Computers today. Гурьянова В.И. - 18 стр.

                                        Text 6
      1. Read through the text below quickly and decide which are com-
puter capabilities and which are limitations.
      2. Where would you divide the text into paragraphs? Why?
      3. How could you fit the following sentences into the text? How do
you think they can improve it?
      1. Actually all operations can be handled at any speed, it depends on the
capability and sometimes the number of processors involved.
      2. Such computer failures can be caused by different things, including
program errors, that is why compiling a program requires great attention of a
programmer.
      3. Any computer operates exactly according to the program, so pro-
grammability is the fundamental trait of a digital computer found in machines of
any era.


                     Computer capabilities and limitations
      As we know, computers have memories and can solve problems, but they
can’t really think. That is, no machine has the capacity to reason and learn as we
humans do. They can’t learn to recognize a particular person, for example, from
an angle they’ve never seen before, the way even a baby can. They cannot make
anything but yes-no decisions and they certainly can’t independently figure out
how to solve problems without specific instructions from human programmers.
Like all machines, a computer needs to be directed and controlled in order to
perform a task successfully. Until a program is prepared and stored in the com-
puter’s memory, the computer knows absolutely nothing, not even how to accept
or reject data. Even the most sophisticated computer, no matter how capable it
is, must be told what to do. Until the capabilities and the limitations of a com-
puter are not recognized, its usefulness cannot be understood. In the first place,

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