A computer accepts input, processes it according to stored instructions, and produces output. There are four main categories of computers: personal computers for individual use, servers for shared access over a network, supercomputers for demanding tasks, and embedded computers integrated into devices. A computer consists of input, memory, arithmetic/logic, output, and control units. Memory stores programs and data, and comes in primary and secondary forms. The CPU fetches and executes instructions sequentially, processing data and sending results to output.
A computer accepts input, processes it according to stored instructions, and produces output. There are four main categories of computers: personal computers for individual use, servers for shared access over a network, supercomputers for demanding tasks, and embedded computers integrated into devices. A computer consists of input, memory, arithmetic/logic, output, and control units. Memory stores programs and data, and comes in primary and secondary forms. The CPU fetches and executes instructions sequentially, processing data and sending results to output.
A computer accepts input, processes it according to stored instructions, and produces output. There are four main categories of computers: personal computers for individual use, servers for shared access over a network, supercomputers for demanding tasks, and embedded computers integrated into devices. A computer consists of input, memory, arithmetic/logic, output, and control units. Memory stores programs and data, and comes in primary and secondary forms. The CPU fetches and executes instructions sequentially, processing data and sending results to output.
A computer accepts input, processes it according to stored instructions, and produces output. There are four main categories of computers: personal computers for individual use, servers for shared access over a network, supercomputers for demanding tasks, and embedded computers integrated into devices. A computer consists of input, memory, arithmetic/logic, output, and control units. Memory stores programs and data, and comes in primary and secondary forms. The CPU fetches and executes instructions sequentially, processing data and sending results to output.
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Module1
What is computer and what are its types?
A digital computer, or simply, a computer is a fast electronic calculating machine that accepts digitized input information, processes it according to a list of internally stored instructions, and produces the resulting output information. The list of instructions is called a computer program, and the internal storage is called computer memory.
Computer Types..
Many types of computers exist that differ widely in size, cost, computational power, and intended use. Four general categories are:
*Personal Computers *Servers and Enterprise Systems *Supercomputers and Grid Computers *Embedded Computers
Personal computers have achieved widespread use in homes, educational
institutions, and business and engineering office settings, primarily for dedicated individual use. Examples, Desktop computers serve general needs and fit within a typical personal workspace. Workstation computers offer higher computational capacity and more powerful graphical display capabilities for engineering and scientific work. Portable and Notebook computers provide the basic features of a personal computer in a smaller lightweight package. They can operate on batteries to provide mobility.
Servers and Enterprise systems are large computers that are meant to be shared by a potentially large number of users who access them from some form of personal computer over a public or private network. Such computers may host large databases and provide information processing for a government agency or a commercial organization.
Supercomputers are used for the highly demanding computations needed in weather forecasting, engineering design and simulation, and scientific work. They have a high cost. Grid computers provide a more cost-effective alternative. They combine a large number of personal computers and disk storage units in a physically distributed high-speed network, called a grid, which is managed as a coordinated computing resource.
Embedded computers are integrated into a larger device or system in order to automatically monitor and control a physical process or environment. They are used for a specific purpose rather than for general processing tasks. Typical applications include industrial and home automation, appliances, telecommunication products, and vehicles.
2) Explain the basic functional units of computer
A computer consists of five functionally independent main parts: input, memory, arithmetic and logic, output, and control units.
Input Unit Computers accept coded information through input units. The most common input device is the keyboard. Whenever a key is pressed, the corresponding letter or digit is automatically translated into its corresponding binary code and transmitted to the processor. Other kinds of input devices – mouse, joystick, trackball, touchpad, microphone, camera.
Memory Unit The function of the memory unit is to store programs and data. There are two classes of storage *Primary *Secondary Primary memory, also called main memory, is a fast memory that operates at electronic speeds. Programs must be stored in this memory while they are being executed. It consists of a large number of semiconductor storage cells, each capable of storing one bit of information. To provide easy access to any word in the memory, a distinct address is associated with each word location. Memory in which any location can be accessed in a short and fixed amount of time after specifying its address is called a random-access memory (RAM). The time required to access one word is called the memory access time. The small, fast RAM units are called cache.Largest and slowest unit is referred to as main memory.Although primary memory is essential, it tends to be expensive and does not retain information when power is turned off.
Secondary storage is used when large amounts of data and many programs have to be stored.Examples - magnetic disks, optical disks (DVD and CD), and flash memory devices.
Arithmetic and logic unit:
ALU consist of necessary logic circuits like adder, comparator etc., to perform operations of addition, multiplication, comparison of two numbers etc. Output Unit: Computer after computation returns the computed results, error messages, etc. via output unit. The standard output device is a video monitor, LCD/TFT monitor. Other output devices are printers, plotters etc. Control Unit: Control unit co-ordinates activities of all units by issuing control signals. Control signals issued by control unit govern the data transfers and then appropriate operations take place. Control unit interprets or decides the operation/action to be performed.
The operations of a computer can be summarized as follows:
1. A set of instructions called a program reside in the main memory of computer. 2. The CPU fetches those instructions sequentially one-by-one from the main memory, decodes them and performs the specified operation on associated data operands in ALU. 3. Processed data and results will be displayed on an output unit. 4. All activities pertaining to processing and data movement inside the computer machine are governed by control unit.
Q) Explain the basic operational Concepts
or Explain the principles of processor and memory with the help of diagram
A) Basic Operational Concepts
An Instruction consists of two parts, an Operation code and operand/s as shown below:
Let us see a typical instruction
ADD LOCA, R0 This instruction is an addition operation. The following are the steps to execute instruction: Step 1: Fetch the instruction from main memory into the processor Step 2: Fetch the operand at location LOCA from main memory into the processor Step 3: Add the memory operand (i.e. fetched contents of LOCA) to the contents of register R0 Step 4: Store the result (sum) in R0. The same instruction can be realized using two instructions as Load LOCA, R1 Add R1, R0
The steps to execute the instructions can be enumerated as below:
Step 1: Fetch the instruction from main memory into the processor Step 2: Fetch the operand at location LOCA from main memory into the processor Register R1 Step 3: Add the content of Register R1 and the contents of register R0 Step 4: Store the result (sum) in R0. Let us now analyse how the memory and processor are connected:- The Processor contains a number of registers used for several purposes IR: The IR(Instruction Register) holds the instruction that is currently being executed. PC: The PC(Program Counter) is another specialized register which contains the memory address of next instruction to be fetched. MAR: This register facilitates communication with the memory. The MAR holds the address of the location to be accessed. MDR: This register facilitates communication with the memory. The MDR contains the data to be written into or read out of the addressed location. There are n general purpose registers R0 to Rn-1. The Program execution starts when the PC is set to point the 1st instruction. The content of the PC is transferred to the MAR and Read control signal is sent to memory. Then the addressed word is read out of the memory and loaded into the MDR. Next the contents of the MDR are transferred to the IR. Then the program is decoded, it is sent to the ALU if it has some arithmetic or logical calculations. The n general purpose registers are used during this calculations to store the result. Then the result is sent to the MDR, and its address of location where result is stored is sent to MAR. And then a write cycle is initiated. Then PC is incremented and the process continues. Q) List the steps needed to execute the machine instruction Add LOCA,R0
A) *Transfer the contents of register PC to register MAR
*Issue a Read command to memory, and then wait until it has transferred the requested word into register MDR * Transfer the instruction from MDR into IR and decode it * Transfer the address LOCA from IR to MAR * Issue a Read command and wait until MDR is loaded * Transfer contents of MDR to the ALU * Transfer contents of R0 to the ALU *Perform addition of the two operands in the ALU and transfer result into R0 *Transfer contents of PC to ALU *Add 1 to operand in ALU and transfer incremented address to PC
Q) List the steps needed to execute the machine instruction
Add R1,R2,R3
A)* Transfer the contents of register PC to register MAR
*Issue a Read command to memory, and then wait until it has transferred the *requested word into register MDR *Transfer the instruction from MDR into IR and decode it *Transfer contents of R1 and R2 to the ALU *Perform addition of two operands in the ALU and transfer answer into R3 *Transfer contents of PC to ALU *Add 1 to operand in ALU and transfer incremented address to PC
