Concepts of programming - What can Computers Do?

 

What is a Computer?

A computer is a device that can perform actions on input (which is also called data).

The actions are specified by a program, which is a sequence of instructions. A computer doesn’t really even have to be electronic. 

All computers manipulate data based on instructions.

When you work with a computer, you have all kinds of abilities already built-in by others. Your computer already knows how to deal with numbers and mathematical operations, and lots of other things as well. At the basic level, though, even the biggest, most powerful, most expensive supercomputer cannot solve problems better than a Turing Machine. All computers are exactly the same in terms of what they can do.

Computer Abilities

In this book, we are going to talk about what a computer can do in terms of the programming language Python. We are not going to cover all of Python. We are going to describe the four abilities of a computer, the four abilities that cover everything that a computer can do.

• Computers can remember names for values. Computers can name anything.
• Computers can repeat steps.
• Computers can make decisions.
• Computers can take data apart.

Concepts from computing

This defines the following concepts from computing:

Computer - A computer is a device that can perform actions on input (which is also called data).

Java - Java is a programming language. It is used in the Advanced Placement Computer Science A course.

Program - A program is a set of instructions that a computer can understand to accomplish some goal. This is sometimes called code.

Programming Language - A programming language is used to tell a computer what to do. Some examples are Python and Java.

Programming Tool - A programming tool is used to do programming. One example is VS Code

Python - Python is a programming language.