What's a computer?

Short Answer: A computer is a collection of electrical and mechanical devices

that can accept input via input devices and can provide output via output devices.

Long Answer: A computer is a collection of electrical and mechanical devices

that can accept human or electro-mechanical input via input devices and can
provide visual, auditory and kinetic output via output devices.

• Human input is generally provided by moving and clicking buttons on a

mouse, from pressing keys on a keyboard, writing on an electronic tablet,
touching the screen or with spoken commands. Electro-mechanical input
can come from a variety of data storage devices or from another, attached
computer.
• Visual output is typically displayed on a monitor while audible output is
played through speakers, while an example of kinetic output might be
back pressure from a joystick.
• The mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers are all connected to IO
(Input/Output) ports on the computer.

Wikipedia.

A computer is as stupid as a stone and has no more value than a stone without
an operating system and programs.

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded

human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century
(1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several
hundred modern personal computers (PCs).[1] Modern computers based on integrated
circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and
occupy a fraction of the space.[2] Simple computers are small enough to fit into a
wristwatch, and can be powered by a watch battery. Personal computers in their various
forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as
"computers". The embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to
fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers
extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a
mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum
capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer
can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a mobile phone to a supercomputer are
all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage
capacity.
Main article: History of computing hardware

The Jacquard loom, on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,
England, was one of the first programmable devices.

The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who
carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense
until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century onwards though,
the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, describing a machine that carries
out computations.[3]

The history of the modern computer begins with two separate technologies—automated
calculation and programmability—but no single device can be identified as the earliest
computer, partly because of the inconsistent application of that term. Examples of early
mechanical calculating devices include the abacus, the slide rule and arguably the
astrolabe and the Antikythera mechanism (which dates from about 150–100 BC). Hero of
Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD) built a mechanical theater which performed a play lasting
10 minutes and was operated by a complex system of ropes and drums that might be
considered to be a means of deciding which parts of the mechanism performed which
actions and when.[4] This is the essence of programmability.

The "castle clock", an astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, is considered to

be the earliest programmable analog computer.[5] It displayed the zodiac, the solar and
lunar orbits, a crescent moon-shaped pointer travelling across a gateway causing
automatic doors to open every hour,[6][7] and five robotic musicians who played music
when struck by levers operated by a camshaft attached to a water wheel. The length of
day and night could be re-programmed to compensate for the changing lengths of day and
night throughout the year.[5]

The Renaissance saw a re-invigoration of European mathematics and engineering.

Wilhelm Schickard's 1623 device was the first of a number of mechanical calculators
constructed by European engineers, but none fit the modern definition of a computer,
because they could not be programmed.
In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard made an improvement to the textile loom by introducing
a series of punched paper cards as a template which allowed his loom to weave intricate
patterns automatically. The resulting Jacquard loom was an important step in the
development of computers because the use of punched cards to define woven patterns can
be viewed as an early, albeit limited, form of programmability.

It was the fusion of automatic calculation with programmability that produced the first
recognizable computers. In 1837, Charles Babbage was the first to conceptualize and
design a fully programmable mechanical computer, his analytical engine.[8] Limited
finances and Babbage's inability to resist tinkering with the design meant that the device
was never completed.

In the late 1880s, Herman Hollerith invented the recording of data on a machine readable
medium. Prior uses of machine readable media, above, had been for control, not data.
"After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on punched cards ..."[9] To process
these punched cards he invented the tabulator, and the keypunch machines. These three
inventions were the foundation of the modern information processing industry. Large-
scale automated data processing of punched cards was performed for the 1890 United
States Census by Hollerith's company, which later became the core of IBM. By the end of
the 19th century a number of technologies that would later prove useful in the realization
of practical computers had begun to appear: the punched card, Boolean algebra, the
vacuum tube (thermionic valve) and the teleprinter.

During the first half of the 20th century, many scientific computing needs were met by
increasingly sophisticated analog computers, which used a direct mechanical or electrical
model of the problem as a basis for computation. However, these were not programmable
and generally lacked the versatility and accuracy of modern digital computers.

Alan Turing is widely regarded to be the father of modern computer science. In 1936
Turing provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and
computation with the Turing machine. Of his role in the modern computer, Time
Magazine in naming Turing one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century,
states: "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or
a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine." [10]

The inventor of the program-controlled computer was Konrad Zuse, who built the first
working computer in 1941 and later in 1955 the first computer based on magnetic
storage.[11]

George Stibitz is internationally recognized as a father of the modern digital computer.

While working at Bell Labs in November 1937, Stibitz invented and built a relay-based
calculator he dubbed the "Model K" (for "kitchen table", on which he had assembled it),
which was the first to use binary circuits to perform an arithmetic operation. Later models
added greater sophistication including complex arithmetic and programmability.[12]

Defining characteristics of some early digital computers of the 1940s (In the history of
 computing hardware)
First Numeral Computing Turing
Name Programming
operational system mechanism complete
Program-controlled by
Zuse Z3 Electro-
May 1941 Binary punched film stock (but Yes (1998)
(Germany) mechanical
no conditional branch)
Atanasoff–
Not programmable—
Berry 1942 Binary Electronic No
single purpose
Computer (US)
Program-controlled by
Colossus Mark February
Binary Electronic patch cables and No
1 (UK) 1944
switches
Program-controlled by
Harvard Mark Electro- 24-channel punched
I – IBM ASCC May 1944 Decimal No
mechanical paper tape (but no
(US)
conditional branch)
Program-controlled by
Colossus Mark
June 1944 Binary Electronic patch cables and No
2 (UK)
switches
Program-controlled by
ENIAC (US) July 1946 Decimal Electronic patch cables and Yes
switches
Manchester
Stored-program in
Small-Scale
June 1948 Binary Electronic Williams cathode ray Yes
Experimental
tube memory
Machine (UK)
Program-controlled by
patch cables and
switches plus a
Modified September primitive read-only
Decimal Electronic Yes
ENIAC (US) 1948 stored programming
mechanism using the
Function Tables as
program ROM
Stored-program in
EDSAC (UK) May 1949 Binary Electronic mercury delay line Yes
memory
Stored-program in
Manchester October Williams cathode ray
Binary Electronic Yes
Mark 1 (UK) 1949 tube memory and
magnetic drum memory
Stored-program in
CSIRAC November
Binary Electronic mercury delay line Yes
(Australia) 1949
memory
A succession of steadily more powerful and flexible computing devices were constructed
in the 1930s and 1940s, gradually adding the key features that are seen in modern
computers. The use of digital electronics (largely invented by Claude Shannon in 1937)
and more flexible programmability were vitally important steps, but defining one point
along this road as "the first digital electronic computer" is difficult.Shannon 1940 Notable
achievements include:

EDSAC was one of the first computers to implement the stored program (von Neumann)
architecture.

Die of an Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor (actual size: 12×6.75 mm) in its packaging.

• Konrad Zuse's electromechanical "Z machines". The Z3 (1941) was the first
working machine featuring binary arithmetic, including floating point arithmetic
and a measure of programmability. In 1998 the Z3 was proved to be Turing
complete, therefore being the world's first operational computer.[13]
• The non-programmable Atanasoff–Berry Computer (1941) which used vacuum
tube based computation, binary numbers, and regenerative capacitor memory. The
use of regenerative memory allowed it to be much more compact then its peers
(being approximately the size of a large desk or workbench), since intermediate
results could be stored and then fed back into the same set of computation
elements.
• The secret British Colossus computers (1943),[14] which had limited
programmability but demonstrated that a device using thousands of tubes could be
 reasonably reliable and electronically reprogrammable. It was used for breaking
German wartime codes.
• The Harvard Mark I (1944), a large-scale electromechanical computer with
limited programmability.
• The U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory ENIAC (1946), which used
decimal arithmetic and is sometimes called the first general purpose electronic
computer (since Konrad Zuse's Z3 of 1941 used electromagnets instead of
electronics). Initially, however, ENIAC had an inflexible architecture which
essentially required rewiring to change its programming.

Several developers of ENIAC, recognizing its flaws, came up with a far more flexible
and elegant design, which came to be known as the "stored program architecture" or von
Neumann architecture. This design was first formally described by John von Neumann in
the paper First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, distributed in 1945. A number of
projects to develop computers based on the stored-program architecture commenced
around this time, the first of these being completed in Great Britain. The first to be
demonstrated working was the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM or
"Baby"), while the EDSAC, completed a year after SSEM, was the first practical
implementation of the stored program design. Shortly thereafter, the machine originally
described by von Neumann's paper—EDVAC—was completed but did not see full-time
use for an additional two years.

Nearly all modern computers implement some form of the stored-program architecture,
making it the single trait by which the word "computer" is now defined. While the
technologies used in computers have changed dramatically since the first electronic,
general-purpose computers of the 1940s, most still use the von Neumann architecture.

Computers using vacuum tubes as their electronic elements were in use throughout the
1950s, but by the 1960s had been largely replaced by transistor-based machines, which
were smaller, faster, cheaper to produce, required less power, and were more reliable.
The first transistorised computer was demonstrated at the University of Manchester in
1953.[15] In the 1970s, integrated circuit technology and the subsequent creation of
microprocessors, such as the Intel 4004, further decreased size and cost and further
increased speed and reliability of computers. By the late 1970s, many products such as
video recorders contained dedicated computers called microcontrollers, and they started
to appear as a replacement to mechanical controls in domestic appliances such as
washing machines. The 1980s witnessed home computers and the now ubiquitous
personal computer. With the evolution of the Internet, personal computers are becoming
as common as the television and the telephone in the household.

Modern smartphones are fully-programmable computers in their own right, and as of

2009 may well be the most common form of such computers in existence.

Stored program architecture

Main articles: Computer program and Computer programming
The defining feature of modern computers which distinguishes them from all other
machines is that they can be programmed. That is to say that a list of instructions (the
program) can be given to the computer and it will store them and carry them out at some
time in the future.

In most cases, computer instructions are simple: add one number to another, move some
data from one location to another, send a message to some external device, etc. These
instructions are read from the computer's memory and are generally carried out
(executed) in the order they were given. However, there are usually specialized
instructions to tell the computer to jump ahead or backwards to some other place in the
program and to carry on executing from there. These are called "jump" instructions (or
branches). Furthermore, jump instructions may be made to happen conditionally so that
different sequences of instructions may be used depending on the result of some previous
calculation or some external event. Many computers directly support subroutines by
providing a type of jump that "remembers" the location it jumped from and another
instruction to return to the instruction following that jump instruction.

Program execution might be likened to reading a book. While a person will normally read
each word and line in sequence, they may at times jump back to an earlier place in the
text or skip sections that are not of interest. Similarly, a computer may sometimes go
back and repeat the instructions in some section of the program over and over again until
some internal condition is met. This is called the flow of control within the program and
it is what allows the computer to perform tasks repeatedly without human intervention.

Comparatively, a person using a pocket calculator can perform a basic arithmetic

operation such as adding two numbers with just a few button presses. But to add together
all of the numbers from 1 to 1,000 would take thousands of button presses and a lot of
time—with a near certainty of making a mistake. On the other hand, a computer may be
programmed to do this with just a few simple instructions. For example:

mov #0,sum ; set sum to 0

mov #1,num ; set num to 1
loop: add num,sum ; add num to sum
add #1,num ; add 1 to num
cmp num,#1000 ; compare num to 1000
ble loop ; if num <= 1000, go back to 'loop'
halt ; end of program. stop running

Once told to run this program, the computer will perform the repetitive addition task
without further human intervention. It will almost never make a mistake and a modern
PC can complete the task in about a millionth of a second.[16]

However, computers cannot "think" for themselves in the sense that they only solve
problems in exactly the way they are programmed to. An intelligent human faced with
the above addition task might soon realize that instead of actually adding up all the
numbers one can simply use the equation
and arrive at the correct answer (500,500) with little work.[17] In other words, a computer
programmed to add up the numbers one by one as in the example above would do exactly
that without regard to efficiency or alternative solutions.

Programs

A 1970s punched card containing one line from a FORTRAN program. The card reads:
"Z(1) = Y + W(1)" and is labelled "PROJ039" for identification purposes.

In practical terms, a computer program may run from just a few instructions to many
millions of instructions, as in a program for a word processor or a web browser. A typical
modern computer can execute billions of instructions per second (gigahertz or GHz) and
rarely make a mistake over many years of operation. Large computer programs consisting
of several million instructions may take teams of programmers years to write, and due to
the complexity of the task almost certainly contain errors.

Errors in computer programs are called "bugs". Bugs may be benign and not affect the
usefulness of the program, or have only subtle effects. But in some cases they may cause
the program to "hang"—become unresponsive to input such as mouse clicks or
keystrokes, or to completely fail or "crash". Otherwise benign bugs may sometimes may
be harnessed for malicious intent by an unscrupulous user writing an "exploit"—code
designed to take advantage of a bug and disrupt a program's proper execution. Bugs are
usually not the fault of the computer. Since computers merely execute the instructions
they are given, bugs are nearly always the result of programmer error or an oversight
made in the program's design.[18]

In most computers, individual instructions are stored as machine code with each
instruction being given a unique number (its operation code or opcode for short). The
command to add two numbers together would have one opcode, the command to multiply
them would have a different opcode and so on. The simplest computers are able to
perform any of a handful of different instructions; the more complex computers have
several hundred to choose from—each with a unique numerical code. Since the
computer's memory is able to store numbers, it can also store the instruction codes. This
leads to the important fact that entire programs (which are just lists of instructions) can be
represented as lists of numbers and can themselves be manipulated inside the computer
just as if they were numeric data. The fundamental concept of storing programs in the
computer's memory alongside the data they operate on is the crux of the von Neumann,
or stored program, architecture. In some cases, a computer might store some or all of its
program in memory that is kept separate from the data it operates on. This is called the
Harvard architecture after the Harvard Mark I computer. Modern von Neumann
computers display some traits of the Harvard architecture in their designs, such as in CPU
caches.

While it is possible to write computer programs as long lists of numbers (machine

language) and this technique was used with many early computers,[19] it is extremely
tedious to do so in practice, especially for complicated programs. Instead, each basic
instruction can be given a short name that is indicative of its function and easy to
remember—a mnemonic such as ADD, SUB, MULT or JUMP. These mnemonics are
collectively known as a computer's assembly language. Converting programs written in
assembly language into something the computer can actually understand (machine
language) is usually done by a computer program called an assembler. Machine
languages and the assembly languages that represent them (collectively termed low-level
programming languages) tend to be unique to a particular type of computer. For instance,
an ARM architecture computer (such as may be found in a PDA or a hand-held
videogame) cannot understand the machine language of an Intel Pentium or the AMD
Athlon 64 computer that might be in a PC.[20]

Though considerably easier than in machine language, writing long programs in assembly
language is often difficult and error prone. Therefore, most complicated programs are
written in more abstract high-level programming languages that are able to express the
needs of the programmer more conveniently (and thereby help reduce programmer error).
High level languages are usually "compiled" into machine language (or sometimes into
assembly language and then into machine language) using another computer program
called a compiler.[21] Since high level languages are more abstract than assembly
language, it is possible to use different compilers to translate the same high level
language program into the machine language of many different types of computer. This is
part of the means by which software like video games may be made available for
different computer architectures such as personal computers and various video game
consoles.

The task of developing large software systems presents a significant intellectual

challenge. Producing software with an acceptably high reliability within a predictable
schedule and budget has historically been difficult; the academic and professional
discipline of software engineering concentrates specifically on this challenge.

Example
A traffic light showing red

Suppose a computer is being employed to drive a traffic light at an intersection between

two streets. The computer has the following three basic instructions.

1. ON(Streetname, Color) Turns the light on Streetname with a specified Color on.
2. OFF(Streetname, Color) Turns the light on Streetname with a specified Color off.
3. WAIT(Seconds) Waits a specifed number of seconds.
4. START Starts the program
5. REPEAT Tells the computer to repeat a specified part of the program in a loop.

Comments are marked with a // on the left margin. Comments in a computer program do
not affect the operation of the program. They are not evaluated by the computer. Assume
the streetnames are Broadway and Main.

START
//Let Broadway traffic go
OFF(Broadway, Red)
ON(Broadway, Green)
WAIT(60 seconds)
//Stop Broadway traffic
OFF(Broadway, Green)
ON(Broadway, Yellow)
WAIT(3 seconds)
OFF(Broadway, Yellow)
ON(Broadway, Red)
//Let Main traffic go
OFF(Main, Red)
ON(Main, Green)
WAIT(60 seconds)
//Stop Main traffic
OFF(Main, Green)
ON(Main, Yellow)
WAIT(3 seconds)
OFF(Main, Yellow)
ON(Main, Red)
//Tell computer to continuously repeat the program.
REPEAT ALL

With this set of instructions, the computer would cycle the light continually through red,
green, yellow and back to red again on both streets.
However, suppose there is a simple on/off switch connected to the computer that is
intended to be used to make the light flash red while some maintenance operation is
being performed. The program might then instruct the computer to:

START
IF Switch == OFF then: //Normal traffic signal operation
{
//Let Broadway traffic go
OFF(Broadway, Red)
ON(Broadway, Green)
WAIT(60 seconds)
//Stop Broadway traffic
OFF(Broadway, Green)
ON(Broadway, Yellow)
WAIT(3 seconds)
OFF(Broadway, Yellow)
ON(Broadway, Red)
//Let Main traffic go
OFF(Main, Red)
ON(Main, Green)
WAIT(60 seconds)
//Stop Main traffic
OFF(Main, Green)
ON(Main, Yellow)
WAIT(3 seconds)
OFF(Main, Yellow)
ON(Main, Red)
//Tell the computer to repeat this section continuously.
REPEAT THIS SECTION
}
IF Switch == ON THEN: //Maintenance Mode
{
//Turn the red lights on and wait 1 second.
ON(Broadway, Red)
ON(Main, Red)
WAIT(1 second)
//Turn the red lights off and wait 1 second.
OFF(Broadway, Red)
OFF(Main, Red)
WAIT(1 second)
//Tell the comptuer to repeat the statements in this section.
REPEAT THIS SECTION
}

In this manner, the traffic signal will run a flash-red program when the switch is on, and
will run the normal program when the switch is off. Both of these program examples
show the basic layout of a computer program in a simple, familiar context of a traffic
signal. Any experienced programmer can spot many software bugs in the program, for
instance, not making sure that the green light is off when the switch is set to flash red.
However, to remove all possible bugs would make this program much longer and more
complicated, and would be confusing to nontechnical readers: the aim of this example is
a simple demonstration of how computer instructions are laid out.
Function
Main articles: Central processing unit and Microprocessor

A general purpose computer has four main components: the arithmetic logic unit (ALU),
the control unit, the memory, and the input and output devices (collectively termed I/O).
These parts are interconnected by busses, often made of groups of wires.

Inside each of these parts are thousands to trillions of small electrical circuits which can
be turned off or on by means of an electronic switch. Each circuit represents a bit (binary
digit) of information so that when the circuit is on it represents a "1", and when off it
represents a "0" (in positive logic representation). The circuits are arranged in logic gates
so that one or more of the circuits may control the state of one or more of the other
circuits.

The control unit, ALU, registers, and basic I/O (and often other hardware closely linked
with these) are collectively known as a central processing unit (CPU). Early CPUs were
composed of many separate components but since the mid-1970s CPUs have typically
been constructed on a single integrated circuit called a microprocessor.

Control unit

Main articles: CPU design and Control unit

Diagram showing how a particular MIPS architecture instruction would be decoded by

the control system.

The control unit (often called a control system or central controller) manages the
computer's various components; it reads and interprets (decodes) the program
instructions, transforming them into a series of control signals which activate other parts
of the computer.[22] Control systems in advanced computers may change the order of
some instructions so as to improve performance.

A key component common to all CPUs is the program counter, a special memory cell (a
register) that keeps track of which location in memory the next instruction is to be read
from.[23]

The control system's function is as follows—note that this is a simplified description, and
some of these steps may be performed concurrently or in a different order depending on
the type of CPU:
 1. Read the code for the next instruction from the cell indicated by the program
counter.
2. Decode the numerical code for the instruction into a set of commands or signals
for each of the other systems.
3. Increment the program counter so it points to the next instruction.
4. Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in memory (or perhaps
from an input device). The location of this required data is typically stored within
the instruction code.
5. Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register.
6. If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to complete, instruct
the hardware to perform the requested operation.
7. Write the result from the ALU back to a memory location or to a register or
perhaps an output device.
8. Jump back to step (1).

Since the program counter is (conceptually) just another set of memory cells, it can be
changed by calculations done in the ALU. Adding 100 to the program counter would
cause the next instruction to be read from a place 100 locations further down the
program. Instructions that modify the program counter are often known as "jumps" and
allow for loops (instructions that are repeated by the computer) and often conditional
instruction execution (both examples of control flow).

It is noticeable that the sequence of operations that the control unit goes through to
process an instruction is in itself like a short computer program—and indeed, in some
more complex CPU designs, there is another yet smaller computer called a
microsequencer that runs a microcode program that causes all of these events to happen.

Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)

Main article: Arithmetic logic unit

The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: arithmetic and logic.[24]

The set of arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to adding
and subtracting or might include multiplying or dividing, trigonometry functions (sine,
cosine, etc) and square roots. Some can only operate on whole numbers (integers) whilst
others use floating point to represent real numbers—albeit with limited precision.
However, any computer that is capable of performing just the simplest operations can be
programmed to break down the more complex operations into simple steps that it can
perform. Therefore, any computer can be programmed to perform any arithmetic
operation—although it will take more time to do so if its ALU does not directly support
the operation. An ALU may also compare numbers and return boolean truth values (true
or false) depending on whether one is equal to, greater than or less than the other ("is 64
greater than 65?").
Logic operations involve Boolean logic: AND, OR, XOR and NOT. These can be useful
both for creating complicated conditional statements and processing boolean logic.

Superscalar computers may contain multiple ALUs so that they can process several
instructions at the same time.[25] Graphics processors and computers with SIMD and
MIMD features often provide ALUs that can perform arithmetic on vectors and matrices.

Memory

Main article: Computer data storage

Magnetic core memory was the computer memory of choice throughout the 1960s, until
it was replaced by semiconductor memory.

A computer's memory can be viewed as a list of cells into which numbers can be placed
or read. Each cell has a numbered "address" and can store a single number. The computer
can be instructed to "put the number 123 into the cell numbered 1357" or to "add the
number that is in cell 1357 to the number that is in cell 2468 and put the answer into cell
1595". The information stored in memory may represent practically anything. Letters,
numbers, even computer instructions can be placed into memory with equal ease. Since
the CPU does not differentiate between different types of information, it is the software's
responsibility to give significance to what the memory sees as nothing but a series of
numbers.

In almost all modern computers, each memory cell is set up to store binary numbers in
groups of eight bits (called a byte). Each byte is able to represent 256 different numbers
(2^8 = 256); either from 0 to 255 or -128 to +127. To store larger numbers, several
consecutive bytes may be used (typically, two, four or eight). When negative numbers are
required, they are usually stored in two's complement notation. Other arrangements are
possible, but are usually not seen outside of specialized applications or historical
contexts. A computer can store any kind of information in memory if it can be
represented numerically. Modern computers have billions or even trillions of bytes of
memory.

The CPU contains a special set of memory cells called registers that can be read and
written to much more rapidly than the main memory area. There are typically between
two and one hundred registers depending on the type of CPU. Registers are used for the
most frequently needed data items to avoid having to access main memory every time
data is needed. As data is constantly being worked on, reducing the need to access main
memory (which is often slow compared to the ALU and control units) greatly increases
the computer's speed.

Computer main memory comes in two principal varieties: random-access memory or

RAM and read-only memory or ROM. RAM can be read and written to anytime the CPU
commands it, but ROM is pre-loaded with data and software that never changes, so the
CPU can only read from it. ROM is typically used to store the computer's initial start-up
instructions. In general, the contents of RAM are erased when the power to the computer
is turned off, but ROM retains its data indefinitely. In a PC, the ROM contains a
specialized program called the BIOS that orchestrates loading the computer's operating
system from the hard disk drive into RAM whenever the computer is turned on or reset.
In embedded computers, which frequently do not have disk drives, all of the required
software may be stored in ROM. Software stored in ROM is often called firmware,
because it is notionally more like hardware than software. Flash memory blurs the
distinction between ROM and RAM, as it retains its data when turned off but is also
rewritable. It is typically much slower than conventional ROM and RAM however, so its
use is restricted to applications where high speed is unnecessary.[26]

In more sophisticated computers there may be one or more RAM cache memories which
are slower than registers but faster than main memory. Generally computers with this sort
of cache are designed to move frequently needed data into the cache automatically, often
without the need for any intervention on the programmer's part.

Input/output (I/O)

Main article: Input/output

Hard disk drives are common I/O devices used with computers.

I/O is the means by which a computer exchanges information with the outside world.[27]
Devices that provide input or output to the computer are called peripherals.[28] On a
typical personal computer, peripherals include input devices like the keyboard and
mouse, and output devices such as the display and printer. Hard disk drives, floppy disk
drives and optical disc drives serve as both input and output devices. Computer
networking is another form of I/O.

Often, I/O devices are complex computers in their own right with their own CPU and
memory. A graphics processing unit might contain fifty or more tiny computers that
perform the calculations necessary to display 3D graphics[citation needed]. Modern desktop
computers contain many smaller computers that assist the main CPU in performing I/O.
Multitasking

Main article: Computer multitasking

While a computer may be viewed as running one gigantic program stored in its main
memory, in some systems it is necessary to give the appearance of running several
programs simultaneously. This is achieved by multitasking i.e. having the computer
switch rapidly between running each program in turn.[29]

One means by which this is done is with a special signal called an interrupt which can
periodically cause the computer to stop executing instructions where it was and do
something else instead. By remembering where it was executing prior to the interrupt, the
computer can return to that task later. If several programs are running "at the same time",
then the interrupt generator might be causing several hundred interrupts per second,
causing a program switch each time. Since modern computers typically execute
instructions several orders of magnitude faster than human perception, it may appear that
many programs are running at the same time even though only one is ever executing in
any given instant. This method of multitasking is sometimes termed "time-sharing" since
each program is allocated a "slice" of time in turn.[30]

Before the era of cheap computers, the principle use for multitasking was to allow many
people to share the same computer.

Seemingly, multitasking would cause a computer that is switching between several

programs to run more slowly — in direct proportion to the number of programs it is
running. However, most programs spend much of their time waiting for slow input/output
devices to complete their tasks. If a program is waiting for the user to click on the mouse
or press a key on the keyboard, then it will not take a "time slice" until the event it is
waiting for has occurred. This frees up time for other programs to execute so that many
programs may be run at the same time without unacceptable speed loss.

Multiprocessing

Main article: Multiprocessing

Cray designed many supercomputers that used multiprocessing heavily.

Some computers are designed to distribute their work across several CPUs in a
multiprocessing configuration, a technique once employed only in large and powerful
machines such as supercomputers, mainframe computers and servers. Multiprocessor and
multi-core (multiple CPUs on a single integrated circuit) personal and laptop computers
are now widely available, and are being increasingly used in lower-end markets as a
result.

Supercomputers in particular often have highly unique architectures that differ

significantly from the basic stored-program architecture and from general purpose
computers.[31] They often feature thousands of CPUs, customized high-speed
interconnects, and specialized computing hardware. Such designs tend to be useful only
for specialized tasks due to the large scale of program organization required to
successfully utilize most of the available resources at once. Supercomputers usually see
usage in large-scale simulation, graphics rendering, and cryptography applications, as
well as with other so-called "embarrassingly parallel" tasks.

Networking and the Internet

Main articles: Computer networking and Internet

Visualization of a portion of the routes on the Internet.

Computers have been used to coordinate information between multiple locations since
the 1950s. The U.S. military's SAGE system was the first large-scale example of such a
system, which led to a number of special-purpose commercial systems like Sabre.[32]

In the 1970s, computer engineers at research institutions throughout the United States
began to link their computers together using telecommunications technology. This effort
was funded by ARPA (now DARPA), and the computer network that it produced was
called the ARPANET.[33] The technologies that made the Arpanet possible spread and
evolved.

In time, the network spread beyond academic and military institutions and became known
as the Internet. The emergence of networking involved a redefinition of the nature and
boundaries of the computer. Computer operating systems and applications were modified
to include the ability to define and access the resources of other computers on the
network, such as peripheral devices, stored information, and the like, as extensions of the
resources of an individual computer. Initially these facilities were available primarily to
people working in high-tech environments, but in the 1990s the spread of applications
like e-mail and the World Wide Web, combined with the development of cheap, fast
networking technologies like Ethernet and ADSL saw computer networking become
almost ubiquitous. In fact, the number of computers that are networked is growing
phenomenally. A very large proportion of personal computers regularly connect to the
Internet to communicate and receive information. "Wireless" networking, often utilizing
mobile phone networks, has meant networking is becoming increasingly ubiquitous even
in mobile computing environments.

Further topics
Hardware

Main article: Personal computer hardware

The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects.
Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and mice are all hardware.

History of computing hardware

First Generation
(Mechanical/Electromechanical)
Second Generation (Vacuum
Tubes)
Third Generation (Discrete
transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI
Integrated circuits)
Fourth Generation (VLSI integrated Minicomputer
circuits)
Antikythera mechanism,
Calculators Difference engine, Norden
bombsight
Jacquard loom, Analytical
Programmable Devices
engine, Harvard Mark I, Z3
Atanasoff–Berry Computer,
Calculators IBM 604, UNIVAC 60,
UNIVAC 120
Colossus, ENIAC,
Manchester Small-Scale
Experimental Machine,
EDSAC, Manchester Mark
Programmable Devices 1, Ferranti Pegasus, Ferranti
Mercury, CSIRAC,
EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM
701, IBM 702, IBM 650,
Z22
IBM 7090, IBM 7080, IBM
Mainframes
System/360, BUNCH
PDP-8, PDP-11, IBM
Minicomputer
System/32, IBM System/36
VAX, IBM System i
4-bit microcomputer Intel 4004, Intel 4040
8-bit microcomputer Intel 8008, Intel 8080,
 Motorola 6800, Motorola
6809, MOS Technology
6502, Zilog Z80
Intel 8088, Zilog Z8000,
16-bit microcomputer
WDC 65816/65802
Intel 80386, Pentium,
32-bit microcomputer Motorola 68000, ARM
architecture
Alpha, MIPS, PA-RISC,
64-bit microcomputer[34]
PowerPC, SPARC, x86-64
Embedded computer Intel 8048, Intel 8051
Desktop computer, Home
computer, Laptop
computer, Personal digital
Personal computer
assistant (PDA), Portable
computer, Tablet PC,
Wearable computer
Quantum computer,
Chemical computer,
DNA computing,
Theoretical/experimental
Optical computer,
Spintronics based
computer
Other Hardware Topics
Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick, Image scanner,
Input
Webcam, Graphics tablet, Microphone
Peripheral device
Output Monitor, Printer, Loudspeaker
(Input/output)
Floppy disk drive, Hard disk drive, Optical
Both
disc drive, Teleprinter
Short range RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB
Computer busses Long range (Computer
Ethernet, ATM, FDDI
networking)

Software

Main article: Computer software

Software refers to parts of the computer which do not have a material form, such as
programs, data, protocols, etc. When software is stored in hardware that cannot easily be
modified (such as BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible), it is sometimes called
"firmware" to indicate that it falls into an uncertain area somewhere between hardware
and software.
 Computer software
UNIX System V, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS),
Unix and BSD
IRIX, List of BSD operating systems
List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux
GNU/Linux
distributions
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows
Operating Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows CE
system
DOS 86-DOS (QDOS), PC-DOS, MS-DOS, FreeDOS
Mac OS Mac OS classic, Mac OS X
Embedded and
List of embedded operating systems
real-time
Experimental Amoeba, Oberon/Bluebottle, Plan 9 from Bell Labs
Multimedia DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL
Library Programming
C standard library, Standard Template Library
library
Protocol TCP/IP, Kermit, FTP, HTTP, SMTP
Data
File format HTML, XML, JPEG, MPEG, PNG
Graphical user Microsoft Windows, GNOME, KDE, QNX Photon,
User interface (WIMP) CDE, GEM
interface Text-based user
Command-line interface, Text user interface
interface
Application Word processing, Desktop publishing, Presentation
Office suite program, Database management system, Scheduling &
Time management, Spreadsheet, Accounting software
Browser, E-mail client, Web server, Mail transfer agent,
Internet Access
Instant messaging
Computer-aided design, Computer-aided manufacturing,
Design and
Plant management, Robotic manufacturing, Supply
manufacturing
chain management
Raster graphics editor, Vector graphics editor, 3D
Graphics modeler, Animation editor, 3D computer graphics,
Video editing, Image processing
Digital audio editor, Audio playback, Mixing, Audio
Audio
synthesis, Computer music
Compiler, Assembler, Interpreter, Debugger, Text editor,
Software Integrated development environment, Software
engineering performance analysis, Revision control, Software
configuration management
Edutainment, Educational game, Serious game, Flight
Educational
simulator
Games Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Simulation, First-person
shooter, Platform, Massively multiplayer, Interactive
fiction
 Artificial intelligence, Antivirus software, Malware
Misc scanner, Installer/Package management systems, File
manager

Programming languages

Programming languages provide various ways of specifying programs for computers to

run. Unlike natural languages, programming languages are designed to permit no
ambiguity and to be concise. They are purely written languages and are often difficult to
read aloud. They are generally either translated into machine code by a compiler or an
assembler before being run, or translated directly at run time by an interpreter.
Sometimes programs are executed by a hybrid method of the two techniques. There are
thousands of different programming languages—some intended to be general purpose,
others useful only for highly specialized applications.

Programming languages
Timeline of programming languages, List of programming
Lists of programming languages by category, Generational list of programming
languages languages, List of programming languages, Non-English-based
programming languages
Commonly used
ARM, MIPS, x86
Assembly languages
Commonly used high-
Ada, BASIC, C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, Java, Lisp, Pascal,
level programming
Object Pascal
languages
Commonly used
Bourne script, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl
Scripting languages

Professions and organizations

As the use of computers has spread throughout society, there are an increasing number of
careers involving computers.

Computer-related professions
Hardware- Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Computer engineering,
related Telecommunications engineering, Optical engineering, Nanoengineering
Computer science, Desktop publishing, Human–computer interaction,
Software-
Information technology, Computational science, Software engineering,
related
Video game industry, Web design

The need for computers to work well together and to be able to exchange information has
spawned the need for many standards organizations, clubs and societies of both a formal
and informal nature.

Organizations
Standards groups ANSI, IEC, IEEE, IETF, ISO, W3C
Professional Societies ACM, ACM Special Interest Groups, IET, IFIP, BCS
Free/Open source software Free Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Apache
groups Software Foundation

See also
Information technology portal

• Computability theory (computer science)

• Computer generated holography
• Computer security and Computer insecurity
• Electronic waste
• List of computer term etymologies
• List of fictional computers
• Living computers theory
• Pulse computer
• The Secret Guide to Computers (book)
• Platform virtualization

Notes
1. ^ In 1946, ENIAC required an estimated 174 kW. By comparison, a modern
laptop computer may use around 30 W; nearly six thousand times less.
"Approximate Desktop & Notebook Power Usage". University of Pennsylvania.
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provider/docs/hardware/powerusage.html.
Retrieved 2009-06-20.
2. ^ Early computers such as Colossus and ENIAC were able to process between 5
and 100 operations per second. A modern "commodity" microprocessor (as of
2007) can process billions of operations per second, and many of these operations
are more complicated and useful than early computer operations. "Intel® Core™2
Duo Mobile Processor: Features". Intel Corporation.
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-
na/eng/products/mobile/processors/core2duo_m/feature/index.htm. Retrieved
2009-06-20.
3. ^ computer, n., Oxford English Dictionary (2 ed.), Oxford University Press, 1989,
http://dictionary.oed.com/, retrieved 2009-04-10
4. ^ "Heron of Alexandria".
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeronAlexandria2.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
5. ^ a b Ancient Discoveries, Episode 11: Ancient Robots, History Channel,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8, retrieved 2008-09-06
6. ^ Howard R. Turner (1997), Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated
Introduction, p. 184, University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-78149-0
7. ^ Donald Routledge Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East",
Scientific American, May 1991, pp. 64-9 (cf. Donald Routledge Hill, Mechanical
Engineering)
8. ^ The analytical engine should not be confused with Babbage's difference engine
which was a non-programmable mechanical calculator.
9. ^ Columbia University Computing History: Herman Hollerith
10. ^ "Alan Turing - Time 100 People of the Century". Time.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/turing.html. Retrieved 2009-
06-13. "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a
spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a
Turing machine"
11. ^ Spiegel: The inventor of the computer's biography was published
12. ^ "Inventor Profile: George R. Stibitz". National Inventors Hall of Fame
Foundation, Inc.. http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/140.html.
13. ^ Rojas, R. (1998). "How to make Zuse's Z3 a universal computer". IEEE Annals
of the History of Computing 20 (3): 51–54. doi:10.1109/85.707574.
14. ^ B. Jack Copeland, ed., Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Codebreaking
Computers, Oxford University Press, 2006
15. ^ Lavington 1998, p. 37
16. ^ This program was written similarly to those for the PDP-11 minicomputer and
shows some typical things a computer can do. All the text after the semicolons are
comments for the benefit of human readers. These have no significance to the
computer and are ignored. (Digital Equipment Corporation 1972)
17. ^ Attempts are often made to create programs that can overcome this fundamental
limitation of computers. Software that mimics learning and adaptation is part of
artificial intelligence.
18. ^ It is not universally true that bugs are solely due to programmer oversight.
Computer hardware may fail or may itself have a fundamental problem that
produces unexpected results in certain situations. For instance, the Pentium FDIV
bug caused some Intel microprocessors in the early 1990s to produce inaccurate
results for certain floating point division operations. This was caused by a flaw in
the microprocessor design and resulted in a partial recall of the affected devices.
19. ^ Even some later computers were commonly programmed directly in machine
code. Some minicomputers like the DEC PDP-8 could be programmed directly
from a panel of switches. However, this method was usually used only as part of
the booting process. Most modern computers boot entirely automatically by
reading a boot program from some non-volatile memory.
20. ^ However, there is sometimes some form of machine language compatibility
between different computers. An x86-64 compatible microprocessor like the
AMD Athlon 64 is able to run most of the same programs that an Intel Core 2
microprocessor can, as well as programs designed for earlier microprocessors like
the Intel Pentiums and Intel 80486. This contrasts with very early commercial
computers, which were often one-of-a-kind and totally incompatible with other
computers.
 21. ^ High level languages are also often interpreted rather than compiled. Interpreted
languages are translated into machine code on the fly by another program called
an interpreter.
22. ^ The control unit's role in interpreting instructions has varied somewhat in the
past. Although the control unit is solely responsible for instruction interpretation
in most modern computers, this is not always the case. Many computers include
some instructions that may only be partially interpreted by the control system and
partially interpreted by another device. This is especially the case with specialized
computing hardware that may be partially self-contained. For example, EDVAC,
one of the earliest stored-program computers, used a central control unit that only
interpreted four instructions. All of the arithmetic-related instructions were passed
on to its arithmetic unit and further decoded there.
23. ^ Instructions often occupy more than one memory address, so the program
counters usually increases by the number of memory locations required to store
one instruction.
24. ^ David J. Eck (2000). The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and
Computing. A K Peters, Ltd.. p. 54. ISBN 9781568811284.
25. ^ Erricos John Kontoghiorghes (2006). Handbook of Parallel Computing and
Statistics. CRC Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780824740672.
26. ^ Flash memory also may only be rewritten a limited number of times before
wearing out, making it less useful for heavy random access usage. (Verma 1988)
27. ^ Donald Eadie (1968). Introduction to the Basic Computer. Prentice-Hall. p. 12.
28. ^ Arpad Barna; Dan I. Porat (1976). Introduction to Microcomputers and the
Microprocessors. Wiley. p. 85. ISBN 9780471050513.
29. ^ Jerry Peek; Grace Todino, John Strang (2002). Learning the UNIX Operating
System: A Concise Guide for the New User. O'Reilly. p. 130. ISBN
9780596002619.
30. ^ Gillian M. Davis (2002). Noise Reduction in Speech Applications. CRC Press.
p. 111. ISBN 9780849309496.
31. ^ However, it is also very common to construct supercomputers out of many
pieces of cheap commodity hardware; usually individual computers connected by
networks. These so-called computer clusters can often provide supercomputer
performance at a much lower cost than customized designs. While custom
architectures are still used for most of the most powerful supercomputers, there
has been a proliferation of cluster computers in recent years. (TOP500 2006)
32. ^ Agatha C. Hughes (2000). Systems, Experts, and Computers. MIT Press. p. 161.
ISBN 9780262082853. "The experience of SAGE helped make possible the first
truly large-scale commercial real-time network: the SABRE computerized airline
reservations system..."
33. ^ "A Brief History of the Internet". Internet Society.
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
34. ^ Most major 64-bit instruction set architectures are extensions of earlier designs.
All of the architectures listed in this table, except for Alpha, existed in 32-bit
forms before their 64-bit incarnations were introduced.

References
 a
• Kempf, Karl (1961). Historical Monograph: Electronic Computers Within the
Ordnance Corps. Aberdeen Proving Ground (United States Army). http://ed-
thelen.org/comp-hist/U-S-Ord-61.html.
a
• Phillips, Tony (2000). "The Antikythera Mechanism I". American Mathematical
Society. http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/whatsnew/column/antikytheraI-
0400/kyth1.html. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
a
• Shannon, Claude Elwood (1940). A symbolic analysis of relay and switching
circuits. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11173.
a
• Digital Equipment Corporation (1972) (PDF). PDP-11/40 Processor Handbook.
Maynard, MA: Digital Equipment Corporation.
http://bitsavers.vt100.net/dec/www.computer.museum.uq.edu.au_mirror/D-09-
30_PDP11-40_Processor_Handbook.pdf.
a
• Verma, G.; Mielke, N. (1988). Reliability performance of ETOX based flash
memories. IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium.
a
• Meuer, Hans; Strohmaier, Erich; Simon, Horst; Dongarra, Jack (2006-11-13).
"Architectures Share Over Time". TOP500.
http://www.top500.org/lists/2006/11/overtime/Architectures. Retrieved 2006-11-
27.
• Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2 ed.), Swindon:
The British Computer Society, ISBN 0902505018
• Stokes, Jon (2007). Inside the Machine: An Illustrated Introduction to
Microprocessors and Computer Architecture. San Francisco: No Starch Press.
ISBN 978-1-59327-104-6.

Development of Computers
Although the development of digital computers is rooted in the abacus and early
mechanical calculating devices, Charles Babbage is credited with the design of the first
modern computer, the “analytical engine,” during the 1830s. American scientist
Vannevar Bush built a mechanically operated device, called a differential analyzer, in
1930; it was the first general-purpose analog computer. John Atanassoff constructed the
first semielectronic digital computing device in 1939.

The first fully automatic calculator was the Mark I, or Automatic Sequence Controlled
Calculator, begun in 1939 at Harvard by Howard Aiken, while the first all-purpose
electronic digital computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator),
which used thousands of vacuum tubes, was completed in 1946 at the Univ. of
Pennsylvania. UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) became (1951) the first
computer to handle both numeric and alphabetic data with equal facility; this was the first
commercially available computer.

First-generation computers were supplanted by the transistorized computers (see

transistor) of the late 1950s and early 60s, second-generation machines that were smaller,
used less power, and could perform a million operations per second. They, in turn, were
replaced by the third-generation integrated-circuit machines of the mid-1960s and 1970s
that were even smaller and were far more reliable. The 1980s and 90s were characterized
by the development of the microprocessor and the evolution of increasingly smaller but
powerful computers, such as the personal computer and personal digital assistant, which
ushered in a period of rapid growth in the computer industry.

he Development Of The Computer

The ideas and inventions of many engineers, mathematicians and

scientists led to the development of the computer.

The first computer was developed in 1642 and consisted of gears

and wheels. The first wheel would count from 1 to 9, the second
wheel would count from 10 to 99, the third wheel would count from
100 to 999, etc. The only problem with the first computer, was that
it could only add and subtract. It’s inventor was a French
Mathermation and Scientist by the name of Blaise Pascal.

In 1670, the German mathematician, Liebniz improved Blaise’s

invention so that it could multiply and divide as well. Liebniz also
found a system of counting other than decimal, called binary which
made the machine easier to use.
George Boole, in the 1800's, perfected binary mathematics and
could logically work out complex binary calculations in his head
which helped greatly to move the computer industry.

The French textile weaver, Joseph Jacquard, made his contribution

to the computer in 1801 with the loom. The loom was a machine that
used punched cards to weave patterns. Holes would be punched in
patterns on cards and then placed between the rising needle and
thread creating the pattern punched. By changing cards and
alternating patterns, Jacquard could create complex woven
patterns.

Charles Babbage was inspired by these punched hole cards and

during the 1830's developed the idea of a mechanical computer. He
worked on this idea for 40 years but, unfortunately, he did not have
the technology to provide for the precision parts needed to build
this computer.

Hollerith, an American inventor, invented a punched hole computer

called a Tabulator in 1888. His machine used electrically charged
nails that, when passed through a hole punched in a card, created a
circuit. The circuit would then register on another part where it
was read and recorded. He founded the Tabulating Machine
Company in 1896.

Over the next few years, Hollerith continued to improve the

machine. He then sold his shares in 1911 and the name was changed
to The Computing Tabulating Recording Company. Then in 1924, the
name was changed to International Business Machines Corporations
or IBM.

An American electrical engineer started work to develop a computer

that would help scientists do long and complex calculations.
Vannevar Bush built a differential analyser to solve equations like
quantities of weight, voltage or speed. These computers became
known as analog computers. These analog computers are not as
accurate as normal computers. Examples are thermometers,
thermostats, speedometers, simulators etc.

Scientists saw greater potential in computer electronics. John

Atanasoff built the first special purpose analog computer in 1939.
This was inpoved in 1944 by using switching devices called
electromechanical relays. In 1946, the ENIAC (Electronic
Numerical Integrator And Computer) computer was developed.
Instead of electromechanical relays, it used 18000 electric valves.
This computer weighed more then 27 metric tons, occupied more
then 140 square metres of floor space and used 150 kilowatts of
power during operation. It was able to do 5000 addition and 1000
multiplications per second. The only problem was that it took very
long to program the computer to do the calculations as it could not
store the information.

Stored programming techniques was worked on by an American team

who developed the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic
Computer) in 1951. At the same time, two of the team members
worked on a more advanced computer that could use both numbers
and the alphabet. This was called the UNIVAC 1 (UNIVersal
Automatic Computer) and was the first computer available to be
sold to people and businesses.

The invention of the transistor in 1947, meant that computers could

be faster and more reliable. The first fully transistorized computer
was introduced in 1958 by Control Data Corporation followed by
IBM in 1959.

Technology advancements in the 1960's saw the creation of the

integrated circuit which contained thousands of transistors and
other parts on a silicon chip. This meant that computers could
become smaller. During the early 1970's, many different kinds of
circuits were available some of which could even hold memory as
well as computer logic. This resulted in smaller computers becoming
available and the central chip that controlled the computer became
known as the microprocessor.

Today, the technology has become so good that it is possible to hold

a computer in the palm of your hand.
Computers: History and Development
Nothing epitomizes modern life better than the computer. For better or
worse, computers have infiltrated every aspect of our society.
Today computers do much more than simply compute:
supermarket scanners calculate our grocery bill while keeping
store inventory; computerized telephone switching centers play
traffic cop to millions of calls and keep lines of communication
untangled; and automatic teller machines let us conduct banking
transactions from virtually anywhere in the world. But where
did all this technology come from and where is it heading? To
fully understand and appreciate the impact computers have on
our lives and promises they hold for the future, it is important to
understand their evolution.

Early Computing Machines and Inventors

The abacus, which emerged about 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor and is still in use today,
may be considered the first computer. This device allows users to make computations
using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack. Early merchants used the abacus to
keep trading transactions. But as the use of paper and pencil spread, particularly in
Europe, the abacus lost its importance. It took nearly 12 centuries, however, for the next
significant advance in computing devices to emerge. In 1642, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662),
the 18-year-old son of a French tax collector, invented what he called a numerical wheel
calculator to help his father with his duties. This brass rectangular box, also called a
Pascaline, used eight movable dials to add sums up to eight figures long. Pascal's device
used a base of ten to accomplish this. For example, as one dial moved ten notches, or one
complete revolution, it moved the next dial - which represented the ten's column - one
place. When the ten's dial moved one revolution, the dial representing the hundred's place
moved one notch and so on. The drawback to the Pascaline, of course, was its limitation
to addition.

In 1694, a German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz (1646-
1716), improved the Pascaline by creating a machine that could also multiply. Like its
predecessor, Leibniz's mechanical multiplier worked by a system of gears and dials.
Partly by studying Pascal's original notes and drawings, Leibniz was able to refine his
machine. The centerpiece of the machine was its stepped-drum gear design, which
offered an elongated version of the simple flat gear. It wasn't until 1820, however, that
mechanical calculators gained widespread use. Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar, a
Frenchman, invented a machine that could perform the four basic arithmetic functions.
Colmar's mechanical calculator, the arithometer, presented a more practical approach to
computing because it could add, subtract, multiply and divide. With its enhanced
versatility, the arithometer was widely used up until the First World War. Although later
inventors refined Colmar's calculator, together with fellow inventors Pascal and Leibniz,
he helped define the age of mechanical computation.

The real beginnings of computers as we know them today, however, lay with an English
mathematics professor, Charles Babbage (1791-1871). Frustrated at the many errors he
found while examining calculations for the Royal Astronomical Society, Babbage
declared, "I wish to God these calculations had been performed by steam!" With those
words, the automation of computers had begun. By 1812, Babbage noticed a natural
harmony between machines and mathematics: machines were best at performing tasks
repeatedly without mistake; while mathematics, particularly the production of
mathematic tables, often required the simple repetition of steps. The problem centered on
applying the ability of machines to the needs of mathematics. Babbage's first attempt at
solving this problem was in 1822 when he proposed a machine to perform differential
equations, called a Difference Engine. Powered by steam and large as a locomotive, the
machine would have a stored program and could perform calculations and print the
results automatically. After working on the Difference Engine for 10 years, Babbage was
suddenly inspired to begin work on the first general-purpose computer, which he called
the Analytical Engine. Babbage's assistant, Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace
(1815-1842) and daughter of English poet Lord Byron, was instrumental in the machine's
design. One of the few people who understood the Engine's design as well as Babbage,
she helped revise plans, secure funding from the British government, and communicate
the specifics of the Analytical Engine to the public. Also, Lady Lovelace's fine
understanding of the machine allowed her to create the instruction routines to be fed into
the computer, making her the first female computer programmer. In the 1980's, the U.S.
Defense Department named a programming language ADA in her honor.

Babbage's steam-powered Engine, although ultimately never constructed, may seem

primitive by today's standards. However, it outlined the basic elements of a modern
general purpose computer and was a breakthrough concept. Consisting of over 50,000
components, the basic design of the Analytical Engine included input devices in the form
of perforated cards containing operating instructions and a "store" for memory of 1,000
numbers of up to 50 decimal digits long. It also contained a "mill" with a control unit that
allowed processing instructions in any sequence, and output devices to produce printed
results. Babbage borrowed the idea of punch cards to encode the machine's instructions
from the Jacquard loom. The loom, produced in 1820 and named after its inventor,
Joseph-Marie Jacquard, used punched boards that controlled the patterns to be woven.

In 1889, an American inventor, Herman Hollerith (1860-1929), also applied the Jacquard
loom concept to computing. His first task was to find a faster way to compute the U.S.
census. The previous census in 1880 had taken nearly seven years to count and with an
expanding population, the bureau feared it would take 10 years to count the latest census.
Unlike Babbage's idea of using perforated cards to instruct the machine, Hollerith's
method used cards to store data information which he fed into a machine that compiled
the results mechanically. Each punch on a card represented one number, and
combinations of two punches represented one letter. As many as 80 variables could be
stored on a single card. Instead of ten years, census takers compiled their results in just
six weeks with Hollerith's machine. In addition to their speed, the punch cards served as a
storage method for data and they helped reduce computational errors. Hollerith brought
his punch card reader into the business world, founding Tabulating Machine Company in
1896, later to become International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924 after a series of
mergers. Other companies such as Remington Rand and Burroughs also manufactured
punch readers for business use. Both business and government used punch cards for data
processing until the 1960's.

In the ensuing years, several engineers made other significant advances. Vannevar Bush
(1890-1974) developed a calculator for solving differential equations in 1931. The
machine could solve complex differential equations that had long left scientists and
mathematicians baffled. The machine was cumbersome because hundreds of gears and
shafts were required to represent numbers and their various relationships to each other.
To eliminate this bulkiness, John V. Atanasoff (b. 1903), a professor at Iowa State
College (now called Iowa State University) and his graduate student, Clifford Berry,
envisioned an all-electronic computer that applied Boolean algebra to computer circuitry.
This approach was based on the mid-19th century work of George Boole (1815-1864)
who clarified the binary system of algebra, which stated that any mathematical equations
could be stated simply as either true or false. By extending this concept to electronic
circuits in the form of on or off, Atanasoff and Berry had developed the first all-
electronic computer by 1940. Their project, however, lost its funding and their work was
overshadowed by similar developments by other scientists.

Five Generations of Modern Computers

First Generation (1945-1956)

With the onset of the Second World War, governments sought to develop computers to
exploit their potential strategic importance. This increased funding for computer
development projects hastened technical progress. By 1941 German engineer Konrad
Zuse had developed a computer, the Z3, to design airplanes and missiles. The Allied
forces, however, made greater strides in developing powerful computers. In 1943, the
British completed a secret code-breaking computer called Colossus to decode German
messages. The Colossus's impact on the development of the computer industry was rather
limited for two important reasons. First, Colossus was not a general-purpose computer; it
was only designed to decode secret messages. Second, the existence of the machine was
kept secret until decades after the war.

American efforts produced a broader achievement. Howard H. Aiken (1900-1973), a

Harvard engineer working with IBM, succeeded in producing an all-electronic calculator
by 1944. The purpose of the computer was to create ballistic charts for the U.S. Navy. It
was about half as long as a football field and contained about 500 miles of wiring. The
Harvard-IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or Mark I for short, was a
electronic relay computer. It used electromagnetic signals to move mechanical parts. The
machine was slow (taking 3-5 seconds per calculation) and inflexible (in that sequences
of calculations could not change); but it could perform basic arithmetic as well as more
complex equations.

Another computer development spurred by the war was the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), produced by a partnership between the U.S.
government and the University of Pennsylvania. Consisting of 18,000 vacuum tubes,
70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints, the computer was such a massive piece of
machinery that it consumed 160 kilowatts of electrical power, enough energy to dim the
lights in an entire section of Philadelphia. Developed by John Presper Eckert (1919-1995)
and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980), ENIAC, unlike the Colossus and Mark I, was a
general-purpose computer that computed at speeds 1,000 times faster than Mark I.

In the mid-1940's John von Neumann (1903-1957) joined the University of Pennsylvania
team, initiating concepts in computer design that remained central to computer
engineering for the next 40 years. Von Neumann designed the Electronic Discrete
Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC) in 1945 with a memory to hold both a stored
program as well as data. This "stored memory" technique as well as the "conditional
control transfer," that allowed the computer to be stopped at any point and then resumed,
allowed for greater versatility in computer programming. The key element to the von
Neumann architecture was the central processing unit, which allowed all computer
functions to be coordinated through a single source. In 1951, the UNIVAC I (Universal
Automatic Computer), built by Remington Rand, became one of the first commercially
available computers to take advantage of these advances. Both the U.S. Census Bureau
and General Electric owned UNIVACs. One of UNIVAC's impressive early
achievements was predicting the winner of the 1952 presidential election, Dwight D.
Eisenhower.

First generation computers were characterized by the fact that operating instructions were
made-to-order for the specific task for which the computer was to be used. Each
computer had a different binary-coded program called a machine language that told it
how to operate. This made the computer difficult to program and limited its versatility
and speed. Other distinctive features of first generation computers were the use of
vacuum tubes (responsible for their breathtaking size) and magnetic drums for data
storage.

Second Generation Computers (1956-1963)

By 1948, the invention of the transistor greatly changed the computer's development. The
transistor replaced the large, cumbersome vacuum tube in televisions, radios and
computers. As a result, the size of electronic machinery has been shrinking ever since.
The transistor was at work in the computer by 1956. Coupled with early advances in
magnetic-core memory, transistors led to second generation computers that were smaller,
faster, more reliable and more energy-efficient than their predecessors. The first large-
scale machines to take advantage of this transistor technology were early supercomputers,
Stretch by IBM and LARC by Sperry-Rand. These computers, both developed for atomic
energy laboratories, could handle an enormous amount of data, a capability much in
demand by atomic scientists. The machines were costly, however, and tended to be too
powerful for the business sector's computing needs, thereby limiting their attractiveness.
Only two LARCs were ever installed: one in the Lawrence Radiation Labs in Livermore,
California, for which the computer was named (Livermore Atomic Research Computer)
and the other at the U.S. Navy Research and Development Center in Washington, D.C.
Second generation computers replaced machine language with assembly language,
allowing abbreviated programming codes to replace long, difficult binary codes.

Throughout the early 1960's, there were a number of commercially successful second
generation computers used in business, universities, and government from companies
such as Burroughs, Control Data, Honeywell, IBM, Sperry-Rand, and others. These
second generation computers were also of solid state design, and contained transistors in
place of vacuum tubes. They also contained all the components we associate with the
modern day computer: printers, tape storage, disk storage, memory, operating systems,
and stored programs. One important example was the IBM 1401, which was universally
accepted throughout industry, and is considered by many to be the Model T of the
computer industry. By 1965, most large business routinely processed financial
information using second generation computers.

It was the stored program and programming language that gave computers the flexibility
to finally be cost effective and productive for business use. The stored program concept
meant that instructions to run a computer for a specific function (known as a program)
were held inside the computer's memory, and could quickly be replaced by a different set
of instructions for a different function. A computer could print customer invoices and
minutes later design products or calculate paychecks. More sophisticated high-level
languages such as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) and FORTRAN
(Formula Translator) came into common use during this time, and have expanded to the
current day. These languages replaced cryptic binary machine code with words,
sentences, and mathematical formulas, making it much easier to program a computer.
New types of careers (programmer, analyst, and computer systems expert) and the entire
software industry began with second generation computers.

Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)

Though transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube, they still
generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the computer's sensitive internal parts. The
quartz rock eliminated this problem. Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments,
developed the integrated circuit (IC) in 1958. The IC combined three electronic
components onto a small silicon disc, which was made from quartz. Scientists later
managed to fit even more components on a single chip, called a semiconductor. As a
result, computers became ever smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip.
Another third-generation development included the use of an operating system that
allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program that
monitored and coordinated the computer's memory.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present)

After the integrated circuits, the only place to go was down - in size, that is. Large scale
integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip. By the 1980's, very
large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a
chip. Ultra-large scale integration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. The
ability to fit so much onto an area about half the size of a U.S. dime helped diminish the
size and price of computers. It also increased their power, efficiency and reliability. The
Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating
all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output
controls) on a minuscule chip. Whereas previously the integrated circuit had had to be
manufactured to fit a special purpose, now one microprocessor could be manufactured
and then programmed to meet any number of demands. Soon everyday household items
such as microwave ovens, television sets and automobiles with electronic fuel injection
incorporated microprocessors.

Such condensed power allowed everyday people to harness a computer's power. They
were no longer developed exclusively for large business or government contracts. By the
mid-1970's, computer manufacturers sought to bring computers to general consumers.
These minicomputers came complete with user-friendly software packages that offered
even non-technical users an array of applications, most popularly word processing and
spreadsheet programs. Pioneers in this field were Commodore, Radio Shack and Apple
Computers. In the early 1980's, arcade video games such as Pac Man and home video
game systems such as the Atari 2600 ignited consumer interest for more sophisticated,
programmable home computers.

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer (PC) for use in the home, office and
schools. The 1980's saw an expansion in computer use in all three arenas as clones of the
IBM PC made the personal computer even more affordable. The number of personal
computers in use more than doubled from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in 1982. Ten
years later, 65 million PCs were being used. Computers continued their trend toward a
smaller size, working their way down from desktop to laptop computers (which could fit
inside a briefcase) to palmtop (able to fit inside a breast pocket). In direct competition
with IBM's PC was Apple's Macintosh line, introduced in 1984. Notable for its user-
friendly design, the Macintosh offered an operating system that allowed users to move
screen icons instead of typing instructions. Users controlled the screen cursor using a
mouse, a device that mimicked the movement of one's hand on the computer screen.

As computers became more widespread in the workplace, new ways to harness their
potential developed. As smaller computers became more powerful, they could be linked
together, or networked, to share memory space, software, information and communicate
with each other. As opposed to a mainframe computer, which was one powerful
computer that shared time with many terminals for many applications, networked
computers allowed individual computers to form electronic co-ops. Using either direct
wiring, called a Local Area Network (LAN), or telephone lines, these networks could
reach enormous proportions. A global web of computer circuitry, the Internet, for
example, links computers worldwide into a single network of information. During the
1992 U.S. presidential election, vice-presidential candidate Al Gore promised to make the
development of this so-called "information superhighway" an administrative priority.
Though the possibilities envisioned by Gore and others for such a large network are often
years (if not decades) away from realization, the most popular use today for computer
networks such as the Internet is electronic mail, or E-mail, which allows users to type in a
computer address and send messages through networked terminals across the office or
across the world.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond)

Defining the fifth generation of computers is somewhat difficult because the field is in its
infancy. The most famous example of a fifth generation computer is the fictional
HAL9000 from Arthur C. Clarke's novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL performed all of
the functions currently envisioned for real-life fifth generation computers. With artificial
intelligence, HAL could reason well enough to hold conversations with its human
operators, use visual input, and learn from its own experiences. (Unfortunately, HAL was
a little too human and had a psychotic breakdown, commandeering a spaceship and
killing most humans on board.)

Though the wayward HAL9000 may be far from the reach of real-life computer
designers, many of its functions are not. Using recent engineering advances, computers
may be able to accept spoken word instructions and imitate human reasoning. The ability
to translate a foreign language is also a major goal of fifth generation computers. This
feat seemed a simple objective at first, but appeared much more difficult when
programmers realized that human understanding relies as much on context and meaning
as it does on the simple translation of words.

Many advances in the science of computer design and technology are coming together to
enable the creation of fifth-generation computers. Two such engineering advances are
parallel processing, which replaces von Neumann's single central processing unit design
with a system harnessing the power of many CPUs to work as one. Another advance is
superconductor technology, which allows the flow of electricity with little or no
resistance, greatly improving the speed of information flow. Computers today have some
attributes of fifth generation computers. For example, expert systems assist doctors in
making diagnoses by applying the problem-solving steps a doctor might use in assessing
a patient's needs. It will take several more years of development before expert systems
are in widespread use.