Computer Programming

Charles Babbage – 19th century English Mathematics professor designed the Analytical
Engine and it was this design that the basic framework of the computers of today are
based on.
Analytical Engine – basic framework of computers as of today.

First Generation (1937 – 1946) – used vacuum tubes.

 Anastoff-Berry Computer (ABC) – 1937, first electronic digital computer, built by
Dr. John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry.
 Colossus – 1943, for military.
 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) – 1946, first general
purpose digital computer. (30 tons and 18,000 vacuum tubes and no operating
system, single task)
Second Generation (1947 – 1962) – used transistors.
 Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC 1) – 1951, first computer for commercial.
 International Business Machine (IBM) – 1953, made 650 and 700 series computers.
 Over 100 computer programming languages, had memory and operating system,
storage media and printers.
Third Generation (1963 – Present) – used integrated circuits. (computers become
smaller, run different programs at the same time)
 Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-Dos) – 1980
 IBM – 1981, personal computers (PC), for home and office use.
 Apple – Macintosh computer, icon driven interface.
 90s – Windows operating system.

Classified according to purpose, data handling and functionality.

Purpose:
General Purpose Computers – designed to perform a range of tasks, store numerous
programs, lack in speed and efficiency.
Specific Purpose Computers – designed to handle specific problems or specific task.
Data Handling:
Analog – principle of measuring, measurements translated to data, quantities are
represented.
Digital – operate information, represented in digital form (0s and 1s), faster and
accurate.
Hybrid – measuring and counting feature of the analog and digital computers,
computational (analog), storage (digital).
Functionality:
Analog – continuous physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical or hydraulic
quantities representing the problem being solved.
Digital – performs calculations and logical operations, binary number system.
Hybrid – a combination of inputting and outputting both digital and analog signals, cost
effective.
Size:
Super computer – fastest and most powerful type, expensive, specialized applications
for mathematical calculations, perform or execute many programs concurrently.
Mainframe computer – very large and expensive, supporting hundreds or thousands
of users simultaneously.
Minicomputer – midsized computer, between workstations and mainframes, supports
4 to 200 users simultaneously.

Micro Computer or Personal Computers

Desktop computer – personal, micro-mini computer fit on a desk.
Laptop computer – portable computer, with screen and keyboard, smaller than desktop
larger than notebook.
Palmtop Computer/Digital Diary/Notebook/Personal Digital Assistant – hand
sized computer no keyboard but the screen serves both.

Workstations – terminal, desktop computer in a network, client

Computer components – main types are input devices, output devices, secondary
storage devices and processor and primary storage devices.

Internal Hardware Computer Components – designed to fit inside the computer

system and carry out roles.
 Motherboard – central to any computer system, all components plug onto it (via
USB ports or straight in circuit board (RAM, ROM, Graphics card, PCI slots).
 Processor (CPU) – brain of the computer, performing calculations and data
processing, movement of data from system memory, clock rates (hertz), AMD and
Intel (cost more, perform better, pins)
Random Access Memory (RAM) – temporarily store information, word documents to
videos, depends on what task you are using in a computer, varies all the time, fast
memory, measured in GB, volatile.
Read Only Memory (ROM) – permanently store instructions, loads operating system,
BIOS (basic input/output system), read only, cannot be altered or added to by the user,
non-volatile). Examples are DVD/CD ROMS (music and movie), ROM chip (font styles),
BIOS chip (instructions)
Video Card (Graphics Card) – enables the computer to display images on the monitor,
requires installation of software alongside with the hardware.
Sound Card – allow the computer system to produce sound and allow user connect
microphones, conversion of analogue data into digital and vice versa.
Storage Devices (Secondary Backing Storage) – store data that is not instantly
needed by the computer, permanently store data and programs for as long as we need,
back-up data.
 Internal storage – internal hard disk drives.
 External storage – external hard disk drives, memory stick.
External Hardware Computer Components – connect computer system from
outside.
 Input devices – hardware that get raw data into computer ready for processing.
o Manual – need to be operated by man (keyboard, mouse, microphone,
scanner, light pen, touch screen, digital/web camera).
o Automatic – can input on their own (barcode reader, magnetic stripe
reader).
 Output devices – when data has been processed, it become useful information.
hardware that send this usable info out of the computer.
o Temporary – monitors
o Permanent – printers
 Peripheral devices – almost all ID and OD are peripheral devices, non-essential
hardware components, system can operate without them. (keyboard, mouse,
microphone, web cam, scanner, joystick, speakers, printer)

Storage device – also digital storage, storage, storage media or storage medium, any
hardware capable of holding info either temporarily or permanently (Drobo, external
storage device)
 Primary – RAM, internal.
 Secondary – Hard drive, can be removable, internal or external.

Computer storage
 Magnetic storage device – most common type of storage used with computers,
found mostly in HHDs (hybrid hard drives). Examples are floppy diskettes, hard
drive, magnetic strip, superdisk, tape cassette, zip diskette.
 Optical storage device – uses lasers and lights as its method of reading and writing
data. (Blu-ray disc, CD ROM disc, CD-R and CD-RW disc) (CD stands for Compact
disk)
 Flash memory device – replaced most magnetic and optical media as it becomes
cheaper, more efficient and reliable. (USB Flash drives, jump drive, thumb drive,
Memory card, SD Card,
 Online and Cloud – storing data online, accessing data from more than one device.
(Google drive etc)
 Paper storage – storing information in paper (OMR, Punch card Machine)

Why is SD needed? computer cannot save or remember any settings or info.

Why so many different SD? technologies used data too, high requirement of storage,
people want it faster, cheaper, save more data and access faster.
What is a storage location? by default, info saved to your computer hard drive.
What storage device has the largest capacity? hard drive or SSD (solid state drive). Punch
card lowest, NAS/Cloud storage highest.
Are storage devices input or output? Neither of the two.
How do you access storage devices? Depends on the operating system used, for example
microsoft windows used file manager, apple used finder.

Number System
 Binary Number System – has only two digits that are 0 and 1. Every number (value)
represents with 0 and 1 in this number system.
 Octal Number System – has only eight (8) digits from 0 to 7. Every number (value)
represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 in this number system.
 Decimal Number System – has only ten (10) digits from 0 to 9. Every number
(value) represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7,8 and 9 in this number system.
 Hexadecimal Number System - has sixteen (16) alphanumeric values from 0 to 9
and A to F. Every number (value) represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7,8,9, A, B, C, D,
E and F in this number system.
Base-10
2347 = 2 ∗ 103 + 3 ∗ 102 + 4 ∗ 101 + 7 ∗ 100