Explain in brief the basic architecture of a computer.

Q. Explain in brief the basic architecture of a computer.

Answer :-

Input Unit:-
The input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer. Examples of input devices and media are: keyboard, mouse, magnetic ink character reader (MICR), optical mark reader (OMR), optical character reader (OCR), joystick etc.

The input unit is responsible for taking input and converting it into computer understandable form (the binary code). Since a computer operates on electricity, it can understand only the language of electricity i.e., either ON or OFF or high voltage or low voltage. That means a computer can understand two stages ON/OFF or High/Low voltage or the binary language that uses just two symbols : 1 for ON and 0 for OFF.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit):-
The CPU or the Central Processing Unit is the main control centre and processing unit. It is also called brain of the computer as it guides, directs, controls and governs the performance of a computer. The CPU has some sub-components that help in carrying out the processing of a task. These are:

(i) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
(ii) Control Unit (CU)
(iii) Registers

Output Unit :-
The output unit is formed by the output devices attached to the computer. The output coming from the CPU is in the form of electronic binary signals which needs conversion in some form which can be easily understood by human beings i.e., characters, graphical or audio visual form.

Example:-

• Monitor
• Printer
• Speaker