Introduction to Computer Hardware and Software

1. Module 1
Introduction to computer
hardware and software
Ms. Shridevi K
shridevikembhavi.blogspot.com

2. Topics
• Computer and Its background
• Generation of Computers
• Types of Computers
• Bits, Bytes and Words
• Inside the Computer

3. Computer
• Computer is probably man’s greatest invention.
• Powerful device to compute at lightning speed.
• Applications of Computer:
– Aviation
– Ticket Reservation
– Games
– Network technology(Internet)
– Medical Science
– Robots and Driverless cars
– Online Shopping etc.,

4. • A computer is a device that can automatically
performs set of instructions.
• The computer takes instructions as input,
processes and produces the result as the output.
• The processing is fast and accurate.
• Central Processing Unit(CPU) –brain of Computer
whose task is to process instructions.
• Computer-Binary device understand the
sequence of ‘0’ & ‘1’ called machine language.
• Machine language is difficult so human use
programming language.

5. Background
• Abacus
• Napier
• Pascal
• Leibniz
• Charles Babbage Father of Computers-
Difference Engine
• Analytical Engine

6. Computer Generations
• First Generation:
– Used thousands of Vacuum Tubes
– Memory: Magnetic Drums
– Large in size
– Consumed enormous power and generated lot of
heat
– Programmed using machine language
– Input: Punched Cards ; Output: paper
– ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer)

7. • Second Generation:
– Transistors replaced vacuum tubes
– Transistors were fast, small and consumed less
power.
– Memory: Magnetic cores were used.
– Generated less heat compared to first generation.
– Input and output remain same.
– Programmed using Assembly level language.
– Languages like COBOL and Fortran

8. • Third Generation:
– Replaced with integrated circuits.
– Small, cheaper and energy efficient.
– Boost up in Speed and efficiency.
– Magnetic disk was used for the storage.
– Input: Keyboard; Output: Monitor
– Operating system to control resources of computer.
– Programming Languages : BASIC, C, C++ and Java

9. • Fourth Generation:
– Microprocessor with VLSI(Very Large Scale Integration).
– Offered gigabytes of memory.
– High Speed, Network, operating systems.
– Graphical User Interface(GUI).
– Desktops, Laptop, Smartphone, Microwave ovens
• Fifth Generation:
– Speed, Size, Energy Consumption.
– Artificial Intelligence(AI)
– Parallel Processing
– Speech Recognition
– Neural Network

10. Computer Types
• Computers are classified by there size:
1.Super Computers:
– Powerful and fastest Processors
– Multiple CPUs .
– Expensive, Fast(Tianhe-2)
– Speed are measured in Flops(Floating point
operations per second)
– Transaction processing, weather forecasting, nuclear
simulation etc.
– Mainly used in government agencies.

11. 2.Mainframe:
– less Powerful and less expensive than super
Computer.
– Concurrently run multiple programs with single CPU.
– Handle over hundreds of users .
– Speed is measured in mips(Million instructions per
second)
– Stock exchange, Banks, airlines, railways.
3.Minicomputers:
– Mini computers are lower to mainframe computers in
terms of speed and storage capacity.
– less expensive than mainframe computers.
– Performance also will be less than that of mainframes.
– Used in smaller organizations.

12. 4.Micro Computers:
– Personal computer introduced by Apple later
endorsed by IBM.
– Single CPU with multi cores with Gigabytes of memory
– Used for business, Word processing, spreadsheets.
– Workstation used for CAD/CAM.
5.Smart phones and Embedded Computers:
– Phones capable to makes calls.
– Multi core(Snapdragon)
– No hard disk with gigabytes of main memory.
– Flash memory, (Android or iOS) Operating system
– Small circuits with CPU, non-volatile memory
– Cars, Washing machines, MP3 players and cameras

13. Bits, Bytes and Words
• Bit is short for 'binary digit.'
• It's a single digit in a binary number, and it can
be either 1 or 0.
• A byte is 8 bits. With 8 bits you can store any
number between 0 and 255.
• A word is number of bits a particular
computer's CPU can deal with in one go.
• 32-bit or 64-bit computer architectures.

14. • Bit = Binary digit = 0 or 1
• Byte = a sequence of 8 bits = 00000000,
00000001, ..., or 11111111
• Word = a sequence of N bits where N = 16, 32, 64
depending on the computer.
• Measuring Amount of Data/Memory Capacity
– 1 kilobyte = 1 KB = 1024 bytes
– 1 Megabyte = 1 MB = 1024 KB
– 1 Gigabyte = 1 GB = 1024 MB
– 1 Terabyte=1TB=1024 GB
– 1 Petabytes=1PB=1024 TB

15. Inside Computer

16. Central Processing Unit(CPU)
Arithmetic Logic Unit(ALU)-SuperCalculator
Control Unit(CU)
Special Registers
A Clock
Memory
Primary Memory
Secondary Memory
Primary Memory
Random Access Memory(SRAM, DRAM)
Read Only Memory(ROM)
PROM-Programmable Read Only memory
EPROM-Erasable Programmable Read Only memory
EEPROM- Electronic Erasable Programmable Read Only
memory)
Cache Memory(L1,L2,L3)
CPU Registers

17. Secondary Memory
Hard Disk(500 GB to 4TB)
Magnetic Tape(20TB)
CD-ROM(700MB less than 1GB)
DVD-ROM(4.7GB-8.5GB)
Blu-ray Disk(27GB-50GB)
Flash Memory(1GB-128GB)
Obsolete Floppy Disk(1.2-1.44MB)

18. Ports and Connectors
• A port is generally a specific place for being
physically connected to some other device,
usually with a socket or plug which we call
connectors. Types of ports:
– Universal Serial Bus
– Serial Port
– Parallel Port
– Video Graphic Array(VGA) Port
– RJ45 port(Registered Jack)
– PS/2 port(Personal System)
– High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

20. Connectors
• A connector is any connector used within computers
or to connect computers to networks, printers or
other devices.
Many types of computer connectors

21. • PS/2 Connector:Used
for connecting
keyboard and mouse
on the modern PCs.
The PS/2 mouse
connector and port is
usually green in colour
to distinguish it from
the PS2 keyboard,
which is purple.

22. • Universal Serial Bus:
a protocol for
transferring data to
and from digital
devices.
• Four lines-data(2)
and power(2).
• Many digital cameras
and memory card
readers co

23. • The RJ45 Ethernet
Port: LAN or (Local
Area Network) uses a
CAT5 cable and a RJ45
connection. The CAT 5
cable is also called the
Ethernet Cable.
• Network connection
generally uses a
10/100 Mbps speed.

24. • Parallel Port :The
printer connects to
your computer with
a Parallel connector.
This connector has
25 pins.
• Parallel means the
device is capable of
receiving more than
one bit at a time.

25. • Serial Port: once used
by keyboard , terminals,
modems.
• Have 9-25 pin
configuration
• Data pass through
serial port one bit at a
time

26. • Video Graphics
Array Port: 15-pin
port allows to
transfer of analog
video data to
monitor .
• Replaced by Digital
Video Interface

27. • High Definition
Multimedia Interface:
Transferring audio and
video data between
computers, projectors
and home theaters

28. Input Devices
• The devices that provide the input to the computer
with the help 0f various devices to perform the
operation
– Keyboard:
• Physical or touch screen
• QWERTY layout
• Represented as character.
• Unique values ASCII( American Standard Code for
Information Interchange)
– Pointing Devices:
• Optical(infrared or LED) and Wireless(radio
frequency)
– Scanner:
• Optical Character Recognition(ORC) & Magnetic Ink
Character Recognition( MICR)

29. Output Devices
• An output device is any piece of computer hardware
equipment used to communicate the results of data
processing carried out by an information processing
system (such as a computer) to the outside world.
– Monitor:
• CRT, LCD, LED
– Printers:
• Impact Printer: Dot-Matrix, Obsolete Daisy wheel, Line
• Non-impact Printer: Laser and Inkjet printers
– Plotters

30. Computers in Network
• A collection of computing devices that are
connected in various ways in order to
communicate and share resources.
• Usually, the connections between computers in
a network are made using physical wires or
cables.
• However, some connections are wireless, using
radio waves or infrared signals

31. Network Topology
• Different ways of connecting computers.
Mesh:
Advantages
fault tolerance
If one device/node in the
network fails, the rest of the
devices can work normally
without interruption.
Adding more devices in the
network does not affect the
rest of the devices.
Disadvantages
Time consuming and
difficult.
Cabling cost is high.

32. Bus:
Advantages
• single communication line,
simplicity.
• Easy to setup and extend.
• Less costly. Less cabling
needs.
Disadvantages
• single communication line for
data transmission makes it
easier for collision to occur
• If the single network cable
has a problem or
disconnection, the whole
network breaks.
• Difficult to identify a problem.
• Not efficient.

33. Star:
Advantages
• Easy to install.
• Easy to troubleshoot and detect problems
in the network.
• If one device fails, it does not affect the
other devices in the network.
• Easily add or remove devices.
• Centralized management and monitoring
through the central switch/hub.
Disadvantages
• It has a single point of failure(hub).
• Performance of the whole network
depends on the performance of the central
node.

34. Ring:
Advantages
• Ability to have fast
network throughput.
• Less packet collisions.
• High speed transfers.
• Token is used between
nodes thus making this
performing better than
bus topology
Disadvantage is the point of
failure, as a single node
can break the transmission
of data on the network.

35. Types of network
• LAN(Local area Network)
• WAN(Wide Area Network)
• MAN(Metropolitan area Network)
• CAN(Campus Area Network)
• PAN(Personal Area Network)

36. Network Hardware
• Network Interface Card
• Hub and Switch
• Bridge and Router

38. Software
• It is collection of instructions that drives the
computer or device to perform related group
of tasks.
• It consists of code, library and configuration
files.
• Two types:
– System Software
– Application Software

39. System Software
• It Helps to manage the hardware connected to
it.
• Types:
– Basic Input Output System(BIOS)
– Operating System
– Device Driver
– Compilers and associated programs

40. Application Software
• It can perform he specific task for the user.
This is also called “apps”.
• Types of software:
– Office Software
– Database Software
– Communication Software
– Entertainment Software
– Anti-virus software
– Special purpose software like CAD/CAM