Computer

A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of

arithmetic or logical operations (computation). Modern digital electronic computers can perform
generic sets of operations known as programs, which enable computers to perform a wide range of
tasks. The term computer system may refer to a nominally complete computer that includes the
hardware, operating system, software, and peripheral equipment needed and used for full operation;
or to a group of computers that are linked and function together, such as a computer network or
computer cluster.

Computers and computing devices from different

eras—left to right, top to bottom:
Early vacuum tube computer (ENIAC)

Mainframe computer (IBM System/360)

Smartphone (LYF Water 2)

Desktop computer (IBM ThinkCentre S50 with

monitor)

Video game console (Nintendo GameCube)

Supercomputer (IBM Summit)

A broad range of industrial and consumer products use computers as control systems, including
simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls, and factory devices like
industrial robots. Computers are at the core of general-purpose devices such as personal
computers and mobile devices such as smartphones. Computers power the Internet, which links
billions of computers and users.

Early computers were meant to be used only for calculations. Simple manual instruments like the
abacus have aided people in doing calculations since ancient times. Early in the Industrial
Revolution, some mechanical devices were built to automate long, tedious tasks, such as guiding
patterns for looms. More sophisticated electrical machines did specialized analog calculations in
the early 20th century. The first digital electronic calculating machines were developed during World
War II, both electromechanical and using thermionic valves. The first semiconductor transistors in
the late 1940s were followed by the silicon-based MOSFET (MOS transistor) and monolithic
integrated circuit chip technologies in the late 1950s, leading to the microprocessor and the
microcomputer revolution in the 1970s. The speed, power, and versatility of computers have been
increasing dramatically ever since then, with transistor counts increasing at a rapid pace (Moore's
law noted that counts doubled every two years), leading to the Digital Revolution during the late 20th
and early 21st centuries.

Conventionally, a modern computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central
processing unit (CPU) in the form of a microprocessor, together with some type of computer
memory, typically semiconductor memory chips. The processing element carries out arithmetic and
logical operations, and a sequencing and control unit can change the order of operations in
response to stored information. Peripheral devices include input devices (keyboards, mice, joysticks,
etc.), output devices (monitors, printers, etc.), and input/output devices that perform both functions
(e.g. touchscreens). Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source,
and they enable the results of operations to be saved and retrieved.
Etymology

A human computer, with microscope and

calculator, 1952

It was not until the mid-20th century that the word acquired its modern definition; according to the
Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of the word computer was in a different sense, in a
1613 book called The Yong Mans Gleanings by the English writer Richard Brathwait: "I haue [sic] read
the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer [sic] breathed, and he reduceth
thy dayes into a short number." This usage of the term referred to a human computer, a person who
carried out calculations or computations. The word continued to have the same meaning until the
middle of the 20th century. During the latter part of this period, women were often hired as
computers because they could be paid less than their male counterparts.[1] By 1943, most human
computers were women.[2]

The Online Etymology Dictionary gives the first attested use of computer in the 1640s, meaning 'one
who calculates'; this is an "agent noun from compute (v.)". The Online Etymology Dictionary states
that the use of the term to mean " 'calculating machine' (of any type) is from 1897." The Online
Etymology Dictionary indicates that the "modern use" of the term, to mean 'programmable digital
electronic computer' dates from "1945 under this name; [in a] theoretical [sense] from 1937, as
Turing machine".[3] The name has remained, although modern computers are capable of many
higher-level functions.
History

Pre-20th century

The Ishango bone, a bone

tool dating back to
prehistoric Africa

Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, mostly using one-to-one
correspondence with fingers. The earliest counting device was most likely a form of tally stick. Later
record keeping aids throughout the Fertile Crescent included calculi (clay spheres, cones, etc.)
which represented counts of items, likely livestock or grains, sealed in hollow unbaked clay
containers.[a][4] The use of counting rods is one example.

The Chinese suanpan ( 算盘 ). The number

represented on this abacus is
6,302,715,408.

The abacus was initially used for arithmetic tasks. The Roman abacus was developed from devices
used in Babylonia as early as 2400 BCE. Since then, many other forms of reckoning boards or tables
have been invented. In a medieval European counting house, a checkered cloth would be placed on
a table, and markers moved around on it according to certain rules, as an aid to calculating sums of
money.[5]
 The Antikythera mechanism,
dating back to ancient Greece
circa 200–80 BCE, is an early
analog computing device.

The Antikythera mechanism is believed to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer,
according to Derek J. de Solla Price.[6] It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was
discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera
and Crete, and has been dated to approximately c. 100 BCE. Devices of comparable complexity to
the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until the fourteenth century.[7]

Many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement were constructed for astronomical and
navigation use. The planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī in the early 11th
century.[8] The astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BCE
and is often attributed to Hipparchus. A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe
was effectively an analog computer capable of working out several different kinds of problems in
spherical astronomy. An astrolabe incorporating a mechanical calendar computer[9][10] and gear-
wheels was invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan, Persia in 1235.[11] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī invented the
first mechanical geared lunisolar calendar astrolabe,[12] an early fixed-wired knowledge processing
machine[13] with a gear train and gear-wheels,[14] c. 1000 AD.

The sector, a calculating instrument used for solving problems in proportion, trigonometry,
multiplication and division, and for various functions, such as squares and cube roots, was
developed in the late 16th century and found application in gunnery, surveying and navigation.

The planimeter was a manual instrument to calculate the area of a closed figure by tracing over it
with a mechanical linkage.

A slide rule
The slide rule was invented around 1620–1630, by the English clergyman William Oughtred, shortly
after the publication of the concept of the logarithm. It is a hand-operated analog computer for
doing multiplication and division. As slide rule development progressed, added scales provided
reciprocals, squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots, as well as transcendental functions
such as logarithms and exponentials, circular and hyperbolic trigonometry and other functions.
Slide rules with special scales are still used for quick performance of routine calculations, such as
the E6B circular slide rule used for time and distance calculations on light aircraft.

In the 1770s, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, a Swiss watchmaker, built a mechanical doll (automaton) that
could write holding a quill pen. By switching the number and order of its internal wheels different
letters, and hence different messages, could be produced. In effect, it could be mechanically
"programmed" to read instructions. Along with two other complex machines, the doll is at the Musée
d'Art et d'Histoire of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and still operates.[15]

In 1831–1835, mathematician and engineer Giovanni Plana devised a Perpetual Calendar machine,
which through a system of pulleys and cylinders could predict the perpetual calendar for every year
from 0 CE (that is, 1 BCE) to 4000 CE, keeping track of leap years and varying day length. The tide-
predicting machine invented by the Scottish scientist Sir William Thomson in 1872 was of great
utility to navigation in shallow waters. It used a system of pulleys and wires to automatically
calculate predicted tide levels for a set period at a particular location.

The differential analyser, a mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations by
integration, used wheel-and-disc mechanisms to perform the integration. In 1876, Sir William
Thomson had already discussed the possible construction of such calculators, but he had been
stymied by the limited output torque of the ball-and-disk integrators.[16] In a differential analyzer, the
output of one integrator drove the input of the next integrator, or a graphing output. The torque
amplifier was the advance that allowed these machines to work. Starting in the 1920s, Vannevar
Bush and others developed mechanical differential analyzers.

In the 1890s, the Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo began to develop a series of advanced
analog machines that could solve real and complex roots of polynomials,[17][18][19][20] which were
published in 1901 by the Paris Academy of Sciences.[21]
First computer

Charles Babbage

A diagram of a portion of
Babbage's Difference engine

The Difference Engine

Number 2 at the Intellectual
Ventures laboratory in
Seattle

Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and polymath, originated the concept of a
programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer",[22] he conceptualized and
invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.
After working on his difference engine he announced his invention in 1822, in a paper to the Royal
Astronomical Society, titled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of
astronomical and mathematical tables".[23] He also designed to aid in navigational calculations, in
1833 he realized that a much more general design, an analytical engine, was possible. The input of
programs and data was to be provided to the machine via punched cards, a method being used at
the time to direct mechanical looms such as the Jacquard loom. For output, the machine would
have a printer, a curve plotter and a bell. The machine would also be able to punch numbers onto
cards to be read in later. The engine would incorporate an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the
form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a
general-purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as Turing-complete.[24][25]

The machine was about a century ahead of its time. All the parts for his machine had to be made by
hand – this was a major problem for a device with thousands of parts. Eventually, the project was
dissolved with the decision of the British Government to cease funding. Babbage's failure to
complete the analytical engine can be chiefly attributed to political and financial difficulties as well
as his desire to develop an increasingly sophisticated computer and to move ahead faster than
anyone else could follow. Nevertheless, his son, Henry Babbage, completed a simplified version of
the analytical engine's computing unit (the mill) in 1888. He gave a successful demonstration of its
use in computing tables in 1906.

Electromechanical calculating machine

Electro-mechanical calculator (1920) by

Leonardo Torres Quevedo.

In his work Essays on Automatics published in 1914, Leonardo Torres Quevedo wrote a brief history
of Babbage's efforts at constructing a mechanical Difference Engine and Analytical Engine. The
paper contains a design of a machine capable to calculate formulas like , for a
sequence of sets of values. The whole machine was to be controlled by a read-only program, which
was complete with provisions for conditional branching. He also introduced the idea of floating-
point arithmetic.[26][27][28] In 1920, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the
arithmometer, Torres presented in Paris the Electromechanical Arithmometer, which allowed a user
to input arithmetic problems through a keyboard, and computed and printed the results,[29][30][31][32]
demonstrating the feasibility of an electromechanical analytical engine.[33]

Analog computers

Sir William Thomson's third tide-

predicting machine design, 1879–81

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.[34] The first modern analog computer was a
tide-predicting machine, invented by Sir William Thomson (later to become Lord Kelvin) in 1872. The
differential analyser, a mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations by
integration using wheel-and-disc mechanisms, was conceptualized in 1876 by James Thomson, the
elder brother of the more famous Sir William Thomson.[16]

The art of mechanical analog computing reached its zenith with the differential analyzer, completed
in 1931 by Vannevar Bush at MIT.[35] By the 1950s, the success of digital electronic computers had
spelled the end for most analog computing machines, but analog computers remained in use during
the 1950s in some specialized applications such as education (slide rule) and aircraft (control
systems).

Digital computers

Electromechanical

Claude Shannon's 1937 master's thesis laid the foundations of digital computing, with his insight of
applying Boolean algebra to the analysis and synthesis of switching circuits being the basic concept
which underlies all electronic digital computers.[36][37]

By 1938, the United States Navy had developed the Torpedo Data Computer, an electromechanical
analog computer for submarines that used trigonometry to solve the problem of firing a torpedo at a
moving target. During World War II, similar devices were developed in other countries.[38]

Replica of Konrad Zuse's Z3, the first

fully automatic, digital
(electromechanical) computer

Early digital computers were electromechanical; electric switches drove mechanical relays to
perform the calculation. These devices had a low operating speed and were eventually superseded
by much faster all-electric computers, originally using vacuum tubes. The Z2, created by German
engineer Konrad Zuse in 1939 in Berlin, was one of the earliest examples of an electromechanical
relay computer.[39]

Konrad Zuse, inventor of

the modern
computer[40][41]

In 1941, Zuse followed his earlier machine up with the Z3, the world's first working
electromechanical programmable, fully automatic digital computer.[42][43] The Z3 was built with
2000 relays, implementing a 22 bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about 5–10
Hz.[44] Program code was supplied on punched film while data could be stored in 64 words of
memory or supplied from the keyboard. It was quite similar to modern machines in some respects,
pioneering numerous advances such as floating-point numbers. Rather than the harder-to-
implement decimal system (used in Charles Babbage's earlier design), using a binary system meant
that Zuse's machines were easier to build and potentially more reliable, given the technologies
available at that time.[45] The Z3 was not itself a universal computer but could be extended to be
Turing complete.[46][47]

Zuse's next computer, the Z4, became the world's first commercial computer; after initial delay due
to the Second World War, it was completed in 1950 and delivered to the ETH Zurich.[48] The
computer was manufactured by Zuse's own company, Zuse KG, which was founded in 1941 as the
first company with the sole purpose of developing computers in Berlin.[48] The Z4 served as the
inspiration for the construction of the ERMETH, the first Swiss computer and one of the first in
Europe.[49]

Vacuum tubes and digital electronic circuits

Purely electronic circuit elements soon replaced their mechanical and electromechanical
equivalents, at the same time that digital calculation replaced analog. The engineer Tommy Flowers,
working at the Post Office Research Station in London in the 1930s, began to explore the possible
use of electronics for the telephone exchange. Experimental equipment that he built in 1934 went
into operation five years later, converting a portion of the telephone exchange network into an
electronic data processing system, using thousands of vacuum tubes.[34] In the US, John Vincent
Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry of Iowa State University developed and tested the Atanasoff–Berry
Computer (ABC) in 1942,[50] the first "automatic electronic digital computer".[51] This design was
also all-electronic and used about 300 vacuum tubes, with capacitors fixed in a mechanically
rotating drum for memory.[52]

Colossus, the first electronic digital

programmable computing device, was used to
break German ciphers during World War II. It is
seen here in use at Bletchley Park in 1943.

During World War II, the British code-breakers at Bletchley Park achieved a number of successes at
breaking encrypted German military communications. The German encryption machine, Enigma,
was first attacked with the help of the electro-mechanical bombes which were often run by
women.[53][54] To crack the more sophisticated German Lorenz SZ 40/42 machine, used for high-
level Army communications, Max Newman and his colleagues commissioned Flowers to build the
Colossus.[52] He spent eleven months from early February 1943 designing and building the first
Colossus.[55] After a functional test in December 1943, Colossus was shipped to Bletchley Park,
where it was delivered on 18 January 1944[56] and attacked its first message on 5 February.[52]

Colossus was the world's first electronic digital programmable computer.[34] It used a large number
of valves (vacuum tubes). It had paper-tape input and was capable of being configured to perform a
variety of boolean logical operations on its data, but it was not Turing-complete. Nine Mk II Colossi
were built (The Mk I was converted to a Mk II making ten machines in total). Colossus Mark I
contained 1,500 thermionic valves (tubes), but Mark II with 2,400 valves, was both five times faster
and simpler to operate than Mark I, greatly speeding the decoding process.[57][58]

ENIAC was the first electronic, Turing-complete

device, and performed ballistics trajectory
calculations for the United States Army.

The ENIAC[59] (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first electronic
programmable computer built in the U.S. Although the ENIAC was similar to the Colossus, it was
much faster, more flexible, and it was Turing-complete. Like the Colossus, a "program" on the ENIAC
was defined by the states of its patch cables and switches, a far cry from the stored program
electronic machines that came later. Once a program was written, it had to be mechanically set into
the machine with manual resetting of plugs and switches. The programmers of the ENIAC were six
women, often known collectively as the "ENIAC girls".[60][61]

It combined the high speed of electronics with the ability to be programmed for many complex
problems. It could add or subtract 5000 times a second, a thousand times faster than any other
machine. It also had modules to multiply, divide, and square root. High speed memory was limited
to 20 words (about 80 bytes). Built under the direction of John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the
University of Pennsylvania, ENIAC's development and construction lasted from 1943 to full
operation at the end of 1945. The machine was huge, weighing 30 tons, using 200 kilowatts of
electric power and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of
resistors, capacitors, and inductors.[62]

Modern computers

Concept of modern computer

The principle of the modern computer was proposed by Alan Turing in his seminal 1936 paper,[63] On
Computable Numbers. Turing proposed a simple device that he called "Universal Computing
machine" and that is now known as a universal Turing machine. He proved that such a machine is
capable of computing anything that is computable by executing instructions (program) stored on
tape, allowing the machine to be programmable. The fundamental concept of Turing's design is the
stored program, where all the instructions for computing are stored in memory. Von Neumann
acknowledged that the central concept of the modern computer was due to this paper.[64] Turing
machines are to this day a central object of study in theory of computation. Except for the
limitations imposed by their finite memory stores, modern computers are said to be Turing-
complete, which is to say, they have algorithm execution capability equivalent to a universal Turing
machine.

Stored programs

A section of the reconstructed Manchester Baby,

the first electronic stored-program computer

Early computing machines had fixed programs. Changing its function required the re-wiring and re-
structuring of the machine.[52] With the proposal of the stored-program computer this changed. A
stored-program computer includes by design an instruction set and can store in memory a set of
instructions (a program) that details the computation. The theoretical basis for the stored-program
computer was laid out by Alan Turing in his 1936 paper. In 1945, Turing joined the National Physical
Laboratory and began work on developing an electronic stored-program digital computer. His 1945
report "Proposed Electronic Calculator" was the first specification for such a device. John von
Neumann at the University of Pennsylvania also circulated his First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC in
1945.[34]

The Manchester Baby was the world's first stored-program computer. It was built at the University of
Manchester in England by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, and ran its first
program on 21 June 1948.[65] It was designed as a testbed for the Williams tube, the first random-
access digital storage device.[66] Although the computer was described as "small and primitive" by a
1998 retrospective, it was the first working machine to contain all of the elements essential to a
modern electronic computer.[67] As soon as the Baby had demonstrated the feasibility of its design,
a project began at the university to develop it into a practically useful computer, the Manchester
Mark 1.

The Mark 1 in turn quickly became the prototype for the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first
commercially available general-purpose computer.[68] Built by Ferranti, it was delivered to the
University of Manchester in February 1951. At least seven of these later machines were delivered
between 1953 and 1957, one of them to Shell labs in Amsterdam.[69] In October 1947 the directors
of British catering company J. Lyons & Company decided to take an active role in promoting the
commercial development of computers. Lyons's LEO I computer, modelled closely on the Cambridge
EDSAC of 1949, became operational in April 1951[70] and ran the world's first routine office computer
job.

Transistors

Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)

The concept of a field-effect transistor was proposed by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925. John
Bardeen and Walter Brattain, while working under William Shockley at Bell Labs, built the first
working transistor, the point-contact transistor, in 1947, which was followed by Shockley's bipolar
junction transistor in 1948.[71][72] From 1955 onwards, transistors replaced vacuum tubes in
computer designs, giving rise to the "second generation" of computers. Compared to vacuum tubes,
transistors have many advantages: they are smaller, and require less power than vacuum tubes, so
give off less heat. Junction transistors were much more reliable than vacuum tubes and had longer,
indefinite, service life. Transistorized computers could contain tens of thousands of binary logic
circuits in a relatively compact space. However, early junction transistors were relatively bulky
devices that were difficult to manufacture on a mass-production basis, which limited them to a
number of specialized applications.[73]

At the University of Manchester, a team under the leadership of Tom Kilburn designed and built a
machine using the newly developed transistors instead of valves.[74] Their first transistorized
computer and the first in the world, was operational by 1953, and a second version was completed
there in April 1955. However, the machine did make use of valves to generate its 125 kHz clock
waveforms and in the circuitry to read and write on its magnetic drum memory, so it was not the
first completely transistorized computer. That distinction goes to the Harwell CADET of 1955,[75]
built by the electronics division of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell.[75][76]

MOSFET (MOS transistor), showing gate

(G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D)
terminals. The gate is separated from the
body by an insulating layer (pink).

The metal–oxide–silicon field-effect transistor (MOSFET), also known as the MOS transistor, was
invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960[77][78][79][80][81][82] and was the first truly compact
transistor that could be miniaturized and mass-produced for a wide range of uses.[73] With its high
scalability,[83] and much lower power consumption and higher density than bipolar junction
transistors,[84] the MOSFET made it possible to build high-density integrated circuits.[85][86] In
addition to data processing, it also enabled the practical use of MOS transistors as memory cell
storage elements, leading to the development of MOS semiconductor memory, which replaced
earlier magnetic-core memory in computers. The MOSFET led to the microcomputer revolution,[87]
and became the driving force behind the computer revolution.[88][89] The MOSFET is the most widely
used transistor in computers,[90][91] and is the fundamental building block of digital electronics.[92]
Integrated circuits

Integrated circuits are typically packaged in

plastic, metal, or ceramic cases to protect
the IC from damage and for ease of
assembly.

The next great advance in computing power came with the advent of the integrated circuit (IC). The
idea of the integrated circuit was first conceived by a radar scientist working for the Royal Radar
Establishment of the Ministry of Defence, Geoffrey W.A. Dummer. Dummer presented the first public
description of an integrated circuit at the Symposium on Progress in Quality Electronic Components
in Washington, D.C., on 7 May 1952.[93]

The first working ICs were invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at
Fairchild Semiconductor.[94] Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July
1958, successfully demonstrating the first working integrated example on 12 September 1958.[95] In
his patent application of 6 February 1959, Kilby described his new device as "a body of
semiconductor material ... wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely
integrated".[96][97] However, Kilby's invention was a hybrid integrated circuit (hybrid IC), rather than a
monolithic integrated circuit (IC) chip.[98] Kilby's IC had external wire connections, which made it
difficult to mass-produce.[99]

Noyce also came up with his own idea of an integrated circuit half a year later than Kilby.[100]
Noyce's invention was the first true monolithic IC chip.[101][99] His chip solved many practical
problems that Kilby's had not. Produced at Fairchild Semiconductor, it was made of silicon, whereas
Kilby's chip was made of germanium. Noyce's monolithic IC was fabricated using the planar
process, developed by his colleague Jean Hoerni in early 1959. In turn, the planar process was
based on Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derick work on semiconductor surface passivation by silicon
dioxide.[102][103][104][105][106][107]

Modern monolithic ICs are predominantly MOS (metal–oxide–semiconductor) integrated circuits,

built from MOSFETs (MOS transistors).[108] The earliest experimental MOS IC to be fabricated was a
16-transistor chip built by Fred Heiman and Steven Hofstein at RCA in 1962.[109] General
Microelectronics later introduced the first commercial MOS IC in 1964,[110] developed by Robert
Norman.[109] Following the development of the self-aligned gate (silicon-gate) MOS transistor by
Robert Kerwin, Donald Klein and John Sarace at Bell Labs in 1967, the first silicon-gate MOS IC with
self-aligned gates was developed by Federico Faggin at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968.[111] The
MOSFET has since become the most critical device component in modern ICs.[108]

Die photograph of a MOS 6502, an early

1970s microprocessor integrating 3500
transistors on a single chip

The development of the MOS integrated circuit led to the invention of the microprocessor,[112][113]
and heralded an explosion in the commercial and personal use of computers. While the subject of
exactly which device was the first microprocessor is contentious, partly due to lack of agreement on
the exact definition of the term "microprocessor", it is largely undisputed that the first single-chip
microprocessor was the Intel 4004,[114] designed and realized by Federico Faggin with his silicon-
gate MOS IC technology,[112] along with Ted Hoff, Masatoshi Shima and Stanley Mazor at Intel.[b][116]
In the early 1970s, MOS IC technology enabled the integration of more than 10,000 transistors on a
single chip.[86]

System on a Chip (SoCs) are complete computers on a microchip (or chip) the size of a coin.[117]
They may or may not have integrated RAM and flash memory. If not integrated, the RAM is usually
placed directly above (known as Package on package) or below (on the opposite side of the circuit
board) the SoC, and the flash memory is usually placed right next to the SoC. This is done to
improve data transfer speeds, as the data signals do not have to travel long distances. Since ENIAC
in 1945, computers have advanced enormously, with modern SoCs (such as the Snapdragon 865)
being the size of a coin while also being hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than ENIAC,
integrating billions of transistors, and consuming only a few watts of power.
Mobile computers

The first mobile computers were heavy and ran from mains power. The 50 lb (23 kg) IBM 5100 was
an early example. Later portables such as the Osborne 1 and Compaq Portable were considerably
lighter but still needed to be plugged in. The first laptops, such as the Grid Compass, removed this
requirement by incorporating batteries – and with the continued miniaturization of computing
resources and advancements in portable battery life, portable computers grew in popularity in the
2000s.[118] The same developments allowed manufacturers to integrate computing resources into
cellular mobile phones by the early 2000s.

These smartphones and tablets run on a variety of operating systems and recently became the
dominant computing device on the market.[119] These are powered by System on a Chip (SoCs),
which are complete computers on a microchip the size of a coin.[117]

Types

Computers can be classified in a number of different ways, including:

By architecture

Analog computer

Digital computer

Hybrid computer

Harvard architecture

Von Neumann architecture

Complex instruction set computer

Reduced instruction set computer

By size, form-factor and purpose

Supercomputer

Mainframe computer

Minicomputer (term no longer used),[120] Midrange computer

Server
Rackmount server
 Blade server

Tower server

Personal computer
Workstation

Microcomputer (term no longer used)[121]

Home computer (term fallen into disuse)[122]

Desktop computer
Tower desktop

Slimline desktop
Multimedia computer (non-linear editing system computers, video editing PCs and
the like, this term is no longer used)[123]

Gaming computer

All-in-one PC

Nettop (Small form factor PCs, Mini PCs)

Home theater PC

Keyboard computer

Portable computer

Thin client

Internet appliance

Laptop computer
Desktop replacement computer

Gaming laptop

Rugged laptop

2-in-1 PC

Ultrabook

Chromebook

Subnotebook

Smartbook
 Netbook

Mobile computer
Tablet computer

Smartphone

Ultra-mobile PC

Pocket PC

Palmtop PC

Handheld PC

Pocket computer

Wearable computer
Smartwatch

Smartglasses

Single-board computer

Plug computer

Stick PC

Programmable logic controller

Computer-on-module

System on module

System in a package

System-on-chip (Also known as an Application Processor or AP if it lacks circuitry such as radio

circuitry)

Microcontroller

Unconventional computers

A computer does not need to be electronic, nor even have a processor, nor RAM, nor even a hard
disk. While popular usage of the word "computer" is synonymous with a personal electronic
computer,[c] a typical modern definition of a computer is: "A device that computes, especially a
programmable [usually] electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical
operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information."[124] According
to this definition, any device that processes information qualifies as a computer.
Hardware

1:55

Video demonstrating the standard

components of a "slimline" computer

The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible physical objects.
Circuits, computer chips, graphic cards, sound cards, memory (RAM), motherboard, displays, power
supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and "mice" input devices are all hardware.
History of computing hardware

Pascal's calculator, Arithmometer, Difference engine,

Calculators
First generation Quevedo's analytical machines
(mechanical/electromechanical) Programmable Jacquard loom, Analytical engine, IBM ASCC/Harvard
devices Mark I, Harvard Mark II, IBM SSEC, Z1, Z2, Z3

Atanasoff–Berry Computer, IBM 604, UNIVAC 60,

Calculators
UNIVAC 120
Second generation
Colossus, ENIAC, Manchester Baby, EDSAC, Manchester
(vacuum tubes) Programmable
Mark 1, Ferranti Pegasus, Ferranti Mercury, CSIRAC,
devices
EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 702, IBM 650, Z22

Mainframes IBM 7090, IBM 7080, IBM System/360, BUNCH

Third generation
HP 2116A, IBM System/32, IBM System/36, LINC, PDP-
(discrete transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI Minicomputer
8, PDP-11
integrated circuits)
Desktop Computer HP 9100

Minicomputer VAX, IBM AS/400

4-bit microcomputer Intel 4004, Intel 4040

Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Motorola 6809,

8-bit microcomputer
MOS Technology 6502, Zilog Z80

16-bit
Intel 8088, Zilog Z8000, WDC 65816/65802
microcomputer

32-bit
Fourth generation Intel 80386, Pentium, Motorola 68000, ARM
microcomputer
(VLSI integrated circuits)
64-bit Alpha, MIPS, PA-RISC, PowerPC, SPARC, x86-64, ARMv8-
[d]
microcomputer A

Embedded
Intel 8048, Intel 8051
computer

Desktop computer, Home computer, Laptop computer,

Personal computer Personal digital assistant (PDA), Portable computer,
Tablet PC, Wearable computer

Theoretical/experimental Quantum computer IBM Q System One

Chemical computer

DNA computing

Optical computer

Spintronics-based
computer
 Wetware/Organic
computer

Other hardware topics

Mouse, keyboard, joystick, image scanner, webcam, graphics

Input
tablet, microphone
Peripheral device
Output Monitor, printer, loudspeaker
(input/output)
Floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, optical disc drive,
Both
teleprinter

Short range RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB

Computer buses Long range (computer
Ethernet, ATM, FDDI
networking)

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 buses, 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.

Input devices

Input devices are the means by which the operations of a computer are controlled and it is provided
with data. Examples include:

Computer keyboard

Digital camera

Graphics tablet

Image scanner

Joystick

Microphone

Mouse
 Overlay keyboard

Real-time clock

Trackball

Touchscreen

Light pen

Output devices

Output devices are the means by which a computer provides the results of its calculations in a
human-accessible form. Examples include:

Computer monitor

Printer

PC speaker

Projector

Sound card

Graphics card

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 control signals that activate other parts of the computer.[e] Control systems in advanced
computers may change the order of execution of some instructions 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.[f]
The control system's function is as follows— 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).

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, which runs a microcode program that causes all of
these events to happen.

Central processing unit (CPU)

The control unit, ALU, and registers are collectively known as a central processing unit (CPU). Early
CPUs were composed of many separate components. Since the 1970s, CPUs have typically been
constructed on a single MOS integrated circuit chip called a microprocessor.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: arithmetic and logic.[125] The set of
arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to addition and subtraction, or
might include multiplication, division, trigonometry functions such as sine, cosine, etc., and square
roots. Some can operate only on whole numbers (integers) while 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 for creating complicated conditional statements and processing Boolean logic.

Superscalar computers may contain multiple ALUs, allowing them to process several instructions
simultaneously.[126] Graphics processors and computers with SIMD and MIMD features often
contain ALUs that can perform arithmetic on vectors and matrices.

Memory

Magnetic-core memory (using magnetic

cores) was the computer memory of
choice in the 1960s, until it was replaced
by semiconductor memory (using MOS
memory cells).

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 (28 = 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

read-only memory or ROM

RAM can be read and written to anytime the CPU commands it, but ROM is preloaded with data and
software that never changes, therefore 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.[g]
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)

Hard disk drives are common storage

devices used with computers.

I/O is the means by which a computer exchanges information with the outside world.[128] Devices
that provide input or output to the computer are called peripherals.[129] 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. I/O devices are often
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. Modern desktop computers contain many smaller computers that assist the main CPU in
performing I/O. A 2016-era flat screen display contains its own computer circuitry.

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.[130] 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.[131]

Before the era of inexpensive computers, the principal 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, but 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 simultaneously
without unacceptable speed loss.

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 in only 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.[h] They often feature
thousands of CPUs, customized high-speed interconnects, and specialized computing hardware.
Such designs tend to be useful for only specialized tasks due to the large scale of program
organization required to use 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.

Software

Software is the part of a computer system that consists of the encoded information that determines
the computer's operation, such as data or instructions on how to process the data. In contrast to the
physical hardware from which the system is built, software is immaterial. Software includes
computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or
digital media. It is often divided into system software and application software. Computer hardware
and software require each other and neither is useful on its own. When software is stored in
hardware that cannot easily be modified, such as with BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible
computer, it is sometimes called "firmware".
 UNIX System V, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS), IRIX, List of BSD operating
Unix and BSD
systems

Linux List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux distributions

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME,
Microsoft Windows Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1,
Windows 10, Windows 11
Operating system
/system software DOS 86-DOS (QDOS), IBM PC DOS, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS

Macintosh operating
Classic Mac OS, macOS (previously OS X and Mac OS X)
systems

Embedded and real-

List of embedded operating systems
time

Experimental Amoeba, Oberon–AOS, Bluebottle, A2, Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Multimedia DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL, Vulkan (API)

Library
Programming library C standard library, Standard Template Library

Protocol TCP/IP, Kermit, FTP, HTTP, SMTP

Data
File format HTML, XML, JPEG, MPEG, PNG

Graphical user
Microsoft Windows, GNOME, KDE, QNX Photon, CDE, GEM, Aqua
interface (WIMP)
User interface
Text-based user
Command-line interface, Text user interface
interface

Word processing, Desktop publishing, Presentation program, Database

Office suite management system, Scheduling & Time management, Spreadsheet,
Accounting software

Internet Access Browser, Email client, Web server, Mail transfer agent, Instant messaging

Design and Computer-aided design, Computer-aided manufacturing, Plant

manufacturing management, Robotic manufacturing, Supply chain management

Raster graphics editor, Vector graphics editor, 3D modeler, Animation editor,

Graphics
3D computer graphics, Video editing, Image processing

Application Digital audio editor, Audio playback, Mixing, Audio synthesis, Computer
Audio
software music

Compiler, Assembler, Interpreter, Debugger, Text editor, Integrated

Software
development environment, Software performance analysis, Revision
engineering
control, Software configuration management

Educational Edutainment, Educational game, Serious game, Flight simulator

Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Simulation, First-person shooter, Platform,

Games
Massively multiplayer, Interactive fiction

Artificial intelligence, Antivirus software, Malware scanner,

Misc
Installer/Package management systems, File manager
Programs

The defining feature of modern computers which distinguishes them from all other machines is that
they can be programmed. That is to say that some type of instructions (the program) can be given
to the computer, and it will process them. Modern computers based on the von Neumann
architecture often have machine code in the form of an imperative programming language. In
practical terms, a computer program may be just a few instructions or extend to many millions of
instructions, as do the programs for word processors and web browsers for example. A typical
modern computer can execute billions of instructions per second (gigaflops) and rarely makes 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.

Stored program architecture

Replica of the Manchester Baby, the

world's first electronic stored-program
computer, at the Museum of Science and
Industry in Manchester, England

This section applies to most common RAM machine–based computers.

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. The following example is written in the MIPS assembly language:

begin:
addi $8, $0, 0 # initialize sum to 0
addi $9, $0, 1 # set first number to add = 1
loop:
slti $10, $9, 1000 # check if the number is less than 1000
beq $10, $0, finish # if odd number is greater than n then
exit
add $8, $8, $9 # update sum
addi $9, $9, 1 # get next number
j loop # repeat the summing process
finish:
add $2, $8, $0 # put sum in output register

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
a fraction of a second.

Machine code

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 these instructions) can be
represented as lists of numbers and can themselves be manipulated inside the computer in the
same way as 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.[133][134] 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
while this technique was used with many early computers,[i] it is extremely tedious and potentially
error-prone 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.

A 1970s punched card containing one line

from a Fortran program. The card reads:
"Z(1) = Y + W(1)" and is labeled "PROJ039"
for identification purposes.

Programming language

A programming language is a notation system for writing the source code from which a computer
program is produced. 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 programming languages—some intended for general purpose programming,
others useful for only highly specialized applications.
Programming languages

Timeline of programming languages, List of programming languages by category,

Lists of programming
Generational list of programming languages, List of programming languages, Non-
languages
English-based programming languages

Commonly used assembly

ARM, MIPS, x86
languages

Commonly used high-level

Ada, BASIC, C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, PL/I, REXX, Java, Lisp, Pascal, Object Pascal
programming languages

Commonly used scripting

Bourne script, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl
languages

Low-level languages

Machine languages and the assembly languages that represent them (collectively termed low-level
programming languages) are generally unique to the particular architecture of a computer's central
processing unit (CPU). For instance, an ARM architecture CPU (such as may be found in a
smartphone or a hand-held videogame) cannot understand the machine language of an x86 CPU
that might be in a PC.[j] Historically a significant number of other CPU architectures were created
and saw extensive use, notably including the MOS Technology 6502 and 6510 in addition to the
Zilog Z80.

High-level languages

Although considerably easier than in machine language, writing long programs in assembly
language is often difficult and is also error prone. Therefore, most practical 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.[k] High level languages are
less related to the workings of the target computer than assembly language, and more related to the
language and structure of the problem(s) to be solved by the final program. It is therefore often
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.

Program design

Program design of small programs is relatively simple and involves the analysis of the problem,
collection of inputs, using the programming constructs within languages, devising or using
established procedures and algorithms, providing data for output devices and solutions to the
problem as applicable.[135] As problems become larger and more complex, features such as
subprograms, modules, formal documentation, and new paradigms such as object-oriented
programming are encountered.[136] Large programs involving thousands of line of code and more
require formal software methodologies.[137] The task of developing large software systems presents
a significant intellectual challenge.[138] Producing software with an acceptably high reliability within
a predictable schedule and budget has historically been difficult;[139] the academic and professional
discipline of software engineering concentrates specifically on this challenge.[140]

Bugs

The actual first computer bug, a moth

found trapped on a relay of the Harvard
Mark II computer

Errors in computer programs are called "bugs". They may be benign and not affect the usefulness of
the program, or have only subtle effects. However, in some cases they may cause the program or
the entire system to "hang", becoming unresponsive to input such as mouse clicks or keystrokes, to
completely fail, or to crash.[141] Otherwise benign bugs may sometimes be harnessed for malicious
intent by an unscrupulous user writing an exploit, code designed to take advantage of a bug and
disrupt a computer'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.[l] Admiral Grace Hopper, an
American computer scientist and developer of the first compiler, is credited for having first used the
term "bugs" in computing after a dead moth was found shorting a relay in the Harvard Mark II
computer in September 1947.[142]
Networking and the Internet

Visualization of a portion of the routes on

the Internet

Computers have been used to coordinate information between multiple physical 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 such as Sabre.[143]

In the 1970s, computer engineers at research institutions throughout the United States began to link
their computers together using telecommunications technology. The effort was funded by ARPA
(now DARPA), and the computer network that resulted was called the ARPANET.[144] 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 computers.
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,
computer networking become almost ubiquitous, due to 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.

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.
Future

There is active research to make unconventional computers out of many promising new types of
technology, such as optical computers, DNA computers, neural computers, and quantum
computers. Most computers are universal, and are able to calculate any computable function, and
are limited only by their memory capacity and operating speed. However different designs of
computers can give very different performance for particular problems; for example quantum
computers can potentially break some modern encryption algorithms (by quantum factoring) very
quickly.

Computer architecture paradigms

There are many types of computer architectures:

Quantum computer vs. Chemical computer

Scalar processor vs. Vector processor

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) computers

Register machine vs. Stack machine

Harvard architecture vs. von Neumann architecture

Cellular architecture

Of all these abstract machines, a quantum computer holds the most promise for revolutionizing
computing.[145] Logic gates are a common abstraction which can apply to most of the above digital
or analog paradigms. 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 minimum capability (being Turing-
complete) is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can
perform. Therefore, any type of computer (netbook, supercomputer, cellular automaton, etc.) is able
to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.

Artificial intelligence

In the 20th century, artificial intelligence systems were predominantly symbolic: they executed code
that was explicitly programmed by software developers.[146] Machine learning models, however,
have a set parameters that are adjusted throughout training, so that the model learns to accomplish
a task based on the provided data. The efficiency of machine learning (and in particular of neural
networks) has rapidly improved with progress in hardware for parallel computing, mainly graphics
processing units (GPUs).[147] Some large language models are able to control computers or
robots.[148][149] AI progress may lead to the creation of artificial general intelligence (AGI), a type of
AI that could accomplish virtually any intellectual task at least as well as humans.[150]

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, Telecommunications engineering,

related Optical engineering, Nanoengineering

Computer science, Computer engineering, Desktop publishing, Human–computer interaction,

Software-
Information technology, Information systems, Computational science, Software engineering, Video game
related
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, AIS, IET, IFIP, BCS

Free/open source software groups Free Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Apache Software Foundation

See also

Computability theory List of fictional computers

Computer security List of films about computers

Glossary of computer hardware terms List of pioneers in computer science

History of computer science Outline of computers

List of computer term etymologies Pulse computation

List of computer system manufacturers TOP500 (list of most powerful computers)

 Unconventional computing

Notes

a. According to Schmandt-Besserat 1981, these clay containers contained tokens, the total of
which were the count of objects being transferred. The containers thus served as something of
a bill of lading or an accounts book. In order to avoid breaking open the containers, first, clay
impressions of the tokens were placed on the outside of the containers, for the count; the
shapes of the impressions were abstracted into stylized marks; finally, the abstract marks were
systematically used as numerals; these numerals were finally formalized as numbers.
Eventually the marks on the outside of the containers were all that were needed to convey the
count, and the clay containers evolved into clay tablets with marks for the count. Schmandt-
Besserat 1999 estimates it took 4000 years.

b. The Intel 4004 (1971) die was 12 mm2, composed of 2300 transistors; by comparison, the
Pentium Pro was 306 mm2, composed of 5.5 million transistors.[115]

c. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (6th ed, 2007), the word computer dates
back to the mid 17th century, when it referred to "A person who makes calculations; specifically
a person employed for this in an observatory etc."

d. 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.

e. 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. Some computers have instructions that are partially interpreted by
the control unit with further interpretation performed by another device. For example, EDVAC,
one of the earliest stored-program computers, used a central control unit that interpreted only
four instructions. All of the arithmetic-related instructions were passed on to its arithmetic unit
and further decoded there.

f. Instructions often occupy more than one memory address, therefore the program counter
usually increases by the number of memory locations required to store one instruction.

g. Flash memory also may only be rewritten a limited number of times before wearing out,
making it less useful for heavy random access usage.[127]
 h. 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.[132]

i. 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.

j. 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.

k. High level languages are also often interpreted rather than compiled. Interpreted languages are
translated into machine code on the fly, while running, by another program called an interpreter.

l. 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.

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