Computer- The Human Innovation

By Author: James Raines
Total Articles: 3764
Comment this article

Computer is a device that manipulates records according to a list of instructions. The first procedure that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century (around 1940 - 1945), although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers exist earlier. Early electronic computers were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern private computers. Modern computers are based on tiny integrated circuits and are millions to billions of times more capable while occupying a fraction of the space. Today, straightforward computers may be made small enough to fit into a wristwatch and be powered from a watch battery. Personal computers, in various forms, are icons of the in sequence Age and are what most people think of as "a computer"; however, the most common form of computer in use today is the entrenched computer. Embedded computers are small, simple devices that are used to control other devices — for example, they may be found in machines ranging from combatant aircraft to industrial robots, digital cameras, and children's toys.

The ability to store and execute lists ...
... of instructions called programs makes computers extremely multitalented and differnciates them from calculators. The cathedral-Turing theory is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in standard, capable of performing the same errands that any other computer can perform. Therefore, computers with capability and complexity ranging from that of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks given enough time and storeroom capacity.

It is difficult to recognize any one device as the earliest computer, partly because the term "computer" has been subject to varying interpretations over time. Originally, the term "computer" referred to a person who performed arithmetical calculations (a human computer), often with the aid of a mechanical calculating tool.