what is a computer

Computer

Definition - What does Computer mean?
A computer is a machine or device that performs processes, calculations and operations based on instructions provided by a software or hardware program. It is designed to execute applications and provides a variety of solutions by combining integrated hardware and software components.


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Techopedia explains Computer
A computer is made up of multiple parts and components that facilitate user functionality. A computer has two primary categories:

Hardware
Physical structure that houses a computer's processor, memory, storage, communication ports and peripheral devices.


Software
Includes operating system (OS) and software applications.

A computer works with software programs that are sent to its underlying hardware architecture for reading, interpretation and execution. Computers are classified according to computing power, capacity, size, mobility and other factors, as personal computers (PC), desktop computers, laptop computers, minicomputers, handheld computers and devices, mainframes or supercomputers.