• INTRODUCTION TO

COMPUTING

• INPUT OUTPUT DEVICES

 Introduction To
Computing
A computer system needs to communicate with its
external environment. The input output devices provide
this capability to a computer system. They are also
known as peripheral devices because they surround a
computer`s CPU and memory. Input devices are used to
enter data from outside world into primary storage, and
output devices supply the results of processing from
primary storage to users. A wide variety of I/O devices
is now available. For a particular application, one type
may be more suitable than another type. Some devices
are used for both input and output functions.
• The speed of I/O devices is very slow as
compared to the speed of primary storage and
CPU. This is because their speed in most
cases depends on the movement of mechanical
parts, and the potential for improvement in
speed of such parts is limited. It is, therefore ,
difficult to produce I/O devices that can match
processor and memory speeds, and there is a
constant demand for faster and faster I/O
devices.
 • INPUT OUTPUT DEVICES-:An input device is an electromechanical
device
• INPUT that accepts
DEVICES-: datadevice
An input from outside world and translates
is an electromechanical them
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Several broadly
input classified
devices into following
are available today.categories:
They can be
broadly classified into following categories:
• Keyboard devices
• 1-Keyboard devices
• Point-and –draw devices
• 2-Point-and –draw devices
• Data scanning devices
• 3-Data scanning devices
• Digitizer
• 4-Digitizer
• Electronic cards based devices
• 5-Electronic cards based devices
• Speech recognition devices
• 6-Speech recognition devices
• Vision based devices
• 7-Vision based devices

The various types of input devices along with their applications are
described below.
The various types of input devices along with their applications are described
below.
• 1- KEYBOARD DEVICES-: Keyboard devices
are the most commonly used input devices
today. They allow data entry into a computer
system by pressing a set of keys neatly
mounted on a keyboard connected to a
computer system. The most popular keyboard
used today is the 101-keys QWERTY
keyboard.
• 2- POINT-AND-DRAW DEVICES-: Interaction with computers
was initially restricted mainly to text mode. However, it was
soon realized that interacting with computers in text-mode is
cumbersome and time-consuming. Hence, a new type of user
interface, called graphical user interface(GUI), was devised for
interacting computers. A GUI provides a screen with graphic
icons(small images on the screen) or menus and allows a user
to make rapid selections from them to give instructions to a
computer. For efficient utilization ,GUI requires an input device
that can be used to rapidly point to and select a graphic icon or
menu item from the multiple options displayed on the screen.
The keyboard , though usable, was found to be inconvenient
and unsuitable for this requirement. Hence, research efforts to
find a suitable input device to meet this requirement gave birth
to several input devices, like mouse and light pen, could also be
used very effectively to create graphic elements on the screen
such as lines, curves, and freehand shapes. With this new
ability ,these devices came to be known as point-and-draw
devices. These input devices have made computers a much
more easily usable tool establishing them as a versatile tool for
a wide range of users including children, illiterate citizens, and
graphic designers. Some commonly used point-and-draw
devices are described below.
• (a)- MOUSE-: Mouse is the most popular point-and-
draw device. It is a must- have input device on modern
personal computers and workstations because they
support GUI as their primary user interface. A mouse
is a small hand-held device that fits in a user`s palm
comfortably. It rolls on a small bearing and has one or
more buttons on the top. When a mouse that is
connected to a user terminal is rolled on a flat surface,
a graphics cursor moves on the terminal screen in the
direction of the mouse`s movement . Since all
movements of the mouse are reproduced by the
graphics cursor on the screen, you can move the
graphics cursor at a menu item or an icon by moving
the mouse.
• (b)-TRACKBALL-: A trackball is a pointing device
similar to a roller- ball mouse. It has the roller ball also
placed on the top along with the buttons. In a roller-
ball mouse the roller ball is placed in the base of the
mouse. To move the graphics cursor on the screen
the ball is rolled with hand. As the whole device need
not be moved for moving the graphics cursor, a
trackball requires less space than a mouse for
operation and is often attached to or built into the
keyboard. Trackballs built into the keyboard are
commonly used in laptop(notebook) computers, as it is
practical for laptop users in a small space. As the ball
is fixed on the top, some people think of a trackball as
an upside- down mouse.
• Trackball comes in various shapes and forms
with the same functionality. Three commonly
used shapes are a ball, a button, and a square.
To move the graphics cursor at a desired
position on the terminal screen, the ball is rolled
with hand, the button is pushed with a finger, or
a finger is simply moved on the square
platform.
(c)- JOYSTICK-: A joystick is a pointing device that
works on the same principle as a trackball. To make
the movement of the spherical ball easier, it is placed
in a socket with a stick mounted on it. A user moves
the spherical ball by the attached stick with her hand.
The stick can be moved forward or backward, left or
right, to move and position the graphics cursor at the
desired position. Potentiometers are used to sense the
movements. On most joysticks, a button on the top is
provided to select the option currently pointed to by
the cursor. The button is clicked to make this
selection. Typical uses on a joystick include video
games, flight simulators, training simulators, and
remove control of industrial robots.
(d)- ELECTRONIC PEN-: It is a pen based point- and-
draw device. A user holds the pen in her hand and
points with it directly on the screen to select from the
displayed menu items or icons. A user can also draw
graphics directly on the screen with it. Another type of
electronic pen comes with a special pad. The pen is
used on the pad as an ink pen would be used on
paper. Movement of electronic pen causes the
graphical cursor on screen to move. Applying pressure
on tip causes same action as left button- click and
keeping the tip pressed for a short duration causes
same action as right button- click of a mouse. Some
electronic pens have a button on the side that is
pressed to cause same action as right button-click of a
• (e)-TOUCHSCREEN-: Touch screen is the
most simple, intuitive, and easiest to use of all
input devices. A touch screen enables a user to
choose from available options by simply
touching the desired icon or menu item
displayed on a computer`s screen with her
finger.
• 3- DATA SCANNING DEVICES-: Data
scanning devices are input devices used for
direct data entry into a computer system from
source documents. Some of them are also
capable of recognizing marks of characters.
These devices have following characteristics:
• 1- They eliminate the need for manual entry of
data by human beings.
• 2- Automatic entry of data with their use
improves data accuracy and increases
timeliness of the information processed.
• 3- They demand high quality of input
documents because of direct data entry from
source documents. Documents that are typed
poorly, have strikeovers, or have erasures are
normally rejected.
• 4- Form design and ink specification usually
becomes more critical with the use of these
devices than when keyboard devices are used
to key in data from forms.
• Data scanning devices are of many types. Commonly
used ones are described below.
• (a)- IMAGE SCANNER-: An image scanner is an input
device that translates paper documents into an
electronic format that can be stored in a computer.
The input documents may be typed text, pictures,
graphics, or even handwritten material. This input
device has been found to be very useful in preserving
paper documents in electronic form. A copy of a
document stored in a computer in this manner will
never deteriorate in quality or become yellow with age,
and can be displayed or printed, whenever desired.
The stored images can even be altered and
manipulated in interesting ways, if the computer has
image- processing software.Image scanners come in
various shapes and sizes. Two commonly used types
are:
• 1- FLATBED SCANNER-: A flatbed scanner is
like a copier machine consisting of a box having
a glass plate on its top and a lid that covers the
glass plate. A document to be scanned is
placed upside down on the glass plate. A light
source, situated below the glass plate, moves
horizontally from one end to another when
activated. After scanning one line, the light
beam moves up a little and scans the next line.
The process is repeated for all the lines. It
takes about 20 seconds to scan a document of
size 21 cm * 28 cm.
• 2- HAND-HELD SCANNER-: A hand- held
scanner has a set of light emitting diodes
encased in a small case that can be held in
hand conveniently. To scan a document, the
scanner is dragged slowly over it from its one
end to the other end with its light on. The
scanner has to be dragged very steadily and
carefully, otherwise the conversion of the
document into its equivalent bit map will not be
correct . Due to this reason, hand- held
scanners are used only in cases where high
accuracy is not needed. They are also used
when the volume of documents to be scanned
is low. They are much cheaper than flatbed
scanners.
• (b)- OPTICAL CHARACTER RECGONITION
(OCR) DEVICE-:
OCR software is extremely complex because it is
difficult to make a computer recognize an
unlimited number of typefaces and fonts. These
software are designed to recognize texts written
using standard type fonts (called OCR fonts).

Two such standard fonts are OCR-A(American

Standard) and OCR-B(European Standard).
• (c)- OPTICAL MARK READER(OMR)-: These
scanners are capable of recognizing a pre-
specified type of mark made by pencil or pen.
For example, in objective type tests applicants
mark their choices of correct answers on a
special pre- printed test scoring sheet by
darkening a small square, circular, or oval
shaped box by a pencil. These answer sheets
are fed directly to a computer for grading with
the use of an optical mark reader.
• (d)- BAR- CODE READER-: Data coded in the form of
small lines(known as bars) are known as bar codes.
Bar codes represent alphanumeric data by a
combination of adjacent vertical lines(bars) by varying
their width and the spacing between them. They are
used particularly for unique identification of all types of
goods, books, postal packages, badges, tags, etc.
• A bar- code reader is a device used for reading
(decoding) bar- coded data. It may be a hand- held
scanner, or embedded in a stationary scanner. It
scans a bar-code image and converts it into an
alphanumeric value that is then fed to a computer
connected to the bar-code reader.
• TYPES OF BAR-CODING-:There are many
types of bar-coding systems. The most widely
known one is the Universal Product
Code(UPC). It appears on almost all retail
packages in USA and now in India as well on
many products. The UPC, originally used for
supermarket items, is now printed on other
consumer goods also. The UPC bar-code
patterns are decoded as 10 digits. The first 5 of
the digits identify the manufacturer or supplier
of the product, and the next 5 digits identify a
specific product of the manufacturer.
• (e)-MAGNETIC-INK CHARACTER
RECOGNITION(MICR)-: MICR is similar to
OCR. It is used by banking industry for faster
processing of large volume of cheques handled
every day by this industry. A bank cheque has
bank`s identification code(name, branch, etc.),
account number, and cheque number pre-
printed(encoded) on it by using characters from
a special character set. A special ink containing
particles of iron oxide(that can be magnetized)
is used for pre-printing the characters on the
cheque.
• 4- DIGITIZER-: A digitizer is an input device
used for converting(digitizing) pictures, maps,
and drawings into digital form for storage in
computers. A digitizer consists of a digitizing
tablet(also known as graphics tablet) associated
with a stylus. The digitizing tablet is a flat
surface that contains hundreds of fine copper
wires forming a grid. Each copper wire receives
electric pulses. The digitizing tablet can be
spread over a working table and is connected to
a computer.
• 5- ELECTRONIC-CARD READER-: Electronic
cards and their associated readers offer
another means of direct data entry into a
computer system. Electronic cards are small
plastic cards having encoded data appropriate
for the application for which they are used. An
electronic-card reader, normally connected to a
computer, is used to read the data encoded on
an electronic card and transfer it to the
computer for further processing.
6- SPEECH RECOGNITION DEVICES-: Speech
recognition devices are input devices that allow
a person to input data to a computer system by
speaking to it. Hence, they make computers
much easier to use. However, as a data input
device, currently speech recognition systems
have limited success because correct
interpretation by a machine of the large number
of words in the vocabulary of a language is
difficult.
• 7- VISION-INPUT SYSTEM-: A vision-input
system allows a computer to accept input by
seeing an object. Input data in this case is
normally an object`s shape and features in the
form of an image. Vision-input devices are used
mainly in factories for designing industrial
robots used for quality control and assembly
processes.
• OUTPUT DEVICES-: An output device is an
electromechanical device that accepts data from a
computer and translates them into a form suitable for
use by outside world (users). Several output devices
are available today. They can be broadly classified
into following categories:
• 1- Monitors
• 2- Printers
• 3- Plotters
• 4- Screen image projector
• 5- Voice response system
These types of output devices along with their
applications are described below.
Output devices generate computer output that can be
broadly classified into following two types:
• 1- SOFT-COPY OUTPUT-: A soft-copy output
is not produced on a paper or some material
that can be touched and carried for being
shown to others. They are temporary in nature.
• For example, contents displayed on a terminal
screen, or words spoken out by a voice
response system are soft-copy output.
• 2- HARD-COPY OUTPUT-: A hard-copy output
is produced on a paper or some material that
can be touched and carried for being shown to
others. They are permanent in nature and can
be kept in paper files or can be looked later
when the person is not using a computer.
• For example, output produced on paper by
printers or plotters are hard-copy output.
• 1- MONITORS-: Monitors are the most popular
output devices used today for producing soft-
copy output. They display the generated output
on a television like screen. The keyboard is
used for input to a computer and the monitor is
used to display the output from the computer.
• TYPES OF MONITORS-: Two basic types of
monitors used today are Cathode-Ray-Tube
(CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) flat-
panel.
• (1) CATHODE-RAY-TUBE(CRT)-: CRT
monitors work much like a television screen
and are used with non-portable computer
systems.
• (2) LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY(LCD) FLAT-
PANEL-: LCD flat-panel monitors are thinner,
lighter, and are used commonly with portable
computer systems like notebook computers.
• 2- PRINTERS-: Printers are the most popular
output devices used today for producing hard-
copy output.
• TYPES OF PRINTERS-: Different types of
printers are described below:
(1) DOT-MATRIX PRINTERS-: Dot-matrix printers are
character printers that print one character at a time.
They form characters and all kinds of images as
patterns of dots. A dot-matrix printer has a print head
that moves horizontally (left to right and right to left)
across the paper. Dot-matrix printers are impact
printers because they print by hammering the pins on
the inked ribbon to leave ink impressions on a paper.
• (2) INKJET PRINTERS-: Inkjet printers are character
printers that form characters and all kinds of images
by spraying small drops of ink on a paper. Inkjet
printers are non-impact printers because they print by
spraying ink on the paper.
• (3) DRUM PRINTERS-: Drum printers are line printers
that print an entire line at a time. Dot matrix and inkjet
printers print one character at a time. Drum printers
are impact printers because they print by hammering
on a paper and inked ribbon against the characters
embossed on the drum.
• (4) CHAIN/ BAND PRINTERS-: Chain/band printers
are line printers that print one line at a time. It consists
of a metallic chain/band on which all characters of the
character set supported by the printer are embossed.
Chain/band printers are impact printers because they
print by hammering on a paper and inked ribbon
against the characters embossed on the chain/band.
• (5) LASER PRINTERS-: Laser printers are
page printers that print one page at a time.
Main components of a laser printer are a laser
beam source, a multi-sided mirror, a
photoconductive drum, and toner (tiny particles
of oppositely charged ink). Laser printers are
non-impact printers. They are very quiet in
operation. Being of non-impact type, they can
not be used to produce multiple copies of a
document in a single printing.
• 3- PLOTTERS-: Plotters are an ideal output
device for architects, engineers, city planners
and others who need to routinely generate high-
precision, hard-copy, graphic output of widely
varying sizes.
• TYPES OF PLOTTERS-: Two commonly used
types of plotters are described below:
• (1) DRUM PLOTTER-: In a drum plotter, the
paper on which the design is to be made is
placed over a drum that can rotate in both
clockwise and anti-clockwise directions to
produce vertical motion.
• (2) FLATBED PLOTTER-: A flatbed plotter plots
a design or graph on a sheet of paper spread
and fixed over a rectangular flatbed table. In this
type of plotter, normally the paper does not
move and the pen holding mechanism provides
all types of motions necessary to draw complex
designs and graphs.
• 4- SCREEN IMAGE PROJECTER-: Screen
image projecter is an output device used to
project information from a computer on a large
screen (such as a cloth screen or wall) so that a
group of people can view it simultaneously. It is
very useful for making presentations to a group
of people with direct use of a computer.
• 5- VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEMS-: Just as a
speech recognition system allows a user to talk
to a computer, a voice response system
enables a computer to talk to a user. A voice
response system has an audio-response device
that produces audio output. The output is
temporary, soft-copy output.
• TYPES OF VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEMS-:
Voice response systems are of two types:
• (1) Voice Reproduction System
• (2) Speech synthesizer
• They are described below:
• (1) VOICE REPRODUCTION SYSTEM-: A voice reproduction
system produces audio output by selecting an appropriate
audio output from a set of prerecorded audio responses. Voice
reproduction systems are very useful in a wide range of
applications. Their uses include:
• (a) Audio help for guiding how to operate a system.
• (b) Automatic answering machines.
• (c) Video games are made exciting and interesting by playing
an event-based sound from a set of prerecorded sounds.
• (d) Talking alarm clocks. In addition, the clock may speak “its
time to wake up” at the time set for alarm.
• (e) Talking toys and home appliances also use a voice
reproduction system.
• (f) Often personal computers with audio facility are used for
automated multimedia presentations during exhibitions.

•
• (2) SPEECH SYNTHESIZER-: A speech
synthesizer converts text information into
spoken sentences. To produce speech, these
devices combine basic sound units called
phonemes.
• They are very useful in a wide range of
applications. Their use include:
• (a) For reading out text information to blind
persons.
• (b) For allowing those persons who cannot
speak, to communicate effectively.
• (c) For translation systems that convert an
entered text into spoken words in a selected
language.