Functionalities of a Computer

We know that a computer is an electronic data processing device, which accepts data, stores it and processes the data to generates the desired output in a required format.

In the previous article, we discussed - what is a computer. Now we will discuss different functionalities of a computer system, its advantages, and its disadvantages.

The basic functionality of a computer system is to take input, store it and perform an operation and then give output. These functionalities can be divided into different steps which are as follows :

1. Take data as input from the user using input devices like a keyboard.
2. Store the data in its memory.
3. Perform some arithmetic or logic operation according to user requirement.
4. Display the output to the user using the output devices like a monitor.  

Advantages of computer:

Following are some advantages of computers.

High Speed

• Computers work in a very high speed and have units of speed in a microsecond, nanosecond, and even the picosecond.
• It is capable of performing 3-4 millions of instructions per second.

Accuracy

• Computers perform all the operation with 100% accuracy.

Storage Capacity

• Computers have a large volume of space to store data.
• Stored data can be retrieved anytime from memory. 
• It can store different types of data such as images, videos, audios, text, etc,.

Disadvantages of computer:

Following are some disadvantages of computers.

Dependency

• The computer is fully dependant on the user's instruction.

No I.Q.

• It has no intelligence to perform any task on its own.
• Each instruction has to be given to the computer.