لخّصلي

Problem solving is an age old activity. The development of electronic devices, specially the computers, has given added advantage to this activity. Problems which could not be solved earlier due to sheer amount of computations involved can now be tackled with the aid of computers accurately and rapidly. Computer is certainly one of the most versatile (many sided) developments of the modern technological age. Today people use computers in almost every walk of life. No longer are they just big boxes with flashing lights whose sole purpose is to do arithmetic at high speed but they make use of studies in philosophy, psychology, mathematics and linguistics to produce output that mimics the human mind. Indeed the advancement in computers is astonishing ⚫ To the researcher, the use of computer to analyse complex data has made complicated research designs practical. Electronic computers have by now become an indispensable part of research students in the physical and behavioural sciences as well as in the humanities. The research student, in this age of computer technology, must be exposed to the methods and use of computers. A basic understanding of the manner in which a computer works helps a person to appreciate the utility of this powerful tool. THE COMPUTER AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY • A computer, as the name indicates, is nothing but a device that computes. In this sense, any device, that enables one to carry out mathematical manipulations becomes a computer. But what has made this term distinct today and, what we normally imply when we speak of computers, are electronically operating machines which are used to carry out computations. (calculations). In brief, computer is a machine capable of receiving, storing, manipulating and yielding information such as numbers, words, pictures

The computer can be a digital computer or it can be a analogue (technology) computer. A digital computer is one which operates essentially by counting (using information, including letters and symbols, in coded form) where as the analogue computer operates by measuring rather than counting. Digital computer handles information as strings of binary numbers i.e., zeros and ones, with the help of counting process but analogue computer converts varying quantities such as temperature and pressure into corresponding electrical voltages and then performs specified functions on the given signals. Thus, analogue computers are used for certain specialised engineering and scientific applications. Most computers are digital, so much so that the word computer is 1 41 41 to 1:41 COMPUTER APPLICATIONS At present, computers are widely used for varied purposes like, Educational, commercial, industrial, administrative, transport, medical, etc. Even if our work does not involve the use of computers in our everyday work, as individuals, we are affected by them. "The motorists, the air passenger, hospital patients and those working in large departmental stores, are some of the people for whom computers process information. Everyone who pays for electricity or telephone has their bills processed by computers. Many people who are working in major organisations and receive monthly salary have their salary slips prepared by computers. Thus, it is difficult to find anyone who in some way or the other does not have some information concerning them processed by computer". Without computers we might not have achieved a number of things. For example, man could not have landed on the moon nor could he have launched satellites. We might not have built 100 storied buildings or high speed trains and planes. • The following table depicts some of the important applications and uses of computers: (i) Provide a large data bank of information; (ii) Aid to time-tabling; (iii) Carry out lengthy or complex calculations; Education (iv) Assist teaching and learning processes; (v) Provide students' profiles; (vi) Assist in career guidance. (i) Model processing; Scientific Research (ii) Performing computations; (iii) Research and data analysis