COMPONENT OF COMPUTER
There are three major components of a computer system
Hardware
Software
Humanware:
Hardware:
Computer hardware refers to the physical components that make up a computer system. It is any physical parts or components that contribute to a computer system. Hardware are divided into
System unit
Peripherals
System Unit:
A system unit is the part of a computer that houses the primary devices that perform operations and produce results for complex calculations. It includes the motherboard, CPU, RAM and other components, as well as the case in which these devices are housed. The system unit is the core of a computer system. It’s a rectangular box placed on or underneath your desk. It comprises of a case, circuitry, ports, connectors and the motherboard. The most important of these components is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) or microprocessor which acts as the brain of the computer. Another important part is the RAM which temporarily stores information that the CPU uses while the computer is on. The information stored in a RAM erased when the computer is turned off.
System Unit
The motherboard is sometimes called the system board or main board. It is the main circuit board of a microcomputer. This component contains the connectors for attaching additional boards. All other parts connect in one way or another to the motherboard.
Motherboard
This part typically contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control standard peripheral devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, mouse, and disk drive.
In a nutshell, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is responsible for handling the processing of logical and mathematical operations and executing instructions that it is given. It can execute millions of instructions per second – but can carry out only one instruction at a time
.
It first receives some type of input, typically from an input device (such as a monitor display screen, a keyboard, a mouse, or a microphone) or from an application/system software program (like your web browser or operating system).
CPU
Function of the CPU
Then the CPU is in charge of four tasks:
Fetching instructions from memory, in order to know how to handle the input and know the corresponding instructions for that particular input data it received. Specifically, it looks for the address of the corresponding instruction and forwards the request to the RAM. The CPU and RAM constantly work together. This is also called reading from memory.
Decoding or translating the instructions into a form the CPU can understand, which is machine language (binary).
Executing and carrying out the given instructions.
Storing the result of the execution back to memory for later retrieval if and when requested. This is also called writing to memory.
Finally, there is an output of some kind, such as printing something to the screen.
The process described above is called the fetch-execute cycle, and happens millions of times per second.
Parts of the CPU
CU (short for Control Unit). It regulates the flow of input and output. It's the part that fetches and retrieves the instructions from main memory and later decodes them.
ALU (short for Artithmetic Logic Unit). The part where all the processing happens. Here is where all mathematic calculations take place, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as all the logical operations for decision making, such as comparing data.
Registers. An extremely fast memory location. The data and instructions that are currenlty being processed during the fetch-execute cycle are stored there, for quick access by the processor.
Peripherals:
What are computer peripherals? A computer peripheral, technically speaking, is any device that connects to the computing unit but is not part of the core architecture of the computing unit. The core computing unit consists of the central processing unit (CPU), motherboard, and power supply. The case that surrounds these elements is also considered part of the core computing unit. So technically, anything that is connected to these elements (CPU) is considered a peripheral.
