A computer is a programmable device for processing, storing, and displaying information. Learn more in this article about modern digital electronic computers and their design, constituent parts, and applications as well as about the history of computing.
Computer - History, Technology, Innovation: A computer might be described with deceptive simplicity as “an apparatus that performs routine calculations automatically.”
Computer software is divided into two basic types—the operating system and application software. The operating system controls how the different parts of hardware work together. Application software gives the computer instructions for doing specific tasks, such as word processing or playing games.
The first digital computer designed with internal programming capacity was the “Baby,” constructed at Manchester in 1948. A program is prepared by first formulating a task and then expressing it in an appropriate computer language, presumably one suited to the application.
Software comprises the entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the operation of a computer system. The term was coined to differentiate these instructions from hardware—i.e., the physical components of a computer system.
American computer scientist Alan Kay is credited with first prototyping a laptop. In 1968 Kay designed a portable computer he called the Dynabook, which he envisioned as a child-friendly device weighing no more than two pounds.
Computer science is the study of computers and computing, including their theoretical and algorithmic foundations, hardware and software, and their uses for processing information.
computer science, Study of computers, their design (see computer architecture), and their uses for computation, data processing, and systems control, including design and development of computer hardware and software and programming.
Hardware, computer machinery and equipment, including memory, cabling, power supply, peripheral devices, and circuit boards. Computer operation requires both hardware and software.
