Ecea computer basics

abacus

earliest recorded computing device

slide rule

first built in England in 1632 and still in use in the 1960's by the NASA engineers of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs which landed men on the moon.

the punched card system

developed by 1801 by Joseph-Marie Jacquard. Used in music machines, mechanical organs, calculators, mechanical counters, looms, and other automatons and early computers.

ENIAC

the first electronic general- purpose computer, designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, announced in 1946. It occupied the 50-by-30-foot (15-by-9-metre) basement of the Moore School, of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

ENIAC

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

UNIVAC

designed by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert, the inventors of ENIAC (1951). It used magnetic tapes.

UNIVAC I

Universal Automatic Computer

IBM 702

the first computer to use magnetic-core memory for random access applications , announced in 1953

SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Enviroment)

designed for the Air Force to track radar data in real time (1954)

Cray-1

the best known supercomputer ever, desIgned by Cray Research, led by Seymour Cray and Lester Davis (1976)

Apple computer 1 / Apple-1

is a desktop computer released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. It was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The idea of selling the computer came from Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs.

IBM Personal Computer or Model 5150

created by a team of engineers and designers led by Don Estridge (1981)

TRS-80 Model 1

First computers used by the Electronics Engineering students at USC-TC brought by Dr. John Brule who was the consultant of the department that time.

Aurora

is an exascale supercomputer that was sponsored by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and designed by Intel and Cray for the Argonne National Laboratory

Information Technology

This is a general term which relates to the use of computers as an aid to creating and maintaining data, i.e. information.

Input Devices

a peripheral used to send information to a computer

Output devices

a peripheral used to receive information from a computer

CPU(Central Processing Unit)

aka brain of the computer

Control Unit

where decisions are made

ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit)

where computations or processes are made

External Storage

storage not permanently fixed inside a computer (eg.hard disk)

Output Devices

devices that communicate processed results to user

Central Processor Unit

Processes entered data

Memory

stores input data, processed data/output data

Random Access Memory (RAM)

is a portion of a computer’s memory that has the highest access speeds but low capacity.

ROM (Read only memory)

is the portion of a computer’s memory that stores data that can only be read and not changed by the user

PC (PERSONAL COMPUTER)/DESKTOP

can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user.

Located Area Network (LAN)

Is a connection of computers at the local level such an office or school

WAN

A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. A WAN may consist of one or more local-area networks (LANs).

WLAN(Wireless Local Area Network)

enable users to move around within a larger coverage area, but still be wirelessly connected to the network.

MAN: Metropolitan Area Networks

are very large networks that cover an entire city.

SAN: Storage Area

help attach remote computer storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, to servers in such a manner that that they appear to be locally attached to the operating system.

Input Device

devices that provide data to the computer

Qwerty keyboard

The modern day layout for computer keyboards is the

Output devices

devices that communicate processed results to user

CENTRAL PROCESSOR UNIT (CPU)

Processes entered data

CAN: Controller Area Networks

allow micro controllers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.

PAN(Personal Area Networks)

are used for communication among various devices, such as telephones, personal digital assistants, fax machines, and printers, that are located close to a single user.

GAN:Global Area Networks

support mobile communications across an arbitrary number of wireless LANs and satellite coverage areas

Internetwork

is the process of connecting two or more distinct computer networks or network segments through a common routing technology.

PC(Personal Computer)/Desktop

can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user

Desktop

Any PC that is designed to be placed on a desk and not for portability is called

Workstation

is a computer used for engineering applications (CAD/CAM), desktop publishing, software development, and other such types of applications, which require a moderate amount of computing power and relatively high quality graphics capabilities.

Mini computer

It is a midsize computer. is a multi-processing system capable of supporting from up to 250 users simultaneously

Mainframe

is a very large in size and an expensive computer capable of supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of users simultaneously. This executes many programs concurrently. these support many simultaneous programs execution.

Supercomputers

are one of the fastest computers currently available. these are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense amounts of mathematical calculations (number crunching).

Vacuum tube based

1st generation (1946-1959)

2nd generation

This generation using the transistor were cheaper, consumed less power, more compact in size, more reliable and faster than the first generation machines made of vacuum tubes. In this generation, magnetic cores were used as primary memory and magnetic tape and magnetic disks as secondary storage devices.

3rd generation(1965-1971)

is marked by the use of Integrated Circuits (IC's) in place of transistors. This development made computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient.

4th generation(1971-1980)

Is marked by the use of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits having about 5000 transistors and other circuit elements and their associated circuits on a single chip made it possible to have microcomputers

5th generation(1980-present)

the VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) technology, resulting in the production of microprocessor chips having ten million electronic components.

This generation is based on parallel processing hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software.

Moore’s law

The belief that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every 2 years.

Hardware

It is best described as a device that is physically connected to the computer or something that can be physically touched. A CD-ROM, monitor, printer, and video card are all examples of

Hardware

It is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the

Software

It is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures, and documentation that perform some task on a computer system.

System Software

is the software used to manage and control the hardware components and which allow interaction between the hardware and the other types of software. The most obvious type of system software is the computer's operating system but device drivers are also included within this category.

Utility software

is software such as anti-virus software, firewalls, disk defragmenters and so on which helps to maintain and protect the computer system but does not directly interface with the hardware.

Applications software

(also known as 'apps') are designed to allow the user of the system complete a specific task or set of tasks. They include programs such as web browsers, office software, games and so on.

Program

is a set of instructions that tells the computer what to do.

Bug

is an error, flaw, failure, or fault in a computer program.

Debug

means to locate and remove computer program bugs, errors or abnormalities,

Programming language

It is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules (syntax) for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks.

4GL(4th Gen Language)

are more programmer-friendly and enhance programming efficiency with usage of English-like words and phrases, and when appropriate, the use of icons, graphical interfaces and symbolical representations.

Compiler

entire file is converted. reads the entire file, links it, then executes the entire program.

Interpreter

conversion is per instruction (or per line). reads the computer program file per line then executes the instruction

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASCII