Computer hardware: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:16, 12 August 2025

Revision as of 15:16, 12 August 2025

Line 5:

[[File:PDP-11-M7270.jpg|thumb|upright|[[PDP-11]] CPU board]]

'''Computer hardware''' includes the physical parts of a [[computer]], such as the [[central processing unit]] (CPU), [[random-access memory]] (RAM), [[motherboard]], [[computer data storage]], [[graphics card]], [[sound card]], and [[computer case]]. It includes external devices such as a [[Computer monitor|monitor]], [[Computer mouse|mouse]], [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]], and [[Computer speakers|speakers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Parts of computer |url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/parts-of-a-computer |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=5 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127145607/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Parts-of-a-computer |archive-date=27 November 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilster |first=Ron |url=http://archive.org/details/pchardwarebeginn00gils |title=PC hardware : a beginner's guide |date=2001 |publisher=New York; London : McGraw-Hill |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-212990-8}}</ref>

By contrast, [[software]] is a set of written instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Hardware derived its name from the fact it is ''[[Hardness|hard]]'' or rigid with respect to changes, whereas software is ''soft'' because it is easy to change.

Line 12 ⟶ 13:

==History==

{{further|History of computing}}

Early computing devices were more complicated than the ancient [[abacus]] date to the seventeenth century. French mathematician [[Blaise Pascal]] designed a gear-based device that could add and subtract, selling around 50 models. The [[stepped reckoner]] was invented by [[Gottfried Leibniz]] by 1676, which could also divide and multiply. Due to the limitations of contemporary fabrication and design flaws, Leibniz' reckoner was not very functional, but similar devices ([[Leibniz wheel]]) remained in use into the 1970s.{{sfn|Blum|2011|p=13–14}} In the 19th century, Englishman [[Charles Babbage]] invented the [[difference engine]], a mechanical device to calculate [[polynomial]]s for astronomical purposes.{{sfn|BlujhjkhjkhjkBlum|2011|p=14}} Babbage also designed a general-purpose computer that was never built. Much of the design was incorporated into the earliest computers: [[punch card]]s for input and output, [[memory (computing)|memory]], an arithmetic unit analogous to [[central processing unit]]s, and even a primitive [[programming language]] similar to [[assembly language]].{{sfn|Blum|2011|p=15}}

ory (computing)|memory]], an arithmetic unit analogous to [[central processing unit]]s, and even a primitive [[programming language]] similar to [[assembly language]].{{sfn|Blum|2011|p=15}}

In 1936, [[Alan Turing]] developed the concept of the [[universal Turing machine]] to model any type of computer, demonstrating that no machine could solve the [[Entscheidungsproblem|decision problem]].