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- For the formal concept of computation, see computation.
Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical calculations. "Computing" has come to mean the operation and usage of computing machines, the electrical processes carried out within the computing hardware itself, and the theoretical concepts governing them (computer science).
The following definition of computing is given in the ACM report Computing As a Discipline:
The discipline of computing is the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information: their theory, analysis, design, efficiency, implementation, and application. The fundamental question underlying all the computing is 'What can be (efficiently) automated?'
Science and theory
- Computer science
- Theory of computation
- Computational models
- DBLP, as of February 2006, now lists over 725 000 bibliographic entries on computer science and several thousand links to the home pages of computer scientists
- Scientific computing
Hardware
See information processor for a high-level block diagram.
- Computer hardware
- Computer Hardware Design
- Computer network
- Computer system
- History of computing hardware
Instruction-level taxonomies
After the commoditization of memory, attention turned to optimizing CPU performance at the instruction level. Various methods of speeding up the fetch-execute cycle include:- designing instruction set architectures with simpler, faster instructions: RISC as opposed to CISC
- Superscalar instruction execution
- VLIW architectures, which make parallelism explicit
Software
History of computing
- History of computing hardware from the tally stick to the quantum computer
- Punch Card
- Unit record equipment
- IBM 700/7000 series
- IBM 1400 series
- System/360
- Early IBM disk storage
Business computing
- Accounting software
- Computer-aided design
- Computer-aided manufacturing
- Computer-assisted dispatch
- Customer relationship management
- Data warehouse
- Decision support system
- Electronic data processing
- Enterprise resource planning
- Geographic information system
- Management information system
- Material requirements planning
- Strategic enterprise management
- Supply chain management
- Product Lifecycle Management
- Utility Computing
Managed Service Provider, MSP
- Virtual IT Solution
Human factors
Computer security
- Cryptology - cryptography - information theory
- Cracking - demon dialing - Hacking - war dialing - war driving
- Social engineering - Dumpster diving
- Physical security - Black bag job
- Computer insecurity
- Computer surveillance
- defensive programming
- malware
- security engineering
Data
Numeric data
- integral data types - bit, byte, etc.
- real data types:
- Decimal
- Binary-coded decimal (BCD)
- Excess-3 BCD (XS-3)
- Biquinary-coded decimal
- representation: Binary - Octal - Decimal - Hexadecimal (hex)
- Computer mathematics - Computer numbering formats -
Character data
- storage: Character - String - Text - Plain text
- representation: ASCII - Unicode - Multibyte - EBCDIC (Widecharacter, Multicharacter) - Fieldata - Baudot
Other data topics
Mechatronics
Classes of computers
- Analog computer
- Calculator
- Desktop computer
- Desktop replacement computer
- Digital computer
- Embedded computer
- Home computer
- Laptop
- Mainframe
- Minicomputer
- Microcomputer
- Personal computer
- Portable computer
- Personal digital assistant (aka PDA, or Handheld computer)
- Server
- Supercomputer
- Tablet PC
- Video game console
- Workstation
Companies - current
- Apple Computer
- Avaya
- Dell
- Fujitsu
- Gateway Computers
- Groupe Bull
- Hewlett-Packard
- Hitachi, Ltd.
- IBM
- Microsoft
- NEC Corporation
- NetCB
- Novell
- Red Hat
- Silicon Graphics
- Sun Microsystems
- Unisys
Companies - historic
- Acorn, bought by Olivetti
- Bendix Corporation
- Burroughs, merged with UNIVAC to become Unisys
- Compaq, bought by Hewlett-Packard
- Control Data
- Cray
- Data General
- DEC, bought by Compaq, in turn bought by Hewlett-Packard
- Digital Research - a software company for the early microprocessor-based computers
- English Electric
- Ferranti
- General Electric, computer division bought by Honeywell, then Bull
- Honeywell, computer division bought by Bull and
- ICL
- Leo
- Lisp Machines, Inc.
- Marconi
- Nixdorf Computer, bought by Siemens
- Olivetti
- Osborne
- Packard Bell
- Raytheon
- Royal McBee
- RCA
- Scientific Data Systems, sold to Xerox
- Siemens
- Sinclair Research, created the ZX Spectrum, ZX80 and ZX81
- Symbolics
- UNIVAC, merged with Burroughs to become Unisys
- Varian
- Wang
Professional organizations
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- British Computer Society (BCS)
- Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)
- Association for Survey Computing (ASC)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in particular the IEEE Computer Society
- Institution of Electrical Engineers
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
Standards organizations and consortia
See also: Standardization
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Miscellaneous
"Computing"