Al Mustansiriyah University / College of Medicine

Computer Science for First Year

INTRODUCTION

Today, almost all of us in the world make

use of computers in one way or the other.
It finds applications in various fields of
engineering, medicine, commercial,
research and others. Not only in these
sophisticated areas, but also in our daily
lives, computers have become
indispensable. They are present
everywhere, in all the devices that we use
daily like cars, games, washing machines,
microwaves etc. and in day to day
computations like banking, reservations, electronic mails, internet and many more.

The word computer is derived from the word compute. Compute means to calculate.

The computer was originally defined as a super-fast

calculator. It had the capacity to solve complex arithmetic
and scientific problems at very high speed.

But nowadays in addition to handling complex arithmetic

computations, computers perform many other tasks like
accepting, sorting, selecting, moving, comparing various
types of information. They also perform arithmetic and
logical operations on alphabetic, numeric and other types of
information.

Computer Generations

Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is/was

being used.

Initially, the generation term was used to distinguish between varying hardware
technologies. Nowadays, generation includes both hardware and software, which
together make up an entire computer system.
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Following are the main five generations of computers:

 First Generation (1946-1959):

 Relied on machine language to perform operations.
 They could only solve one problem at a time.
 Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed
on printouts.

Second Generation (1959-1965):

 The transistor was created, allowing

computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more
energy-efficient and more reliable.

 Assembly languages and High-

level programming languages
were also being developed at
this time.
 It is the first computers that
stored their instructions in their
memory.

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 Third Generation (1965-1971):

 Integrated Circuit based.

 Users interacted with third
generation computers through
keyboards and monitors.
 Interfaced with an operating
system which allowed the device to run many
different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the
memory.

 Fourth Generation (1971-1980):

 VLSI microprocessor based. In 1981 IBM

introduced its first computer for the home
user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the
Macintosh.

 Those computers could be linked together to

form networks, which eventually led to the
development of the Internet.

 It also saw the development of GUIs

(Windows OS), the mouse and handheld
devices.

Computer Network

Windows OS Ver. 1.0

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  Fifth Generation (1980-onwards):

 ULSI microprocessor based.

 The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond
to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-
organization (Artificial Intelligent).

APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
Today computers find widespread applications in all activities of the modern world.
Some of the major application areas include:

1. Military.
2. Scientific, Engineering and Research.
3. Business.
4. Healthcare: Computers have become
an important part in hospitals, labs,
and dispensaries. They are being used
in hospitals to keep the record of
patients and medicines. It is also used
in scanning and diagnosing different
diseases. ECG, EEG, ultrasounds and
CT scans, etc. are also done by
computerized machines.

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 Following are some major fields of healthcare in which computers are
used:
 Diagnostic System - Computers are used to collect data and identify the
cause of illness.
 Lab-diagnostic System - All tests can be done and the reports are
prepared by computer.
 Patient Monitoring System – These are used to check the patient's signs
for abnormality such as in Cardiac Arrest, ECG, etc.
 Pharm Information System - Computer is used to check drug labels,
expiry dates, harmful side effects, etc.
 Surgery - Nowadays, computers are also used in performing surgery.

5. Information: This is the age of information. Television, Satellite

communication, Internet, networks are all based on computers.
6. Education.
7. Games and Entertainment.
8. Communication.

Computer System and the Human Mind

The content of the human mind can be classified into four categories:

1. Data: symbols.
2. Information: data that are processed to be
useful; provides answers to "who", "what",
"where", and "when" questions.
3. Knowledge: application of data and
information; answers "how" questions
4. Wisdom: evaluated understanding.

We need to understand that processing data

produced Information and process Information
produces Knowledge and so on

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Advantage of Computer vs. Human Mind:

1. Speed: Smaller computers can execute thousands of instructions per second,

while the more complex machines can execute millions of instructions per
second.
2. Accuracy: They are capable of executing hundreds of instructions without any
errors.
3. Efficiency: The computers can perform repeated tasks with the same efficiency
any number of times without exhausting there selves.
4. Storage Capability: Computers are capable of storing large amounts of data in
their storage devices.
5. Versatility: They are capable of performing no numerical operations fielding
like: air-line reservation, electricity bills, data base management etc.

Limitations of Computers:
Although the computers of today are highly intelligent and sophisticated they have
their own limitations.

1. No Intelligence: A computer cannot take any decision on its own.

2. Dependency: It functions as per the user’s instruction, thus it is fully dependent
on humans.
3. Environment: The operating environment of the computer should be dust free
and suitable.
4. Feeling: It cannot make judgment based on feeling, taste, experience, and
knowledge unlike humans.

Computers classification

Computers can be generally classified by purpose, size and number of users as

follows:

 Special-Purpose Computers: As the name states, a Special-Purpose Computer

are designed to be task specific and most of the times their job is to solve one
particular problem. They are also known as dedicated computers, because they
are dedicated to perform a single task over and over again.

Such a computer system would be useful in:

1) Playing graphic intensive Video Games.

2) Traffic lights control system.
3) Weather forecasting.

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 4) Oil exploration.
5) Automotive industries.
6) Keeping time in a digital watch.
7) Heart monitoring equipment
8) Global positioning satellite (GPS) navigation tools
9) Microwaves and other home appliances

 Personal computer: The personal computers

are specially designed for general purpose.
PC are widely used & the fastest growing
computers. Its small, relatively inexpensive
computer based on the microprocessor
technology that enables manufacturers to put
an entire CPU on one chip. Well known
manufacturers of PC are Dell, Apple,
Samsung, Sony and Toshiba.

 Minicomputer: Minicomputers may contain one or more processors, support

multiprocessing and tasking, and are generally resilient to high workloads.
Although they are smaller than mainframe or supercomputers, minicomputers are
more powerful than personal computers and workstations.

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 Mainframe: A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds
or thousands of users simultaneously. For example: Banks, Educational institutions
and Control massive networks.

 Supercomputer: An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions

of instructions per second. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for
specialized applications that require huge amount of mathematical calculations. For
example: Weather forecasting, scientific simulations and Nuclear energy research.

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Computer System
Computer defined as a fast and accurate data processing system that accepts data,
performs various operations on the data, has the capability to store the data and
produce the results on the basis of detailed step by step instructions given to it.

A computer system is made up of 4 main types of components:

1) Hardware
2) Software (Software: Bringing the Machine to Life)
3) Data
4) People/Users.

The terms hardware and software are almost always used in connection with the
computer.

1) The Hardware: The hardware is the machinery itself. It is made up of the

physical parts or devices of the computer system .

A computer Hardware (consists of mainly four basic Units)

1.1) Input unit.
1.2) Storage unit.
1.3) Central processing (Arithmetic logic unit and control unit).
1.4) Output unit.

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1.1) Input Unit: Input unit is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware)
equipment which Translate data from form that humans understand to one that
the computer can work with. Most common are keyboard and mouse.

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1.2) Storage Unit:
1.2.1) Primary Memory:
 RAM:

 Random Access Memory is a memory structure responsible for storing

data on a temporary basis.
 It can be quickly accessed by the processor as and when needed.
 RAM is generally measured in GB (Gigabytes).
 RAM plays a huge part in the number of programs a computer can run
simultaneously. If you’ve ever wondered why your computer may buckle
under the pressure if 5 or 6 memory-demanding programs run at the same
time, it’s probably because it doesn’t have enough RAM capacity to
support them all.
 It is volatile memory; that is, what’s held in RAM is only held there as
long as the computer is on. If the data isn’t moved to the hard drive before
the computer is turned off, the data stored in RAM is flushed away.

 ROM (Read Only Memory):

 It’s a type of storage medium that
permanently stores data on personal
computers (PCs) and other electronic
devices.
 It contains the programming needed to
start a PC, which is essential for boot-up;
 It performs major input/output tasks and holds programs or software
instructions.
 Because ROM is read-only, it cannot be changed; it is permanent and non-
volatile, meaning it also holds its memory even when power is removed.

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1.2.2) Secondary Memory:-
Stores data and programs permanently, it's retained after the power is turned
off.

 Hard drive (HD): A hard disk is part of storage unit, often called a "disk
drive," "hard drive," or "hard disk drive," that store and provides relatively
quick access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged
surface or set of surfaces.

1
Internal Hard disk 2 External Hard disk

 Optical Disk: an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light
as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.
Recently all drives are both readers and recorders, also called burners or
writers.

There are three main types of optical media:

 CDs can store up to 700 megabytes
(MB) of data.
 DVDs disc can store up to 8.4 GB of
data.
 Blu-ray. Blu-ray discs, which are the
newest type of optical media, can
store up to 50 GB of data.

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  Flash Disk: is an electronic (solid-state) non-volatile
computer storage medium that can be electrically
erased and reprogrammed.
 Flash disk from 8 to 256 GB are frequently
sold, and less frequently 512 GB and 1 TB
units.

 Flash memory doesn't usually degrade because of its age, but rather
because of the number of write cycles, which means the more you
delete and write new information, the more quickly the memory in the
device will start to degrade.

 USB flash disk are often used for storage, data back-up and transfer of
computer files.

 They are smaller, faster, have thousands of times more capacity, and
are more durable and reliable because they have no moving parts.

1.3) Central Processing Unit (CPU): a CPU is brain of a computer. It is responsible

for all functions and processes.The CPU is the most important element of a
computer system.

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 The CPU is comprised of two main parts:
1.3.1) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): Executes all arithmetic and logical
operations. Arithmetic calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division. Logical operation like compare numbers, letters, or special
characters

1.3.2) Control Unit (CU): controls and co-ordinates computer components.

Speed measurement: The speed of Central Processing Unit (CPU) is measured by

Hertz (Hz), Which represent a CPU cycle. The speed of CPU is known as Computer
Speed.

CPU SPEED MEASURES

1 cycle per second 1 hertz or Hz
1 million cycles per second or 1000 Hz 1 MHz
1 billion cycles per second or 1000 MHz 1 GHz

1.4) Output Unites: is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to converts
the results of data processing from electronically generated information into
human-readable form.

2) The Software:

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  The computer hardware itself is not capable of doing anything on its own. It
has to be given explicit instructions to perform the specific task.
 Software is a collection of programs which utilize and enhance the capability
of the hardware.
 The computer program is the one which controls the processing activities of
the computer.

Application
Software
Software Operating
System System
Software
Utilities

2.1) Application software:

Application software tells the computer how to accomplish tasks the user requires.

Some important kinds of application software are:

Word processing programs,

spreadsheets, database management
software, presentation programs,
graphics programs, Web browsers,
Internet applications.

2.2) System software:

This type of software includes operating systems and different utilities to allow your
system to run smoothly. System software often manages the computer's resources.

2.2.1) Utility software is designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a

computer.
For Example:

 Anti-virus utilities scan for computer viruses.

 Backup software can make copies of all information
stored on a disk and restore either the entire disk (e.g.
in an event of disk failure) or selected files (e.g. in an
event of accidental deletion).

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2.2.2) Operating Systems: are the most important programs that run on a computer.
Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other
programs.

Types of Operating System Interfaces

The way in which users communicate

with the computer is called an
'interface'.
The interface is what we use to give the
computer commands.

There are three types of operating

system interfaces :

 Command Line Interface (CLI)

Keyboard used Enter commands A command

to.......... into.......... prompt

 Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Mouse used to control and Icons can be clicked to open Menu items can be selected using the
command a pointer folders or activate pointer.
commands
 Touchscreen Interface

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 Pinching Rotating Swiping

3) Data
The basic unit used in computer data storage is called a bit (binary
digit).Computers use these little bits, which are composed of ones and zeros, to do
things and talk to other computers.
All your files, for instance, are kept in the computer as binary files and translated
into words and pictures by the software (which is also ones and zeros). This two
number system, is called a “binary number system” since it has only two numbers
in it. The decimal number system in contrast has ten unique digits, zero through
nine.
1 = 0 0 0 1 numerical value 20
2 = 0 0 1 0 numerical value 21
4 = 0 1 0 0 numerical value 22
8 = 1 0 0 0 numerical value 23

Computer Storage units Bit BIT 0 or 1

Kilobyte KB 1024 bytes
Megabyte MB 1024 kilobytes
Gigabyte GB 1024 megabytes
Size example Terabyte TB 1024 gigabytes
 1 bit - answer to an
yes/no question
 1 byte - a number from 0 to 255.
 90 bytes: enough to store a typical line of text from a book.
 4 KB: about one page of text.
 120 KB: the text of a typical pocket book.
 3 MB - a three minute song (128k bitrate)
 650-900 MB - an CD-ROM
 1 GB -114 minutes of uncompressed CD-quality audio at 1.4 Mbit/s
 8-16 GB - size of a normal flash drive

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4) Users
All the persons (users) that use the computer can be
considered as live ware. EX: Programmers, Graphic
Designer, Data entry operator, Hardware technician, Network
engineer, Data base Administrator, Web Designer, System
Analyzer

Laptop types and Smartphone Computers

1) Laptop

 Laptops are portable computers and are

small enough to sit on your lap.
 They can be used almost anywhere due to
their small size and a built-in battery which
powers the laptop when there is no access to
a plug socket.
 Modern laptops are generally almost as
powerful as a Desktop PC and are used for
similar tasks and purposes.
 They have LCD screens (Liquid Crystal Display) which use low-power. This
helps increase the run-time of a laptop's battery.

2) Notebook Computer
It is a battery- or AC-powered
personal computer generally smaller
than a briefcase that can easily be
transported and conveniently used in
temporary spaces such as on
airplanes, in libraries, temporary
offices, and at meetings.

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3) Netbook

 Netbooks are smaller and lighter

than notebook computers, which in turn
are smaller and lighter than laptops.
 Netbooks can be used for similar tasks to a
laptop (word processing, running a Web
browser and connecting wirelessly to the
Internet) but they are not as powerful and
have much smaller screens.)
 Cheaper because they do not come with
certain components (such as CD/DVD drive).
 A netbook will have a slimmed-down operating system, a smaller-than-usual
keyboard and very little (if any) storage space.

4) Smart Phone
 A mobile phone, known as a is a
portable telephone that can make and
receive calls over a radio frequency
 A smartphone or smart phone is a
mobile phone with an advanced mobile
operating system which combines
features of a personal computer operating
system with other features useful for
mobile or handheld use.

 Most smartphones can access the

Internet, have a touchscreen user
interface, can run third-party apps, music
players and camera phones.

What are Third-party apps: An application that is provided by a vendor other than the
manufacturer of the device.

For example, the iPhone comes with its own camera app, but there have been camera
apps from third parties that offered advanced features such as a self-timer and simple
editing.

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Viruses
A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks
on real programs. For example, a virus might attach
itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program.
Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus
runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by
attaching to other programs).

 E-mail viruses: An e-mail virus travels as an attachment

to e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by
automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the
victim's e-mail address book. Some e-mail viruses don't
even require a double-click -- they launch when you
view the infected message in the preview pane of your e-
mail software .

 Trojan horses: A Trojan horse is simply a computer

program. The program claims to do one thing (it
may claim to be a game) but instead does damage
when you run it (it may erase your hard disk).
Trojan horses have no way to replicate
automatically.

 Worms: A worm is a small piece of software that

uses computer networks and security holes to
replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the
network for another machine that has a specific
security hole. It copies itself to the new machine
using the security hole, and then starts replicating
from there, as well.

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 There are some tips to avoid viruses and
reduce their impact?
 Install anti-virus software from a reputable vendor. Update
it and use it regularly.

 Use a virus scan before you open any new programs or files that may contain
executable code. This includes packaged software that you buy from the store as
well as any program you might download from the Internet.
 If you are a member of an online community or chat room, be very careful about
accepting files or clicking links that you find or that people send you within the
community.
 Make sure you back up your data (documents, bookmark files, important email
messages, etc.) on disc so that in the event of a virus infection, you do not lose
valuable work.

Thank you

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