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What is a Computer?
Nowadays, in most modern societies, almost everybody has idea about what a computer is. We depend on computers in every aspect of our lives whether we know how to use one or not. But does everyone really know how a computer works inside?
A computer is an electronic machine which processes data and provides the results of the processing as information. There are three basic steps in the computing process. The first one is input, which consists of feeding data into the computer’s memory. Then comes the processing: the program is run and the computer processes the data by performing a set of instructions. The third and final step is the output furnished by the computer, which allows the user to see the results either in printed form or on the screen.
The world of computers has created a specific language of its own. English words such as software and hardware are used worldwide and have been borrowed by many different languages. Software is information in the form of data and programs, and hardware refers to the electronic and mechanical parts that make up a computer system.
Despite the constant presence of computers in most modern societies, it is a great mistake to believe that everybody in the world is computerliterate, i.e., is familiar with computers and knows how to use them properly. In some contemporary societies, many people still have no idea about the existence of computers, and even in the so-called developed countries, there are lots of people who do not know or do not care about what a computer is.
Inglês.com.textos para informática, p. 25, 2001
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