Computer - Miniaturization, Transistors, Chips

computer

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
Computing basics
- Analog computers
- Digital computers
  - Mainframe computer
  - Supercomputer
  - Minicomputer
  - Microcomputer
  - Laptop computer
  - Embedded processors
- Computer hardware
  - Central processing unit
  - Main memory
  - Secondary memory
  - Peripherals
    - Input devices
    - Output devices
    - Communication devices
    - Peripheral interfaces
  - Microprocessor integrated circuits
    - Design
    - Fabrication
    - Transistor size
    - Power consumption
  - Future CPU designs
    - Quantum computing
    - Molecular computing
- Operating systems
  - Role of operating systems
  - Modern types of operating systems
    - Multiuser systems
    - Thin systems
    - Reactive systems
  - Operating system design approaches
- Networking
  - Local area networks
  - Wide area networks
- Computer software
  - Business and personal software
  - Scientific and engineering software
  - Internet and collaborative software
  - Games and entertainment
History of computing
- Early history
  - Computer precursors
    - The abacus
    - Analog calculators: from Napier’s logarithms to the slide rule
    - Digital calculators: from the Calculating Clock to the Arithmometer
    - The Jacquard loom
  - The first computer
    - The Difference Engine
    - The Analytical Engine
    - Ada Lovelace, the first programmer
  - Early business machines
    - Herman Hollerith’s census tabulator
    - Other early business machine companies
- Invention of the modern computer
  - Early experiments
    - Vannevar Bush’s Differential Analyzer
    - Howard Aiken’s digital calculators
  - The Turing machine
  - Pioneering work
    - The Atanasoff-Berry Computer
    - The first computer network
    - Konrad Zuse
  - Developments during World War II
    - Colossus
    - The Z4
    - ENIAC
  - Toward the classical computer
    - Bigger brains
    - Von Neumann’s “Preliminary Discussion”
    - The first stored-program machines
    - Whirlwind
  - UNIVAC
- The age of Big Iron
  - Programming languages
    - Early computer language development
      Machine language
      Zuse’s Plankalkül
      Interpreters
      Compilers
    - FORTRAN, COBOL, and ALGOL
      Grace Murray Hopper
      IBM develops FORTRAN
      COBOL
      ALGOL
  - Operating systems
    - Control programs
    - The IBM 360
  - Time-sharing and minicomputers
    - Time-sharing from Project MAC to UNIX
    - Minicomputers
- The personal computer revolution
  - The microprocessor
    - Integrated circuits
    - The Intel 4004
  - The microcomputer
    - Early computer enthusiasts
    - The Altair
    - The hobby market expands
    - Early microcomputer software
      From Star Trek to Microsoft
      Application software
  - The personal computer
    - Commodore and Tandy enter the field
    - Apple Inc.
    - The graphical user interface
    - The IBM Personal Computer
    - The market expands
      PC clones
      Microsoft’s Windows operating system
    - Workstation computers
- Living in cyberspace
  - Ever smaller computers
    - Embedded systems
    - Handheld digital devices
  - One interconnected world
    - The Internet
    - E-commerce
    - Social networking
    - Ubiquitous computing

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The size of transistor elements continually decreases in order to pack more on a chip. In 2001 a transistor commonly had dimensions of 0.25 μm (or micrometer; 1 μm = 10⁻⁶ meter), and 0.1 μm was common in 2006. This latter size allowed 200 million transistors to be placed on a chip (rather than about 40 million in 2001). Because the wavelength of visible light is too great for adequate resolution at such a small scale, ultraviolet photolithography techniques are being developed. As sizes decrease further, electron beam or X-ray techniques will become necessary. Each such advance requires new fabrication ...(100 of 31391 words)

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