ITE 12
Basic Computer Components
Computer - An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes
data, and can be programmed with instructions. A computer is
composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a variety of
sizes and configurations.
Hardware - refers to the physical components of your computer such
as the system unit, mouse, keyboard, monitor etc.
Software - the instructions that makes the computer work.
Types of computers
• Mini and Mainframe Computers -Very powerful, used by
large organizations such a bank to control the entire
business operation.
• Personal Computers - Cheap and easy to use. Often used
as stand-alone computers or in a network. May be
connected to large mainframe computers within big
companies.
Hardware Components
Input devices - A keyboard and mouse are the standard way to
interact with the computer. Other devices include joysticks and game
pads used primarily for games.
Output devices - The monitor (the screen) is how the computer sends
information back to you.
Storage Devices - saves data and programs.
• Hard disk drives are an internal, higher capacity drive
which also stores the operating system which runs when
you power on the computer.
• "Floppy" disk drives allow you to save work on small
disks and take the data with you.
Memory
• RAM - Random Access Memory, the main 'working'
memory used by the computer.
• ROM – Read Only Memory, as the name suggests is a
special type of memory chip that holds software that can
be read but not written to.
How Computer Memory Is Measured
• Bit- All computers work on a binary numbering system,
i.e., they process data in one's or zero's These 1 or 0 levels
of storage is called a bit.
• Byte- A byte consists of eight bits.
• Kilobyte- A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes.
• Megabyte-A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes.
• Gigabyte- A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes.
Microprocessors- "The brain of the computer “. PCs primarily use
microprocessors (sometimes called the chip). The older Intel
versions include the 386, 486 and now the Pentium line.
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is normally an Intel Pentium (or
equivalent) and it is one of the most important components within
your computer.
• It determines how fast your computer will run and is
measured by its MHz speed.
• Thus a 600 MHz Pentium is much faster than say a 400
MHz Pentium CPU.
Software components
Operating Systems software- The operating system is a special type
of program that loads automatically when you start your computer.
Application software - An application program is the type of
program that you use once the operating system has been loaded.
Information network
LAN - A LAN (Local Area Network) is a system whereby individual
PCs are connected together within a company or organization
WAN - A WAN (Wide Area Network) as the name implies allows
you to connect to other computers over a wider area (i.e., the whole
world).
Uses of Network - If ten people are working together within an office
it makes sense for them all to be connected.
Modem - Short for “MODulate/DEModulate”. The modem sends
information from your computer across the telephone system.
Uses of Computer
Computer Based Training (CBT) offers a low-cost solution to
training needs where you need to train a large amount of people on
a single subject.
Office applications - Stock control, Accounts/Payroll, Automated
production systems, Design systems.
What are computer viruses? Viruses- are small programs that hide
themselves on your disks (both diskettes and your hard disk).
How do viruses infect PCs? - Viruses hide on a disk and when you
access the disk (either a diskette or another hard disk over a network)
the virus program will start and infect your computer.
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What is a computer
Computer is an electronic device that accepts data from the user,
processes it, produces results, displays them to the users, and stores
the results for future usage
Data is a collection of unorganized facts & figures and does not
provide any further information regarding patterns, context, etc.
Hence data means "unstructured facts and figures".
Information is a structured data i.e., organized meaningful and
processed data. To process the data and convert into information, a
computer is used.
Functions of Computers – Input -> Process -> Store -> Output
Characteristics of a computer system
Memory Speed
Automation Accuracy
Reliability Diligence
Versatility
Basic Computer System
Components of a computer System
Central Processing Unit
Control Unit
Input device Arithmetic/Logic Unit
Output device
Memory Unit
ALU System - All types of processing, such as comparisons,
decision-making and processing of non-numeric information takes
place here.
Control Unit - This part of CPU extracts instructions, performs
execution, maintains and directs operations of entire system.
Functions of Control Unit
• It controls all activities of computer
• Supervises flow of data within CPU
• Directs flow of data within CPU
• Transfers data to Arithmetic and Logic Unit
• Transfers results to memory
• Fetches results from memory to output devices
Memory unit - This is unit in which data and instructions given to
computer as well as results are stored.
Computer Programming Languages- any of various languages for
expressing a set of detailed instructions for a digital computer.
Hierarchy of computer language – High level language ->
Assembly language -> Machine language -> Computer hardware
History of C programming language
C evolved from two previous languages, BCPL and B. BCPL was
developed in 1967 by Martin Richards. Ken Thompson modeled
many features in his B language. In 1970 Ken Thompson used B to
create early versions of the UNIX operating system at Bell
Laboratories. The C language was evolved from B by Dennis Ritchie
at Bell
Laboratories and was originally implemented on a DEC PDP-11
computer in 1972. C uses many of the important concepts of BCPL
and B while adding data typing and other powerful features. C is
mostly hardware independent
Program development Cycle – 1. Problem definition, 2. Problem
analysis, 3. Algorithm development, 4. Coding & documentation, 5.
Testing and debugging, 6. Maintenance.
Designing an algorithm
Algorithm- The solution to any computing problem involves
executing a series of actions in a specific order. A procedure for
solving a problem in terms of
1. the actions to be executed, and
2. the order in which these actions are to be executed.
What makes a good algorithm?
1. Correctness - A correct algorithm should always give the correct
solution
2. Efficiency - An efficient algorithm should use minimum resources
and should perform at an acceptable speed
How do you measure efficiency?
Asymptotic Analysis. Refers to defining the mathematical
foundation/framing of its run- time performance
Program Control - Specifies the order in which statements are to be
executed in a computer program.
Control Structure- the order in which individual statements,
instructions or function calls of an imperative program are executed
or evaluated.
PSUEDOCODE- An artificial and informal language that helps you
develop algorithm.
Sequential- default mode. Sequential execution of code statements
(one line after another)
Selection- used for decisions, branching. Choosing between 2 or
more alternative paths.
Repetition- used for looping, i.e., repeating a piece of code multiple
times in a row.
FLOWCHART - A graphical representation of an algorithm or of a
portion of an algorithm
WHY C?
• General purpose
• Good access to low level input/output
• Portable
• Supports most commonly used software design techniques
• Widely used commercially
• Provides a good basis for learning C++ and JAVA
WHY NOT C?
• Syntactically awkward at times (in comparison to
PASCAL for example)
• Doesn’t easily support object-oriented programming
• Not particularly robust compilers and hence not that
suitable for safety critical applications.
PROGRAM
The program starts with the line int main(void) which informs the
computer where the program actually starts.
The int and void are reserved words in C.
• void indicates that no arguments are passed to the program
from the operating system.
• int indicates that the program returns an integer back to
the operating system. This allows the program to indicate
to the operating system that it has run normally and
without any errors.
The braces {and} signify the beginning and end segments of the
program.
The statement #include <stdio.h> is to allow the use of the printf
statement. We will say a lot more about this in a future lecture.
The statement printf(...) is actually a function in C which is used for
printing variables and text to the screen.
The text appearing in double quotes “ ” are printed without
modification. Exceptions are text following \ and % (modifier)
characters which are modifiers.
In our example \n actually means print a new line.
The statement return 0; simply returns a value of zero back to the
operating system. Operating systems can interpret return values of
programs to indicate normal behavior or some error condition.
A final point to note is that all C statements are terminated by a semi-
colon ;
VARIABLES - In C, variables are used to store values which can
be changed during the course of execution of the program.
Placeholder in format Settings
Placeholder Variable Type Function use
%c Char printf/scanf
%d Int printf/scanf
%f Double printf
%lf Double scanf
%f Float printf/scanf
Comments - increase the readability and understanding
of a piece of code. Comments are text in the program inserted
between. /* This is a comment. */
WHAT ARE COMMENTS USED FOR?
• Documentation of variables and their usage
• Explaining difficult sections of code
• Describes the program, author, date, modification
changes, revisions etc.
• Copyrighting
DATA TYPES
int (integer) - These are whole numbers, both positive and negative.
float (floating point) - contain fractional parts both positive and
negative.
double (double precision) - exponential numbers both positive and
negative.
char (character) - single characters. Ex: letter = ‘A’;
OPERATORS
 Operation Operator Example 1. Keywords - the collection of pre-defined or reserved words. Ex:
Addition + c=a+b; int, char and auto keywords
Subtraction - c=a-b; 2. Identifiers - informative names that uniquely identify variables or
Multiplication * c=a*b; function names. User-defined words used for naming of functions,
Division / c=a/b; variables, structures, unions, arrays etc.
Increment ++ ++c; • Identifiers shouldn't begin with any numerical digit and
Decrement -- --c; hence, the first character must be either an underscore or
Modulus % c=a%b; an alphabet.
Increment- This adds one to the value of the variable. The increment • Identifiers are case-sensitive and hence, both lowercase
can be applied before (prefix) or after (postfix) the variable is used. and uppercase letters are distinct.
Decrement- This subtracts one from the value of the variable. The • The length of identifiers shouldn't be more than 31
decrement can be applied before (prefix) or after (postfix) the characters.
variable is used. • Commas and blank spaces are not allowed while declaring
Modulus- The modulus operator assigns the remainder left over after an identifier.
a division. Thus, in the following code fragment, the variable count • Also, the most important rule is that we can't use keywords
is assigned to the remainder of dividing 10 by 3 (which is 1). as identifiers because keywords in C language are
Relational operators – if P=5, Q=3, then… reserved words for special purposes only.
Meaning Operator Example 3. Constants - the variables whose values are fixed and cannot be
Equal to == (P==Q) is not modified during the execution of a program once they are defined.
true They are also known as literals. Ex: const
Not equal to != (P!=Q) is true 4. Special Characters - are symbols in C language that have special
Less than < (P<Q) is not true meaning and cannot be used for any other purpose.
Greater than > (P>Q) is true Types of Special Characters:
Less than or equal to <= (P<=Q) is not Square Brackets []- represent single and multi-dimensional
true subscripts and they are used as array element reference for accessing
More than or equal >= (P>=Q) is true array elements.
to Simple Brackets ()- used for function calling and function
declaration.
Conditional Operators - used to evaluate a condition that's applied Curly Braces {}- are used to mark the start and end of a block of
to one or two Boolean expressions. The result of the evaluation is code containing executable logical statements.
either true or false. Comma (,)- used to separate variables or more than one statement
• && the logical AND operator. - is used to perform logical just like separating function parameters in a function call.
conjunction of two expressions (Result: True if both the Pre-Processor / Hash (#)- a macro-processor that is automatically
expressions evaluate to true else the result remains False) used by the compiler and denotes that we are using a header file.
• || the logical OR operator - used to perform logical Asterisk (*)- used for multiplication of variables and also for
disjunction on two expressions (Result: True if either or creating pointer variables.
both the expressions evaluate to true) Colon (:)- used as a part of conditional operator (? :) in C language.
• ?: the ternary operator Semicolon (;)- known as a statement terminator and thus, each
• | not operator - used to perform logical negation on an logical statement of C language must be ended with a semi-colon.
expression Assignment Operator (=)- used to assign values to a variable and
INPUT- allows the programmer to accept input from the keyboard. is sometimes used for logical operation validation.
• takes 2 arguments in the example. The first “%d” specifies 5. Strings- represented as an array of characters having null character
what type of data is expected. The ‘d’ character indicates '\0' at the end. This null character '\0' denotes the end of the string.
that an integer is expected. The size of the string is basically the number of characters it
• The ‘&’ preceding the variable name indicates the address contains. Ex: char name [6] = “Hello”;
6. Operators- special symbols used to perform specific functions,
of the variable.
C provides no error checking of user input. The user is expected to and data items on which they are applied upon are known as
operands.
enter the correct data type.
PREPROCESSOR- is implemented as a first pass over the C
source code, running before the main compilation stage. Performs
following tasks:
• It removes all comments
• It handles the #include statements
• It handles #define commands – these are macro definitions
• #define- preprocessor command is used to make a
program more
LIBRARIES- All C compilers come with a library of useful
functions. The programmer can simply call a library function instead
of having to write the code himself.

TOKENS IN C- the smallest elements or the building blocks used

to construct a C program.
Types of Tokens in C language