1.1 Computer Basics
The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. Its province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with.
—ADA AUGUSTA, countess of lovelace (1815–1852)
Computer systems consist of hardware and software. The hardware is the physical machine. A set of instructions for the computer to carry out is called a program. All the different kinds of programs used to give instructions to the computer are collectively referred to as software. In this book, we will discuss software, but to understand software, it helps to know a few basic ...
Get Java: An Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming, 8th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.