Introduction Of Computer
The computer is the most powerful and reliable device that man has ever made. It has made a great impact on our everyday life. Consider this statement “Everything is on the computer.” Nowadays, everything is in computer means almost any information we can get easily with the help of computer and internet technologies. That’s why “Everything is in computer” and as a result “computer is everywhere”.
In the past three decades, technology has been transferred from developed countries to developing countries like Nepal as well. As a result, most of the citizens and the organizational business companies of Nepal have been using the computer these days. We use a computer because of its influence on professional endeavours in daily life. With the invention of the computer, all science, accounting, financial, cultural, art, historical, medical, engineering, and other disciplines are required to change with the base of the computer or computing environment. No discipline shall survive for a long time without the use of their studies through the computer.
Our past generation was referred to as illiterate as they were not capable of writing a letter to their children and their dears. In addition to this, these days the people would be treated as illiterate because of their incapability to send a message through e-mail. Nowadays, the computing environment is really very interactive and has also reduced distance a lot. Now, the world has turned into a global village due to Computer and Information Technology. So, we can get information easily on any part of the earth in less than a second.
Definition of Computer
The development of the computer is not one day’s invention. In fact, it began with civilization and computing instructions on devices. The word “computer” comes from the Latin word “computare” (compute in English), which means to calculate. The word “calculate” means to find out the result of some operation on numeric and non-numeric values. So, a computer is normally considered to be a calculating device at high speed. Moreover, the computer is defined in the oxford dictionary as “An automatic electronic apparatus of making calculations or controlling operations that are expressible in numerical or logical terms.”
Some Other Definitions of Computer
A computer can be defin
ed as a multipurpose, programmable, electronicdata processingdevice that is capable of accepting input, processing it, and producing information as output at enormous speed.
A computer may be defined as a machine that can solve problems by accepting data, performing certain operations, and presenting results of those operations in sequential instructions. Such a set of sequenced instructions, which cause a computer program to perform particular operations, is called a program.
A computer can be defined as a programmable digitalautomatic machine, which takes input from the user, processes it, and gives the output (information) in the desired form to the user and stores it if necessary.
A computer is an electronic device, which can perform computation as well as logical action at enormous speed.
Characteristics (Features) of Computer
Some factors that might lead people to use a computer are speed, accuracy, word length, automation, diligence, reliability, versatility, and storagecapacity.
1. Speed:
The data processing speed of the electronic computer is very fast because the signals can pass at the speed of electricity which is near to that of the speed of light i.e. 2.997 × 108 m/sec. Thus millions of calculations can be done in a second. Such speeds are beyond the comprehension of the human brain.
2. Accuracy:
The accuracy of a computer is consistently high, and every calculation is performed with the same accuracy i.e. almost 100% accurate results are always the same as per design. The degree of accuracy of a particular computer depends upon its design. Accordingly, software needs to be designed properly, and proper checks and controls are necessary for the program and data. Errors can occur in a computer system due to inaccurate data or instructions fed by humans or end-users.
3. Word length:
Digital computer operates on binary digits (bit), a combination of 1 (one or high) and 0 (zero or low), which means all data or information are kept in a computer or its memory in terms of 0’s and 1’s. 8 bits is equal to one byte. The number of bits that a computer can process at a time in parallel is called its word length. Commonly used word lengths are 8, 16, 32, or 64. Longer the word length, the faster the computer is
4. Automation:
A computer is an automatic machine, capable of functioning automatically, once the appropriate set of instructions (program) and data are provided to the computer. Once a task is initiated in a computer, it can proceed automatically.
5. Diligence:
The computer can perform repetitive tasks without being bored and never gets tired. Diligence means being constant and earnest in effort and application. It can continuously work for several hours or days after the data and programs are fed in it. Unlike human beings, a computer is free from tiredness, weakness, lack of concentration and monotony. If one work is repeated many times, a human being suffers from physical and mental tiredness, but the computer can perform the repeated task with the same speed and accuracy. Because of this reason, human beings are getting a high level of benefit.
6. Reliability:
The computer system is particularly master a lot of work without any mistakes and tiredness. That’s why they are widely used everywhere because of their reliability. On the other hand, Unreliable can occur if the end-user feeds incorrect data and instructions, or faulty instructions for processing the data automatically lead to faulty results. This is known as GIGO, i.e. Garbage iEn Garbage Out (GIGO). Errors may occur in the results, but due to the increased efficiency of error-detecting techniques, they can be minimized. Thus, the probability of errors in a computer is negligible.
7. Versatility:
Computer can perform different tasks depending upon the different program fed to it, is known as versatility. It has a wide range of application areas i.e. it can do many types of jobs. It can perform operations ranging from simple mathematical calculations to highly complex and logical manipulations. Some of the applications areas of computers are in education, business, office-automation, bank, medical diagnosis, science and technology, communications, and astronomy, so it is versatile in nature.
8. Storage capacity:
A computer can store a huge amount of data. It has a data storage area, called memory. Any data stored in the memory can be retrieved at any time and at a very fast speed. The memory can be divided into primary memory and secondary storage. Primary memory is the working memory of the computer and is capable of sending and retrieving data at very high speed, whereas secondary storage is long-term memory and operates more slowly but capable of storing large amounts of data. Example: floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, magnetic disks, and the optical disk. The storing capacity of a computer is measured in terms of byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte. A binary number either 0 or 1 is called a bit (binarydigit). 4 bits are equal to 1 nibbleand 8 bits are equal to 1 byte or a character. One kilobyte is equal to 210 that equal to 1024 bytes.
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