- Speed
As we know computer can work very
fast. It takes only few seconds for calculations that we take hours to
complete. Suppose you are asked to calculate the average monthly income of one
thousand persons in your neighborhood. For this you have to add income from all
sources for all persons on a day to day basis and find out the average for each
one of them. How long will it take for you to do this? One day, two days or one
week? Do you know your small computer can finish this work in few seconds?
The weather forecasting that you
see every day on TV is the results of compilation and analysis of huge amount
of data on temperature, humidity, pressure, etc. of various places on
computers. It takes few minutes for the computer to process this huge amount of
data and give the result.
You will be surprised to know that
computer can perform millions (1,000,000) of instructions and even more per
second. Therefore, we determine the speed of computer in terms of microsecond
(10-6 part of a second) or nano-second (10-9 part of a second). From this you can
imagine how fast your computer performs work.
- Accuracy
Suppose some one calculates faster
but commits a lot of errors in computing. Such result is useless. There is
another aspect. Suppose you want to divide 15 by 7. You may work out up to 2
decimal places and say the dividend is 2.14. I may calculate up to 4 decimal
places and say that the result is 2.1428. Some one else may go up to 9 decimal
places and say the result is 2.142857143. Hence, in addition to speed, the
computer should have accuracy or correctness in computing.
The degree of accuracy of computer
is very high and every calculation is performed with the same accuracy. The
accuracy level is determined on the basis of design of computer. The errors in
computer are due to human and inaccurate data.
- Diligence
A computer is free from tiredness,
lack of concentration, fatigue, etc. It can work for hours without creating any
error. If millions of calculations are to be performed, a computer will perform
every calculation with the same accuracy. Due to this capability it overpowers
human being in routine type of work.
- Versatility
It means the capacity to perform
completely different type of work. You may use your computer to prepare payroll
slips. Next moment you may use it for inventory management or to prepare
electric bills.
- Power of Remembering
Computer has the power of storing
any amount of information or data. Any information can be stored and recalled
as long as you require it, for any numbers of years. It depends entirely upon
you how much data you want to store in a computer and when to lose or retrieve
these data.
- No IQ
Computer is a dumb machine and it
cannot do any work without instruction from the user. It performs the
instructions at tremendous speed and with accuracy. It is you to decide what
you want to do and in what sequence. So a computer cannot take its own decision
as you can.
- No Feeling
It does not have feelings or
emotion, taste, knowledge and experience. Thus it does not get tired even after
long hours of work. It does not distinguish between users.
- Storage
he Computer has an in-built memory
where it can store a large amount of data. You can also store data in secondary
storage devices such as floppies, which can be kept outside your computer and
can be carried to other computers.
Some Characteristics of a Computer
Reviewed by Mani
on
November 13, 2011
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