The peripheral devices concept is basically applied in the field of computing. They are technological instruments that interpret information and allow communication between people and computers.
There are peripheral input, output, storage and communication devices.
In relation to the first, the best known are: the keyboard, mouse, joystick, a light pen, scanner and microphone. Peripheral output devices include the monitor, printer, speakers, print plotters, and fax. Storage devices are related to information input and output processes (hard disk, CD player, magnetic tape or portable memory). There are also communication devices that allow interaction with other machines (the network card, USB ports and the router).
Peripheral devices are a part of the material components of a computer (in computer terms the word hardware is used), which function due to an information processing program (known as software).
Information processing is carried out through a central unit (another physical element of the router) that projects to the outside through peripheral devices
As a very simple example, we can say that the central unit is the human brain , the program is formed by the neuronal connections and the peripheral devices are our members that receive orders and carry out the actions (our hearing aid is a peripheral device for inputting information). This analogy between the brain and the computer began to be used in the 1940s, with Alan Turing being the first to talk about the electronic brain.
Although the peripheral device concept has developed in recent decades, there are precedents in antiquity (the abacus is considered one of the first calculation tools). In the Renaissance , Leonardo da Vinci devised a machine that would allow him to perform mathematical sums. From the 17th century onwards, other calculating machines appeared, these machines being the first peripheral devices.
Currently, computing is in its fifth generation and its main challenge is to provide artificial intelligence with the mechanisms of human intelligence.
