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The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, [1] and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commercially available electronic general-purpose stored program digital computer. [a]
A broad range of industrial and consumer products use computers as control systems, including simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls, and factory devices like industrial robots. Computers are at the core of general-purpose devices such as personal computers and mobile devices such as smartphones.
Another track of development is to combine reconfigurable logic with a general-purpose CPU. In this scheme, a special computer language compiles fast-running subroutines into a bit-mask to configure the logic. Slower, or less-critical parts of the program can be run by sharing their time on the CPU.
These are computers where different people might log on at different times; unlike public computers, they would have usernames and passwords assigned on a long-term basis, with the files they see and the computer's settings adjusted to their particular account. Often the important data files will reside on a central file server, so a person ...
Some of the first computers that might be called "personal" were early minicomputers such as the LINC and PDP-8, and later on VAX and larger minicomputers from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Data General, Prime Computer, and others. They originated as peripheral processors for mainframe computers, taking on some routine tasks and freeing ...
Babbage also designed a general-purpose computer that was never built. Much of the design was incorporated into the earliest computers: punch cards for input and output, memory, an arithmetic unit analogous to central processing units, and even a primitive programming language similar to assembly language. [5]
A collection of computers and other devices connected by communications channels, e.g. by Ethernet or wireless networking. network interface controller. Also LAN card or network card. [6] network on a chip (NOC) A computer network on a single semiconductor chip, connecting processing elements, fixed-function hardware, or even memories and caches.
However, its paper card writer/reader was unreliable and the regenerative drum contact system was mechanical. The machine's special-purpose nature and lack of changeable, stored program distinguish it from modern computers. [92] Computers whose logic was primarily built using vacuum tubes are now known as first generation computers.