computer

Introduction:A computer is a device that accepts information (in the form of digitalized data) and

manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data

is to be processed. Complex computers also include the means for storing data (including the

program, which is also a form of data) for some necessary duration. A program may be

invariable and built into the computer (and called logic circuitry as it is on microprocessors)

or different programs may be provided to the computer (loaded into its storage and then

started by an administrator or user). Today’s computers have both kinds of programming.

Most histories of the modern computer begin with the Analytical Engine envisioned by

Charles Babbage following the mathematical ideas of George Boole, the mathematician who

first stated the principles of logic inherent in today’s digital computer. Babbage’s assistant and

collaborator, Ada Lovelace, is said to have introduced the ideas of program loops and

subroutines and is sometimes considered the first programmer. Apart from mechanical

calculators, the first really useable computers began with the vacuum tube, accelerated with

the invention of the transistor, which then became embedded in large numbers in integrated

circuits, ultimately making possible the relatively low-cost personal computer.

Modern computers inherently follow the ideas of the stored program laid out by John von

Neumann in 1945. Essentially, the program is read by the computer one instruction at a time,

an operation is performed, and the computer then reads in the next instruction, and so on.

Recently, computers and programs have been devised that allow multiple programs (and

computers) to work on the same problem at the same time in parallel. With the advent of the

Internet and higher bandwidth data transmission, programs and data that are part of the same

overall project can be distributed over a network and embody the Sun Microsystems