We explain what a computer is, its history and its importance today. Also, what other names does it receive?
What is a computer?
a computer It is a digital and programmable computer system. The term “computer”, from Latin computer (“that puts things in their place”), is the word commonly used in Spain to call what In the rest of the Hispanic world it is known as “computer” or “computadora”.
Computers are electronic computing systems, that is, information management systems through complex electrical and magnetic combinations. They are made up of two essential sets of parts:
- Hardware. The “rigid” assembly of the computer involves its physical and electronic parts, everything that is tangible and that is equivalent to the “body” of the system.
- Software. The “soft” set of the computer involves the programs, languages and instructions that allow the interaction between the different parts of the computer (its peripherals, for example) and the interaction with the user. That is, it is the intangible part of the system.
The first computers emerged after the Second World War and in a few decades they revolutionized the different areas of human existence: work, entertainment, socialization and information management, among other things.
Throughout their almost 70 years of existence, computers have grown in computing capacity and in theoretical and practical utilities, at the same time they have lost size. The computers of the first generations, despite being basically powerful calculators, were so large that they took up entire rooms, while today we can have a computer in our pocket: our smartphone or smartphone.
Throughout the 20th century, computers became an essential tool in the contemporary world. Its impact on science and technology has been totally revolutionary and thanks to its invention and development, numerous tasks can today be successfully automated.
Computer or computer?
The words “computer” and “computer” are exactly synonymous and valid to refer to a digital computer system, but their respective uses depend on geography. While in the different variants of American Spanish “computer” or “computer” is preferred, derived from the Anglo-Saxon term computers and to compute (“compute” or “calculate”), in the peninsular variant “computer” is preferred, coming from French computer. In any case, both terms are completely equivalent, so they can be used interchangeably.
Continue with: Operating system
References
- “Computer” on Wikipedia.
- “Etymology of Computer” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “Computer” in the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts of the Royal Spanish Academy.
