CS110

Computing for Productivity

Components of a Computer System

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A System

A collection of parts

Acting together

For some defined purpose

A system has a boundary
A system

Processing

Input Output
System

Sub

System

System
Boundary
Examples of systems


Digestive system

Banking system

Transport system

What are the parts making up these systems?

 Components of a computer system

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Computers consist of hardware and
software.

Hardware Software
All the machinery and All the instructions that tell
equipment in a computer the computer how to
system perform a task
Computers also consist of firmware and
liveware.

Firmware Liveware

Instructions or programs All the living things aiding

that reside inside computer to work. Data
Integrated Circuits (ICs) entry operators,
programmers etc
Few Basics….
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Computer

Hardware Software

CPU Memory I/O Etc. System Application Utility

Software Software Software
Hardware

Physical devices you can see and touch


Screens

Keyboards

Printers
Hardware ‘Discussion’

Hardware also refers to objects such as disks, disk

drives, boards, and chips. In contrast, software is
untouchable. Software exists as ideas, concepts, and
symbols, but it has no substance.
Books provide a useful analogy. The pages and the ink
are the hardware, while the words, sentences, paragraphs,
and the overall meaning are the software. A computer
without software is like a book full of blank pages -- you need
software to make the computer useful just as you need
words to make a book meaningful.
 (Single In-line Memory Module)
Hardware

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 Hardware
 CPU: Central Processing Unit
– Brain of a computer
– Manages all devices and performs the actual processing
of data
– Carry out instructions given by user
– For Personal Computer (PC), the CPU is usually included
in a single Integrated Circuit (IC) chip (called
Microprocessor)
– Nowadays, one or more microprocessors (chips) can be
used to form a CPU
 Parallel Processing
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 Hardware
 Input and Output devices (I/O devices)
– Interface between the outside world and the computer
system
– Input devices: keyboard, mouse
– Output devices: monitors, printers
– Other I/O devices: scanner, joystick, touch screen, …

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 Hardware
 Memory
– Internal memory / Main memory
 Random Access Memory (RAM)
– Main feature 1: volatile
 requires continuous supply of electrical power to retain information
– Main feature 2: cheap in terms of bytes per dollar
 suitable for large volume data storage
– Functions:
 Receive commands / data from keyboard
 Store information ready to be sent to output
 Store currently running programs/their data
 Store immediate data generated by the currently running programs

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  Another kind of memory
Read Only Memory (ROM)
– Main feature 1: non-volatile
 data retain even when the power is off
– Main feature 2: relatively expensive and can only be written
once
 suitable for storing essential data but in small volume
– Usually used for system boot up and basic control of I/O
devices
 When a computer first powers up, nothing is in RAM
 Need ROM to store the instructions to set up various
I/O devices, such as disk interface card, video adapter card,
sound card, etc.
– ROM is used to store BIOS (Basic Input/Output Systems)

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 Hardware

 Storage devices
– External memory
 Non-volatile
 Used to store programs/data for future use
 Also used when the capacity of the internal storage is
insufficient to keep the currently running programs and the
data required
 Floppy disks, hard disks, CD ROMs, Magnetic tapes

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 Hardware
 Main differences between storage & memory:
– Larger capacity in storage than in memory
– Data in storage are retained while data in memory
disappear when power is off
– Storage is much cheaper than memory

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  Buses
– Path along which “bits” are transmitted
– Linking up the CPU, Memory and I/O devices

Address
Memory
Instructions / I I I I I D D D I I
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
CPU Data
I I I I D D D D D D
Control 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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I: Instruction 21
I/O 22 External
I/O
D: Data I/O Storage
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Put all the hardware together and…
You still need the software!

System software
(Operating System)

Helps the computer

perform essential operating
tasks and enables the
application software to run

and…
 System Software
 Exists primarily for the computer itself
 Hides the hardware complexities
 Brings the different hardware configurations into
common platforms and accessible by the users
 Consists of several programs, the most important
one is the operating system (master control
program that runs the computer)

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You still need the software!

Utility Software:

Also known as service routine, utility software helps

in the management of computer hardware and
application software. It performs a small range of
tasks. Disk defragmenters, systems utilities and
virus scanners are some of the typical examples of
utility software.
 Operating System
 Master control program
– Manage all resources of the computer
 CPU, memory, disk, monitor, network, …
Operating
– Co-ordinate running programs
System
 Runs as soon as the computer boots up,
until the computer shuts down
 Usually store in the hard disk and load
BIOS
into the memory when the computer
starts
 Need the help of BIOS for I/O devices
 E.g. Windows, Unix, Linux
Other I/O Devices
resources
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 How the OS is loaded into memory?
• When power up, nothing is in RAM. No control is possible
to the hard disk to load the OS
• CPU starts to read the BIOS instructions stored in the
ROM
• Things that normally perform
– Initialize all I/O devices: hard disk, video, mouse,
keyboard, CD-ROM, etc
– Load the bootstrap loader of the operating system to
RAM
– Start to execute the bootstrap loader in RAM
• The bootstrap loader further loads the other part of the
operating system to the RAM
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 Hard Disk Monitor
Bootstrap
OS loader

Video
Interface
Disk Interface
Main Memory (RAM)
Bootstrap loader
OS
CPU
BIOS
(Stored in
Mother Board ROM)
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You still need the software!

Application software

Enables you to perform

specific tasks--solve
problems, perform work,
or entertain yourself
 Application Software
 Developed to fulfill certain needs of users
 Either customized or packaged
– Customized software
 Designed for a particular customer according to their needs
 Payroll, inventory control, …
– Packaged software
 Developed for general use
 Microsoft word, excel, Access, power-point, …

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Software ‘Discussion’ (2)

The distinction between software and hardware is

sometimes confusing because they are so integrally linked.
Clearly, when you purchase a program, you are buying
software. But to buy the software, you need to buy the disk
(hardware) on which the software is recorded.
Software is often divided into two categories. Systems
software includes the operating system and all the utilities
that enable the computer to function. Applications software
includes programs that do real work for users. For example,
word processors, spreadsheets, and database management
systems fall under the category of applications software.
 Software - Programming
• Programming – the way to generate a program
• Computer can only understand 0 and 1
• The most direct way to communicate with the computer is to use
0 and 1  Machine Language Programming
• 0110001111000010
0001000111100011
Machine :
Language Very
Verytedious
tediousand
andcan
canmake
makeerror
erroreasily
easily
:
Program
0011000100001000
1000001001010101
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 Software – Low level language
Assembly Language Programming
• Assembly Language is created to help humans to instruct the
CPU to work
• By using a tool called Assembler, assembly language program can
be converted into machine language program

Assembly Language Machine Language

mov ax, #0 0110001111000010
add ax, $1234 0001000111100011
: :
:
Assembler :
mov bx, #22 0011000100001000
mov $2345, bx 1000001001010101
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 Software - High Level Language
Programming
• Assembly language programming is still too complicated for
general users
• They are far from human used language
e.g. “Set W equal to W plus X minus Y divided by Z”
“Repeat the next sequence of instructions until X is less
than 0 or Y equals Z”
• A high level language is required to close the gap between human
and computers

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  Machine Language Programming
– No application nowadays
 Assembly Language Programming
– Advantage: Less complicated than Machine Language. Usually
generate more efficient code than HLL
– Disadvantage: Need the understanding of CPU structure. Still difficult
to program
– Application: Sometimes used in the programming of embedded
systems (e.g. CPU of printer, washing machines, etc.)
 High Level Language Programming (such as C/C++)
– Advantage: Need the least amount of effort to write a program
– Disadvantage: The program written may not be optimal (depends on
the compiler)
– Application: For large scale programs
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 Hardware & Software Summary
User interacts with application software
System software enables the application software
to interact with computer CPU and help the
computer to manage its internal resources
(hardware)

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 Hardware & Software Summary

Banking System / Web Browser / Application

Media player Software
GUI /
Command interpreter
System Software
Operating System

Physical devices / Hardware

Micro-architecture level

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