Introduction to Computer Programming Project Report

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Introduction toComputers

A Project Report

Subject: Introduction to Computer Programming

Submitted by: Muhammad Saad

Roll No : 2429

Submitted to: Sir Sajid Hussain


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INTRODUCTION TO

COMPUTERS

A PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED TO:

SIR SAJID HUSSAIN

FOR PROJECT OF COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO

COMPUTER AND PROGRAMMING

SUBMITTED BY:

MUHAMMAD SAAD

2429

INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS

ENGINEERING

(2012 2013)

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bout (omputers this report presents a broad survey of concepts andterminology related to computers. The idea of computer literacy is introduced.)ou discover what a computer is and what it does. )ou learn about thecomponents of a computer, the power of computers, computer software, andnetworks and the Internet.

(ategories of computers are identified, including personal computers,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and supercomputers.

)ou discover how people employ computers, from home users to large businessusers. *inally, you learn how people use computers to provide information.+eading and understanding the material in this report should help you better understand these topics as they are presented in more detail in the following

report.

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T,-l o. Con$ n$%

T($l P," Page 01

Co) * P," Page 02

Acknowl !" # n$ Page 03

E& c'$() S'## *+ Page 04

T,-l o. Con$ n$% Page 05

In$*o!'c$(on $o Co#/'$ * Page 06

1.1 What is a Computer Page 06

1.2 What are the Components o aComputer

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1.3 "o# does a Computer #or$ Page 12

1.4 "o# does the %o t#are #or$ Page 13

1.5 "o# does a Computer process

In ormation

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1.6 What is Computer &emor' Page 1!

1.( "o# are )ata stored Page 1*

1.! +he Importance o )ocumentation Page 22

1.* Protecting against ,iruses Page 23

1.10 Conc-usion Page 24

1.11 Re erencesPage 25

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INTRODUCTION TOCOMPUTERS

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A computer allows users to store and process informationquic l! and automaticall!"

computer is a programmable machine. It allows the user to store all sorts of

information and then !process" that information, or data, or carry out actions with theinformation, such as calculating numbers or organi4ing words.

Computer: machine that can receive and storeinformation and change or process it.

Information: 5nowledge that is communicated. Data (pl.): The representation of information in a

formali4ed manner suitable for communication, interpretationand processing, generally by a computer system. #ote$ the term!raw data" refers to unprocessed information.

(omputers can be generally classified by si4e and power, although there can beconsiderable overlap. *ollowing are descriptions of several different types ofcomputers.Mainframe computers are large6si4ed, powerful multi6user computers that cansupport concurrent programs. That means, they can perform different actions or!processes" at the same time. Mainframe computers can be used by as many ashundreds or thousands of users at the same time. $arge organi4ations may use amainframe computer to execute large6scale processes such as processing theorgani4ation"s payroll.

Mini-computers are mid6si4ed multi6processing computers. gain, they can performseveral actions at the same time and can support from & to %77 users simultaneously.In recent years the distinction between mini6computers and small mainframes has

become blurred. ften the distinction depends upon how the manufacturer wants tomarket its machines. rgani4ations may use a mini6computer for such tasks asmanaging the information in a small financial system or maintaining a small database

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The central processing unit 9(01: is the heart of the computer. It carries out allof the instructions given in a program, such as a word processing or spreadsheet

program. The (01 consists of one or more chips 9another name for =integratedcircuits>:.

C'ip: small piece of semi6conducting material9such as silicon: about centimeter 9? inch: s8uare onwhich an integrated circuit is embedded. n integratedcircuit is a number of electronic components joinedtogether to form a path for electricity. (entral processingunit chips contain the circuits representing the (01.

microprocessor is a particular type of chip. The original I;M personalcomputer used the Intel @7@@ microprocessor. Most of today"s microcomputersare designed around a microprocessor from one of two product families< x@A or0ower. The @7%@A, @7B@A, and @7&@A models that followed were referred to bythe last three digits, %@A, B@A, and &@A. *or the next generation, however, Intel

broke with tradition and introduced the 0entium in ''B. In ''C, it introducedthe 0entium II to address multi6media applications, and most recently the0entium III to address the new opportunities provided by access to largevolumes of information on the -orld -ide -eb. ther manufacturers of chips9such as (yrix: produce chips of similar power and capabilities.(01"s are not all e8ual. #ome process data faster than others. computercontains a system clock that emits pulses to establish the timing of all systemsoperations. The system clock operates at a speed 8uite different from a clock that

keeps track of the time of the day. The system clock determines the speed atwhich the computer can execute an instruction, and therefore limits the numberof instructions the computer can complete within a specific amount of time. Thetime to complete an instruction execution cycle is measured in megahert4 9M 4:or millions of cycles

per second. lthough some instructions re8uire multiple cycles to complete, the processor speed should be thought of in terms of the number of instructions the processor can execute in one second. Today, microprocessor speeds exceed B77M 4 if all other specifications are identical, then higher megahert4 ratingsmeans faster processing.-hen determining what type of computer you are using or considering what

type of computer to ac8uire, it is important to know that these terms D %@A, B@iA,&@A, 0entium D refer to the type of processor in the computer. Eewer computerswill come with 0entium microprocessors 9or the e8uivalent from othermanufacturers:F older ones with microprocessors from the x@A family.

It is important to know the type of processor in your computer. #ome newercomputer programs will not run on older processors, and some newer processorsare too sophisticated for older software.

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%he faster the processor in a computer& the more quic l! thecomputer will perform operations"

The most common type of memory that most users are familiar with is !mainmemory" or !+ M" 9random6access memory:.

Random acce memory (R $): n area in thecomputer system unit that temporarily holds a user"s data,operating system instructions and program instructions.

The word !main" is used to distinguish it from external mass storage devicessuch as the hard drive or disk drives. Eote that the term !mass storage" refers tovarious techni8ues and devices for storing large amounts of dataF mass storage isdistinct from memory because it retains data even when the computer is turnedoff. Thus mass storage is sometimes referred to as !auxiliary storage". *ollowingare definitions of common storage devices. Giskettes are alsocalled floppies.lthough today"s microcomputers typically use BN inch 9about 7 centimeter:disks, you may still find L? inch 9about L centimeter: disks that were popular

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many years ago. *inding a disk drive to read L? inch disks may be very difficult.

Giskettes are generally used for transporting or shipping data files or for makingduplicate copies of data files for back6up purposes. The storage capacity of a

diskette varies but is considerably smaller than that of a hard drive.#ince the 'A7s, magnetic tape has been a popular form of mainframe computer storage.

$a!net ic tape : continuous plastic strip coveredwith magnetic oxideF the tape is divided into paralleltracks onto which data may be recorded by selectivelymagneti4ing parts of the surface, or spots, in each of thetracks. The data can then be stored and reused.

-hen I;M introduced its first microcomputer in '@ , the legacy of tape storagecontinued in the form of acassette tape drive, similar to those used for audio recording and playback. 1singtape as a primary storage device, however, instead of a hard disk is slow andinconvenient because tape re8uires se8uential access rather than random access.

#e8uential access means that data is stored and read as a se8uence of bytes alongthe length of the tape. To find a file stored on a microcomputer tape storagedevice, one has to advance the tape to the appropriate location of the file, then

wait for the computer to slowly read each byte until it finds the beginning of thefile. $ike an audio cassette, for example, a user must go through the tape inse8uence to find the part he or she wants.

Microcomputer users 8uickly abandoned tape storage for the convenience andspeed of random access disk drives. +ecently, however, tape storage formicrocomputers has experienced a revival, not as a principal storage device butfor making backup copies of the data stored on hard disks. The data on magneticstorage can be easily destroyed, erased, or otherwise lost. 0rotecting the data onthe hard disk is of particular concern to users because it contains so much data,which could be difficult and time consuming to reconstruct. This is why backupsare so important.

ack up: To copy a computer file or collection offiles to a second medium, usually on a diskette ormagnetic tape, so that the data are safe in case the originalfile is damaged or lost. ;ackups are usually copied tostorage devices that can be removed from the computerand kept separately from the original.

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tape backup is a copy of the data from a hard disk, stored on magnetic tape andused to recover lost data. tape backup is relatively inexpensive and can rescuean organi4ation from the overwhelming task of trying to reconstruct lost data.

)ac ing up electronic data is critical to protecting it fromloss or damage"

*or more information on (ac ing up data and protecting information& see utomating+ecords #ervices and 2mergency 0lanning for +ecords and rchives #ervices.

The most popular types of tape drives for microcomputers also use tapecartridges, but there are several tape specifications and cartridge si4es. tapecartridge is a removable magnetic tape module similar to a sound or videocassette tape. Ouarter inch tape, called OI(, is a tape cartridge that contains ?inch 9approximately N centimeter: wide tape. Gepending on tape length, OI(tape capacities range from B&7 M; to % gigabytes. Gigital audio tape, calledG T, was originally an audio recording format, but is now also used for datastorage. The &mm wide G T tape format storage capacity ranges from %gigabytes to % gigabytes.

In addition to magnetic storage, there is also optical storage.

&ptical di k: storage device that uses reflectingsurfaces and laser technology to read and write data on adisk. It is also known as a laser disk.

-ith optical storage, data is burned into the storage medium using beams oflaser light. The burns form patterns of small pits in the disk surface to representdata. The pits on optical media are permanent, so the data cannot be changed.ptical media are very durable, but they do not provide the flexibility ofmagnetic media for changing the data once they are stored.

There are three types of optical disks.

(G6+ M"s are the most popular type of optical storage. (G6+ M stands for(ompact Gisc +ead nly Memory. computer (G6+ M disk, like its audiocounterpart, contains data that has been stamped on the disk surface as a seriesof pits. To read the data on a (G6+ M an optical read head distinguishes the

patterns of pits that represent bytes. (G6+ M disks provide tremendous storagecapacity. (G6+ Ms usually come with data already written onto them. Thesedays most applications software is provided on (G6+ M.

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It is now possible for computer users to write data to an optical disk. These areknown as - +M disks, which stand for !-rite nce +ead Many". single(G holds up to A@7 megabytes, e8uivalent to over B77,777 pages of text incharacter format, and these disks are 8uite durable. These (Gs are known as(G re6recordable 9(G6+:. There are other types of - +M disks, althoughthere is no standard for these.

There is a third type of optical disk which can be erased and use to rewritenew information. These are sometimes known as 2 9erasable optical: disksand (G6+- 9(G rewritable:.

Magneto6optical disks combine magnetic disk and (G6+ M technologies.$ike magnetic media they can read and written to and like floppy disks they areremovable. They can store over %77 M; of data, and speed of access to this data isfaster than a floppy but slower than a hard drive. There is no universal standard

for these yet. (G6+ Ms and magnet6optical disks are very useful for storingimages. These take up much more storage space than data in character format,such as in word6processed files.

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.@ T 2 IM 0 +T E ( 2 *G ( 1 M 2 E T T I E

The computer hardware, software and peripherals will be accompanied bydocumentation, which explains how the various systems or programs operate.

Documentat ion: Information needed to develop,use or maintain computer hardware and software

and to permit access and retrieval of the data

lthough documentation usually comes in the form of printed manuals, guide books, it may also come in electronic form, such as in !help screens" containedwithin the computer software or documentation in data dictionaries and so on.ften, documentation is created when a specific computer application is used.*or example, if a government office creates a data base of employees in order toadminister payroll, documentation may be created describing how the databasewas established, what it is to be used for and what data fields have been created.This documentation can be critical to understanding the database system,

particularly if it is being managed in an archival environment long after thecreators of the system have left.

+ocumentation should alwa!s (e retained"

Gisposing of documentation can cause problems in the future, particularly if youhave to reload software from the beginning. Gocumentation can also containlicences for the legitimate use of the software. Therefore it is critical to protectdocumentation and ensure it is readily available.

.' 0 + T2(TIEP P IE#T KI+1#2#

*iru : computer program that is planted in onecomputer and then transferred, hidden in useful

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information, to one or more other computers with theintention of corrupting or wiping out information in therecipient computer.

Kiruses are extremely common. Many different types of viruses exist, rangingfrom ones that prevent you from opening up word6processed documents throughto ones that destroy the entire contents of a hard drive. Kiruses can be caught inseveral ways, for example by exchanging floppy disks, via electronic mailmessages and through downloading documents from the -eb. Eetworks make itmuch easier for viruses to move around. nce a virus gets into an organi4ation"scomputer system it can spread very 8uickly. Eew viruses appear each week, so itis essential that users have up6to6date anti6virus software to combat this problem.

If users have software that is unlicensed it could mean that it is !pirate" or!bootleg" software. This is software that has been illegally copied. #oftware ofthis nature sometimes contains viruses that can be extremely damaging tocomputers.

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. 7 ( E($1#I E

computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set ofarithmetic or logical operations automatically. #ince a se8uence of operations can bereadily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem.

(onventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element, typically acentral processing unit 9(01:, and some form of memory . The processing elementcarries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a se8uencing and control unit canchange the order of operations in response to stored information. 0eripheral devicesallow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations

saved and retrieved.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_(computers)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_(computers)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_program


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. +eferences

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Introduction to Computer Programming Project Report