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In Reply to: RE: End of discussion posted by E-Stat on August 22, 2016 at 19:03:16
I posted the dictionary definition above. Here it is again.
noun
"a programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations. Mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones are some of the different types of computers. ""You agreed to this, (the above isn't my definition) and you said "supported I/O Devices" are necessary to make the ARM Processor & RAM board be a computer.
When one buys the board, they buy it without any I/O devices.I am happy to answer your question, - but I don't see why the history of tech, or computing has to do with meeting the criteria of how the dictionary defines the device. The ARM processor board comes with no I/O devices.
The ELIAC was a computer that calculated Artillery firing tables. I honestly don't know how the results were displayed, I always assumed that the computer used some sort of electromechanical solenoid that tapped out numbers that a person actually wrote down, or was set to "print" via some sort of teletype. The input would be the person throwing the switches/or numbers.
Calculators...
In any case, no history matters one fig on the basis of whether or not a device is, or is not a computer. A definition is a description of what a thing is to the exclusion of all other things.
"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"
Edits: 08/22/16Follow Ups:
Your overly pedantic and childish rant has entered the absurd.
I posted the dictionary definition above...
And you can find many more truer definitions when you Google the term. Begin with what you find at the top of the page. Then go here , here , here , here and here . Note the absence of the word "display" in all of those. Why is that? For starters, computers were computers for decades before anything was "diplayed". Video display terminals (VDT) weren't introduced until the late 1960s.
I honestly don't know how the results were displayed
Obviously, because they were not. They were sent to an external printer. Was the ENIAC (with an "N" for numeric) a computer without an attached printer?
Of course it was.
Today, modern data centers use large numbers of virtualized blade servers. The software development firm where I work uses that same approach. If you were to enter the equipment room, would you find a row of monitors and keyboards? No. Our IT staff accesses them remotely using RDP applications. Are these virtualized servers computers even if they don't display anything?
Of course they are.
The SolidRun iMX6 computer found in a µRendu uses the same approach as modern blade servers. Is that computer a computer?
Of course it is.
Presumably, you already have seen it's output:
In any case, no history matters one fig on the basis of whether or not a device is, or is not a computer.
Understanding the past is only required when you attempt to attach an artificial constraint that didn't even exist when computers were introduced.
The print out is what is meant as "display" in the definition. Anything that shows the results of the act of the computing.. Of course it means remote viewing on another computer etc..That is the beauty of the definition. The definition that I posted is great. Again, some of the BEST definitions are the simplest. But more importantly it is the "top of the page" definition that is found in dictionaries, and it is the "common" usage of the term. Is there a different standard for computers than other definitions? Would a more strident definition cover certain calculators, & other computing devices?
Sure, the ENIAC is a "type" of computer like the calculator is another type, and the Razberri pie is another type. In the ENIAC, there was an input and an output, The "display" can be a sequence of flashing lights, a solenoid Morse code clicker, a printer...
The word "display" has nothing to do with video monitors. It means "visibly/seeing the results" of the process of "computing."
The "better" definition of a chair doesn't require 4 legs as part of it. That would eliminate all those chairs that have one pedestal type leg.
I understand that you got frustrated. I would be grateful if you didn't let that turn into insults or an insulting tone. As stated in any definition, any particular computer can only be an EXAMPLE in the definition. A typewriter is NOT a computer, because it does not perform "mathematical or logical programmed operations." Even though it does have an input and an output.
This ARM board is not yet a computer, (it only has potential). It becomes a computer when you add "one of the many supported" I/O devices, - like John's board.
"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"
Edits: 08/23/16
But more importantly it is the "top of the page" definition that is found in dictionaries...
Not at the top of my page nor not with my unabridged Webster. :)
Of course it means remote viewing on another computer etc..
What then is this Sherlock?
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