Introduction to

Computer

Ms. Blessilda M. Resurreccion

College of Accountancy, Business and Economics
Introduction to 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.
Functionalities Of A Computer
• Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross
terms.

– Takes Data as Input

– Stores the data/Instructions in its memory and use
them when required.
– Processes the data and coverts it into useful
Information.
– Generates the Output.
– Control all the above four steps.
Characteristics Of Computer

Balagurusamy (2009), states those unique capabilities and characteristics of a

computer have made it very popular among its various users, including
engineers, managers, accountants, teachers, students, etc. The characteristics
and capabilities of a modern digital computer include, among others:
Speed
•A computer is a fast electronic device that can solve large and complex
problems in few seconds. The speed of a computer generally depends upon
its hardware configuration.
Storage capacity
•A computer can store huge amount of data in its different storage
components in many different formats. The storage area of a computer
system is generally divided into two categories, main memory and secondary
storage.
Accuracy
•A computer carries out calculations with great accuracy. The accuracy
achieved by a computer depends upon its hardware configuration and the
instructions.
Characteristics Of Computer

Reliability
•A computer produces results with no error. Most of the errors
generated in the computer are human errors that are created by the
user itself. Therefore, they are very trustworthy machines.
Versatility
•Computers are versatile machines. They can perform many different
tasks and can be used for many different purposes.
Diligence
•Computers can perform repetitive calculations any number of times
with the same accuracy. Computers do not suffer from human traits,
such as tiredness, fatigue, lack of concentration, etc.
Characteristics Of Computer

Although computers are highly reliable and versatile machines, they do

possess certain limitations. Since computers are capable of doing only
what they are instructed to do, any wrong instruction (or faulty logic)
or any wrong data may result in erroneous output. This is popularly
known as “ Garbage-In, Garbage-Out” (GIGO).

Computer is a dumb machine and therefore lacks “common sense”.

Anything it does is a result of human instructions. It carries out
instructions as long as it can understand them, no matter whether they
are right or wrong. Although computers can be instructed to make
certain decisions based on mathematical or logical equations, they
cannot make decisions in situations where qualitative considerations
are involved.
Computer Components

Any kind of computers consists of

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.

Hardware
Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that
constitutes a computer system. Computer hardware refers to
the physical parts or components of a computer such as the
monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard drive
disk (HDD), system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory,
motherboard and chips), etc. all of which are physical objects
that can be touched.
Input Devices

Input device is any peripheral

(piece of computer hardware
equipment to provide data
and control signals to an
information processing
system such as a computer or
other information appliance.
Input device Translate data
from form that humans
understand to one that the
computer can work with.
Most common are keyboard
and mouse
 Example of Input Devices:
1. Keyboard 2. Mouse (pointing device) 3. Microphone

4. Touch screen 5. Scanner 6. Webcam

7. Touchpads 8. MIDI keyboard

10.Graphics Tablets 11.Cameras 12.Pen Input

13.Video Capture Hardware 14.Microphone 15.Trackballs

16.Barcode reader 17.Digital camera 18.Joystick

19.Gamepad 20.Electronic Whiteboard

Note: The most common use keyboard is the QWERTY keyboard. Generally standard Keyboard has 104
keys.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

A CPU is brain of a
computer. It is
responsible for all
functions and
processes. Regarding
computing power, the
CPU is the most
important element of a
computer system.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The CPU is comprised of three main parts :

1. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): Executes all arithmetic

and logical operations. Arithmetic calculations like as
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Logical operation like compare numbers, letters, or
special characters
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU is comprised of three main parts :

2. Control Unit (CU): controls and co-ordinates computer components.

– Read the code for the next instruction to be executed.
– Increment the program counter so it points to the next
instruction.
– Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in
memory.
– Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register.
– If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to
complete, instruct the hardware to perform the requested
operation.
Primary Memory

3. . Registers :Stores the data that is to be executed next, "very fast storage
area".

• RAM: Random Access Memory (RAM) is a memory scheme within the

computer system responsible for storing data on a temporary basis, so
that it can be promptly accessed by the processor as and when needed. It
is volatile in nature, which means that data will be erased once supply to
the storage device is turned off. RAM stores data randomly and the
processor accesses these data randomly from the RAM storage. RAM is
considered "random access" because you can access any memory cell
directly if you know the row and column that intersect at that cell.

• ROM (Read Only Memory): is a permanent form of storage. ROM stays

active regardless of whether power supply to it is turned on or off. ROM
devices do not allow data stored on them to be modified.
 Secondary Memory
• Stores data and programs permanently: its retained after the power is turned off

• Hard drive (HD): A hard disk is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive," "hard
drive," or "hard disk drive," that store and provides relatively quick access to large
amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface or set of surfaces.

• Optical Disk: an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light as part
of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can
only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders,
also called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs are common
types of optical media which can be read and recorded by such drives. Optical
drive is the generic name; drives are usually described as "CD" "DVD", or "Bluray",
followed by "drive", "writer", etc. There are three main types of optical media: CD,
DVD, and Blu-ray disc. CDs can store up to 700 megabytes (MB) of data and DVDs
can store up to 8.4 GB of data. Blu-ray discs, which are the newest type of optical
media, can store up to 50 GB of data. This storage capacity is a clear advantage
over the floppy disk storage media (a magnetic media), which only has a capacity
of 1.44 MB.
Secondary Memory

Flash Disk
A storage module made of flash memory chips. A Flash disks
have no mechanical platters or access arms, but the term
"disk" is used because the data are accessed as if they were
on a hard drive. The disk storage structure is emulated.
Comparison between RAM and HARD DISK
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) which converts the
electronically generated information into human-
readable form.
Software

Software is a generic term for organized collections

of computer data and instructions, often broken into
two major categories:

1. system software that provides the basic non- task-

specific functions of the computer, and

2. application software which is used by users to

accomplish specific tasks.
Software Types

System Software

Application Software
System software

System software is responsible for controlling, integrating,

and managing the individual hardware components of a
computer system so that other software and the users of the
system see it as a functional unit without having to be
concerned with the low-level details such as transferring data
from memory to disk, or rendering text onto a display.

Generally, system software consists of an operating system

and some fundamental utilities such as disk formatters, file
managers, display managers, text editors, user
authentication (login) and management tools, and
networking and device control software.
Application software

Application software is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just

running the computer system.

Application software may consist of a single program, such as an image

viewer; a small collection of programs (often called a software package)
that work closely together to accomplish a task, such as a spreadsheet or
text processing system;
a larger collection (often called a software suite) of related but
independent programs and packages that have a common user interface
or shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of closely
integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.;
or a software system, such as a database management system, which is a
collection of fundamental programs that may provide some service to a
variety of other independent applications.
Comparison Application Software and System
Software
System Software Application Software

Computer software, or just software is a general

term primarily used for digitally stored data such
Application software, also known as an
as computer programs and other kinds of
application or an "app", is computer
information read and written by computers. App
software designed to help the user to
comes under computer software though it has a
perform specific tasks.
wide scope now.

1) Opera (Web Browser)

1. Microsoft Windows 2) Microsoft Word (Word Processing)
2. Linux 3) Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet software)
Example: 3. Unix 4) MySQL (Database Software)
4. Mac OSX 5) Microsoft PowerPoint (Presentation
5. DOS Software)
6) Adobe Photoshop (Graphics Software)

Interaction: Generally, users do not interact with system Users always interact with application software
software as it works in the background. while doing different activities.

Dependency: System software can run independently of the

application software.
Application software cannot run without the
presence of the system software.
Unit of Measurements

Storage measurements: The basic unit used in computer data

storage is called a bit (binary digit). Computers use these little
bits, which are composed of ones and zeros, to do things and talk
to other computers. All your files, for instance, are kept in the
computer as binary files and translated into words and pictures by
the software (which is also ones and zeros). This two number
system, is called a “binary number system” since it has only two
numbers in it. The decimal number system in contrast has ten
unique digits, zero through nine.
A Brief History
of Computers
Pre-Mechanical Computing

• From Counting on fingers

• to hash marks in sand
• to pebbles
• to hash marks on walls
• to hash marks on bone
Mechanical computers

• From The Abacus c. 4000 BCE

• to Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine (1812
CE)
Mechanical computers:
The Abacus (c. 4000 BCE)
Napier’s Bones and Logarithms (1617)
Oughtred’s (1621) and Schickard‘s (1623) slide rule
Blaise Pascal’s Pascaline (1645)
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’s
Stepped Reckoner (1674)
Joseph-Marie Jacquard and his punched card
controlled looms (1804)
Preparing the cards with the pattern for the cloth to
be woven
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
The Father of Computers
Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine
Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine
Lady Augusta Ada
Countess of Lovelace
Electro-mechanical computers

• From Herman Hollerith’s 1890 Census Counting

Machine
• to Howard Aiken and the Harvard Mark I (1944)
Herman Hollerith and his
Census Tabulating Machine (1884)
A closer look at the Census Tabulating Machine
The Harvard Mark I (1944) aka IBM’s Automatic Sequence
Controlled Calculator (ASCC)
The first computer bug

Rear Admiral Dr. Grace

Murray Hopper
Electronic digital computers

• From John Vincent Atanasoff’s 1939 Atanasoff-Berry

Computer (ABC)
• to the present day
Alan Turing
1912-1954

• The Turing Machine

• Aka
• The Universal Machine
• 1936
John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)

Physics Prof at
Iowa State
University,
Ames, IA
Clifford Berry (1918-1963)

PhD student
of
Dr. Atanasoff’s
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
1939
Bletchley Park’s Colossus
1943

The Enigma
Machine
The ENIAC
1946

John Presper Eckert

(1919-1995)
and
John Mauchly
(1907-1980)
of the
University of
Pennsylvania Moore
School of Engineering
The ENIAC: Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer
Programming the ENIAC
Univac
1951
1952 – 1960
• 1953 The IBM 701 becomes available to the scientific community. A total of 19
are produced and sold.
• 1954 IBM produces and markets the IBM 650. More than 1,800 of these
computers are sold in an eight-year span
• 1955 Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer. Transistors are faster,
smaller and create less heat than traditional vacuum tubs, making these
computers more reliable and efficient.
• 1955 The ENIAC is turned off for the last time. It’s estimated to have done more
arithmetic than the entire human race had done prior to 1945.
• 1956 IBM’s 3005 RAMAC is the first computer to be shipped with a hard disk
drive.
• 1957 IBM announces it will no longer be using vacuum tubes and releases its first
computer that had 2000 transistors.
• 1957 Russia launches the first artificial satellite, named sputnik.
• 1958 The first integrated chip is first developed by Robert Noyce of Fairchild
Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. The first microchip was
demonstrated on September 12, 1958.
1960 – 1971

• 1961 General Motors puts the first industrial robot – the 4,000 pound Unimate – to work in
a New Jersey factory.
• 1963 Doug Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse.
• 1963 The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to
standardize data exchange among computers.
• 1964 Dartmouth University’s John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner’s All-
purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC).
• 1965 Ted Nelson coins the term "hypertext," which refers to text that is not necessarily
linear.
• 1967 IBM creates the first floppy disk.
• 1969 AT&T Bell Laboratories develop Unix.
• 1969 The U.S. Department of Defense sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network (ARPANET ) this network was the first building blocks to what the internet is today.
• 1970 Intel announces the 1103, a new memory chip containing more than 1,000 bits of
information. This chip is classified as random-access memory (RAM).
• 1970 Intel introduces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
• 1971 The first 8" floppy diskette drive was introduced
• 1971 The first laser printer is developed at Xerox PARC.
1972 – 1980

• 1972 Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game.

• 1972 The compact disc is invented in the United States.
• 1973 Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
• 1974 Intel’s improved microprocessor chip, the 8080 becomes a standard in the microcomputing
industry.
• 1974 IBM develops SEQUEL, which today is known as SQL today.
• 1975 MITS ships one of the first PCs, the Altair 8800 with one kilobyte (KB) of memory. The computer is
ordered as a mail-order kit for $397.00
• 1975 Paul Allen and Bill Gates write the first computer language program for personal computers,
which is a form of BASIC designed for the Altair.
• 1975 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs co-found Apple Computers.
• 1976 The first 5.25-inch floppy disk is invented.
• 1976 Microsoft introduces an improved version of BASIC.
• 1976 The Intel 8086 is introduced.
• 1978 The 5.25-inch floppy disk becomes an industry standard.
• 1979 Texas Instruments enters the computer market with the TI 99/4 personal computer that sells
for $1,500.
• 1979 Atari introduces a coin-operated version of Asteroids.
• 1979 More then half a million computers are in use in the United States.
• 1979 The Motorola 6800 is released and is later chosen as the processor for the Apple Macintosh.
Acknowledgements

• Bullet items of history taken from

www.computerhope.com
• Early history based on a presentation by Bernard
John Poole, MSIS
– Associate Professor of Education and Instructional
Technology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown