The computer as we see today is quite different from the one made in the beginning. The number of applications of computer has increased and the speed and accuracy of calculation has also increased. You have already experienced the impact of computers in our dayto-day life. Reservation of tickets in Air Lines and Railways, Payment of telephone and electricity bills, Deposits and withdrawals of money from banks, Business data processing, Medical diagnosis, Weather forecasting, etc. are some of the areas where computer has become extremely useful.
But as you will see later it does much more than that. It can be compared to a magic box, which serves different purpose to different people. For a common man computer is simply a calculator, which works automatically and quite fast. For a person who knows much about it, computer is a machine capable of solving problems and manipulating data. It accepts data, processes the data by doing some mathematical and logical operations, and gives us the desired output.
Therefore, we may define computer as a device that transforms data into meaningful information. Data can be anything like marks obtained by you in various subjects. It can also be name, age, sex, weight, height, etc. of all the students in your class or income, savings, investments, etc., of a country. Computer can also be defined in terms of functions it can perform. A computer can i) accept data ii) store data, iii) process data as desired, iv) retrieve the stored data as and when required, and v) print the result in desired format. You will know more about these functions as you go through the later lessons.