Week i

 Number system    

       

On the first day of ICT was very thrilled because we didn't know what we would have to learn and who would be our lecturer. However we got a good lecturer his name is Azamuddin. The first thing on the first was to get to know each other. So everyone introduced themselves.

After these all general things, our lecturer gave us a briefing about the course that what we have to follow. After that we started our lessons. So the first session was focused on the Introduction to the computer and the Internet. On that session we were asked to create a blog and use it as a portfolio. So every week we have to update that blog including our reflections and our lessons.

As we were learning the basic things we were taught about Decimal, Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal number systems. There, we learnt the use of these number systems in a computer, and we did some calculations with these numbers.

                                                      

Bits and Bytes

• A binary digit is a single numeral in a binary number.
• Each 1 and 0 in the number below is a binary digit:
• 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
• The term “binary digit” is commonly called a “bit.”
• Eight bits grouped together is called a “byte.”

Binary Numbers

• The prefix “bi-” stands for 2.
• The binary number system is a Base 2 number system:
• There are 2 symbols that represent quantities:
• 0, 1
• Each place value in a binary number is a power of 2.

Octal Number System

• The prefix “octal-” stands for 8
• The octal number system is a base 8 number system:
• There are 8 symbols that represent quantities:
• 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
• Each place value in a octal number is a power 8.

Decimal Number System

• The prefix “deci-” stands for 10
• The decimal number system is a Base 10 number system:
• There are 10 symbols that represent quantities:
• 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
• Each place value in a decimal number is a power of 10.

Hexadecimal Numbers

• The prefix “hexa-” stands for 6 and the prefix “deci-’  stands for 10.
• The hexadecimal number system is a Base 16 number system:– There are 16 symbols that represent quantities:
• 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F
• Each place value in a hexadecimal number is a power of 16.
  
  

Computer Generation

Computer Hardware Basics:

Computer History, Computer Architecture, Size, Processing Power & Types of Computers

 In the second session of ICT I had to learn about the above topic. Through that session I got a good knowledge about the evolution of the computers. There we learnt six kinds of computer generations 

  1. Pre computers and Early Computers (before 1940s)  

  2. First Generation (1940-1950) :: Vacuum Tube 
  3. Second Generation (1950-1964) :: Transistors.  

  4. Third Generation (1964-1974) :: Integrated Circuits (IC) 
  5. Fourth Generation (1974-Present) :: VLSI / ULSI 

  6. Fifth Generation (now and the future)

As an overview about the computer evolution we were given a nice flash slideshow which shows the history of the computers and the milestone in Computer Development. If you are interested to see that you can visit this link : http://www.powershow.com/view/3e989ZmExY/Milestones_in_Computer_Development_flash_ppt_presentation?r=em

       Pre computers and Early Computers (before 1940s)

       

         •Experts concluded that ancient civilizations had the ability to count and compute.
         •Abacus – earliest recorded calculating device.

         •Others: slide ruler, mechanical calculator, Punch card tabulating machine

         •Hollerith’s company eventually became IBM (International Business Machine)

       First Generation (1940-1950): Vacuum Tube 

    
     •ENIAC [1945]: Designed by Mauchly & Echert, built by US army to calculate trajectories for 
       ballistic shells during Worlds War II. Around 18000 vacuum tubes and 1500 relays were used to
       build ENIAC, and it was programmed by manually setting switches
     •UNIVAC [1950]: the first commercial computer 
     •John Von Neumann architecture: Goldstein and Von Neumann took the idea of ENIAC and 
      developed concept of storing a program in the memory. Known as the Von Neumann's 
      architecture and has been the basis for virtually every machine designed since then.
     •Features:

                    –Electron emitting devices

                    –Data and programs are stored in a single read-write memory

                    –Memory contents are addressable by location, regardless of the content itself

                    –Machine language/Assemble language

                    –Sequential execution

     Second Generation (1950-1964): Transistors 

     •William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent the transistor that reduce size of
  computers and improve reliability. Vacuum tubes have been replaced by transistors.
•First operating Systems: handled one program at a time

     •On-off switches controlled by electronically.

     •High level languages (COBOL and FORTRAN)

     •Floating point arithmetic

     Third Generation (1964-1974): Integrated Circuits (IC)
  

          •Microprocessor chips combines thousands of transistors, entire circuit on one computer chip
 •Semiconductor memory

          •Multiple computer models with different performance characteristics

          •The size of computers has been reduced drastically

        Fourth Generation (1974-Present): VLSI / ULSI

      •VLSI = Very Large-Scale Integration

      •ULSI = Ultra Large Scale Integration

      •Combines millions of transistors

      •Single-chip processor and the single-board computer emerged

      •Creation of the Personal Computer (PC)

      •Use of data communications

      •Massively parallel machine

     

     Fifth Generation (now and the future)

     

          •Based on artificial intelligence - computers can think reason and learn

          •Primary means of input – voice and touch

          •Different computers construct such as optical computers that utilizes Nano technology, or 
  as entire general-purpose computers