INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Unit – I
COMPUTER
A computer is an electronic device that receives input data, processes it and display the
output data. It has the ability to store, process and retrieve data.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER
1. Speed - Computer can work very fast. It takes only few seconds for calculations. Computer can
perform millions (1,000,000) of instructions and even more per second. It takes few minutes for the
computer to process this huge amount of data and give the result.
2. Accuracy - The degree of accuracy of computer is very high and every calculation is performed
with the same accuracy. The accuracy level is determined on the basis of design of computer. The
errors in computer are due to human and inaccurate data.
3. Diligence - A computer is free from tiredness, lack of concentration, fatigue, etc. It can work for
hours without creating any error. If millions of calculations are to be performed, a computer will
perform every calculation with the same accuracy.
4. Versatility - It means the capacity to perform completely different type of work. You may use
your computer to prepare payroll slips. Next moment you may use it for inventory management or
to prepare electric bills.
5. Storage - Computer has the power of storing any amount of information or data. Any information
can be stored and recalled as long as you require it, for any numbers of years.

DIGITAL SIGNALS
A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values. A digital
signal can only take on one value from a finite set of possible values at a given time. With digital
signals, the physical quantity representing the information can be many things: Variable electric
current or voltage. Digital computers and digital phones are some of the examples of digital signals.
 Digital signal processing is used everywhere. DSP is used primarily in areas of audio signal,
speech processing, RADAR, seismology, audio, SONAR, voice recognition, and some financial
signals. Digital signals are transmitted to computers in the form of electronic signals sent as pulses.
The digital device interprets each pulse's voltage as either a 0 or 1. Digital signals are time separated
signals. This type of electronic l signals can be processed and transmitted better compared to analog
signal. Digital signals are versatile, so it is widely used. The accuracy of the digital signal is better
than that of the analog signal.
Advantages
 Digital data can be easily compressed
 Equipment that uses digital signals is more common and fewer expensive
 These signals turn the moving instruments free from errors
 You can edit the sound without altering the first copy

BINARY SYSTEM
Binary system is a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each
digit 0 or 1 and is the basis for all binary code used in computing systems. These systems use this
code to understand operational instructions and user input and to present a relevant output to the
user. The numbers are expressed as base 2 numeral system. Every digit is referred to as a bit.
Example: 4 in binary is (100)2.

Number Binary Number

1 1

2 10

3 11

4 100

7 111

10 1010
ASCII
ASCII, in full American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a standard data-
encoding format for electronic communication between computers. ASCII assigns standard numeric
values to letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and other characters used in computers. ASCII is an
8-bit code. That is, it uses eight bits to represent a letter or a punctuation mark. Eight bits are called
a byte. A binary code with eight digits, such as 1101 10112, can be stored in one byte of computer
memory. The word "CAT" in a word processor becomes 0100 00112, 0100 00012, and 0101 01002.
 ASCII is used to translate computer text to human text. All computers speak in binary, a
series of 0 and 1. However, just like English and Spanish can use the same alphabet but have
completely different words for similar objects, computers also had their own version of languages.

HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS

In the early 1820s, it was designed by Charles Babbage who is known as "Father of Modern
Computer". It was a mechanical computer which could perform simple calculations. The first
electronic computer was developed in the 1940s.
First Generation Computers
The first generation (1946-1959) computers were slow, huge and expensive. In these
computers, vacuum tubes were used as the basic components of CPU and memory. These computers
were mainly depended on batch operating system and punch cards. Magnetic tape and paper tape
were used as output and input devices in this generation. Some of the popular first generation
computers are;
o ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
o EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
o UNIVACI( Universal Automatic Computer)
o IBM-701
o IBM-650

Second Generation Computers

The second generation (1959-1965) was the era of the transistor computers. These
computers used transistors which were cheap, compact and consuming less power; it made transistor
computers faster than the first generation computers. In this generation, magnetic cores were used
as the primary memory and magnetic disc and tapes were used as the secondary storage. Assembly
language and programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, and Batch processing and
multiprogramming operating systems were used in these computers. Some of the popular second
generation computers are;
o IBM 1620
o IBM 7094
o CDC 1604
o CDC 3600
o UNIVAC 1108

Third Generation Computers

The third generation computers used integrated circuits (ICs) instead of transistors. A single
IC can pack huge number of transistors which increased the power of a computer and reduced the
cost. The computers also became more reliable, efficient and smaller in size. These generation
computers used remote processing, time-sharing, multi programming as operating system. Also, the
high-level programming languages like FORTRON-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, ALGOL-
68 were used in this generation. Some of the popular third generation computers are:
 o IBM-360 series
o Honeywell-6000 series
o PDP(Personal Data Processor)
o IBM-370/168
o TDC-316

Fourth Generation Computers

The fourth generation (1971-1980) computers used very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits;
a chip containing millions of transistors and other circuit elements. These chips made this generation
computers more compact, powerful, fast and affordable. These generation computers used real time,
time sharing and distributed operating system. The programming languages like C, C++, DBASE
were also used in this generation. Some of the popular fourth generation computers are:
o DEC 10
o STAR 1000
o PDP 11
o CRAY-1(Super Computer)
o CRAY-X-MP(Super Computer)

Fifth Generation Computers

In fifth generation (1980-till date) computers, the VLSI technology was replaced with ULSI
(Ultra Large Scale Integration). It made possible the production of microprocessor chips with ten
million electronic components. This generation computers used parallel processing hardware and
AI (Artificial Intelligence) software. The programming languages used in this generation were C,
C++, Java, .Net, etc. Some of the popular fifth generation computers are;
o Desktop
o Laptop
o NoteBook
o UltraBook
o ChromeBook

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
1) Supercomputer
Supercomputers are the biggest and fastest computers. They are designed to process huge
amount of data. A supercomputer can process trillions of instructions in a second. It has thousands
of interconnected processors. Supercomputers are particularly used in scientific and engineering
applications such as weather forecasting, scientific simulations and nuclear energy research. First
supercomputer was developed by Roger Cray in 1976.
2) Mainframe computer
Mainframe computers are designed to support hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously. They can support multiple programs at the same time. It means they can execute
different processes simultaneously. These features of mainframe computers make them ideal for big
organizations like banking and telecom sectors, which need to manage and process high volume of
data.
3) Mini computer
It is a midsize multiprocessing computer. It consists of two or more processors and can
support 4 to 200 users at one time. Miniframe computers are used in institutes and departments for
the tasks such as billing, accounting and inventory management.
4) Workstation
Workstation is a single user computer that is designed for technical or scientific applications.
It has faster microprocessor, large amount of RAM and high speed graphic adapters. It generally
performs a specific job with great expertise; accordingly, they are of different types such as graphics
workstation, music workstation and engineering design workstation.
5) Microcomputer
Microcomputer is also known as personal computer. It is a general purpose computer that is
designed for individual use. It has a microprocessor as a central processing unit, memory, storage
area, input unit and output unit. Laptops and desktop computers are examples of microcomputers.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Hardware refers to the physical and visible components of the system such as a monitor,
CPU, keyboard and mouse. Examples of hardware in a computer are the Processor, Memory
Devices, Monitor, Printer, Keyboard, Mouse, and the Central Processing Unit.
Software refers to a set of instructions which enable the hardware to perform a specific set
of tasks. Software is a collection of instructions, procedures, and documentation that performs
different tasks on a computer system. Examples: office suites, graphics software, web browsers,
image editors etc.,