The instructions that tell it what to do are called 'software' or “program”. The Techencyclopedia (2003) defines computer as “a general purpose machine that processes data according to a set of instructions that are stored internally either temporarily or permanently.” The computer and all equipment attached to it are called hardware.
Today, the word computer refers to computing devices, whether or not they are electronic, programmable, or capable of ‘storing and retrieving’ data. The American Heritage Dictionary (1980) gives its first computer definition as “a person who computes.” The computer remained associated with human activity until about the middle of the 20th century when it became applied to “a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data” as Webster’s Dictionary (1980) defines it. Originating from the Latin, by the mid-17th century it meant ‘someone who computes’. The word ‘computer’ is an old word that has changed its meaning several times in the last few centuries.
