- The term COMPUTER is derived from a Latin Word, COMPUTARE, which means to calculate.
- A computer is a machine that manipulates a set of data (INFORMATION) as a very high speed and accuracy according to a set of instructions that we call a PROGRAM.
- i.e., a computer is a device that accepts information and manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.
- A typical modern computer can execute billions of instructions per second (gigahertz or GHz) and rarely make a mistake over many years of operation.
- Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first resembling a modern computer were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945).
- The first electronic computers were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PC).
- Modern computers based on tiny integrated circuits (ICs) are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space.
- However, irrespective of their sizes, most computers operate on same fundamental principles.
- Personal Computers (PCs), in their various forms are icons of the Information Age, what most people think of as a "computer", but the embedded computers found in devices like fighter aircraft, industrial robots, digital cameras and toys etc are the most frequent.
- The Church–Turing thesis helps us to distinguish a Computer from a Calculator.
o It’s a mathematical statement that asserts: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform.
o Therefore, the ability to store and execute lists of instructions (Programs) makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators.
o Stored program architecture: A list of instructions (the program) can be given to the computer and it will store them and carry them out at some time in the future.
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