WELCOM

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UNIT II:
BASIC STRUCTURE OF
COMPUTER HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE

What kind of device a computer is?

A computer is an electronic device which processes information based upon the

instructions provided and generates the desired output.

A computer system also requires an input which is processed to get the desired
output.

Two kinds of input required:

1 ) Basic or raw data, and
2) A set of instructions containing the methodology to processes this data. This
set of instructions is called program or software.

Computers internally process all information mathematically, but the user can
work on any kind of data- Text, Numeric, Alpha-Numeric, Images, Sounds,
Videos and etc.
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What kind of device a computer is?

A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of
arithmetic or logical operations automatically.

Five major characteristics of computer:

1) Speed

2) Accuracy

3) Consistency

4) Storage Capacity

5) Flexibility

COMPUTER SYSTEM
COMPONENTS
Central
Central Processing
Processing Unit
Input
Devices

Control
Unit

ALU

Special
Primary
Cache
Purpose
Memory Storage
Processors

Secondary
Storage
Devices

Output
Output
Devices
Devices

Computer System Components

Input device : usually a keyboard and mouse, the input device is the conduct
through which data and instructions enter a computer.

Output device: a display output using screen , printer , or other device that lets
you see what the computer has accomplished.

The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: Arithmetic and

Logic.

The control unit manages the computer's various components; it reads and
interprets the program instructions, transforming them into control signals that
activate other parts of the computer.

Memory: enables a computer to store, at least temporarily, data and programs.

COMPUTER HARDWARE

Computer hardware includes all the electrical, mechanical, and

the electronics parts of a computer.
Any part that we can see or touch is the hardware.
Computer hardware includes
System Unit (Motherboard, CPU, RAM and ROM Chips,
hard and floppy disks and several input and output ports.)
Peripheral devices (Any input, output or storage device
connected externally or internally to the computers CPU,
such as monitor, hard disk, graphics tablet, scanner, joystick)
Input devices i.e. keyboard, mouse etc.
Output devices i.e. Display Unit, printer etc.
Storage devices like hard disk, floppy disks etc.
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Examples of Hardware
devices

PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS OF A CPU INCLUDE;

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) : responsible for the number

operations.

Control Unit (CU) : responsible for instruction sequencing and

branching.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of every embedded system and
every personal computer, which interprets and carries out instruction.

CPU controls and co-ordinates the operation of all other devices.

CPU contains intelligence of the machine, where calculations and decisions are
take place.

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ALU performs all arithmetic and logic operations,

The ALU includes a group of registers memory locations built directly into the
CPU.

Registers are fast stand-alone storage locations that hold data temporarily.

CONTROL UNIT co-ordinate all the computer activities.

Every CPU has a basic instruction set which is built into Control Unit.

To execute instruction CU generates series of signals.

The control unit

fetches instructions from the main memory,

decodes and

executes them while relying on the ALU and registers as necessary to perform
decomposed operations
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COMPUTER SOFTWARE

In computer terminology, this set of instructions is called a program and

one or more programs is termed as software.

The term software describes the programs that run on your system. This
includes your computer operating system and other computer programs
which run.

Software is written in a computer language (such as Basic, C, Java, or

others programming languages) by programmers.
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The computer language is in a text format and can be read by a

person although if you do not understand the structure and rules of
the language you may not understand it very well.

Once a program is written, an operation is performed on it which

is called compiling.

Compiling is the process of changing the textual written language

into a binary language which can be understood by the computer.

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SOFTWARE

Software used for computers may be of different types. Some of which are :

System Software

Application Software

System software

A computer can execute a set of system software. such as

operating system, text editor, complier, assembler, linker, loader
and etc..

prominent

examples

for

Operating

System

being z/OS,

Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, Redhat, Cent OS, Linux

and etc.
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APPLICATION SOFTWARE

Software specially suited for specific applications for example,

railway and airline reservation, billing, accounting or software
which enables creation and storage of documents are termed as
application software.

Examples of application software include MS Word, MS Excel, a

console game, a library management system, a spreadsheet system
etc

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THANK
YOU
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