COMPUTER:-
A device capable of accepting data in the form of facts and figures, manipulating them in a prescribed way, and supplying the results of these processes as meaningful information. This device usually consists of input and output devices, storage, arithmetic and logic units, and a control unit. Usually an automatic, stored-program machine is implied.
REASONS FOR COMPUTERS ARE GOING TO BE POPULAR IN OUR SOCIETY:-
Nowadays computers are everywhere. We use them at school, at work, and even at home in our leisure time—it is no exaggeration to say are a part of almost all of our daily activities. In fact, so many of our daily tasks are performed by computers that we are often not even aware of it. Whether you are writing an email, withdrawing money from an ATM, entering the MTR using your Octopus card, or recording a phone number on your mobile phone, you are using a computer in the process.
As a result our entire society is slowly but steadily transforming from an industrial society into an information society, in which the generation and distribution of information becomes the main focus. It is safe to say that the more knowledge we have about how computers work, the more efficient we will be in our professional and personal lives.
If we examine the appliances which are already in homes today, we can separate them into roughly three categories — utilitarian, communication, and entertainment. Utilitarian appliances include clothes washers, stoves, refrigerators, and other appliances which are used to maintain and serve the utility needs of the household. The only pure communication device most people have in their homes is the telephone, although one could put CB radio in this category as well. The remaining appliances — television, radio, stereo system, etc., fall under the entertainment category. These entertainment devices are overwhelmingly communications oriented. The vast majority of this equipment is designed to receive broadcast material, or to play pre-recorded material. It wasn't until the video game that a non-communications oriented entertainment appliance entered the arena.
And now we must ask where the personal computer fits into the home. Some people envision the home computer as the wonder device which serves many functions simultaneously—controlling the lawn sprinklers, receiving the latest news from the UPI wire, and challenging its owners to a fast game of Space Evaders. If this vision is correct, then the personal computer will become the home appliance which bridges the gaps between all the other appliances we know about.
While there is an awareness of the educational value of having a computer around the house, there are not an overwhelming number of well designed educational programs on the market. Nonetheless, advertising which makes parents feel guilty for not getting a computer for their children has probably increased personal computer sales to families.
Communications is another legitimate application, but many potential users are not yet ready to use the computer as a replacement for the post office or the morning paper. And home financial management sounds like a great ideal until people realize the tremendous amount of labor associated with maintaining a data base.
