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C O M P U T E R

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Common Operating Machine Purposely Used for Technical Educational Research

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TOPIC INTRODUCTION OF COMPUTER ............. CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER ................. LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS ........... HISTORY OF COMPUTER .......... COMPUTER GENERATIONS .......... CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS ........ COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER ........... CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU) ......... COMPUTER MEMORY ......... UNIT OF COMPUTER MEMORY .......... INPUT DEVICES ........ OUTPUT DEVICES ........ CLASSIFICATION OF SOFTWARE ........... COMPUTER LANGUAGES .......... COMPUTER VIRUS ........... NUMBER SYSTEM ......... PAGE 02 03 03 04 ~ 05 05 ~ 06 06 ~ 07 07 07 ~ 08 08 ~ 10 10 ~ 11 11 ~ 13 13 ~ 14 14 ~ 16 16 17 19

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Note: If you find any typing or printing error/s, inform immediately to your branch office.
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WHAT IS COMPUTER?
Nowadays computers have an important and wide spread influence on our society. Every educated person should study the basic disciplines of computer operation and its application. The word Computer comes from the word compute which means, to calculate. A Computer is an Electronic Device, which Accepts Information or Data as Input, Process it, and provides the Results, According to the Predefined Instructions/Programs, called as Output. More specifically, Computer is a data processors machine that can perform substantial computation, including numerous arithmetic or logic operations, without intervention by a human operator during the process or it may be defined as a device capable of solving problems by accepting data, performing described operation on the data, and supplying the results of these operations. Information processing is a series of planned actions and operations upon input data, taken to achieve a desired result. This processing work required: 1. Data Input 2. Storage and retrieval of data and instructions for data processing. 3. Arithmetic steps 4. Output of results 5. Control of all over steps Now, if we want to construct an automatic information processor, we shall find it necessary to carry out the same steps to complete the processing. A computer follows a similar process. It is composed of the basic & units, they are: 1. INPUT UNIT: An input unit accepts the necessary input data and instructions and forwards to storage/control unit. 2. STORAGE OR MEMORY UNIT: A storage or memory unit stores all the instructions and data as well as intermediate results are stored. 3. ARITHMETIC LOGIC UNIT: In this unit numbers can be calculated (added, subtracted, etc.) compared logically (less than, equal to, greater than, etc.) to other numbers. 4. OUTPUT UNIT: Output unit provides the final results, according to given instructions in a suitable form, such as a print-out. 5. CONTROL UNIT: A control unit controls all the other units, directs their order of operation, and supervises the overall operation of the computer.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER
The vital characteristics of the computer are as follows: SPEED: Computer works on electrical pulses (clock), which travel at incredible speed and because the computer is electronic device, its internal speed is instantaneous. An arithmetic calculation can be performed in a thousandth, millionth, and billionths or even in a billionth of second. It is capable of executing over the thousand instructions in a second. STORAGE: This is a very vital characteristic of the computer, which separates it from rest of the machines. The smallest unit of storage is a bit. The speed with which a computer can perform, i.e. the input data and the instructions for processing unit, being limited, large quantity of data and entire instructions of all the required programmers cannot be stored in it. These are stored outside and read into the memory of C.P.U. at the time of processing. ACCURACY: Accuracy of computers is consistently high. Error in computing are due to machine failure, imprecise programming logic, inaccurate data, poorly designed systems. Precision in the degree of accuracy to which the computer give the result. The precision of computer is phenomenal. VERSATILITY: Computers seem capable of performing almost and task, provided the task can be reduced to series of logical steps. It performs numeric and non-numeric takes equally well. AUTOMATION: Once a program is in the computers memory, C.P.U. follows the instructions until it meets the last instructions, once the process had begun, it would continue without human intervention until completion. DILIGENCE: Being a machine a computer does not suffer from the human traits of tiredness and lack of concentration, if three million calculations are to be performed, Computer performs all these calculations with the same speed and accuracy.

LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS
The computer also has certain limitations the computer works at very high speed and is extremely accurate, these characteristic becomes its limitation when a mistake occurs. Because when a wrong instruction is given, it executes it with the same speed and accuracy that it would have executed with right instructions. However a computer Cannot think Cannot learn by experience Cannot take independent decision. Requires human instruction to take a decision. Works only according to predefined instructions/programmed pattern.
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HISTORY OF COMPUTER
The evolution of Computer has passed through different stages before it reached the present state of development. Abacus: Abacus seems to be the earliest calculating machine, which was developed by the Chinese. Abacus consists of drops, which can move, in wires. The wires represented the column. The right most column represented the unit, the next for ten and so on. Numbers were represented by moving the beads at appropriate column. Abacus could perform simple addition and subtraction. Pascals Mechanical Calculator: Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, laid the foundation of automatic computing Pascal used his adding machine (1642) simply for addition and subtraction. The machine consisted of gears, wheels and dials, with his, calculation could be performed by dialing these series of wheels carrying the number 0 to 9 around their circumference. The wheel was arranged in such a manner that each wheel had 10 segments and when a wheel completed one rotation the next wheel would move by one segment. Charles Babbages Differential Engine: Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented a machine in 1820, called Differential Engine, which could evaluate accurately algebraic expressions and mathematical tables, correct up to 20 decimal places. Later he developed analytical machine, which could perform addition at the rate of 60 per minute. Mark I2: In 1934, Harvard professor H. Eiken developed an automatic calculating machine, which was called Marks-I digital computer its internal operation was automatically controlled. Electronic Numeric Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC): While Mark-1 was the first electro mechanical computer, the first electronic general purpose computer was built in 1946 by a team of professors at Moore school of university of Pennsylvania and was called ENIAC. The ENIAC ushered in the era of what is known as first generation computers. It was a bulky machine consisting of 18,000 Vacuum Tubes, 75,000 Resistors, 10,000 Capacitors, 60,000 Switches, and a large size occupying 1500 Sq. Feet of space. It was a very fast machine as compared to its ancestors and could perform 5000 addition or 350 simple multiplications in just one second. Universal Automatic Computer: In the year 1940, Eckert and Mauchly founded their own company and began to work on the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC). In 1949, Remington Rand acquired the Eckert - Mauchly Computer Corporation. In early 1951, the
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first INIVAC-1 becomes operational at the Census Bureau. It was followed by EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) which had 9 storage capacities of 1024 works or 44 bits each.

COMPUTER GENERATIONS First Generation (1942-1955):

The computers produced in between 19421955 are called the first generation computers. They were extremely large with low reliability. They used Vacuum Tubes in their circuitry, which were very large, generated considerable heat, and needed lot of space to install and required special air conditioning system. Storage technique and the use of punched cards for input output were primitive. The language used was the machine language, whose knowledge was restricted to a few individuals and above all, they were very expensive due to the high installation and maintenance costs. Second Generation (1955-1964): The second-generation computers used a more advanced technology by replacing the Vacuum Tubes with Transistors. A transistors is a two state device made from silicon. These components were smaller in size, easier to manufacture, less power consuming, cheaper and more durable. The processing capacity and the speed of operation of the components built from transistor were considerably increased. Computer storage technique improved with the use of magnetic disk. The machine language was replaced by high-level language like FORTRAN. One of the main computer series during the time was the IBM 700 series. Each successful number of this series showed increased performance and capacity and reduced cost. Third Generation (1964-1975): The third generation computers employed integrated circuits in which all the elements of and electronic circuit were contained in a tiny silicon wafer. The Integrated Circuits (IC) based on the small, medium and Large Scale Integration (LSI) technology replaced the individual transistors in the third generation computers. Each large-scale integrated circuit had hundred or more components packed into an assembly. The LSI technology led to the development of very small but extremely powerful micro computers, integrated circuits refer to the miniaturization of electronic circuits. This chip is able to perform a variety of functions that in the past required several different electronic components. The third generation computers are much cheaper and more reliable than the second-generation computers. They are faster with more capacity and allow connection of a wide variety of peripherals particularly magnetic disk units. Fourth Generation (1975-1991):
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Fourth generation machines appeared in the 1975s utilizing still newer electronic technology, which enabled them to be even smaller and faster than rd th those of 3 generation. The 4 generation computers used VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) technology. The VLSI devices have thousands of more components packed into an assembly. This technology led to the development of microprocessors, where an entire CPU circuit is placed on a single Chip. Fifth Generation (1991-Cont.): Scientists are now at work with the fifth generation of computers. The world is moving towards the development of what one can call Super Large Scale Integration which in this will compliment and improve speed, miniaturization, and cost reduction. Development of artificial intelligence to make computer function and take decisions almost like human being, implementation of expert systems, robots, intelligent programs, speech synthesizers as well as the use of video disks and tapes for external storage media, are included in the fifth generation of computers innovation.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
A computer can be classified in the following methods: A. Classification based on Computational Method: Based on the way a system performs the computational, a computer can be classified as follow: Digital Computer: A digital computer can count and accept numbers and letters through various input devices. The input devices convert the data into electronic pulses and perform arithmetical operations on numbers in discrete form. Analog Computers: Analog computers process data input in a continuous form. Data such as voltage, resistance or temperature are represented in the computer as a continuous unbroken flow of information, as in engineering and scientific applications, where quantities to be processed exist as wave forms or continually rising and falling voltages, pressure and so on. Hybrid Computers: Computer can also be built using some parts employing digital computations and some parts based on analog principles. Such computers are called hybrid computer. B. Classification based on Size and Capability: On the basis of size and capability, digital computers can be classified as: Super Computer: These are the largest and fastest computers available but are typically not used for commercial data processing instead they are used in specialized areas such as in Defenses, Aircraft Design, Computer Generated Movies, Weather Research etc. The first super computer was the ILLAIC IV made by Bur Roughs. Super computers can process 64 bits or more at a time. Their processing speed range starts from 10,000 million Instructions per Second (IPS) to 1.2 billion instructions per second. They can support 10,000 terminals at a time.
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They have huge numbers of storage and other devices connected to them. Mainframe Computer: Mainframe is less powerful and cheaper than super computer. However, they are big general-purpose computers capable of handling all kinds of scientific and business applications. Mainframe can process several million instructions per second more than 1,000 remote terminals can be supported by a mainframe. Mainframe has large on line secondary storage capacity. Mini Computer: This type of computer performs data processing activities in the same way as the mainframe but on a smaller scale. The cost of Minicomputer is lower. Minicomputer is small in comparison to a mainframe and may be called a scaled down mainframe as the processor and the numbers of peripherals are physically smaller. A mini computer can typically support 10-12 terminals. Micro Computer: This is the smallest category of computers, consisting of a microprocessor and associated storage and input/output devices. These are also called personal computer systems.

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

Block Diagram of Computer Considering the main functions performed by a computer, we can generally classify the hardware components into the following sections: 1. CPU 2. MEMORY DEVICES 3. INPUT DEVICES 4. OUTPUT DEVICES CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU) Central Processing Unit (CPU) is known as the processing device of the computer. A central processing unit controls the execution of programs and performs the calculations. The CPU is also called as the Brain of the Computer. This is because; execution of any task by a computer is entirely controlled by the CPU.
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The CPU is kept in a box called CPU cabinet. All other parts of the computer are connected to the CPU cabinet through cables. CPU mainly uses two main interactive components: Arithmetic and Logic Unit It is a component where all the instructions are actually implemented and calculations & comparisons are carried out. As soon as input data is stored in the memory, the CU acts on it to process it or sends it to the ALU, if logical o arithmetical/mathematical operations are required. All type of Arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and Comparisons like equal to, less than, greater than etc. are carried in ALU. Control Unit The Control unit is the component that acts as the Central Nervous System controlling the flow of data and information to and from other devices. It is responsible for controlling the internal working of the computer. Hence, whenever data is input by the input device, it stores that data into the memory and then to the CPU for the processing.

MEMORY (STORAGE DEVICES)

Memory is the storage place where data and instructions can be stored into and retrieved from, whenever required by other functional blocks of a computer. A computer memory is provided with locations where the data can be stored. Each memory location is identified by a unique address. The location stores the data in the form of bits. The memory location addresses starts from 0. Thus, the 0 th location is actually the first location of a memory. A group of 8 bits is called a byte. The total capacity of memory is expressed in terms of bytes. The memory inside a computer is normally very big, 655360 bytes or even more. An instruction in primary form with a series of 0s and 1s called. Memory is of two types: Primary Memory Primary storage section, also called as main memory, is that portion of the computer where data and instruction get stored when a program is being executed. It is also called Internal Memory because it is fabricated on the motherboard in the form of chip. The main memory is used to: Hold data received from input devices and keep them ready for processing. Hold data until processed and then intermediate results generated after processing. Hold the finished results of processing until released to the output devices. Hold the system software and application software in use. Normally Primary Memory is classified in two types: 1. Random Access Memory (RAM) RAM is the memory used by a computer to temporarily store the Data and Instructions fed by the user, Operating System and Application Software while
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user is working on the computer. It is called Random Access Memory because any location of memory can be access randomly by specifying its address. Whatever input given to the computer, it is first stored in the RAM. The data is available till the power is switched ON, but, as the computers power is switched OFF, the data stored in the RAM is lost. Hence, it is also known as Temporary Memory or Volatile Memory. In this memory both reading and writing can take place hence it is also known as R & W Memory. RAM may be of two types: A. Static RAM: Static RAM elements, once set to their values, do not loose them until the power supply goes off. Once some value is stored, it will remain in the main memory until the power is on. These elements are costly and have a fast access. B. Dynamic RAM : In Dynamic RAM the memory elements have less retention period and loose its value unless it is refreshed. 2. Read Only Memory (ROM) There are some portions in the computer memory where writing is not allowed. The contents are pre-written and can only be read. Such memories are called Read Only Memory. It is also called Permanent Memory because the data and program present on this memory cannot be deleted or altered. ROM can be classified technologically into two types: A. Programmable ROM (PROM): PROM is the memory in which the user can insert the contents of choice only once. Once the PROM is written, it can only be read and never be rewritten. B. Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM): EPROM can be written many times by a special process. These are very useful for design and development. Secondary Memory These are several devices used as secondary storage devices for computers and they can store and retrieve data in machine, readable forms. These are useful for storing results temporarily or for transporting data to other computers, or for storing data for a long period. It is also called External Memory because it is attached to the motherboard with the help of cable. The different types of Secondary Memories are: Floppy Diskette: The floppy disk is made of flexible plastic material. This plastic base is coated with an iron oxide recording substance. Data is stored as tiny invisible magnetic spots
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on this coating. Each floppy diskette is packed in protective paper or plastic envelope. The floppy commonly used these days is 31/2 inch in diameter and has a storage capacity of 1.44 MB. After formation, the floppy gets divided into tracks and tracks get further divided into sectors. Tracks are concentric circles and sectors are small portions of a track, where the data gets physically recorded while storing the data, if the sector is full, the data storing is done in the next sector and so on. Magnetic Disk: A magnetic disk is an assembly of thin, circular hard metal plate coated on both sides with a magnetic material since, the plates are made of metal, it is also known as Hard Disk. A disk pack consists of a number of these disks, 3 or more, mounted on a central shaft, which rotates at the speed of 2,400 or more Revolutions per Minute (RPM) each disk or surface consists of a number of invisible concentric circles called tracks. A set of corresponding tracks in all the surfaces is called a cylinder. Outer surface of the top and bottom disks cannot be accessed. All the disks of a disk pack move simultaneously in same direction at equal speed. CD-ROM: Compact disk read only memory is an optical storage device, which uses laser beam for reading and writing information. A CD-ROM is normally formed from a resin named polycarbonate, which is coated with aluminum to form a highly reflecting surface. The information is stored on the CD-ROM by creating microscopic bits on this reflective surface with the help of a laser beam. PEN Drive: The PEN Drive is a USB Flash Memory Drive and can support up to 16 GB space. The Pen Drive is so compact that you can carry with you anywhere. It also comes in various storage capacities are 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 12GB, 16GB etc. A Pen drive USB Flash disk is a plug and play device. You can simply plug it in any USB port and the computer will automatically detect it as another removable drive.

UNITS OF COMPUTER MEMORY

Just like any other units, the fundamental unit used to count the Memory of a computer is Byte. The different units of Computer Memories are: Bit: Bit is the smallest unit of information that is used by a computer. Bit stands for Binary Digits. It consists of two different character, 0 (Zero) or 1 (One). Nibble: Nibble is a collection of four bits. 1 Nibble = 4 bits Byte: Byte is a combination of 8 bits.
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Byte is the minimum space, which computer use to store a single character. The character may be an alphabet, a number, or a special character. 1Byte = 8 bits Kilobyte (KB) : 1 KB = 1024 Bytes. Megabyte (MB) : 1 MB = 1024 Kilobytes. 1 MB = 1024 x 1024 Bytes Gigabyte (GB) : 1 GB = 1024 Megabytes. 1 GB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes Terabyte (TB) : 1 TB = 1024 Gigabytes. 1 TB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes INPUT DEVICES The input devices are used to input the data and instructions. Data and instructions must be entered into the memory of the computer to perform computation. The input devices carry out this task. Generic functions of an input device as: It accepts or read the data from outside world. It converts the data into the corresponding ASCII code or binary form. It sends data in binary form to the computer for further processing. Keyboard: A keyboard is the most common input device. It is used to input the data manually by typing. The computer keyboard is like as typewriter keyboard. A computer keyboard has different type of keys, described below: Alphabetical Keys (A to Z) Numeric Keys (0 to 9) Function Keys (F1 to F12) Special Keys (Spacebar, Enter, Backspace, Delete, Caps Lock, Shift, Control, Alter, Escape, Window, Arrow Keys, etc.) Escape Key Alphabetical Keys Function Keys Numeric Keypad

Spacebar Backspace Key Delete Key Arrow Keys Some of the special keys can be programmed by the user according to his need. This means that if you write a program, you might tell the computer to perform a specific action when a function or control key is pressed. Mouse: Mouse is basically a pointing device. This is also an input device, but instead of sending characters, it sends the coordinates of the point on the screen on which the
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associated cursor is placed. There may be two or three buttons on the mouse. The right mouse button is normally used for displaying and selecting pop-up menus. The mouse is placed on a flat surface and is moved by the user on this surface. Mechanical and Opto-mechanical mouse has a roller ball underneath, when it moves, sends signals to the interface electronics to move the cursor in the same way as the mouse is moved. In optical mouse laser beam is used to detect the movement of mouse. Joystick: In joystick, a stick can be moved left, right, forward or backward. The sensor in the joystick measures the movement of the stick from its central position and sends the information for processing. The joystick is normally used for games programs. Tracker Ball: The tracker ball has a ball, which can be rotated by hand in any direction. The working principle of tracker ball is same as mouse. It is generally used in medical computers like brain and body scanners. Digital Camera & Web Cam: These devices are used to take picture. Digital cameras are used to take high quality photographs and save them in computer memory in the form of picture file. We can edit/get prints of these pictures. Web Cam is used for sending pictures to the web through internet. Scanner: The scanner converts the entire information of an image into digital form. It receives data directly from the source and stores it in graphical format for displaying back on the screen. The graphic image can be processed using by the suitable software. Generally a scanner performs following three functions: Scan: It captures the image and stores in your hard-disk. Copy: It scans image and makes a copy of it with the help of printer. E-mail: It scans an image and sent (E-mail) it to others through internet. Light Pen Light pens are electronic pointers that allow users to modify designs on-screen. The hand-held pointer contains sensors that send signals to the computer whenever light signal is recorded. The computers screen is not lit up all at once, but traced row-by-row by an electron beam 50 or 60 times every second. Because of this, the computer is able to determine the pens position by noting exactly when the pen detects the electron
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beam passing its tip. Light pens are often used in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) technologies. Touch Screen: This is an advance input device, which works same as the light pen. The program, run on these systems, provides menus having multiple choices to the user. The user selects his choice by touching the screen with the finger, here sensor sense the position of the finger and send appropriate signals to the CPU. This technology is used at ATMs, Reservation counters, Airports & Offices.

OUTPUT DEVICES
The job of an output device is to bring out the result of computation to the outside world. Every output device has a device interface. The following functions may be attributed to the output devices: It accepts data in binary form from the control unit. Converts the coded data to human acceptable form. Outputs the converted result to the outside. Video Display Unit (Monitor): A screen like TV is connected to the computers, called the Video Display Unit (VDU) or monitor. The main part of the monitor is Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The screen consists of several tiny points (called picture points or pixels) which can be illuminated by highly focused electron beam. The beam scans the screen 24 to 30 times in a second, it start the scanning from left top corner, traverses to the right most point in the horizontal line. Slightly dropping down the moves quickly back to left and traverses the next line. The process continues till it reaches the right most corner of the bottom most line. VDU may also be built by other technologies like Light Emitting Diodes, Liquid Crystal Diodes, or Plasma. Speakers: Speakers are used to produce the output sound or audio. If we play an Audio CD/Video CD/DVD on a PC and want to listen the music or we want to hear audio notes in an Encyclopedia CD, we need to attach spearks with the computer. Projector: Projector is an output device, which is used display a presentation on a wall/screen. The processed data is sent to projector. Projector converts it into the light rays with the help of a lamp and associated circuitry. These light rays sent through a convex lens, which magnifies the information and shows a big image. These projectors are used in Meetings, Seminars, Auditorium, Class-rooms, Labs, etc.
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Plotters:
These are output devices and are used to produce high-resolution graphics and drawings by the computers. The plotters use color ink pen to draw the graphics. Printer: Printers are popular output devices. The output information is in a permanent readable form and is called the hard copy printers may be classified as: Character Printer: A character printer prints one character at a time example, the Dot Matrix Printers. Line Printer: Line printers would print one line of text at a time example, Chain or Drum Printers. Page Printer: A page printers would print a complete page at a time example, Laser Printers. Printers are also classified as: Impact Printer: The impact printers use electromechanical mechanism to cause hammers or pin to strike against a ribbon and paper arrangement. These printers make noise while printing. Dot Matrix, Daisy wheel, Chain, Drum Printers are examples of impact printers. Non Impact Printer: The non-impact printer does not have any mechanism to strike. It uses the chemical, thermal, electrostatic, laser beam or inkjet technology for printing. Ink-Jet, Thermal-Matrix, Laser printer are the example of non-impact printer. HARDWARE: Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer. The devices that physically take part in receiving of data, storing them, processing them, and displaying them are called hardware. SOFTWARE: Software consists of sequence of instructions in the form of a program to perform a particular task on a computer.

CLASSIFICATION OF SOFTWARE

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Software can be classified into the following categories: SYSTEM SOFTWARE: System software is a collection of programs designed to operate, control, and extend the processing capability of the computers system itself. System software consists of low-level language that interacts with the computers at a very basic level. System software comes along with the computer system. These programs are used for starting the computer, controlling, and managing its resources, converting high-level language program to machine language or for some specific purpose. Broadly, System software can be classified into: Operating System: An operating system is a collection of programs that manage system resources and aid in the development and execution of application programs. The operating system acts as an interface between the user and the computer. Examples: MS-DOS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, etc. Translator: A digital computer accepts digits and alphabets as input data. However, this input data is not directly understood by the computers, it is translated to machine language so as to make computer & understand it. Translators can be classified into the following categories: Compiler: A compiler is a program that reads a program and translates it into machine code and locates and highlights error present if any, if any error is found, the errors are corrected by the user and the program recompiled. This process has to be repeated until compiler gives no error. Once the program or compilation shows no errors, the compiled program can be executed. Interpreter: An interpreter functions like a compiler. However, it takes one statement of a program at a time and translates into machine code. Assembler: It accepts programs in assembly language as input and produces machine code as output. System Utilities: Utilities are the part of system programs designed to perform a specific system function. Utility programs are generally supplied by the operating system/computer manufacturer and also available for the call up by the operating system. The Utility Programs are part of the System Software, which is loaded into the computer during the time of installation of Operating System. These programs help to increase the efficiency of the computer and also help us to regularly do maintenance work on the system and its various components. They help in making the computer run smoothly. Examples: Scandisk, Disk Defragmenter, Backup Utility etc. APPLICATION SOFTWARE: Application Software is a collection of Programs that are loaded into the Computer System to perform a specific function/task. We can carry out a wide variety of task ranging from word processing, calculations, making presentations, financial accounting, graphic designing etc.
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Application Software is loaded with System Software to perform the foundation work and allow users to choose from a variety of programs for specialized work. Application software can be developed using a computer language. Generally, these are developed in high-level language Such as COBOL, C, and Visual Tools etc. Example: MS-Office, Flash 5, and PageMaker etc. Application Software can be further categorized as: Packaged Application Software Packaged Application Softwares are available ready to install in the market. We have to buy the software from the market and install it into our computer. Example: MS Office, Adobe PageMaker, PhotoShop, DBMS etc. Utilities Application Software Utilities Application Programs helps to perform certain user-defined tasks to increase the efficiency of the computer and regularly maintain or organize the data stored in disks. Example: Antivirus, Data Recovery, etc. Customized Application Software Customized Application Softwares are specially designed according to specific requirements of an organization or individual. Example: Payroll software, Billing Software, School Management Software etc.

COMPUTER LANGUAGES:
There are two main types of programming languages which are: Low Level Language Low level language is a Machine language or Assembly language which consists of Binary numbers 0s and 1s or near to binary numbers. This language is easily understood and quickly processed by the machine. The Machine Language is also called as Binary Language, having Binary digits. It is also known as the language of the CPU. In early days of programming, people gave commands to the computer in 0s and 1s. Assembly Language is a form of computer language, where mnemonic codes are used for writing programs. As the computer understands only machine language, the instructions written in assembly language are converted to machine language using Language Processor software called Assembler. High Level Language A High Level language is like as English language, used for making computer programs, which is called Source Program. High Level Language used English Words and Mathematics Symbols and has Proper Syntax to write the instructions. The computer does not understand it directly. Hence, it is converted into the machine language codes using a Language Processor Software like Interpreter/Compiler. Example: LOGO, QBASIC, C, C++, JAVA etc.
Note: If you find any typing or printing error/s, inform immediately to your branch office.
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A computer virus (Vital Information Resources Under Seize) is a type of computer program, which gets loaded into the computer memory without the users permission and gets executed itself. A virus program attaches itself to program files/data files/boot sectors and replicates itself. This continuous process spreads the virus in computers. Computer Virus is a program that infects the computer files (usually executable programs files) by inserting copies of itself in those files. Its common principle of spreading is replication itself. Viruses are generally harmful and can cause serious damage to data and affect system performance. A virus takes partial control of the machine and depending on the virus, the following actions may happen: The program (virus) spreads into other uninfected disks. Sudden loss of disk space due to excessive copying of files. Disk access/Performance is considerably slowed down. Bootable Floppies/Hard disks stops booting any more. Files (executable) get corrupted and do not work properly. The entire disk gets corrupted and all data/programs files may get lost. Repeatedly warnings from your antivirus program. Odd warning messages by operating system/other Programs appears. Sudden opening and closing of windows/applications Increase in errors or screen changes to blue. The characters from the screen appear to fall off and get collected at the bottom.

TYPES OF VIRUSES
Viruses can be categorized according to their working into two types: 1. Boot Sector/Partition Table Viruses 2. Program Infectors/Executable Programs The type (1) gets loaded into the machine through boot sector or partition table during PC booting sequence, whereas the type (2) gets loaded when an infected (.exe) program is loaded and run in a machine. Then the virus takes control of the machine and does its job. Name of Some Viruses: Bubble Boy, Happy99, Sircam, Happy Birthday, Marker, Die Hard, CIH, W32, Ska, Magistr, Chernobyl, etc.

HOW DOES A VIRUS WORK

A virus is inactive until the infected program/file is run/use or boot record is read. As the virus is activated, it directs the computers memory, where it can perform a triggered event disks used in an infected system can then carry the virus to another machine programs downloaded from bulletin boards can also spreads a virus. Boot Infectors: Every disk contains a boot sector, whether it is a bootable disk or not when the computer is powering up, looking for boot information and reads
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an infected disk in the A: drive, the virus is transferred to the computers hard drive. Once the boot code on the drive is infected, the virus will be loaded into memory on every startup. From memory, the boot viruses can travel to every disk that is read and the infection spreads. Program Infectors: When an infected application is run, the virus activates and is loaded into the computer memory (hard disk). While the virus is in memory, any program file subsequently run becomes infected. .Com, .Exe, .Bat, .Obj, .Sys, etc. are the example of virus files. Worm: A virus that spreads itself across computer networks, usually via e-mail service, is sometimes referred to as a worm, especially if it is composed of many separate segments distributed across the network. Examples: Code Red, Klez, Sober, Net Sky, Kak Worm, Internet worm of 1988, etc. Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse, (though technically not a virus) is a program disguised as something useful, which appears to be harmless, or even useful. But actually when it runs can damage the computer system. It has a malicious intent such as erasing the victim s hard-drive. Examples: APS Trojan, PW Steal, Spy Bot, Bagle, Flood, etc.

Vaccination against Viruses

Switch off your computer, boot the machine through a device (Floppy drive/CD ROM), with a good and uninfected floppy/CD. Use a floppy/CD containing virus scanner program to detect & clean the viruses.

STEPS FOR PREVENTION

Install a virus guard (Antivirus) software, which will immediately inform
you against a possible attack of a virus through a message. Once a floppy is made virus free make it write protected. It is advisable to check all disks periodically to detect virus. Do not use any floppy, which is not your or is not scanned by an antivirus and cleaned all detected viruses. Do not access unknown sites on Internet and scan your e-mails & other data files before downloading. Regularly update your antivirus program. Scan your computer regularly, especially after interacting with internet or any external media. Do not install new programs without first notifying IT. Keep your Windows XP system files update including all of the security updates.

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE
This is a program, which is specially designed for detecting of the virus infection, removing of the virus programs and cleaning of the virus infected files. It also has options for system scan, scheduled scan, warning on virus detection, etc. Name of Some Antivirus Softwares: Norton, AVG, McAfee, Panda, Avast, Avira, Red Alert, PC-Cillin, Kasper Sky, etc.
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Introduction of number is a significant step towards the progressive civilization. All of the Calculations and Counting are entirely depends on the numbers. In starting symbols were used for representation of quantities, but due to problem of remembering and calculating them, we adopted digital number system. The computer systems adopt digital techniques and reorganizations. These digital computers perform all types of operations with the help of only two digits 0 and 1 that are called Binary Digits (Bits). The only language that computer can understand is the Machine or Binary Language. The instruction, which we feed into the computer, is converted into binary language (0/1), so that the computer can understand them. The Digital numbers are represented by different number systems. They are:

BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM

Due to requirement of electronic circuitry we need a number system having only two digits. Binary numbers are composed by two digits 0s and 1s. Here high level of voltage is represented by 1 and low level of voltage is represented by 0. Hence, it is preferred by the computer systems. The base of this system is 2. It is very easy to decode this system. Example: [1001]2, [1001]2, [0111]2 etc.

DECIMAL NUMBER SYSTEM

Decimal number system is the most popular number system used commonly in whole world. It includes the decimal numbers range from 0 to 9. It is composed of 10 digits and hence the base of this system is 10. Example: [100]10, [349]10, [999]10 etc.

OCTAL NUMBER SYSTEM

This type of number system consists of eight digits ranging from 0 to 7. It is composed of 8 digits and hence the base of this system is 8. Example: [101]8, [647]8, [700]8 etc.

HEXADECIMAL NUMBER SYSTEM

Hexadecimal number system composed of 16 characters, which include digits from 0 to 9 and alphabets from A to F. A stands for 10, B for 11, C for 12, D for 13, E for 14 and F for 15. The base of this system is 16. This system acts as the shorthand notation within the computer systems. Example: [A93]16, [ACD]16, [843]16 etc.

Comparison between Different Number Systems Number System

Binary Octal Decimal Hexadecimal
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Base
2 8 10 16

Number
0 and 1 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 A, B, C, D, E & F

Example (444)
110111100 674 444 1BC
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Conversion from DECIMAL to BINARY:

Step 1: Divide the decimal number by the value of new base (Binary) 2. Step 2: Record the remainder from Step 1 as the rightmost digit (least significant digit) of the Binary Number. Step 3: Divide the quotient of the previous division by the 2. Step 4: Record the remainder from Step 3 as the next digit (to the left) of the Binary number. Repeat Step 3 and 4, recording remainders from right to left, until the quotient becomes zero in Step 3. Note that the last remainder, thus obtained, will be the most significant digit of the new base number. Example: [42]10 = [?]2

42 21 10 5 2 1 0

Remainders 0 1 0 1 0 1
Column Value 20 = 1 21 = 2 22 = 4 23 = 8 24 = 16 Hence [42]10 = [101010]2

Conversion from BINARY to DECIMAL:

Column Number (From Right) 1 2 3 4 5 Column Number (From Right) 6 7 8 9 10 Column Value 25 = 32 26 = 64 27 = 128 28 = 256 29 = 512

Step 1: Determine the column (positional) value of each digit (this depends on the position of the digit and the base of the number system). Step 2: Multiply the obtained column values (in Step 1) by the digits in the corresponding columns. Step 3: Sum up the products calculated in Step 2. The total is the equivalent value in decimal. Example: [11001]2 = [?]10 1 x 16 16 16 Hence
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1 x 8 8 + 8

0 x 4 0 + 0 +

0 x 2 0 0 +

1 x 1 1 1 = 25

[11001]2 = [25]10
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