UNIT-I

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

COMPUTER SYSTEMS
―A Computer is an electronic device that stores, manipulates and retrieves the data.‖
We can also refer computer computes the information supplied to it and generates data.
A System is a group of several objects with a process. For Example: Educational System
involves teacher, students (objects). Teacher teaches subject to students i.e., teaching (process).
Similarly a computer system can have objects and process.
The following are the objects of computer System
a) User ( A person who uses the computer)
b) Hardware
c) Software
Hardware: Hardware of a computer system can be referred as anything which we can touch and
feel. Example : Keyboard and Mouse.
The hardware of a computer system can be classified as
Input Devices(I/P)
Processing Devices (CPU)
Output Devices(O/P)

KEYBOARD ALU, CU, MONITOR

MU

CPU
INPUT OUTPUT

ALU: It performs the Arithmetic and Logical Operations such as

+,-,*,/ (Arithmetic Operators)
&&, || ( Logical Operators)
CU: Every Operation such as storing , computing and retrieving the data should be governed by
the control unit.

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MU: The Memory unit is used for storing the data.
The Memory unit is classified into two types.
They are 1) Primary Memory
2) Secondary Memory
Primary memory: The following are the types of memoruies which are treated as primary
ROM: It represents Read Only Memory that stores data and instructions even when the computer
is turned off. The Contents in the ROM can‘t be modified once if they are written . It is used to
store the BIOS information.
RAM: It represents Random Access Memory that stores data and instructions when the computer
is turned on. The contents in the RAM can be modified any no. of times by instructions. It is
used to store the programs under execution.
Cache memory: It is used to store the data and instructions referred by processor.
Secondary Memory: The following are the different kinds of memories
Magnetic Storage: The Magnetic Storage devices store information that can be read, erased and
rewritten a number of times.
Example: Floppy Disks, Hard Disks, Magnetic Tapes
Optical Storage: The optical storage devices that use laser beams to read and write stored data.
Example: CD(Compact Disk),DVD(Digital Versatile Disk)

COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Software of a computer system can be referred as anything which we can feel and see.
Example: Windows, icons
Computer software is divided in to two broad categories: system software and application
software .System software manages the computer resources .It provides the interface between the
hardware and the users. Application software, on the other hand is directly responsible for
helping users solve their problems.

System Software
System software consists of programs that manage the hardware resources of a computer and
perform required information processing tasks. These programs are divided into three classes:
the operating system, system support, and system development.

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The operating system provides services such as a user interface, file and database access, and
interfaces to communication systems such as Internet protocols. The primary purpose of this
software is to keep the system operating in an efficient manner while allowing the users access to
the system.
System support software provides system utilities and other operating services. Examples of
system utilities are sort programs and disk format programs. Operating services consists of
programs that provide performance statistics for the operational staff and security monitors to
protect the system and data.
The last system software category, system development software, includes the language
translators that convert programs into machine language for execution ,debugging tools to ensure
that the programs are error free and computer –assisted software engineering(CASE) systems.

Application software
Application software is broken in to two classes: general-purpose software and application –
specific software. General purpose software is purchased from a software developer and can be
used for more than one application. Examples of general purpose software include word
processors, database management systems ,and computer aided design systems. They are labeled
general purpose because they can solve a variety of user computing problems.
Application –specific software can be used only for its intended purpose.
A general ledger system used by accountants and a material requirements planning system used
by a manufacturing organization are examples of application-specific software. They can be used
only for the task for which they were designed they cannot be used for other generalized tasks.
The relationship between system and application software is shown below. In this figure, each
circle represents an interface point .The inner core is hard ware. The user is represented by the
out layer. To work with the system, the typical user uses some form of application software. The
application software in turn interacts with the operating system, which is a part of the system
software layer. The system software provides the direct interaction with the hard ware. The
opening at the bottom of the figure is the path followed by the user who interacts directly with
the operating system when necessary.

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COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS
The word ‗compute‘ is used to refer to the process of converting information to data. The
advent of several new kinds of computers created a need to have different computing
environments.
The following are the different kinds of computing environments available
1. Personal Computing Environment
2. Time Sharing Environment
3. Client/Server Environment
4. Distributed Computing Environment
Personal Computing Environment
In 1971, Marcian E. Hoff, working for INTEL combined the basic elements of the central
processing unit into the microprocessor. If we are using a personal computer then all the
computer hardware components are tied together. This kind of computing is used to satisfy the
needs of a single user, who uses the computer for the personal tasks.
Ex: Personal Computer

Time-Sharing Environment
The concept of time sharing computing is to share the processing of the computer basing
on the criteria time. In this environment all the computing must be done by the central computer.

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The complete processing is done by the central computer. The computer which ask for
processing are only dumb terminals.

Client/Server Environment
A Client/Server Computing involves the processing between two machines. A client
Machine is the one which requests processing. Server Machine is the one which offers the
processing. Hence the client is Capable enough to do processing. A portion of processing is
done by client and the core(important) processing is done by Server.

Distributed Computing
A distributed computing environment provides a seamless integration of computing
functions between different servers and clients. A client not just a requestor for processing the
information from the server. The client also has the capability to process information. All the
machines Clients/Servers share the processing task.

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Example: Ebay on Internet

COMPUTER LANGUAGES
To write a program (tells what to do) for a computer, we must use a computer language.
Over the years computer languages have evolved from machine languages to natural languages.
The following is the summary of computer languages
1940‘s -- Machine Languages
1950‘s -- Symbolic Languages
1960‘s -- High Level Languages
Machine Language
In the earliest days of computers, the only programming languages available were
machine languages. Each computer has its own machine language which is made of streams of
0‘s and 1‘s. The instructions in machine language must be in streams of 0‘s and 1‘s. This is also
referred as binary digits. These are so named as the machine can directly understood the
programs
Advantages:
1) High speed execution
2) The computer can understood instructions immediately
3) No translation is needed.
Disadvantages:
1) Machine dependent
2) Programming is very difficult
3) Difficult to understand
4) Difficult to write bug free programs
5) Difficult to isolate an error

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Example Additon of two numbers
2 0010
+ 3 0011
--- ---------------
5  0101
--- ---------------

Symbolic Languages (or) Assembly Language

In the early 1950‘s Admiral Grace Hopper, a mathematician and naval officer, developed
the concept of a special computer program that would convert programs into machine language.
These early programming languages simply mirrored the machine languages using symbols or
mnemonics to represent the various language instructions. These languages were known as
symbolic languages. Because a computer does not understand symbolic language it must be
translated into the machine language. A special program called an Assembler translates
symbolic code into the machine language. Hence they are called as Assembly language.
Advantages:
1) Easy to understand and use
2) Easy to modify and isolate error
3) High efficiency
4) More control on hardware
Disadvantages:
1) Machine Dependent Language
2) Requires translator
3) Difficult to learn and write programs
4) Slow development time
5) Less efficient
Example:
2 PUSH 2,A
3 PUSH 3,B
+ ADD A,B
5 PRINT C

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High-Level Languages
The symbolic languages greatly improved programming efficiency they still
required programmers to concentrate on the hardware that they were using working with
symbolic languages was also very tedious because each machine instruction had to be
individually coded. The desire to improve programmer efficiency and to change the focus from
the computer to the problems being solved led to the development of high-level languages.
High-level languages are portable to many different computer allowing the programmer
to concentrate on the application problem at hand rather than the intricacies of the computer.
C A systems implementation Language
C++ C with object oriented enhancements
JAVA Object oriented language for internet and general applications using basic C syntax

Advantages:
1) Easy to write and understand
2) Easy to isolate an error
3) Machine independent language
4) Easy to maintain
5) Better readability
6) Low Development cost
7) Easier to document
8) Portable
Disadvantages:
1) Needs translator
2) Requires high execution time
3) Poor control on hardware
4) Less efficient
Example: C language
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a,b,c;
scanf("%d%d%",&a,&b);

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 c=a+b;
printf("%d",c);
}

Difference between Machine, Assembly, High Level Languages

Feature Machine Assembly High Level
Form 0‘s and 1‘s Mnemonic codes Normal English
Machine Dependent Dependent Dependent Independent
Translator Not Needed Needed(Assembler) Needed(Compiler)
Execution Time Less Less High
Languages Only one Different Manufactgurers Different Languages
Nature Difficult Difficult Easy
Memory Space Less Less More

Language Translators
These are the programs which are used for converting the programs in one language into
machine language instructions, so that they can be excuted by the computer.

1) Compiler: It is a program which is used to convert the high level language

programs into machine language
2) Assembler: It is a program which is used to convert the assembly level
language programs into machine language
3) Interpreter: It is a program, it takes one statement of a high level language
program, translates it into machine language instruction and then immediately
executes the resulting machine language instruction and so on.
Comparison between a Compiler and Interpreter
COMPILER INTERPRETER
A Compiler is used to compile an entire An interpreter is used to translate each line of
program and an executable program is the program code immediately as it is entered
generated through the object program

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The executable program is stored in a disk for The executable program is generated in RAM
future use or to run it in another computer and the interpreter is required for each run of
the program
The compiled programs run faster The Interpreted programs run slower
Most of the Languages use compiler A very few languages use interpreters.

CREATING AND RUNNING PROGRAMS

The procedure for turning a program written in C into machine Language. The process is
presented in a straightforward, linear fashion but you shuld recognize that these steps are
repeated many times during development to correct errors and make improvements to the code.
The following are the four steps in this process
1) Writing and Editing the program
2) Compiling the program
3) Linking the program with the required modules
4) Executing the program

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 TEXT EDITOR

COMPILER

Library LINKER

RUNNER

OUTPUT

Sl. No. Phase Name of Code Tools File Extension

1 TextEditor Source Code C Compilers .C
Edit,
Notepad Etc..,
2 Compiler Object Code C Compiler .OBJ
3 Linker Executable C Compiler .EXE
Code
4 Runner Executable C Compiler .EXE
Code

Writing and Editing Programs

The software used to write programs is known as a text editor. A text editor helps
us enter, change and store character data. Once we write the program in the text editor we save it
using a filename stored with an extension of .C. This file is referred as source code file.

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Compiling Programs
The code in a source file stored on the disk must be translated into machine language.
This is the job of the compiler. The Compiler is a computer program that translates the source
code written in a high-level language into the corresponding object code of the low-level
language. This translation process is called compilation. The entire high level program is
converted into the executable machine code file. The Compiler which executes C programs is
called as C Compiler. Example Turbo C, Borland C, GC etc.,
The C Compiler is actually two separate programs:
The Preprocessor
The Translator
The Preprocessor reads the source code and prepares it for the translator. While preparing the
code, it scans for special instructions known as preprocessor commands. These commands tell
the preprocessor to look for special code libraries. The result of preprocessing is called the
translation unit.
After the preprocessor has prepared the code for compilation, the translator does the
actual work of converting the program into machine language. The translator reads the
translation unit and writes the resulting object module to a file that can then be combined with
other precompiled units to form the final program. An object module is the code in the machine
language.

Linking Programs
The Linker assembles all functions, the program‘s functions and system‘s functions into
one executable program.

Executing Programs
To execute a program we use an operating system command, such as run, to load the
program into primary memory and execute it. Getting the program into memory is the function
of an operating system program known as the loader. It locates the executable program and

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reads it into memory. When everything is loaded the program takes control and it begin
execution.

ALGORITHM
Algorithm is a finite sequence of instructions, each of which has a clear meaning and can be
performed with a finite amount of effort in a finite length of time. No matter what the input
values may be, an algorithm terminates after executing a finite number of instructions.
We represent an algorithm using a pseudo language that is a combination of the constructs of a
programming language together with informal English statements.
The ordered set of instructions required to solve a problem is known as an algorithm.
The characteristics of a good algorithm are:
 Precision – the steps are precisely stated (defined).
 Uniqueness – results of each step are uniquely defined and only depend on the input
and the result of the preceding steps.
 Finiteness – the algorithm stops after a finite number of instructions are executed.
 Input – the algorithm receives input.
 Output – the algorithm produces output.
 Generality – the algorithm applies to a set of inputs.
Example
Q. Write a algorithem to find out number is odd or even?
Ans.
step 1 : start
step 2 : input number
step 3 : rem=number mod 2
step 4 : if rem=0 then
print "number even"
else
print "number odd"
endif
step 5 : stop

FLOWCHART
Flowchart is a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm. Flowchart is very helpful in writing
program and explaining program to others.

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Symbols Used In Flowchart
Different symbols are used for different states in flowchart, For example: Input/Output and
decision making has different symbols. The table below describes all the symbols that are used in
making flowchart

Symbol Purpose Description

Used to indicate the flow of logic by connecting

Flow line
symbols.

Terminal(Stop/Start) Used to represent start and end of flowchart.

Input/Output Used for input and output operation.

Used for airthmetic operations and data-

Processing
manipulations.

Used to represent the operation in which there are

Desicion
two alternatives, true and false.

On-page Connector Used to join different flowline

Off-page Connector Used to connect flowchart portion on different page.

Predefined Used to represent a group of statements performing

Process/Function one processing task.

Examples of flowcharts in programming

Draw a flowchart to add two numbers entered by user.

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Draw flowchart to find the largest among three different numbers entered by user.

INTRODUCTION TO C LANGUAGE
C is a general-purpose high level language that was originally developed by Dennis Ritchie for
the Unix operating system. It was first implemented on the Digital Eqquipment Corporation
PDP-11 computer in 1972.

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The Unix operating system and virtually all Unix applications are written in the C language. C
has now become a widely used professional language for various reasons.
 Easy to learn
 Structured language
 It produces efficient programs.
 It can handle low-level activities.
 It can be compiled on a variety of computers.
Facts about C
 C was invented to write an operating system called UNIX.
 C is a successor of B language which was introduced around 1970
 The language was formalized in 1988 by the American National Standard Institue
(ANSI).
 By 1973 UNIX OS almost totally written in C.
 Today C is the most widely used System Programming Language.
 Most of the state of the art software have been implemented using C
Why to use C?
C was initially used for system development work, in particular the programs that make-up the
operating system. C was adoped as a system development language because it produces code that
runs nearly as fast as code written in assembly language. Some examples of the use of C might
be:
 Operating Systems
 Language Compilers
 Assemblers
 Text Editors
 Print Spoolers
 Network Drivers
 Modern Programs
 Data Bases
 Language Interpreters
 Utilities
C Program File

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All the C programs are writen into text files with extension ".c" for example hello.c. You can use
"vi" editor to write your C program into a file.

HISTORY TO C LANGUAGE
C is a general-purpose language which has been closely associated with the UNIX operating
system for which it was developed - since the system and most of the programs that run it are
written in C.
Many of the important ideas of C stem from the language BCPL, developed by Martin Richards.
The influence of BCPL on C proceeded indirectly through the language B, which was written by
Ken Thompson in 1970 at Bell Labs, for the first UNIX system on a DEC PDP-
7. BCPL and B are "type less" languages whereas C provides a variety of data types.
In 1972 Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs writes C and in 1978 the publication of The C Programming
Language by Kernighan & Ritchie caused a revolution in the computing world.
In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established a committee to provide a
modern, comprehensive definition of C. The resulting definition, the ANSI standard, or "ANSI
C", was completed late 1988.

BASIC STRUCTURE OF C PROGRAMMING

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 1. Documentation section: The documentation section consists of a set of comment lines
giving the name of the program, the author and other details, which the programmer
would like to use later.
2. Link section: The link section provides instructions to the compiler to link functions
from the system library such as using the #include directive.
3. Definition section: The definition section defines all symbolic constants such using
the #define directive.
4. Global declaration section: There are some variables that are used in more than one
function. Such variables are called global variables and are declared in the global
declaration section that is outside of all the functions. This section also declares all
the user-defined functions.
5. main () function section: Every C program must have one main function section. This
section contains two parts; declaration part and executable part
1. Declaration part: The declaration part declares all the variables used in the
executable part.
2. Executable part: There is at least one statement in the executable part. These two
parts must appear between the opening and closing braces. The program
execution begins at the opening brace and ends at the closing brace. The closing
brace of the main function is the logical end of the program. All statements in the
declaration and executable part end with a semicolon.
6. Subprogram section: If the program is a multi-function program then the subprogram
section contains all the user-defined functions that are called in the main () function.
User-defined functions are generally placed immediately after the main () function,
although they may appear in any order.

PROCESS OF COMPILING AND RUNNING C PROGRAM

We will briefly highlight key features of the C Compilation model here.

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