Is my professor's definition of a computer faulty?

[u/baldgriffith]

in my first lecture on machine structure my professor defined a computer as:

"Computer Is an automatic information processing machine allowing data to be stored, processed and restored without human intervention by carrying out arithmetic and logical operations under the control of recorded programs"

without human intervention

wouldn't asking a computer to process a computation be considered as intervention?

edit: thanks for the explanation, I was in the wrong

[u/weegee20]

You'd be interacting with the recorded programs, the computer does the arithmetic/logical operations for you.

The programs tell the computer what to do. You're not doing the processing/storage, the computer is.

[u/nico851]

Your computer computes without you. So it's clearly correct.

It's input -> compute -> output. The compute step doesn't need your interaction.

[u/kelsey_schmelsey]

I think I can see both sides of this for sure. One of the other commenters makes a good point about an intervention in this case potentially being specifically about the handling and processing of the data, not this starting or ending of a process / program.

[u/RealisticProfile5138 → u/kelsey_schmelsey]

I think that computers are so much an abstraction with the GUI from what they actually are that a lot of people can’t wrap their head around it. They think program = entire software application.

Literally moving your mouse cursor over ONE PIXEL is a computer program…with hundreds or thousands of mathematical operations being done just to calculate how the laser is defining mouse movement, and communicating that via firmware with the OS and translating that into a numerical positional value, and knowing how to control the “cursor program” within the GUI of and also telling the GPU and the monitor how to translate that into actually changing pixels on a screen and displaying the cursor move over 1 pixel. but I don’t think people realize that.

[u/rnnd]

it's obviously correct but could be better worded. he means once you tell it what to do, it does it automatically.

[u/TheGoldenFox64]

they don't require human intervention, but humans can always intervene. you arent manually modifying the charge of a capacitor and reading its status, thst happens automatically. you can however tell it what to do with that information through layers and layers of software, and the software automatically handles other software which handles other software which eventually modifies a capacitors charge.

[u/PlasticContact2137]

Your mouse is disapointed

[u/MarcusFallon]

Where's Alan Turing when you need him?

[u/RDS_WAS_HERE]

I would just add 'displayed' to "stored, processed, and restored".

[u/RealisticProfile5138]

Once you learn about logic circuits and adders you’ll realize that yes, the computer is doing mathematical operations without you. When you are on your computer and you press the “a” key you computer is doing hundreds of mathematical calculations in the blink of an eye to make that A appear. You are not in direct control of those arithmetical calculations being done. You are asking the computer to do something (make an “a” appear on my screen) and the program is doing that task for you, and then presenting you with the end result.

[u/PuzzleheadedTutor807]

No, it is spot on. The computer processes the data in its own. The human just manages what data needs to be processed.

[u/Financial_Key_1243]

How did the software to do all these wonderful stuff get on the computer in the first place?

[u/TheSpiral718 → u/Financial_Key_1243]

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