Computer has always fascinated people. Due to the technologies involved in its making, it has become the lifeline of many individuals and many corporations.
It is a type of machine that accepts data from outside, processes it and gives the desired result in the form of output.
It recognizes the instructions from the user and processes those instructions accordingly. |
 |
Here, data or information is presented by binary system; numerically represented in the combination of 0 and 1.
Early computers resembled the magnitude of a large room but with constant invention in this field, computers can be operated even from a mobile phone or a wrist watch. Basic components of a computer can be divided into four parts:
- Input Unit.
Input Unit is a device (equipment) that provides communication or link between the operator and machine. Information of any kind is first converted into binary codes which are understood by C.P.U. Some of the popular input devices are Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy disk, Compact disc, Light pen.
- Output Unit.
Information coming out of the system can be printed on the sheet of a paper by an output unit known as printer (laser, inkjet, dot matrix). The output is given: on the monitor, in audible form by speech synthesizers and other output devices.
- C.P.U (Central Processing Unit).
It is actually the brain cum heart of the whole system, data is processed here.
- Storage (Auxiliary Memory).
The primary memory section of memory is part of CPU and usually consists of mixture of RAM and ROM. All the data is stored in cells.
In actual, it consists of hardware and software (instructions and data). They are classified according to mass (size) and power.
For instance, there is Home PC’s, Workstation (powerful machine that is used in big organizations and involves heavy data management), mini and mainframe computers, supercomputers and laptops.
There are many multi national companies that have set various benchmarks in different fields of computers, i.e.
Microsoft, Apple, IBM, HCL and Satyam Computer Services Ltd, etc. Those days have gone when computers were very costly, now computers are available on cheaper rates with modern techniques.
|
