What are the uses of computer system (IS) is understood an automated data storage, processing and retrieval system , which takes advantage of the tools of computing and electronics to carry out its complex series of processes and operations. In other words, a computer system is a computer of some kind.
Computer systems are types of information systems, that is, systems that are organized around the handling of data of various kinds, although not all information systems are computer science. That is, not all of them are digital, or automated, or electronic.
Computer systems occupy a key place in the contemporary world for the human organization of its productive processes and of other natures. It is a powerful tool for the exchange of information and the construction of computer networks that overcome the difficulty of distances.
Uses of computer systems
Computer systems make work easier for human beings.
The purpose of all SI is to optimally manage the information. It allows you to save it, retrieve it, change the medium (for example, print it) or share it.
In addition, it allows numerous performances, in the printed circuit boards ranging from facilitating work for human beings, offering them entertainment or information, communicating them with other humans at a distance, etc.
History of computer systems
Computer systems are inheritors of various previous technologies.
Each of these technologies revolutionized the way in which human beings understand, store or share information.
They begin with the remote invention of writing, and include the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century and Blaise Pascal’s first mechanical calculator in the 17th century.
The first large-scale computer system was Herman Hollerith’s tabulating machine, created in 1890 . It used a series of electric punch cards, based on Boolean logic.
This device managed to tabulate the national census of the United States of that year . Its success inspired the advent of new and better computers, such as Eniac (1946) or UNIVAC I (1951) developed in the same country for military and accounting purposes respectively.
From then on the discovery of new electrical and electronic materials allowed the appearance of integrated circuits. With them came new possibilities for computing devices, which then began their miniaturization.
Thus arose at the end of the 20th century the first personal computers and the first cybernetic networks. In this way, he forever changed the way we understand and value information in the world.
Structure of computer systems
Every computer system is made up of three integrated instances, also called “resources”:
- Hardware . The “hard” part of the system, which includes its physical components, materials, such as boards, circuits, connectors, screens, keys, screws, etc. Without it the system could not simply turn on.
- Software . The “soft” part of the system refers to the information and programmer, digital, virtual systems that are intangible but essential for the system to have a purpose beyond turning on.
- Humanware. This name is often used to refer to the human factor in the equation: users of various kinds who intervene in a computer network, who use a computer or who program it.
Classification of computer systems
Computer systems are usually classified based on three different criteria:
- According to its use. We can speak of systems for specific use, which deal with specific and very limited tasks; or systems for general use, which offer comprehensive information management.
- According to your processing volume. One can speak of stations work ( workstations ) limited capacity mainframes (large capacity), microcomputers (as small servers small capacity) and supercomputers (with enormous processing power).
- According to the IT architecture of your network. If the IS is part of a network, it may have a client-server relationship with the server, consisting of two, three or four layers, depending on the quantity and quality of the information transmitted.
- According to its purpose. One can speak of basic information processing systems, decision-making support , knowledge management, systems based on Web techniques or based on artificial intelligence.
