Computers Assessment Help Question:

Computers- What they do how they run??

Assessment Overviews the question:

Computers: A definition

Computer is an electronic device which converts raw data into meaningful information.  It is an object that takes input and results into output.  Computers are also known as programmable machines which have two principle characteristics as listed below

It is responsible for responding specific set of instruction

It is responsible for executing pre-recorded instruction’s list.

History

Computers have evolved through lot of technological changes which changed the way in which computers operate. This serialized changes has resulted into cheaper, smaller, more efficient and powerful devices. The technological advances in computers has been categorised as five generations. The five generations of computers are listed below

• First generation computers: First generation computers [194—56] rely on vacuum tubes for circuitry. The memory was developed from magnetic drums. The computers were very huge in size and generated large volume of heat and were very expensive.

Webopedia (2011) states “Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and 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”

• Second generation computers: Second generation computers [1956- 63] leads to some advancements in first generation computers. Transistors were employed in place of vacuum tubes which make these computers faster, smaller and cheaper than its predecessors. Punched cards were employed for input and output operations.
• Third generation computers: Third generation computers [1964- 71] was the generation which started using integrated circuits. These integrated circuits consist of transistors placed on silicon chips. Monitors and keyboards were used for output and input.
• Fourth generation computers: First computers belonging to Fourth generation computers were developed in the year 1971. Microprocessors war employed in this generation computers which consists of thousands of integrated circuits mounted on a single silicon chip. The computers are very small in size and are very powerful. These computers provide the ability to be linked by using networks.
• Fifth generation computers: Fifth generation are future or computers technology. The computing devices are based on artificial intelligence.

Components of computers

For computer to work, there are different components that work for carrying out operations. Below is list of components of computer.

• Motherboard: Motherboard is the primary circuit board. All the other components can be connected and removed with motherboard as per requirement. Some components which are included in motherboard architecture such as the system clock which stores information when the system is powered off.
• Central Processing Unit: This is the most important part of computer. It is abbreviated as CPU and is also called brain of computer.  The CPU consists the microprocessor which is heart of all operation conducted by computer.  Central processing unit is divided into three main components

Tyson, Crawford (2011) states “That microprocessor is the heart of all the PC’s operations, and the performance of both hardware and software rely on the processor’s performance.”

• Memory unit: The memory unit is used to store the input and output data. The memory is categorised as temporary memory and permanent memory
  • Random Access Memory: Random access memory is abbreviated as RAM. It provides buffer space for data required by CPU. It helps in decreasing the idle time of CPU and increasing its performance. This is temporary memory.
  • Read only memory: Read only memory is abbreviated as ROM. This memory is permanent memory which contains data that needs to be stored permanently. Computer Programs such as Boot Strap program is stored in ROM.
  • Arithmetic Logic Unit: Arithmetic logic unit is abbreviated as ALU. Here all the processing such as arithmetic and logical calculations are conducted.
  • Control Unit: The control unit controls all the components and processing of the computer system. The unit gives signals to other parts what action will be taken at what phase of time. The control unit is also responsible for fetching and decoding the required data and sent instructions for processing/ other operations.
  • Input/ output Device: The input and output devices are used to input and output data to and from the computer. Keyboard is most popular input device and monitor is an example of output device.

How Computer Works?

The computer operations are divided into two main tasks as Boot up process and data processing as described below.

Boot up Process

When Computer is started, a boot process is initiated for making it ready to use by the user. The following steps are followed for boot strap process

• The power button when activated sends power supply to motherboard and all other components
• A power on self test is performed
• The BIOS access the boot disk which is located at first sector of drive
• The bootstrap loader is then loaded into RAM
• The bootstrap loader loads the operating system into memory
• Finally, the control is transfer to the operating system.

Data Processing

The central processing unit in association with the memory unit is responsible for executing computer programs. The following steps explains how a program is executed

• The programs [data] and the instructions ruling the problem are placed in memory by using input device such as keyboard.
• The control unit fetch the instruction from memory and then decode it.
• After decoding, the CPU will give instructions regarding what data need to be moved from memory to ALU. This decoding and instructing of CPU is known as Instruction Time.
• ALU performs the necessary operation [arithmetic/ logic] as per instructions.
• The results are stored back to memory unit. The time that is taken to execute the data and stored the results back to memory is known as execution time i.e. E time.

The I and E time together constitute the machine cycle. The following figure provides a visual view of the machine cycle:-

The CPU also consists of an internal clock that is used for synchronization of operations performed by computer. This internal clock produces plusses at fixed rate.

It is cited as “A single machine-cycle instruction may be made up of a substantial number of sub-instructions, each of which must take at least one clock cycle”

A single machine cycle instruction consists of number of sub instructions and each of this sub instruction needs at least one clock cycle for its execution.

M038

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