Computing

This article is about the activity involving computing machinery. For the magazines, see computing_(magazine) and compute!

Computing is any goal-oriented activity that requires, benefits from, or creates computing machinery.[1] It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both hardware and software. Computing encompasses scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological, and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering.[2]

The term computing is also synonymous with counting and calculating. In earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers.[3]

History

Main article: History of computing

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of computing.

The history of computing predates the history of computing hardware and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper (or for chalk and slate) with or without the aid of tables. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, though mathematical concepts necessary for computing existed before numeral systems. The earliest known tool for use in computation is the abacus, and it is thought to have been invented in Babylon circa between 2700 and 2300 BC. Abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today.

The first recorded proposal for using digital electronics in computing was the 1931 paper "The Use of Thyratrons for High Speed Automatic Counting of Physical Phenomena" by C. E. Wynn-Williams.. Claude Shannon's 1938 paper "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" then introduced the idea of using electronics for Boolean algebraic operations.

The concept of a field-effect transistor was proposed by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925 John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, while working under William Shockley at Bell Labs, built the first working transistor, the point-contact transistor, in 1947. In 1953, the University of Manchester built the first transistorized computer, the Manchester Baby. However, early junction transistors were relatively bulky devices that were difficult to mass-produce, which limited them to a number of specialised applications.[8]

In 1957, Frosch and Derick were able to manufacture the first silicon dioxide field effect transistors at Bell Labs, the first transistors in which drain and source were adjacent at the surface.[9] Subsequently, a team demonstrated a working MOSFET at Bell Labs 1960 The MOSFET made it possible to build high-density integrated circuits leading to what is known as the computer revolution[14] or microcomputer revolution.