What is a computer?

Today computer is changing the way we live our life. They are all around us from desktop computers to smartphones. But have you ever asked yourself - what exactly is a computer?

A computer is an electronic device that accepts data or information and manipulates it based on some sequence of instructions. These sequence of instructions are also known as program. 

A computer uses a combination of a hardware and a software: 

Hardware is any physical part of the computer that can be touched like the monitor and the keyboard whereas the software is any set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do such as a web browser, a media player.

Humans can understand different languages. But a computer can understand only one language i.e., machine language which is in form of 1's and 0's. That means when we give any instruction to a computer, it first translates that instruction into machine language and then performs a certain action according to the given instruction. To read complex things such as photographs, movies or a game computer uses the combination of 1's and 0's.

Some interesting facts about computers:

• The 1st generation computers were built with vacuum tubes.

• The 2nd generation computers were built with Transistors.

• In the 3rd generation of computers, Transistors were replaced with Integrated Circuits.

• In the 4th generation of computers, Microprocessors were used to built Computers.

• If there was a computer as powerful as the human brain, it would be able to do 38 thousand trillion operations per second and hold more than 3580 terabytes of memory.

• The first ever hard disk drive was made in 1979 and could hold the only 5MB of data.

• The first 1GB hard disk drive was announced in 1980 which weighed about 550 pounds and had a price tag of $40,000.

• The original name of windows was Interface Manager.

• The first electronic computer ENIAC weighed more than 27 tons and took up 1800 square feet.