What is a Computer?
A computer is a programmable machine.
The two principal characteristics of a computer are: it responds to a specific
set of instructions in a well-defined manner and it can execute a prerecorded
list of instructions (a program).
A computer is not an acronym and is
sometimes abbreviated as comp or 'puter. The term "computer" was
originally given to humans who performed numerical calculations using
mechanical calculators such as the abacus and slide rule. The term was later
given to a mechanical device as they began replacing the human computers.
Today's computers are electronic devices that accept data (input), process that
data, produces output, and then store (storage) the results.
The first computer was called the ENIAC,
which was built during World War II (1943-1946). These early computers used
vacuum tubes and were very large (sometimes room size) and only found in
businesses, Universities, or governments. Later, computers began utilizing
transistors as well as smaller and cheaper parts that allowed the common person
to own their own computer. This history of computers and related topics can be
found on our history page.
Today, computers help make jobs that
used to be complicated much simpler. For example, a user can write letters in a
word processor and edit any portion of the letter anytime, spell check the
letter, and move text from another document into the letter, etc. This is just
one of the millions of different things a computer is capable of doing.
