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The document provides an overview of computers, detailing their functionalities, advantages, disadvantages, applications across various fields, and the five generations of computer technology. It highlights the speed, versatility, and reliance on human instructions as key characteristics of computers, while also noting their limitations such as lack of intelligence and emotions. Additionally, it discusses the significant role computers play in business, education, healthcare, engineering, defense, communication, and government services.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
15 views40 pages

bhanu123 (1)

The document provides an overview of computers, detailing their functionalities, advantages, disadvantages, applications across various fields, and the five generations of computer technology. It highlights the speed, versatility, and reliance on human instructions as key characteristics of computers, while also noting their limitations such as lack of intelligence and emotions. Additionally, it discusses the significant role computers play in business, education, healthcare, engineering, defense, communication, and government services.

Uploaded by

Swati Deshmukh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a Computer

1 Functionalities of a Computer

2 Advantages of Computer

3 Disadvantages of Computer

4 Application of Computer in Various Fields

5 Generations of Computer
There are three basic functionalities of a computer system and
they are

1. Input
2. Process
3. Output

But if we look at it in a very broad sense, any digital computer


carries out the following five functions:
Computer
Input Process Output
Following are certain advantages of computers.
high speed
 Computer is a very fast device.
 It is capable of performing calculation of very large amount of data.
 The computer has units of speed in microsecond, nanosecond, and even
the picosecond.
 It can perform millions of calculation in a few seconds as compared to
man who will spend many months to perform the same task.
versatility
A computer is a very versatile machine.
A computer is very flexible in performing the jobs to be done.
This machine can be used to solve the problems related to various
fields.
At one instance, it may be solving a complex scientific problem and
the very next moment it may be playing a card game.
Following are certain disadvantages of computers.

No I.Q.

A computer is a machine that has no intelligence to


perform any task.
Each instruction has to be given to the computer.
A computer cannot take any decision on its own.
It functions aa per the user’s instruction, thus it is fully dependent on
humans.

Environment
The operating environment of the computer should be dust free and
suitable.

No Feeling
Computer have no feelings or emotions.
It cannot make judgment based on felling, taste, experience, and
knowledge unlike humans.
• Business
A computer has high speed of calculation, diligence, accuracy, reliability, or
versatility which has made it an integrated part in all business organizations.

Computer is used in business organizations for:

 Payroll Calculations
 Budgeting
 Sales Analysis
 Managing Employee Database
 Maintenance of Stocks, etc.
Today, banking is almost totally dependent on
computers.
Banks provide the following facilities:

 Online accounting facility, which includes


checking current balance, marking deposits and
overdrafts, checking interest charges, shares, and
trustee records.
 ATM machines which are completely automated
are making it even easier for customers to deal
with banks.
Insurance companies are keeping all records up-to-date with the help of
computers. Insurance companies, stock broking firms are widely using computers
for their concerns.

Insurance companies are maintaining a database of all clients with information


showing:

 Procedure to continue with policies


 Starting date of the policies
 Next due installment of a policy
 Maturity date
 Interests due
 Survival benefits
 Bonus
The computer helps in providing a lot of facilities in the education system.

 The computer provides a tool in the education system known as


CBE(Computer Based Education).

 CBE involves control, delivery, and evaluation of learning.

 Computer education is rapidly increasing the graph of number of computer


students.

 There are a number of methods in which educational institutions can use a


computer to educate the students.

 It is used to prepare a database about performance of a student and


analysis is carried out on this basis.
In marketing, uses of the computer are following:

 Advertising- With computers, advertising


professionals create art and graphics, write and
revise copy, and print and disseminate ads with the
goal of selling more products.

 Home Shopping- Home shopping has been made


possible through the use of computerized
catalogues that provide access to product
information and permit direct entry of orders to be
filled by the customers.
Computers have become an important part in hospitals, labs, and dispensaries. They are being
used in hospitals to keep the record of patients and medicines. It is also used in scanning and
diagnosing different diseases. ECG, EFG, ultrasounds and CT scans, etc. are also done by
computerized machines.

Following are some major fields of health care in which computers are used.

 Diagnostic System – Computers are used to collect data and identify the cause of illness.

 Lab-diagnostic System – All tests can be done and the reports are prepared by computer.

 Patient Monitoring System – These are used to check the patient’s signs for abnormality
such as in Cardiac Arrest, ECG, etc
 .
 Pharma Information System – Computer is used to check drug labels, expiry dates, harmful
side effects, etc.

 Surgery – Nowadays, computers are also used in performing surgery.


Computers are widely used for Engineering purpose.

One of the major areas is CAD (Computer Aided Design) that provides creation
and modification of images. Some of the fields are:

 Structural Engineering – Requires stress and strain analysis for design of


ships, buildings, budgets, airplanes, etc.

 Industrial Engineering – Computers deal with design, implementation,


and improvement of integrated systems of people, materials, and
equipment.

 Architectural Engineering – Computers help in planning towns,


designing buildings, determining a range of buildings on a site using
both 2D and 3D drawings.
Computers are largely used in defense. Modern
tanks, missiles, weapons, etc. Military also
employs computerized control systems. Some
military areas where a computer has been used
are:

 Missile Control
 Military Communication
 Military Operation and Planning
 Smart Weapons
Communication is a way to convey a message, an idea, a
picture, or speech that is received and understood clearly
and correctly by the person for whom it is meant. Some
main areas in this category are:

 E-mail
 Chatting
 Usenet
 FTP
 Telnet
 Video-conferencing
Computers play an important role in government
services. Some major fields in this category are:

 Budgets
 Sales tax department
 Income tax department
 Computation of male/female ratio
 Computerization of voter’s lists
 Computerization of PAN card
 Weather forecasting
Generation in computer terminology is a change
in technology a computer is/was being used.
Initially, the generation term was used to
distinguish between varying hardware
technologies.
Nowadays, generation include both hardware
and software, which together make up an entire
computer system.
There are five computer generations
known till date. Each generation has been
discussed in detail along with their time
period and characteristics. In the
following table, approximate dates
against each generation has been
mentioned, which are normally accepted.
SI. No. Generation & Description
1 Frist Generation
The period of first generation:1946-1959. Vacuum tube
based.
2 Second Generation
The period of second generation: 1959-1965. Transistor
based.
3 Third Generation
The period of third generation:1965-1971.Integrated
Circuit based.
4 Fourth Generation
The period of fourth generation:1971-1980.VLSI
microprocessor based.
5 Fifth Generation
The period of fifth generation:1980-onwards. ULSI
microprocessor based.
Frist Generation Computers
The period of first generation was from 1946-1959. The computers
of first generation used vacuum tubes as the basic components for
memory and circuitry for CPU (Central Processing Unit). These tubes,
like electric bulbs, produced a lot of heat and the installations used
to fuse frequently. Therefore, they were very expensive and only
large organizations were able to afford it.

In this generation, mainly batch processing operating system was


used. Punch cards, paper tape, and magnetic tape was used as input
and output devices. The computers in this generation used machine
code as the programming language.
 Vacuum tube technology
 Unreliable
 Supported machine language only
 Very costly
 Generates lot of heat
 Slow input and output devices
 Huge size
 Need of AC
 Non-portable
 Consumes lot of electricity
 ENIAC
 EDVAC
 UNIVAC
 IBM-701
 IBM-750
The period of second generation was from 1959-1965. In
this generation, transistors were used that were cheaper,
consumed less power, more compact in size, more reliable
and faster than the first-generation machines made of
vacuum tubes. In this generation, magnetic cores were
used as the primary memory and magnetic tape and
magnetic disks as secondary storage devices.

In this generation, assembly language and high-level


programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL were used.
The computers used batch processing and
multiprogramming operating system
• Use of transistors
• Reliable in comparison to first generation computers
• Smaller size as compared to first generation computers
• Generates less heat as compared to first generation
computers
• Consumed less electricity as compared to first generation
computers
• Faster than first generation computers
• Still very costly
• AC required
• Supported machine and assembly languages
 IBM 1620
 IBM 7094
 CDC 1604
 CDC 3600
 UNIVAC 1108
The period of third generation was from 1965-1971. The
computers of third generation used Integrated Circuits (ICs)
in place of transistors. A single IC has many transistors,
resistors, and capacitors along with the associated circuitry.

The IC was invented by Jack Kirby. This development made


computers smaller in size, reliable, and efficient. In this
generation remote processing, time-sharing, multi-
programming operating system were used. High-level
languages (FORTRAN-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC,
ALGOL-68 etc.) were used during this generation.
• IC used
• More reliable in comparison to previous two generations
• Smaller size
• Generated less heat
• Faster
• Lesser maintenance
• Costly
• AC required
• Consumed lesser electricity
• Supported high-level language
 IBM-360 series
 Honeywell-6000 series
 PDP (Personal Data Processor)
 IBM-370/168
 TDC-316
The period of fourth generation was from 1971-1980.
Computers of fourth generation used Very Large Scale
Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits having about 5000
transistors and other circuit elements with their associated
circuits on a single chip made it possible to have
microcomputers of fourth generation.

Fourth generation computers became more powerful,


compact, reliable, and affordable. As a result, it gave rise
to Personal Computer (PC) revolution. In this generation,
time sharing, real time networks, distributed operating
system were used. All the high-level languages like C,
C++, DBASE etc., were used in this generation.
• VLSI technology used
• Very cheap
• Portable and reliable
• Use of PCs
• Very small size
• Pipeline processing
• No AC required
• Concept of internet was introduced
• Great developments in the fields of networks
• Computers became easily available
 DEC 10
 STAR 1000
 PDP 11
 CRAY-1(super computer)
 CRAY-X-MP(super computer)
The period of fifth generation is 1980-till date. In the fifth
generation, VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large Scale
Integration) technology, resulting in the production of
microprocessor chips having ten million electronic
components.

This generation is based on parallel processing hardware


and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software. AI is an emerging
branch in computer science, which interprets the means
and method of making computers think like human beings.
All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc.,
are used in this generation.
• ULSI technology
• Development of true artificial intelligence
• Development of Natural language processing
• Advancement in Parallel Processing
• Advancement in Superconductor technology
• More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia
features
• Availability of very powerful and compact
computers at cheaper rates
• Desktop
• Laptop
• Notebook
• Ultrabook
• Chromebook

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