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Types of Computers

Computers come in many forms and sizes, with the capacity to perform a variety of applications and designed for use by either a single individual or by a large number of users. Once there were two basic types of computers, classified as analog and digital. The machines that we refer to today as computers are of the digital category and they function simply by comprehending and operating a binary system that uses the numbers 1 (on) and 0 (off). Their utility is notable, however, due to the amazing speed with which they can perform logical operations, making them of inestimable value to the users they serve who would be unable to match that efficiency without them.

Today’s categories of computers are more specialized forms of the digital computer. Examples include the microcomputer (what is more commonly known as the personal computer, designed for individual use either in the form of a desktop, laptop, handheld or palmtop), the server (an optimized computer designed to service a number of computers linked by a network), the mainframe (capable of handling large numbers of users and vast databases such as those of a corporation or university), and the supercomputer (highly expensive systems usually found in the form of computer clusters that are used by the military and scientific organizations due to their ability to perform the extremely intensive calculation work required for weather forecasting, molecular modeling and physical simulations.) But there is also another type of computer that is used in a more intangible way. This is the embedded computer, found in chips and crucial for the successful performance of anything from cell phones to jumbo jets.

Currently in development in universities throughout the world is the quantum computer, which shows great promise of breaking out of the binary mold of current digital computers. Quantum computers will work by harnessing the power of quantum states and will encode information as qubits.

Web Resources On Types of Computers

What are the different types of computers?
Computers and their applications

Book Resources On Types of Computers

Computer: A History of the Information Machine by Martin Campbell- Kelly, William Aspray
A History of Modern Computing by Paul E. Ceruzzi

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