Functioning of a Computer :-
We discussed in the previous section that computers have gone through a long history of development. Evolutionary history is often divided into mechanical and electronic ages, with the development of electronic computers beginning in the late 20th century. Since then, electronic computers have undergone major changes in terms of architectural design, components used, and IC manufacturing technologies. Modern computers use primarily electronic components for processing elements and both magnetic and optical components (and more recently solid-state devices) for primary memory and secondary storage.
The objective of this unit is to identify the main components of a digital computer and describe the functions they perform. As the unit progresses, we will discuss the architectural diagram of a digital computer, identifying the major components and their roles. This is followed by an introduction to decimal and binary number systems and popularly used binary code systems. We proceed to understand the concept of machine instruction through a simple example, followed by describing the operation of the control unit and the arithmetic and logic unit. The unit concludes with a brief summary of the learning outcomes.
Nowadays, computers come in different shapes and sizes and fit most everyone's budget. According to
Computers are general purpose machines that take inputs from users, process these inputs and then produce the desired output. Also, processed information is stored in storage.
With the development of technology, computers are becoming more and more advanced. So, with this advancement, it has become difficult to classify the functions of computers.
However, with the help of this article, we will try to understand the basic computer functions performed by every computer regardless of their size and shape.
How a computer completes a given set of required instructions is called the operation of the computer. Initially, when the user provides input to the computer from the input device, the input data is stored in the main memory and then the data is moved to the CPU (Central Processing Unit). When the data is in the CPU it does the following:
• It determines the format of the data and the action to be taken accordingly.
• Arithmetic and logical operations are performed by ALU.
• After the process is completed the output or processed result is sent to the output device in human readable format.
Based on the basic function of a computer system, a computer mainly has four basic functions-
• Input function
• Processing function
• Output function
• Storage function
Input Function
As we know that a computer is a data processing machine which does not work unless an information is given to the computer system through an input device. Any device that a user can use to give instructions to a computer is called an input device. ie keyboard, mouse, joystick etc.
Input devices are responsible for receiving data from the outside world and further processing this data. Data can be entered manually, automatically or both.
As for manual data, it is usually provided through mouse, keyboard, joystick etc.
Also, automated data is fed through a script with the help of robots etc. And can be defined before execution at startup or as a user-based function.
Along with the primary input device, other devices extract data in various formats such as text, audio-video and images. For example, a webcam can be used to send data in the form of video or images, and a microphone can be used to send data in the form of audio.
For example-
• Keyboard – A keyboard is a device with multiple keys used to enter text type data into the computer through a keyboard.
• Mouse – The mouse is a point and click device and is used more often than the keyboard. You can click, drag and select folders in the mouse GUI (Graphical User Interface).
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