Abstract
Not all that many years ago, the only places where one would be able to see a computer would have been the central offices of large organisations. The computer, costing at least £500000, would have been housed in a large, temperature controlled room. The computer would have been run by a team of people, called operators, working on a shift system which provided 24-hour operation. Users of the computer would have a terminal, consisting of a TV screen and a keyboard, on their desk and they would use the facilities of the computer by means of on-screen forms and menus. These computers were called main frame computers and in fact there are still many of these in operation today. Today, almost every home has a computer either in the form of a Personal Computer (PC) or games console and the cost is well under £1000.
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© 2004 B.S. Chalk, A.T. Carter and R.W. Hind
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Chalk, B.S., Carter, A.T., Hind, R.W. (2004). Introduction. In: Computer Organisation and Architecture. Grassroots. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-00060-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-00060-5_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-0164-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-00060-5
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