40 Chapter 3 Computer Hardware
Computer technology has transformed our lives for over 50 years. First introduced to
alleviate the tedious work of calculating long data tables for the military, we now find
computers recording and processing every aspect of our daily activity. The modern
computer is no longer just a numeric calculator; it is a multimedia device that displays
images, sound, and video through operating systems and applications that give the user
unprecedented control over information. Visionaries such as Alan Turing and Vannevar
Bush articulated the direction for such computers, but it was the development of micro-
electronics that brought multimedia to our desktops. Powerful computing devices make
multimedia applications possible. ...