SOFTWARE

The intangible part of computer. It tells what a computer supposed to carry out and how to do it.

A collection of computer programs together with the related data..

Categories of computer

•System software

•Application software

•Programming language

SYSTEM SOFTWARE ; controls and maintains the operations of the computer and its devices.

APPLICATON SOFTWARE; makes users more productive and assists them with their tasks.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE; enables people to communicate instructions to a computer

TYPE OF STORAGE

1.Hard drives

2.Flash memories

3.Optical discs

4.Other types

•  tape

•  magnetic stripe cards and smart cards

•  microfilm and microfiche

•  enterprise storage

 

 

  LABEL  PRINTER

Small printer that prints on adhesive-type material

Most also print bar codes

Postage printer has built in digital scale and prints postage stamps

PLOTTER

Sophisticated printer used to produce high quality drawings

Large format creates photo color prints

MULTI FUNCTION PERIPHERAL

Also known as all-in-one device- a single device that provides the functionality of printer, scanner, copy machine and sometimes a fax machine.

THERMAL PRINTER

Generates images by pushing electrically heated pins against heat sensitive paper.

Dye-sublimation printer also called digital photo printer uses heat to transfer dye to specially coated paper.

   

  

MOBILE PRINTER

Small, lightweight,  battery-powered, printer that allows mobile user to print from notebook computer, tablet Pc, or PDA while travelling.

PRINTER VARATIES

IMPACT PRINTERS

Characters/ graphics are formed on the paper by physic contact between ink ribbon and paper

Examples are

1.Dot matrix printer

2.Line printer

●

  NON-IMPACT PRINTERS

The sharpness and clarity of printout

PRINTERS

A  printer produces text and graphic or papers.

Printed information is called hard copy.

•Impact printers

•Non-impact printer

•Thermal printer

•Mobile printer

•Label printer

•Plotter

•Multi function peripheral

OUTPUT

Output is a DATA that has been processed into a useful form.

An output device is any type of hardware component that conveys information to one or more people.

OPTICAL SCANNER

Data is captured directly from a source document such as order forms, invoices paychecks,photos,etc...

Scanners

Optical scanner

Optical reader

Barcode reader

Magnitude stripe and reader

MICR

Input

Input is any data instructions entered into the memory of a computer can be the form of programs commands and user responses.

An input device is any hardware is any hardware component that allows user to enter data and instructions into a computer.

 

                           REGISTERS

A processor register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU or other digital processor.
it is for

• special purpose
• high speed
• temporary storage

                      MAIN MEMORY

there a two types of memory
       RAM (random access memory)
       ROM ( read only memory)
  
                   RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

the term random access means that any word in the memory may be accessed, without having to go through all the other words to get it. this memory is an integrated circuit chip.
RAM has two types

• DRAM
• SRAM

              READ ONLY MEMORY

ROM chip is installed by the manufacturer inside the computer. its also called firmwire, it retains instructions in a permanently accecible non volatile form. when the power in the computer is turned off, the instructions stored in ROM are  not lost.

                                   MOTHERBOARD
motherboard is a main board in system unit. it contains chips, integerated circuits,  and transistors. also its called as System board.
                                 
                                   PRCESSOR
The processor is the most impotant part of the computer. it process the data and controls the computer.
powerful computers used as servers often have more than one processor.
                                
                                  CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT
CPU is the brain of the computer system. it contols the computer operations. such as   make decisons, makes all sorts of  calculations etc.
it function

• converts data into information
• contol center

• set of eloctranic circuitry that executes stored program instructions.

System unit

The system unit is a case that contains electronic components (processor,memory,expansion cards etc..) and most storage devices..

SYSTEM UNIT COMPONENTS

• processor
• memory module
• expansion cards

• ports and connectors..

Super computer

A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.
Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), and physical simulations (such as simulation of airplanes in wind tunnels, simulation of the detonation of nuclear weapons, and research into nuclear fusion)

Mainframe Computer

Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing..

Midrange server/ computer

A medium-sized computer system or server. Midrange computers encompass a very broad range and reside in capacity between high-end PC servers and mainframes. For example, IBM's Power Systems are its midrange line for both business and scientific applications. Formerly called "minicomputers," which were hosts to dumb terminals connected over dedicated cables, most midrange computers today function as servers in a network.

Personal Computer

A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. In contrast, the batch processing or time-sharing models allowed large expensive mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. Large data processing systems require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

Mobile device / Computer

Mobile computing is a form of human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. Mobile computing has three aspects: mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software. The first aspect addresses communication issues in  infrastructure networks as well as communication properties, protocols, data formats and concrete technologies. The second aspect is on the hardware, e.g., mobile devices or device components. The third aspect deals with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications

Embedded Computer

An embedded system is a computer system designed to do one or a few dedicated and/or specific functions often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts....

Categories of computer

1. Embedded computer
2. Mobile device / computer
3. Personal computer
4. Mid range server
5. Main frames
6. Super computers

Computer architecture

Computer architecture is the field of study of selecting and inter-connecting hardware components to create computers that satisfy  functional performance and cost goals...

Milestones in computer development

n1951 A.D.:  Eckert & Mauchly build the first general-purpose computer, the UNIVAC I

n1958:  IBM introduces the 7090 series, first to use transistors

 n1975 A.D.:  The Altair, the first microcomputer, is introduced

                                                The Cray-1, the first supercomputer, is announced

                                            1981 A.D.:  IBM introduces its own PC

     n1984 A.D.:  Apple introduces the Macintosh

 

 

 

 

 

          

n1991 A.D.:  The internet is commercialized

n1994:  Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released; the WWW takes off

1995 A.D.:  Sun releases Java 1.0; object-oriented programming takes off

n1997 A.D.: UNO CS Department adopts Java as object-oriented language support

Milestone in computer development

n2000 B.C.:  Abacus first used in computation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

n1642 A.D.:  Blaise Pascal (French) creates a mechanical adding machine -- the “Pascalene” -- for tax computations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

n 1842 A.D.:  Charles Babbage designs analytical engine to perform calculations automatically; Ada, countess of Lovelace, programs this machine

n1890 A.D.:  Herman Hollerith designs census recording system that uses punched cards; starts a company that later becomes IBM

 n1939 A.D.:  John Atanasoff designs and builds first electronic digital computer (w/ graduate

student Clifford Berry); called the ABC

 n1946 A.D.:  J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly design and build the ENIAC; considered the first modern computer, used vacuum tubes

Fifth generation of computer

Fifth generations computers are only in the minds of advance research scientiets and being tested out in the laboratories. These computers will be under Artifical Intelligence(AI), They will be able to take commands in a audio visual way and carry out instructions. Many of the operations which requires low human intelligence will be perfomed by these computers.
Parallel Processing is coming and showing the possibiliy that the power of many CPU's can be used side by side, and computers will be more powerful than thoes under central processing. Advances in Super Conductor technology will greatly improve the speed of information traffic. Future looks bright for the computers.

Fourth generation of computer

After the invention of the integrated circuit, the next step in the computer design process was to reduce the overall size.  Large scale integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip.  By the 1980's, very large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a chip.  Ultra-large scale integration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. It also increased their power, efficiency and reliability.  The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls) on a minute chip.

Third generation of computer

The explosion in the use of computers began with "third-generation" computers, making use of Jack St. Clair Kilby's independent inventing of the integrated circuit  

While the earliest microprocessor ICs literally contained only the processor, i.e. the central processing unit, of a computer, their progressive development naturally led to chips containing most or all of the internal electronic parts of a computer.

Second generation of computer

 The bipolar transistor was invented in 1947. From 1955 onwards transistors replaced vacuum tubes in computer designs, giving rise to the "second generation" of computers.

The first transistorised computer was built at the University of Manchester and was operational by 1953; a second version was completed there in April 1955.

Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors have many advantages: they are smaller, and require less power than vacuum tubes, so give off less heat. Silicon junction transistors were much more reliable than vacuum tubes and had longer, indefinite, service life. Transistorized computers could contain tens of thousands of binary logic circuits in a relatively compact space. Transistors greatly reduced computers' size, initial cost, and operating cost.

First generation computer

 In 1837, Charles Babbage was the first to conceptualize and design a fully programmable mechanical computer.
Limited finances and Babbage's inability to resist tinkering with the design meant that the device was never completed ; nevertheless his son, Henry Babbage, completed a simplified version of the analytical engine's computing unit (the mill) in 1888.

 The first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). Originally, they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers
The first generation of computer consists of vacuum tubes.