Characteristics of Computers

The increasing popularity of computers has proved that it is very powerful and useful tool. The power and usefulness of this popular tool are mainly due to its following Characteristics:

  Ø Automatic: A machine is said to be automatic, if it works by itself without human intervention. Computers are automatic machines because once started on a job, they carry on, until the job is finished, normally without human assistance. However, computers being machines cannot start themselves. They cannot go out and find their own problems and solutions. They have instructed. That is, a computer works from a program of coded instructions, which specify exactly how a particular job is to be done. Some of the other characteristics of computers, such as speed and accuracy, are due to the fact that they are automatic, and work on a problem without any human intervention.

  Ø  Speed: A computer is a very fast device. It can perform in a few seconds, the amount of work that human being can do in a entire year – if he worked day and night and did nothing else. To put it in a different manner, a compute does in one minute what would take a man his entire lifetime.

  Ø  Accuracy:  In addition to being very fast, computers are very accurate. The accuracy of computer is consistently high, and the degree of accuracy of particular computer depends upon its design, however, for particular computer, every calculation is performed with the same accuracy.

Errors can occur in a computer. However, these are mainly due to human rather than technological weakness. For example, errors may occur due to imprecise thinking by the programmer (a person who writes instructions for a computer solve a particular problem) or incorrect input data. Computer errors caused due to incorrect input data or unreliable programs are often referred to as garbage-in-garbage-out (GIGO)

  Ø  Versatility: It is one of the most wonderful things about the computer. One moment, it is preparing the results of an examination, the next moment, it is busy preparing electricity bills, and in between, it may help and office secretary to trace an important letter in seconds. All that is required to change its talent is to slip in a new program ( a sequence of instructions for the computer into it. Briefly, a computer is capable of performing almost any task can be reduced to a series of logical steps.

  Ø  Storage: This is very important character of the computer, which separates it from other machine. The basic unit of storage is bit (Binary Digit). The speed with which computer can perform, i.e. to input data and the instructions for processing, is humanly impossible. The storage space available in the central processing unit, being limited, large quantity of data and entire introductions of all the required programs cannot be stored in it. These are stored outside and read into the memory of CPU at the time of processing.

Bit                            – Smallest unit of storage
Byte                        – 8 Bits

Kilo Byte              – 1024 Byte

Mega Byte          – 1020 Kilo Byte

                             Gaga Byte           – 1024 Mega Byte
                              Tara Byte             – 1024 Gaga Byte