INTRODUCTION

The term "computer" is derived from the Latin word "computare" [ com-pyoo-ta-ray] which means "to compute" or "to calculate" or "to reckon" or "to determine by mathematical means".

               com    - intensifying prefix meaning "together with"

               putare - to count / to think

The first use of the term "computer" has been recorded in a book "The yong mans gleanings" (1614) by the English writer Richard Braithwait.

The use of the term "computer" in the book "The yong mans gleanings"

In those days, "computer"  was a job title that referred to persons who did calculations in observatory, in surveying, etc. Example:  Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (discoverer of Cepheid variables) was originally employed as a computer at $10.50 a week.

A group of women computers at the Harvard college

Henrietta Swan Leavitt was initially employed as a computer at Harvard University

By the end of 19th century, the term "computer" referred to "a mechanical calculating device" (Oxford English Dictionary, 1897).

A computer is a programmable machine that performs calculations or controls operations that are expressible in numerical and logical means at high speed and  with great accuracy.

A computer is an electronic machine that accepts input from the user, processes the data by performing calculations and operations on it and produces the desired output result. Hence, a computer is also called the data processing system.

The Computer System