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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 ...
Human computers were used to compile 18th and 19th century Western European mathematical tables, for example those for trigonometry and logarithms.Although these tables were most often known by the names of the principal mathematician involved in the project, such tables were often in fact the work of an army of unknown and unsung computers.
The storage of computer programs is key to the operation of modern computers and is the connection between computer hardware and software. [7] Even prior to this, in the mid-19th century mathematician George Boole invented Boolean algebra —a system of logic where each proposition is either true or false.
Computer simulation, one of the main cross-computing methodologies. Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. [1] It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both hardware and software.
The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including computer hardware , software , electronics, semiconductors ...
The second-generation computer architectures initially varied; they included character-based decimal computers, sign-magnitude decimal computers with a 10-digit word, sign-magnitude binary computers, and ones' complement binary computers, although Philco, RCA, and Honeywell, for example, had some computers that were character-based binary ...
A personal computer, often referred to as a PC or simply computer, is a computer designed for individual use. [1] It is typically used for tasks such as word processing, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and gaming. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or technician.
The term computer remained one that referred to mostly women (now seen as "operator") until 1945, after which it took on the modern definition of machinery it presently holds. [ 44 ] The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the first electronic general-purpose computer, announced to the public in 1946.