Computer is one of the most powerful tools ever designed by man to solve the solve the problems that evolve computing and processing of data. Computers are electronic machines that accept data as its input, process it and produce outputs.
The computer by itself cannot do all these, as it does not have the brain or intelligence. It has therefore to be instructed to perform a task and supplied with the necessary information in the most detailed form in a language, which it can understand.
The solution to the problem may be expressed first diagrammatically using flow charts and written in a computer programming language.
Computer history started with the developing of the first counting device developed by Chinese people in BC 3000.Charles Babble, an English scientist is considered as the father of Computer. He designed a machine, which could produce statistical tables. His efforts established a number of principles have been shown fundamental to the design of any Computer.
Computers become more applicable due to its speed, accuracy, storage capacity and many other factors. Today computers are active in almost all the divisions of science and technology.
Today computers are active in almost all the divisions of science and technology. The computer industry continues to grow at record speed. Computers are now used in Communication, Business, Weather forecasting, process and issue checks in banks etc.
The need for computer personnel continues to grow. Over a quarter a million new programmers are needed each year.
Fact-finding or information gathering techniques are used to analyze and study the existing system. They are used to collect the systems outputs, inputs and requirements. For the selection of tools, the only rule used is that the information must be acquired accurately, methodically under right conditions and with minimum interruption to user personnel.
To design the system it is a must to determine the user requirements. What are the user's goals for the system? What tasks must it accomplish? What are the expected outputs of the development effort'? There are a number of ways to assess user requirements, including:-
1. Interviews and questionnaires
2. Observation.
3. Counting transactions and documents, often by sampling.
4. Asking users directly.
5. An analysis of the competition.
6. Developing various flowcharts.
