Basic functions of a computer.

 BASIC FUNCTIONS OF A COMPUTER

Before learning how to use a computer,you must first learn the different functions that a computer can perform.Basically,there are four functions,input,output,storage, processing.

Inputting: A Computer can keep track of any different types of information. The computer receives data from outside for processing within. With software like Microsoft word, notepad,It makes inputting any data such as words, articles relatively easy. Examples of input devices include your keyboard, computer mouse, microphone etc.

Storage: Holds data internally before, during and after processing. For example disks and tapes.Imagine you have a collection of ten thousand photos. You are going to London to meet your relative and were told to bring that ten thousands photos over. Guess what? That is a lot of things. So with the advent of computer, you can just save that ten thousand photos and bring your laptop over. That's that simple! Examples of computer storage include hard disk, CD-ROM,DVD ROM and others.

Processing: Computer can rapidly solve all types of numerical problems through performing operations or manipulations on the data it holds within. Solving numerical problems can be considered as an example of computer processing. With the ability of data manipulation of company, task can be completed efficiently with effectively. Saving lots and lots of time and effort, compared to human work. Also, computer are accurate and error free, they can process huge amount of information at the same time and they inexpensive.

Outputting: Output is one of the most commonly used function in computer. The computer produces data from within for external use and it may refer to the graph that is being plotted in Microsoft excel, the song that you are playing from media player, the PowerPoint slide.

ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTERS

Speed:Computers work at very high speed and are much faster than humans.A second is very large time period time for computer.A computer can perform billions of calculations in a second. The time used by a computer to perform an operation is called the processing speed. Computer speed is measured in Mega Hertz (MHz).

Computer Processing Speeds

Operating speeds of computers are measured in a number of ways. For example:

1. Milliseconds-Thousands of a second.
2. Microseconds- Millionths of a second.
3. Nanoseconds-Billionth of a second.
4. Picoseconds-Trillionth of a second.

Other terminologies used include:

1. Teraflop- used by some supercomputers
2. MIPS-Million instructions per second
3. Megahertz(MHz)-Millions of cycles per second
4. Gigahertz (GHz)- Billions of cycles per second
5. Clock speed- used to rate microprocessors by the speed of their timing circuits and internal clock.

Storage: A computer can store a large amount of data permanently. User can use this data at anytime. We can store any type of data in a computer. Text, graphic, pictures, audio and video files can be stored easily. The storage capacity of the computer is increasing rapidly. A group of eight bits is called a byte. A byte is the amount of space it takes to store a character. Computer usually handle data in a fixed size group of bytes called words.

The units used to measure computer storage capacity are;

1 binary digit(0 or 1)                    1 bit

8 bits                                             1 byte

1 kilobyte(KB)                              1,000 bytes

1 megabyte(MB)                           1,000,000 bytes

1 gigabyte(GB)                             1,000,00,000 bytes

I terabyte(TB)                               1,000,000,000,000 bytes

1 Petabyte(PB)                              1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

1 Exabyte                                      1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.

Efficiency and Productivity: It is perhaps easy to explain the efficiency of computers in comparing documents produced using a typewriter and a word processor (on a computer). Using a word processing makes it easy to make changes to letters, words, chapters or entire documents.There are possibilities to spell check words and therefore make changes. Deleting and inserting letters,words and paragraphs is done without leaving a trace. When all necessary changes are made, files may be saved, printed, edited as many times as is necessary, sent by e-mail to someone else in another continent within minutes. When using a typewriter, a simple typing error would be time consuming to fix. Several recent studies have shown a substantial increase in productivity due to the use of computers.

Accuracy: Accuracy means to provide results without any error. Computers can process large amount of data and generate error- free results. A modern computer performs millions of operations in one second without any error.

Communication:Most computers today have the capability of communicating with other computers. We can connect two or more computers by a communication device such as modem.These computers can share data, instructions, and information. The connected computer are called network.

Diligence: unlike humans,computers are capable of doing repetitive routines over and over without getting bored or tired and so do not make errors.

Versatile: Computers are capable of performing almost any task provided they have reduced to the series and logical tasks (i.e. it can solve many problems that can be broken down into simple logical steps).

Artificial Intelligence: Computers have an in-built artificial intelligence. They can respond to requests given to them and provide solutions. This is accomplished by the “power” of programs installed in them. Evidence of this is again in industrial robotics.

Automation: Computers can perform a number of operations and functions automatically so long as they are programmed. They do not need any supervision in order to perform program routines.

Flexible: Computers are flexible as they can do work of other machines like radio, phone,television and so on.

Recreational: Computer recreational facilities like game,movies e.t.c.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING COMPUTERS.

\Technology changes:The computer world is always full of changes.The technology always changes and therefore there is no guarantee that the already bought machine will not become outdated in the next few months.

Immoral activities:The computer is a source of immorality since some people use it to promote pornography for example computers on internet can even show sexual acts.

Laziness:Computers lead people to become lazy and hate to do work because of the various games that come along with it.

Literate people: It is used by people who can read and write,in other words it requires a person to be computer literate in order to use.

Delicate: A computer like any machine can break down. This means in order to maintain it should be in good working condition and extra care should be taken.

Sources of computer viruses: computer viruses are programs designed to damage and disorganize the proper functioning of the computer system.It can be spread easily using the internet or networked computers.

Crackers: This is a person who access information illegally on the network and he goes on to carry out malicious actions on it.

LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS IN OUR SOCIETY

Besides the users, the limitations are hardware. Often times, programming surpasses hardware when it comes to computers. However, we can have other limitations which includes;

Computers are Delicate: Computers are delicate and need proper handling.Their parts are fragile and cannot survive under harsh conditions such as extremely high or low temperatures,poor handling during transportation, abnormal power supply etc.

Computers are vulnerable to data loss

Another limitation of computers is that they are vulnerable to data loss and this can be due to the following reasons:

1. Ever-increasing virus attacks to both system and application software.
2. Power fluctuations that may cause/bring errors on to the storage device such as a floppy disk, flash disk or even the hard disk.
3. Disgruntled employees may access the data and completely destroy it as it can be accessed via the network without the knowledge of the owner.

Computers have no common sense: By saying that computer has no common sense,we mean that it does not make subjective judgments. It has to be told exactly what to do.If you give it wrong inputs it will give wrong results and similarly if you give right inputs it will give you correct results(Garbage in Garbage Out).

Computers Needs Power in order to operate: It can only work where there is power-a reason why in Uganda computers are concentrated in urban areas.

Technology changes very often: Its life expectancy can hardly be 5 years because of the ever-changing technology.