What is a Computer?
Definition of Computer:
The term computer is derived from the word compute. The word compute means to calculate.
The first fully electronic computers, introduced in the year 1940, were huge machines that required teams of people to operate.
Compared to those early machines, today's computers are amazing. Not only are they thousands of times faster, they can fit on your desk, on your lap, or even in your pocket.
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What is a Computer? |
Computers work through an interaction of hardware and software. Hardware refers to the parts of a computer that you can see and touch, including the case and everything inside it.
The most important piece of hardware is a tiny rectangular chip inside your computer called the central processing unit (CPU), or microprocessor.
It's the "brain" of your computer—the part that translates instructions and performs calculations. Hardware items such as your monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, and other components are often called hardware devices, or devices.
The computer processes input through input devices like mouse and keyboard. The computer displays output through output devices like color monitor and printer. Computers have become indispensable in today’s world. Millions of people use computers all over the world.
A computer is an electronic machine that accepts data from the user, processes the data by performing calculations and operations on it, and generates the desired output results. Computer performs both simple and complex operations, with speed and accuracy.
Types of Computer:
The computers are primarily divided into three types which are listed below:
Digital Computer:
They use digital circuits and are designed to operate on two states, namely bits 0 and 1. They are analogous to states ON and OFF. Data on these computers is represented as a series of 0s and 1s.
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Example of Digital Computer |
Digital computers are suitable for complex computation and have higher processing speeds. They are programmable. Digital computers are either general purpose computers or special purpose ones.
Special purpose computers, as their name suggests, are designed for specific types of data processing while general purpose computers are meant for general use.
Analog Computer:
These are almost extinct today. These are different from a digital computer because an analog computer can only perform several mathematical operations simultaneously.
It uses continuous variables for mathematical operations and utilizes mechanical or electrical energy.
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Example of Analog Computer |
Analog computers are used for measuring of parameters that vary continuously in real time, such as temperature, pressure and voltage.
Analog computers may be more flexible but generally less precise than digital computers. Slide rule is an example of an analog computer.
Hybrid Computer:
These computers are a combination of both digital and analog computers. A hybrid computer uses both analog and digital inputs from the humans.
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Example of Hybrid Computer |
In this type of computers, the digital segments perform process control by conversion of analog signals to digital ones.
Application of Computer:
Nowadays, computers are an integral part of our lives. They are used for the reservation of tickets for airplanes and railways, payment of telephone and electricity bills, deposit and withdrawal of money from banks, processing of business data, forecasting of weather conditions, diagnosis of diseases, searching for information on the Internet, etc. Computers are also used extensively in schools, universities, organizations, music industry, movie industry, scientific research, law firms, fashion industry, etc
Characteristics of Computer:
The key characteristics of computer are given below:
Speed:
The computer can process data very fast, at the rate of millions of instructions per second. Some calculations that would have taken hours and days to complete otherwise, can be completed in a few seconds using the computer. For example, calculation and generation of salary slips of thousands of employees of an organization, weather forecasting that requires analysis of a large amount of data related to temperature, pressure and humidity of various places, etc.
Accuracy:
Diligence:
When used for a longer period of time, the computer does not get tired or fatigued. It can perform long and complex calculations with the same speed and accuracy from the start till the end.
Storage Capacity:
Large volumes of data and information can be stored in the computer and also retrieved whenever required. A limited amount of data can be stored, temporarily, in the primary memory called Random Access Memory (RAM). Secondary storage devices like floppy disk, compact disk, hard disk and SSD (Solid State Device) can store a large amount of data permanently.
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