Understanding Computer System Components
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Computer System Components
There are five main hardware components in a computer system: Input, Processing, Storage, Output and Communication devices. These are devices used for entering data or instructions to the central processing unit.
Five basic components of computer system
- Input Unit: Data and instructions must enter the computer system before any computation can be performed on the supplied data. The input unit that links the external environment with the computer system performs this task.
- Output Unit: The job of an output unit is just the reverse of that of an input unit. It supplies information and results of computation to the outside world, linking the computer with the external environment.
- Storage Unit: The data and instructions that are entered into the computer system through input units have to be stored inside the computer before the actual processing starts. Similarly, the results produced by the computer after processing must also be kept somewhere inside the computer system before being passed on to the output units.
- Central Processing Unit (CPU): The main unit inside the computer is the CPU. This unit is responsible for all events inside the computer, controlling all internal and external devices, and performing 'Arithmetic and Logical operations'. The operations a Microprocessor performs are called 'instruction set' of this processor.
- Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): The arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) of a computer system is the place where the actual execution of the instructions takes place during the processing operations. All calculations are performed and all comparisons (decisions) are made in the ALU.
- Control Unit: How the input device knows that it is time for it to feed data into the storage unit? How does the ALU know what should be done with the data once it is received? And how is it that only the final results are sent to the output devices and not the intermediate results? All this is possible because of the control unit of the computer system.