Basic

Computer Knowledge
Created By
Srilin Sreekanth
 Introduction

History
Objectives Hardware

Software

Networking

Internet

AI

Future
Introduction What is a computer..?

A computer is an electronic device,

operating under the control of instructions
stored in its own memory that can accept
data (input), process the data according to
specified rules, produce information
(output), and store the information for
future use
Introduction
What is a A system is a group of interacting or

System ?
interrelated elements that act according to a
set of rules to form a unified whole. A
system, surrounded and influenced by its
environment, is described by its boundaries,
structure and purpose and expressed in its
functioning.
 Any digital computer carries out five
functions in gross terms

● Takes data as input.

● Stores the data/instructions in its
Functionalities
1

memory and use them when required.

● Processes the data and converts it
Of a Computer ●
into useful information.
Generates the output
● Controls all the above four steps
History of The first counting device was used by the
primitive people. They used sticks, stones

Computer and bones as counting tools. As human mind

and technology improved with time more
computing devices were developed. Some of
the popular computing devices starting with
the first to recent ones are described below;
 Abacus
The history of computer begins with the birth
of abacus which is believed to be the first
computer. It is said that Chinese invented
Abacus around 4,000 years ago.
History of It was a wooden rack which has metal rods

Computer with beads mounted on them. The beads were

moved by the abacus operator according to
some rules to perform arithmetic calculations.
Abacus is still used in some countries like
China, Russia and Japan. An image of this tool
is shown below;
 Napier's Bones
It was a manually-operated calculating device
which was invented by John Napier
(1550-1617) of Merchiston. In this calculating
tool, he used 9 different ivory strips or bones
History of marked with numbers to multiply and divide.
So, the tool became known as "Napier's Bones.
Computer It was also the first machine to use the decimal
point.
 Pascaline
Pascaline is also known as Arithmetic Machine or
Adding Machine. It was invented between 1642
and 1644 by a French mathematician-philosopher
Biaise Pascal. It is believed that it was the first
History of mechanical and automatic calculator.

Computer Pascal invented this machine to help his father, a

tax accountant. It could only perform addition and
subtraction. It was a wooden box with a series of
gears and wheels. When a wheel is rotated one
revolution, it rotates the neighboring wheel. A
series of windows is given on the top of the
wheels to read the totals. An image of this tool is
shown below;
 Stepped Reckoner or Leibnitz wheel
It was developed by a German
mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibnitz in 1673. He improved Pascal's invention
History of to develop this machine. It was a digital
mechanical calculator which was called the
Computer stepped reckoner as instead of gears it was made
of fluted drums. See the following image;
 Difference Engine
In the early 1820s, it was designed by Charles
Babbage who is known as "Father of Modern
Computer". It was a mechanical computer which
History of could perform simple calculations. It was a steam
driven calculating machine designed to solve
Computer tables of numbers like logarithm tables.
 Analytical Engine
This calculating machine was also developed by
Charles Babbage in 1830. It was a mechanical
computer that used punch-cards as input. It was
History of capable of solving any mathematical problem and
storing information as a permanent memory.
Computer
 Tabulating Machine
It was invented in 1890, by Herman Hollerith, an
American statistician. It was a mechanical
tabulator based on punch cards. It could tabulate
History of statistics and record or sort data or information.
This machine was used in the 1890 U.S. Census.
Computer Hollerith also started the Hollerith?s Tabulating
Machine Company which later became
International Business Machine (IBM) in 1924.
 Differential Analyzer
It was the first electronic computer introduced in
the United States in 1930. It was an analog device
invented by Vannevar Bush. This machine has
History of vacuum tubes to switch electrical signals to
perform calculations. It could do 25 calculations in
Computer few minutes.
 Mark I
The next major changes in the history of computer
began in 1937 when Howard Aiken planned to
develop a machine that could perform
History of calculations involving large numbers. In 1944,
Mark I computer was built as a partnership
Computer between IBM and Harvard. It was the first
programmable digital computer.
 A generation of computers refers to the specific

History of improvements in computer technology with time.

In 1946, electronic pathways called circuits were

Computer developed to perform the counting. It replaced the

gears and other mechanical parts used for
counting in previous computing machines.
Generations of Computers
In each new generation, the circuits became
smaller and more advanced than the previous
generation circuits. The miniaturization helped
increase the speed, memory and power of
computers. There are five generations of
computers which are described below;
 First Generation Computers
The first generation (1946-1959) computers were
slow, huge and expensive. In these computers,
vacuum tubes were used as the basic components

History of of CPU and memory. These computers were mainly

depended on batch operating system and punch

Computer cards. Magnetic tape and paper tape were used as

output and input devices in this generation;

Generations of Computers Some of the popular first generation computers are;

● ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and

Computer)
● EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable
Automatic Computer)
● UNIVACI( Universal Automatic Computer)
● IBM-701
● IBM-650
 Second Generation Computers
The second generation (1959-1965) was the era of the
transistor computers. These computers used
transistors which were cheap, compact and consuming

History of
less power; it made transistor computers faster than
the first generation computers.

Computer In this generation, magnetic cores were used as the

primary memory and magnetic disc and tapes were
used as the secondary storage. Assembly language
Generations of Computers and programming languages like COBOL and
FORTRAN, and Batch processing and
multiprogramming operating systems were used in
these computers.

Some of the popular second generation computers are;

● IBM 1620
● IBM 7094
● CDC 1604
● CDC 3600
● UNIVAC 1108
 Third Generation Computers

The third generation computers used integrated

circuits (ICs) instead of transistors. A single IC can
History of pack huge number of transistors which increased the
power of a computer and reduced the cost. The

Computer
computers also became more reliable, efficient and
smaller in size. These generation computers used
remote processing, time-sharing, multi programming
Generations of Computers as operating system. Also, the high-level programming
languages like FORTRON-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL
PL/1, ALGOL-68 were used in this generation.

Some of the popular third generation computers are;

● IBM-360 series
● Honeywell-6000 series
● PDP(Personal Data Processor)
● IBM-370/168
● TDC-316
 Fourth Generation Computers

The fourth generation (1971-1980) computers used

very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits; a chip
History of containing millions of transistors and other circuit
elements. These chips made this generation

Computer
computers more compact, powerful, fast and
affordable. These generation computers used real
time, time sharing and distributed operating system.
Generations of Computers The programming languages like C, C++, DBASE were
also used in this generation.Some of the popular fourth
generation computers are;

● DEC 10
● STAR 1000
● PDP 11
● CRAY-1(Super Computer)
● CRAY-X-MP(Super Computer)
 Fifth Generation Computers
In fifth generation (1980-till date) computers, the VLSI
technology was replaced with ULSI (Ultra Large Scale

History of Integration). It made possible the production of

microprocessor chips with ten million electronic

Computer components. This generation computers used parallel

processing hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence)
software. The programming languages used in this
Generations of Computers
generation were C, C++, Java, .Net, etc.

Some of the popular fifth generation computers are;

● Desktop
● Laptop
● NoteBook
● UltraBook
● ChromeBook
Hardware
 Components of Computer System

Computer systems consist of three components as

shown in below image:

Computer
● Input devices
● Output devices

System ● Central Processing Unit

Input devices provide data input to processor, which

processes data and generates useful information
that’s displayed to the user through output devices.
This is stored in computer’s memory.
 Computer - Input Devices

Following are some of the important input devices

which are used in a computer −
Computer ● Keyboard

System ●
●
●
Mouse
Joy Stick
Light pen
● Track Ball
● Scanner
● Graphic Tablet
● Microphone
● Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)
● Optical Character Reader(OCR)
● Bar Code Reader
● Optical Mark Reader(OMR)
 Computer - Output Devices

Following are some of the important output devices

used in a computer.

Computer
● Monitors
● Graphic Plotter
● Printer
System ● Speaker
 Components of CPU
The full name of the computer CPU is Central

Computer Processing Unit. CPU is also known as a processor. A

CPU is also called the brain of a computer system.

System A computer CPU is an electronic microchip or

Microprocessor that performs processing based on
the instructions given to the data by the user.

CPU is the main part of a computer system without

which the computer system cannot process any
instruction. The processor has many functions in a
computer system.
 What are the Parts of CPU?
There are many such parts of a computer CPU, but
mainly the Central Processing Unit has only three
parts.
Which have many main functions in the computer of

Computer these three parts. Which I will tell in detail in this post
There are three main parts of CPU ( Central Processing

System Unit ), which are given below.

● ALU
● CU
● Memory or Storage Unit
 Arithmetic and Logical Unit (ALU)
The arithmetic and logical unit (ALU) is a fundamental
component in all computers that performs arithmetic
and logic operations.
The ALU is used for addition, subtraction,

Computer multiplication, division, comparison of two numbers,

and Boolean operations.

System It does not handle instruction sequencing or directly

deals with memory.
The ALU has some major advantages over the CPU
because it only needs to be designed for one type of
task instead of many.
An advantage of the CPU is that it can work more on
instruction sequencing.
Every computer has an ALU but how it functions can
vary from machine to machine.
One of the most important things about the design of
an ALU is its size.
A small ALU will give you faster results but will not
always give you accurate results while a larger one will
be slower but more accurate.
 Arithmetic and Logical Unit (ALU)
● The arithmetic and logical unit (ALU) is a
fundamental component in all computers that
performs arithmetic and logic operations.

Computer ● The ALU is used for addition, subtraction,

multiplication, division, comparison of two

System numbers, and Boolean operations.

● The ALU performs calculations and is capable of

takes logical decisions.

● Arithmetic and Logic Unit used to make decisions

like performing arithmetic and logical operations on
the computer.

● ALU is like a bridge between the computer’s primary

memory and the secondary memory. All the data
and instructions that are exchanged between the
primary and secondary memory pass through the
Arithmetic and Logic Unit ( ALU ).
 Control Unit (CU)
● The control unit (CU) is the part of a computer that
controls what happens inside it.

● It is like the brain of a computer, making decisions

and controlling what goes on inside the machine.
Computer ● The control unit controls the order in which

System instructions move in and out of the processor and

so on.

● Control Unit responsible for fetches decodes, and

executes the input data, converting it into signal
and storing it for further processing.

● Control Unit ( CU ) controls the functioning of other

hardware components of the CPU like ALU and
Registers.

● Control Unit issues the control signals that control

computer hardware.

● The control unit moves the data around the

computer system.
 Memory or Storage Unit
● A memory or storage unit in a computer is an
electronic device that stores data, programs, and
other information.
● The two main types of memory Volatile and
Computer ●
nonvolatile memory
Volatile memory is a type of storage whose

System contents are erased when the system's power is

turned off or interrupted. An example of volatile
memory is RAM (random access memory).
● Non-volatile memory (NVM) is a type of computer
memory that has the capability to hold saved data
even if the power is turned off. Unlike volatile
memory, NVM does not require its memory data to
be periodically refreshed. It is commonly used for
secondary storage or long-term consistent storage.
An example of volatile memory is HDD (random
access memory).
Software
 Software is a set of instructions, data or programs used to
operate computers and execute specific tasks. It is the
opposite of hardware, which describes the physical
aspects of a computer. Software is a generic term used to
refer to applications, scripts and programs that run on a

Software
device. It can be thought of as the variable part of a
computer, while hardware is the invariable part.

The two main categories of software are

● Application software
● System software
 System Software
System software sits between the computer hardware and
the application software. Users do not interact directly
with system software as it runs in the background,

Computer
handling the basic functions of the computer. This
software coordinates a system's hardware and software

System
so users can run high-level application software to
perform specific actions.
 Application Software
System software sits between the computer hardware and
the application software. Users do not interact directly
with system software as it runs in the background,

Computer
handling the basic functions of the computer. This
software coordinates a system's hardware and software

System
so users can run high-level application software to
perform specific actions.
Networking
 What is a network?

In information technology, a network is defined as the

Networking
connection of at least two computer systems, either by a
cable or a wireless connection. The simplest network is a
combination of two computers connected by a cable. This
type of network is called a peer-to-peer network.
 Computer Network Types

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A

computer network is mainly of four types:

Networking ● LAN(Local Area Network)

● PAN(Personal Area Network)
● MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
● WAN(Wide Area Network)
 LAN (Local Area Network)

● Local Area Network is a group of computers

connected to each other in a small area such as
building, office.

Networking ● LAN is used for connecting two or more personal

computers through a communication medium such
as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
● It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive
hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and
ethernet cables.
● The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in
Local Area Network.
● Local Area Network provides higher security.
 PAN (Personal Area Network)
● Personal Area Network is a network arranged within
an individual person, typically within a range of 10
meters.

Networking
● Personal Area Network is used for connecting the
computer devices of personal use is known as
Personal Area Network.
● Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist
to bring the idea of the Personal Area Network.
● Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.
● Personal computer devices that are used to develop
the personal area network are the laptop, mobile
phones, media player and play stations.
 MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
● A metropolitan area network is a network that
covers a larger geographic area by interconnecting a
different LAN to form a larger network.

Networking
● Government agencies use MAN to connect to the
citizens and private industries.
● In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other
through a telephone exchange line.
● The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232,
Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
● It has a higher range than Local Area Network(LAN).
 WAN (Wide Area Network)

● A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over

a large geographical area such as states or
countries.

Networking ● A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than

the LAN.
● A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single
location, but it spans over a large geographical area
through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or
satellite links.
● The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
● A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of
Business, government, and education.
Internet
 What is internet ?

The Internet is a vast network that connects computers all

over the world. Through the Internet, people can share
information and communicate from anywhere with an

Internet Internet connection.

Important terms

● Server
● Client
● Domain
● Email
AI (Artificial intelligence)
 What is AI ?

The major limitation in defining AI as simply “building

machines that are intelligent” is that it doesn't actually
explain what AI is and what makes a machine intelligent.
Artificial AI is an interdisciplinary science with multiple approaches,
but advancements in machine learning and deep learning

intelligence are creating a paradigm shift in virtually every sector of the

tech industry.
 Machine Learning

Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI)

and computer science which focuses on the use of data
and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn,
Artificial gradually improving its accuracy.

intelligence Over the last couple of decades, the technological

advances in storage and processing power have enabled
some innovative products based on machine learning,
such as Netflix’s recommendation engine and self-driving
cars.
Future
 Internet of things (IoT)?
Future The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of
physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with
sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose
of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and
systems over the internet. These devices range from
ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial
tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices
today, experts are expecting this number to grow to 10
billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025. Oracle has a
network of device partners.
 Quantum computing
Future Even the most powerful conventional computer can only
assign a one or a zero to each bit. Quantum computing, by
contrast, uses quantum bits, or qubits, which can be a
zero, a one, both at once, or some point in between, all at
the same time. (Brain bending, yes, but see WIRED’s
surprisingly understandable explanation.) Current
quantum computers are loud and unreliable, but in the
next 10 or 20 years they’ll be able to help us design new
materials and chemical compounds and create
unhackable channels of communication to protect
everything from financial transactions to troop
movements.
 Neuromorphic technology

Future The goal of this technology is to create a computer that

mimics the architecture of the human brain in order to
achieve human levels of problem solving – and perhaps
even cognition at some point – while requiring hundreds
of thousands of times less energy than a traditional
transistor. We aren’t there yet, but in early 2020, Intel rolled
out a new server based on neuromorphic chips that it
claims has roughly the same neural capacity as a small
mammal’s brain. And in a development that would once
have been science fiction, an international team of
researchers has linked artificial and biological neurons to
communicate like a biological nervous system but one
that uses internet protocols.
“Technology is nothing. What's important is that
you have a faith in people, that they're basically
good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll
do wonderful things with them.”

- Steve Jobs
Thank you