Find Out About Other Productive Events! Grow. Succeed. Together.

  BLOG ARTICLES 

Subject: What’s Your Passion?
Date: Sunday, August 12, 2018
Article Content: I can recall being in elementary school during the early to mid 80's and beginning to really enjoy math. Up to that point was I can  [Read More...]

View All Content

    COMPANY SPOTLIGHT 

  Name: Hyatt Hotels Corporation
  Headquarters: Texas
  View Company Profile

Term Of The Day: Computer
WHAT IS A COMPUTER? A computer is a programmable machine. The two principal characteristics of a computer are: It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner, and it can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program). Modern computers are electronic and digital. The actual machinery wires, transistors, and circuits are called hardware; the instructions and data are called software. All general-purpose computer systems require the following hardware components: Memory: Memory enables a computer to store, at least temporarily, data and programs. Mass storage device: This allows a computer to permanently retain large amounts of data. Common mass storage devices include solid state drives (SSDs) or disk drives and tape drives. Input device: Usually a keyboard and mouse, the input device is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a computer. Output device: An output device is a display screen, printer, or other device that lets you see what the computer has accomplished. Central processing unit (CPU): The heart of the computer, this is the component that actually executes instructions. A motherboard: This component allows all of the other components to communicate with one another. WHEN WAS THE FIRST COMPUTER INVENTED? The first mechanical computer was developed in the early 19th century by Charles Babbage, an English engineer, and Ada Lovelace, a mathematician. At the computer’s core was the Difference Engine, which was responsible for making calculations using multiple sets of numbers printing the outputs. The first digital computer was the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). The ABC was developed in 1942 by Iowa State University professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry. This computer used vacuum tubes to make binary computations and processed Boolean logic. However, the ABC lacked a CPU and was, therefore, not programmable. Subsequent computer evolutions added programming capabilities, RAM, transistors, microprocessors, and portability as key characteristics.