Characteristics of a computer

Characteristics of a computer?

The major characteristics that make the computer such a powerful machine.

1. Speed

The speed however in credibly faster than what man can possibly record or calculate normally. The speed of computer is usually given in terms of the following time units for the access time.

Milliseconds [1ms] è a thousands of a second or 10^-3

Micro seconds è a millionth of a second or 10^-6             

Nano seconds è a thousand millionth of a second or 10^-9           

Pico Seconds è a million millionth of a second or 10^-12

KIPS – kilo instructions per seconds

MIPS- Million instructions per seconds

2. Storage

units	meaning
	1 bit
1 nibble	4 bit
1 byte	8 bit
1024 byte	1 kb
1024 kb	1 mb
1024 MB	1GB
1024 GB	1 TB
1024 TB	1 PB
1024 PB	1@

CD 700 MB

DVD 4GB   9GB

FLOPPY  1.4 MB

PEN DRIVE   1GB  4 GB   8 GB  16GB 32 GB 64GB 128GB

3. Automatic

As stated earlier the computer is quit capable of functioning automatically, once the process has been initiated. It does not require a prompt from an operator at each stage of the process.

4. Scientific approach

The entire approach to solving problems is highly scientific, objective and sequentially carried out, leaving no room for emotional and subjective evaluation made by man, which are sources of potential errors and unjustified result.

5. versatility

The wide use of computes in so many areas suc

h as scientific, commercial applications educational industrial areas in day to day life there is an ample evidence of its versatility.