THE ELECTRONIC COMPUTER

Characteristics of a Computer

1. Speed – high speed of operation
2. Storage – Large storage volume

3.  Versatility – Can be used to perform wide range of tasks

4. Diligence – It can perform similar operations at the same speed and accuracy at all times.

5. Automatic – Tasks are performed automatically based on the programme (instructions) given to the computer.

 

ELEMENTS OR COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

1. INPUT DEVICES – i. .e. the unit through which data are fed into the computer e.g. keyboards, terminals, optical mark readers optical character readers, magnetic ink character readers.
2. CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT – This is the part of the computer that carry out the computations and calculations. It is made up of

(a)       The control unit

(b)       The Arithmetic and Logic Unit

(c)       The Internal Memory or Storage

3. OUTPUT DEVICES – These are used to transmit processed data to the users e.g. printer, visual display units, plotters.
4. STORAGE DEVICES – These are external storage devices used to hold information that would be required by the users of the computer e.g. diskettes, magnetic tapes, punched cards etc.

 

APPLICATION OF COMPUTERS IN COMMERCE

Computers are used in finance and commerce for such applications as;

1. E-Commerce
2. E-Banking e.g Online banking
3. E-Business
4. E-Payment
5. E-Government

 

See also

APPLICATION SOFTWARE

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF BUSINESS

AGENCY

TYPES OF AGENCY

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN CHOOSING AN ADVERTISING MEDIA