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Many limits derived in terms of physical constants and abstract models of computation in computer science are loose. [12] Very few known limits directly obstruct leading-edge technologies, but many engineering obstacles currently cannot be explained by closed-form limits.
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 [] read the truest computer of Times, and the best ...
Because computer parts contain hazardous materials, there is a growing movement to recycle old and outdated parts. [66] Computer hardware contain dangerous chemicals such as lead, mercury, nickel, and cadmium. According to the EPA these e-wastes have a harmful effect on the environment unless they are disposed of properly.
After the "computer-on-a-chip" was commercialized, the cost to produce a computer system dropped dramatically. The arithmetic, logic, and control functions that previously occupied several costly circuit boards were now available in one integrated circuit which was very expensive to design but cheap to produce in large quantities.
Software limitations to usable physical RAM may be present. An operating system may only be designed to allocate a certain amount of memory, with upper address bits reserved to indicate designations such as I/O or supervisor mode or other security information. Or the operating system may rely on internal data structures with fixed limits for ...
Memory hierarchy affects performance in computer architectural design, algorithm predictions, and lower level programming constructs involving locality of reference. Designing for high performance requires considering the restrictions of the memory hierarchy, i.e. the size and capabilities of each component.
In computer architecture, Amdahl's law (or Amdahl's argument [1]) is a formula that shows how much faster a task can be completed when you add more resources to the system. The law can be stated as: "the overall performance improvement gained by optimizing a single part of a system is limited by the fraction of time that the improved part is ...
As the cost of computer power to the consumer falls, the cost for producers to fulfill Moore's law follows an opposite trend: R&D, manufacturing, and test costs have increased steadily with each new generation of chips. The cost of the tools, principally EUVL (Extreme ultraviolet lithography), used to manufacture chips doubles every 4 years. [44]