6.1 Computer Operations
The programming languages we use must mirror the types of operations that a computer can perform. So let’s begin our discussion by repeating the definition of a computer: A computer is a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data.
The operational words here are programmable, store, retrieve, and process. In a previous chapter we pointed out the importance of the realization that data and instructions to manipulate the data are logically the same and could be stored in the same place. That is what the word programmable means in this context. The instructions that manipulate data are stored within the machine along with the data. To change what the computer does to the data, we change the ...
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