Fundamentals Of Computer Systems

Fundamentals Of Computer Systems

1. What is a system?

   • A computer system is a collection of hardware and software which works together to achieve some data processing task
   • Computer Systems are based on processing and producing information
   • A system is a collection of parts that work together for a common purpose

2. Computing Hardware

   • The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
     • The CPU is the core of every computer system and has two main components
       • The Control Unit (CU)
         • The Control Unit uses electrical signals to direct the system to execute the instructions in stored programs.
       • Arithmetic And Logic Unit (ALU)
         • The ALU carries out all of the arithmetic and logical operations including addition, subtraction and comparisons (for example, equal to, less than, greater than)