INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

A Computer System

Hardware and Software

Hardware
the physical, tangible parts of a computer keyboard, monitor, disks, wires, chips, etc.

Software
programs and data a program is a series of instructions

A computer requires both hardware and software Each is essentially useless without the other

First Commercial Computer System UNIVAC (1951)

Old PC (End of 80'

Software Categories
Operating System
controls all machine activities provides the user interface to the computer manages resources such as the CPU and memory Windows XP, Unix, Linux, Mac OS

Application program
generic term for any other kind of software word processors, missile control systems, games

Most operating systems and application programs have a graphical user interface (GUI)

A Computer Specification
Consider the following specification for a personal computer:
2.8 GHz Pentium 4 Processor 512 MB RAM 80 GB Hard Disk 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive 17 Video Display with 1280 x 1024 resolution 56 Kb/s Modem

What does it all mean?

Front View of Your PC

Back View of Your PC

CPU and Main Memory

Central Processing Unit
Chip that executes program commands Intel Pentium 4 Sun ultraSPARC III

Primary storage area for programs and data that are in active use

Synonymous with RAM

Main Memory

The Central Processing Unit

The CPU contains:
Performs calculations and makes decisions

Arithmetic / Logic Unit

Control Unit

Coordinates processing steps

Small storage areas

Registers

The Central Processing Unit

A CPU is on a chip called a microprocessor It continuously follows the fetch-decode-execute cycle:
Retrieve an instruction from main memory

fetch

execute
Carry out the instruction

decode
Determine what the instruction is

The Central Processing Unit

The speed of a CPU is controlled by the system clock

The system clock generates an electronic pulse at regular intervals

The pulses coordinate the activities of the CPU The speed is usually measured in gigahertz (GHz)

Memory
Main memory is volatile - stored information is lost if the electric power is removed

Secondary memory devices are nonvolatile

Main memory and disks are direct access devices - information can be reached directly The terms direct access and random access often are used interchangeably A magnetic tape is a sequential access device since its data is arranged in a linear order - you must get by the intervening data in order to access other information

RAM vs. ROM

RAM - Random Access Memory (direct access) ROM - Read-Only Memory The terms RAM and main memory are basically interchangeable

ROM could be a set of memory chips, or a separate device, such as a CD ROM

Both RAM and ROM are random (direct) access devices! RAM probably should be called Read-Write Memory

Storing Information
9278 9279 9280 9281 9282 9283 9284 9285 9286
Each memory cell stores a set number of bits (usually 8 bits, or one byte) Large values are stored in consecutive memory locations

10011010

Memory
9278 9279 9280 9281 9282 9283 9284 9285 9286

Main memory is divided into many memory locations (or cells)

Each memory cell has a numeric address, which uniquely identifies it

Secondary Memory Devices

Secondary memory devices provide long-term storage

Central Processing Unit

Information is moved between main memory and secondary memory as needed

Hard disks Floppy disks ZIP disks Writable CDs Writable DVDs Tapes

Hard Disk

Main Memory
Floppy Disk

Analog vs. Digital

There are two basic ways to store and manage data:

Analog
continuous, in direct proportion to the data represented music on a record album - a needle rides on ridges in the grooves that are directly proportional to the voltages sent to the speaker

Digital
the information is broken down into pieces, and each piece is represented separately music on a compact disc - the disc stores numbers representing specific voltage levels sampled at specific times

Digital Information
Computers store all information digitally:
numbers text graphics and images video audio program instructions

In some way, all information is digitized - broken down into pieces and represented as numbers

Representing Text Digitally

For example, every character is stored as a number, including spaces, digits, and punctuation

Corresponding upper and lower case letters are separate characters

Hi, Heather.

72 105 44 32 72 101 97 116 104 101 114 46

http://www.asciitable.com/

Binary Numbers
Once information is digitized, it is represented and stored in memory using the binary number system

A single binary digit (0 or 1) is called a bit

Devices that store and move information are cheaper and more reliable if they have to represent only two states A single bit can represent two possible states, like a light bulb that is either on (1) or off (0)

Permutations of bits are used to store values

Bit Permutations
1 bit 0 1 2 bits 00 01 10 11 3 bits 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111 4 bits 0000 1000 0001 1001 0010 1010 0011 1011 0100 1100 0101 1101 0110 1110 0111 1111

Each additional bit doubles the number of possible permutations

Bit Permutations
Each permutation can represent a particular item There are 2 permutations of N bits Therefore, N bits are needed to represent 2N unique items 1 bit ? How many items can be represented by 2 bits ? 3 bits ? 21 = 2 items 22 = 4 items
3
N

2 = 8 items
24 = 16 items 25 = 32 items

4 bits ?
5 bits ?

Storage Capacity
Every memory device has a storage capacity, indicating the number of bytes it can hold

Capacities are expressed in various units:

Unit kilobyte megabyte gigabyte terabyte Symbol KB MB GB Number of Bytes 210 = 1024 220 (over 1 million) 230 (over 1 billion)

TB

40

(over 1 trillion)

Input / Output Devices

Monitor Keyboard

Central Processing Unit

I/O devices facilitate user interaction

Monitor screen Keyboard Mouse Joystick Bar code scanner Touch screen

Hard Disk

Main Memory
Floppy Disk

Compact Discs
A CD-ROM is portable read-only memory A microscopic pit on a CD represents a binary 1 and a smooth area represents a binary 0 A low-intensity laser reflects strongly from a smooth area and weakly from a pit

A CD-Recordable (CD-R) drive can be used to write information to a CD once

A CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) can be erased and reused The speed of a CD drive indicates how fast (max) it can read and write information to a CD

DVDs
A DVD is the same size as a CD, but can store much more information

The format of a DVD stores more bits per square inch

A CD can store 650 MB, while a standard DVD can store 4.7 GB
A double sided DVD can store 9.4 GB Other advanced techniques can bring the capacity up to 17.0 GB

Like CDs, there are DVD-R and DVD-RW discs

Networks
A network is two or more computers that are connected so that data and resources can be shared Most computers are connected to some kind of network

Each computer has its own network address, which uniquely identifies it among the others
A file server is a network computer dedicated to storing programs and data that are shared among network users

Network Connections
Most networks share a single communication line Adding a new computer to the network is relatively easy

Network traffic must take turns using the line, which introduces delays

Often information is broken down in parts, called packets, which are sent to the receiving machine and then reassembled

Local-Area Networks

A Local-Area Network (LAN) covers a small distance and a small number of computers

LAN

A LAN often connects the machines in a single room or building

Wide-Area Networks
A Wide-Area Network (WAN) connects two or more LANs, often over long distances

LAN

LAN

A LAN usually is owned by one organization, but a WAN often connects groups in different countries

The Internet
The Internet is a WAN which spans the entire planet

The word Internet comes from the term internetworking

It started as a United States government project, sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) - originally it was called the ARPANET The Internet grew quickly throughout the 1980s and 90s

TCP/IP
A protocol is a set of rules that determine how things communicate with each other

The software which manages Internet communication follows a suite of protocols called TCP/IP The Internet Protocol (IP) determines the format of the information as it is transferred
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) dictates how messages are reassembled and handles lost information

IP and Internet Addresses

Each computer on the Internet has a unique IP address, such as:
204.192.116.2

Most computers also have a unique Internet name, which also is referred to as an Internet address:
spencer.villanova.edu
kant.gestalt-llc.com

The first part indicates a particular computer (spencer) The rest is the domain name, indicating the organization (villanova.edu)

Domain Names
The last part of a domain name, called a top-level domain (TLD), indicates the type of organization:
edu com org net educational institution commercial entity non-profit organization network-based organization

Sometimes the suffix indicates the country: uk au ca se

United Kingdom Australia Canada Sweden

New TLDs have recently been added: biz, info, tv, name

Domain Names
A domain name can have several parts Unique domain names mean that multiple sites can have individual computers with the same local name When used, an Internet address is translated to an IP address by software called the Domain Name System (DNS) There is no one-to-one correspondence between the sections of an IP address and the sections of an Internet address

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web allows many different types of information to be accessed using a common interface A browser is a program which accesses and presents information
text, graphics, video, sound, audio, executable programs

A Web document usually contains links to other Web documents, creating a hypermedia environment The term Web comes from the fact that information is not organized in a linear fashion

The World Wide Web

Web documents are often defined using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

Information on the Web is found using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL):

http://www.lycos.com http://www.villanova.edu/webinfo/domains.html ftp://java.sun.com/applets/animation.zip

A URL indicates a protocol (http), a domain, and possibly specific documents