UNDERSTANDING THE COMPUTER

- machine that performs tasks, such as calculations or

electronic communication, under the control of a set
of instructions called a program. Programs
usually reside within the computer and are retrieved and
processed by the computer’s electronics. The program
results are stored or routed to output devices, such as
video display monitors or printers. Computers perform a
wide variety of activities reliably, accurately, and
quickly.

History of Computer
he history of computing would vs. digital computers. In fact, as late as the

T devices such as the ancient

include a multitude of diverse

Chinese abacus, the Jacquard loom (1805) and

solve systems of finite difference equations

1960s, analog computers were routinely used to

electronic computing devices, there was much

Charles Babbage's “analytical engine” discussion about the relative merits of analog

(1834). It would also include discussion of

mechanical, analog and digital

computing architectures. As late

as the 1960s, mechanical

devices, such as the Marchant calculator,

still found widespread application in science

and engineering. During the early days of

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 arising in oil reservoir modeling. In the

end, digital computing devices proved to

have the power, economics and scalability

necessary to deal with large scale

computations.

Digital computers now dominate the

computing world in all areas ranging

from the hand calculator to the

supercomputer and are pervasive throughout

society. Therefore, this brief sketch of the

development of scientific computing is limited to

the area of digital, electronic computers.

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BASIC FUNCTIONS OF COMPUTER

INPUT PROCESS
OUTPUT

STORAG
E

Computer is an automatic high-

speed, digital, electronic, data
processing machine use for
performing program instruction
to produce the desired output
at high-speed according to
programmed instruction.

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