#PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AT WORK HOW TO#
#PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AT WORK SOFTWARE#
#PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AT WORK SERIES#

As more transistors were included in microprocessors, computers became faster and less expensive. A microprocessor had many tiny transistors on one small wafer, or chip. The first computers with microprocessors appeared in the early 1970s. The new computers were smaller and more affordable than before. By 1960 transistors had mostly replaced vacuum tubes in computers. The transistor was an electronic switching device that was much smaller and worked better than a vacuum tube. They cost millions of dollars.Ĭomputers improved after the transistor was invented in 1947. These computers were so big that just one of them filled a whole room. In place of mechanical parts, they used electronic switching devices called vacuum tubes.

The first electronic computers were invented in the 1940s. But it is still considered to be the first computer. It was so complex that Babbage never got it built. The machine was designed to follow instructions that people entered using punched cards. The design called for more than 50,000 moving parts. It was mechanical, not electronic, because scientists did not yet know how electricity worked.

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The instructions consist of algorithms, which are a series of steps that are used to solve a problem.Īn English inventor named Charles Babbage designed the first computer in the 1830s.

#PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AT WORK HOW TO#

The instructions tell the computer how to process data. Programmers use these languages to write instructions for the computer. The computer turns programming languages into the number patterns that it can understand. These include programming languages called BASIC, Java, and C++. So the people who write computer software, called computer programmers, have their own special languages. But people find it hard to work with long number patterns. All of the instructions that a computer follows have to be in this form. For example, a computer stores the word dog as three numbers: 01100100 (d), 01101111 (o), and 01100111 (g).Ĭomputers can understand only these patterns of 0s and 1s.

Computers use strings of 0s and 1s to stand for letters, sounds, and all of the other data they handle. A transistor that is “off” represents the other. A transistor that is “on” represents one of the numbers. Computers use only these two numbers because transistors, like light switches, have only two states-they are either on or off. They control how the electric currents flow.Ĭomputers use these electric currents to represent the numbers 0 and 1. The microprocessor contains thousands or millions of tiny electronic parts called transistors. All computer data is carried in tiny flows of electricity called electric currents. This means that they work with electricity.

#PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS AT WORK SOFTWARE#

Application software gives the computer instructions for doing specific tasks, such as word processing or playing games. The operating system controls how the different parts of hardware work together. They send data through the air using a small antenna.Ĭomputer software is divided into two basic types-the operating system and application software. Some computers use wireless communication devices. Modems are communication devices that can send data through telephone wires or television cables. They let people send data from one computer to another and connect to the Internet.

Output devices include the monitor (or screen), printer, and speakers.Ĭommunication, or network, devices connect computers to each other. Output devices let the user see or hear the results produced by the computer. Input devices include the keyboard and the mouse. Input devices let the user enter data or commands into the computer. Input and output devices are other types of hardware. Some storage devices put data on disks that can be easily moved from one computer to another. The hard drive stores data on a metal disk inside the computer. Most computers have a storage device called a hard drive. The programs and data are kept permanently on hardware called storage devices. The memory is hardware that holds programs and data while the microprocessor uses it. The microprocessor handles all the information that goes into and comes out of the computer. The microprocessor is the computer’s “brain.” It is also called the CPU, or central processing unit. Software is the programs, or instructions, that tell the hardware what to do.Īll computers have the same basic hardware. Hardware is the computer’s physical parts. A computer system requires both hardware and software.

People who use computers at work