VELAMMAL VIDHYASHRAM - MARAIMALAI NAGAR

CHAPTER 1 – COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ORGANIZATION

Computer System
• A computer is basically an electronic machine meant for computing. It can be programmed
to take data as input, process it and generate information as output.
● Computer system comes in various forms and sizes such as Desktop, Laptop, Tablet,
Mainframe, Super Computer, Smartphone etc.
• A computer system is ideally combination of Hardware and Software.

Image 1 : COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ORGANIZATION

Basic Structure of Computer System
Block Diagram of Computer System
Image 2 Given below represents the basic structure of computer system. the directed lines
represent the flow of data and signal between the components.
Components of Computer System
A computer System primarily comprises of (Figure above):
1. Input Device
2. Output Device
3. CPU
4. Memory
5. Storage Devices
Input Device

● The devices used for input data into computer system are termed as Input device.
• Input devices converts the input data into digital signal that is understood by computer
system
• Examples: Keyboard, mouse, scanner, touch screen, microphone etc.
● Input data is temporarily stored in primary memory (RAM)

Output devices
• The devices which are responsible for displaying or producing information are termed as
output device.
• Output devices converts digital signals into human understandable form.
• Examples: Monitor, Printer, Speaker, Plotter, Projector etc.
• Output data is temporarily stored in primary memory that can be stored later permanently
in secondary memory.
CPU
• CPU stands for Central Processing Unit referred as brain of computer
• It is responsible for all the processing done and
• It performs arithmetic and logical operation on date as per the instructions given by the
program it fetches from memory
• CPU has three main components
Registers: there are part of CPU and used to store date and instructions during
operation being performed in limited size.
ALU: stands for arithmetic and logical unit that performs all the arithmetic and logical
operations on date as per instructions of a program

CU: stands for Control unit which

• Controls flow of data between memory, input and output devices
• Controls execution of instructions in sequential manner.

Computer Memory
Computer memory as it name implies, used to store data and instructions used for processing.
Types of memory
Computer systems have two types of memory
• Primary memory
• Secondary memory
Primary memory
• It store data and programs temporarily during operation.
• CPU can read and write data directly to and from primary memory.
• It is volatile in nature as its content gets deleted as soon as power supply is turned off
• It is of two types
RAM:

⮚ Stands for Random Access Memory, used to store data temporarily during operation being
performed
⮚ It is volatile in nature

⮚ It is considered as main memory of computer system

⮚ The required program and data of any application while being started takes space in RAM.

⮚ It is faster than secondary memory

ROM

⮚ Stands for Read Only Memory, which stores startup programs that loads operating system
into primary memory.
⮚ It is non-volatile in nature

⮚ Content of ROM cannot be modified.

Catch Memory

⮚ It's another type of Primary Memory which is considered as very high speed meory.

⮚ It is placed between CPU and Primary Memory (RAM) referred an catch.

⮚ The main purpose of Catch memory is to store the copies of frequently access date of
primary memory to reduce the time consumed to access that data.
Secondary Memory
• It stores data and programs permanently that can be used in future also.
• It is non-volatile in nature.
• It has larger capacity but slower than primary memory.
• Content of secondary memory can not be accessed directly by CPU.
• Examples: SSD, HDD, CD/DVD, Flash Drive, Memory Card etc.
Unit of Memory
• Byte is unit of memory.
• 8 bits grouped together forms 1 Byte.
• 4 bits grouped together forms 1 nibble and 2 nibbles makes 1 Byte.
Given table shows different measurement units of data

Software
● Software refers to a set of programs that instruct hardware what to do and how to do.
● It comprises of instructions and data to be processed using computer hardware.
● Each software is written for some computational purpose.
● Softwares are intangible.

Need of software
Software acts as an interface between user and hardware.
It makes computer hardware operational and useful.
Types of software
Software can be broadly classified in three categories:
● System software
● Application software
● Programming tools
System Software
It manages computer system by interacting directly with its constituent hardware.
It helps in providing various services to user and resources to other softwares.
Following are different types of System software:
● Operating System
● System Utilities (Utility Software)
● Device Drivers
Operating System
The software that acts as an interface between user and computer hardware.
● It is a System Software
● Every computer system must have at least one operating system installed.
● Windows, Linux, Solaris, MAC OS, Ubuntu, MS DOS are some of the examples of Operating
System
● It helps in performing the core functionalities like accepting input from various input
devices, directing the output to the display, managing the files and directories.
● communicating with hardware, and installing/uninstalling peripheral devices.
System Utilities
● System Utilities are Softwares used to maintain computer systems to work more smoothly.
efficiently and effectively.
● It helps in improving the performance of computer
● It helps in providing security from virus
● It helps in managing and freeing disk space and providing data backups
● Disk defragmentation, formatting, system restore are some utilities inbuilt in Operating
System.
Device Driver
● Device Drivers are programs that help functioning a hardware device with computer
system
● It acts as an interface between the device and operating system.
● Overall control interpretation, operation and management of a device at the hardware
level is handled by device drivers.
Programming Tools
Programming tools refers to the tools used to write instructions, convert high level to machine
language and develop softwares for computer systems.
Following are the programming tools used
• Programming languages
• Language translators
• Program development tools
Programming Languages:
• Programming languages are used to write instructions which are applied by a computer system
to get desired results.
• Programming languages are developed to simplify coding for computers.
Programming language can be classified in two categories:
● Low level language
● High level language
Low level language
These are machine dependent language that includes
• Machine language
• Assembly language
Machine language
● It uses binary code i.e 0s and 1s to write instructions for computer systems.
● It is directly understood by computer system and hence no intermediate software is
required to execute them
● It is difficult to use machine language as one has to remember all operational codes and
machine addresses
● It is difficult to find errors in the code written in machine language
Assembly language
• Assembly language uses English like words to write instructions for computer systems.
• It is platform dependent means code written for a particular CPU cannot be used for another
CPU.

High Level Language

• High level languages use English like words using its own grammar (set of rules) to write
instructions.
• It is platform independent and simple to write code.
• Translators (compilers) are needed to translate high level language into machine language.
Examples: C++, Java, Python, C# etc.
Language Translators
● Language translators are used to convert instructions written in assembly or high level
language to machine language.
● The code converted into machine language is called object code.
● Different translators for different languages are used for conversion.
There are three types of language translators:
● Assembler
● Compiler
● Interpreter
Assembler
● The translator used to convert the code written in assembly language to machine language
is called assembler.
● Each assembler can understand a specific microprocessor instruction set only and hence
the machine code is not portable.
Compiler
● Compiler converts source code written in high level language into machine code.
● If the code does not follow all syntactic rules of the language, the compiler generates
errors.
● Once source code is translated successfully, the compiler is not needed further.
Interpreter
● Interpreter converts source code written in high level language into machine code line
● Interpreter is always needed whenever a source code is to be executed.

Difference between Compiler and Interpreter

Program Development Tools

Program development tools are also referred as integrated Development Environment which
provides all resources needed for software development, it consist of
● Text editor
● Debugger
● Compiler
● GUI Editor etc.
Examples: Python IDLE, Netbeans, Eclipse, Visual Studio, Atom
Application Software
● Software which is developed for a particular type of application such as drawing.
presentation, documentation, calculation etc.
● It is used by user to accomplish their task
● It always runs on the top of the system software.
There are two main categories of application software:
● General purpose software
● Customized software
General purpose software
● These are application software designed for generic applications such as Spreadsheets,
Photoshop, and Chrome etc.
● These are developed to meet the requirement of mass users in mind without any
geographical barrier.

Customized software
● These are application software designed to meet the requirements of individuals or
organizations.
● Examples: school management software, hospital management, inventory management
payroll etc.
Operating system
● The software that acts as an interface between user and computer hardware.
● It is a System Software.
● Every computer system must have at least one operating system installed.
● Windows, Linux, Solaris, MAC OS, Ubuntu, MS DOS are some of the examples of Operating
System
● It helps in performing the core functionalities like accepting input from various input
devices, directing the output to the display, managing the files and directories communicating
with hardware, and installing/uninstalling peripheral devices.

Functions of Operating System

● Functions of an Operating system can be broadly categorized as
● Communication Management
● Resource Management
● Process Management
● File Management
● Memory Management

Communication Management
Establishes communication between different peripheral devices like printer, mouse keyboard,
monitor etc. The Operating System uses special programs called drivers to identify these devices
and their properties, to interact with them.
Resource Management
Here resource management refers to managing allocation and priority of different resources such
as memory. CPU time, files, Input/output devices etc., to the various processes to get an optimum
performance from the system. All these are discussed below:
Process Management
it refers to managing, controlling and scheduling different operations being executed in the CPU.
It decides which process gets the processor and for how long.
Memory Management
it refers to dynamically allocating memory to the process to be executed and released when not
needed.

File Management
It refers to managing all the files and folders in secondary memory. Creating, deleting, moving.
Copying or renaming are some common tasks performed on files.
OS User Interface
OS User Interface refers to a medium through which a user can interact with an Operating System.
Following are the commonly used interfaces of OS:
● Character (Command) user interface - used as medium to exchange information between
user and machine
● Graphical user interface - uses different graphics like icons, images, buttons, menus are
used to interact with operating system
● Touch based interface - Mostly built for smartphones and tablets.
● Voice based interface - allows users to interact with the system by human voice.
● Gesture based interface - refers to interaction with a system using different human
gestures like waving, tilting, eye motion and shaking.