What are Computer Fundamentals? 

The computer is termed computation. For calculating or computing something the device that has been used is known as the computer. Or we can say that for performing a fast arithmetic operation the device that has been used is a computer. Storing, processing, and retrieving are the main features of a computer.  

Data has been captured, manipulated, and produces results as information on a computer this whole process is known as data processing. There are so many characteristics of computers. The computer is working at a very high speed in nano, micro, or picoseconds. It is automatically operated. If the given input is right then it always produces accurate results. The computer has the power of remembering, by searching on a tab writing a single word it has the capacity to fetch all the files on the basis of one word. 

Charles Babbage has been considered as an originator of modern digital type of computers. There are so many generations of computers. Technological advancement of computer system is known as generation. There are mainly 5 generations of computer. 

• First generation: Active during the period of 1942 to 1955. It has so many issues like size, capacity, problem in using and many more. IBM 701 is one example of it.  
• Second generation: Active during the period of 1955 to 1964. It has been solved many issues like size, capacity, problem in using and many more that present on first generation. IBM 7030 is one example of it.  
• Third generation: Active during the period of 1964 to 1975. It is better than second generation. IBM 360/370 is one example of it. 

• Fourth generation: Active during the period of 1975 to 1989. It is better than the third generation. IBM PC and its clones are examples of it.  
• Fifth-generation: Active during the period of 1989 to the Present. It has so many qualities like portable, easy to use, short in size, easy to produce, upgrade, and many more. IBM notebooks, PARAM 1000, etc. are the example of it. 

Basic Organization of Computer 

For entering the data and instruction on computer system is known as inputting. The data which is available for reading is stored at computer known as storing. Arithmetic and logical computation has been done on computer system this is known as processing. Producing useful information is known as outputting. Sequential manner of directing the operations is known as controlling.  

Input unit:  Reading an instructions from outside, conversion of these instructions or data in an accepting form for computer and supplication of data for further processing is known as input unit of a computer system. 

Output unit: Conversion of coded language in the form that user can easily read it has been done by output unit. 

Storage unit: Data which received from input devices before producing to outside world processed in storage unit. Two types of storage are there primary and secondary. 

Arithmetic logic unit: It is the place where actual execution of computer system has been takes place before processing to outside world. 

Control unit: Coordination of other component’s operation has been done by control unit.  

Central processing unit: Central processing unit has been known as the computer’s brain. Controlling of all other executable operations has been done by this unit. 

Computer Codes 

Data has been represented by computer system internally by using of codes. Basically binary coding has been used by a computer system.  

BCD: It is used in early days of computers. It stands for binary coded decimal. 6 bits has been used by BCD for representing symbols. 

EBCDIC: It stands for extended binary coded decimal interchange code. 8 bits has been used by EBCDIC for representing symbols.  

ASCII: It stands for American standard code for information interchange. 7bits has been used by ASCII for representing symbols.  

Computer hardware has a quality of building a space for storage, it is known as memory. It is volatile in nature. Primary storage of a computer is often referred to as RAM because of its random access capability. RAM chips are volatile memory. A computer’s motherboard is designed in a manner that the memory capacity can be heightened by accumulation of more memory chips.  The additional RAM chips, which plug into special sockets on the motherboard, are known as single-in-line memory modules (SIMMs). ROM stands for non-volatile memory chip. ROM has a feature of read the data only. We cannot write or add something on file. For storing programs and data ROM has been used by computer system. System boot program is one example of it. For the minimization of processor’s memory and speed mismatch cache memory has been used by computer system. It is an extremely fast, small memory between CPU and main memory whose access time is closer to the processing speed of the CPU. It is used to temporarily store very active data and instructions during processing. 

Dealing with a binary system of computer an algebra has been developed it is known as binary algebra. Manipulation of logics (prepositional) and for representation (simple) has been done by Boolean algebra. In Boolean algebra + operator stands for OR, .Operator stands for AND- operator stands for NOT. In the form of 0 and 1, Boolean function has been represented. 

Production of the standard signal as an output an electronic device has been used termed as logic gates. Mainly five logic gate has been used for computation named as AND, OR, NOT, NAND and NOR. If all input signals are also 1, AND gate has been used. If at least one of the input signals is also 1 OR gate has been used. Complementation operation has been done by NOT gate. 1 if any one of the inputs is a 0, 0 when all the inputs are 1 then NAND gate has been used. 1 only when all inputs are 0, 0 if any one of inputs is a 1 then NOR gate has been used. 

Internet  

Interconnected networks which connect computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and televisions worldwide. Connection can be established through wired or wireless using cable or modem. Necessary information is obtained from websites. Websites are created using a code called hypertext markup language (HTML). Browsers read HTML and helps to view websites on the computer. While viewing a website, your computer sends request to a server. A server store websites, and it works like your computer's hard drive. Once the request arrives, the server retrieves the website and sends the correct data back to your computer. Each Web site has its own Internet address, called a uniform resource locator, or URL. Many URLs begin with “www,” which stands for “World Wide Web. Web is referred as collection of different websites. 

Internet is like the two-edged sword which provides online banking, search information, cashless transaction, e-commerce, e-learning, knowledge sharing, social connectivity, variety of media, file transfer, communication. Internet has made the life of a man much easier and has also strengthened the economy of the world. Every system connected to the Internet needs to be protected from anti-virus programs and firewalls to filter data that travels to the system from the Internet to make sure it is safe. 

Software Development 

Software instructs a computer how to work. The process of Planning, specifying, Designing, Building, Documenting, Testing, Organizing and to maintain a software is Software Development. The types are · Application Development: Developing Software Applications that perform specified business operations on Desktop operating systems. 

• Web Development: Developing web applications. 

• Web Development (Client side): Development displayed or which takes place on the client side which the user sees. 

• Web Development (Server side): The program runs at the server end to execute all the instructions given by the user. 

• Database Development: A database is an organized collection of data and developing applications for database. 

• Mobile Development: Creating applications that run on mobile devices. 

• API Development: Development of Application Programming Interfaces. 

• Embedded Systems Development: Develops software for the current machine or device which is running on. 

• Security Software Development: Software developed to keep important company assets safe from theft, viruses, and other malicious attacks.  

• Software Tools Development: Builds software tools for other software developers to test their code. 

• Data Science: Data scientists mine and manipulate loads of data to develop scientific application. 

• Cloud Computing: Cloud computing use networks of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store and manage data rather than using a personal computer or local server. Developers involved in cloud computing software development develop the software that powers cloud storage applications. 

Context and Applications 

This topic is significantly useful in the professional exams and interviews for both undergraduate and graduate courses, especially for  

• Bachelors in Computer Science 
• Masters in Computer Science