ABOUT THE AUTHOR
E Balagurusamy, former Vice Chancellor, Anna University, Chennai, is currently Member, Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi. He is a teacher, trainer, and consultant in the .elds of Information Technology and Management. He holds an ME (Hons) in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Systems Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. His areas of interest include Object-Oriented Software Engineering, Electronic Business, Technology Management, Business Process Re-engineering, and Total Quality Management.
A proli.c writer, he has authored a large number of research papers and several books. His best selling books, among others, include:
¡Æ Programming in C#, 2e
¡Æ Programming in Java, 3e
¡Æ Programming in ANSI C, 4e
¡Æ Object-Oriented Programming with C++, 4e
¡Æ Programming in BASIC, 3e
¡Æ Numerical Methods
¡Æ Reliability Engineering
A recipient of numerous honours and awards, he has been listed in the Directory of Who¡¯s Who of Intellectuals and in the Directory of Distinguished Leaders in Education.
FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTERS
E Balagurusamy
Member Union Public Service Commission
Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited
NEW DELHI
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Fundamentals of Computers
Copyright . 2009 by Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publishers. The program listing (if any) may be entered, stored and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication.
This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited.
ISBN 13: 978-0-07-014160-5 ISBN 10: 0-07-014160-6
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PREFACE
We live in a technology-driven world, where almost everything is automated. The last two decades have seen a renaissance in the world of innovations. We have seen doctors perform surgery by sitting miles away from their patients. The fashion industry is soon to replace supermodels with robots (one such, the HRP-4C, was recently unveiled in Tokyo). There are similar advances being made in every .eld, all of whose foundations are based on computers.
It can often be perplexing for a beginner to keep pace with such developments. To be lost in the world of codes and bytes can be nerve-racking. And this is where a text book of this nature comes in. Written assuming absolutely no prior knowledge of computers, this book carries the reader through the world of Computers in a simple and structured manner.
There are certain things that this book achieves and some it doesn¡¯t. If you are looking for an exhaustive discussion on topics like DBMS and Computer Networks, this book is not meant for you. I would rather have you pick up books written by a Forouzan or a Gehrke. This book will not make you go through miles of C programming codes. So, if you want a good discussion on C implementation, I would rather have you pick my ANSI C book.
What this book does aim to achieve is to give you an eye opener, a mild introduction, to the fascinating world of Computers. It will show you the basic building blocks of a computer, how they interact among each other, what are the various input and output devices and how a computer interprets and understands your language. It also gives an introduction to the various software that are popularly used on desktop computers. Seeing the importance of programming in today¡¯s world, I have also provided a chapter on C programming, which serves as an introduction to this amazingly powerful language.
There indeed are several books that .ood local book shops on this subject. So why should you use this one? The answer is simple; I haven¡¯t written this book keeping a speci.c audience in mind. Whether you are a school student, a budding engineer pursuing technical education, or simply an inquisitive being in search of an appropriate introduction to computers, chances are I have kept all your requirements in mind while writing. I have kept the language at a level that can be accessed by one and all, and yet kept the discussions thorough and focused.
More speci.cally, it can be used by the following:
¡Æ Students pursuing DCA, BSc (IT), BCA, MCA, MSc (IT), DOEACC ¡®O¡¯ Level courses
¡Æ Students pursuing .rst-year engineering course in computers
¡Æ Students pursuing BBA, MBA and MCM courses
¡Æ Students pursuing short-term courses in various IT training institutes
¡Æ Self-learners for acquiring knowledge on various computer components, be it software or hardware.
Finally, this book is for everyone who is either excited about computers or interested in knowing more about computers.
This book is impregnated with several salient features:
¡Æ A complete self-study material for obtaining basic knowledge and understanding of various hardware
and software components of computers.
¡Æ Covers Microsoft Of.ce suite of software such as MS Word and MS Excel in great detail.
¡Æ Concepts are explained using ample number of illustrations and screen shots for visualisation of the
commands.
Preface
¡Æ A chapter dedicated for further reading on Programming concepts.
¡Æ Appendices on Multimedia and Computer Graphics.
The chapter organisation makes way for an easy graduation of topics from the very basic to seemingly complicated aspects of Computers. The .rst nine chapters elaborate the fundamentals of a computer system by delving on topics like Organisation, Architecture, Storage Systems, Computer Arithmetic, and Boolean Algebra. The next six chapters cover Software that we often use in our everyday life through chapters on Operating Systems, Database Management Systems, Computer Networks and Programming Languages. The concluding chapter on C Programming readies the reader to develop and implement C programs.
ONLINE LEARNING CENTRE
The accompanying web supplement to this book provides an additional resource for students and instructors. This domain is .lled with entities like chapter wise PowerPoint slides, additional solved programming examples, and few case studies on C programming.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks are also due to the editorial and publishing professionals at Tata McGraw Hill for their keen interest and support in bringing out this book in record time. The readers of the book are encouraged to send their comments, queries and suggestions at the following email id¡ªtmh.csefeedback@gmail.com (kindly mention the title and author name in the subject line).
E Balagurusamy
