Computer Science Study Material and Questions

STRUCTURE OF A SIMPLE COMPUTER

A Computer is a device for automatically carrying out a-program of instructions. It is a powerful,
general-purpose machine because it can be programmed to do a wide variety of computations.
In this section we show the important terminology of simple computer. Like all computer sys-
tems, it will be capable1, of automatically carrying out calculations as directed by any person
who uses it, and the user will be able to give it a series of instructions, called a computer program
and written in a programming language, which describe his own computational requirements.
Literally thousands of programming languages have been produced, and one of the
more modern of these, called Pascal, after Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a philosopher,
mathematician and inventor who built one of the first automatic adding machines.
Pascal was developed in 1970 by Professor Dr. Niklaus Wirth of ETH, Zurich.
Switzerland.
To carry Out, any particular computation. There are three main steps
1. The user input, his program and data (the data is the information which the
program will process to produce the desired results of the computations).
2. Next, the computer carries out, or' executes
the program of instructions
3. Finally, the; results of the, computation, feedback, or output, to the user.

TASKS OF COMPUTERS
The basic tasks that computers can perform are quite limited and can be divided into
three categories!
1. Arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).
2. Comparison operations (determining whether a given value is greater than, equal to,
or less than another value).
3. Storage and retrieval operations (such as saving a program on a disk so that is can
be used later).

What makes the computer particularly useful to people is its ability to combine
these tasks as needed and to perform them with a high degree of speed and
reliability. With care, a person can add a hundred numbers or even a thousand
numbers and find the correct result, but the chances for making an error in this
tedious process are considerable. Also, It is a boring task. This is the kind of job that
is well suited to a computer. In addition to performing it quickly arid accurately, the
computer can store the result for future use.

HARDWARE
Hardware consists of the actual physical components of the computer. The three basic
components of a computing system, which are essentially the same regardless of the type of
system are: a central processing unit, a primary storage unit, and peripheral devices.
1. The Central Processing Unit
The component of the computer system that performs processing function is called the
central processing unit (CPU). The CPU is the "brain" of the computer and is composed of two
major components: the control unit and the arithmetic/logic unit. The control unit is in charge
of the activities of the CPU, It does not process or store data itself, but instructs various parts
of the computer in performing these tasks. Instructions given to the computer by the user are
interpreted by the control unit, which then sends out signals to circuits within the CPU to
 execute these instructions. The appropriate input devices are directed to send the user-
supplied data to the computer. The control unit also keeps track of which parts of a program
have been executed and which ones remain to be executed. Finally, it collects the output and
sends it to the designated output device, such as a monitor screen or a printer.
The arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) performs mathematical computations such as addition and
multiplication and logical operations. A logical operation is performed by instructing the
computer to make a comparison and then to take an action based on the result of that
comparison. For example, a program statement might instruct the computer to determine if
number X is greater than number Y, and to print X if. this condition is true. If the condition is
falsej the program might specify another course of action. Arithmetic and logic operations are
the only types of instructions that the ALU is able to execute.

2. The Primary Storage Unit

The primary storage unit (also referred to as main memory, primary memory, or internal
storage) temporarily holds program instruction. data, and the intermediate and final results of
processing. It consists of many storage locations, each of which can hold a small amount of
information. Each of these storage locations has a unique address associated with it. This
address allows the computer to locate items that have been stored in its memory. Large
computers have millions of these storage locations.

3. Peripheral Devices
Peripheral devices can be divided into three general categories: input devices, output
devices, and secondary storage devices. Programs and data that are entered into a computer
to be processed are called input. The word data refers to facts that have been collected but
not organized in any meaningful way. When data is processed, or converted to some
meaningful form, the result is information. For example, in a national election, the records of
all the votes cast for the office of President are data. When these votes are tabulated and the
final totals are determined, the result is information.
Input devices are used to enter data into the computer so that it can be processed. There
are many input devices; some examples are a terminal keyboard, a mouse, a graphics tablet,
and a light pen. A given computer system can have many different input devices.
Output devices, such as monitor screens and printer, allow the user to examine the
computer's output, or processing results. Displaying output on the screen, gives the user the
result in a convenient, readable form; this output is referred to as soft copy. However, these
results are lost as soon as something else replaces them on the screen. Printing the results on
paper, however, gives the user a way of permanently saving this information so that he or she
can refer to it at a later time. This output is called hard copy. As with input devices, a
particular computer system can have many different output devices.
Computers have only a limited amount of storage space in the primary storage unit because
this type of memory is relatively expensive to provide, programs, information, and data that
need to be saved for later use can be transferred to secondary storage (also referred to as
auxiliary storage). Secondary storage devices allow programs, data, and processing results to
be saved on secondary storage media such as magnetic tape or floppy diskettes. Disk and
tape drives are commonly used secondary storage devices. When the computer needs to
process these items again, they can be transferred back into the primary storage unit of the
computer. Although it takes more time, to access items in secondary storage than those in
main memory, secondary storage can store enormous quantities of data at a reasonable cost.
In addition to being less expensive than primary storage, the amount of secondary storage
available can easily be increased.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS

 Computers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, ranging from tiny hand-held
devices to some that are several feet in height and diameter. Over the years,
computers have become smaller and smaller, but they have also become
increasingly powerful. Computers can be divided into four categories:
supercomputers, mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Generally, these
four types differ in price, amount of memory, speed, and processing capabilities.
Supercomputers are the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive computers available
today. To be considered a supercomputer, a machine must be capable of performing at least
10 million arithmetic operations per second. The Cray-2 computer, developed by Cray
Research, Inc., is a supercomputer system that is used mainly in.the scientific areas of
weather forecasting, nuclear weapons developments, and energy supply and conservation.
For most business applications, the extremely high-speed processing capabilities of a super-
computer are not necessary; a mainframe is adequate.
Minicomputers manufactured today are more powerful than mainframes
manufactured in the recent past. In general, minicomputers are lower priced, have
smaller memories, and are less powerful than mainframes. They are also generally
easier to install than mainframes. Minicomputers are often used in business and
schools that do not require the capabilities of a mainframe.
The microcomputer is currently the smallest and. least costly type of computer. This is the
type of computer often found in small business and in homes arid classrooms. Because of the
microcomputer's low cost and the flexibility of available software package (commercially
written programs that perform specific tasks such as word processing), its popularity has risen
tremendously in the past few years. The primary storage unit of a microcomputer is usually
smaller than that of the other types of computers we have discussed. Commonly used
auxiliary storage devices on microcomputers are floppy disk drives and hard disk drives. When
using a floppy disk drive, the diskette with the needed data must be inserted into the
drive. Hard disks are permanently installed in the computer and can store larger
quantities of data; commonly in the 20 to 100 megabyte (millions of bytes) range.
The computer can access data stored on a hard disk more quickly than that stored
on a floppy disk

SOFTWARE
Programming is the process of writing instructions (a program) for a computer to use to
solve a problem. These instructions must be written in a programming language. A program
can be anything from a simple list of instructions that adds three numbers together to a large
complex structure with many subsections, which calculates the payroll for a major corporation.
Programs and series of programs are referred to as software. Some programs direct the
computer in its own internal operations. These are called system programs. Other programs are
written to solve users problems. They are referred to as application programs.

SYSTEM PROGRAMS
System programs directly affect the operation of the computer. They are designed to facilitate
the efficient use of the computer's resources and aid in the development and execution of
application programs. In early computer systems, human operators watched over computer
operations, decided the order in which programs were run, and prepared the necessary input
and output devices needed by a program. But as the processing speeds of CPUs increased, the
speed of the human operators remained the same. Time delays and errors caused by human
operators became a serious problem.
In the 1960s operating systems were developed to overcome this problem. An operating system
is a set of system programs that allows system to manage its own operation if such a way that
the system's resources are used efficiently.