computer definition. An electronic device that stores and manipulates information.

Unlike a calculator, it is able to store a program and retrieve information from its
memory. Most computers today are digital, which means they perform operations
with quantities represented electronically as digits. Also called processor. an electronic

device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high
speed, and display the results of these operations. Compare analog computer, digital computer. a
person who computes; computist.
Technically, a computer is a programmable machine. This means it can execute a
programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions that it is given.
Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the desktop and laptop
computers that most people use. When referring to a desktop model, the term
"computer" technically only refers to the computer itself -- not the monitor,
keyboard, and mouse. Still, it is acceptable to refer to everything together as the
computer. If you want to be really technical, the box that holds the computer is
called the "system unit." Some of the major parts of a personal computer (or PC)
include the motherboard, CPU, memory (or RAM), hard drive, and video card. While
personal computers are by far the most common type of computers today, there are
several other types of computers. For example, a "minicomputer" is a powerful
computer that can support many users at once. A "mainframe" is a large, highpowered computer that can perform billions of calculations from multiple sources at
one time. Finally, a "supercomputer" is a machine that can process billions of
instructions a second and is used to calculate extremely complex calculations.
When was the first computer invented?

There is no easy answer to this question because of all the different classifications of computers.
The first mechanical computer created by Charles Babbage doesn't really resemble what most
would consider a computer today. Therefore, this document has been created with a listing of
each of the computer firsts starting with the Difference Engine and leading up to the types of
computers we use today. Keep in mind that early inventions that helped lead up to the computer
such as the abacus, calculator, and tablet machines are not accounted for in this document.

The word "computer" was first used

The word "computer" was first recorded as being used in 1613 and was originally was used to
describe a human who performed calculations or computations. The definition of a computer
remained the same until the end of the 19th century when people began to realize machines never
get tired and can perform calculations much faster and more accurately than any team of human
computers ever could.
Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a
computer system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of
a computer such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard

drive disk (HDD), system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard
and chips), etc. all of which are physical objects that can be touched. [1] In contrast,
software is instructions that can be stored and run by hardware.
Software Sometimes abbreviated as S/W, software is a collection of instructions
that enable the user to interact with a computer or have it perform specific tasks for
them. Without software, computers would be useless. For example, without your
Internet browser software you would be unable to surf the Internet or read this page
and without a software operating system the browser would not be able to run on
your computer. In the picture is Microsoft Excel, an example of a software program.

Computer Generations
Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is/was being used.
Initially, the generation term was used to distinguish between varying hardware technologies.
But nowadays, generation includes both hardware and software, which together make up an
entire computer system.There are totally five computer generations known till date. Each
generation has been discussed in detail along with their time period, characteristics. We've used
approximate dates against each generations which are normally accepted.
What is the Software Development Life Cycle?
July 9, 2013 justin in insight

The Software Development Life Cycle is a process that ensures good software is built. Each
phase in the life cycle has its own process and deliverables that feed into the next phase. There
are typically 5 phases starting with the analysis and requirements gathering and ending with the
implementation. Lets look in greater detail at each phase:

Requirements Gathering/Analysis
This phase is critical to the success of the project. Expectations (whether of a client or your
team) need to be fleshed out in great detail and documented. This is an iterative process with
much communication taking place between stakeholders, end users and the project team. The
following techniques can be used to gather requirements:

Cycle Programming
When a system processes data, it must do the processing in a particular order. This logical order
is provided by:

The ILE RPG compiler

The program code

The logic the compiler supplies is called the program cycle. When you let the compiler provide
the logic for your programs, it is called cycle programming.
The program cycle is a series of steps that your program repeats until an end-of-file condition is
reached. Depending on the specifications you code, the program may or may not use each step in
the cycle.
If you want to have files controlled by the cycle, the information that you code on RPG
specifications in your source program need not specify when records for these files are read. The
compiler supplies the logical order for these operations, and some output operations, when your
source program is compiled.
If you do not want to have files controlled by the cycle, you must end your program some other
way, either by creating an end-of-file condition by setting on the last record (LR) indicator, by
creating a return condition by setting on the return (RT) indicator, or by returning directly using
the RETURN operation.
Note:
No cycle code is generated for subprocedures or when NOMAIN is specified on the
control specification.

Figure 1 shows the specific steps in the general flow of the RPG program cycle.
Figure 1. RPG Program Logic Cycle

1 RPG processes all heading and detail lines (H or D in position 17 of the output
specifications). 2 RPG reads the next record and sets on the record identifying and
control level indicators. 3 RPG processes total calculations (conditioned by control
level indicators L1 through L9, an LR indicator, or an L0 entry). 4 RPG processes all
total output lines (identified by a T in position 17 of the output specifications).5 RPG
determines if the LR indicator is on. If it is on, the program ends. 6 The fields of the
selected input records move from the record to a processing area. RPG sets on field
indicators. 7 RPG processes all detail calculations (not conditioned by control level
indicators in positions 7 and 8 of the calculation specifications). It uses the data
from the record at the beginning of the cycle.

The first cycle

The first and last time through the program cycle differ somewhat from other cycles. Before
reading the first record the first time through the cycle, the program does three things:

handles input parameters, opens files, initializes program data

writes the records conditioned by the 1P (first page) indicator

processes all heading and detail output operations.

For example, heading lines printed before reading the first record might consist of constant or
page heading information, or special fields such as PAGE and *DATE. The program also
bypasses total calculations and total output steps on the first cycle.
The last cycle
The last time a program goes through the cycle, when no more records are available, the program
sets the LR (last record) indicator and the L1 through L9 (control level) indicators to on. The
program processes the total calculations and total output, then all files are closed, and then the
program ends.

History
The Java programming Language evolved from a language named Oak. Oak was developed in
the early nineties at Sun Microsystems as a platform-independent language aimed at allowing
entertainment appliances such as video game consoles and VCRs to communicate . Oak was first
slated to appear in television set-top boxes designed to provide video-on-demand services. Just
as the deals with the set-top box manufacturers were falling through, the World Wide Web was
coming to life. As Oaks developers began to re cognize this trend, their focus shifted to the
Internet and WebRunner, an Oak-enabled browser, was born. Oaks name was changed to Java
and WebRunner became the HotJava web browser. The excitement of the Internet attracted
software vendors such that Jav a development tools from many vendors quickly became
available. That same excitement has provided the impetus for a multitude of software developers
to discover Java and its many wonderful features.