Fundamentals of Computers

C O M P U T E R

 The earlier computers, which were massive in size, were based on vacuum tubes.
 The computer is a fast and accurate electronic symbol processing machine that can accept, store and process data and can produce useful information as output.
 The computer system is divided into two parts, hardware and software. I. Hardware is the electrical and electronic components of a computer that can be seen and touched. 2. The software is the collection of programmes written for a computer to perform certain tasks.
 A computer program refers to the range of programs that are used to perform various functions.
 The three important parts of a computer are an Input device, Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Output device.
 Main chip of the computer is called CPU
 The CPU is the brain of the computer.
 Parts of CPU are ALU, CU, MU

 Control Unit (CU) controls the processing of data inside a computer.

 Memory Unit stores data temporarily during the processing.

 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) performs all the mathematical calculations.

 WINDOWS is a Software.

 Windows is an operating system that helps the user to work on the computer.

 The My Computer folder on the Desktop shows the program icons present in your computers such as hard disk, floppy disk, CD-Rom, Pendrive and Printer.

 The My Documents Folder is a desktop folder that stores all the documents, graphics and other files.

 The Recycle Bin is a folder in which deleted files are stores.

 MS-DOS, Linux, Unix, MS Windows etc are the most popular Operating System.

 My Computer, My Documents, Recycle Bin and Network Neighbourhood are the common icons

found on the Windows Desktop.

 The free programs that we get from start menu are called Accessories

 A mouse is a device for moving the cursor on the screen of a computer.

 The part of a computer that contains the screen where messages to and from the Central Processing Unit are displayed - Monitor.

 The scanner is a device that converts images into digital form so that they can be stored and manipulated on the computer.

 Early computing machines, like the ENIAC, were actually meant to assist the armed forces.

 The printers in pre-1950s were punch cards.

 An improvement on which pioneered 'stored program', was made possible with the help of the mathematician John von Neumann.

 The B-programming language was developed by Ken Thompson.

 Famous people, associated with the ENIAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC computers are Eckert & Mauchly.

 IBM was provided software for PCs by Microsoft.

 Time-sharing, teletyping, were associated with mainframe computers.

 The transformation from heavy computers to PCs was made possible using microprocessors.

 The first microprocessor was developed in 1971 by Intel.

 The term 'micro' (extremely small) denotes 10-6m.

 The Harvard student, who chose to write computer programs and dropped studies was Bill Gates.

 A Pentium 4 (P-4) employs roughly 40 million transistors.

 Mark-1, Apple-1, and Colossus were initial desktop computers.

 Binary digits are briefed as the bit.

 A collection of 8 bits is called byte.

 A megabyte has 106(million) bytes.

 C++ is a computer language.

 The process of eliminating programming faults is called debugging.

 Starting up on the operating system is called booting.

How to measure memory?

 A memory of a computer is usually measured in bytes.
 The smallest measurement of memory is bit.
 8 bits = 1 byte.
 1 Kilobyte = 1,024 Bytes
 1 Megabyte = 1,024 Kilobytes
 1 Gigabyte = 1,024 Megabytes
 1 Terabyte = 1,024 Gigabytes
 A program used to browse the web is called browser.
 An error in software designing which can even cause a computer to crash is called bug.
 Click and double-click are achieved using the mouse.
 Java, C, Fortran, Pascal and BASIC are computer programming languages.
 The device which sends computer data using a phone line is called MODEM.
 'Worm' and 'virus' are actually programs.
 A 'file' is a unit of information.
 A small, single-site network is called LAN.
 A processor that collects several data and sends them over a single line is called bridge.
 'Nano' stands for one billionth part.
 The number of bit patterns using an n-bit code is 2n.
 To convert a binary number to a decimal, we have to express it in power of 2.
 www stands for world wide web.
 Mathematics employed in computers is called Boolean algebra.
 The first home computer (1977), which was sold in millions of units was Apple II.
 'PARAM' is a supercomputer.
 A website containing periodic posts is called blog.
 While cutting and pasting, the cut item is temporarily stored in the clipboard.
 HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol.
 The unwanted or non-requested emails are called "spam".
 A computer framed to give various network services is called server.
 The new processor introduced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is Athalon.
 Divine Logic is a software that prevents piracy.
 Divine Logic has been developed by Shaju Chacko, a native of Kottayam.
 The new supercomputer built by IBM can perform 12.3 trillion operations per second.
 The new version of Microsoft office automation software - Office 2007
 Internet Explorer software.
DOS (Disc Operating System) was developed by Tim Patterson in Microsoft.
 Paul Brainard developed the publishing software PageMaker.
 Philip can invent cameraphone
 Founder of Satyam Technologies - Ramalinga Raju
 Computer chess was discovered by - Citric G. Prince
 Simputer was discovered by - Vinay Despandey
 First E. Paper - The - Thejith (from Belgium)
 ATM system was first launched in London in the year 1967
 Powered by Intellect driven by values - Infosys motto
 Intel 4004 - First microprocessor
 December 2 - World Computer literacy day
 E-sewa - E-governance programme launched in Andhra Pradesh
 Archie - (Anonymous FTP) It is considered to be the first internet search engine allowing people to find specific files.
 Operating systems used in personal computers. Windows -98, 95, Dos Apple Mac
 Latest Search Engine - Altavista
 Online free encyclopedia - Wiki Pedia
 The new version of Microsoft operating system - Windows 7.
 Main Googles are

• Google Earth
• Google Book Search
• Google Blog Search
• Google Talk
• Google Scholar
• Google Malayalam etc

Travel Search Engine in India - WWW.godo.com (900. com)
 Electronic money - Cybercash, Digital cash, E-cash
 First Super Computer reached teraflop speed - Asky Red
 Google's browser plug-ins that run web applications when online or offline - Google Gears.
 Google's image editing software - Picasa
 India's Ist IT company with 100 crores Turn over Infosys
 The basic architecture of computer was developed by John Von Neumann
 In the history of the computer, the fifth generation was started in 1980.
 Wordpad is a simple word processing program.
 Laser Printer was first Introduced by IBM
 The study of creating an efficient, comfortable, and healthy workplace while working on a computer is called Ergonomics
 A device that is not part of the main computer system and is often added later to the system is
known as Peripheral
 A computer which links several PCs together in a network is called a Server
. Ethernet is also known as 802.3
 GUI stands for Graphical User Interface
 Screensaver, virus checkers, PDF viewers, image viewers and system tool like disk defragmenter can be categorised into Utility software
 The smallest component of an image that can be transmitted or received in a video display system is known as Pixel
 The process of making an object appear to have a movement is called Animation
 In an electronic spreadsheet, the intersection of a column and a row is called Cell
 A program that searches the Internet for Specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found Search Engine
 A browser is A piece of software that acts as an interface between the user and the inner workings of the internet.
 IP Address is the address given to a computer connected to a network.
 A host on the Internet finds another host by its IP address
 In reality, Internet protocol recognizes only An IP address
 The server on the Internet is also known as a Gateway
 For connection of the Internet, you will need An ISP
 The first page that you normally view at a Web site is its Homepage
 The communication protocol used by internet is TCP / IP
 Optical Fibre Cable can transmit data at high speeds
 Ethernet, LAN, Token Ring and Token Bus are types of LAN
 The first network that planted the seeds of the internet was ARPANET
 In MS Word, RTF stands for Rich Text Format
 The physical devices of a computer system are called as Hardware
 The first UNIX operating system was written in the Assembly Language
 BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System
 Laser technology is used in Compact disks
 The information stored in CD-ROM is in the form of Digital.
 Hard Disk is organised as Cylinders and Tracks
 Floppy disks are organized as Tracks and sectors
 Input device widely used for playing video games in computers Joystick and Trackerball
 ALU stands for Arithmetic and Logical Unit
 The earliest calculating device is Abacus.
 Machine language is known as the first generation of computer languages.
 High-level languages are third generation computer language.
 The first real mechanical calculating machine is Pascaline.
 The first programmable machine ever designed is Analytical Engine.
 The Difference Engine, which actually worked was made by Charles Babbage.
 The first commercial computer is called UNIVAC
 A personal computer is a type of Microcomputer
 Laptop and Palmtop are portable computers run by rechargeable batteries.
 A computer language also known as Programming Language consists of symbols and characters used to give instructions to a computer.
 The language of numbers is called Machine language.
 The language of binary numbers is known as Machine language.
Mouse was invented by Douglas Carl Engelbart.
BLOG
 A blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary description of events, as other material such as graphic or video.
 Disk defragmenter really rearranges the files on your hard disk so that the hard disk space is properly utilised. More space becomes available and hard disk works faster.
 All computers are based on the binary system
 A binary system is based on zero and one.
 Deep Blue is the computer which defeated Gary Kasparov at Chess.
 Deeper Blue is the new version of ‘Deep Blue’ computer, which finds its application in the medical
field.
 The Internet is the ubiquitous online medium that connects all users worldwide. ‘Internet Explorer’
is internet browsing software of Microsoft.
 The Intranet is a restricted version of the internet within a group of users. The Extranet is a closed
online connecting two or more organisations.
 E-Mail (Electronic Mail) - A way to send text-based messages and files to any computer with an
address on the Internet.
 The largest Computer Network in the world: Internet.
 Surfing is the process of visiting a number of websites in rapid succession.
 Uniform Resources Locator (URL) is an electronic address that identifies a website.
 World Wide Web is simply a vast collection of information bearing documents resident on the
computers connected by the Internet.
 The first world wide web Information service in India was launched on January 14, 1995. Originally it can link 160 countries through the international network of computers.
 Tim Berners Lee is the inventor of World Wide Web.
 High-level languages are languages used by men to operate a computer.
 Some important high-level languages are BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, PASCAL, ALGOL, LISP,
JAVA, C++ etc.
 COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) is the widely used language for the business
application.
 Niklaus Wirth is the creator of PASCAL language
 ‘C’ Language is created by Dennis M. Ritchie.
 COMPILER is a translator program which translates the high-level language into machine
language before running the program.
 MICROFILM is a medium used for recording computer output data, reduced in size and data stored on film to be read by a display device.
 A file is a collection of related records that are treated as a single unit. The size of the file is limited by the size of memory or storage medium.
 Programme 150 is the first Robert developed by C-DAC
 Computerised reservation of Indian railway Concert.
 CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) is in the medical field.
 The first village to have its own website- Hansdehar village in Jind District of Haryana.
 ‘Information Kerala Mission’ is a project recently taken up by the Government of Kerala.
 First Technopark in India is in Trivandrum.
 IT Act was enacted in 2000.
 The first Internet movie Heart Beat.
 HDFC, the first Bank to get online Banking facility.
 Ist IT University of India - J.P. University.
 HEC-2M was the first computer installed in India in Kolkata in 1955.
 The first computer graphics used movie -TRON (1982)
 The first film which uses the morphing - WILLOW
 The first computer magazine - ‘Computers and Automation’ first published by Edmund Berkely in
1950.
 The first real-time computer - ‘Whirlwind’ built in 1951, it was employed to keep tabs on flying
aircraft.
 The first computer that was employed for performing statistical calculations - Hollerith’s tabulator (It was employed by the U.S. census to conduct its studies regarding the American population)
 The first computer game - ‘Space War’
 The first Super Computer installed in India - Cray X-MP - 14 (Made in the USA)
 India’s first private Internet Service Provider (ISP) - Satyam Infoway Ltd.
 The first computer animated news reader - ANANOVA (Russia)
 The first all electronic and general purpose electronic digital computer - ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)
 The first Personal Computer - The Altair (1975)
 A Random Access Memory (RAM) chips holds its memory as long as power is on, but the user can change the memory. RAM chips store only the information that is currently needed by the microprocessor.
 Read Only Memory (ROM) chips holds its memory even when the computer is turned off. The user cannot change the memory of ROM. ROM chips are used to hold instructions that a computer runs
repeatedly.
 The first generation of electronic computers was built with vacuum tubes.
 The second generation computers were built with semiconductors.
 The third generation computers used integrated circuits.
 The fourth generation computer uses Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) normally called ‘Miracle Chips’.
 The fifth generation computers (present day) use artificial intelligence.
 Founders of Yahoo - Jerri Yang and David Filo
 Founders of Google -Larrie Page and Sergybin
In 1822 Charles Babbage made the first difference engine and in 1832 the first analytical engine which are the true predecessors of the computer.
 The first electronic computer which could store programs in the memory ‘EDVAC’ (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer) was invented by John Von Neumann in 1945.
  Floppy Disk was invented by Alan Shugart.
World’s first (woman) computer programmer - Augusta Ada King. Ada Lovelace was a daughter of  Lord Byron who became interested in Babbage's analytic engine and described how it could be programmed.
 In 1945 John W. Mauchly and John Presper Eckert invented the first digital computer ‘ENIAC’ (it
could not store programs)
 Marian Edward ‘Ted Hoff, Stanley Mazor and Federico Faggin designed the first microprocessor.
 Transistor was invented by John Bardeen, Water Brattain and William Shockley.
 James T. Russell invented the Compact Disc.
 The first book on personal computers ‘Computer Liberation and Dream Machine, was written by
Ted Nelson.
 ‘Harvard Mark I’ computer designed by Howard Alken is the first digital computer.
 National School Computerisation Programme is Vidya Vahini.
 Goa is the first state to introduce e-mail system in Govt. Office.
 India’s Ist IT company with 100 crore turn over - Infosys.
 The first IT Park in the Private Sector in Kerala - The Muthoot Technopolis.
 Akshaya project is a computer literacy programme launched in Malappuram District in Kerala.
 Seymour Cray made the first Super Computer, UNIVAC 1103 and he is known as ‘father of Super
Computers’.
 Super-computers are advanced versions of computers which can do calculations much faster
than ordinary computers. The super-computer developed in the USA in 1970 could do 20 million
operations per second. But today’s supercomputer can do 3 billion calculations per second.

Bluetooth:
It is a short-range wireless technology. It provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, digital Camera and Video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency

• First cyber crime police station in India - Bangalaroo
• A first cyber police station in Kerala - Pattom(Trivandrum)
• First fully computerised Panchayat in Kerala - Vellanad

Popular Computer Virus
1. ILOVEYOU - (2000) ILOVEYOU virus spread via email, posing as an executable attachment sent by a friend from the target's contact list.
2. Code Red - (2001) IIS on Windows servers were the target of this virus.
3. Nimda - (2001) Nimda used seemingly every possible method to spread and was very effective at doing so.
4. Melissa - (1999) The Melissa virus is notable because it is a Word macro virus. It cleverly spread via emails.
5. Sasser - (2004) Sasser exploited a buffer overflow and spread by connecting to port 445 on networked Windows systems. The chaos caused was possibly the worst ever, as systems restarted or crashed.
6. The Morris Internet Worm - (1988) The grandfather of computer worms, the Morris worm infected Unix systems and was notable for its "accidental" virulence.
7. Blaster - (2003) Blaster exploited a Windows operating system vulnerability and let users know of its presence with a system shutdown warning.
8. SQL Slammer - (2003) This tiny virus infected servers running Microsoft's SQL Server Desktop Engine and was very fast to spread.
9. Elk Cloner - (1982) Despite Apple's marketing that their systems are less prone to viruses that were not always the case. Notable as possible the first personal computer virus, Elk Cloner infected the boot sector of Apple II floppies.
10. Creeper - (1971) This is noted as possibly the first ever computer virus. It infected computers on
ARPANET. Mostly harmless, the concept of Creeper has infected the minds of rogue programmers through today.