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 UNIT II:
BASIC STRUCTURE OF
COMPUTER HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE

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 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

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COMPUTER SYSTEM
COMPONENTS
Central
Central Processing
Processing Unit

Control Output
Output
Input ALU
Unit
Devices Devices
Devices

Special Primary
Cache
Purpose
Memory Storage
Processors

Secondary
Storage
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.

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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 computer’s 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

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PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS OF A CPU INCLUDE;

  Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) : responsible for the number

operations.

 Control Unit (CU) : responsible for instruction sequencing and

branching.

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 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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