Chapter 1 – Part 1

Introduction
To
Computers
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 What is a computer?
• A device that can
– accept data (input),
– manipulate it (process) according to specific
instructions
– generate results (output) as a result of the
processing.
– (optional) store the results

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Figure 1-1 A computer system

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 Computer System
• Hardware
– electronic parts connected together
– examples: keyboard, CPU, memory, printer,
…
• Software
– “programs” that are executed on the hardware
– examples: operating system, word processor,
database program, ...

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Figure 1-2: Basic hardware components

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 Basic hardware component
• Input device
– Data entry, e.g. keyboard, mouse,
microphone
• CPU
– executing instruction, e.g. arithmetic
calculation, data comparison, data movement
• Primary storage (RAM)
– To store data and program temporarily during
processing

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 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
– “brain” of a computer, consisting of
• Arithmetic and logic unit (ALU): performs arithmetic
calculations (addition, subtraction...) and logic decisions
(>, <, =, ...)
• Control Unit (CU): decodes each machine instruction
and sends signal to other components for carrying out
the instruction.
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
– An integrated circuit (IC) that is a full central
processing unit is called a microprocessor (p);
– a CPU’s current instruction and data values are
stored temporally inside the CPU in special high-
speed memory location called registers.
– CPU speed: ? MHz (M: Mega = 106, Hz=1/sec);
 Memory
• Memory size
– 1 Byte (8 bits),
– 1 KB (kilobyte, 103  210 = 1024 bytes),
– 1 MB (Megabyte, 106  220 = 1048576 bytes),
– 1 GB (Gigabyte, 109  230 bytes).
– Note: k ≠ K because 1000 ≠ 1024.
 Basic hardware component
• Output device
– To show output (i.e. result of computing), e.g.
monitor (soft copy) and printer (hard copy)
• Auxiliary or secondary storage
– To store data and program permanently
– E.g. hard disk, cd-rom, DVD-ROM, pen drive

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Figure 1-3 Types of software

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 System software
• Purpose:
– Manage hardware resources of a computer
– Perform required information processing
• 3 major types:
– Operating system
– System support
– System development

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 System software
• Operating system
– To control interaction between the user and computer
hardware
– E.g. MS Windows XP (…98,Me,2000), Mac OS, Unix
– Some responsibilities:
• Communicating with user; i.e. receive command and execute
or rejecting with error message
• Collecting input from input device (keyboard, mouse,
microphone)
• Conveying program output to output device (monitor, printer)
• Accessing data from secondary storage (hard disk, cd-rom)

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 System software
• Windows operating system

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 System software
• System support
– Provide system utilities like partition
management, CD-ROM write program, DVD-
ROM write program
– As supplement to OS services

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 System software
• System development
– Provide language translator which convert
written computer programs into machine
language for execution
– E.g. any computer programming language like
C, Fortran, Basic, Cobol

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 Application software
• 3 major types:
– General-purpose software
– Application-specific software

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 Application software
• General-purpose
software
– Example – MS Office
(Word, PowerPoint, Excel,
Access)
– Purchased from software
developer like Microsoft
Corp.
– Solve general user
computing problems
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 Application software
• Application-specific software
– Can be used for intended
purpose (more specialized
computing tasks)
– Example – accounting program
like UBS

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Figure 1-4 Relationship between system and application so

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 Computing Environments
• Three major types of computing
environment:
– Personal computer (PC)
– Time-sharing
– Client-server

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Figure 1-5 Personal computing environment

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Figure 1-6 Time-sharing environment

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 Time-sharing environment
• Usually used by large companies
• Has a powerful central computer shared
among users
– E.g. mainframe or high-end server
• Useful for high volume data sharing
purpose
• Terminal has no processing power (just for
data entry)
• Nowadays, not widely used anymore…
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Figure 1-7 Client-server environment

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 Client-server environment
• As a replacement for time-sharing
environment
• Split computing function; i) central
computer and ii) users’ computers
• Central computer – powerful processing
• Users can share
– Secondary storage (hard disk)
– Printers
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 Internet
– The Internet enables
• Quick and easy communication via e-mail
• International networking of computers
• Allows multiple users to send and receive data simultaneously
– No centralized control
• If one part of the Internet fails, other parts can still operate
– Bandwidth
• Information carrying capacity of communications lines
• Ex: Fast Ethernet (10 Mb p sec) at FSKSM
– World Wide Web
• Locate and view multimedia-based documents on almost any subject
• Makes information instantly and conveniently accessible worldwide
• Possible for individuals and small businesses to get worldwide exposure
• Changing the way business is done