
Computer | Definition, History, Operating Systems, & Facts
Aug 25, 2025 · A computer is a programmable device for processing, storing, and displaying information. Learn more in this article about modern digital electronic computers and their …
Computer - History, Technology, Innovation | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · The history of the solving of these problems is the history of the computer. That history is covered in this section, and links are provided to entries on many of the individuals …
Computer - Hobby, Expansion, Technology | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · Computer - Hobby, Expansion, Technology: Some entrepreneurs, particularly in the San Francisco Bay area, saw opportunities to build add-on devices, or peripherals, for the …
Computer - Technology, Invention, History | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · By the second decade of the 19th century, a number of ideas necessary for the invention of the computer were in the air. First, the potential benefits to science and industry of …
Computer - Home Use, Microprocessors, Software | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · Computer - Home Use, Microprocessors, Software: Before 1970, computers were big machines requiring thousands of separate transistors. They were operated by specialized …
Computer - Business Machines, Automation, Data Processing
Aug 25, 2025 · None of these machines was a computer, but they did advance the state of practical mechanical knowledge—knowledge that would be used in computers later. One of …
Computer - Time-sharing, Minicomputers, Multitasking | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · It was built by Fernando Corbato and Robert Jano at MIT, and it connected an IBM 709 computer with three users typing away at IBM Flexowriters. This was only a prototype …
What is a computer? - Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · A computer is a machine that can store and process information. Most computers rely on a binary system, which uses two variables, 0 and 1, to complete tasks such as storing …
Computer - Networking, Digitalization, Automation | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · What it took to turn a network of computers into something more was the idea of the hyperlink: computer code inside a document that would cause related documents to be …
Computer - Supercomputing, Processing, Speed | Britannica
Aug 25, 2025 · The physical elements of a computer, its hardware, are generally divided into the central processing unit (CPU), main memory (or random-access memory, RAM), and peripherals.