So What Is a Computer?

In today's world and using today's technology, a computer is an electronic device that uses digital logic under the direction of a program for carrying out calculations and making decisions based on those calculations. By this essential definition, a computer has four elements to its construction: electronics, digital logic, programming, and calculating/decision-making.

That's a mouthful of a definition, and one that's pretty hard to swallow, at least in one piece. To help you understand what all this means, let's take a closer look at each of the elements of this definition.

Electronics

The technology that makes the circuits of a computer work is called electronics. Dig into this word, and you'll find that it comes from ...

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