Computer systems
Characteristics of Computers
You will be surprised to know that computer can perform millions (1,000,000) of instructions and even more per second. Therefore, we determine the speed of computer in terms of microsecond (10-6 part of a second) or nano-second (10-9 part of a second). From this you can imagine how fast your computer performs work.
Accuracy
Suppose someone calculates faster but commits a lot of errors in computing. Such result is useless. There is another aspect. Suppose you want to divide 15 by 7. You may work out up to 2 decimal places and say the dividend is 2.14. I may calculate up to 4 decimal places and say that the result is 2.1428. Someone else may go up to 9 decimal places and say the result is 2.142857143. Hence, in addition to speed, the computer should have accuracy or correctness in computing. The degree of accuracy of computer is very high and every calculation is performed with the same accuracy. The accuracy level is determined on the basis of design of computer. The errors in computer are due to human and inaccurate data.
Diligence
A computer is free from tiredness, lack of concentration, fatigue, etc. It can work for hours without creating any error. If millions of calculations are to be performed, a computer will perform every calculation with the same accuracy. Due to this capability it overpowers human being in routine type of work.
Versatility
It means the capacity to perform completely different type of work. You may use your computer to prepare payroll slips. Next moment you may use it for inventory management or to prepare electric bills.
Computer has
the power of storing any amount of information or data. Any information can be
stored and recalled as long as you require it, for any numbers of years. It
depends entirely upon you how much data you want to store in a computer and
when to lose or retrieve these data.
No
IQ
Computer is a
dumb machine and it cannot do any work without instruction from the user. It
performs the instructions at tremendous speed and with accuracy. It is you to
decide what you want to do and in what sequence. So a computer cannot take its
own decision as you can.
No
Feeling
It does not
have feelings or emotion, taste, knowledge and experience. Thus it does not get
tired even after long hours of work. It does not distinguish between users.
Storage
The Computer
has an in-built memory where it can store a large amount of data. You can also
store data in secondary storage devices such as floppies, which can be kept
outside your computer and can be carried to other computers.
A
Computer is an electronic device which performs operations such as accepts data
as
an input, store the data, manipulate or process the data and produce the result
as
an output.
Main
task performed by a computer
•
Accept the
data
•
Process or
manipulate the data
•
Display or
store the result in the form of human understanding
•
Store the
data, instructions and results.
Characteristics of Computers
Speed
You will be surprised to know that computer can perform millions (1,000,000) of instructions and even more per second. Therefore, we determine the speed of computer in terms of microsecond (10-6 part of a second) or nano-second (10-9 part of a second). From this you can imagine how fast your computer performs work.
Accuracy
Suppose someone calculates faster but commits a lot of errors in computing. Such result is useless. There is another aspect. Suppose you want to divide 15 by 7. You may work out up to 2 decimal places and say the dividend is 2.14. I may calculate up to 4 decimal places and say that the result is 2.1428. Someone else may go up to 9 decimal places and say the result is 2.142857143. Hence, in addition to speed, the computer should have accuracy or correctness in computing. The degree of accuracy of computer is very high and every calculation is performed with the same accuracy. The accuracy level is determined on the basis of design of computer. The errors in computer are due to human and inaccurate data.
Diligence
A computer is free from tiredness, lack of concentration, fatigue, etc. It can work for hours without creating any error. If millions of calculations are to be performed, a computer will perform every calculation with the same accuracy. Due to this capability it overpowers human being in routine type of work.
Versatility
It means the capacity to perform completely different type of work. You may use your computer to prepare payroll slips. Next moment you may use it for inventory management or to prepare electric bills.
Power
of Remembering
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