INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

FUNDAMENTALS
MODULE 1
COMPUTER: EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT

 Globalization of computer-based environment

 The proliferation and mass advances of information technology have

profound effects on different societal sectors, particularly the
technological merger of computers and communication producing
an information environment.
OBJECTIVES:

 Define the term computer including its capabilities and

limitations
 Familiarize with the history and development of computer
 Distinguish the different types of computers
 Understand the concept of data processing
WHAT IS A COMPUTER?
 An electronic digital device designed to accept and store input data,
process data and appropriate output information under the control
of a stored sequence of instructions
 an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in
binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable
program.
 According to webopedia, it is a programmable machine. It has (2)
two principal characteristics: it responds to a specific set of 
instructions in a well-defined manner and it can execute a
prerecorded list of instructions (a program).
 It is a device that accepts information (in the form of digitalized data
) and manipulates it for some result based on a program or
sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed. 
THE TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENTS

The repetitive process of computation leads to

people becoming bored in computing such as
navigational table, tide charts, and planetary
positions for astronomical almanacs. People were
doing these things everyday and this is the reason
why people invented computers, that is to aid in
numerous computation required everyday.
COMPUTING AID THAT PEOPLE INVENTED

The Abacus
 The first computing aid that were used to help them in their
computation.
The Napier’s Bone
 An abacus created by John Napier for calculation of products
and quotients of numbers that was based on Arab mathematics
and lattice multiplication.
The Slide Rule
 Used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for
"scientific" functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry,
but is not normally used for addition or subtraction.
 The Calculating Clock/ Schickard Calculator
 Consisted of a six-digit machine that could add or
subtract.
The Pascaline
 The first calculator or adding machine to be produced in any quantity
and actually used. It could only do addition and subtraction, with
numbers being entered by manipulating its dials.
 designed and built by the French mathematician-philosopher Blaise
Pascal between 1642 and 1644
The Step Reckoner
 The first calculator that could perform all four arithmetic operations:
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
 invented by German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz around 1672 and completed 1694
The Difference Engine
 An automatic, mechanical
calculator designed to tabulate
polynomial functions.
 By 1822 the English
mathematician Charles Babbage
who is considered as Father of
the Computer today was
proposing a steam driven
calculating machine the size of a
room
The Hollerith's Tabulating
Machine
 the electro-mechanical
tabulator.
 On the tabulator's desk to
the right is a press-like
device which would bring an
array of pins into contact
with a punch card.
The Mark I
 The first large-
scale automatic
digital computer in
the USA by Howard
H. Aiken, built at
IBM and shipped to
Harvard in
February 1944.
The Apple I
 An early personal
computer.
 They were designed and
hand-built by Steve
Wozniak
The PDP-12
 A 12 bit machine introduced in
1969. Applications included
applied psychology,
chemistry, patient monitoring,
and industrial testing.
The IBM Personal
Computer
 The original version
and progenitor of the
IBM PC compatible
hardware platform.
The Personal Computer
 any general-purpose
computer whose size,
capabilities, and original
sales price make it useful for
individuals, and which is
intended to be operated
directly by an end user, with
no intervening computer
operator.
Netbooks
 A branch of subnotebooks, a
rapidly evolving category of small,
lightweight, and inexpensive
laptop computers suited for
general computing and accessing
Web-based applications; they are
often marketed as "companion
devices", i.e., to augment a user's
other computer access.
CAPABILITIES OF COMPUTERS

 It is self directing
 Ability to store and retrieve information
 Ability to perform mathematical operations and solve
complex formulas at high speed and great precision
 Ability to perform logic operation
 Ability to communicate with user or with other machines
LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 It can only do what is designed or programmed to do

 It cannot correct input data
 It cannot think and derive meanings from objects
 It can only process jobs expressed in a finite number steps
leading to a precisely defined goals
 It cannot completely avoid making errors due to power
fluctuations, system malfunctions and human disorders
CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 According to technology
 First generation (1940-1946) – used of vacuum tubes (ENIAC)
 Second generation (1956-1963) – transistor for circuitry and magnetic
core for memory
 Third generation (1964-1971)- integrated circuits
 Fourth generation (1971-present) – microprocessors
 Fifth generation (present and beyond) – artificial intelligence
CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTERS

 According to storage capacity or memory size

 Mainframes and super computers
 Minicomputers
 microcomputers
MAINFRAME COMPUTERS

 Mainframe computers were the

first type of computer introduced in
the 1950s. They were used
exclusively by large businesses.
They typically support 100 to 500
users at one time. They are very
expensive and are used for very
large processing tasks. Financial
and government institutions are
typical users of mainframes.
MINICOMPUTER

 Minicomputers are not as big as mainframes. They support between 10

and 100 users. Advances in technology made them smaller and less
expensive than their mainframe counterparts. They made computing
more affordable for a large number of users, such as academic institutes
and medium-size businesses.
MICRO COMPUTERS
 Personal computers are small self-
 Portable computers work very
contained computers with their
own central processing unit. similarly to their personal computer
Personal computers have made counterpart. The difference is that
computing power available to they are smaller and more
lightweight. This makes them very
business and home users at an
useful for people on the move.
affordable price. Personal
computers are the number one
choice for most businesses.
ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER
Hardware
 Computer system
 Computer peripherals
 Telecommunicatin networks
Software
 System software
 DOS, WINDOWS, MACINTOSH,
UNIX, LINUX
 Application software
 Packaged software,
 Customized software
 Procedure
 Operating instructions for
people who will use the
ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER

Data People
 Is the raw material of  End users – users or clients
information  Information system specialists –
 Can take many forms people who developed and
operates information systems
DATA PROCESSING

 Is a process of transforming data into desired output

 Input
 Process
 Output
 Storage