Computer System

A computer is a digital device that use algorithm to process information. Originally, the word computer used to designate someone with complicated calculations performed with or without mechanical aids. Modern computers are used for more than just mathematical applications. Many administrative and financial tasks are using the computer.

Today computer is mostly use to process information through internet application and entertainment. In modern production machinery, computer is used to control manufacturing processes such as in using robot to assembly of cars.

Modern science, in parallel with the development of modern computer, is growing in parallel. Miniaturization technology increases the speed computer operation and enhances hardware functionality that previously made to deploy software. The big advantage of such development is additional functionality in many sectors.

IBM introduced the first Personal Computer 1981 which was called IBM PC. This introduction was in line with previous initiatives, such as Altair 8800 and Apple II computers. The IBM-compatible PC was the standard in computer manufacturing. Many computer manufacturers created cheap cloned based on that standardized design. Now Personal Computer or PC is used daily in the lives of many people and play a vital role.

Computer Structure

Computer is consist of hardware and software. Operating system must be installed first for a computer to be useful. The core function of operating system is to manage the memory, sharing of processor time, managing the internal data transfer, the implementation of programs, and providing one or more input and output mechanisms. The operating system also provides the computer with a working environment where all facilities are made available. Operating system facilities use the data stored in permanent memory (hard disks) to manage and implement programs.

The separation between the functions of an operating system and the components of the application software layer is vague. Among application software means the software that is created or purchased to carry out specific functions for which the computer was purchased. Think of accounting software, word processors, CRM software, sales and payroll systems, but also to web servers, printer drivers and various other utilities.

Hardware

Internal hardware:

motherboard
processor
memory
hard drive
the disk or RAID controller
CD / DVD player and burner
USB controller
video controller
sound controller
network controller with any Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth
internal modem
firewire controller

External Hardware:

monitor
keyboard
mouse
printer
scanner
external modem
speakers
microphone
webcam
USB

Under hardware means "all tangible items and the computer". A distinction is made between internal hardware and external hardware. Internal hardware is in the computer case. External hardware is connected to one of the ports on the computer.

Many hardware is made according to certain standards, particularly in the segment of the PC. Regularly replaced by a standard an improved version, for older equipment not always compatible with newer. This may be a reason for a computer completely replaced.

PC

A practical example of the PC: the mouse was in the 80's mostly connected to the serial port and the printer to the parallel port. Both ports could also be used to communicate with another computer. The connection for the mouse and keyboard are later replaced by the PS / 2 interfaces. By the end of the 90 mice were equipped with a USB connection. The printer, which in recent years greatly improved, is nowadays usually through a USB port, although some printers, even the parallel port can be connected. Mice on the serial port can be connected, are now a rarity. Communicate with other computers is now almost exclusively in networks, with again a limited number of standards.

Other Architectures

Other architectures than the PC (such as Sun SPARC, IBM RS/6000 and SGI), often have their own standards. These are obviously changing. Now we see increasingly that standards should be harmonized and equipment so that with almost all types of computers can operate. One example is the USB.

The preponderance of the Intel architecture also means that for many computer brands Intel is the de facto standard. Thus in 2006 the first Apple Macintosh in the market with an Intel x86-based architecture and the Intel architecture with SUN, HP and IBM to take the lead.

History of Computing

Mechanical Computers

The history of the computer begins with the history of the count. Historically, people have developed tools for calculations that are not easily head could be made, such as slate and abacus (abacus). When the need for more complex calculations it was developed with assistance data tables (eg, logarithmic tables to aid in the multiplication). The slide rule was invented to count easy.

If there are many, many people were expected to be deployed. These calculators hall was therefore indicated by the word computer. In the United Kingdom were in response to the colonial shipping centers with many human created computers. These tables were used for navigation could be used. In other areas, were snapped up these tables, such as astronomy.

Charles Babbage, a mathematician, wondered if the tables could be generated not by machine. For this he devised in 1822 the difference machine "(differential engine): a concept for a machine that could opt tables of polynomials. The machine worked mechanically and gear technology was not advanced enough to achieve a good result. Babbage still further changed the design of the machine.

Then he came in 1833 with the "analytical engine" (analytical engine). This machine would be input from punched cards to perform mathematical operations. This machine is widely seen as the concept of the computer, but was never built.

However, there are (still up in the second half of the twentieth century) many mechanical calculators constructed and used. One of the first draft (1645) was written by Blaise Pascal.

Only in 1938 the German physicist Konrad Zuse built the first computer, the Z1. Also Zuses machine still worked mechanically, but Zuse himself had made much easier through the binary system to use. A few years later, Zuse built the first fully functional electromechanical computer, the Z3.

Electronic Computers

The Second World War the development of computers a fast getaway. In the United Kingdom made use of Colossus to crack secret German codes, including those of the Enigma cipher. The Colossus was the first electronic computer, using electron tubes. The first computer was the ENIAC in the U.S., which took a few classrooms. The first computer in the Netherlands, the ARRA at the Mathematical Centre. The first computer in a commercial environment, the Miracle, a Ferranti Mark I at the Shell Laboratory in Amsterdam.

In the period that the permanent memory (hard disk) is not widely existed, entering data or programs in a computer very slowly. This was done initially with switches and punch a little later with punch cards, and an even later stage magnetic tape.

The computers in the years 1950-1980 were mainly mainframes: very large computers, where hundreds to thousands of users simultaneously could work. Especially banks and insurance companies using such large-scale mainframes. The mainframe was connected to the user through a simple application on a desktop computer (once called by a so-called dumb terminal).The mainframe with the advent of small computers is not entirely extinct and is still used by professional institutions. The most famous builder of IBM's mainframes.

Scaling

With the rapid development of electronics and semiconductors used in transistors, the computer could be much smaller and faster. Later, the transistors integrated into an integrated circuit. The microprocessor is one such integrated circuit. Although microprocessor-based computers like the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Trans Actor) and the Apple II as early as the mid seventies rise did was the IBM PC in 1981 the first system to explicitly named personal computer was launched . The PC was becoming less expensive and easier to use making increasingly businesses and households have bought one. The developments are continuing, business people often use a laptop computer to their step. The increasing miniaturization leads to the small Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with more possibilities comes into view. Many appliances such as washing machines, VCRs, digital cameras and now include such a computer for various affairs, they are usually an embedded system or - in English - called embedded systems.

Computer Applications

Nowadays computers at work often connected to a computer network, where multiple users own a PC using software and data to a central repository (server) are stored. To retrieve files from the Internet is usually a broadband connection and a very few cases have a modem [dial].Broadband connections are expensive in addition to many times faster than dial. An example of a broadband connection is: computer, a router, which is linked to a broadband Internet connection such as DSL, cable E1, T1 and fiber. In the case of a large computer network is often used a proxy server to the data from the internet "filter". An application of computers is rapidly expanding, is that of artificial intelligence, which is used in computer games and robotics.

Home computers are often used to play computer games, information via internet search, and communication through e-mail, instant messaging (a widely used program for this is Windows Live Messenger) and internet forums. Also call on the Internet is now emerging. A common application for this is Skype. The current generation of computers is also suitable for digital photo and video editing. Many people use the computer for correspondence, their administration or media center for playing music or viewing photos. In education, the computer for word processing and retrieval of information for homework assignments and reports as. More and more students use a laptop.