Computer Memory

Primary Memory
UNIT SYMBOL POWER OF 2 0 2 Kilobyte KB 2 10 1,024 Number of bytes

Byte

Megabyte

MB
2

20

1,048,576

Gigabyte

GB

30 2

1,073,741,824

Terabyte

TB

40 2

1,099,511,627,776

Secondary Storage

Secondary storage, or auxiliary storage, is memory external to the main body of the computer (CPU) where programs and data can be stored for future use. When the computer is ready to use these programs, the data is read into primary storage. Secondary storage media extends the storage capabilities of the computer system. Secondary storage is required for two reasons.

First, the working memory of the CPU is limited in size and cannot always hold the amount of data required. Second, data and programs in secondary programs do not disappear when the power is turned off. Secondary storage is nonvolatile memory. This information is lost only when you erase it. Magnetic disks are the most common type of secondary storage. They may be either floppy disks or hard disks (hard drives).

Primary and Secondary Memory Comparison

Primary memory Fast Expensive Low capacity Connects directly processor

Secondary memory Slow Cheap Large capacity Not connected directly to the processor

to

the

Types of Memory Access

RANDOM ACCESS
items are independently addressed access time is constant

SEQUENTIAL ACCESS
items are organized in sequence (linearly) access time is significantly variable

Floppy Disks
A floppy disk is a portable, inexpensive storage medium that consists of a thin, circular, flexible plastic disk with a magnetic coating enclosed in a square-shaped plastic shell.

Structure Of Floppy Disks

Initially Floppy disks were 8-inches wide, they then shrank to 5.25 inches, and today the most widely used folly disks are 3.5 inches wide and can typically store 1.44 megabytes of data. A folly disk is a magnetic disk, which means that it used magnetic patterns to store data. Data in floppy disks can be read from and written to. Formatting is the process of preparing a disk for reading and writing. A track is a narrow recording band that forms a full circle on the surface of the disk.

The disks storage locations are divided into pie-shaped sections called sectors.
A sectors is capable of holding 512 bytes of data. A typical floppy stores data on both sides and has 80 tracks on each side with 18 sectors per track.

Hard Disks

Another form of auxiliary storage is a hard disk. A hard disk consists of one or more rigid metal plates coated with a metal oxide material that allows data to be magnetically recorded on the surface of the platters.
The hard disk platters spin at a high rate of speed, typically 5400 to 7200 revolutions per minute (RPM).

Storage capacites of hard disks for personal computers range from 10 GB to 120 GB (one billion bytes are called a gigabyte).

Magnetic Hard Disk Mechanism

Compact Discs

A compact disk (CD), also called an optical disc, is a flat round, portable storage medium that is usually 4.75 inch in diameter.
A CD-ROM (read only memory), is a compact disc that used the same laser technology as audio CDs for recording music. In addition it can contain other types of data such as text, graphics, and video.

The capacity of a CD-ROM is 650 MB of data.

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USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to connect devices to a host computer. USB was designed to allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket .

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

COMPUTER GENERATIONS
1. 2. 3. 4.

VACUUM TUBES: 1946-1959 TRANSISTORS: 1957-1963 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS: 1964-1979 VERY LARGE-SCALE INTEGRATED (VLSI) CIRCUITS: 1980- PRESENT

2.14

COMPUTER GENERATIONS
1. VACUUM TUBES: 1946-1959 2. TRANSISTORS: 1957-1963 3. INTEGRATED CIRCUITS: 1964-1979 4. VERY LARGE-SCALE INTEGRATED (VLSI) CIRCUITS: 1980- PRESENT *
2.15

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

First generation computers(1942-1955) Charecteristics

1. 2.

3.
4.

These machines were built using vacuum tubes These computers were very large. They lack in versatility and speed. Expensive and used a large amount of electricity.

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

Second Generation Computers(1955-1964) Characteristics' 1. These machines were built using transistors 2. Smaller in size as compared to first generation. 3. Faster than first generation. 4. Assembly language is used instead of machine language.

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

Third Generation Computers(1964-1975) Characteristics

1. 2.

3.
4.

These machines were built using Integrated Circuits(ICs) Smaller in size compared to second generation. Portable and reliable than second generation. Commercial production became easier and cheaper.

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

Fourth Generation Computers Characteristics: 1. This generation led to the era of large scale integration(LSI) and very large scale integration(VLSI) 2. Small in size. 3. Portable and reliable. 4. Interconnections of computers leads to better communication.

GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

Fifth Generation Computers Characteristics:

1. ULSI(Ultra

Large Scale Integration) technology is used in the fifth generation 2. Small in size. 3. Cheapest among all generations. 4. Use of standard high level languages.

COMPUTER LANGUAGES A programming language consists of symbols, characters, and usage rules that permit people to communicate with computer Three types of programming language: Machine language (low level language) Assembly (or symbolic) language Procedure oriented (high level) language

First Generation : Machine Language

Advantages: Translation Free: directly understood by the CPU and no translation or compilation of the program is needed High Speed The programs written in M/C lang. can be executed very fast

Disadvantages: Machine Dependent An application developed for a particular type of computer may not run on other types of computer. Machine language is very difficult to read and write

SECOND GENERATION :ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

Due to complexities of machine language , assembly language was developed. Developed in 1950s by IBM Allows the programmer to directly interact with the computer hardware. The basic unit of an assembly language program is a line of code. Each line of an assembly language program consist of four columns called fields

FUNCTIONS OF ASSEMBLER

It allows the programmer to use instructions while writing source code programs which are easier to read and follow.

It allows the variables to be represented by symbolic names not as memory locations

Advantages of Assembly language

Easy to understand and use More user friendly as compared to machine language Less Error Prone Since no track is to be kept of the storage locations Mechanisms to locate errors avaliable.

Disadvantages
Machine Dependent If an assembly program is to be shifted to a different type of computer, it has to be modified to suit the new environment. Slow Development Time Slower to develop as compare to high level languages 1 line of HLC = Several lines of ALC .

THIRD

GENERATION:HLL

Advantages Readability Since HLLare closer to english they are easy to learn and understand. Machine independent Easy Debugging Complier and interpreters are designed in such a way that they detect and point out errors immediately.

FOURTH GENERATION

Have english like syntax Commonly used in databases. 3 GLs are procedural while 4 GLs are non-procedural languages Computer is instructed what is to be done rather than how to do it. Have minimum number of syntax rules , hence even people not trained as programmers can use such languages to write application programs.

Advantages of 4 GLs

User can create an application in much shorter time for development and debugging than other programming languages. Being non-procedural programmer does not have to provide logic to perform a task.

Disadvantages of 4 GLs

Programs are lengthy and hence need more disk space .

FEATURES OF A GOOD PROGRAMMING

1.

LANGUAGE

2.

3.

4.

5.

Ease of Use Syntax should be simple and clear. Portability Programs written on one platform (hardware, operating system should work on other platforms. Reliability Error detection and prevention techniques should be there. So that system becomes failure free. Performance Language should be able to interact with the end user as well as the hardware. Cost

TYPES OF COMPUTERS
Supercomputer Mainframe Minicomputer Microcomputer

MAINFRAME
MIPS: Millions of Instructions per second

LARGEST ENTERPRISE COMPUTER 5O MEGABYTES TO OVER ONE GIGABYTE RAM COMMERCIAL, SCIENTIFIC, MILITARY APPLICATIONS MASSIVE DATA COMPLICATED COMPUTATIONS *

MINICOMPUTER
MIDDLE-RANGE 10 MEGABYTES TO OVER ONE GIGABYTE RAM UNIVERSITIES, FACTORIES, LABS USED AS FRONT-END PROCESSOR FOR MAINFRAME *

MICROCOMPUTER
DESKTOP OR PORTABLE 64 KILOBYTES TO OVER 128 MEGABYTES RAM PERSONAL OR BUSINESS COMPUTERS AFFORDABLE MANY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS CAN BE NETWORKED *

SUPERCOMPUTER
TERAFLOP: TRILLION CALCULATIONS/SECOND
HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED COMPLEX COMPUTATIONS FASTEST CPUs LARGE SIMULATIONS STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPONENTS EXPENSIVE *

LAPTOPS & SMALLER

LAPTOP (OR NOTEBOOK): Briefcase type package, very portable, can be inexpensive, can connect to other computers or networks HAND-HELD (OR PALMTOP): Sub-miniature, wireless computer. Growing in sophistication and connectivity *