1.A computer is a machine with an intricate network of electronic circuits that operate switches or magnetize tiny metal cores.
2.The machine is capable of storing and manipulating numbers, letters and characters.
3.The basic job of computers is the processing of information. For this reason, computers can be defined as devices which accept information in the from of instructions called a program and characters called data performming mathematical and logical operations on the information, and then supply results of these operations.
4.The program or a part of it, which tells the computers what to do and the data, which provide the information needed to solve the problem, are kept inside the computer in a place called memory.
5.Computers are thought to have many remarkable powers. Most computers, whether large or small have three basic capabilities.
6.A computer can solve a series of problems and make hundreds even thousands of logical operations without becoming tired or bored. It can find the solution to a problem in a fraction that it takes a human being to do the job. A computer can replace people in dull routine, but it has no originality, it works according to the instructions given to it and cannot exercise value judgements.
7.There are times when a computer seems to operate like a mechanical «brain», but its achievement are limited by the minds of human beings. A computer cannot do anything unless a person tells it what to do and gives the appropriate information, but because of electric pulses can move at the speed of light, a computer can carry out vast numbers of arithmeticallogical operations almost instantaneously.
