Sunday, November 14, 2010

Basic Components of a Computer

Basic Components of a Computer


Do you want to know what are the basic components and parts of a computer and their functions? This article answers all your questions about what are the basic computer parts and their functions.

The Processor which is also called CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory and I/O constitute the main components of any computer.

The processor is regarded as the brain of the computer. It controls the operation of computer and performs the functions of data processing.

Main Memory stores data and I/O shifts the data between computer and its external environment.

Control unit, Registers, Arithmetic and Logic Unit, instruction execution unit constitute the main components of a processor. Control unit controls the CPU operation. ALU performs the data processing.

Bus in a computer sense is nothing but a communication pathway connecting two or more devices in a computer. Every computer contains a motherboard to hold the microprocessor chip and let all the components and wires connect to it.

An Operating System is a software program that provides the computer hardware a way to communicate and operate with the computer software and controls the execution of programs on a processor managing the resources of the processor.

Hard disk/hard drive:

Many computers come with built in hard drives. Hard drive is a permanent storage unit for storing the long term memory of the computer.

For storing more number of files or for making back up, we can use the external hard drive which can be connected to a computer through the USB connection.

The number of bits of information that a processor can handle at a time is referred as the word size. For example, 32-bit processors can only handle 32 bits of information at a time. Generally the specifications of a computer like the size of the disk drive, memory of the computer are expressed in bytes.

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