1. REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA
MINISTERIO DEL PODER POPULAR PARA LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR
INSTITUTO UNIVERSITARIO DE TECNOLOGÍA “ANTONIO JOSÉ DE SUCRE”
ESCUELA DE INFORMÁTICA
CÁTEDRA: INGLÉS I
THE
COMPUTER
JESÚS MIGUEL RODRÍGUEZ MORA
C.I. 24.350.346
SECCIÓN A
SEPTEMBER, 2012
3. INTRODUCTION
Actually computers have made big contributions to many areas of the
knowledge, the science has wondered the world with its advances and that
influences a lot in technology.
A computer is an electronic machine that receives and proceses data to
make it useful. The main characteristic of a computer is that it’s a general purpose
machine that can make a lot of works according to the possibilities that gives the
programming language and the hardware unlike calculators for example
This work aims to the study of computers, history, definition, parts, which
and how are the modern computers among other points that will be discussed
below.
1
4. WORK
Definition.
Technically, a computer is a programmable machine. This means it can
execute a programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions that it is
given. Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the desktop and
laptop computers that most people use. When referring to a desktop model, the
term "computer" technically only refers to the computer itself -- not the monitor,
keyboard, and mouse. Still, it is acceptable to refer to everything together as the
computer. If you want to be really technical, the box that holds the computer is
called the "system unit."
Some of the major parts of a personal computer (or PC) include the
motherboard, CPU, memory (or RAM), hard drive, and video card. While personal
computers are by far the most common type of computers today, there are several
other types of computers. For example, a "minicomputer" is a powerful computer
that can support many users at once. A "mainframe" is a large, high-powered
computer that can perform billions of calculations from multiple sources at one
time. Finally, a "supercomputer" is a machine that can process billions of
instructions a second and is used to calculate extremely complex calculations.
History of computers
Computers have been around for quite a few years. Many parents were
probably around in 1951 when the first computer was bought by a business firm.
Computers have changed so rapidly many people cannot keep up with changes.
One newspaper tried to relate how the fast changes in computer technology would
look to a similar pace in the auto industry:
"Had the automobile developed at a pace (equal) to that of the computer
during the past twenty years, today a Rolls Royce would cost less than $3.00, get 3
million miles to the gallon, deliver enough power to drive (the ship) the Queen
Elizabeth II, and six of them would fit on the head of a pin!"
2
5. These changes have occurred so rapidly that many people do not know how
our modern computer got its start.
Since ancient times, people have had ways to deal
with data and numbers. Early people tied knots in
rope and carved marks on clay tablets to keep track
of livestock and trade. Some people considered the
5000 year old ABACUS-- a frame with beads strung on wires to be the first true
computing aid.
As trade and tax system grew in complexity, people saw that faster, more
reliable and exact tools were needed for doing math and keeping records.
In the mid-1600, Blaise Pascal and his father, who was a tax officer himself, were
working on taxes for the French government in
Paris. The two spent hours figuring and refiguring
taxes that each citizen owed. Young Blaise
decided in 1642 to build an adding and subtraction
machine that could aide in such a tedious and time
consuming process. The machine Blaise made
had a set of eight gears that worked together much
like an odometer keeps track of a car's mileage.
His machine encountered many of problems. For one, it was
always breaking down. Second, the machine was slow and extremely costly. And
third, people were afraid to use the machine thinking it might replace their jobs.
Pascal later became famous for math and philosophy, but he is still remembering
for his role in computer technology. In his honor, there is a computer language
named Pascal.
The next big step for computers arrived in the 1830's when Charles
Babbage decided to build a machine to help him complete and print mathematical
tables. Babbage was a mathematician who taught at Cambridge University in
England. He began planning his calculating machine calling it the Analytical
Engine. The idea for this machine was amazingly like the computer we know
3
6. today. It was to read a program from punched cards, figure and store the answers
to different problems, and print the answer on paper.
Babbage died before he could complete the machine.
However because of his remarkable ideas and work,
Babbage is known as the Father of Computers.
The next huge step for computers came when Herman Hollerith entered a
contest given by the U.S. Census Bureau. The contest was to see who could build
a machine that would count and record information faster. Hollerith, a young man
working for the Bureau built a machine called the Tabulating Machine that read
and sorted data from punched cards. The holes punched in the cards matched
each person's answers to questions. For example, married, single, and divorces
were answers on the cards. The Tabulator read the punched cards as they passed
over tiny brushes. Each time a brush found a hole, it completed an electrical
circuit. This caused special counting dials to increase the data for that answer.
Thanks to Hollerith's machine, instead of taking seven and a half years to
count the census information it only took three years, even with 13 million more
people since the last census. Happy with his success, Hollerith formed the
Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. The company later was sold in 1911. And
in 1912 his company became the International Business Machines Corporation,
better know today as IBM.
The First Electric Powered Computer
What is considered to be the first computer was made in 1944 by Harvard's
Professor Howard Aiken. The Mark I computer was very much like the design of
Charles Babbage's having mainly mechanical parts, but with some electronic
parts. His machine was designed to be programmed to do many computer jobs.
This all-purpose machine is what we now know as the PC or personal computer.
The Mark I was the first computer financed by IBM and was about 50 feet
long and 8 feet tall. It used mechanical switches to open and close its electric
circuits. It contained over 500 miles of wire and 750,000 parts.
4
7. The First All Electronic Computer
The first all electronic computer was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer). ENIAC was a general purpose digital
computer built in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. The
ENIAC contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes (used instead of the
mechanical switches of the Mark I) and was 1000 times faster than the
Mark I. In twenty seconds, ENIAC could do a math problem that would
have taken 40 hours for one person to finish. The ENIAC was built the
time of World War II had as its first job to calculate the feasibility of a design for the
hydrogen bomb. The ENIAC was 100 feet long and 10 feet tall.
More Modern Computers
A more modern type computer began with John von Neumann's
development of software written in binary code. It was von Neumann who began
the practice of storing data and instructions in binary code and initiated the use of
memory to store data, as well as programs. A computer called the
EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer) was built using binary code
in 1950. Before the EDVAC, computers like the ENIAC could do only one task
then they had to be rewired to perform a different task or program. The EDVAC's
concept of storing different programs on punched cards instead of rewiring
computers led to the computers that we know today.
While the modern computer is far better and faster than the EDVAC of its
time, computers of today would not have been possible with the knowledge and
work of many great inventors and pioneers.
Characteristics:
Man developed computers so that it could perform intricate operations such
as calculation and data processing or entertain him. Today, computers are
everywhere—in our offices, homes, appliances and automobiles—the list is
endless. Much of the world's infrastructure runs on computers, and the computers
have profoundly changed our lives, mostly for the better. Let us discuss some of
5
8. the characteristics of a computer, which make it an essential part of every
emerging technology and such a desirable tool in human development.
Speed: The computers process data at an extremely fast rate, i.e. at millions or
billions of instructions per second. In a few seconds, a computer can perform a
huge task that a normal human being may take days or even years to complete.
The speed of a computer is measured in megahertz (MHz), that is, one million
instructions per second.
Accuracy: Besides being efficient, the computers are also very accurate. The level
of accuracy depends on the instructions and the type of machines being used.
Since we know that the computer is capable of doing only what it is instructed to
do, faulty instructions for processing the data automatically lead to faulty results.
The faulty results due to faulty instructions or incorrect input data are known
as GIGO, that is, garbage in garbage out.
Reliability: Generally, reliability is the measurement of the performance of a
computer, which is measured against some predetermined standard for operation
without any failure. The major reason behind the reliability of the computers is that,
at hardware level, it does not require any human intervention between its
processing operations. Moreover, computers have built-in diagnostic capabilities,
which help in continuous monitoring of the system.
Storage Capability: Computers can store large amounts of data and it can recall
the required information almost instantaneously. The memory of the computer is
relatively small and it can hold only a certain amount of information. Therefore, the
data are stored on storage devices such as magnetic tape or disks. The data from
these devices can be accessed and brought into the main memory of the
computer, as and when required, for processing.
Versatility: Computers are quite versatile in nature. They can perform multiple
tasks simultaneously with equal ease. For example, at one moment it can be used
to prepare a letter, at the other moment it can be used to play music and in
between one can print a document as well. All this work is possible by changing
the program (sequence of instructions for computers).
Diligence: Computer, being a machine, does not suffer from the human traits of
6
9. tiredness and lack of concentration. If four million calculations have to be
performed, then the computer will perform the last four-millionth calculation with the
same accuracy and speed as the first calculation.
Resource Sharing: In the initial stages of development, computer used to be an
isolated machine. With the tremendous growth in computer technologies, today's
computers have the capability to connect with each other. This has made the
sharing of costly resources like printers possible. Apart from device sharing, data
and information can also be shared among groups of computers, thus creating a
large information and knowledge base.
Computer has certain limitations also. As a machine, it can perform only
what it is programmed to do; nothing more and nothing less. In addition, it needs
well-defined instructions to perform any operation. Therefore, computers are
unable to give any conclusion without going through intermediate steps. Besides,
the use of a computer is restricted to certain areas where qualitative considerations
are important. For instance, it can make plans based on situations and information
though it cannot foresee whether they will succeed or not.
Although processing has become less tedious with the development of
computers, it is still time-consuming and an expensive job. Sometimes, a program
works properly for some period and then suddenly produces incorrect output. This
happens because of an error in the instruction provided by the user. Therefore,
computer parts require regular checking and maintenance to give correct results.
Furthermore, computers need to be installed in a dust-free place. Generally, some
parts of the computers get heated up due to heavy processing. Therefore, an
ambient temperature of the computer system should be maintained.
Capabilities and limitations
- Capabilities:
o It is extremely fast, accurate and reliable it has speed reaching up to 100 million
operations per second.
o It can handle large volumes of repetitive tasks and accuracy make the computer
very ideal for this kind of tasks.
7
10. o It can store large amounts of information and can recall instantly.
A computer keeps on store large amounts of data and information in its memory.
o It can communicate with its operators and with other machines. It is capable of
interactive processing in which the user is put in direct communications
with machine.
- Limitations
o No Self Intelligence, today, a computer is able to do a work which is impossible
for man. Computers are used to do risky and dangerous work and where sharp
actually is needed. But it does not have any intelligence of its own. It works
according to the instruction only.
o No Decision-Making power, Computer cannot take any decision of its own. It
does only those tasks which are already instructed to it.
o No learning power, computer has no learning power. Once you
give instructions to a computer how to perform a task, the very task is cannot
perform if you do not give it any instructions for the next time. For example, when
you are taught how to solve a problem and it same type of problem is given to you
to solve, then you can do it because you have learned how to solve the problem.
Hardware
Your PC (Personal Computer) is a system, consisting of many components.
Some of those components, like Windows XP, and all your other programs, are
software. The stuff you can actually see and touch, and would likely break if you
threw it out a fifth-story window, is hardware.
Not everybody has exactly the same
hardware. But those of you who have a
desktop system, like the example shown in
Figure 1, probably have most of the
components shown in that same figure. Those
of you with notebook computers probably
have most of the same components. Only in
your case the components are all integrated into a single book-sized portable unit.
8
11. The system unit is the actual computer; everything else is called
a peripheral device. Your computer's system unit probably has at least one floppy
disk drive, and one CD or DVD drive, into which you can insert floppy disks and
CDs. There's another disk drive, called the hard disk inside the system unit, as
shown in Figure 2. You can't remove that disk, or even see it. But it's there. And
everything that's currently "in your computer" is actually stored on that hard disk.
(We know this because there is no place else inside the computer where you can
store information!).
The floppy drive and CD drive are often referred to as drives with removable
media or removable drives for short, because you can remove whatever disk is
currently in the drive, and replace it with
another. Your computer's hard disk can
store as much information as tens of
thousands of floppy disks, so don't worry
about running out of space on your hard
disk any time soon. As a rule, you want to
store everything you create or download
on your hard disk. Use the floppy disks
and CDs to send copies of files through
the mail, or to make backup copies of
important items.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
There's too much "stuff" on your computer's hard disk to use it all at the
same time. During the average session sitting at the computer, you'll probably use
only a small amount of all that's available. The stuff you're working with at any
given moment is stored in random access memory (often abbreviated RAM, and
often called simply "memory"). The advantage using RAM to store whatever you're
working on at the moment is that RAM is very fast. Much faster than any disk. For
you, "fast" translates to less time waiting and more time being productive.
So if RAM is so fast, why not put everything in it? Why has a hard disk at
9
12. all? The answer to that lies in the fact that RAM is volatile. As soon as the
computer is shut off, whether intentionally or by an accidental power outage,
everything in RAM disappears, just as quickly as a light bulb goes out when the
plug is pulled. So you don't want to rely on RAM to hold everything. A disk, on the
other hand, holds its information whether the power is on or off.
The Hard Disk
All of the information that's "in your computer", so to speak, is stored on your
computer's hard disk. You never see that actual hard disk because it's sealed
inside a special housing and needs to stay that way. Unlike RAM, which is volatile,
the hard disk can hold information forever -- with or without electricity. Most
modern hard disks have tens of billions of bytes of storage space on them. Which,
in English, means that you can create, save, and download files for months or
years without using up all the storage space it provides?
In the unlikely event that you do manage to fill up your hard disk, Windows
will start showing a little message on the screen that reads "You are running low on
disk space" well in advance of any problems. In fact, if that message appears, it
won't until you're down to about 800 MB of free space. And 800 MB of empty
space is equal to about 600 blank floppy disks. That's still plenty of room!
The Mouse
Obviously you know how to use your mouse,
since you must have used it to get here. But let's
take a look at the facts and buzzwords anyway.
Your mouse probably has at least two buttons on it.
The button on the left is called the primary mouse
button, the button on the right is called
the secondary mouse button or just the right mouse
button. I'll just refer to them as the left and right mouse buttons. Many mice have a
small wheel between the two mouse buttons
10
13. The idea is to rest your hand comfortably on the mouse, with your index
finger touching (but not pressing on) the left mouse
button. Then, as you move the mouse, the mouse
pointer (the little arrow on the screen) moves in the
same direction. When moving the mouse, try to keep
the buttons aimed toward the monitor -- don't "twist"
the mouse as that just makes it all the harder to control
the position of the mouse pointer.
If you find yourself reaching too far to get the mouse pointer where you want
it to be on the screen, just pick up the mouse, move it to where it's comfortable to
hold it, and place it back down on the mousepad or desk. The buzzwords that
describe how you use the mouse are as follows:
Point: To point to an item means to move the mouse pointer so that it's touching
the item.
Click: Point to the item, then tap (press and release) the left mouse button.
Double-click: Point to the item, and tap the left mouse button twice in rapid
succession - click-click as fast as you can.
Right-click: Point to the item, then tap the mouse button on the right.
Drag: Point to an item, then hold down the left mouse button as you move the
mouse. To drop the item, release the left mouse button.
Right-drag: Point to an item, then hold down the right mouse button as you move
the mouse. To drop the item, release the right mouse button.
The Keyboard
Like the mouse, the keyboard is a
means of interacting with your computer.
You really only need to use the keyboard
when you're typing text. Most of the keys on the keyboard are laid out like the keys
on a typewriter. But there are some special keys like Esc (Escape), Ctrl (Control),
and Alt (Alternate). There are also some keys across the top of the keyboard
labeled F1, F2, F3, and so forth. Those are called the function keys, and the exact
11
14. role they play depends on which program you happen to be using at the moment.
Most keyboards also have a numeric keypad with the keys laid out like the
keys on a typical adding machine. If you're accustomed to using an adding
machine, you might want to use the numeric keypad, rather than the numbers
across the top of the keyboard, to type numbers. It doesn't really matter which keys
you use. The numeric keypad is just there as a convenience to people who are
accustomed to adding machines.
Most keyboards also contain a set of navigation keys. You can use the
navigation keys to move around around through text on the screen. The navigation
keys won't move the mouse pointer. Only the mouse moves the mouse pointer.
On smaller keyboards where space is limited, such as on a notebook
computer, the navigation keys and numeric keypad might be one in the same.
There will be a Num Lock key on the keypad. When the Num Lock key is "on", the
numeric keypad keys type numbers. When the Num Lock key is "off", the
navigation keys come into play. The Num Lock key acts as a toggle. Which is to
say, when you tap it, it switches to the opposite state. For example, if Num Lock is
on, tapping that key turns it off. If Num Lock is off, tapping that key turns Num Lock
on.
Combination Keystrokes (Shortcut keys)
Those mysterious Ctrl and Alt keys are often used in combination with other
keys to perform some task. We often refer to these combination keystrokes as
shortcut keys, because they provide an alternative to using the mouse to select
menu options in programs. Shortcut keys are always expressed as:
key1+key2
Where the idea is to hold down key1, tap key2, then release key1. For
example, to press Ctrl+Esc hold down the Ctrl key (usually with your pinkie), tap
the Esc key, then release the Ctrl key. To press Alt+F you hold down the Alt key,
tap the letter F, and then release the Alt key.
12
15. CONCLUSION
After the realization of the previous work we obtained as a conclusion that a
computer is a programmable machine. Some of the major parts of a personal
computer or PC include the motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, and video
card. While personal computers are by far the most common type of computers
today, there are several other types of computers.
Today, computers are everywhere, in our offices, homes, appliances and
automobiles, the list is endless. Much of the world's infrastructure runs on
computers, and the computers have profoundly changed our lives, mostly for the
better. Let us discuss some of the characteristics of a computer, which make it an
essential part of every emerging technology and such a desirable tool in human
development.
13
