Artificial intelligence

A computer will solve problems in exactly the way they are programmed to, without regard to efficiency nor alternative solutions nor possible shortcuts nor possible errors in the code. Computer programs which learn and adapt are part of the emerging field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

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Hardware

The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects. Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and mice are all hardware.

History of computing hardware
First Generation (Mechanical/Electromechanical) Calculators Antikythera mechanism, Difference engine, Norden bombsight
Programmable Devices Jacquard loom, Analytical engine, Harvard Mark I, Z3
Second Generation (Vacuum Tubes) Calculators Atanasoff–Berry Computer, IBM 604, UNIVAC 60, UNIVAC 120
Programmable Devices Colossus, ENIAC, Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, EDSAC, Manchester Mark 1, Ferranti Pegasus, Ferranti Mercury, CSIRAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 702, IBM 650, Z22
Third Generation (Discrete transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI Integrated circuits) Mainframes IBM 7090, IBM 7080, IBM System/360, BUNCH
Minicomputer PDP-8, PDP-11, IBM System/32, IBM System/36
Fourth Generation (VLSI integrated circuits) Minicomputer VAX, IBM System i
4-bit microcomputer Intel 4004, Intel 4040
8-bit microcomputer Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Motorola 6809, MOS Technology 6502, Zilog Z80
16-bit microcomputer Intel 8088, Zilog Z8000, WDC 65816/65802
32-bit microcomputer Intel 80386, Pentium, Motorola 68000, ARM architecture
64-bit microcomputer[36] Alpha, MIPS, PA-RISC, PowerPC, SPARC, x86-64
Embedded computer Intel 8048, Intel 8051
Personal computer Desktop computer, Home computer, Laptop computer, Personal digital assistant (PDA), Portable computer, Tablet PC, Wearable computer
Theoretical/experimental Quantum computer, Chemical computer, DNA computing, Optical computer, Spintronics based computer
Other Hardware Topics
Peripheral device (Input/output) Input Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick, Image scanner, Webcam, Graphics tablet, Microphone
Output Monitor, Printer, Loudspeaker
Both Floppy disk drive, Hard disk drive, Optical disc drive, Teleprinter
Computer busses Short range RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB
Long range (Computer networking) Ethernet, ATM, FDDI

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Software

Software refers to parts of the computer which do not have a material form, such as programs, data, protocols, etc. When software is stored in hardware that cannot easily be modified (such as BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible), it is sometimes called "firmware" to indicate that it falls into an uncertain area somewhere between hardware and software.

Computer software
Operating system Unix and BSD UNIX System V, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS), IRIX, List of BSD operating systems
GNU/Linux List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux distributions
Microsoft Windows Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
DOS 86-DOS (QDOS), PC-DOS, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS
Mac OS Mac OS classic, Mac OS X
Embedded and real-time List of embedded operating systems
Experimental Amoeba, Oberon/Bluebottle, Plan 9 from Bell Labs
Library Multimedia DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL
Programming library C standard library, Standard Template Library
Data Protocol TCP/IP, Kermit, FTP, HTTP, SMTP
File format HTML, XML, JPEG, MPEG, PNG
User interface Graphical user interface (WIMP) Microsoft Windows, GNOME, KDE, QNX Photon, CDE, GEM, Aqua
Text-based user interface Command-line interface, Text user interface
Application Office suite Word processing, Desktop publishing, Presentation program, Database management system, Scheduling & Time management, Spreadsheet, Accounting software
Internet Access Browser, E-mail client, Web server, Mail transfer agent, Instant messaging
Design and manufacturing Computer-aided design, Computer-aided manufacturing, Plant management, Robotic manufacturing, Supply chain management
Graphics Raster graphics editor, Vector graphics editor, 3D modeler, Animation editor, 3D computer graphics, Video editing, Image processing
Audio Digital audio editor, Audio playback, Mixing, Audio synthesis, Computer music
Software engineering Compiler, Assembler, Interpreter, Debugger, Text editor, Integrated development environment, Software performance analysis, Revision control, Software configuration management
Educational Edutainment, Educational game, Serious game, Flight simulator
Games Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Simulation, First-person shooter, Platform, Massively multiplayer, Interactive fiction
Misc Artificial intelligence, Antivirus software, Malware scanner, Installer/Package management systems, File manager

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Programming languages

Programming languages provide various ways of specifying programs for computers to run. Unlike natural languages, programming languages are designed to permit no ambiguity and to be concise. They are purely written languages and are often difficult to read aloud. They are generally either translated into machine code by a compiler or an assembler before being run, or translated directly at run time by an interpreter. Sometimes programs are executed by a hybrid method of the two techniques. There are thousands of different programming languages—some intended to be general purpose, others useful only for highly specialized applications.

Programming languages
Lists of programming languages Timeline of programming languages, List of programming languages by category, Generational list of programming languages, List of programming languages, Non-English-based programming languages
Commonly used Assembly languages ARM, MIPS, x86
Commonly used high-level programming languages Ada, BASIC, C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, Java, Lisp, Pascal, Object Pascal
Commonly used Scripting languages Bourne script, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl

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Professions and organizations

As the use of computers has spread throughout society, there are an increasing number of careers involving computers.

Computer-related professions
Hardware-related Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Computer engineering, Telecommunications engineering, Optical engineering, Nanoengineering
Software-related Computer science, Desktop publishing, Human–computer interaction, Information technology, Information systems, Computational science, Software engineering, Video game industry, Web design
The need for computers to work well together and to be able to exchange information has spawned the need for many standards organizations, clubs and societies of both a formal and informal nature.
Organizations
Standards groups ANSI, IEC, IEEE, IETF, ISO, W3C
Professional Societies ACM, AIS, IET, IFIP, BCS
Free/Open source software groups Free Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Apache Software Foundation

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