ICT 307: Computer & Information Technology

Computer is one of the wonderful inventions of the 20^th century. It is a machine that has its size decreased and capability increased ever since the production of first generation of computers. It performs calculations and process data in almost unimaginable speed and accuracy. With the invention of computer we, as human, are able to perform huge amount of computation in an incredible amount of short time with precision.

Computer has changed the way human work. Many tedious task and almost insurmountable human work efforts could be performed by computer in, literally, a second. Computer has empowered human in doing every aspect of work. Personal computers are found in most aspects of people’s life and, frankly, for any profession we cannot imagine a world without a computer.

Computer is a dumb machine. It waits for the instruction from the user. It does not understand your expectations. It only follows the order you give it to from an input device. It does not have its conscience and would not do reasoning for you in its own, at least not yet. However, it is expected that computer would have its own reasoning capability in foreseeable future. It is expected that in near future with its artificial intelligence (AI) a computer would understand human language and follow orders accordingly.

Definition

            A computer is an electronic machine that can perform various tasks such as calculations and process data according to the instructions fed into it to generate useful result and information at enormous speed. A computer accepts raw data as an input from input devices such as keyboard, touch-screen and mouse and processes them into useful information which, then, is displayed on its output device such as monitor and printed paper.

Computer Architecture, CPU, ALU, CU, Memory

The computer architecture means the physical and functional design of computer. This means the design of any part of the computer system or of an entire system including hardware and software. There are five basic operation of computer system .These are

1. Inputting:-The process of entering data and instruction to the computer system is inputting.
2. Storing: - Saving data and instruction to the computer to make them readily available for initial or additional processing whenever required is storing.
3. Processing: - performing arithmetic operation (add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc.) or logical operation (comparison like equal to, less than, greater then, etc.) on data to convert them into useful information is processing.
4. Out putting:- The process of producing useful information or result user such a printed report or visual display is outputting
5. Controlling:-Directing the manner and sequence in which all of the above operation are perform is controlling.

1. Input Unit: The computer hardware that accept or receive data and instruction from the user. It performs following function.
2. Accepts (or reads) instruction and data from the user outside world.
3. Converts these instruction data in computer acceptable form.
4. Supplies the converted instruction and data to the computer system for further processing.

Keyboard and mouse are the examples of input device

1. Output Unit: The hardware of the computer system which display or give result which is generated by processing of data. It performs following function.
2. Accept the results produce by the internal devices and software, which are in coded form and hence, cannot be easily understood.
3. Convert these coded results to human acceptable (readable) form.
4. Supplies the converted results to the user.

              Monitor and printer are the examples of output device.

• Storage Unit: The hardware of the computer system which holds(or stores) the following:

1. Data and instructions required for processing time which are received from input device.
2. Intermediate results of processing.
3. Final result processing, before they are released to an output device.

             There are primary and secondary storage (memory)  units. Primary memory is also known as main memory.

Primary storage

1. Use to hold running program instructions.
2. Used to hold data ,intermediate results ,and result of ongoing processing of job(s)

• Fast in operation

1. Small capacity
2. Expensive
3. Volatile (looses data on power dissipation)

Secondary storage

1. Use to hold stored program instructions.
2. Used to hold data and information of stored jobs

• Slower than primary storage

1. Large capacity
2. Lot cheaper than primary storage
3. Non Volatile (retains data even without)

Registers- They are additional storage locations to store data during processing time. They appear in between ALU and CU of CPU

Address- Character storage locations numbers in the main memory like a mail box numbers. Location numbers remains the same but the contents changes continuously.

1. ALU: The device inside CPU Box which performs Arithmetical & logical calculations. It is the place where the actual execution of instruction takes place during processing/operation.
2. Control Unit (CU): The control unit of a computer system manages and coordinates the operation of all other component of the computer system. It is like a nerves system of the body; the whole system sending signal of data program and tells to process data and to store in the right place.

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