Categories of Computers in lirteracy.ppt

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER STUDIES
Unit Five: Categories of
Computers
COMPUTER STUDIES DEPARTMENT
BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY
10/27/24 1

Unit Objectives
 To Describe the
Categories of
computers
(with examples)
 a. Analog
 b. Digital
 c. Hybrid
 Distinguish the
different categories
of computers
 Explain how the
different categories
of computers
function.
(don’t Write)

Unit Introduction
 Computers can be categorized according to the process they
use to represent data.
 People communicate through speech by combining words
into sentences. Human speech is analog because it uses
continuous (wave form) signals that vary in strength and
quality. Most computers are digital.
 Computer categories are basically three:
 1. Digital computers
 2. Analog computers
 3. Hybrid computers
24-Feb-11 3

Analog computers
 An Analog Computer is a computing device that uses
continuously changing values to represent
information.
 It generally deals with physical variables such as
temperature, weight, voltage, pressure, speed, etc.
 The results given by the analog computers are
approximate since they deal with quantities that vary
continuously.
 Almost all of the measuring devices are “Analog
computers”.
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Examples of Analog
computers
 Thermometers,
 Voltmeters, and Ammeters
 Speedometers, Barometers
 Traditional automatic watches
 The slide rule is a hand-operated
analog computer for doing
multiplication and division, square
roots, cubes and cube roots etc.
24-Feb-11 5
Polish analog
computer

Digital Computers
 These are computers that use discrete (discontinuous) values,
i.e. binary digits (0, 1) to represent data.
 The binary digits simply mean the presence or absence of an
electric pulse/ voltage.
 The state of being on is represented by 1 and off is represented
by 0.
 Although digital representations are discrete, the information
represented can be either discontinuous, such as numbers,
andletters, or continuous, such as sounds, images, and other
measurements of continuous systems.
 Digital computers are more accurate and work at a very fast rate.
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Examples of Digital Computers
Include:
 All Personal computers (PCs)
 Laptops,
 Digital Watches
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Hybrid Computers
 A hybrid computer combines the desirable features of
analog and digital computers. A hybrid computer accepts
analog signals and converts them to digital for
processing.
 It is mostly used for automatic operations of complicated
physical processes and machines.
 Now-a-days analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog
converters are used for transforming the data into
suitable form for either type of computation.
 Hybrid computers are mainly used for specialized tasks.
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Examples of Hybrid computers
 Digital petrol pumps are an example of hybrid
computers.
 They measure physical quantities and represent its
values in digital form.
 In Hospitals’ Intensive care units, analog devices
measure the patients temperature, blood pressure
and other vital signs.
 These measurements which are in analog are then
converted into numbers and supplied to digital
components in the system.
24-Feb-11 9

Categories of Computers in lirteracy.ppt

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