The Digital Computer, Where Does It Go from Here

摘要

The modern digital computing system can range from a 100 tube device the size of a desk to a many thousand tube device weighing several tons. Some machines may perform 10,000 operations per second; others, only a few hundred. In common, however, they all exhibit when compared to a competing system staffed by people, a phenomenal record for freedom from error plus some measure of increased rate of production. The paper presents a short back ground of this new field of electronic computing machinery and briefly examines the characteristics of the modern machine, its applications, the difficulties of using it, and the limitations imposed on it by the present state of the electronic art. A forecast of probable future trends in application is given, together with a discussion of the expected advances in the technique and physical hardware and in the logical organization of such machines. (Author)