PSYC 391 Chapter Notes -Central Processing Unit, Server Farm, Software

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 391
• Professor: Peter Tingling

Document Summary

First patent on digital computer was by eckert and mauchly ( eniac) Mainframes: the first commercial digital computers were large, room-sized devices. Included the central processing unit (cpu) and some short-term memory into a single silicon chip using integrated circuits( ics). Local area networks( lans) provided the ability to connect many personal computers together. Price and performance advances: it is continuously improving. ( moore"s law: 18 months the price of a given integrated circuit(ic) will be half its current price. All the main components of a modern computer ( processor, memory, hard drive or storage) have been getting smaller and costing less. Value of it can be measured not only in the power of the processor but also in the power of the network that can be accessed through the machine. Hardware: consists of electronic components and gadgets that input, process, output and store data according to instructions encoded in computer programs or software.