Software ... Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, execunguage consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state...
Computer ... Conventionally a computer consists of some form of memory, at least one element that carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on the information that is stored. Peripheral devices allow information to be entered from an external source, and allow the results of operations to be sent out...
Periphere Computer-Systeme ... In addition to UNIX computers, PCS also manufactured industrial terminals. Eventually, PCS was bought out by Mannesmann-Kienzle, which in turn was bought out by Ken Olsen to become part of DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation...
Software Bug ... Bugs trigger errors that can in turn have a wide variety of ripple effects, with varying levels of inconvenience to the user of the program. Some bugs have only a subtle effect on the program's functionality, and may thus lie undetected for a long time...
Netbook ... More recently, Psion's now-discontinued netBook line, the OLPC XO-1 (initially called US$100 laptop) and the Palm Foleo were all small, portable, network-enabled computers...
Internet Protocol Suite ... The Internet protocol suite has four abstraction layers, each with its own protocols. From lowest to highest, the layers are: The link layer contains communication technologies for a local network...
Central Processing Unit ... On personal computers and small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single silicon chip called a microprocessor...
Microprocessor ... General-purpose microprocessors in personal computers are used for computation, text editing, multimedia display, and communication over the Internet...
Colossus Computer ... The Colossus computers were used to help decipher teleprinter messages which had been encrypted using the Lorenz SZ40/42 machine—British codebreakers referred to encrypted German teleprinter traffic as "Fish" and called the SZ40/42 machine and its traffic "Tunny"...
Programmer ... Computer programmers write, test, debug, and maintain the detailed instructions, called computer programs, that computers must follow to perform their functions...
History Of The World Wide Web ... The hypertext portion of the Web in particular has an intricate intellectual history; notable influences and precursors include Vannevar Bush's Memex, IBM's Generalized Markup Language, and Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu. The concept of a home-based global information system goes at least as far back as "A Logic Named Joe", a 1946 short story by Murray Leinster, in which computer terminals, called "logics," were in every home...
Computer Multitasking ... The expression 'time sharing' was usually used to designate computers shared by interactive users at terminals, such as IBM's TSO, and VM/CMS In real-time systems, some waiting tasks are guaranteed to be given the CPU when an external event occurs... The term time-sharing is no longer commonly used, having been replaced by simply multitasking, and by the advent of personal computers and workstations rather than shared interactive systems...
Subnotebook ... These computers are often confused with the "ultra-mobile PC" category, which is the name of a platform of small form-factor tablet PCs...
Computer Program ... Computer source code is often written by computer programmers. Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming...
Motherboard ... The most popular computers such as the Apple II and IBM PC had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid reverse-engineering and third-party replacement motherboards... Usually intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional performance or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer's original equipment...
Computer Programming ... There is an ongoing debate on the extent to which the writing of programs is an art, a craft or an engineering discipline. In general, good programming is considered to be the measured application of all three, with the goal of producing an efficient and evolvable software solution (the criteria for "efficient" and "evolvable" vary considerably)...
History Of Laptops ... Compaq SLT/286 By the end of the 1980s, laptop computers were becoming popular among business people...