What is Computer

What is Computer

Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and processes these data under the control of set of instructions (called program) and gives the result (output) and saves output for the future use. It can process both numerical and non-numerical (arithmetic and logical) calculations with speed and accuracy.
Computer is derived from a Latin word “computare” which means to “to calculate”,“to count”, “to sum up” or “to think together”. So, more precisely the word computer means a "device that performs computation".
Charles Babbage is called the "Grand Father" of the computer. The First mechanical computer designed by Charles Babbage was called Analytical Engine. It uses read-only memory in the form of punch cards.

The computer system consists of four parts

1. Hardware

The Hardware consists of the mechanical parts that make up the computer as a machine. The hardware consists of physical devices of the computer. The devices are required for input, output, storage and processing of the data. Keyboard, monitor, hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, printer, processor and motherboard are some of the hardware devices.

2. Software

Software is a set of instructions that tells the computer about the tasks to be performed and how these tasks are to be performed. Program is a set of instructions, written in a language understood by the computer, to perform a specific task. A set of programs and documents are collectively called software. The hardware of the computer system cannot perform any task on its own. The hardware needs to be instructed about the task to be performed. Software instructs the computer about the task to be performed. The hardware carries out these tasks. Different software can be loaded on the same hardware to perform different kinds of tasks.

3. Data

Data are isolated values or raw facts, which by themselves have no much significance. For example, the data like 29, January, and 1994 just represent values. The data is provided as input to the computer, which is processed to generate some meaningful information. For example, 29, January and 1994 are processed by the computer to give the date of birth of a person.

4. User

Users are people who write computer programs or interact with the computer. They are also known as skinware, liveware, humanware or peopleware. Programmers, data entry operators, system analyst and computer hardware engineers fall into this category.