Custom Search

Friday, July 3, 2009

Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space.Simple computers are small enough to fit into a wristwatch, and can be powered by a watch battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "computers". The embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a mobile phone to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.


How computers works

A general purpose computer has four main components: the arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), the control unit, the memory, and the input and output devices (collectively termed I/O). These parts are interconnected by busses, often made of groups of wires.

The control unit, ALU, registers, and basic I/O (and often other hardware closely linked with these) are collectively known as a central processing unit (CPU). Early CPUs were composed of many separate components but since the mid-1970s CPUs have typically been constructed on a single integrated circuit called a microprocessor.

History Of Computer

The capabilities of the personal computer have changed greatly since the introduction of electronic computers. By the early 1970s, people in academic or research institutions had the opportunity for single-person use of a computer system in interactive mode for extended durations, although these systems would still have been too expensive to be owned by a single person. The introduction of the microprocessor, a single chip with all the circuitry that formerly occupied large cabinets, led to the proliferation of personal computers after about 1975. Early personal computers - generally called microcomputers - were sold often in Electronic kit form and in limited volumes, and were of interest mostly to hobbyists and technicians. Minimal programming was done by toggle switches, and output was provided by front panel indicators. Practical use required peripherals such as keyboards, computer terminals, disk drives, and printers. Unlike other hobbyist computers of its day, which were sold as kits; in 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold the Apple I was a fully assembled circuit board containing about 30 chips. Such that by 1977 Apple Computers introduced the Apple II, as the world’s first personal computer. By 1977, mass-market pre-assembled computers allowed a wider range of people to use computers, focusing more on software applications and less on development of the processor hardware.

Throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s, computers were developed for household use, offering personal productivity, programming and games. Somewhat larger and more expensive systems (although still low-cost compared with minicomputers and mainframes) were aimed for office and small business use. Workstations are characterized by high-performance processors and graphics displays, with large local disk storage, networking capability, and running under a multitasking operating system. Workstations are still used for tasks such as computer-aided design, drafting and modelling, computation-intensive scientific and engineering calculations, image processing, architectural modelling, and computer graphics for animation and motion picture visual effects.

Eventually the market segments lost any technical distinction; business computers acquired color graphics capability and sound, and home computers and game systems users used the same processors and operating systems as office workers. Mass-market computers had graphics capabilities and memory comparable to dedicated workstations of a few years before. Even local area networking, originally a way to allow business computers to share expensive mass storage and peripherals, became a standard feature of the personal computers used at home.

What Is Computer

A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.

As of 2009, a personal computer may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common current operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs, ARM architecture CPUs and PowerPC CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources.

A PC may be a home computer, or may be found in an office, often connected to a local area network (LAN). This is in contrast to the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed large expensive systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time, or large data processing systems which required a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

While early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, today's users have access to a wide range of commercial and non-commercial software which is provided in ready-to-run form. Since the 1980s, Microsoft and Intel have been dominating much of the personal computer market with the Wintel platform

computer hardware

A personal computer is made up of multiple physical components of computer hardware, upon which can be installed an operating system and a multitude of software to perform the operator's desired functions.

Typical PC hardware

Though a PC comes in many different form factors, a typical personal computer consists of a case or chassis in a tower shape (desktop) and the following parts:

Motherboard

The motherboard is the "body"[citation needed] of the computer. Components directly attached to the motherboard include:

* The central processing unit (CPU) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan.
* The chipset mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory.
* RAM Stores all running processes (applications) and the current running OS. RAM Stands for Random Access Memory
* The BIOS includes boot firmware and power management. The Basic Input Output System tasks are handled by operating system drivers.
* Internal Buses connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and sound.
o Current
+ The northbridge memory controller, for RAM and PCI Express
# PCI Express, for graphics cards
+ PCI, for other expansion cards
+ SATA, for disk drives
o Obsolete
+ ATA (superseded by SATA)
+ AGP (superseded by PCI Express)
+ VLB VESA Local Bus (superseded by AGP)
+ ISA (expansion card slot format obsolete in PCs, but still used in industrial computers)
* External Bus Controllers support ports for external peripherals. These ports may be controlled directly by the southbridge I/O controller or based on expansion cards attached to the motherboard through the PCI bus.
o USB
o FireWire
o eSATA

Programming tool

A programming tool or software development tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.

History of programming software

The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers, loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.

Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text editors like Vim and Emacs.

The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple databases (such as a file containing a list of important values) all the time as tools. However a full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.

For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after. Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.

The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.

Types of system softwares

System software can be classified as operating system. An operating system creates an interface between other software and the system hardware, while system software will refine or allow greater interaction with the user.

System software helps use the operating system and computer system. It includes diagnostic tools, compilers, servers, windowing systems, utilities, language translator, data communication programs, data management programs and more. The purpose of systems software is to insulate the applications programmer as much as possible from the details of the particular computer complex being used, especially memory and other hardware features, and such accessory devices as communications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc.

Specific kinds of system software include:

* Loading
* Linkers
* Utility software
* Desktop environment / Graphical user interface
* Shell
* BIOS
* Hypervisors
* Bootloaders

If system software is stored on non-volatile memory such as integrated circuits, it is usually termed firmware.

System software

System software is closely related to, but distinct from operating system. It is a computer software that provides the infrastructure over operating system which programs can operate, i.e. it allows application programs to perform different task on the computer. Operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows NT, Mac OS X or Linux, builds a virtual machine for the system software what they can use.

System software is software that basically allows the user to work. Without the system software the computer cannot do complex tasks. In contrast to system software, software that allows you to do things like create text documents, play games, listen to music, or surf the web is called application software.

In general application programs are software that enable the end-user to perform specific, productive tasks, such as word processing or image manipulation. System software performs tasks like transferring data from memory to disk, or rendering text onto a display device.

Computer software meaning

Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1958.[4] In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all computer programs. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.

Computer software

Computer software

Just software is a general term used to describe the role that computer programs, procedures and documentation play in a computer system.


The term includes:

* Application software such as word processors which perform productive tasks for users.
* Firmware which is software programmed resident to electrically programmable memory devices on board mainboards or other types of integrated hardware carriers.
* Middleware which controls and co-ordinates distributed systems.
* System software such as operating systems, which interface with hardware to provide the necessary services for application software.
* Software testing is a domain independent of development and programming. It consists of various methods to test and declare a software product fit before it can be launched for use by either an individual or a group. Many tests on functionality, performance and appearance are conducted by modern testers with various tools such as QTP, Load runner and Black box testing, to edit a checklist of requirements against the developed code. ISTQB is a certification that is in demand for engineers who want to pursue a career in testing.
* Testware which is an umbrella term or container term for all utilities and application software that serve in combination for testing a software package but not necessarily may optionally contribute to operational purposes. As such, testware is not a standing configuration but merely a working environment for application software or subsets thereof.

Software includes things such as websites, programs or video games, that are coded by programming languages like C or C++.

"Software" is sometimes used in a broader context to mean anything which is not hardware but which is used with hardware, such as film, tapes and records.

Computer Hardware and Software

The Computer Hardware and Software

Industry of Bangalore ( INDIA ) is regarded as the focal point of advanced technology that acts as the prime catalyst in the economic growth of the city. Housing the biggest international names of Information Technology, Bangalore is referred as the Silicon Valley of India.


With the widening of the global business horizon, Bangalore has emerged as the key player in the field of Information Technology and Information Technology enabled services. From proposed plans of Hardware Park to a thriving Business Process Outsourcing sector, Bangalore is progressing beyond leaps and bounds.

The city deals with the latest models of Hardware tools, Computer parts, Software programmes and accessories. The newest developments in the Software programming domain enable Bangalore to compete with the best IT brands of the world.

Facilitated by a remarkably skilled and efficient lot of Hardware and Software professionals, the city truly fulfills all the criterion of being the IT capital of the country.

The major IT and ITes organizations of global repute that add credibility to the Computer Hardware and Software contours of Bangalore are:

* Microsoft Corporation
* IBM Global Services Ltd.
* Infosys Technologies Ltd.
* Intel Asia Electronics Inc.
* ITC Ltd. – Information Systems Div.
* Oracle Software (I) Ltd.
* SAP India Pvt. Ltd.
* Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
* Tata Consultancy Services
* Wipro Infotech Group
* Dell Asia Pacific SDN
* Citicorp
* CMC Ltd.
* Aptech Ltd.
* Compaq India
* Tata Infotech Ltd.
* Verifone
* TVS Electronics South Asia (P) Ltd.
* Tata Honeywell Ltd.
* Tektronix India Ltd.


To take India to greater heights of virtual development, the Computer Hardware and Software segment of Bangalore is consistently making new and globally acclaimed technological strides.