General-Purpose Computers (original) (raw)

General-Purpose computers -those built for a great variety of processing jobs. Simply by using a general purpose computer and different software, various tasks can be accomplished, including writing and editing (word processing), manipulating facts in a data base, tracking manufacturing inventory, making scientific calculations, or even controlling organization's security system, electricity consumption, and building temperature. General purpose computers are designed to perform a wide variety of functions and operations. You will probably use this type of computer reading this article and I am using a general purpose computer typing this article in some software (MS Word). A general purpose computer is able to perform a wide variety of operations because it can store and execute different programs in its internal storage. Unfortunately, having this ability is often achieved at the expense of speed and efficiency. In most situations, however, you will find that having this flexibility makes this compromise a most acceptable one.