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Revision as of 15:31, 8 November 2011

The ENIAC

Computers and information processing play an enormous role in today's society, and are typically viewed as a modern invention. However, the roots of computers predate the use of electrical devices. Analog computing dates back several centuries; primitive computing devices were used as early as the ancient Greeks and Romans, the most known complex of which being the Antikythera mechanism. Later devices such as the castle clock (1206), slide rule (c. 1624) and Babbage's Difference Engine (1822) are other examples of early mechanical analog computers. An electrically powered mechanical computer, the Argo Clock, would appear in the first World War used for firing control. Analog computers used to calculate ballistics would be crucial to the outcome of World War II. Also out of the second World War came the ENIAC, which was widely regarded as the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. With the invention of the transistor and integrated circuit, computers would become much smaller and eventually affordable for the average consumer. Today computers are present in nearly every aspect of everyday life.

IEEE plays a huge role in the development of the computing field. The IEEE Computer Society is by far the largest society within IEEE, and other societies such as the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, IEEE Information Theory Society and the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society actively publish technical literature in journals relevant to the field of computing.

Subcategories

• Computational and artificial intelligence - Covers aspects dealing with artificial intelligence from a computational standpoint
• Computer applications - Various practical applications of computing such as computer aided design and telecommunications community
• Computer architecture - The inner workings of computers, including data structures, system buses and distributed computing
• Computer classes - Different kinds of computers, such as calculators, analog and digital computers.
• Computer networks - Topics dealing with networking, such as IP networks, multicasting and WAN.
• Computer science - The mathematical, algorithmic and scientific elements of computing are included here, such as algorithm analysis, programming and graph theory.
• Computing - Various types of computing such as high performance, mobile and optical computing
• Data systems - Topics dealing with systems that process data
• Digital systems - Systems like metropolitan area networks and token networks are covered under this category
• Distributed computing - All aspects of distributed computing including client-server systems, peer to peer computing and file servers are included in this category
• Image processing - Topics relating to processing of computer images
• Information theory - The processing of information via the use of applied mathematics and electrical engineering
• Memory - Computer memory such as analog memory, flash memory and read only memory are included
• Multitasking - Multitasking is the act of performing two or more tasks at the same time
• Open systems - Computer systems which provide a platform of interoperability
• Pattern recognition - Methods of using computers to recognize patterns such as character recognition, data mining and text recognition
• Pervasive computing - A ubiquitous computing model in which information processing is integrated with common objects
• Software & software engineering - Topics dealing with various elements of software and its design
• System recovery - Various aspects of system recovery and backup such as core dumps and debugging