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If you asked me what the "basic parts of a computer are" my first intuition is to answer with the von Neumann architecture. I would not expect the general publi
by psanford 7y ago
If you asked me what the "basic parts of a computer are" my first intuition is to answer with the von Neumann architecture. I would not expect the general public to have that answer, but I would expect people with CS backgrounds and the companies building the machines that ken referenced in the article to think in terms of von Neumann.
- jolmg 7y agoWell, when I was taught "the basic parts of a computer", it was in a class that was teaching how to use a computer (how to type, what files are, different storage mediums, the different plugs, how to use the GUI, etc.). I was like 8 years old or so. I learned about von Neumann many years later.
- psanford 7y agoThe article is specifically talking about how the phrase "special register groups" has been picked up and included in the definition of a CPU in computer architecture text books over the past 60 years. Its clearly not trying to make any sort of statement about how we teach computers to elementary school children.
- jolmg 7y agoAt least to me it's not inconceivable that somewhere along the line of people writing definitions basing themselves on other definitions they see, that someone saw that people defined CPUs as including main storage and although it may or may not have seemed weird to them, they might have included it in their own definition, thereby mixing both meanings of CPU.
- bableka 7y agovon Neumann is advanced, not sure an 8-year-old can comprehend all of it...