printers are character or serial printers, that
is, they print one character at a time.
► A drum printer is a line printer, it can print a line in single correction.
► It allows a continuous high speed printing (300 lines to 2000 lines per minute
with 96 – 160 character on a 15 inch line).
► Very expensive and a single mistimed strike of the hammer may lead to wavy
and slightly blurred printing.
Ink-jet Printer:
► The most common printer found in homes today.
► It places extremely small droplets of ink onto paper to create an image.
► It does not touch the paper. It uses a series of nozzles to spray drops of ink directly
onto paper.
► It was manufactured to print in black and white, but now has expanded and now it
uses a combination of colors called CMYK.
► It allows for printing images with nearly the same quality as a photo development
lab using certain type of coated paper.
► It is costlier than dot matrix printer and quality is much better.
► It prints with a resolution of 600 dpi or more.
► It allows printer to print many special character, different size of prints and enable
it to print graphics such as charts and graph.
Laser printer:
► It provides the highest quality text and images for personal computers today.
► It is a very fast printer, able to print 4-32 (text only) pages per minutes for
micro computer and up to 200 pages per minutes for mainframe compute
► It is also known as page printer because they process and store the entire
page before they actually print it.
► It provides resolution from 300 to 2400 dpi.
► They can print different font type style and font size.
► More expensive.
Plotter:
► Plotter is pen-based output device, that is attached to a computer for making
vector graphics (Image created by a series of many straight line).
► It is used to draw high resolution chart graphs blue-print, maps, circuit,
diagrams and other line based diagrams.
► It is similar to a printer but it drwas lines using a pen.
► Multicolor plotter uses different color pens to draw different colors.
► Color plots can be made by using four pens (cyan, magenta, yellow and black)
and need no human intervention to change them.
► The lines draw by these devices are continuous and very accurate.
► The plotter is considered a very slow output device, because it requires
excesses mechanical movement to plot.
► The plotter are relatively expensive as compared to printer but can produce
more print out than standard printers.
► There are two different types of plotters:
► Drum Plotter: where the paper moves.
► Flatbed plotter: where the paper is stationary (fixed).
Monitor:
► The monitor is the most frequently used output device for producing soft copy
output.
► A computer monitor is TV like display attached to the computer on which the
output can be displayed and viewed.
► The monitor are available in various size like: 14, 15, 17, 19 and 21 inches. Cathode Ray Tube Monitor
► The screen clarity is depends on three basic qualities:
1. Resolution:
It refers to the no. of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. The
more dots or pixel, sharper the image.
2. Dot Pitch:
It is the measurement of the diagonal distance two like-color pixel on a
display screen. The smaller the dot pitch, sharper the image.
3. Refresh Rate:
It is no. of times per seconds the pixel are recharged. It is measured in Hertz
(Hz) and varies from 60-75 Hz. Higher the refresh rate, the more solid the
image.
Liquid Crystal Display Monitor