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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $13.50

Format:
Paperback
144 pp.
B/w illustrations, 111 mm x 174 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199586592

Publication date:
November 2011

Imprint: OUP UK


The Computer: A Very Short Introduction

Darrel Ince

Series : Very Short Introductions

Computers have changed so much since the room-filling, bulky magnetic tape running monsters of the mid 20th century. They now form a vital part of most people's lives. And they are more ubiquitous than might be thought - you may have more than 30 computers in your home: not just the desktop and laptop but think of the television, the fridge, the microwave. But what is the basic nature of the modern computer? How does it work? How has it been possible to squeeze so much power into increasingly small machines? And what will the next generations of computers look like?

In this Very Short Introduction, Darrel Ince looks at the basic concepts behind all computers; the changes in hardware and software that allowed computers to become so small and commonplace; the challenges produced by the computer revolution - especially whole new modes of cybercrime and security issues; the Internet and the advent of "cloud computing"; and the promise of whole new horizons opening up with quantum computing, and even computing using DNA.

Readership : General readers interested in learning about how the computer has developed and how it may develop over the next twenty years; ideal for anyone who uses a browser and accesses the Internet, but has no idea about how a computer works. Also of interest to students of computer science.

1. The naked computer
2. The small computer
3. The ubiquitous computer
4. The global computer
5. The insecure computer
6. The disruptive computer
7. The cloud computer
8. The next computer

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Darrel Ince is Professor of Computing at the Open University and the author of 25 books, four of them with OUP, including Software Engineering and Dictionary of the Internet.

Special Features

  • Looks at how the computer has affected the world that we live in, describing the technologies involved and the applications that have emerged.
  • Explains the basic architecture of the computer and how it works.
  • Considers a range of uses; from the effect of computers in the workplace and the growing power and roles of global computer networks to the future miniaturization of computers and new forms such as quantum and DNA computers.
  • Explores the limits of computing and what the future holds.
  • Part of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - over three million copies sold worldwide.