Computer
The computer, that indispensable equipment in today’s everyday life that is also known by the name of computer or computer, is an electronic machine that allows processing and accumulate data. The term comes from the Latin computer (“calculate”).
Broadly speaking, a computer is composed of the monitor, the keyboard, the mouse, the tower (where the hard disk and other components of the hardware are located) and the printer, and each one fulfils a particular function. On the other hand, this device is prepared to perform two functions mainly: respond to a particular system of commands in a fast way and execute programs, which consist of a series of instructions recorded in advance.
The software of a computer is one of the fundamental elements for its operation, its operating system, which consists of a large platform where programs, applications or tools that serve to perform different tasks can be executed.
Hardware, on the other hand, is formed by memory (it allows storing data and programs), input devices (to enter the data on the computer, eg: mouse and keyboard), output devices (to visualize the data, ex: screen or printer) and CPU (brain of the computer where the instructions are executed.) The acronym is the English form of Central Processing Unit.
The first computers appeared in the middle of the last century, since then they have not stopped manufacturing, growing by leaps and bounds. Despite this, most computers today still respect the Eckert-Mauchly architecture ,published by John von Neumann and created by John Presper Eckertand John William Mauchly .
This architecture conceives four main sections in a computer: the logical and arithmetic unit ( Arithmetic Logic Unit – ALU ), the control unit, the memory (a succession of storage cells that have a number, where each cell represents a known unit of information as bit) and the input and outputdevices . All these parts are interconnected by a group of cables called buses.
The connections inside a computer are called electronic circuits; the most complex are those included in modern microprocessor chips, which have a very powerful ALU inside. Each microprocessor can have multiple cores and these in turn with multiple execution units (each of them has different ALU).
It should be noted that the circuits together with those components linked to them allow to execute a variety of sequences or routines of instructions ordered by the user. These sequences are systematized according to a wide plurality of practical and specific applications, in a process that is called as programming.
According to the way in which the computer works the data it receives can be called: digital, analogue or hybrid. The digital ones process the data working on the basis of special letters and symbols, the analogue ones do it using a common scale and the hybrids use both forms.
There are several types of computers: Microcomputers (small devices that can receive programming, in this classification enter the PC or desktop computers), minicomputers (medium size and a little more expensive than the PC), maxicomputadoras (serve to control many devices Simultaneously, in this classification come the so-called mainframe) and supercomputers (they are the fastest and most expensive, those used for the realization of large-scale projects such as film or video games of the latest generation)
Some examples of phrases with this concept: “My father gave me a computer when I turned fifteen”, “I do not know what to do: my computer broke”, “I have four new games on the computer”.
