Computer?s History, Components, Language And The Internet
In history, humans invented ingenious calculating machines. The first one is the Abacus. In 1600s there are some mechanical calculators that was developed. These machines could perform addition and multiplication but they cannot perform subtraction.
Early Computers
In the year 1820, Charles Xavier Thomas de Colman invented the arithmometer. The arithmometer can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication as well as division. In the early 1800s Charles Babbage designed the mechanical calculating machines called the Analytical engine. This machine was considered as the true ancestor of todays modern computers. The programmer of this machine was Ada Byron King (countess of Lovelace) and considered to be as the mother of the computer programming. (spyfu review)
The Analytical Engine has the four components of todays modern computer, namely the namely the Input, Storage,Processing and Output. The problem with this engine as well as the other first computing machines are that they were mechanical, and their moving parts were slow and subject for breakdown.
The developments of todays modern computer became possible through the introduction of the electronic components. Electronic components can do calculations and other information processing without having a moving part. Modern computers have four components, these are the input, storage processing and output.
The Computer Input
The Input devices is used to input or put information into the computer. An example of this is typing sentence on the keyboard. When we type sentence into a keyboard and enters it, we are putting the sentence into the computer. Another thing is speaking into a microphone, the microphone is an input device responsible for transmitting voice to the computer. Taking videos using a video camera and giving commands by clicking a mouse are also part of input processes.
The Computer Storage
Another components is the Storage, this process involves storing information to the computers. There are two basic kinds of storage, the RAM or Random Access Memory and the ROM or Read Only Memory. RAM is a temporary storage of information. The information in these memory are actively being used for processing. Examples of these information are the data or records that was being entered to the memory. ROM is a kind of storage information that the computer used again and again. Examples of these information are the instruction the computers prepare itself when we turn the computer on. ROM memory does not accepts new information.
The Computer Processing
The third components is the Processing. It is in the processing where the information we entered in the computer are being processed. The computer uses integrated circuit to process information. One of the important components of the processing system is the microprocessor. The microprocessor is the most complex chip in the computer machine. Inside the microprocessor, the information we entered in the computer machine are being processed.
There are other kind of processor such as those found in DVD players,remote control and electronic calculators. These are simpler kinds of chips and need to do one thing well and the instructions are coded into them.
The microprocessor that are used in the computer on the other hand are more versatile than the embedded processors. Instead of doing one thing, these microprocessor can perform several instructions and do whatever the software that we select instructs them to do.
The Computer Output
The fourth components is the Output. Computer outputs are those we can look on the computer screen such as viewing a particular page. There are other kinds of computer outputs. Among of these are the sounds from the computer speaker, the documents printed from the printer, information we can retrieve and get from the computer and several others.
Computer Language
To be able for the computer to communicate, a standard language has been created. These language is the ASCII or the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII code is an 8 bit code, represented by 0 and 1. It uses 8 bits to represent a letter, a number or a punctuation mark. An example of these is the lower case a which was represented by 01100001.
The Microprocessor
The computer uses microprocessor to do its work. This is a tiny silicon chips that contains millions of transistors that work together. The microprocessor process data in three steps, with the speed of million times per second. The first step is to fetch,wherein the microprocessor gets software instructions from the memory. The second step is to decode, this time the microprocessor determines what the instruction mean. The third step and the last one is to execute wherein the microprocessor performs the specific instruction. Microprocessor is primarily made up from quartz, metals chemicals and water.
The Internet
One of the most popular feature of computer is the Internet. Internet also called as International Network is a network of computer networks. They are computers that are connected to each other enabling them to communicate easily as well as sharing files and resources from computers to computers.
The Internet connects networks all over the world. It is a backbone of high-speed data communication. With the advent of the Internet, a vast amount of information from different sources all over the world are very much accessible.
The World Wide Web (WWW) is one of the special part of the Internet who made Internet so popular. In the year 1989. the HTML or Hypertext Markup Language was developed. Through the use of HTML, the new way to navigate the Internet was being utilize. Such thing brings the revolution of the Web. With the creation of the HTML the Web was born. It made us easy to create websites with images, videos and even with sounds.
Every websites have a unique address in the Web. This address is called as the URL or the Uniform Resource Locator. It starts with http:/. In order to get into a particular web page without using a link. we must have to type in the particular URL address.
We can use the Internet for different purposes such as listening to music, playing games, sending e-mails, communicate in chat, on line shopping and do research or home works.
Although Internet is a great help in research, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of all information that we can retrieved. The Internet has no editorial or review board, no information fact checker and no quality control. the quality and validity of the information that we get from the Internet depends in our own judgement.
In considering the accuracy of information, one thing to do is to pay attention to the source,that is from whom or what organization the information came from and check its credibility.