Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

498 results found

personal computer

(Encyclopedia)personal computer (PC), small but powerful computer primarily used in an office or home without the need to be connected to a larger computer. PCs evolved after the development of the microprocessor m...

virus, computer

(Encyclopedia)virus, computer: see computer virus. ...

ALGOL, computer language

(Encyclopedia)ALGOL: see programming language. ...

computer-aided design

(Encyclopedia)computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), form of automation that helps designers prepare drawings, specifications, parts lists, and other design-related elements using...

computer-aided manufacturing

(Encyclopedia)computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), a form of automation where computers communicate work instructions directly to the manufacturing machinery. The technology evolved from the numerically controlled m...

pen-based computer

(Encyclopedia)pen-based computer, computer that uses software to enable it to accept handwriting or drawing as a form of input. A stylus, which may contain special electronic circuitry, may be used to write on the ...

Ada, computer language

(Encyclopedia)Ada: see programming language.

C, computer language

(Encyclopedia)C: see programming language.

Turing test

(Encyclopedia)Turing test, a procedure to test whether a computer is capable of humanlike thought. As proposed (1950) by the British mathematician Alan Turing, a person (the interrogator) sits with a teletype machi...

Atanasoff, John Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Atanasoff, John Vincent, 1903–1995, inventor of the digital computer, b. Hamilton, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Florida (B.S., 1925), Iowa State College (M.S., 1926), Univ. of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1930). While...