Technical Description of a Modern Computer

 

Outline of contents:

• Introduction
• Hardware & Software
• Components of a computer & their functionality
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Computer comes from the word “Compute” which means to calculate. It is a programable device capable of doing billions of calculations within a short amount of time. Alan Turing is considered the father of modern computer. “In 1936, at Cambridge University, Turing invented the principle of the modern computer” (Jack Copeland 2006). In today’s world, computers are used in various sectors and the tech industry is growing because of the usage of the computers. They are used in education, business, research, medical field, agriculture and many more. We carry out many tasks every single day with the help of our cellphone that fits in our hand and its known as smart phone. Since the usage of computer is growing every day, we all should be familiar with the technical description of the modern computer.

Hardware & Software:

The modern computer consists of hardware and software. The exterior of a computer or the things that we can touch and feel in a computer is the hardware and software is the programming code that gets executed in the computer processor. A comparison chart is given below:

Difference	Hardware	Software
Definition	Physical components of a computer.	Set of programs that run some instructions with the power of hardware.
Type	Processing device, memory, input device, output device.	System Software, Application Software, Programming Software.
Functionality	Store data and instruction, executing commands, showing outputs and gathering inputs.	Performing specific task and changing the state of hardware.
Example	Monitor, CPU, motherboard etc.	MacOS, Windows 10, Adobe etc.

Components of Computer & their functionality:

There are mainly four components inside a modern computer. They are –

• CPU (Control Processing Unit)
• Storage Unit
• Input Device
• Output Device

Sometimes there are additional components such as motherboard, power supply, heatsink, graphics card etc. Any devices that has all of the main four elements can be considered a computer. The CPU is called the brain of the computer as it computes and executes all the instructions or commands that are written in the software.

CPU:

CPU consists of millions of integrated circuits (ICs) which is also known as switch in terms of computer science. These switches either can be on or off. This is how the binary number system is used in computer machine language where all the instructions are converted into sequence of zeros and ones. It is a square shaped microchip where millions of transistors or switches are placed.  There are three subcomponents in a CPU. They are –

• Registers: Registers are single bit size storage location where data and instructions are stored.
• ALU: ALU does all the arithmetic and logical operation.
• Control Unit: Control Unit creates the sequence of operation in CPU.

Storage Unit:

This unit is responsible for storing and retrieving information permanently or temporary in a computer. There are two types of Storage unit in a computer system. They are –

• Primary Memory: This is often called as RAM (Random Access Memory). It is the fastest way to store and retrieve data and all the programs are run on the primary memory for fast execution. RAM is closed to the CPU since it transfers all the data to the CPU for calculations and vise versa. RAM has bus speed which determines how fast the data will travel to CPU. That’s why there are DDR3 and DDR4 RAM which has two different bus speed to start with. RAM capacity is essential in order to run application, especially for multitasking. It is called a volatile memory which means it stores information as long as there is power. If we restart the computer, it will no longer have the same information and that is why we have Secondary Memory.

• Secondary Memory: Secondary memory is the one that stores data permanently regardless of power. All our programs and operating system are stored in Secondary Memory. Hard drives, solid state drive, flash drives are considered Secondary Memory. Hard drive has a physical disk that spins, and it has a spinning rate which is often called revolution per minute (RPM). There are 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM hard drives in the market for consumer level. 7200 RPM reads and writes information master than 5400 RPM ones. 

Input Device:

Input devices are essential piece of hardware that sends data to the computer. These devices are used in order to interact with the computer or control it in various ways. Some of the input device are – keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone etc.

Output Device:

Output devices are hardware that receive data from the computer and produce an output. Output devices are known as receivers where’s input devices are knows as senders. Some example would be – speaker, monitor, printer etc.

Conclusion:

All the knowledge about the modern computers is helpful for an individual to grasp idea about the inner and outer functionality of a modern computer. This will be beneficial for someone who is currently studying computer or someone who does not know much about a computer as far as hardware is concerned.

Reference:

Jack Copeland, B. “The Modern History of Computing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Tanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 9 June 2006, plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-history/.