Full Form of COMPUTER

Full Form of “COMPUTER”

What is the full form of COMPUTER ?Is this question comes to your mind,Don’t worry I will clear this question with best answer.

Most of the time we hear that COMPUTER stands for “Common Operating Machine Purposely Used for Technological and Educational Research”.

But according to me its not true because first this definition does not make any sense and second when the computer were invented they worked as a calculating machine.

So knowing this we easily understand that the COMPUTER is not an acronym, it is a word derived from word “COMPUTE”, which means to CALCULATE and the word Compute is derived from the Latin word ‘Computare’, which means "arithmetic, accounting". . So we can say that COMPUTER is an electronic device which is invented for fast calculation.

But today COMPUTER is not only a calculating device but its became a multitasking device.COMPUTER has become an very advance device.

So today the definition of COMPUTER is different from its previous definition.

its definition is,

 A computer is an electronic device which is used to perform arithmetic and logical operations automatically. A computer consists of a central processing unit and some form of memory.

Components of Computer

There are two most important components of Computer is

1.   Hardware

2.   Software

·         Hardware - The actual machinery (wires, transistors, and circuits) is called hardware.

·         Software – The instructions and data are called software.

All general-purpose computer requires the following hardware components –

CPU (Central processing unit) – CPU is called the heart of the computer.This is the component that actually executes instructions organized in programs ("software") which tell the computer what to do.

Memory (fast, expensive, short-term memory) - It enables a computer to store, at least temporarily, data,programs, and intermediate results. Ex. – RAM (Random Access Memory).

Mass storage device (slower, cheaper, long-term memory) - It allows a computer to permanently retain large amount of data and programs. Common mass storage devices include disk drives and tape drives.

Input device - Input device is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a computer. Ex. – Keyboard, Mouse etc.

Output device – Output device that lets you see what the computer has accomplished. Ex. – Monitor, Printer etc.

Types of Computer

Computer is classified in many types.

There are few types I have mentioned.

Microcomputers (personal computers) - Microcomputers are the most common kind of computers in use. The term “microcomputer” was introduced with the advent of systems based on single chip

microprocessors. The best-known early system was the Altair 8800, introduced in 1975. The term “microcomputer” has practically become an anachronism.

Microcomputers include –

Desktop computers – A case and a display, put under and on a desk.

In-car computers (carputers) – Built into a car, for entertainment, navigation, etc.

Game consoles – Fixed computers specialized for entertainment purposes (video games).

Smaller microcomputers are also called mobile devices:

Laptops and notebook computers – Portable and all in one case.

Tablet computer – Like laptops, but with a touchscreen, entirely replacing the physical keyboard.

Smartphones, smartbooks, PDAs and palmtop computers – Small hand held computers with limited hardware.

Programmable calculator– Like small hand helds, but specialized on mathematical work.

Handheld game consoles – The same as game consoles, but small and portable.

Minicomputers (midrange computers) – Minicomputers are a class of multi-user computers that lie in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the smallest mainframe computers and the largest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers).

The term superminicomputer or supermini was used to distinguish more powerful minicomputers that approached mainframes in capability.

Superminis were usually 32-bit at a time when most minicomputers were 16-bit.

The contemporary term for minicomputer is midrange computer, such as the higher-end SPARC, POWER and Itanium-based systems from Oracle Corporation, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Mainframe computers - The term mainframe computer was created to distinguish the traditional, large, institutional computer intended to service multiple users from the smaller, single user machines. These computers are capable of handling and processing very large amounts of data quickly. Mainframe computers are used in large institutions such as government, banks and large corporations. They are measured in MIPS (million instructions per second) and respond to up to 100s of millions of users at a time.

Supercomputers - A Supercomputer is focused on performing tasks involving intense numerical calculations such as weather forecasting, fluid dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics, and complex scientific computations. A supercomputer is a computer that is at the front-line of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and the speed of today’s supercomputers tends to become typical of tomorrow’s ordinary computer. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in floating point operations per second, or FLOPS.

An example of a floating point operation is the calculation of mathematical equations in real numbers. In terms of computational capability, memory size and speed, I/O technology, and topological issues such as bandwidth and latency, supercomputers are the most powerful, are very expensive, and not cost-effective just to perform batch or transaction processing. Transaction processing is handled by less powerful computers such as server computers or mainframes.

In this post I tried to give some information about COMPUTER, I hope you like this post.

Thank You.