Computer Programming - Unit1

**GE6151 – COMPUTER PROGRAMMING**
UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
1. What is a computer?
 The computer is an electronic machine that takes input from the user and processes it to generate the output in the
form of useful information.
2. What is a program?
 A program is a set of instructions that can be executed one-by-one in the computer.
 Each program performs certain task that is created by the user.
3. What is Hardware and Software?
 Hardware of the computer means, all the visible components of a computer that are needed for proper functioning.
It is the framework. Software is applied on the hardware of the computer. E.x: CPU, monitor, etc
 Software of the computer means, the set of programs that can be executed one by one in a computer.
It controls all the operations of a computer. Ex: OS, games softwares, etc
4. What is the difference between application software and system software?
 System softwares are inbuilt softwares that are required to start the computer.
 Without system software, a computer cannot work properly. Ex : Windows OS, Linux OS, DOS, etc
 Application softwares are optional softwares that are needed to perform certain task needed for user.
 Without application software, a system can work. Ex: Tally, Games softwares, etc
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of first generation of computers?
Advantages: Disadvantages:-
 Based on vacuum tube technology  Large space is needed.
 During that time, these type of computers  It takes more power
were the fastest.  Very costly
 Calculations are done in milliseconds.  No reliability
 Programming is difficult
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of second generation of computers?
 Based on transistor technology  Very costly
 Small in size  It needed AC
 Less heat produced  Production was difficult
 Calculations are done in microseconds
 Better reliability
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of third generation of computers?
 Based on IC (Integrated Chip) technology  It needed AC
 Calculations are done in nano seconds  Production was difficult
 Less power needed
 Less maintenance cost
 More reliability
8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fourth generation of computers?
 Based on Processor technology  Production was difficult
 Small in size
 Portable and very much reliable
 All programming languages are supported
9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fifth generation of computers?
 Portable  There is no program that makes the computer to
 User friendly operate completely automatic.
 Supports many OS
 Supports parallel programming
 High speed calculations
 Large storage capacity.
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“There is no shortcut for success; Work hard and get success” – Sachin Tendulkar
10. What are the characteristics of a digital computer?
 They have large memory space
 They are suitable for business
 High processing speed
 Discrete value outputs are got
 It is versatile in nature.
11. What are the differences between analog and digital computers?
Analog computer Digital computer
 Less speed  High speed
 Less memory  More memory
 Limited usage  Many number of usage
 Output is in the form of graph  Output is in the form of discrete values
 Less accurate calculation  More accurate calculation
12. What are the advantages and disadvantages of micro and mini computers?
Advantages – Micro computers Disadvantages – Mini computers
 Small in size  Less memory capacity
 Very cheap in cost, compared to Mini computers  Difficult in maintenance
 Highly reliable
Advantages – Mini computers Disadvantages – Mini computers
 Small in size, compared to mainframe computers  Calculation speed is less than mainframe computers
 Cheap in cost, compared to mainframe computers  Memory capacity is small, compared to mainframe
13. What are the advantages and disadvantages of mainframe and super computers?
Advantages – mainframe computers Disadvantages – mainframe computers
 Many OS can be installed in mainframe  It is very much costly
computer
 It can be used instead of 1000s of small servers  Its size is very big
 It can store large amount of data
Advantages – super computers Disadvantages – Super computers
 Processing speed is : trillions per second  Its size is large
 Many processors can work at the same time  It is also very costly
 It has more main memory 
14. Compare RAM and ROM

RAM ROM
 It is a volatile memory  It is a non-volatile memory
 It is used for both READ and WRITE operations  It is used for READ operation only
 It has small storage capacity  It has large storage capacity
 It is temporary  It is permanent
 Its cost is high  It is cost effective
 Processing speed is high  Processing speed is low
15. What is an algorithm?

 An algorithm is defined as a step by step procedure for solving a problem.
 It is a set of rules to solve a problem.
16. What are the characteristics of an algorithm?
 It has a finite number of inputs
 Every instruction is clear and short
 It should have a proper ending
 Each step should be important.
 Overall output should be got only after the algorithm ends.
 It should contain the steps one-by-one to solve the problem
17. What is a pseudo code?
 Pseudo = copy (or) Duplicate, Code = instructions
 It cannot be compiled or executed
 It is written in natural language such as English, etc
 It is used to concentrate on algorithm
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18. What are the advantages and disadvantages of pseudo code?
Advantages Disadvantages
 It can be easily prepared in Word processor  It does not have pictures
software
 Easily modified  There is no rules for preparation
 It is simple because it is written in English  It cannot be compiled or executed
 No confusing symbols are used 
 No rules are followed 
 It is easy to understand the problem 
19. What is a flow chart?

 A flow chart is a diagrammatic representation that illustrates the operations to be performed one-by-one.
 It contains different symbols.
20. What are the advantages and disadvantages of flow charts?
Advantages Disadvantages
 It is easy to understand  It cannot be prepared for difficult programs
 A problem can be analysed easily with flowchart  Alterations and modifications cannot be done easily
 It gives clear idea of a program  It is not typed, so its preparation is little difficult
 It acts as a guide during the program development
 It helps to clear the errors in coding
 It helps in maintenance of code
PART – B
1. What are the characteristics of a computer?

a. Speed:-
 Computers are very fast in processing
 They solve large problems in less time
 They are faster than humans
 They do millions of calculations per second
b. Accuracy:-
 They perform calculations accurately; accuracy means, without any error
 They process large amount of data without error
c. Storage:-
 A computer can store large amount of data in primary memory and secondary memory
 Storage is calculated in BYTES. 1 BYTE = 8 BITS. 1 BIT = 0 or 1
 8Bits = 1 BYTE, 1024 Bytes = 1KB, 1024KB=1MB, 1024 MB = 1GB, 1024GB = 1TB
d. Versatility:-
 Computers are versatile; versatile means, perform many works at same time
 They are used for doing arithmetic and logical operations
e. Diligence:-
 They do not get tired even after performing many calculations
 They perform all the tasks with same accuracy and speed
f. Automation:-
 The computers perform operations without stopping.
 They do the process one by one according to the instructions
2. What are the applications of a computer?
 It is used to store, display, send and receive information
 It is used to draw graphs, pictures
 It is used in medical clinic and labs
 It is used to control rockets and aeroplanes
 It is used for banking purpose also
 It is used in horoscope
 It is used in Crime investigation
 It is used to control Robots
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Education:-
 It is used in education, online classrooms, online library, etc
Marketing:-
 It is used in preparing advertisements
Banking:-
 It is used in banking to store the account details of customers
 It is used in ATM, internet banking
Video games:-
 It is used in playing video games, online games, etc
Training:-
 Computers are used to give training to the workers
Hospitals:-
 It is used in hospitals to help the doctors to find the disease and give treatment
 It stores the record of patients Ex: Scan, blood test, ECG, etc
Railways:-
 It is used in online ticket reservation, see the schedule of trains, etc
Science:-
 It is used in research by scientists
 It helps in finding earth quake, Tsunami, etc
3. Explain the generation of Digital computers in detail. (or) Explain the Generation of computers in detail.
First Generation:-
 The first generation of computers were used only for certain task.
 Each computer has a machine language ( 0’s and 1’s)
 They are difficult to process
 They are not versatile, they have limited speed.
 They used VACUUM TUBES and MAGNETIC DRUMS for data storage.
 It consumed 100kW power, weight of many 1000kilos.
 It performed 5000calculations per second.
 Ex: EDSAC, UNIVAC, etc
 Based on vacuum tube technology  Large space is needed.
 During that time, these type of computers  It takes more power
were the fastest.  Very costly
 Calculations are done in milliseconds.  No reliability
 Programming is difficult
Second generation of computers:-
 They are used in business, university, government, etc because of its success.
 They used TRANSISTORS for memory storage
 They are small and consume less power
 Thermionic valves are used instead of heated tubes
 They also contained components such as printers, tape, disk storage, memory, OS, etc
 Ex: IBM 1401, 1620, UNIVAC 1108
 Based on transistor technology  Very costly
 Small in size  It needed AC
 Less heat produced  Production was difficult
 Calculations are done in microseconds
 Better reliability
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Third generation of computers:-
 Integrated Chip (IC) Technology is used for memory storage
 Quartz rock is used to remove the heat.
 IC is a combination of three components on a small disc
 Semiconductor was also introduced.
 Because ICs are small in size, the size of the computers became small
 In this generation of computers, many operating systems can be installed.
 Ex: IBM 360 series, ICL 1900 series, CDC 1700
 Based on IC (Integrated Chip) technology  It needed AC
 Calculations are done in nano seconds  Production was difficult
 Less power needed
 More reliability
Fourth generation of computers:-

 IBM introduced Personal Computers (PC) that can be used in home / office / schools
 The size of the computer became still smaller
 Number of personal computers doubled from 1million in 1981 to 5.5million in 1982
 After 10years, 65millions PC were used.
 Apple’s MacIntosh OS also introduced in 1984, that is user friendly design.
 Ex: Intel 400L, Apple series I and II, IBM
 Based on Processor technology  Production was difficult
 Small in size
 Portable and very much reliable
 All programming languages are supported
Fifth generation of computers:-

 Many advances came in science and technology in this generation
 Parallel processing is used, it means, many CPU work as one CPU
 Superconductor technology is used in this generation
 Information flow is fast because of superconductor
 Ex: Expert systems help doctors to cure the patient’s disease
 Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that makes the computers behave like humans
 Artificial intelligence is used in: Games, Expert systems, Natural language, Neural networks
 Portable  There is no program that makes the computer to
 User friendly operate completely automatic.
 Supports many OS
 Supports parallel programming
 High speed calculations
 Large storage capacity.
4. Write the differences between analog and digital computers

Analog computers:-
 Analog computers represent the data as physical quantities
 It performs operation based on measuring
 It is designed to process data of varying quantities
 It solves problems in voltage, current, etc
 They are useful in simulation and evaluation of dynamic situations
 It contains operational amplifier
 Computer’s capacity is determined by number of amplifiers
 They are used in speedometres, watt-hour metres
 Ex: Electronic weighing scale, patient heart beat, blood pressure
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Characteristics of analog computers:-
 Low speed
 Limited applications
 Less memory space
 Not suitable for business
 Output is not accurate
Digital Computers:-
 They process the information digitally.
 It stored and processes the data in digital form
 Data is stored as 0’s and 1’s
 Output produced by digital computers is in Digital form.
 Ex: Palmtop, Laptop, Super computer, etc
Characteristics of a digital comouter:-
 Large memory space
 Suitable for business applications
 Processor speed is high
 Versatile in nature
5. Explain about mainframe and super computers

Mainframe computers:-
 It is an ultra-high performance computer, made for high storage.
 It contains high quality computer processor, processor, hardwares
 It is used for storing large volumes of data, highly important online transaction, etc
 It is very powerful and large computer
 Its operating speed is MIPS – Million instructions per second
 Ex: IBM ES000, VAX8000, CPC6600
Advantages – mainframe computers Disadvantages – mainframe computers

 Many OS can be installed in mainframe  It is very much costly
computer
 It can be used instead of 1000s of small servers  Its size is very big
 It can store large amount of data
Super Computers:-
 They are most powerful computers than mainframe computers
 The simplified form of mainframe computer is called as super computer
 It is the top level computer used for high processing capacity
 It can process Trillions of instructions per second ( 10,00,000 = 1million, 10,00,00,000=1trillion)
Applications of super computers:-
 This computer cannot be used at home
 It is used in heavy jobs such as Government use, etc
 They are useful in weather forecasting.
Advantages – super computers Disadvantages – Super computers
 Processing speed is : trillions per second  Its size is large
 Many processors can work at the same time  It is also very costly
 It has more main memory 
6. Explain the basic organization of a computer.

The organization of a computer has four major parts:- They are
a. Input Unit
b. CPU
c. Output Unit
d. Memory unit
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Input Unit Memory Unit Output Unit
Cache memory
Registers
CPU
ALU
Control Unit
Basic operations of a computer:-
 It ACCEPTS the data or instruction through INPUT
 It STORES the data or information
 It can PROCESS data as instructed by the user
 It GIVES results through OUTPUT
 It CONTROLS all the operations
Input Unit:-
 Input devices get the data from the user and converts to the machine understandable form.
 Ex: Keyboard, Mouse, Scanner, Joystick, Lightpen, Card reader, Webcam, Microphone
Keyboard:-
 It is a standard input device attached to all type of computers
 It contains keys arranged in the form of QWERTY
 It contains many keys such as TAB, CAPSLOCK, SPACE BAR, ALT, CTRL, ENTER, HOME, END, etc
 It contains 101 to 104 keys
 If we press the keys in the keyboard, electrical signals are sent to the computer.
Mouse:-
 It is used with personal computer
 Old type of mouses have magnetic ball at the back.
 Nowadays, Infrared mouses are used, that works on infrared light at the back of the mouse
 We can move cursor to any direction with the help of a mouse
 It is used for easy and fast operations.
Scanner:-
 Keyboard can give input only the characters
 Scanners can give a picture as input to the computer
 Scanner is an optical device that takes a picture and gives as input to the computer
Ex: MICR, OMR, OCR
MICR – Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
 They are used in bank cheques
 Magnetic ink is printed on the cheque. If the cheque is passed through magnetic field, the information is read
OMR – Optical Mark reader
 They are used in objective type tests
 Students have to shade the rounds for the correct answer
OCR – Optical Character Recognition
 Reads a paper and takes the information from it, gives as input to the computer
 They are costly than MICR
Joystick:-
 It is an online device
 We can move the cursor fastly with the help of joystick
 They are used to play games, etc
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Light Pen:-
 It is a light-sensitive device
 It is used with CRT monitor
 It is used in CAD
 Using light, it moves the cursor
 Photo-sensor is used
Card Reader:-
 It was punched cards to give information to the computer
 The computer program which is to be fetched, transformed into punched cards by the process known as
card punching
 After punching all cards, they are given to card reader, computer reads one by one
Webcam:-
 It is a video camera that gives image or video to the computer that can be transferred online
 It is connected to the system with USB cable
 It us used for video chatting, video conferencing, etc using WWW
Microphone:-
 It is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound signals to electric signals
 They are used in Telephones, hearing aids, recording audio engineering, Radio and TV broadcasting, etc
 It uses electromagnetic inductance capacitance change to produce electric signal from mechanical
vibration
CPU:-
 It is called as brain of the computer
 It performs taks such as arithmetic and logical operations
 CPU is divided into three parts: ALU, Control Unit, Registers
ALU:-
 After the system gets input data, it is stored in primary storage.
 The actual processing of data takes place at Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
 It performs addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logical comparison, etc
 It also performs AND, OR, NOT, XOR, etc operations
Control Unit:-
 It acts like the supervisor of a computer
 It controls the overall activities of a computer components
 It checks all the operations of a computer are going correctly or not
 It determines how the instructions are executed one by one
 It controls all the input and output operations of a computer
 For executing an instruction, it performs the following steps:-
o Address of the instruction is placed in address bus
o Instruction is read from the memory
o Instruction is sent for decoding
o Data from that address is read from the memory
o These data and address are sent to the memory
o Again the next instruction is taken from the memory
Registers:-
 They are high speed memory units for storing temporary data
 they are small in size
 it stores data, instruction, address, etc
 ALU is also a register
 Types: Accumulator, GPR, SPR( PC, MAR, MBR, IR)
 Accumulator: to store the operands before execution. It receives the result of ALU operation
 GPR: General Purpose Registers are used to store data and intermediate results
 SPR:Special Purpose Registers are used for a certain purpose.
 PC: Program counter, MAR: Memory Address Bus, MBR: Memory Buffer Register
Output Unit:-
 It is a medium between computer and the human
 After the CPU finishes operation, the output is displayed in the output unit
 They take the input from CPU and converts to human readable form
 Types of output:- Hardcopy, softcopy
 Hardcopy: The output that can be seen physically using a printer is called as hardcopy
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 Softcopy: The electric version of output that is stored in a computer or a memory card, or a hard disk
 Ex: Monitor, Printer, Plotter
Monitor:-
 It is the most popular output device
 It is also called as Visual Display Unit (VDU)
 It is connected to a computer through a cable called Video cord
 It can be monochrome or color monitor
 LCD: Liquid Crystal Display monitors
o They are flat type of screen. Liquid crystals are used for display in the screen
 CRT: Cathode Ray Tube monitors
o They are old-fashioned TV set like monitor
Printer:-
 The output of a computer can be printed using Printer, to get the hardcopy
 Laser printer, Inkjet printer: Impact printers. They give fast printouts with good quality using LASER
 Dot matrix printer: non-impact printers. Their quality is poor, they are used for billing purpose
Plotter:-
 They are used for printing graphics
 They are used in CAD/CAM
 Pen plotters take printout by moving a pen across the surface of a piece of paper
Memory Unit:-
memory
Primary Secondary
memory memory
Magnetic Semiconductor Semi-random

Thin-film Serial access
memory access memory
core memory memory
memory
RAM ROM
Static Dynamic PROM EPROM EEPROM

RAM RAM
Primary storage:-
 It is a part of CPU
 Its storage capacity is limited
 It contains magnetic core or semiconductor cells
 It is used for temporary storage
 Magnetic core memory:
o It contain a small dough-nut shaped objects made of ferromagnetic material
o Current is passed through wire in one direction, magnetized in one direction
 Semiconductor memory:
o It contains IC chips on silicon
o They are small, high processing speed, low power is used, cheap, easy to assemble
 ROM:
o Major type of memory in a computer is called ROM
o Read Only Memory
o It can be read, cannot be written
o It is used for storing permanent values
o ROM does not gets erased, even after the power is switched off
o They are non-volatile ( information cannot be erased)
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o We can store the important data into the ROM
o Ex: Hard disk
 PROM:
 Programmable Read Only Memory
 They contain 1000 of fuses burnt, applying 12V to the memory boxes
 These fuses say 0 or 1
 EPROM:
 Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
 They can be deleted
 This chips have glass panel, UV rays are passed
 Fuses are rearranged in UV rays (all bits become 1)
 EEPROM:-
 Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
 They can be erased using electric current
 RAM:-
o They are used for storing programs and data that are executed
o It is different from ROM
o Random Access Memory
o It can be read and written
o It is volatile
o When the power is turned off, its contents are erased
o It is also called as RWM (Read Write Memory)
o It is faster than ROM
o Static RAM (SRAM) and Dynamic RAM (DRAM) are its types
o Its cost is high
o Its processing speed is also high
 Cache memory:-
o It is a very small memory used to store intermediate results and data
o It stores the data that are more frequently called for processing
o It is present inside the CPU, near the processor
o It is used for the faster execution
 Secondary Storage:-
o The speed of primary memory is fast, but secondary memory is slow
o But the memory capacity of primary memory is low. So, secondary memory is used
o It contains large memory space
o It is also called as additional memory or auxiliary memory
o Data is stored in it permanently
o Ex: Magnetic tape, Hard disk, Floppy, Optical Disc, USB drives
o Magnetic tape:-
 It is used for large computers like mainframe computers
 Large volume of data is stored for a long time
 It is like a old tape-recorder cassette
 They are cheap
 They store data permanently
 Its diameter is 12.5mm to 25mm, length is 500M to 1200M
 It is compact, low cost, portable, unlimited storage, easy to handle
o Hard disk:-
 Hard disks are disks that store more data and works faster
 It can store 10GB to 2TB
 It consists of platters
 Two heads are there for read and write
 It is attached to single arm
 Information in hard disk is stored in tracks
 A track location that cuts across all platters is called as a cylinder
 All platters have same no.of tracks
o Floppy Disk
 They can store 1.4MB of data
 They are 5.25 to 3.5 inch in diameter
 They are cheap, portable
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o Optical Disk:-
 CD-ROM:
 Compact Disk
 They are made of reflective material
 High power laser beam is passed to store data onto CD
 Cost is low, storage capacity is 700MB
 Its size is 4.5inches in diameter
 It can only be READ, cant be written
 Only a single side can be used for storage
 DVD:
 Digital Video Disk
 It is the improved version of CD
 It can store 4.7GB of data
 Both the sides are used for storage
 They cannot be scratched or damaged like CD
 USB drives:-
 They are commonly called as PEN DRIVES
 They are removable storage
 They are connected to the USB port of a computer
 They are fast and portable
 They store larger data when compared to CD, DVD (1GB to 64GB pendrives)
Important example programs:-

 Example program 2
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GE6151 – COMPUTER PROGRAMMING

UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of second generation of computers?

14. Compare RAM and ROM

15. What is an algorithm?

19. What is a flow chart?

1. What are the characteristics of a computer?

Second generation of computers:-

Fourth generation of computers:-

Fifth generation of computers:-

4. Write the differences between analog and digital computers

5. Explain about mainframe and super computers

Advantages – mainframe computers Disadvantages – mainframe computers

6. Explain the basic organization of a computer.

Input Unit Memory Unit Output Unit

Magnetic Semiconductor Semi-random

Static Dynamic PROM EPROM EEPROM

Important example programs:-

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