INDIAN SCHOOL MUSCAT

CLASS – XI
SUBJECT : INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
TOPIC : Fundamentals of Computer
Computer is an electronic device and works on electronic signals. The on
and off signals denote 1 and 0 respectively. The binary language, also
called machine language, works on two digits 0 and 1.

Computer is a term derived from the term ‘compute’ which means to

calculate. Computer takes input from the user, processes it and displays
output. It is a device that works on a set of instructions. It takes input from
the user, processes the input according to the set of instructions and gives
the output.
 About Hardware and Software

All this is achieved by an effective coordination of the components of

the computer; broadly categorized as hardware and the software.
The term hardware refers to the tangible components of a computer
that we can touch and feel like the keyboard, mouse, monitor.

However, the term software refers to a set of instructions and is

intangible. Some examples of software are operating systems, word
processors, spreadsheets, online calculators etc.
The data and/or instructions given by the user to the machine are termed as
Input and the result generated by the machine after processing the data is
the Output.
Characteristics of a Computer
 Speed : A remarkable quality of computers is their ability to process data and
instructions at a very high speed. A typical high-speed computer can perform
about 3-4 mips (million instructions per second). Note that this is different from
the speed with which information can be sent to and from a computer, which is
normally measured in baud.
([not an acronym] unit of signaling speed equal to one code element per second)

[not an acronym] unit of signaling speed equal to one code element per second

Versatility: is the ability of a computer to do a variety of jobs with ease. One

moment you can type a letter using any of the available word processing
packages, and the other moment you can use the same machine to do
calculations yielding the salaries of employees of an organization.
Accuracy: Not only does the machine perform varied jobs with high speed,
but also does them with high precision and accuracy.

Diligence: Another feature of computers is its ability to perform the same

task repeatedly over and over again without getting bored!

Storage: Huge amounts of data and information can be stored in a

computer for future retrieval.

Intelligence: In the early days, although computers possessed striking

characteristics yet a prominent drawback was that they are merely dumb
machines which were programmed to
perform certain tasks. With the advent of artificial intelligence techniques, we
now have machines which can drive a car without a human driver or play chess
against the best players.
 Components of a Computer

Input: To initiate the process, the computer needs to be told of the problem to be solved. For
this purpose, a set of instructions and data is provided through the input devices such as
keyboard and mouse. A set of instructions provided to the computer for doing a task is called
a program.
Storage: There are basically two types of computer storage devices:
Primary Memory : Data stored in Primary Memory is directly accessible by the CPU. The
inputs received in the above steps are stored in the computer memory, called random access
memory (RAM). This storage is relatively fast and expensive as compared to the secondary
storage.
Primary memory is directly connected to the CPU. It is also called main memory, primary
memory, or working memory of the machine.
Primary memory is of two types :
1. RAM ( Random Access Memory) : It is a primary volatile memory i.e. its data gets lost once
the power supply is stopped. RAM is of two types : DRAM (Dynamic Random Access
Memory) and SRAM ( Static Random Access Memory. DRAM
ROM ( Read Only Memory) : It is generally used in startup operations of computer.
It is a non-volatile primary memory. Further it may be classified as : ROM,
PROM(Programmable read only memory), EPROM ( Erasable Programmable read
only memory), EEPROM ( ElectricallyErasable Programmable read only memory)
Secondary Storage: The memory which is external to the computer system forms
the secondary storage, for example, the magnetic tapes, compact disks, pen drives
are all examples of the secondary storage. These are not directly connected to the
CPU.
Cache Memory : it is a very high speed memory which is used to cope-up with the
high speed of CPU. It is generally placed between CPU and Primary memory and
acts as a buffer. It reduces the average access time to data from the main memory
and is comparatively expensive.
Processing: The inputs provided by the user are processed by the central
processing unit as per the specified instructions. The result of the processing is
then either directed to the output devices or to a memory location for storage.
Control Unit: is responsible for coordination between the different units of a computer. It
controls the input, processing and output operations. For example, it coordinates with the
peripheral devices to accept the input or display the output. It is like a manager of all
operations.

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): is responsible for actual processing of data. It retrieves the
data from the storage unit and performs the arithmetic calculations and/or comparisons
on them and the processed data is then sent back to the storage.

Output: The result of processing carried out by the computer is often directed to the
display device such as the monitor or printer. Other forms of devices are not uncommon,
for example, the computer may output music or video.
There are various types of computers in the market these days, desktop personal
computer– popularly known as PC, laptop (also called notebook) – a small computer
that can easily put on your lap, tablet – a light computer of the size of a handbook,
often used for working on the Internet.
chassis of a processor!