28-09-2013, 04:55 PM
STUDY MATERIALS ON COMPUTER ORGANIZATION
MATERIALS ON COMPUTER .pdf (Size: 110.4 KB / Downloads: 251)
GENERATION OF COMPUTERS
The first electronic computer was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania based on
vacuum tube technology. Vacuum tubes were used to perform logic operations and to store data.
Generations of computers has been divided into five according to the development of technologies
used to fabricate the processors, memories and I/O units.
Applications
In petroleum industry - to analyze volumes of seismic data which are gathered during oil
seeking explorations to identify areas where there is possibility of getting petroleum
products inside the earth
In Aerospace industry - to simulate airflow around an aircraft at different speeds and
altitude. This helps in producing an effective aerodynamic design for superior performance
In Automobile industry – to do crash simulation of the design of an automobile before it is
released for manufacturing – for better automobile design
In structural mechanics – to solve complex structural engineering problems to ensure safety,
reliability and cost effectiveness. Eg. Designer of a large bridge has to ensure that the bridge
must be proper in various atmospheric conditions and pressures from wind, velocity etc and
under load conditions.
Meteorological centers use super computers for weather forecasting
In Biomedical research – atomic nuclear and plasma analysis – to study the structure of
viruses such as that causing AIDS
For weapons research and development, sending rockets to space etc
FUNCTIONAL UNITS OF A COMPUTER
Computer is a device that operates upon information or data. It is an electronic device which
accepts input data, stores the data, does arithmetic and logic operation and outputs the information
in desired format.
Even though the size, shape, performance, reliability and cost of computers have been changing
over the years, the basic logical structure proposed by Von Neumann has not change. The internal
architecture of computers differs from one system model to another. A block diagram of the basic
computer organization specifying different functional units is shown below. Here the solid lines
indicate the flow of instruction and data and the dotted lines represent the control exercised by the
control unit.
INPUT UNIT
Input unit accepts coded information from human operators through electromechanical
devices such as the keyboard or from other computers over digital communication lines. The
information received is either stored in the memory for later reference or immediately used by the
Arithmetic and Logic circuitry to perform the desired operation. Finally the result is sent back to
the outside through the output unit.