Computers today. Гурьянова В.И. - 17 стр.

that has been given to the computer, in such ways as performing calculations,
adding information or making comparisons is called processing. Computers are
made up of millions of electronic devices capable of storing data or moving
them at enormous speed, through complex circuits with different functions.
      All computers have several characteristics in common, regardless of their
design. Information, in the form of instructions and data, is given to the machine
after which the machine acts on it, and the result is then returned. The informa-
tion presented to the machine is the input; the internal operations – the process-
ing; and the result is the output. These three basic concepts of input, processing
and output occur in almost every aspect of human life whether at work or at
play. The term “computer” includes those parts of hardware in which calcula-
tions and other data manipulations are performed and the high-speed internal
memory in which data and calculations are stored during actual execution of
programs. When data or programs need to be saved for long periods of time they
are stored in various secondary memory devices or storage devices.
      Computers have long been thought of as extremely large adding ma-
chines, but this is not true. Although a computer can only respond to a certain
number of instructions it is not a single-purpose machine since these instructions
can be combined in an infinite number of sequences. Therefore, a computer can
do an unlimited number of things; its versatility is limited only by the imagina-
tion of those using it. In the late 1950s and early 1960s computers were very ex-
pensive to own and run. Moreover, their size and reliability were such that a
large number of support personnel were needed to keep the equipment operat-
ing. This has all changed now. Computing power has become portable, more
compact, and cheaper. In a very short period of time computers have greatly
changed the way of doing everything. Computers can remove many of the rou-
tine and boring tasks from our lives. It goes without saying that computers have
created a lot of new areas of work that did not exist before their development.


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