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Computer
Contents
1Etymology
2History
o 2.1Pre-20th century
o 2.2First computing device
o 2.3Analog computers
o 2.4Digital computers
o 2.5Modern computers
o 2.6Mobile computers
3Types
o 3.1By architecture
o 3.2By size and form-factor
4Hardware
o 4.1History of computing hardware
o 4.2Other hardware topics
o 4.3Input devices
o 4.4Output devices
o 4.5Control unit
o 4.6Central processing unit (CPU)
o 4.7Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
o 4.8Memory
o 4.9Input/output (I/O)
o 4.10Multitasking
o 4.11Multiprocessing
5Software
o 5.1Languages
o 5.2Programs
6Networking and the Internet
7Unconventional computers
8Future
o 8.1Computer architecture paradigms
o 8.2Artificial intelligence
9Professions and organizations
10See also
11References
12Notes
13External links
Etymology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of the word "computer"
was in 1613 in a book called The Yong Mans Gleanings by English writer Richard
Braithwait: "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 with 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]