More than just a calculating machine, computers play an important role in our daily lives and in many fields by performing a variety of tasks through their ability to compute, remember, output, and control.
Computers are machines that automatically perform simple to complex operations that are difficult for humans to perform. For example, computers can perform basic calculations such as simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication, as well as more advanced calculations such as calculus and complex matrix calculations. They are also used as tools for various disciplines that apply math, such as weather prediction or complex calculations for rockets.
But today’s computers have many more applications beyond math. Computers can be used to create documents and organize large amounts of material. Computers can also be used to perform a variety of entertainment functions. You can play computer games, create or edit videos and music, and watch multimedia content. You can also search the internet for vast amounts of material and communicate with other people. In other words, computers are general-purpose machines that can take over many human tasks.
Computers come in many forms. The most common are desktops, which are typically used on a desk, and laptops, which are more portable. Nowadays, most people have smartphones, which are portable and powerful computers that can do more and more things. A smartphone can perform most of the same tasks as a desktop or laptop, so it’s not just a phone, it’s a form of computer.
Computers do so many different things and come in so many different forms, but they can be broken down into five main functions. They are input functions, computation functions, memory functions, output functions, and control functions.
The first is the input function, which takes in information from the outside, just like our senses. When you use a computer, you need to input information to perform computations, such as what commands to give the computer and what data to process. The form of input varies depending on the input device. Letters and numbers can be entered via a keyboard, a mouse can be used to select or manipulate information on the screen, a scanner can be used to input documents or photos into the computer, or images taken with a digital camera can be entered. A variety of input devices can be used to convey information, including OMR, OCR, joysticks, trackballs, and touchpads.
In recent years, advances in sensors have enabled even more varied input methods. For example, you can use a temperature sensor to input the current temperature, or an accelerometer to detect the tilt of your computer. On smartphones, touchscreens allow for input by directly touching the screen, which acts as a replacement for mouse clicks.
When a user gives a command through an input device, the computer performs the corresponding computation. This computational capability is one of the core functions of a computer, and the central processing unit (CPU) is primarily responsible for this role. The CPU is the device that controls all of a computer’s behavior and performs the necessary computations, just like the human brain. Computers perform computations mechanically, using a machine language of 0s and 1s. The CPU interprets this machine language and performs computations. The performance of a CPU is sometimes measured by the number of instructions it can process in a second. For example, the unit MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) refers to a CPU’s ability to process millions of instructions in a second.
If you think about the process of human addition, when you’re asked to add 15 and 23, you have to remember those numbers before you can perform the calculation. Computers also use memory to perform computations. A device called memory does this, and memory can be divided into primary and secondary memory. Primary memory temporarily stores the instructions and data needed for computation, while secondary memory holds data for the long term. Primary memory is very fast but has a small capacity, while secondary memory is slower but has a large capacity. Typical secondary memory devices include hard disks, flash memory, and, more recently, cloud storage.
Now we need to output the calculation results to the outside world. For example, a monitor displays the results of a calculation on the screen, a printer prints the results as a document, and a speaker delivers the results by voice. Output capabilities play an important role in all of these processes, often referred to collectively as input and output devices, which enable interaction between the computer and the user.
Finally, the control function is responsible for controlling the entire system so that each function of the computer can work smoothly. The CPU is composed of a computational part and a control part, which interprets the instructions stored in the main memory and manages how the different parts of the computer work together in harmony. The control function allows the computer to efficiently handle complex tasks.
These five functions – input, computation, memory, output, and control – allow computers to perform a variety of tasks. Computers started out as calculators that could quickly perform complex calculations, but as these five functions evolved, they became general-purpose machines that could take over many human tasks. Today, computers make almost every aspect of our lives more convenient and efficient.
