WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

Computer is an electronic device. As mentioned in the introduction it can do arithmetic calculations faster. 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 automatic 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. 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 be defined in terms of its functions. It can i) accept data ii) store
data, iii) process data as desired, and 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