CSC 333(Computer Application)

Review of Computer System:

Fundamental Concepts

Instructor: Dr. Mrs. A.O. Amoo

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Review of Computer System:
Fundamental Concepts
A computer system is any machine which can accept data and information
presented to it in a prescribed form, carry out some operations on the input
and supplies the result in a specified format as information

The main purpose of using computer is to process data quickly and

efficiently so that the information obtained is timely, meaningful and
accurate.

Thus computers are said to read incoming data called input, process the
data and produce outgoing information called output.

These basic functions of the computer can be represented systematically as

in the figure below
Incoming Data Computer Information/
Output

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Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
To complement the definition of the computer above, we give the following basic
facts which are essential to understanding clearly what a computer is and what is
not
• The computer is automatic: we assume that a machine is automatic if it works
without human intervention
• The computer is a general purpose machine
• The computer is electronic

HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
 The computer has gone through generations of change, development and
improvement. It can be traced through long line of calculating and recording
methods.

 The genesis of these methods is the tying and knots in pieces of rope, this method
was to keep track live stocks. Then carving marks on clay or stone emerged, and
was employed in recording transactions.

 The ABACUS – a device made of beads strung on wires was thereafter developed
and was for adding and subtracting

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Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Generations of Electronic Digital Computer

First Generation
 Period 1946 – 1959

 The first large scale vacuum tube computer

 The first commercial electronic computer ENIAC (Electronic Numerical

Integrator and Calculator)
 Instructions' were coded mainly in machine language

 Costly to buy

 Expensive to power

 Limited internal storage (consisted of magnetic drums)

 Punch cards were used to enter data into the machines

Second Generation
 period 1959 – 1965

 Based on solid transistor technology ( replaced vacuum technology)

 Internal storage used magnetic cores ( replaced magnetic drums)

 More Sophisticated, English like Computer languages were used for coding

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Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
 External storage supplemented internal storage ( e.g. magnetic tapes, magnetic disks)
 The computer became smaller in size, faster, more reliable and much greater in
processing capability
 Most popular of this period was IBM 1401

Third Generation
 Period 1965 – 1970
 Employed Integrated solid circuits technology
 Used less power
 Cost less
 Smaller
 Improved secondary storage device and new input/output devices ( Visual display
terminal, magnetic ink reader, high speed printer
 Multiprogramming and multiprocessing was possible
 Most popular of this period was IBM 360/370 series, UNIVAC 1108, 9000

Fourth Generation

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
 period 1970 – till date
 Employed large scale integrated circuitry
 Internal memory employed Metal Oxide Semiconductor which is faster and
cheaper than core
 Emergence of microprocessor and invariably the micro computer
 Much faster, less expensive
 Experts system
 Neural networks
 Artificial intelligence and robotics

Classification of Computers
Computers are classified into three major categories
 Types

 Purpose

 Size

Classification by Types
 Analog : this are computer which measure changes in continuous physical or
electrical states e.g. pressure and temperature.

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Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
 Digital : these are computers which perform calculation by counting numbers
precisely. In a digital computer data is represented by discrete states ( on and off
or yes/no) of the computer electronic circuitry. Numbers letters and symbols are
represented by a code based on the binary number system.

 Hybrid: these are computers which may be conceived as a combination of

Analogue and Hybrid

Classification by Purpose
 Special purpose Computers: these are designed for a particular purpose of job,
outside which they become redundant. Examples include: currency counter,
traffic lights, computer machines used in marking objective questions

 General Purpose Computer: these are designed to solved a variety of problem.

User makes use of programmable computer to perform any operations

Classification by Size
 Super Computers

 Mainframes
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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
 Mini Computers
 Micro Computers

Functional Parts of a Computer

Computers are machines which perform simple operations but are capable of doing
it with great speed and accuracy. A computer systems consists of the following
 The Central Processing Unit (CPU)

 The Input Unit

 The Output Unit

The CPU is the heart of the computer. It consists of the following logic units
 The Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

 Main/Primary/Internal Storage

 The Control Unit

The ALU performs the arithmetic operations of adding, subtraction, multiplication

and division. It also performs logical operations which includes the combination
of equality
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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
 Equal to ( =)
 Not Equal to ≠
 Greater than >
 Less than <
 Equal to or greater than ≥
 Equal to or less than ≤

Functions of the ALU

 Manipulates data
 Performs Arithmetic computations
 Performs logical operations

The Main/Primary storage

It stores information ( i.e instructions, data and intermediate and final result of
processing) that arrives via the input unit so that this information is available to the
ALU when actual calculations are to be performed.

It also retains the result of the ALU calculation so that they can be presented to the
user via the output unit

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts

The Secondary/Mass/Back Up Memory

Generally in most computers the amount of data required by a program or set of
instructions exceeds the capacity of the primary memory.

To solve this problem of limited memory capacity, data (especially that are not
needed for immediate execution) is stored on secondary memory

Secondary storage generally has very large memory capacity ( much larger than
that of primary).
It is generally slower than primary memory.
It is much cheaper than primary memory.
Common secondary memory devices include: Hard disc, flash drives e.t.c

The Control Unit

It coordinates the operations ( i.e. maintains order and control activity) of the other
two unit (input and Output units) in the CPU. It does not process or store data; it
directs the sequence of operations

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Input Unit
A computer needs specific auxiliary devices to enter data in to the CPU. Data input
is therefore an important activity in any computer based system because it is the
communication link between the people and the machine. Examples are
keyboard, scanners, light pen, mouse, digitizer e.t.c

Output Unit
Output Machines are necessary for communicating computerized results from the
computer to the user. Printers constitute the most popular output device for a
computer.

Computer Software Subsystem

The computer software sub system consists of all programs that can be used on a
computer. The term more specifically refers to all programs which in some way
can assist all users of a particular type of computer to make the best use of the
machine as distinct from specific programs written to solve the problems of any
particular user, a software sub system can be broadly divided into two:

 System software
 Application Software
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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
System Software: this are software responsible for ensuring optimal utilization of the
hardware resources ( processor, memory, peripherals) as well as simplifying the use
of the computer system as a whole. They include Operating Systems, Translators (e.g.
compilers, assembler, interpreter e.t.c.

Application Software
This are ready made programs which are designed in a generalized but standard way for
solving application problems which are common to many users e.g. Payroll,
accounting, stock control e.t.c.

Generalised Application Package

 Dbase packages e.g. DbaseIII+, Dbase 4, Fox base, Fox pro, MS Acess, PostgreSQL
 Relational Database Management Systems e.g. Progress, Ingress, Oracle, Informix,
MYSQL, Microsoft SQL Server e.t.c
 Spreadsheet Packages e.g Uniplex, Microsoft Excel, Quattro, Lotus 123
 Statistical Packages e.g. SPSS, R for statistical programming, SAS (Statistical
Analysis Software
 Graphics e.g. Corel Draw, Adobe Photo Shop, Ms Paints, Auto Cad
 Word Processing e.g. Word Perfect, Wordstar, Microsoft Word
 Desk Top Publishing e.g. Adobe Page Maker, Corel VENTURA

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Data and Information
In carrying out day to day activities every business or organization needs information

Data
Data can be described as basic facts ( numbers, symbols or aggregates of one or more
of these) which are raw or undesired in their present state or form and need to be
transformed into a desired form.

it can also be defined as facts that explained the activities of an organization e.g.
number of hours worked, rate of pay, amount and type of materials used in a
particular state.

Information
The desired form into which data is finally transformed after undergoing a series of
processing is called information or simply put information id generated when data
have been subjected to processing or manipulation

In an institution the marks that all graduating student obtained in their degree
examination constitute data that need to be processed. Processing of these data can
yield meaningful information such as overall GPA’s and classes of degree for the
students.

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Computer Languages
 A computer language is the language which is used to write a program for the
computer.
 A program is named according to its written language. Hence we have machine
language, BASIC language, FORTRAN language e.t.c
 The purpose of the programming language is to establish communication link
between the computers and their users, computer languages can be classified into
three namely:

Machine Language
Low level language
High level language

Machine Language
This is the only language understood by the computer. Computers only understand
instructions written in terms of electric signals symbolically represented as binary
digits (0’s and 1’s), octal or hexadecimal in form.

As a result there is no need for interpretation or translation. It is not easy to write

programs in machine codes because one has to master the codes for many
instructions used and one has to keep track of storage location used.

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Low level Language
Low level language is quite different from machine language. As such a translator
is needed to convert them to machine codes.
Low level languages are written using mnemonics and Pseudo codes to
represent instructions e.g. addition and subtraction are designed as ADD and SUB
Examples are assembly language and C language

High level Language

High level language makes programming task simpler, they are written using
ordinary English words to explain the operations.
Translator are required to transform the high level language to machine language.
Examples are BASIC ( Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code),
FORTRAN COBOL, PASCAL, Ada, Lisp, Prolog, JAVA e.t.c

Source Language
This is the program written in either a low level or high level language before being
translated to machine language program

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Object Program
This is the program that results from translation of the source program

Translator
A translator is a program that takes as input a program written in one programming
language (source language) and produces as output a program in another
language ( Object or Target Language),

If the source language is a high level language and the target language is a low
level language such as assembly or machine language such translator is called
compiler

If the source language is assembly language and the target language is a

machine language such translator is called Assembler

If the source language is transformed into intermediate code which can be

directly executed using another program, the latter program is called an
Interpreter.

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Information Systems
 Information systems are combinations of hardware, software and
telecommunications network that people build and use to collect, create and
distribute useful data typically in an organizational settings.

 The field of IS is huge, diverse and growing and encompasses many different people,
purposes, systems and technologies.

 The technology part of information systems is the hardware, software and

telecommunication networks.

 The people who build, manage, use, and study information systems make up the
people components. They include system analyst, systems programmer, information
systems professors and many others

Technology
it is any mechanical and/or electrical means to supplement, extend or replace human
manual operations or devices. Sample technologies include the heating and cooling
system of building, the braking system of an automobile and a laser used for surgery.

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 Review of Computer System: Fundamental Concepts
Information Technology
 Information Technology refers to machine technology that is controlled by or uses
information. One type of information is a programmable robot on the shop floor of a
manufacturing firm that receives component specifications and operational
instructions from a computer based database.

 Technology makes use of information in some fundamental way. However IT use

more information in a more sophisticated way.

 IT uses machine technology as building blocks and then combine with computing and
networking technologies e.g. a technology as a mechanical drill press is useful, but it
is more useful when combined with a computer database that instructs that drill
press when and how to act

Introduction to Number Representation

Binary
All computer processing is carried out digitally.
This means that the processor handles instructions as binary codes – zeros and ones.
All data on a PC is essentially 0’s and 1’s.

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 Data Forms

Human communication
Includes language, images and sounds
Computers
Process and store all forms of data in binary format
Conversion to computer-usable representation using
data formats
Define the different ways human data may be
represented, stored and processed by a computer

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Data conversion and representation

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Common Data Representations

Type of Data Standard(s)

Alphanumeric Unicode, ASCII, EDCDIC
Image (bitmapped) GIF (graphical image format)
TIF (tagged image file format)
PNG (portable network graphics)

Image (object) PostScript, JPEG, SWF (Macromedia

Flash), SVG
Outline graphics and fonts PostScript, TrueType
Sound WAV, AVI, MP3, MIDI, WMA
Page description PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format)
, HTML, XML
Video Quicktime, MPEG-2, RealVideo, WMV

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Alphanumeric Data

Characters (r, T), number digits (0..9), punctuation (!, ;),

special purpose characters ($, &)
Four codes/standards to represent letters and numbers:
BCD (Binary-Coded Decimal)
Unicode
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange)
EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange
Code)

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Binary Coded Decimal (BCD)

BCD represents denary integers using blocks of four

binary digits.
Each block of four is converted and the denary values are
then read off:

8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
8+0+0+1 0+0+2+1 8+0+0+0
Therefore 1001 0011 1000 in BCD = 938 in denary.
9 3 8
Representing characters
There are three main coding systems that
provide conversions of keyboard
characters into binary:
◦ EBCDIC
◦ ASCII
◦ UNICODE
EBCDIC
EBCDIC stands for Extended Binary Coded
Decimal Interchange Code.
It is an extension of BCD which includes
non-numeric characters, including all the
keyboard characters and special
characters.
It is commonly used to encode data onto
magnetic tape.
ASCII
ASCII stands for the American Standard Code
for Information Interchange.
It has been adopted as the industry-standard
way of representing keyboard characters as
binary codes.
Every keyboard character is given a
corresponding binary code.
ASCII uses an 8-bit code to provide 256
characters.
UNICODE
UNICODE is the new standard to emerge that is
replacing ASCII.
It has been adopted by many of the big
businesses in the computing industry.
It is designed to cover more of the characters
that are found in languages across the world.
It has become important due to the increased
use of the Internet, as more data is being passed
around globally.
Boolean Algebra
Boolean algebra is the branch of algebra in which the values of
the variables are the truth values true and false, usually denoted 1 and 0,
respectively.

Instead of elementary algebra where the values of the variables are

numbers and the prime operations are addition and multiplication, the main
operations of Boolean algebra are the conjunction (and) denoted as ∧,
the disjunction (or) denoted as ∨, and the negation (not) denoted as ¬.

It is thus a formalism for describing logical operations in the same way that
elementary algebra describes numerical operations.
Boolean Algebra

Basic operations
The basic operations of Boolean algebra are as follows:
AND (conjunction), denoted x∧y (sometimes x AND y or
satisfies x∧y = 1 if x = y = 1, and x∧y = 0 otherwise.
OR (disjunction), denoted x∨y (sometimes x OR y or,
satisfies x∨y = 0 if x = y = 0, and x∨y = 1 otherwise.
NOT (negation), denoted ¬x (sometimes NOT x, Nx, x,̅ x '
or !x), satisfies ¬x = 0 if x = 1 and ¬x = 1 if x = 0.

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