UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS
WHAT IS A COMPUTER

A computer - can be defined as a tool/machine that computes or processes information for the use of man. Computers change and are improved and updated very quickly, so much that some people think of it as a "Computer Revolution". A large number of working people today use some type of computer. A typical secretary may have started her Career with a processor, and now sits at a sophisticated "workstation" that is networked with many other co-workers. It is a common sight to see people buying a new computer every 2 - 3 years. Everyday tasks such as grocery shopping involve computers. The gas station has a computer, we bank through a computer, schools and universities use computers to record results, companies use computers to advertise their products over the internet, and even our household appliances are computerised. Nevertheless, the essential nature of computers is likely to remain unchanged. They will continue to be a means for manipulating information in digital form -- as a series of 1s and 0s. What may or will change is the various technologies that are used to carry out computing functions. In addition, computers will continue to become smaller, faster, more powerful, and more widely used. And they will "invade" and possibly improve every aspect of our lives.

"Computing is not about computers anymore. It is about living. The giant central computer, the so-called mainframe, has been almost universally replaced by personal computers. We have seen computers move oout of giant air-conditioned rooms into closets, then onto desktops, and now into our laps and pockets. But this is not the end." - Nicholas Negroponte, a pioneer in the field of computers, writes in his prophetic book Being Digital (1995).

What Negroponte and other visionaries see is a world where the microprocessor, the heart of the computer, is in everything we use. Computers will "mangle" into our surroundings, ready to serve our needs and enable us to communicate effortlessly with other computer users-whether it is on the other side of the room or the other side of the Earth.