Essay --

A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem. Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved. In World War II, mechanical analog computers were used for specialized military applications. During this time the first electronic digital computers were developed. Originally they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers . Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into mobile devices, and mobile computers can be powered by small batteries. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as â€Å"computers.† However, the embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are the most numerous. History of computing Etymology The first recorded use of the word â€Å"computer† was in 1613 in a book called â€Å"The yong mans gleanings† by English writer Richard Braithwait I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he... ...e working at Bell Labs in November 1937, Stibitz invented and built a relay-based calculator he dubbed the â€Å"Model K†, which was the first to use binary circuits to perform an arithmetic operation. Later models added greater sophistication including complex arithmetic and programmability. The Atanasoff–Berry Computer was the world's first electronic digital computer, albeit not programmable. Atanasoff is considered to be one of the fathers of the computer. Conceived in 1937 by Iowa State College physics professor John Atanasoff, and built with the assistance of graduate student Clifford Berry, the machine was not programmable, being designed only to solve systems of linear equations. The computer did employ parallel computation. A 1973 court ruling in a patent dispute found that the patent for the 1946 ENIAC computer derived from the Atanasoff–Berry Computer. The fir