UNDERSTANDING

COMPUTERS
“An automatic electronic apparatus for making
calculations or controlling operations that are
expressible in numerical or logical terms.”

A device that can operate upon information or

data. This is done through the execution of a
program (a sequence of instructions which
operate on data to perform certain tasks).
•Computers and its characteristics
•Evolution of Computers
•Computers: Then and Now
•Basic Anatomy of a Computer
•Basic Operations of Computers
•Speed
•Accuracy
•Diligence
•Intelligence
•Storage
•The understanding of human behaviour with
its complete interplay of emotions
•Inability to understand the overall context of
the information
•The mid-course corrections are also beyond
the capabilities of computers
 Inputting The process of entering data and instructions

The process of saving data and instructions

Storing

Processing Performing arithmetic or logical operations on the data

Outputting Process of providing the results to the user.

Refers to directing the sequence and manner in which all the

Controlling
above operations are performed.
 A system is typically referred to as a group of
elements, logically related, having a common goal
to achieve.

Integrated Co-ordination
components
1. CPU, ALU and Working together to
Storage Devices achieve a goal
2. Input –Output
Devices
Information is handled in the computer
by electrical components indicate only
two states or conditions All data to be
stored & processed are transformed or
coded as strings of two symbols, one
symbol to represent each state.
Two symbols normally used are 0 & 1.
 •A bit is the smallest element . It holds one of the two
BIT possible values.
•0 or OFF is FALSE or NOT SET; 1 or ON is TRUE or
SET

•A nibble is a group of FOUR bits. It gives a maximum of

NIBBLE 16 possible different values. 24 = 16 (2 to the power of
the number of bits)

•Bytes are a grouping of 8 bits & are often used to store

BYTES characters or numeric values. 28= 256 (2 to the power of
the number of bits)

•A computer ‘word’ is a group of bits, the length of which

WORD varies from machine to machine. The word may be as
long as 64 bits or as short as 8 bits.
BCD EBCDIC

ASCII
¤ Converts each digit of a decimal number into its binary
equivalent .
¤ It uses 4 digits to represent each of the digits.
¤ 4 bits are insufficient to represent the various other
characters used by the computer 6 bits are usually used
to represent characters in BCD code.
•The major drawback with the BCD code is that
allows only 64 different characters to be
represented.
•The BCD code was therefore extended from a 6-bit
to an 8-bit code.
•The added 2 bits are used as additional zone bits,
expanding the zone bits to 4.
•This resulting code is called the Extended Binary-
Coded Decimal Interchange Code
•(EBCDIC). Using the EBCDIC it is possible to
represent 28 or 256 characters.
•Since EBCDIC is an 8-bit code, it can easily be
divided into two 4-bit groups.
•Each of these groups can be represented by one
hexadecimal digit.
 Now an
‘American advanced
Standard ASCII is used This
Code for having 8-bit representatio
Information character n is being
Interchange’ representatio used in Micro
or ASCII. n code Computers.
Uses 7 digits allowing for
to represent 256 different
128 characters.
characters.
Central processing unit (CPU) executes the
instructions of the program. The CPU is made up of
three major components: Register Set, ALU & CU.

Cycle time of the CPU: time taken by CPU to execute a

well-defined shortest micro-operation
¤ Manages and coordinates the computer system including the
input & output devices.
¤ It retrieves & interprets the instructions from the program
stored in the main memory, & issues signals that cause other
units of the system to execute them.
¤ The special purpose register called the Instruction register
holds the current instruction to be executed, and the Program
control register holds the next instruction to be executed.
¤ The decoder interprets the meaning of each instruction
supported by the CPU.
# The ALU provides arithmetic and logic operations.
# When the control unit encounters an instruction that involves
an arithmetic operation or a logic operation, it passes control
to the ALU
# The ALU has the necessary circuitry to carry out these
arithmetic and logic operations.
Memory Address Register (MAR): Specifies the address of memory
location from which data is to be accessed or stored

Memory Buffer Register (MBR): receives data from the memory or

contains the data to be written in the memory

Program Counter (PC): Keeps track of the instruction that is to be

executed next

Accumulator (AC): It holds the initial data to be operated upon, the

intermediate results and final results of processing operations of ALU.

Instruction Register (IR): Holds the current instruction that is being

executed.
 Clock Speed
•The processor in a personal computer or embedded in
small devices is often called a Microprocessor
•The speed at which the processor executes commands is
called the processor speed or clock speed
•Clock speed refers to the number of pulses per second
generated by an oscillator that sets the tempo for the
processor.
• It is usually measured in MHz (Megahertz -Million of
pulses per second) or GHz (Gigahertz -Billions of pulses
per second)