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> I feel that the majority of time working with computers is not actually computing numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication) but LOGISTICS. I think this
by laxd 3y ago
> I feel that the majority of time working with computers is not actually computing numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication) but LOGISTICS.
I think this was figured out in the 50's, when IBM started making mainframes for businesses - made for data processing and management rather than crunching numbers which was the focus of machines made at universities.
Also, in norwegian and I guess other european languages. We call them, directly translated, "data machines" rather than computers.
- yurishimo 3y agoIn Dutch the word is "computer" also, but English is the bastard child between Dutch and French while Dutch is already a bit of a bastard child from German. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- laxd 3y agoI was confident that at least the germans would back me here, after all they got words like taschenrechner. But according to my dictionary they call it computer. Danish seems like 30% english nowadays, so I can't count on them. At least swedes call it "dator" which I guess is in the right spirit.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- john61 3y agoThere is the German word "Rechner" for Computer but nowadays it is seldom used.
- prennert 3y agoIt's the same origin, just different base language. It's about computation, not data, in both English and German. It's interesting that Norwegian and Swedish are putting the emphasis on data instead.