Computers :: essays research papers

Computers      Computer are electronic device that toilet beat a set of instructions,or program, and then carry out a program by performing calculations on numbered data or by accumulate and correlating other forms of information. The old worldof technology could not believe about the making of information processing systems. Different typesand sizes of computers find uses throughout our world in the handling of dataincluding secret governmental files and making banking transactions to privatehousehold accounts. Computers earn opened up a new world in manufacturingthrough the developments of automation, and they have made modern communicationsystems. They are great tools in almost everything you want to do research andapplied technology, including constructing models of the universe to producingtomorrows weather reports, and their use has in itself opened up new areas ofdevelopment. Database services and computer networks draw in available a greatvariety of information sources. The same new designs also make possible ideas ofprivacy and of restricted information sources, but computer crime has become avery important risk that society must shell if it would enjoy the benefits ofmodern technology. Two main types of computers are in use today, analog anddigital, although the term computer is often used to mean only the digital type.Everything that a digital computer does is based on one operation the ability todetermine if a switch, or gate is open or closed. That is, the computer canrecognize only two states in any of its microscopic circuits on or off, highvoltage or low voltage, orin the case of numbers0 or 1. The speed at which thecomputer performs this simple act, however, is what makes it a marvel of moderntechnology. Computer speeds are measured in megaHertz, or millions of cycles persecond. A computer with a "clock speed" of 10 mHza fairly representative speedfor a microcomputeris unresolved of executing 10 million disc rete operations apiecesecond. Business microcomputers can perform 15 to 40 million operations persecond, and supercomputers used in research and defense applications attainspeeds of billions of cycles per second. Digital computer speed and calculatingpower are further enhanced by the amount of data handled during each cycle. If acomputer checks only one switch at a time, that switch can represent only twocommands or numbers hence ON would symbolize one operation or number, and OFFwould symbolize another. By checking groups of switches linked as a unit,however, the computer increases the number of operations it can recognize ateach cycle. The first adding machine, a precursor of the digital computer, was