Introduction Of Computer

The word computer has been derived from the Latin word "Computare" which means to calculate. Computer is an electronic man made programmable machine that first takes input from user through its input devices, process it to produce meaningful information in human understandable language/form and even can store the data and information for future use in its storage devices as per the user requirements.

All the modern computer works by following the principle of IPOS (Input Process Output and Storage) cycle. The IPOS cycle has been described shortly below:-

a) Input:

The raw data and instructions which are given to the computer for processing is called an input. Input can be given in any form such as text, numbers, letters, characters, symbols, audio, images, etc. Input are given to the computer through its input devices such as mouse, keyboard, scanner, light pen and many more. 

b) Process: 

An action taken upon input data to produce the meaningful information as an output in human understandable language is known as processing. The processing is done by the Central Processing Unit of a computer. CPU is also known as the brain of computer. 

c) Output:

The meaningful information produced by the computer in human understandable language through its output devices such as monitor, printer, speaker, plotter, etc. is known as an output. Output can be termed as processed information. Output also can be taken in any form such as text, numbers, letters, characters, symbols, audio, images, etc just like as an input as per the user requirements.

     There are two types of output i.e Soft copy output and Hard copy output.

d) Storage:

Storage refers to the holding of data and information by computer in its storage devices. Computer can hold those data and information in its storage devices either temporarily or permanently as per the user requirements.There are mainly two types of storage devices and they are; Primary storage device and Secondary storage device. Primary storage device is also known as Main memory or Internal memory of computer whereas Secondary storage device is also known as Auxiliary memory or External memory of computer