30 Oct
1997
30 Oct
'97
9:46 a.m.
As far as who developed the first computer - we could
argue all day on
that one. There are no distinct lines between technologies or generations.
For example, do analog computers count? At what point does a complex
feedback control become a computer? For example, do the computers used to
direct gunfire count? They date from well before World War 2, and it took
digital machines many years to surpass them in performance, yet I would
not call them computers as we think of them.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net
This discussion ignited my curiosity and I checked some
source-references. What I had remembered from my digital
course (for me,relatively recent, 1982-83) was that a
computer was defined as a device to control data or processes
containing a CPU, means for I/O, and memory. This is a bigger
can of worms than I had imagined . After going through several
dictionaries, early general computing books and various text-books
and scientific encyclos. it would seem there is no precise
definition of a computer. While there are specific definitions re
the various sub-species (electronic,digital,analogue.mini,mainframe,
etc) the term computer is generally defined by processes.
The simplest being -- -a device that computes.
and the same dictionary (Websters) defines
to compute -- to calculate.
Oh well, we know what we mean, dont we . %^))
Anyone for a flame on game machines ? And I'm not touching on
that gun-control thing with a 10-ft pole.
ciao larry
lwalkerN0spaM(a)interlog.com