Chapter 4

Computer Application
Bay University
Baidoa-Somalia

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 BASIC STRUCTURE
The computer receives input, processes it and
delivers output.
To perform these tasks it has different units and
each unit is responsible for a specific task.
The units are INPUT, MEMORY, CONTROL
UNIT (CU), ARITHMETIC & LOGIC UNIT
(ALU) AND OUTPUT.
The CU and ALU together are called CENTRAL
PROCESSING UNIT (CPU).
 INPUT DEVICE
It is used for transferring data from
the users’ end to the computer.

OUTPUT DEVICE
It is used to transfer processed
information from the computer to
the user in a way required by the
user.
 MEMORY UNIT
It stores instruction and data and provides
them to the various other units as and when
required. It is basically the working memory
of the computer system. This memory unit is
volatile, i.e. it is temporary memory and
nothing can be stored here permanently. The
information is stored in the main memory as
long the computer is switched on or as long
as it is required by the computer.
 CONTROL UNIT
Controls the various operations
within a computer. It basically
manages all the other units and
devices of the computer system. It
does so by transmitting timing and
control signals to the various devices
and units.
ARITHMETIC & LOGIC UNIT
It performs the various arithmetic
and logical operations on the data
stored in memory, as dictated by the
instruction.
There are various basic circuits to
perform these operations.
 BLOCK DIAGRAM
DATA FLOW CONTROL FLOW

SECONDARY
STORAGE

INPUT MEMORY OUTPUT

DEVICE UNIT DEVICE

CONTROL
UNIT

ARITHMETIC
& LOGIC UNIT CPU
DATA REPRESENTATION WITHIN A COMPUTER

CHARACTER :

A character is the smallest amount of

information that can be communicated to
the computer. All data, information and
instruction are represented by a
combination of these characters.

All alphabets, digits and symbols are

characters. Even a blank space is a
character.
 How does the computer
understand a character?
Computer being an electronic device,
can represent only two states –
VOLTAGE and NO VOLTAGE.

Voltage is represented as 1
No voltage is represented as 0
 A series of such 0s and 1s form a pattern.

1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1
Such a pattern represents a
CHARACTER.
CHARACTER

For each character a separate pattern is

there within the computer.
There are eight such positions to represent
0 or 1 and each such position is called a
BIT. Hence the pattern generated to
represent a character is a BIT PATTERN.
BIT
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1

Two digits, 0 and 1 can generate 256

unique combinations if represented in
eight places. Hence we can represent 256
different characters in any computer.
 ASCII
American Standard Code for
Information Interchange.
It is difficult for us to remember all the 256 bit
patterns and their corresponding characters.
Hence we can convert the bit pattern to a decimal
number. This way each bit pattern will have a
different number and this number, fixed for a
character is called the ASCII code of the
character. All computers follow the same ASCII
code and bit pattern to represent characters.
 BINARY
The number system involving two
digits, 0 & 1 is called BINARY.

By using this system a bit pattern

(treated as a binary number) can
be converted to the decimal
number system.

Compiled by : S. Agarwal, Lecturer & Systems Incharge, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
32 16 8 1

= 57

 Starting from right to left, raise 2 to

the power of 0 to 7.
 Add the values corresponding to the
BIT positions having the value 1.
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 32 16 8 1 32 8 1

= 185 = 41

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

= 255 =0
 BIT ASCII CODE CHARACTER
PATTERN
01000001 65 A
01100001 97 a
00110001 49 1
00101011 43 +
00100000 32
00101101 45 -
00011100 28 (
00101100 44 ,
Compiled by : S. Agarwal, Lecturer & Systems Incharge, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
 UNIT FOR MEASUREMENT OF
INFORMATION

8 BIT = 1 CHARACTER = 1 BYTE

1024 BYTES = 1 KILO BYTE (KB)

1024 KB = 1 MEGA BYTE (MB)

1024 MB = 1 GIGA BYTE (GB)

1024 GB = 1 TERA BYTE (TB)

Compiled by : S. Agarwal, Lecturer & Systems Incharge, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
End of show.

Thank you.
Compiled by : S. Agarwal, Lecturer & Systems Incharge, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.