A Computer is

A programmable machine which can execute or run a pre-

recorded list of instructions which follow certain rules (a
program).

• Modern computers are electronic and digital. The actual

machinery -- wires, transistors , and circuits -- is called
hardware; the instructions and data are called software.

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All computer perform the following basic operations for
converting raw input data into useful information and
presenting it to the user.
Five basic operations performed by computer are
1. Inputting

2. Storing

3. Processing

4. Outputting

5. controlling

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Prepared by : Er. Sakar Introduction to C
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A computer consists of five
functionally independent main
parts

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 Components of a Computer System
• Computer hardware provides the physical mechanisms to
process, store, and input /output data. Includes CPU,
memory, I/O devices

• Software provides instructions to tell the hardware what

tasks to perform. It includes system (eg Windows XP) and
application (eg Excel) software

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What are the major Hardware components
of the computer ?

• central processing unit

• primary memory
• secondary storage
• input devices
• output devices
• communications devices
• I/O cards
• System Bus
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 Block Diagram of a Computer

CPU Main Memory

IO Modules

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Block Diagram for a Simple
Computer
 Computer Hardware

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 Hardware- the CPU

• CPU performs actual processing of data, according to

instructions from programs.

• Data and programs are stored in primary and secondary

memory, and moved to and from CPU as required.

• Signals representing data and instructions travel between

system components along electronic pathways, called buses.

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 Central Processing Unit ( CPU)

Acting as the brain of the computer’

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 Central Processing Unit

• The control unit and ALU of the computer are together known
as the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

• The CPU is like brain performs the following functions:

• It performs all calculations.
• It takes all decisions.
• It controls all units of the computer.

• A PC may have CPU-IC such as Intel 8088, 80286, 80386,

80486, Celeron, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium
III, Pentium IV, Dual Core, and AMD etc .

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• CPU consists of 3 main parts:

– ALU - where arithmetic and logical operations

performed

– Control Unit - controls data movement and execution

of instructions

– Registers - small high speed storage areas

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 Components of a computer system

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 Arithmetic Logical Unit

• All calculations are performed in the Arithmetic Logic Unit

(ALU) of the computer.
• It also does comparison and takes decision.
• The ALU can perform basic operations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, etc and does logic
operations like, >, <, =, ‘etc.
• Whenever calculations are required, the control unit transfers
the data from storage unit to ALU, once the computations are
done, the results are transferred to the storage unit by the
control unit and then it is send to the output unit for displaying
results.

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 Control Unit

• It controls all other units in the computer.

• The control unit instructs the input unit, where to store the data
after receiving it from the user.
• It controls the flow of data and instructions from the storage
unit to ALU.
• It also controls the flow of results from the ALU to the storage
unit.
• The control unit is generally referred as the central nervous
system of the computer that control and synchronizes its
working.

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 Registers
• It is a special temporary storage location within the CPU.
Registers quickly, accept, store and transfer data and
instructions that are being used immediately (main memory
hold data that will be used shortly, secondary storage holds
data that will be used later).

• To execute an instruction, the control unit of the CPU

retrieves it from main memory and places it onto a register.

• The instruction cycle refers to the retrieval of the instruction

from main memory and its subsequence at decoding.

• The process of alerting the circuits in CPU to perform the

specified operation. The time it takes to go through the
instruction cycle is referred to as I-time.
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 Memory
• Memory - Purpose of memory is data storage.
• The storage unit of the computer holds data and instructions
that are entered through the input unit, before they are
processed.
• It preserves the intermediate and final results before these
are sent to the output devices.
• It also saves the data for the later use.

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Primary Storage:- to hold data and instructions during
processing . Eg:- RAM. Relatively limited capacity and
volatile
• This memory is generally used to hold the program being
currently executed in the computer, the data being received
from the input unit, the intermediate and final results of the
program.
• The primary memory is temporary in nature. The data is lost
upon user request.
• In order to store the data permanently, the data has to be
transferred to the secondary memory.
• The cost of the primary storage is more compared to the
secondary storage.
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 2. Secondary Storage:
•It stores several programs, documents, data bases etc.
•The programs that you run on the computer are first
transferred to the primary memory before it is actually
run.
•Whenever the results are saved, again they get stored
in the secondary memory.
•The secondary memory is slower and cheaper than the
primary memory.
•Some of the commonly used secondary memory
devices are Hard disk, CD, etc.,

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 Hardware- memory

• Digital computers deal with data in binary form - all data is

represented using just two digits - 1 or 0. Letters and other
symbols are assigned unique binary codes.

• Primary memory consists of a set of locations defined by

sequentially numbered addresses. Each location contains a
binary number that can be interpreted as data or an
instruction.

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 Hardware - memory
• Memory is commonly measured in multiples of bits and
bytes.
1 bit = 1 binary digit (0 or 1).

1. 1 byte = 8 bits

2. 1KB = 1024 bytes = 210

3. 1MB = 1024 KB= 220

4. 1GB = 1024 MB = 230

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 Hardware - memory

• Secondary storage consists of non-volatile high-capacity

devices to store programs and data not currently required by
CPU.

• Hard and floppy disks, and tapes store data as magnetized

spots.

• CD’s and DVD’s store data as pits or surface marks

detectable by laser light.

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 3 Hardware – I/O

• Input Devices collect & translate raw data into form useable
by computer. e.g keyboard accepts letters and numbers and
converts them to a binary code such as Unicode.

• Output devices produce results in useable form for user (or

another device). e.g. monitor converts binary codes to
characters and images, whilst modem converts digital data
to analog form for transmission over telephone lines.

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 INPUT UNIT
• Computers need to receive data and instruction in order
to solve any problem. Therefore we need to input the
data and instructions into the computers. The input unit
consists of one or more input devices.
• Keyboard is the one of the most commonly used input
device. Other commonly used input devices are the
mouse, floppy disk drive, magnetic tape, etc.
• All the input devices perform the following functions.
• Accept the data and instructions from the outside
world.
• Convert it to a form that the computer can understand.
• Supply the converted data to the computer system for
further processing.

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 Output Unit

The output unit of a computer provides the information

and results of a computation to outside world.
• Printers, Visual Display Unit (VDU) are the commonly
used output devices.
Other commonly used output devices are
 floppy disk drive,
 hard disk drive,
 magnetic tape drive.

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Hardware – I/O Peripherals

1 Input Devices
• Mouse
• Keyboard

2 Output Devices
• Monitor (VDU)
• Printer

3 Secondary Storage Devices

• Hard Disk
• CD / DVD / Floppy
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 I/O Hardware

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 4 Hardware - I/O Modules

• Interface between System Bus and other Peripherals

• example
– Sound cards
– Video cards
– Network cards
– PCI cards

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 Buses
• The term Bus refers to an electrical pathway through
which bits are transmitted between the various computer
components.
• Depending on the design of the system, several types of
buses may be present.
• The most important one is the data bus, which carries the
data through out the central processing unit.
• The wider data bus, the more data it can carry at one time
and thus the greater the processing speed of the computer.

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 5 Hardware - System Bus

• series of electronic path ways and connecting other

components of the computer.

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 Structure - Top Level

Peripherals Computer

Central Main
Processing Memory
Unit

Computer
Systems
Interconnection

Input
Output
Communication
lines
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 Structure - The CPU

CPU

Computer Arithmetic
Registers and
I/O Login Unit
System CPU
Bus
Internal CPU
Memory Interconnection

Control
Unit

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 Types of computers

• Personal Computer
– Microprocessor
• Mini computer
• Main frame
• Super computer

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 Types of computers
• supercomputer: An extremely fast computer that can
perform hundreds of millions of instructions per second.
• mainframe : A powerful multi-user computer capable
of supporting many hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously.
• Work stations minicomputer : A multi-user computer
capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds of users
simultaneously.
• Microcomputers personal computer : A small, single-
user computer based on a microprocessor.
– Desktop PC pic
– Notebook pc (laptop)
– PDAs palmtops
• Microcontrollers embedded computers

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