CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1              BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Broadly defines, a computer is any device that computers, calculates or records. Thus, the abuse adding machines and slide rule are all forms of calculating derives.
The definition of computer has become more limited in a contemporary range.
A computer is now define as an electronic device that process data and it is capable of receiving input and output and posses such characteristics as high speed, accrual and the ability to store a set of instructions for solving a problems.
The computer took over centuries to endure, undergoing four generations, reckoning from time to time, serious efforts began toward simplifying mathematical computation. Quite a few people were involved in the eventual development of the computer and several of the scientists who made those useful contributions did not really aim at developing a computer extremely important to computer development. Four inventions and innovation were particularly useful in development of computers. These are contributions of Joseph Jacquard Charles babbage, Alar Trwnning and John Von Nenman.
Between 1802 and 1804, Joseph Jacquard, a French textile manufacturer developed the Jacquard card to hold textile design information in form of brining patterns which revealed some of the advantage of using binary nations in machine design and data storage.
This intention and innovation challenged other scientist, which led Charles Babbae to exploit the advantages of Jacquard innovation to invent the Difference engine and Analytical engine. This earned him the name father of modern computers. These engines were essentially for general purpose computation but they suffered a limitation of non-discovered of an electronic switch.
In 1937, Alar Trunning showed that a computer can be build with a set of simple instruction which any problem having a logical solution can reduced to a solution based upon a small set of simple instruction. A few years later (1940) John Von Nowana set out a summary of the design requirement for a modern computer as follows.
i)                    Binary codes should be used to represented data and instruction in a way that makes no distinction of the two and stall allow them, the storage space in the computer.
ii)                  The ability of the computer to process these data and instruction which include the use of programmes and modified programmes accordingly.