test.txt

In 1933 RCA Communications, New York introduced the first "telex" service.[1][not in citation given][2] The first messages over RCA transatlantic circuits went between New York and London. The first year of operation saw seven million words or 300,000 radiograms transmitted.[citation needed] Radio has long sent alphanumeric messages via radiotelegraphy.[3] The University of Hawaii began using radio to send digital information as early as 1971, using ALOHAnet.[citation needed]

Friedhelm Hillebrand conceptualised SMS in 1984 while working for Deutsche Telekom. Sitting at a typewriter at home, Hillebrand typed out random sentences and counted every letter, number, punctuation, and space. Almost every time, the messages contained fewer than 160 characters, thus giving the basis for the limit one could type via text messaging.[4] With Bernard Ghillebaert of France Télécom, he developed a proposal for the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo.[5] The first technical solution evolved in a GSM subgroup under the leadership of Finn Trosby. It was further developed under the leadership of Kevin Holley and Ian Harris (see Short Message Service).[6]

SMS forms an integral part of SS7 (Signalling System No. 7).[7] Here[where?] it is a "state" with a 160 character data, coded in the ITU-T "T.56" text format, that has "sequence lead in" to determine different language codes, and can have special character codes that allows (for example) sending simple graphs as text. This was part of ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and since GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile) is based on this, made its way to the mobile phone. Messages could be sent and received on ISDN phones, and these can send SMS to any GSM phone. The possibility of doing something is one thing, implementing it another, but systems existed from 1988 that sent SMS messages to mobile phones[citation needed] (compare ND-NOTIS).

SMS messaging was used for the first time on 3 December 1992,[citation needed] when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old test engineer for Sema Group in the UK[8] (now Airwide Solutions),[9] used a personal computer to send the text message "Merry Christmas" via the Vodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis[10][11] who was at a party in Newbury, Berkshire which had been organised to celebrate the event.

Modern SMS text messaging is understood[by whom?] to be messaging from one mobile phone to another mobile phone. Radiolinja became the first network to offer a commercial person-to-person SMS text messaging service in 1994. When Radiolinja's domestic competitor, Telecom Finland (now part of TeliaSonera) also launched SMS text messaging in 1995 and the two networks offered cross-network SMS functionality, Finland became the first nation where SMS text messaging was offered on a competitive as well as on a commercial basis.

GSM was not allowed[by whom?] in the United States and the radio frequencies were blocked and awarded to US "Carriers" to use US technology. Hence there is no "development" in the US in mobile messaging service. The GSM in the US had to use a frequency allocated for private communication services (PCS) – what the ITU frequency régime had blocked for DECT – Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications – 1000-feet range picocell, but survived.

American Personal Communications (APC), the first GSM carrier in America, provided the first text-messaging service in the United States. Sprint Telecommunications Venture, a partnership of Sprint Corp. and three large cable-TV companies, owned 49 percent of APC. The Sprint venture was the largest single buyer at a government-run spectrum auction that raised $7.7 billion in 2005 for PCS licenses. APC operated under the brand name of Sprint Spectrum and launched its service on November 15, 1995 in Washington, D.C. and in Baltimore, Maryland. Vice President Al Gore in Washington, D.C. made the initial phone-call to launch the network, calling Mayor Kurt Schmoke in Baltimore.[12]

Initial growth of text messaging[where?] was slow, with customers in 1995 sending on average only 0.4 message per GSM customer per month.[13] One factor in the slow take-up of SMS was that operators were slow to set up charging systems, especially for prepaid subscribers, and to eliminate billing fraud, which was possible by changing SMSC settings on individual handsets to use the SMSCs of other operators.[citation needed] Over time, this issue was eliminated by switch-billing instead of billing at the SMSC and by new features within SMSCs to allow blocking of foreign mobile users sending messages through it.[citation needed]

SMS is available on a wide range of networks, including 3G networks. However, not all text-messaging systems use SMS; some notable alternate implementations of the concept include J-Phone's SkyMail and NTT Docomo's Short Mail, both in Japan. E-mail messaging from phones, as popularized by NTT Docomo's i-mode and the RIM BlackBerry, also typically use standard mail protocols such as SMTP over TCP/IP.[14]

As of 2007 text messaging was the most widely used mobile data service, with 74% of all mobile phone users worldwide, or 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion phone subscribers, at the end of 2007 being active users of the Short Message Service. In countries such as Finland, Sweden and Norway, over 85% of the population use SMS. The European average is about 80%, and North America is rapidly catching up with over 60% active users of SMS by end of 2008.[citation needed] The largest average usage of the service by mobile phone subscribers occurs in the Philippines, with an average of 27 texts sent per day per subscriber.[citation needed]

Uses[edit]

An English text messaging interface on a mobile phone
Text messaging is most often used between private mobile phone users, as a substitute for voice calls in situations where voice communication is impossible or undesirable.

Some text messages such as SMS can also be used for the remote controlling of appliances. It is widely used in domotics systems. Some amateurs have also built own systems to control (some of) their appliances via SMS.[15][16] Other methods such as group messaging, which was patented in 2012 by the GM of Andrew Ferry, Devin Peterson, Justin Cowart, Ian Ainsworth, Patrick Messinger, Jacob Delk, Jack Grande, Austin Hughes, Brendan Blake, and Brooks Brasher are used to involve more than two people into a text messaging conversation[citation needed].

A Flash SMS is a type[17] of text message that appears directly on the main screen without user interaction and is not automatically stored in the inbox. It can be useful in cases such as an emergency (e.g. fire alarm) or confidentiality (e.g. one-time password).[18]

Short message services are developing very rapidly throughout the world.

SMS is particularly popular in Europe, Asia (excluding Japan; see below), United States, Australia and New Zealand and is also gaining influence in Africa. Popularity has grown to a sufficient extent that the term texting (used as a verb meaning the act of mobile phone users sending short messages back and forth) has entered the common lexicon. Young Asians consider SMS as the most popular mobile phone application.[19] Fifty percent of American teens send fifty text messages or more per day, making it their most frequent form of communication.[20]

In China, SMS is very popular and has brought service providers significant profit (18 billion short messages were sent in 2001).[21] It is a very influential and powerful tool in the Philippines, where the average user sends 10–12 text messages a day. The Philippines alone sends on average over 1 billion text messages a day,[22] more than the annual average SMS volume of the countries in Europe, and even China and India. SMS is hugely popular in India, where youngsters often exchange lots of text messages, and companies provide alerts, infotainment, news, cricket scores updates, railway/airline booking, mobile billing, and banking services on SMS.

Texting became popular in the Philippines in 1998. In 2001, text messaging played an important role in deposing former Philippine president Joseph Estrada. Similarly, in 2008, text messaging played a primary role in the implication of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in an SMS sex scandal.[23]

Short messages are particularly popular among young urbanites. In many markets, the service is comparatively cheap. For example, in Australia, a message typically costs between A$0.20 and $0.25 to send (some prepaid services charge $0.01 between their own phones), compared with a voice call, which costs somewhere between $0.40 and $2.00 per minute (commonly charged in half-minute blocks). The service is enormously profitable to the service providers. At a typical length of only 190 bytes (including protocol overhead), more than 350 of these messages per minute can be transmitted at the same data rate as a usual voice call (9 kbit/s). There are also free SMS services available, which are often sponsored and allow sending SMS from a PC connected to the internet.

Mobile service providers in New Zealand, such as Vodafone and Telecom NZ, provide up to 2000 SMS messages for NZ$10 per month. Users on these plans send on average 1500 SMS messages every month.

Text messaging has become so popular that advertising agencies and advertisers are now jumping into the text messaging business. Services that provide bulk text message sending are also becoming a popular way for clubs, associations, and advertisers to reach a group of opt-in subscribers quickly.

Research suggests that Internet-based mobile messaging will have grown to equal the popularity of SMS in 2013, with nearly 10 trillion messages being sent through each technology.[24][25] Services such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Viber have led to a decline in the use of SMS in parts of the world.

Applications[edit]
Microblogging[edit]
Main article: Microblogging
Of many texting trends, a system known as microblogging has surfaced, which consists of a minituarised blog, inspired mainly by people's tendency to jot down babble and post it. They consist of sites like Twitter and Chinese equivalent Weibo (微博) which are very popular.

Emergency services[edit]
In some countries, text messages can be used to contact emergency services. In the UK, text messages can be used to call emergency services only after registering with the emergency SMS service. This service is primarily aimed at people who, by reason of disability, are unable to make a voice call. It has recently been promoted as a means for walkers and climbers to call[26][27] emergency services from areas where a voice call is not possible due to low signal strength.

In the US, there is a move to require both traditional operators and Over-the-top messaging providers to support texting to 911.[28]

In Asia, SMS is used for tsunami warnings and in Europe, SMS is used to inform individuals of imminent disaster. Since the location of a handset is known, systems can alert everyone in an area that the events has made impossible to pass through e.g. an avalanche.

Reminders of hospital appointments[edit]
SMS messages are used in some countries as reminders of hospital appointments. Missed outpatient clinic appointments cost the National Health Service (England) more than £600 million ($980 million) a year[29] SMS messages are thought to be more cost effective, swifter to deliver, and more likely to receive a faster response than letters. A recent study by Sims and colleagues (2012) examined the outcomes of 24,709 outpatient appointments scheduled in mental health services in South-East London. The study found that SMS message reminders could reduce the number of missed psychiatric appointments by 25–28%, representing a potential national yearly saving of over £150 million.[30]

Commercial uses[edit]

A multimedia message displayed on a mobile phone
Short codes[edit]
Short codes are special telephone numbers, shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from mobile phones or fixed phones. There are two types of short codes: dialing and messaging.

Text messaging gateway providers[edit]
SMS gateway providers facilitate the SMS traffic between businesses and mobile subscribers, being mainly responsible for carrying mission-critical messages, SMS for enterprises, content delivery and entertainment services involving SMS, e.g., TV voting. Considering SMS messaging performance and cost, as well as the level of text messaging services, SMS gateway providers can be classified as resellers of the text messaging capability of another provider's SMSC or offering the text messaging capability as an operator of their own SMSC with SS7.[31][32]

SMS messaging gateway providers can provide gateway-to-mobile (Mobile Terminated–MT) services. Some suppliers can also supply mobile-to-gateway (text-in or Mobile Originated/MO services). Many operate text-in services on shortcodes or mobile number ranges, whereas others use lower-cost geographic text-in numbers.[33]

Premium content[edit]

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SMS is widely used for delivering digital content, such as news alerts, financial information, pictures, GIFs, logos and ringtones. Such messages are also known as premium-rated short messages (PSMS).[34] The subscribers are charged extra for receiving this premium content, and the amount is typically divided between the mobile network operator and the value added service provider (VASP), either through revenue share or a fixed transport fee. Services like 82ASK and Any Question Answered have used the PSMS model to enable rapid response to mobile consumers' questions, using on-call teams of experts and researchers.

Premium short messages are increasingly being used for "real-world" services. For example, some vending machines now allow payment by sending a premium-rated short message, so that the cost of the item bought is added to the user's phone bill or subtracted from the user's prepaid credits. Recently, premium messaging companies have come under fire from consumer groups due to a large number of consumers racking up huge phone bills.

A new type of free-premium or hybrid-premium content has emerged with the launch of text-service websites. These sites allow registered users to receive free text messages when items they are interested in go on sale, or when new items are introduced.

An alternative to inbound SMS is based on long numbers (international mobile number format, e.g., +44 7624 805000, or geographic numbers that can handle voice and SMS, e.g., 01133203040[33]), which can be used in place of short codes or premium-rated short messages for SMS reception in several applications, such as TV voting, product promotions, and campaigns. Long numbers are internationally available, as well as enabling businesses to have their own number, rather than short codes, which are usually shared across a lot of brands. Additionally, Long numbers are non-premium inbound numbers.

In business[edit]
The use of text messaging for business purposes has grown significantly during the mid-2000s. As companies seek competitive advantages, many employees turn to new technology, collaborative applications, and real-time messaging such as SMS, instant messaging, and mobile communications. Some practical uses of text messaging include the use of SMS for confirming delivery or other tasks, for instant communication between a service provider and a client (e.g., stock broker and investor), and for sending alerts. Several universities have implemented a system of texting students and faculties campus alerts. One such example is Penn State.[35]

As text messaging has proliferated in business, so too have regulations governing its use. One regulation specifically governing the use of text messaging in financial-services firms engaged in stocks, equities, and securities trading is Regulatory Notice 07-59, Supervision of Electronic Communications, December 2007, issued to member firms by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In 07-59, FINRA noted that "electronic communications", "e-mail", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging.[36] Industry has had to develop new technology to allow companies to archive their employees' text messages.

Security, confidentiality, reliability and speed of SMS are among the most important guarantees industries such as financial services, energy and commodities trading, health care and enterprises demand in their mission-critical procedures. One way to guarantee such a quality of text messaging lies in introducing SLAs (Service Level Agreement), which are common in IT contracts. By providing measurable SLAs, corporations can define reliability parameters and set up a high quality of their services.[37] Just one of many SMS applications that has proven highly popular and successful in the financial-services industry is mobile receipts. In January 2009, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) published the Mobile Banking Overview for financial institutions in which it discussed the advantages and disadvantages of mobile channel platforms such as Short Message Services (SMS), Mobile Web, Mobile Client Applications, SMS with Mobile Web and Secure SMS.[38]

Mobile interaction services are an alternative way of using SMS in business communications with greater certainty.

Typical business-to-business applications are telematics and Machine-to-Machine, in which two applications automatically communicate with each other. Incident alerts are also common, and staff communications are also another use for B2B scenarios.

Businesses can use SMS for time-critical alerts, updates and reminders, mobile campaigns, content and entertainment applications.

Mobile interaction can also be used for consumer-to-business interactions, such as media voting and competitions, and for consumer-to-consumer interaction, for example, with mobile social networking, chatting and dating.

Online SMS Services[edit]
There are a growing number of websites that allow users to send free SMS messages online. The services are generally provided free of charge.

Some websites provide free SMS for promoting premium business packages.[citation needed]

Worldwide use[edit]
Europe[edit]

SMS is used to send "welcome" messages to mobile phones roaming between countries. Here, T-Mobile welcomes a Proximus subscriber to the UK, and BASE welcomes an Orange UK customer to Belgium.
Europe follows next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of the use of SMS. In 2003, an average of 16 billion messages were sent each month. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month on average in 2003. In Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, the figure was around 35–40 SMS messages per month. In each of these countries, the cost of sending an SMS message varies from €0.04–0.23, depending on the payment plan (with many contractual plans including all or a number of texts for free). In the United Kingdom, text messages are charged between £0.05–0.12. Curiously, France has not taken to SMS in the same way, sending just under 20 messages on average per user per month. France has the same GSM technology as other European countries, so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions.

In the Republic of Ireland, a total of 1.5 billion messages are sent every quarter, on average 114 messages per person per month.[39] In the United Kingdom over 1 billion text messages are sent every week.[40]

The Eurovision Song Contest organized the first pan-European SMS voting in 2002, as a part of the voting system (there was also a voting over traditional phone lines). In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest organized the biggest televoting ever (with SMS and phone voting).

During roaming, that is, when a user connects to another network in different country from his own, the prices may be higher, but in July 2009, EU legislation went into effect limiting this price to €0.11.[41]

Finland[edit]

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In addition to SMS voting, a different phenomenon has risen in more mobile-phone-saturated countries. In Finland, some TV channels began "SMS chat", which involved sending short messages to a phone number, and the messages would be shown on TV a while later. Chats are always moderated, which prevents sending harmful material to the channel. The craze soon became popular and evolved into games, at first slow-paced quiz and strategy games. After a while, faster-paced games were designed for television and SMS control. Games tend to involve registering one's nickname and, after that, sending short messages for controlling a character on screen. Messages usually cost 0.05 to 0.86 Euro apiece, and games can require the player to send dozens of messages. In December 2003, a Finnish TV channel, MTV3, put a Santa Claus character on air reading aloud messages sent in by viewers. On 12 March 2004, the first entirely "interactive" TV channel, VIISI, began operation in Finland. That did not last long, as SBS Finland Oy took over the channel and turned it into a music channel named The Voice in November 2004.

In 2006, the Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen, made front-page news when he allegedly broke up with his girlfriend with a text message.

In 2007, the first book written solely in text messages, Viimeiset viestit (Last Messages), was released by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala. It is about a business executive who travels throughout Europe and India.

Mobile-service providers in Finland offer contracts in which one can send 1000 text messages a month for the price of €10.

United States[edit]
In the United States, text messaging is very popular; as reported by CTIA in December 2009, the 286 million US subscribers sent 152.7 billion text messages per month, for an average of 534 messages per subscriber per month.[42] The Pew Research Center found in May 2010 that 72% of U.S. adult cellphone users send and receive text messages.[43]

In the U.S., SMS is often charged both at the sender and at the destination, but, unlike phone calls, it cannot be rejected or dismissed. The reasons for lower uptake than other countries are varied—many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, push to talk services offer the instant connectivity of SMS and are typically unlimited. Furthermore, the integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network text messaging has only been available recently. Some providers originally charged extra to enable use of text, further reducing its usefulness and appeal. In the third quarter of 2006, at least 12 billion text messages crossed AT&T's network, up almost 15 percent from the preceding quarter.

In the United States, while texting is widely popular among the ages of 13–22 years old, it is increasing among adults and business users as well. The age that a child receives his/her first cell phone has also decreased, making text messaging a very popular way of communication for all ages. The number of texts being sent in the United States has gone up over the years as the price has gone down to an average of $0.10 per text sent and received.

In order to convince more customers to buy unlimited text messaging plans, some major cellphone providers have recently increased the price to send and receive text messages from $.15 to $.20 per message.[44][45] This is over $1,300 per megabyte.[46] Many providers offer unlimited plans, which can result in a lower rate per text given sufficient volume.

Japan[edit]
Japan was among the first countries to adopt short messages widely, with pioneering non-GSM services including J-Phone's SkyMail and NTT Docomo's Short Mail. Japanese adolescents first began text messaging, because it was a cheaper form of communication than the other available forms. Thus, Japanese theorists created the selective interpersonal relationship theory, claiming that mobile phones can change social networks among young people (classified as 13- to 30-year-olds). They theorized this age group had extensive but low-quality relationships with friends, and mobile-phone usage may facilitate improvement in the quality of their relationships. They concluded this age group prefers "selective interpersonal relationships in which they maintain particular, partial, but rich relations, depending on the situation."[47][48] The same studies showed participants rated friendships in which they communicated face-to-face and through text messaging as being more intimate than those in which they communicated solely face-to-face. This indicates participants make new relationships with face-to-face communication at an early stage, but use text messaging to increase their contact later on. It is also interesting to note that as the relationships between participants grew more intimate, the frequency of text messaging also increased.

However, short messaging has been largely rendered obsolete by the prevalence of mobile Internet e-mail, which can be sent to and received from any e-mail address, mobile or otherwise. That said, while usually presented to the user simply as a uniform "mail" service (and most users are unaware of the distinction), the operators may still internally transmit the content as short messages, especially if the destination is on the same network.

China[edit]
Text messaging is popular and cheap in China. About 700 billion messages were sent in 2007. Text message spam is also a problem in China. In 2007, 353.8 billion spam messages were sent, up 93% from the previous year. It is about 12.44 messages per week per person.

It is routine that the People's Republic of China government monitor text messages across the country for illegal content.[49]

Among Chinese migrant workers with little formal education, it is common to refer to SMS manuals when text messaging. These manuals are published as cheap, handy, smaller-than-pocket-size booklets that offer diverse linguistic phrases to utilize as messages.[50]

Philippines[edit]
In 1995, Short Message Service was introduced as a promotional gimmick but soon became very popular. In 1998, Philippine mobile-service providers launched SMS as part of their services, with initial television marketing campaigns targeting hearing-impaired users. The service was initially free with subscriptions, but Filipinos quickly exploited the feature to communicate for free instead of using voice calls, which they would be charged for. After Telcos caught on to this, they soon started charging for SMS. The current rate across networks is 1 peso per SMS (about US$0.023). Though users were now charged for SMS, it remained very cheap, about one-tenth of the price of a voice call. This low price led to about five million Filipinos owning a cell phone by 2001.[51]

Because of the highly social nature of Philippine culture and the affordability of SMS compared to voice calls, SMS usage shot up, and texting quickly became a popular tool for Filipinos to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. Filipinos used texting not only for social but also for political purposes, as it allowed the Filipinos to express their opinions on current events and political issues.[52] As a result, it became a powerful tool for Filipinos in promoting or denouncing certain issues and was a key factor during the 2001 EDSA II revolution, which overthrew then-President Joseph Estrada, who was eventually found guilty of corruption.

According to 2009 stats, there are about 72 million mobile-service subscriptions (roughly 80% of the Filipino population), with around 1.39 billion SMS messages being sent in the Philippines daily.[53][54] Because of the large amount of text messages being sent by Filipinos, the Philippines became known as the "text capital of the world" during the late 1990s until the early 2000s.

New Zealand[edit]
There are three mobile network companies in New Zealand.
Spark NZ, (formally Telecom NZ), was the first telecommunication company in New Zealand. In 2011, Spark was broken into two companies, with Chorus Ltd taking the landline infrastructure and Spark NZ providing services including over their mobile network.
Vodafone NZ acquired mobile network provider Bellsouth New Zealand in 1998 and has 2.32 million customers as at July 2013[55][56] Vodafone launched the first Text messaging service in 1999[57] and has introduced innovative TXT services like Safe TXT and CallMe[58]
2degrees Mobile Ltd launched in August 2009.
In 2005, around 85% of the adult population had a mobile phone.[59] In general, texting is more popular than making phone calls, as it is viewed as less intrusive and therefore more polite.

Africa[edit]
Text messaging will become a key revenue driver for mobile network operators in Africa over the next couple of years.[60] Today, text messaging is already slowly gaining influence in the African market. One such person used text messaging to spread the word about HIV and AIDS.[61] Also, in September 2009, a multi-country campaign in Africa used text messaging to expose stock-outs of essential medicines at public health facilities and put pressure on governments to address the issue.[62]

Social impact[edit]
The advent of text messaging made possible new forms of interaction that were not possible before. A person may now carry out a conversation with another user without the constraint of being expected to reply within a short amount of time and without needing to set time aside to engage in conversation. Mobile phone users can maintain communication during situations in which a voice call is impractical, impossible, or unacceptable. Texting has provided a venue for participatory culture, allowing viewers to vote in online and TV polls, as well as receive information on the move. Texting can also bring people together and create a sense of community through "Smart Mobs" or "Net War", which create "people power".[51]

Effect on language[edit]

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Main article: SMS language

This sticker seen in Paris satirizes the popularity of communication in SMS shorthand. In French: "Is that you? / It's me! / Do you love me? / Shut up!"
The small phone keypad has caused a number of adaptations of spelling: as in the phrase "txt msg", "HMU", or use of CamelCase, such as in "ThisIsVeryLame". To avoid the even more limited message lengths allowed when using Cyrillic or Greek letters, speakers of languages written in those alphabets often use the Latin alphabet for their own language. In certain languages utilizing diacritic marks, such as Polish, SMS technology created an entire new variant of written language: characters normally written with diacritic marks (e.g., ą, ę, ś, ż in Polish) are now being written without them (as a, e, s, z) to enable using cell phones without Polish script or to save space in Unicode messages.

Historically, this language developed out of shorthand used in bulletin board systems and later in Internet chat rooms, where users would abbreviate some words to allow a response to be typed more quickly, though the amount of time saved was often inconsequential. However, this became much more pronounced in SMS, where mobile phone users do not generally have access to a QWERTY keyboard as computer users did, more effort is required to type each character, and there is a limit on the number of characters that may be sent.

In Mandarin Chinese, numbers that sound similar to words are used in place of those words. For example, the numbers 520 in Chinese (wǔ èr líng) sound like the words for "I love you" (wǒ ài nǐ). The sequence 748 (qī sì bā) sounds like the curse "go to hell" (qù sǐ ba).

Predictive text software, which attempts to guess words (Tegic's T9 as well as iTap) or letters (Eatoni's LetterWise) reduces the labour of time-consuming input. This makes abbreviations not only less necessary, but slower to type than regular words that are in the software's dictionary; however, it does make the messages longer, often requiring the text message to be sent in multiple parts and, therefore, costing more to send.

The use of text messaging has changed the way that people talk and write essays, some[63] believing it to be harmful. Children today are receiving cell phones at an age as young as eight years old; more than 35 percent of children in second and third grade have their own mobile phone. Because of this, the texting language is integrated into the way that students think from an earlier age than ever before.[64] In November 2006, New Zealand Qualifications Authority approved the move that allowed students of secondary schools to use mobile phone text language in the end-of-the-year-exam papers.[65] Highly publicized reports, beginning in 2002, of the use of text language in school assignments caused some to become concerned that the quality of written communication is on the decline,[33] and other reports claim that teachers and professors are beginning to have a hard time controlling the problem.[33] However, the notion that text language is widespread or harmful is refuted by research from linguistic experts.[66]

An article in The New Yorker explores how text messaging has anglicized some of the world's languages. The use of diacritic marks is dropped in languages such as French, as well as symbols in Ethiopian languages. In his book, Txtng: the Gr8 Db8, David Crystal says that texters in all eleven languages use "lol", "u", "brb", and "gr8", all English-based shorthands. The use of pictograms and logograms in texts are present in every language. They shorten words by using symbols to represent the word or symbols whose name sounds like a syllable of the word such as in 2day or b4. This is commonly used in other languages as well. Crystal gives some examples in several languages such as Italian sei, "six", is used for sei, "you are". Example: dv 6 = dove sei ("where are you") and French sept "seven" = cassette ("casette"). There is also the use of numeral sequences, substituting for several syllables of a word and creating whole phrases using numerals. For example, in French, a12c4 can be said as à un de ces quatres, "see you around" (literally: "to one of these four [days]"). An example of using symbols in texting and borrowing from English is the use of @. Whenever it is used in texting, its intended use is with the English pronunciation. Crystal gives the example of the Welsh use of @ in @F, pronounced ataf, meaning "to me". In character-based languages such as Chinese and Japanese, numbers are assigned syllables based on the shortened form of the pronunciation of the number, sometimes the English pronunciation of the number. In this way, numbers alone can be used to communicate whole passages, such as in Chinese, "8807701314520" can be literally translated as "Hug hug you, kiss kiss you, whole life, whole life I love you." English influences worldwide texting in variation but still in combination with the individual properties of languages.[67] American popular culture is also recognized in shorthand. For example, Homer Simpson translates into: ~(_8^(|).[68] Crystal also suggests that texting has led to more creativity in the English language, giving people opportunities to create their own slang, emoticons, abbreviations, acronyms, etc. The feeling of individualism and freedom excites people, making texting increasingly more popular and a more efficient way to communicate.[69] Crystal has also been quoted in saying that "In a logical world, text messaging should not have survived." But text messaging didn't just come out of nowhere. It originally began as a messaging system that would send out emergency information. But it gained immediate popularity with the public. What followed is the SMS we see today, which is a very quick and efficient way of sharing information from person to person.

Work by Richard Ling has shown that texting has a gendered dimension and it plays into the development of teen identity.[70] In addition we text to a very small number of other persons. For most people, half of their texts go to 3 – 5 other people.[71]

Research by Rosen et al. (2009)[72] found that those young adults who used more language-based textisms (shortcuts such as LOL, 2nite, etc.) in daily writing produced worse formal writing than those young adults who used fewer linguistic textisms in daily writing. However, the exact opposite was true for informal writing. This suggests that perhaps the act of using textisms to shorten communication words leads young adults to produce more informal writing, which may then help them to be better "informal" writers.

Due to text messaging teens are writing more, and some teachers see that this comfort with language can be harnessed to make better writers. This new form of communication is encouraging students to put their thoughts and feelings into words and this can be used as a bridge to getting them interested in formal writing.[according to whom?]

Joan H. Lee in her thesis What does txting do 2 language: The influences of exposure to messaging and print media on acceptability constraints (2011)[73] associates exposure to text messaging with more rigid acceptability constraints. The thesis suggests that more exposure to the colloquial, Generation Text language of text messaging contributes to being less accepting of words. In contrast, Lee found that students with more exposure to traditional print media (such as books) were more accepting of both real and fictitious words. The thesis, which garnered international media attention, also presents a literature review of academic literature on the effects of text messaging on language.

Texting has also been shown to have had no effect or some positive effects on literacy. According to Plester, Wood and Joshi and their research done on the study of 88 British 10–12-year-old children and their knowledge of text message. Their research showed that "textisms are essentially forms of phonetic abbreviation" that show that "to produce and read such abbreviations arguably requires a level of phonological awareness (and orthographic awareness) in the child concerned."[74]

Texting while driving[edit]

A driver with attention divided between a mobile phone and the road ahead
Main article: Texting while driving
Texting while driving leads to increased distraction behind the wheel. In 2006, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group conducted a survey with more than 900 teens from over 26 high schools nationwide. The results showed that 87% of students found texting to be "very" or "extremely" distracting.[75] Then later on, a study by AAA discovered that 46% of teens admitted to being distracted behind the wheel due to texting. One example of distraction behind the wheel is the 2008 Chatsworth train collision, which killed 25 passengers. Upon closer investigation, it became known that the engineer of that train had sent 45 text messages while operating.

A 2009 experiment with Car and Driver editor Eddie Alterman that took place at a deserted air strip showed that texting while driving had a bigger negative impact on driver safety than being drunk. While being legally drunk added four feet to Alterman's stopping distance while going 70 mph, reading an e-mail added 36 feet, and sending a text added 70 feet.[76]

In 2009, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released the results of an 18-month study that involved placing cameras inside the cabs of more than 100 long-haul trucks, which recorded the drivers over a combined driving distance of three million miles. The study concluded that when the drivers were texting, their risk of crashing was 23 times greater than when not texting.[77]

Texting while walking (Wexting)[edit]
Due to the proliferation of smart phone applications performed while walking, "texting while walking" or "wexting" is the increasing practice of people being transfixed to their mobile device without looking in any direction but their personal screen while walking. First coined reference in 2015 in New York from Rentrak's chief client officer[78] when discussing time spent with media and various media usage metrics.

Text messaging among pedestrians leads to increased cognitive distraction and reduced situation awareness, and may lead to increases in unsafe behavior leading to injury and death.[79][80] Recent studies conducted on cell phone use while walking showed that cell phone users recall fewer objects when conversing,[81] walk slower,[79][82] have altered gait[80][83] and are more unsafe when crossing a street.[81] Additionally, some gait analyses showed that stance phase during overstepping motion, longitudinal and lateral deviation increased during cell phone operation but step length and clearance did not;[79][83] a different analysis did find increased step clearance and reduced step length.[80]

It is unclear which processes may be impacted by distraction, which types of distraction may impact which cognitive processes, and how individual differences may impact the influence of distraction.[84] Lamberg and Muratori believe that engaging in a dual-task, such as texting while walking, may interfere with working memory and result in walking errors.[79] Their study demonstrated that participants engaged in text messaging were unable to maintain walking speed or retain accurate spatial information, suggesting an inability to adequately divide their attention between two tasks. According to them, the addition of texting while walking with vision occluded increases the demands placed on the working memory system resulting in gait disruptions.[79]

Texting on a phone distracts participants, even when the texting task used is a relatively simple one.[82] Stavrinos et al. investigated the impact of other cognitive tasks, such as engaging in conversations or cognitive tasks on a phone, and found that participants actually have reduced visual awareness.[85] This finding was supported by Licence et al., who conducted a similar study.[80] For example, texting pedestrians may fail to notice unusual events in their environment, such as a unicycling clown.[86] These findings suggest that tasks that require the allocation of cognitive resources can have an impact on visual attention even when the task itself does not require the participants to avert their eyes from their environment. The act of texting itself seems to impair pedestrians' visual awareness. It appears that the distraction produced by texting is a combination of both a cognitive and visual perceptual distraction.[82]

A study conducted by Licence et al. supported some of these findings, particularly that those who text while walking significantly alter their gait. However, they also found that the gait pattern texters adopted was slower and more "protective", and consequently did not increase obstacle contact or tripping in a typical pedestrian context.[80]

Sexting[edit]
Main article: Sexting
Sexting is slang for the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive content between mobile devices using SMS.[87] A genre of texting, it contains either text, images, or video that is intended to be sexually arousing.

A portmanteau of sex and texting, sexting was reported as early as 2005 in The Sunday Telegraph Magazine,[88] constituting a trend in the creative use of SMS to excite another with alluring messages throughout the day.[89]

Although sexting often takes place consensually between two people, it can also occur against the wishes of a person who is the subject of the content.[87] A number of instances have been reported in which the recipients of sexting have shared the content of the messages with others, with less intimate intentions, such as to impress their friends or embarrass their sender. Celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, and Adrienne Bailon have been victims of such abuses of sexting.[90]

A 2008 survey by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com[91] suggested a trend of sexting and other seductive online content being readily shared between teens. One in five teen girls surveyed (22 percent)—and 11 percent of teen girls aged 13–16 years old—say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves. One-third (33 percent) of teen boys and one-quarter (25 percent) of teen girls say they were shown private nude or semi-nude images. According to the survey, sexually suggestive messages (text, e-mail, and instant messaging) were even more common than images, with 39 percent of teens having sent or posted such messages, and half of teens (50 percent) having received them.

More recently, a 2012 study that has received wide international media attention was conducted at the University of Utah Department of Psychology by Donald S. Strassberg, Ryan Kelly McKinnon, Michael Sustaíta and Jordan Rullo. They surveyed 606 teenagers ages 14–18 and found that nearly 20 percent of the students said they had sent a sexually explicit image of themselves via cell phone, and nearly twice as many said that they had received a sexually explicit picture. Of those receiving such a picture, over 25 percent indicated that they had forwarded it to others. In addition, of those who had sent a sexually explicit picture, over a third had done so despite believing that there could be serious legal and other consequences if they got caught. Students who had sent a picture by cell phone were more likely than others to find the activity acceptable. The authors conclude: "These results argue for educational efforts such as cell phone safety assemblies, awareness days, integration into class curriculum and teacher training, designed to raise awareness about the potential consequences of sexting among young people."[92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102]

Sexting becomes a legal issue when teens (under 18) are involved, because any nude photos they may send of themselves would put the recipients in possession of child pornography.[103]

In schools[edit]

Two girls text during class at school
Text messaging has impacted students academically by creating an easier way to cheat on exams. In December 2002, a dozen students were caught cheating on an accounting exam through the use of text messages on their mobile phones.[104] In December 2002, Hitotsubashi University in Japan failed 26 students for receiving e-mailed exam answers on their mobile phones.[105]

The number of students caught using mobile phones to cheat on exams has increased significantly in recent years. According to Okada (2005), most Japanese mobile phones can send and receive long text messages of between 250 and 3000 characters with graphics, video, audio, and Web links.[106] In England, 287 school and college students were excluded from exams in 2004 for using mobile phones during exams.[107] Some teachers and professors claim that advanced texting features can lead to students cheating on exams.[108]

It is now clear that students in high school and college classrooms are using their mobile phones to send and receive irrelevant texts during lectures at high rates. Further, published research has established that students who text during college lectures have impaired memories of the lecture material compared to students who do not.[109] For example, in one study, the number of irrelevant text messages sent and received during a lecture covering the topic of developmental psychology was related to students' memory of the lecture.[110]

Bullying[edit]
Main article: Cyberbullying
Spreading rumors and gossip by text is also an issue of great concern. Text "bullying" of this sort can cause distress and damage reputations. Harding and Rosenberg (2005) argue that the urge to forward text messages seems difficult to resist, describing text messages as "loaded weapons".[111]

Influence on perceptions of the student[edit]
When a student sends an email that contains phonetic abbreviations and acronyms that are common in text messaging (e.g., "gr8" instead of "great"), it can influence how that student is subsequently evaluated. In a study by Lewandowski and Harrington (2006), participants read a student's email sent to a professor that either contained text-messaging abbreviations (gr8, How R U?) or parallel text in standard English (great, How are you?), and then provided impressions of the sender.[112] Students who used abbreviations in their email were perceived as having a less favorable personality and as putting forth less effort on an essay they submitted along with the email. Specifically, abbreviation users were seen as less intelligent, responsible, motivated, studious, dependable, and hard-working. These findings suggest that the nature of a student's email communication can influence how others perceive the student and their work.

Law and crime[edit]
Not only has text messaging had an impact in schools, but also on police forces around the world. A British company developed, in June 2003, a program called Fortress SMS for Symbian phones. This program used 128 bit AES encryption to protect SMS messages.[113] Police have also retrieved deleted messages to incriminate cult member Sara Svensson after confessing to murdering the wife of pastor Helge Fossmo and having shot his lover's husband Daniel Linde in Knutby, Sweden. They traced the messages, because she said she had acted anonymously on text forwards received in her phone.[114]

Police in Tilburg, Netherlands, started an SMS alert program, in which they would send a message to ask citizens to be vigilant when a burglar was on the loose or a child was missing in their neighborhood. Several thieves have been caught and children found using the SMS Alerts. The service has been expanding rapidly to other cities.[115]

A Malaysian–Australian company has released its Crypto for Criminals multi-layer SMS security program.[116]

Boston police are now turning to text messaging to help stop crime. The Boston Police Department has established a program in which one can text in a crime tip anonymously to help stop crimes.[117]

A Malaysian court had ruled that it is legal to divorce through the use of text messaging, as long as one is clear and unequivocal.[118]

Social unrest[edit]
Texting has been used on a number of occasions with the result of the gathering of large aggressive crowds. SMS messaging drew a crowd to Cronulla Beach in Sydney resulting in the 2005 Cronulla riots. Not only were text messages circulating in the Sydney area, but in other states as well (Daily Telegraph). The volume of such text messages and e-mails also increased in the wake of the riot.[119] The crowd of 5000 at stages became violent, attacking certain ethnic groups. Sutherland Shire Mayor directly blamed heavily circulated SMS messages for the unrest.[120] NSW police considered whether people could be charged over the texting.[121] Retaliatory attacks also used SMS.[122]

The Narre Warren Incident, when a group of 500 party goers attended a party at Narre Warren in Melbourne, Australia, and rioted in January 2008, also was a response of communication being spread by SMS and Myspace.[123] Following the incident, the Police Commissioner wrote an open letter asking young people to be aware of the power of SMS and the Internet.[124] In Hong Kong, government officials find that text messaging helps socially because they can send multiple texts to the community. Officials say it is an easy way of contacting community or individuals for meetings or events.[125]

Texting was used to coordinate gatherings during the 2009 Iranian election protests.

Between 2009 and 2012 the U.S. secretly created and funded a Twitter-like service for Cubans called ZunZuneo, initially based on mobile phone text message service and later with an internet interface. The service was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development through its Office of Transition Initiatives, who utiliized contractors and front companies in the Cayman Islands, Spain and Ireland. A longer term objective was to organize "smart mobs" that might "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society." A database about the subscribers was created, including gender, age, and "political tendencies". At its peak ZunZuneo had 40,000 Cuban users, but the service closed as financially unsustainable when U.S. funding was stopped.[126][127]

Texting in politics[edit]

A text message that (he says) promises 500 Libyan dinars ($400) to anyone who "makes noise" in support of Gaddafi in the coming days

A recruitment ban in French SMS language: «Slt koi29 on é jamé 2tro @ s batre pour la P. ;-)» = «Salut! Quoi de neuf? On n'est jamais de trop à se battre pour la Paix!»
Text messaging has had a major impact on the political world. American campaigns find that text messaging is a much easier, cheaper way of getting to the voters than the door-to-door approach.[128] Mexico's president-elect Felipe Calderón launched millions of text messages in the days immediately preceding his narrow win over Andres Manuel Lopez Obradór.[129] In January 2001, Joseph Estrada was forced to resign from the post of president of the Philippines. The popular campaign against him was widely reported to have been co-ordinated with SMS chain letters.[129] A massive texting campaign was credited with boosting youth turnout in Spain's 2004 parliamentary elections.[129] In 2008, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his Chief of Staff at the time became entangled in a sex scandal stemming from the exchange of over 14,000 text messages that eventually led to his forced resignation, conviction of perjury, and other charges.[23]

Text messaging has been used to turn down other political leaders. During the 2004 U.S. Democratic and Republican National Conventions, protesters used an SMS-based organizing tool called TXTmob to get to opponents.[130] In the last day before the 2004 presidential elections in Romania, a message against Adrian Năstase was largely circulated, thus breaking the laws that prohibited campaigning that day.

Text messaging has helped politics by promoting campaigns.

Furthermore, on 20 January 2001, President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines became the first head of state in history to lose power to a smart mob.[51] More than one million Manila residents assembled at the site of the 1986 People Power peaceful demonstrations that has toppled the Marcos regime. These people have organized themselves and coordinated their actions through text messaging. They were able to bring down a government without having to use any weapons or violence. Through text messaging, their plans and ideas were communicated to others and successfully implemented. Also, this move encouraged the military to withdraw their support from the regime, and as a result, the Estrada government fell.[51] People were able to converge and unite with the use of their cell phones. "The rapid assembly of the anti-Estrada crowd was a hallmark of early smart mob technology, and the millions of text messages exchanged by the demonstrators in 2001 was, by all accounts, a key to the crowds esprit de corps."[51]

Use in healthcare[edit]

Some health organizations manage text messaging services to help people avoid smoking
Text messaging is a rapidly growing trend in Healthcare.[when?] "One survey found that 73% of physicians text other physicians about work- similar to the overall percentage of the population that texts."[citation needed] A 2006 study of reminder messages sent to children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus showed favorable changes in adherence to treatment.[131]

A risk is that these physicians could be violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Where messages could be saved to a phone indefinitely, patient information could be subject to theft or loss, and could be seen by other unauthorized persons. The HIPAA privacy rule requires that any text message involving a medical decision must be available for the patient to access, meaning that any texts that are not documented in an EMR system could be a HIPAA violation.[132][133]

Medical concerns[edit]
Main article: BlackBerry thumb
The excessive use of the thumb for pressing keys on mobile devices has led to a high rate of a form of repetitive strain injury termed "BlackBerry thumb". (Although this refers to strain developed on older Blackberry devices, which had a scroll wheel on the side of the phone.)

An inflammation of the tendons in the thumb caused by constant text-messaging is also called text-messager's thumb, or texting tenosynovitis.[134]

Texting has also been linked as a secondary source in numerous traffic collisions, in which police investigations of mobile phone records have found that many drivers have lost control of their cars while attempting to send or retrieve a text message. Increasing cases of Internet addiction are now also being linked to text messaging, as mobile phones are now more likely to have e-mail and Web capabilities to complement the ability to text.

Texting etiquette[edit]
Texting etiquette refers to what is considered appropriate texting behavior. These expectations may concern different areas, such as the context in which a text was sent and received/read, who each participant was with when the participant sent or received/read a text message or what constitutes impolite text messages.[135]

At the website of The Emily Post Institute, the topic of texting has spurred several articles with the "do's and dont's" regarding the new form of communication. One example from the site is: "Keep your message brief. No one wants to have an entire conversation with you by texting when you could just call him or her instead."[136] Another example is: "Don't use all Caps. Typing a text message in all capital letters will appear as though you are shouting at the recipient, and should be avoided."

Expectations for etiquette may differ depending on various factors. For example, expectations for appropriate behavior have been found to differ markedly between the U.S. and India.[135] Another example is generational differences. In The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman note that younger Americans often do not consider it rude to answer their cell or begin texting in the middle of a face-to-face conversation with someone else, while older people, less used to the behavior and the accompanying lack of eye contact or attention, find this to be disruptive and ill-mannered.[citation needed]

With regard to texting in the workplace, Plantronics studied how we communicate at work and found that 58% of US knowledge workers have increased the use of text messaging for work in the past five years. The same study found that 33% of knowledge workers felt text messaging was critical or very important to success and productivity at work.[137]

Challenges[edit]
Text message spam[edit]
Further information: Mobile phone spam
In 2002, an increasing trend towards spamming mobile phone users through SMS prompted cellular-service carriers to take steps against the practice, before it became a widespread problem. No major spamming incidents involving SMS had been reported as of March 2007, but the existence of mobile phone spam[138] has been noted by industry watchdogs including Consumer Reports magazine and the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN). In 2005, UCAN brought a case against Sprint for spamming its customers and charging $0.10 per text message.[139] The case was settled in 2006 with Sprint agreeing not to send customers Sprint advertisements via SMS.[140]

SMS expert Acision (formerly LogicaCMG Telecoms) reported a new type of SMS malice at the end of 2006, noting the first instances of SMiShing (a cousin to e-mail phishing scams). In SMiShing, users receive SMS messages posing to be from a company, enticing users to phone premium-rate numbers or reply with personal information. Similar concerns were reported by PhonepayPlus, a consumer watchdog in the United Kingdom, in 2012.[141]

Pricing concerns[edit]
Concerns have been voiced[142] over the excessive cost of off-plan text messaging in the United States. AT&T Mobility, along with most other service providers, charges texters 20 cents per message if they do not have a messaging plan or if they have exceeded their allotted number of texts. Given that an SMS message is at most 160 bytes in size, this cost scales to a cost of $1,310[142] per megabyte sent via text message. This is in sharp contrast with the price of unlimited data plans offered by the same carriers, which allow the transmission of hundreds of megabytes of data for monthly prices of about $15 to $45 in addition to a voice plan. As a comparison, a one-minute phone call uses up the same amount of network capacity as 600 text messages,[143] meaning that if the same cost-per-traffic formula were applied to phone calls, cell phone calls would cost $120 per minute. With service providers gaining more customers and expanding their capacity, their overhead costs should be decreasing, not increasing.

In 2005, text messaging generated nearly 70 billion dollars in revenue, as reported by Gartner,industry analysts, three times as much as Hollywood box office sales in 2005. World figures showed that over a trillion text messages were sent in 2005.[144]

Although major cellphone providers deny any collusion, fees for out-of-package text messages have increased, doubling from 10 to 20 cents in the United States between 2007 and 2008 alone.[145] On 16 July 2009, Senate hearings were held to look into any breach of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[146] The same trend is visible in other countries, though increasingly widespread flatrate plans, for example in Germany, do make text messaging easier, text messages sent abroad still result in higher costs.

Increasing competition[edit]
While text messaging is still a growing market, traditional SMS are becoming increasingly challenged by alternative messaging services which are available on smartphones with data connections. These services are much cheaper and offer more functionality like exchanging of multimedia content (e.g. photos, videos or audio notes) and group messaging. Especially in western countries some of these services attract more and more users.[147]

Security concerns[edit]
Consumer SMS should not be used for confidential communication. The contents of common SMS messages are known to the network operator's systems and personnel. Therefore, consumer SMS is not an appropriate technology for secure communications.[148]

To address this issue, many companies use an SMS gateway provider based on SS7 connectivity to route the messages. The advantage of this international termination model is the ability to route data directly through SS7, which gives the provider visibility of the complete path of the SMS. This means SMS messages can be sent directly to and from recipients without having to go through the SMS-C of other mobile operators. This approach reduces the number of mobile operators that handle the message; however, it should not be considered as an end-to-end secure communication, as the content of the message is exposed to the SMS gateway provider.

An alternative approach is to use end-to-end security software that runs on both the sending and receiving device, where the original text message is transmitted in encrypted form as an consumer SMS. By using key rotation, the encrypted text messages stored under data retention laws at the network operator cannot be decrypted even if one of the devices is compromised. A problem with this approach is that communicating devices needs to run compatible software.

Failure rates without backward notification can be high between carriers.[citation needed]. International texting can be unreliable depending on the country of origin, destination and respective operators (US: "carriers"). Differences in the character sets used for coding can cause a text message sent from one country to another to become unreadable.

Text messaging in popular culture[edit]
Records and competition[edit]
The Guinness Book of World Records has a world record for text messaging, currently held by Sonja Kristiansen of Norway. Kristiansen keyed in the official text message, as established by Guinness, in 37.28 seconds.[149] The message is, "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality, they seldom attack a human."[149] In 2005, the record was held by a 24-year-old Scottish man, Craig Crosbie, who completed the same message in 48 seconds, beating the previous time by 19 seconds.[150]

The Book of Alternative Records lists Chris Young of Salem, Oregon, as the world-record holder for the fastest 160-character text message where the contents of the message are not provided ahead of time. His record of 62.3 seconds was set on 23 May 2007.[151]

Elliot Nicholls of Dunedin, New Zealand, currently holds the world record for the fastest blindfolded text messaging. A record of a 160-letter text in 45 seconds while blindfolded was set on 17 November 2007, beating the old record of 1-minute 26 seconds set by an Italian in September 2006.[152]

Ohio native Andrew Acklin is credited with the world record for most text messages sent or received in a single month, with 200,052. His accomplishments were first in the World Records Academy and later followed up by Ripley's Believe It Or Not 2010: Seeing Is Believing. He has been acknowledged by The Universal Records Database for the most text messages in a single month; however, this has since been broken twice and now is listed as 566607 messages by Mr. Fred Lindgren.[153]

In January 2010, LG Electronics sponsored an international competition, the LG Mobile World Cup, to determine the fastest pair of texters. The winners were a team from South Korea, Ha Mok-min and Bae Yeong-ho.[154]

On 6 April 2011, SKH Apps released an iPhone app, iTextFast, to allow consumers to test their texting speed and practice the paragraph used by Guinness Book of World Records. The current best time listed on Game Center for that paragraph is 34.65 seconds.[155]

Morse code[edit]
A few competitions have been held between expert Morse code operators and expert SMS users.[156] Several mobile phones have Morse code ring tones and alert messages. For example, many Nokia mobile phones have an option to beep "S M S" in Morse code when it receives a short message. Some of these phones could also play the Nokia slogan "Connecting people" in Morse code as a message tone.[157] There are third-party applications available for some mobile phones that allow Morse input for short messages.[158][159][160]

Tattle texting[edit]
"Tattle texting" can mean either of two different texting trends:

Arena security[edit]
Many sports arenas now offer a number where patrons can text report security concerns, like drunk or unruly fans, or safety issues like spills.[161][162] These programs have been praised by patrons and security personnel as more effective than traditional methods. For instance, the patron doesn't need to leave his seat and miss the event in order to report something important. Also, disruptive fans can be reported with relative anonymity. "Text Tattling" also gives security personnel a useful tool to prioritize messages. For instance, a single complaint in one section about an unruly fan can be addressed when convenient, while multiple complaints by several different patrons can be acted upon immediately.

A feature on some smart cars[edit]
In this context "tattle texting" refers to an automatic text sent by the computer in an automobile, because a preset condition was met.[citation needed] The most common use for this is for parents to receive texts from the car their child is driving. Employers can also use the service to monitor their corporate vehicles. The technology is still new and (currently) only available on a few car models.

Common conditions that can be chosen to send a text are:

Speeding With the use of gps, stored maps, and speed limit information, the onboard computer can determine if the driver is exceeding the current speed limit.
Range Parents/employers can set a maximum range from a fixed location after which a "tattle text" is sent. Not only can this keep children close to home and keep employees from using corporate vehicles inappropriately, but it can also be a crucial tool for quickly identifying stolen vehicles, car jackings, and kidnappings.
See also[edit]
Mobile instant messaging
Chat language
Enhanced Messaging Service
Mobile dial code
Operator messaging
Telegram
Tironian notes, scribal abbreviations and ligatures: Roman and medieval abbreviations used to save space on manuscripts and epigraphs
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External links[edit]
	Look up text messaging in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
	Wikimedia Commons has media related to Short message service.
SMS, the strange duckling of GSM PDF (101 KB)
The London Text and MSN Dictionary- A text and mobile phone dictionary written by west London teenagers
"Text messages helped Kenyans with HIV". CBC News. 9 November 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-09.


[show] v t e
Film
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the motion picture. For the photographic material used in cameras, see Photographic film. For other uses, see Film (disambiguation).
"Movie" and "Moving picture" redirect here. For other uses, see Movie (disambiguation) and Moving picture (disambiguation).
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v t e
Fox movietone motion picture camera on a tripod from the 1930s
A vintage Fox movietone motion picture camera
A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of CGI and computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects.

The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to the industry of films and filmmaking or to the art of filmmaking itself. The contemporary definition of cinema is the art of simulating experiences to communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations.[1]

Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, and then shown through a movie projector onto a large screen. The adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the entire process of production, distribution, and exhibition from start to finish. Films recorded in a photochemical form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer. Some have criticized the film industry's glorification of violence[2] and its potentially negative treatment of women.[3][4]

The individual images that make up a film are called frames. During projection of traditional films, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame in turn is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon.

The name "film" originates from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay and flick. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the movies and cinema; the latter is commonly used in scholarly texts and critical essays, especially by European writers. In early years, the word sheet was sometimes used instead of screen.

Contents  [hide] 
1	History
1.1	Preceding technologies
1.2	First motion pictures
1.3	Early evolution
1.4	Sound
1.5	Colour
1.6	1950s developments
1.7	1960s and later
2	Film theory
2.1	Language
2.2	Montage
2.3	Criticism
3	Industry
4	Associated fields
5	Terminology used
5.1	Preview
5.2	Trailer and teaser
6	Education and propaganda
7	Production
7.1	Crew
7.2	Technology
7.3	Independent
7.4	Open content film
7.5	Fan film
8	Distribution
9	Animation
10	Recent trends and influences
10.1	Technical trends
11	See also
12	Notes
13	References
14	Further reading
15	External links
History
Main article: History of film
Muybridge race horse animated still photographs
Sometimes Sallie Gardner at a Gallop from 1878 is cited as the earliest film.
A screenshot of Roundhay Garden Scene by the French Louis Le Prince, the world's first film
A frame from Roundhay Garden Scene, the world's earliest surviving film produced using a motion picture camera, by Louis Le Prince, 1888.
Berlin Wintergarten theatre, vaudeville stage at the Berlin Conservatory from the 1940s
The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was the site of the first cinema ever, with a short film presented by the Skladanowsky brothers on 1 November 1895. The image depicts a July 1940 variety show.
Preceding technologies
Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film: scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, and scores. Much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène (roughly, the entire visual picture at any one time). Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images and sounds could not be recorded for replaying as with film.

The magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides. Typically, two glass slides, one with the stationary part of the picture and the other with the part that was to move, would be placed one on top of the other and projected together, then the moving slide would be hand-operated, either directly or by means of a lever or other mechanism. Chromotrope slides, which produced eye-dazzling displays of continuously cycling abstract geometrical patterns and colors, were operated by means of a small crank and pulley wheel that rotated a glass disc.[5]

In the mid-19th century, inventions such as the phenakistoscope and zoetrope demonstrated that a carefully designed sequence of drawings, showing phases of the changing appearance of objects in motion, would appear to show the objects actually moving if they were displayed one after the other at a sufficiently rapid rate. These devices relied on the phenomenon of persistence of vision to make the display appear continuous even though the observer's view was actually blocked as each drawing rotated into the location where its predecessor had just been glimpsed. Each sequence was limited to a small number of drawings, usually twelve, so it could only show endlessly repeating cyclical motions. By the late 1880s, the last major device of this type, the praxinoscope, had been elaborated into a form that employed a long coiled band containing hundreds of images painted on glass and used the elements of a magic lantern to project them onto a screen.

The use of sequences of photographs in such devices was initially limited to a few experiments with subjects photographed in a series of poses, because the available emulsions were not sensitive enough to allow the short exposures needed to photograph subjects that were actually moving. The sensitivity was gradually improved and in the late 1870s Eadweard Muybridge created the first animated image sequences photographed in real-time. A row of cameras was used, each in turn capturing one image on a photographic glass plate, so the total number of images in each sequence was limited by the number of cameras, about two dozen at most. Muybridge used his system to analyze the movements of a wide variety of animal and human subjects. Hand-painted images based on the photographs were projected as moving images by means of his zoopraxiscope.[6]

Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune, showing a projectile in the man in the moon's eye from 1902
A shot from Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902), an early narrative film.
First motion pictures
By the end of the 1880s, the introduction of lengths of celluloid photographic film and the invention of motion picture cameras, which could photograph an indefinitely long rapid sequence of images using only one lens, allowed several minutes of action to be captured and stored on a single compact reel of film. Some early films were made to be viewed by one person at a time through a "peep show" device such as the Kinetoscope. Others were intended for a projector, mechanically similar to the camera and sometimes actually the same machine, which was used to shine an intense light through the processed and printed film and into a projection lens so that these "moving pictures" could be shown tremendously enlarged on a screen for viewing by an entire audience.

The first public screenings of films at which admission was charged was made in 1895 by the American Woodville Latham and his sons, using films produced by their company, and by the - arguably better known - French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière with ten of their own productions.[citation needed] Private screenings had preceded these by several months, with Latham's slightly predating the Lumière brothers'.[citation needed] Another opinion is that the first public exhibition of projected motion pictures in America was at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City on the 23rd of April 1896.[dubious – discuss]

Early evolution
The earliest films were simply one static shot that showed an event or action with no editing or other cinematic techniques. Around the turn of the 20th century, films started stringing several scenes together to tell a story. The scenes were later broken up into multiple shots photographed from different distances and angles. Other techniques such as camera movement were developed as effective ways to tell a story with film. Until sound film became commercially practical in the late 1920s, motion pictures were a purely visual art, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination. Rather than leave audiences with only the noise of the projector as an accompaniment, theater owners hired a pianist or organist or, in large urban theaters, a full orchestra to play music that fit the mood of the film at any given moment. By the early 1920s, most films came with a prepared list of sheet music to be used for this purpose, and complete film scores were composed for major productions.

File:Charlie Chaplin, the Marriage Bond.ogg
A clip from the Charlie Chaplin silent film The Bond (1918)
The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, while the film industry in the United States flourished with the rise of Hollywood, typified most prominently by the innovative work of D. W. Griffith in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). However, in the 1920s, European filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, in many ways inspired by the meteoric wartime progress of film through Griffith, along with the contributions of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and others, quickly caught up with American film-making and continued to further advance the medium.

Sound
In the 1920s, the development of electronic sound recording technologies made it practical to incorporate a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects synchronized with the action on the screen.[citation needed] The resulting sound films were initially distinguished from the usual silent "moving pictures" or "movies" by calling them "talking pictures" or "talkies."[citation needed] The revolution they wrought was swift. By 1930, silent film was practically extinct in the US and already being referred to as "the old medium."[citation needed]

Colour
Another major technological development was the introduction of "natural color," which meant color that was photographically recorded from nature rather than added to black-and-white prints by hand-coloring, stencil-coloring or other arbitrary procedures, although the earliest processes typically yielded colors which were far from "natural" in appearance.[citation needed] While the advent of sound films quickly made silent films and theater musicians obsolete, color replaced black-and-white much more gradually.[citation needed] The pivotal innovation was the introduction of the three-strip version of the Technicolor process, first used for animated cartoons in 1932, then also for live-action short films and isolated sequences in a few feature films, then for an entire feature film, Becky Sharp, in 1935. The expense of the process was daunting, but favorable public response in the form of increased box office receipts usually justified the added cost. The number of films made in color slowly increased year after year.

1950s developments
In the early 1950s, the proliferation of black-and-white television started seriously depressing North American theater attendance.[citation needed] In an attempt to lure audiences back into theaters, bigger screens were installed, widescreen processes, polarized 3D projection and stereophonic sound were introduced, and more films were made in color, which soon became the rule rather than the exception. Some important mainstream Hollywood films were still being made in black-and-white as late as the mid-1960s, but they marked the end of an era. Color television receivers had been available in the US since the mid-1950s, but at first they were very expensive and few broadcasts were in color. During the 1960s, prices gradually came down, color broadcasts became common, and sales boomed. The overwhelming public verdict in favor of color was clear. After the final flurry of black-and-white films had been released in mid-decade, all Hollywood studio productions were filmed in color, with rare exceptions reluctantly made only at the insistence of "star" directors such as Peter Bogdanovich and Martin Scorsese.[citation needed]

1960s and later
The decades following the decline of the studio system in the 1960s saw changes in the production and style of film. Various New Wave movements (including the French New Wave, Indian New Wave, Japanese New Wave and New Hollywood) and the rise of film-school-educated independent filmmakers contributed to the changes the medium experienced in the latter half of the 20th century.[citation needed] Digital technology has been the driving force for change throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. Digital 3D projection largely replaced earlier problem-prone 3D film systems and has become popular in the early 2010s.[citation needed]

Film theory
16 mm spring-wound Bolex H16 Reflex camera
This 16 mm spring-wound Bolex "H16" Reflex camera is a popular entry level camera used in film schools.
Main articles: Film theory and Philosophy of language film analysis
"Film theory" seeks to develop concise and systematic concepts that apply to the study of film as art. The concept of film as an art-form began with Ricciotto Canudo's The Birth of the Sixth Art. Formalist film theory, led by Rudolf Arnheim, Béla Balázs, and Siegfried Kracauer, emphasized how film differed from reality, and thus could be considered a valid fine art. André Bazin reacted against this theory by arguing that film's artistic essence lay in its ability to mechanically reproduce reality not in its differences from reality, and this gave rise to realist theory. More recent analysis spurred by Jacques Lacan's psychoanalysis and Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotics among other things has given rise to psychoanalytical film theory, structuralist film theory, feminist film theory and others. On the other hand, critics from the analytical philosophy tradition, influenced by Wittgenstein, try to clarify misconceptions used in theoretical studies and produce analysis of a film's vocabulary and its link to a form of life.

Language
Film is considered to have its own language. James Monaco wrote a classic text on film theory, titled "How to Read a Film," that addresses this. Director Ingmar Bergman famously said, "Andrei Tarkovsky for me is the greatest director, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream." An example of the language is a sequence of back and forth images of one speaking actor's left profile, followed by another speaking actor's right profile, then a repetition of this, which is a language understood by the audience to indicate a conversation. This describes another theory of film, the 180-degree rule, as a visual story-telling device with an ability to place a viewer in a context of being psychologically present through the use of visual composition and editing. The "Hollywood style" includes this narrative theory, due to the overwhelming practice of the rule by movie studios based in Hollywood, California, during film's classical era. Another example of cinematic language is having a shot that zooms in on the forehead of an actor with an expression of silent reflection that cuts to a shot of a younger actor who vaguely resembles the first actor, indicating that the first person is remembering a past self, an edit of compositions that causes a time transition.

Montage
Main article: Montage
Montage is the technique by which separate pieces of film are selected, edited, and then pieced together to make a new section of film. A scene could show a man going into battle, with flashbacks to his youth and to his home-life and with added special effects, placed into the film after filming is complete. As these were all filmed separately, and perhaps with different actors, the final version is called a montage.

Directors developed a theory of montage, beginning with Eisenstein and the complex juxtaposition of images in his film Battleship Potemkin.[7] Incorporation of musical and visual counterpoint, and scene development through mise en scene, editing and effects, has led to more complex techniques comparable to those used in Opera and ballet.

Criticism
Main article: Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. In general, these works can be divided into two categories: academic criticism by film scholars and journalistic film criticism that appears regularly in newspapers and other media.

Film critics working for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media mainly review new releases. Normally they only see any given film once and have only a day or two to formulate opinions. Despite this, critics have an important impact on films, especially those of certain genres. Mass marketed action, horror, and comedy films tend not to be greatly affected by a critic's overall judgment of a film. The plot summary and description of a film that makes up the majority of any film review can still have an important impact on whether people decide to see a film. For prestige films such as most dramas, the influence of reviews is extremely important. Poor reviews will often doom a film to obscurity and financial loss.

The impact of a reviewer on a given film's box office performance is a matter of debate. Some claim that movie marketing is now so intense and well financed that reviewers cannot make an impact against it. However, the cataclysmic failure of some heavily-promoted films which were harshly reviewed, as well as the unexpected success of critically praised independent films indicates that extreme critical reactions can have considerable influence. Others note that positive film reviews have been shown to spark interest in little-known films. Conversely, there have been several films in which film companies have so little confidence that they refuse to give reviewers an advanced viewing to avoid widespread panning of the film. However, this usually backfires as reviewers are wise to the tactic and warn the public that the film may not be worth seeing and the films often do poorly as a result.

It is argued that journalist film critics should only be known as film reviewers, and true film critics are those who take a more academic approach to films. This line of work is more often known as film theory or film studies. These film critics attempt to come to understand how film and filming techniques work, and what effect they have on people. Rather than having their works published in newspapers or appear on television, their articles are published in scholarly journals, or sometimes in up-market magazines. They also tend to be affiliated with colleges or universities.

Industry
World cinema
African cinema
Asian cinema
East Asian cinema
South Asian cinema
Southeast Asian cinema
West Asian cinema
European cinema
Latin American cinema
North American cinema
Oceanian cinema
Main article: Film industry
Babelsberg Studio near Berlin gate with pedestrian island
The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin was the first large-scale film studio in the world (founded 1912) and the forerunner to Hollywood. It still produces global blockbusters every year.
The making and showing of motion pictures became a source of profit almost as soon as the process was invented. Upon seeing how successful their new invention, and its product, was in their native France, the Lumières quickly set about touring the Continent to exhibit the first films privately to royalty and publicly to the masses. In each country, they would normally add new, local scenes to their catalogue and, quickly enough, found local entrepreneurs in the various countries of Europe to buy their equipment and photograph, export, import and screen additional product commercially. The Oberammergau Passion Play of 1898[citation needed] was the first commercial motion picture ever produced. Other pictures soon followed, and motion pictures became a separate industry that overshadowed the vaudeville world. Dedicated theaters and companies formed specifically to produce and distribute films, while motion picture actors became major celebrities and commanded huge fees for their performances. By 1917 Charlie Chaplin had a contract that called for an annual salary of one million dollars.

From 1931 to 1956, film was also the only image storage and playback system for television programming until the introduction of videotape recorders.

In the United States today, much of the film industry is centered around Hollywood, California. Other regional centers exist in many parts of the world, such as Mumbai-centered Bollywood, the Indian film industry's Hindi cinema which produces the largest number of films in the world.[8] Though the expense involved in making films has led cinema production to concentrate under the auspices of movie studios, recent advances in affordable film making equipment have allowed independent film productions to flourish.

Profit is a key force in the industry, due to the costly and risky nature of filmmaking; many films have large cost overruns, a notorious example being Kevin Costner's Waterworld. Yet many filmmakers strive to create works of lasting social significance. The Academy Awards (also known as "the Oscars") are the most prominent film awards in the United States, providing recognition each year to films, ostensibly based on their artistic merits.

There is also a large industry for educational and instructional films made in lieu of or in addition to lectures and texts.

Revenue in the industry is sometimes volatile due to the reliance on blockbuster films released in movie theaters.[9] The rise of alternative home entertainment has raised questions about the future of the cinema industry, and Hollywood employment has become less reliable, particularly for medium and low-budget films.[10]

Associated fields
Further information: Film history, Film criticism, Film theory, Product placement, and Propaganda
Derivative academic fields of study may both interact with and develop independently of filmmaking, as in film theory and analysis. Fields of academic study have been created that are derivative or dependent on the existence of film, such as film criticism, film history, divisions of film propaganda in authoritarian governments, or psychological on subliminal effects (e.g., of a flashing soda can during a screening). These fields may further create derivative fields, such as a movie review section in a newspaper or a television guide. Sub-industries can spin off from film, such as popcorn makers, and film-related toys (e.g., Star Wars figures). Sub-industries of pre-existing industries may deal specifically with film, such as product placement and other advertising within films.

Terminology used
The terminology used for describing motion pictures varies considerably between British and American English. In British usage, the name of the medium is "film". The word "movie" is understood, but seldom used.[11][12] Additionally, "the pictures" (plural) is used semi-frequently to refer to the place where movies are exhibited, while in American English this may be called "the movies", but it is becoming outdated. In other countries, the place where movies are exhibited may be called a cinema or theatre.

By contrast, in the United States, "movie" is the predominant form. Although the words "film" and "movie" are sometimes used interchangeably, "film" is more often used when considering artistic, theoretical, or technical aspects, as studies in a university class and "movies" more often refers to entertainment or commercial aspects, as where to go for fun on a date. For example, a book titled "How to Read a Film" would be about the aesthetics or theory of film, while "Let's Go to the Movies" would be about the history of entertaining movies.

Further terminology is used to distinguish various forms and media of film industry. "Motion pictures" and "moving pictures" are frequently-used terms for film and movie productions specifically intended for theatrical exhibition, such as, for instance, Batman. "DVD" and "videotape" are video formats that can reproduce a photochemical film. A reproduction based on such is called a "transfer." After the advent of theatrical film as an industry, the television industry began using videotape as a recording medium. For many decades, tape was solely an analog medium onto which moving images could be either recorded or transferred. "Film" and "filming" refer to the photochemical medium that chemically records a visual image and the act of recording respectively. However, the act of shooting images with other visual media, such as with a digital camera, is still called "filming" and the resulting works often called "films" as interchangeable to "movies," despite not being shot on film. "Silent films" need not be utterly silent, but are films and movies without an audible dialogue, including those that have a musical accompaniment. The word, "Talkies," refers to the earliest sound films created to have audible dialogue recorded for playback along with the film, regardless of a musical accompaniment. "Cinema" either broadly encompasses both films and movies, or it is roughly synonymous with film and theatrical exhibition, and both are capitalized when referring to a category of art. The "silver screen" refers to the projection screen used to exhibit films and, by extension, is also used as a metonym for the entire film industry.

"Widescreen" refers to a larger width to height in the frame, compared to earlier historic aspect ratios.[13] A "feature-length film", or "feature film", is of a conventional full length, usually 60 minutes or more, and can commercially stand by itself without other films in a ticketed screening.[14] A "short" is a film that is not as long as a feature-length film, often screened with other shorts, or preceding a feature-length film. An "independent" is a film made outside of the conventional film industry.

In U.S. usage, one talks of a "screening" or "projection" of a movie or video on a screen at a public or private "theater." In British English, a "film showing" happens at a cinema (never a "theatre", which is a different medium and place altogether).[12] A cinema usually refers to an arena designed specifically to exhibit films, where the screen is affixed to a wall, while a theater usually refers to a place where live, non-recorded action or combination thereof occurs from a podium or other type of stage, including the amphitheater. Theaters can still screen movies in them, though the theater would be retrofitted to do so. One might propose "going to the cinema" when referring to the activity, or sometimes "to the pictures" in British English, whereas the U.S. expression is usually "going to the movies." A cinema usually shows a mass-marketed movie using a front-projection screen process with either a film projector or, more recently, with a digital projector. But, cinemas may also show theatrical movies from their home video transfers that include Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and videocassette when they possess sufficient projection quality or based upon need, such as movies that exist only in their transferred state, which may be due to the loss or deterioration of the film master and prints from which the movie originally existed. Due to the advent of digital film production and distribution, physical film might be absent entirely. A "double feature" is a screening of two independently-marketed, stand-alone feature films. A "viewing" is a watching of a film. "Sales" and "at the box office" refer to tickets sold at a theater, or more currently, rights sold for individual showings. A "release" is the distribution and often simultaneous screening of a film. A "preview" is a screening in advance of the main release.

Any film may also have a "sequel", which portrays events following those in the film. Bride of Frankenstein is an early example. When there are more films than one with the same characters, story arcs, or subject themes, these movies become a "series," such as the James Bond series. And, existing outside of a specific story timeline usually does not exclude a film from being part of a series. A "trilogy" is a set of three films, such as the three films of The Godfather series, a "quadrilogy" is a set of four, such as writer-director Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Identity film series, and so forth. A film that portrays events occurring earlier in a timeline with those in another film, but is released after that film, is sometimes called a "prequel," an example being Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.

The "credits," or "end credits," is a list that gives credit to the people involved in the production of a film. Films from before the 1970s usually start a film with credits, often ending with only a title card, saying "The End" or some equivalent, often an equivalent that depends on the language of the production[citation needed]. From then onward, a film's credits usually appear at the end of most films. However, films with credits that end a film often repeat some credits at or near the start of a film and therefore appear twice, such as that film's acting leads, while less frequently some appearing near or at the beginning only appear there, not at the end, which often happens to the director's credit. The credits appearing at or near the beginning of a film are usually called "titles" or "beginning titles."

A film's "cast" refers to a collection of the actors and actresses who appear, or "star," in a film. A star is an actor or actress, often a popular one, who plays a central character in a film, but occasionally the word can also express fame of members of the crew, such as a director or other personality, such as Martin Scorsese. A "crew" is usually interpreted as the people involved in a film's physical construction outside of cast participation, and it could include directors, editors, photographers, grips, gaffers, set decorators, prop masters, and costume designers. A person can both be part of a film's cast and crew, such as Woody Allen, who directed and starred as the protagonist in Take the Money and Run.

A Post-credits scene is a scene shown after the end of the credits. Ferris Bueller's Day Off has a post-credit scene in which Ferris tells the audience that the film is over and they should go home.

A "film goer," "movie goer," or "film buff" is a person who likes or often attends films and movies, and any of these, though more often the latter, could also see oneself as a student to films and movies or the filmic process.

Preview
Main article: Test screening
A preview performance refers to a showing of a film to a select audience, usually for the purposes of corporate promotions, before the public film premiere itself. Previews are sometimes used to judge audience reaction, which if unexpectedly negative, may result in recutting or even refilming certain sections (Audience response).

Trailer and teaser
Main article: Film trailer
Trailers or previews are advertisements for films that will be shown in 1 to 3 months at a cinema. Back in the early days of cinema, with theaters that had only 1 or 2 screens, only certain trailers were shown for the films that were going to be shown there. Later, when theaters added more screens or new theaters were built with a lot of screens, all different trailers were shown even if they weren't going to play that film in that theater. Film studios realized, that the more trailers that were shown (even if it wasn't going to be shown in that particular theater) the more patrons would go to a different theater to see the film when it came out. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film program. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theater after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A film in a double feature program) begins.

Film trailers are now also common on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as well as on the Internet and mobile devices. Of some ten billion videos watched online annually, film trailers rank third, after news and user-created video.[15]

Teasers are a much shorter preview that would last only 10 to 30 seconds. Teasers were used to get patrons excited about a film coming out about 6 to 12 months away.

Education and propaganda
Main articles: Educational film and Propaganda film
Film is used for education and propaganda. When the purpose is primarily educational, a film is called an "educational film". Examples are recordings of lectures and experiments, or more marginally, a film based on a classic novel.

Film may be propaganda, in whole or in part, such as the films made by Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi Germany, US war film trailers during World War II, or artistic films made under Stalin by Eisenstein. They may also be works of political protest, as in the films of Wajda, or more subtly, the films of Andrei Tarkovsky.

The same film may be considered educational by some, and propaganda by others.

Production
Main article: Filmmaking
At its core, the means to produce a film depend on the content the filmmaker wishes to show, and the apparatus for displaying it: the zoetrope merely requires a series of images on a strip of paper. Film production can therefore take as little as one person with a camera (or even without a camera, as in Stan Brakhage's 1963 film Mothlight), or thousands of actors, extras and crewmembers for a live-action, feature-length epic.

The necessary steps for almost any film can be boiled down to conception, planning, execution, revision, and distribution. The more involved the production, the more significant each of the steps becomes. In a typical production cycle of a Hollywood-style film, these main stages are defined as:

Development
Pre-production
Production
Post-production
Distribution
This production cycle usually takes three years. The first year is taken up with development. The second year comprises preproduction and production. The third year, post-production and distribution.

The bigger the production, the more resources it takes, and the more important financing becomes; most feature films are not only artistic works, but for-profit business entities.

Crew
Main article: Film crew
A film crew is a group of people hired by a film company, employed during the "production" or "photography" phase, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew interacts with but is also distinct from the production staff, consisting of producers, managers, company representatives, their assistants, and those whose primary responsibility falls in pre-production or post-production phases, such as writers and editors. Communication between production and crew generally passes through the director and his/her staff of assistants. Medium-to-large crews are generally divided into departments with well defined hierarchies and standards for interaction and cooperation between the departments. Other than acting, the crew handles everything in the photography phase: props and costumes, shooting, sound, electrics (i.e., lights), sets, and production special effects. Caterers (known in the film industry as "craft services") are usually not considered part of the crew.

Technology
See also: Cinematic techniques
Film stock consists of transparent celluloid, acetate, or polyester base coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive chemicals. Cellulose nitrate was the first type of film base used to record motion pictures, but due to its flammability was eventually replaced by safer materials. Stock widths and the film format for images on the reel have had a rich history, though most large commercial films are still shot on (and distributed to theaters) as 35 mm prints. Originally moving picture film was shot and projected at various speeds using hand-cranked cameras and projectors; though 1000 frames per minute (16⅔ frame/s) is generally cited as a standard silent speed, research indicates most films were shot between 16 frame/s and 23 frame/s and projected from 18 frame/s on up (often reels included instructions on how fast each scene should be shown).[16] When sound film was introduced in the late 1920s, a constant speed was required for the sound head. 24 frames per second was chosen because it was the slowest (and thus cheapest) speed which allowed for sufficient sound quality.[citation needed] Improvements since the late 19th century include the mechanization of cameras – allowing them to record at a consistent speed, quiet camera design – allowing sound recorded on-set to be usable without requiring large "blimps" to encase the camera, the invention of more sophisticated filmstocks and lenses, allowing directors to film in increasingly dim conditions, and the development of synchronized sound, allowing sound to be recorded at exactly the same speed as its corresponding action. The soundtrack can be recorded separately from shooting the film, but for live-action pictures many parts of the soundtrack are usually recorded simultaneously.

As a medium, film is not limited to motion pictures, since the technology developed as the basis for photography. It can be used to present a progressive sequence of still images in the form of a slideshow. Film has also been incorporated into multimedia presentations, and often has importance as primary historical documentation. However, historic films have problems in terms of preservation and storage, and the motion picture industry is exploring many alternatives. Most films on cellulose nitrate base have been copied onto modern safety films. Some studios save color films through the use of separation masters: three B&W negatives each exposed through red, green, or blue filters (essentially a reverse of the Technicolor process). Digital methods have also been used to restore films, although their continued obsolescence cycle makes them (as of 2006) a poor choice for long-term preservation. Film preservation of decaying film stock is a matter of concern to both film historians and archivists, and to companies interested in preserving their existing products in order to make them available to future generations (and thereby increase revenue). Preservation is generally a higher concern for nitrate and single-strip color films, due to their high decay rates; black-and-white films on safety bases and color films preserved on Technicolor imbibition prints tend to keep up much better, assuming proper handling and storage.

Some films in recent decades have been recorded using analog video technology similar to that used in television production. Modern digital video cameras and digital projectors are gaining ground as well. These approaches are preferred by some film-makers, especially because footage shot with digital cinema can be evaluated and edited with non-linear editing systems (NLE) without waiting for the film stock to be processed. The migration was gradual, and as of 2005 most major motion pictures were still shot on film.[dated info]

Independent
Main article: Independent film
Independent filmmaking often takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major film studio. Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.

Auguste and Louis Lumière brothers seated looking left
The Lumière Brothers
On the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films also leads to conservative choices in cast and crew. There is a trend in Hollywood towards co-financing (over two-thirds of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint ventures, up from 10% in 1987).[17] A hopeful director is almost never given the opportunity to get a job on a big-budget studio film unless he or she has significant industry experience in film or television. Also, the studios rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in lead roles.

Before the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film.

But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier to film production significantly. Both production and post-production costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based personal computer. Technologies such as DVDs, FireWire connections and a wide variety of professional and consumer-grade video editing software make film-making relatively inexpensive.

Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. The arrival of internet-based video outlets such as YouTube and Veoh has further changed the film making landscape in ways that are still to be determined.

Open content film
Main article: Open content film
An open content film is much like an independent film, but it is produced through open collaborations; its source material is available under a license which is permissive enough to allow other parties to create fan fiction or derivative works, than a traditional copyright. Like independent filmmaking, open source filmmaking takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems.

Fan film
Main article: Fan film
A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by professional filmmakers as film school class projects or as demonstration reels. Fan films vary tremendously in length, from short faux-teaser trailers for non-existent motion pictures to rarer full-length motion pictures.

Distribution
Main articles: Film distribution and Film release
Film distribution is the process through which a film is made available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy of the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing, and may set the release date and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television for personal home viewing (including DVD-Video or Blu-ray Disc, video-on-demand, download, television programs through broadcast syndication etc.).

Other ways of distributing a film include rental or personal purchase of the film in a variety of media and formats, such as VHS or DVD, or Internet download.

Animation
Main article: Animation
Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement (due to the phi phenomenon). Generating such a film is very labor-intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process.

Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and films comes from professional animation studios. However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry.

Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized by Hanna-Barbera in the United States, and by Osamu Tezuka in Japan, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television.[18]

Although most animation studios are now using digital technologies in their productions, there is a specific style of animation that depends on film. Camera-less animation, made famous by film-makers like Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage, is painted and drawn directly onto pieces of film, and then run through a projector.

Recent trends and influences

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Technical trends
In the 1990s and 2000s, the development of DVD players, home theater amplification systems with surround sound and subwoofers, and large LCD or plasma screens enabled people to select and view films at home with greatly improved audio and visual reproduction.[citation needed] These new technologies provided audio and visual that in the past only local cinemas had been able to provide: a large, clear widescreen presentation of a film with a full-range, high-quality multi-speaker sound system. Once again industry analysts predicted the demise of the local cinema. Local cinemas will be changing in the 21st century and moving towards digital screens, a new approach which will allow for easier and quicker distribution of films (via satellite or hard disks), a development which may give local theaters a reprieve from their predicted demise.[citation needed] The cinema now faces a new challenge from home video by the likes of a new high definition (HD) format, Blu-ray, which can provide full HD 1080p video playback at near cinema quality.[citation needed] Video formats are gradually catching up with the resolutions and quality that film offers; 1080p in Blu-ray offers a pixel resolution of 1920×1080, a leap from the DVD offering of 720×480 and the 330×480 offered by the first home video standard, VHS.[citation needed] Ultra HD, a future digital video format, will offer a resolution of 7680×4320.

However, the nature and structure of film prevents an apples-to-apples comparison with regard to resolution.[19] The resolving power of film, and its ability to capture an image which can later be scanned to a digital format, will ensure that film remains a viable medium for some time to come.[citation needed] Currently the super-16 format is seeing use as a capture medium, with digital scanning and post-production providing good results.[citation needed]

Despite the rise of all-new technologies, the development of the home video market and a surge of online copyright infringement, 2007 was a record year in film that showed the highest ever box-office grosses. Many[who?] expected film to suffer as a result of the effects listed above but it has flourished, strengthening film studio expectations for the future.[citation needed]

See also
Genre
Fiction film basic genre
Documentary basic genre
Docufiction hybrid genre
Lists
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Main articles: Outline of film and Lists of film topics
List of film awards
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Notes
Jump up ^ Severny, Andrei (2013-09-05). "The Movie Theater of the Future Will Be In Your Mind". Tribeca film. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
Jump up ^ Media, Sex, Violence, and Drugs in the Global Village - Page 51, Kuldip R. Rampal - 2001
Jump up ^ http://www.rachelsimmons.com/2011/04/the-astonishing-sexism-of-hollywood-and-what-it-means-for-girls/
Jump up ^ http://www.thewrap.com/music/article/sexist-hollywood-women-still-struggle-find-film-jobs-study-finds-74076
Jump up ^ Barber, Theodore X. "Phantasmagorical Wonders: The Magic Lantern Ghost Show in Nineteenth-Century America." Film History 3,2 (1989): 73-86. Print.
Jump up ^ Williams, Alan Larson (1992) Republic of images: a history of French filmmaking Harvard University Press
Jump up ^ Nelmes, Jill (2004). An introduction to film studies (3rd ed., Reprinted. ed.). London: Routledge. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-415-26269-9.
Jump up ^ Bollywood Hots Up cnn.com. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
Jump up ^ "Film industry in crisis as movie audiences plummet to lowest level in 16 years". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
Jump up ^ Christopherson, Susan (2013-03-01). "Hollywood in decline? US film and television producers beyond the era of fiscal crisis". Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 6 (1): 141–157. doi:10.1093/cjres/rss024. ISSN 1752-1378.
Jump up ^ "British English/American English Vocabulary". Retrieved 26 June 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b "British English vs. U.S. English - film vs. movie". Straight Dope Message Board. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
Jump up ^ "Movie Terminology Glossary: W". IMDB.
Jump up ^ "Movie Terminology Glossary: F". IMDB.
Jump up ^ "AWFJ Opinion Poll: All About Movie Trailers". AWFJ. 2008-05-09.
Jump up ^ "Silent Film Speed". Cinemaweb.com. 1911-12-02. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
Jump up ^ Amdur, Meredith (2003-11-16). "Sharing Pix is Risky Business". Variety. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
Jump up ^ Savage, Mark (2006-12-19). "Hanna Barbera's golden age of animation". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
Jump up ^ "ADOX CMS Film Resolving Equivalence".
References
Acker, Ally (1991). Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, 1896 to the Present. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-0499-5.
Basten, Fred E. (1980). Glorious Technicolor: The Movies' Magic Rainbow. Cranbury, NJ: AS Barnes & Company. ISBN 0-498-02317-6.
Basten, Fred E. (writer); Peter Jones (director and writer); Angela Lansbury (narrator) (1998). Glorious Technicolor (Documentary). Turner Classic Movies.
Casetti, Francesco (1999). Theories of Cinema, 1945–1995. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-71207-3.
Cook, Pam (2007). The Cinema Book, Third Edition. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 978-1-84457-193-2.
Faber, Liz, & Walters, Helen (2003). Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940. London: Laurence King, in association with Harper Design International. ISBN 1-85669-346-5.
Hagener, Malte, & Töteberg, Michael (2002). Film: An International Bibliography. Stuttgart: Metzler. ISBN 3-476-01523-8.
Hill, John, & Gibson, Pamela Church (1998). The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-871124-7.
King, Geoff (2002). New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12759-6.
Ledoux, Trish, & Ranney, Doug, & Patten, Fred (1997). Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory and Resource Guide. Issaquah, WA: Tiger Mountain Press. ISBN 0-9649542-5-7.
Merritt, Greg (2000). Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Film. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-232-4.
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (1999). The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-874242-8.
Rocchio, Vincent F. (2000). Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-6710-7.
Schrader, Paul (Spring 1972). "Notes on Film Noir". Film Comment 8 (1): 8–13. ISSN 0015-119X.
Schultz, John (writer and director); James Earl Jones (narrator) (1995). The Making of 'Jurassic Park' (Documentary). Amblin Entertainment.
Thackway, Melissa (2003). Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African Film. Bloomington, IL: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-85255-576-8.
Vogel, Amos (1974). Film as a Subversive Art. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-49078-9.
Further reading
Burton, Gideon O., and Randy Astle, jt. eds. (2007). "Mormons and Film", entire special issue, B.Y.U. Studies (Brigham Young University), vol. 46 (2007), no. 2. 336 p., ill. ISSN 0007-0106
Hickenlooper, George (1991). Reel [sic] Conversations: Candid Interviews with Film's Foremost Directors and Critics, in series, Citadel Press Book[s]. New York: Carol Publishing Group. xii, 370 p. ISBN 0-8065-1237-7
Thomson, David (2002). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th ed.). New York: A.A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41128-3.
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Research
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the search for knowledge. For other uses, see Research (disambiguation).
"Researcher" redirects here. It is not to be confused with the oceanographic research ship.

Basrelief sculpture "Research holding the torch of knowledge" (1896) by Olin Levi Warner. Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.
Research comprises "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications."[1] It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop new theories. A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects, or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner research, life,technological,etc.

Contents  [hide] 
1	Forms of research
2	Etymology
3	Definitions
4	Steps in conducting research
5	Scientific research
6	Historical method
7	Research methods
7.1	Research method controversies
7.1.1	Quantitative vs. Qualitative war
7.1.2	Anti-methodology
7.1.3	Methodological academic imperialism
8	Professionalisation
8.1	In Russia
9	Publishing
10	Research funding
11	Original research
11.1	Different forms
12	Artistic research
13	See also
14	References
15	Further reading
16	External links
Forms of research[edit]
Scientific research is a systematic way of gathering data and harnessing curiosity. This research provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature and the properties of the world. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is funded by public authorities, by charitable organizations and by private groups, including many companies. Scientific research can be subdivided into different classifications according to their academic and application disciplines. Scientific research is a widely used criterion for judging the standing of an academic institution, such as business schools, but some argue that such is an inaccurate assessment of the institution, because the quality of research does not tell about the quality of teaching (these do not necessarily correlate).[2]

Research in the humanities involves different methods such as for example hermeneutics and semiotics, and a different, more relativist epistemology. Humanities scholars usually do not search for the ultimate correct answer to a question, but instead explore the issues and details that surround it. Context is always important, and context can be social, historical, political, cultural, or ethnic. An example of research in the humanities is historical research, which is embodied in historical method. Historians use primary sources and other evidence to systematically investigate a topic, and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past.

Artistic research, also seen as 'practice-based research', can take form when creative works are considered both the research and the object of research itself. It is the debatable body of thought which offers an alternative to purely scientific methods in research in its search for knowledge and truth.

Etymology[edit]

Aristotle, 384 BC – 322 BC, - one of the early figures in the development of the scientific method.[3]
The word research is derived from the Middle French "recherche", which means "to go about seeking", the term itself being derived from the Old French term "recerchier" a compound word from "re-" + "cerchier", or "sercher", meaning 'search'.[4] The earliest recorded use of the term was in 1577.[4]

Definitions[edit]
Research has been defined in a number of different ways.

A broad definition of research is given by Martyn Shuttleworth - "In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge."[5]

Another definition of research is given by Creswell who states that - "Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue". It consists of three steps: Pose a question, collect data to answer the question, and present an answer to the question.[6]

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines research in more detail as "a studious inquiry or examination; especially investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws".[4]

Steps in conducting research[edit]
Research is often conducted using the hourglass model structure of research.[7] The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the required information through the method of the project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results. The major steps in conducting research are:[8]

Identification of research problem
Literature review
Specifying the purpose of research
Determine specific research questions
Specification of a Conceptual framework - Usually a set of hypotheses [9]
Choice of a methodology (for data collection)
Data collection
Verify Data
Analyzing and interpreting the data
Reporting and evaluating research
Communicating the research findings and, possibly, recommendations
The steps generally represent the overall process; however, they should be viewed as an ever-changing iterative process rather than a fixed set of steps.[10] Most research begins with a general statement of the problem, or rather, the purpose for engaging in the study.[11] The literature review identifies flaws or holes in previous research which provides justification for the study. Often, a literature review is conducted in a given subject area before a research question is identified. A gap in the current literature, as identified by a researcher, then engenders a research question. The research question may be parallel to the hypothesis. The hypothesis is the supposition to be tested. The researcher(s) collects data to test the hypothesis. The researcher(s) then analyzes and interprets the data via a variety of statistical methods, engaging in what is known as empirical research. The results of the data analysis in confirming or failing to reject the Null hypothesis are then reported and evaluated. At the end, the researcher may discuss avenues for further research. However, some researchers advocate for the flip approach: starting with articulating findings and discussion of them, moving "up" to identification research problem that emerging in the findings and literature review introducing the findings. The flip approach is justified by the transactional nature of the research endeavor where research inquiry, research questions, research method, relevant research literature, and so on are not fully known until the findings fully emerged and interpreted.

Rudolph Rummel says, "... no researcher should accept any one or two tests as definitive. It is only when a range of tests are consistent over many kinds of data, researchers, and methods can one have confidence in the results."[12]

Plato in Meno talks about an inherent difficulty, if not a paradox, of doing research that can be paraphrase in the following way, "If you know what you're searching for, why do you search for it?! [i.e., you have already found it] If you don't know what you're searching for, what are you searching for?!"[13]

Scientific research[edit]
Main article: Scientific method

Primary scientific research being carried out at the Microscopy Laboratory of the Idaho National Laboratory.

Scientific research equipment at MIT.
Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied:

Observations and Formation of the topic: Consists of the subject area of ones interest and following that subject area to conduct subject related research. The subject area should not be randomly chosen since it requires reading a vast amount of literature on the topic to determine the gap in the literature the researcher intends to narrow. A keen interest in the chosen subject area is advisable. The research will have to be justified by linking its importance to already existing knowledge about the topic.
Hypothesis: A testable prediction which designates the relationship between two or more variables.
Conceptual definition: Description of a concept by relating it to other concepts.
Operational definition: Details in regards to defining the variables and how they will be measured/assessed in the study.
Gathering of data: Consists of identifying a population and selecting samples, gathering information from and/or about these samples by using specific research instruments. The instruments used for data collection must be valid and reliable.
Analysis of data: Involves breaking down the individual pieces of data in order to draw conclusions about it.
Data Interpretation: This can be represented through tables, figures and pictures, and then described in words.
Test, revising of hypothesis
Conclusion, reiteration if necessary
A common misconception is that a hypothesis will be proven (see, rather, Null hypothesis). Generally, a hypothesis is used to make predictions that can be tested by observing the outcome of an experiment. If the outcome is inconsistent with the hypothesis, then the hypothesis is rejected (see falsifiability). However, if the outcome is consistent with the hypothesis, the experiment is said to support the hypothesis. This careful language is used because researchers recognize that alternative hypotheses may also be consistent with the observations. In this sense, a hypothesis can never be proven, but rather only supported by surviving rounds of scientific testing and, eventually, becoming widely thought of as true.

A useful hypothesis allows prediction and within the accuracy of observation of the time, the prediction will be verified. As the accuracy of observation improves with time, the hypothesis may no longer provide an accurate prediction. In this case, a new hypothesis will arise to challenge the old, and to the extent that the new hypothesis makes more accurate predictions than the old, the new will supplant it. Researchers can also use a null hypothesis, which state no relationship or difference between the independent or dependent variables. A null hypothesis uses a sample of all possible people to make a conclusion about the population.[14]

Historical method[edit]
Main article: Historical method

German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), considered to be one of the founders of modern source-based history.
The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use historical sources and other evidence to research and then to write history. There are various history guidelines that are commonly used by historians in their work, under the headings of external criticism, internal criticism, and synthesis. This includes lower criticism and sensual criticism. Though items may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following concepts are part of most formal historical research:[15]

Identification of origin date
Evidence of localization
Recognition of authorship
Analysis of data
Identification of integrity
Attribution of credibility
Research methods[edit]

The research room at the New York Public Library, an example of secondary research in progress.

Maurice Hilleman is credited with saving more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century.[16]
The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge or deepen understanding of a topic or issue. This process takes three main forms (although, as previously discussed, the boundaries between them may be obscure):

Exploratory research, which helps to identify and define a problem or question.
Constructive research, which tests theories and proposes solutions to a problem or question.
Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using empirical evidence.
There are two major types of empirical research design: qualitative research and quantitative research. Researchers choose qualitative or quantitative methods according to the nature of the research topic they want to investigate and the research questions they aim to answer:

Qualitative research
Understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. Asking a broad question and collecting data in the form of words, images, video etc that is analyzed and searching for themes. This type of research aims to investigate a question without attempting to quantifiably measure variables or look to potential relationships between variables. It is viewed as more restrictive in testing hypotheses because it can be expensive and time-consuming, and typically limited to a single set of research subjects.[citation needed] Qualitative research is often used as a method of exploratory research as a basis for later quantitative research hypotheses.[citation needed] Qualitative research is linked with the philosophical and theoretical stance of social constructionism.
Quantitative research
Systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. Asking a narrow question and collecting numerical data to analyze utilizing statistical methods. The quantitative research designs are experimental, correlational, and survey (or descriptive).[17] Statistics derived from quantitative research can be used to establish the existence of associative or causal relationships between variables. Quantitative research is linked with the philosophical and theoretical stance of positivism.
The quantitative data collection methods rely on random sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories.[citation needed] These methods produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.[citation needed] Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of interest. Depending on the research question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments (this is the only way that a quantitative study can be considered a true experiment).[citation needed] If this is not feasible, the researcher may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or outcome, variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ probability sampling to select participants.[18]

In either qualitative or quantitative research, the researcher(s) may collect primary or secondary data. Primary data is data collected specifically for the research, such as through interviews or questionnaires. Secondary data is data that already exists, such as census data, which can be re-used for the research. It is good ethical research practice to use secondary data wherever possible.[19]

Mixed-method research, i.e. research that includes qualitative and quantitative elements, using both primary and secondary data, is becoming more common.[20]

Big data has brought big impacts on research methods that now researchers do not put much effort on data collection, and also methods to analyze easily available huge amount of data have also changed.[21]

Nonempirical refers to an approach that is grounded in theory as opposed to using observation and experimentation to achieve the outcome. As such, nonempirical research seeks solutions to problems using existing knowledge as its source. This, however, does not mean that new ideas and innovations cannot be found within the pool existing and established knowledge. Nonempirical is not an absolute alternative to empirical research because they may be used together to strengthen a research approach. Neither one is less effective than the other since they have their particular purpose within life and in science. A simple example of a nonempirical task could the prototyping of a new drug using a differentiated application of existing knowledge; similarly, it could be the development of a business process in the form of a flow chart and texts where all the ingredients are from established knowledge. Empirical research on the other hand seeks to create new knowledge through observations and experiments in which established knowledge can either be contested or supplements.

Research method controversies[edit]
There have been many controversies about research methods stemmed from a philosophical positivism promise to distinguish the science from other practices (especially religion) by its method. This promise leads to methodological hegemony and methodology wars where diverse researchers, often coming from opposing paradigms, try to impose their own methodology on the entire field or even on the science practice in general as the only legitimate one.[citation needed]

Quantitative vs. Qualitative war[edit]
Anti-methodology[edit]
According to this view, general scientific methodology does not exist and attempts to impose it on scientists is counterproductive. Each particular research with its emerging particular inquiries requires and should produce its own way (method) of researching. Similar to the art practice, the notion of methodology has to be replaced with the notion of research mastery.[22]

Methodological academic imperialism[edit]
Epistemologies of different national sciences and cultural communities may differ and, thus, they may produce different methods of research. For example, psychological research in Russia tends to be rooted in philosophy while in the US and UK in empirism.[23][24][25] Rich countries (and dominant cultural communities within them) and their national sciences may dominate scientific discourse through funding and publications. This academic hegemony can translate into impositions of certain research methodologies through the gatekeeping process of international academic publications, conference presentation selection, institutional review boards, and funding.[26]

Professionalisation [edit]
Globe icon.
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (January 2014)
See also: Academic ranks, Academics, and Scientists
In several national and private academic systems, the professionalization of research has resulted in formal job titles.

In Russia[edit]
In present-day Russia, the former Soviet Union and in some Post-Soviet states the term researcher (Russian: Научный сотрудник, nauchny sotrudnik) is both a generic term for a person who carried out scientific research, as well as a job position within the frameworks of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Soviet universities, and in other research-oriented establishments. The term is also sometimes translated as research fellow, research associate, etc.

The following ranks are known:

Junior Researcher (Junior Research Associate)
Researcher (Research Associate)
Senior Researcher (Senior Research Associate)
Leading Researcher (Leading Research Associate)[27]
Chief Researcher (Chief Research Associate)
Publishing[edit]

Cover of the first issue of Nature, 4 November 1869.
Academic publishing describes a system that is necessary in order for academic scholars to peer review the work and make it available for a wider audience. The system varies widely by field, and is also always changing, if often slowly. Most academic work is published in journal article or book form. There is also a large body of research that exists in either a thesis or dissertation form. These forms of research can be found in databases explicitly for theses and dissertations. In publishing, STM publishing is an abbreviation for academic publications in science, technology, and medicine.

Most established academic fields have their own scientific journals and other outlets for publication, though many academic journals are somewhat interdisciplinary, and publish work from several distinct fields or subfields. The kinds of publications that are accepted as contributions of knowledge or research vary greatly between fields; from the print to the electronic format. A study suggests that researchers should not give great consideration to findings that are not replicated frequently.[28] It has also been suggested that all published studies should be subjected to some measure for assessing the validity or reliability of its factors in order to prevent the publication of unproven findings.[29] Business models are different in the electronic environment. Since about the early 1990s, licensing of electronic resources, particularly journals, has been very common. Presently, a major trend, particularly with respect to scholarly journals, is open access.[30] There are two main forms of open access: open access publishing, in which the articles or the whole journal is freely available from the time of publication, and self-archiving, where the author makes a copy of their own work freely available on the web.

Research funding[edit]
Main article: Funding of science
Most funding for scientific research comes from three major sources: corporate research and development departments; private foundations, for example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and government research councils such as the National Institutes of Health in the USA[31] and the Medical Research Council in the UK. These are managed primarily through universities and in some cases through military contractors. Many senior researchers (such as group leaders) spend a significant amount of their time applying for grants for research funds. These grants are necessary not only for researchers to carry out their research, but also as a source of merit.

The Social Psychology Network provides a comprehensive list of U.S. Government and private foundation funding sources.

Original research[edit]
Original research redirects here, for the Wikipedia policy see Wikipedia:No original research
Original research is research that is not exclusively based on a summary, review or synthesis of earlier publications on the subject of research. This material is of a primary source character. The purpose of the original research is to produce new knowledge, rather than to present the existing knowledge in a new form (e.g., summarized or classified).[32][33]

Different forms[edit]
Original research can take a number of forms, depending on the discipline it pertains to. In experimental work, it typically involves direct or indirect observation of the researched subject(s), e.g., in the laboratory or in the field, documents the methodology, results, and conclusions of an experiment or set of experiments, or offers a novel interpretation of previous results. In analytical work, there are typically some new (for example) mathematical results produced, or a new way of approaching an existing problem. In some subjects which do not typically carry out experimentation or analysis of this kind, the originality is in the particular way existing understanding is changed or re-interpreted based on the outcome of the work of the researcher.[34]

The degree of originality of the research is among major criteria for articles to be published in academic journals and usually established by means of peer review.[35] Graduate students are commonly required to perform original research as part of a dissertation.[36]

Artistic research[edit]
The controversial trend of artistic teaching becoming more academics-oriented is leading to artistic research being accepted as the primary mode of enquiry in art as in the case of other disciplines.[37] One of the characteristics of artistic research is that it must accept subjectivity as opposed to the classical scientific methods. As such, it is similar to the social sciences in using qualitative research and intersubjectivity as tools to apply measurement and critical analysis.[38]

Artistic research has been defined by the University of Dance and Circus (Dans och Cirkushögskolan, DOCH), Stockholm in the following manner - "Artistic research is to investigate and test with the purpose of gaining knowledge within and for our artistic disciplines. It is based on artistic practices, methods and criticality. Through presented documentation, the insights gained shall be placed in a context."[39] Artistic research aims to enhance knowledge and understanding with presentation of the arts.[40] For a survey of the central problematics of today's Artistic Research, see Giaco Schiesser.[41]

According to artist Hakan Topal, in artistic research, "perhaps more so than other disciplines, intuition is utilized as a method to identify a wide range of new and unexpected productive modalities".[42] Most writers, whether of fiction or non-fiction books, also have to do research to support their creative work. This may be factual, historical, or background research. Background research could include, for example, geographical or procedural research.[43]

The Society for Artistic Research (SAR) publishes the triannual Journal for Artistic Research (JAR),[44][45] an international, online, open access, and peer-reviewed journal for the identification, publication, and dissemination of artistic research and its methodologies, from all arts disciplines and it runs the Research Catalogue (RC),[46][47][48] a searchable, documentary database of artistic research, to which anyone can contribute.

Patricia Leavy addresses eight arts-based research (ABR) genres, they are: narrative inquiry, fiction-based research, poetry, music, dance, theatre, film, and visual art.[49]

See also[edit]
European Charter for Researchers
Undergraduate research
Internet research
List of countries by research and development spending
Open research
Operations research
Participatory action research
Primary research
Psychological research methods
Research-intensive cluster
Scholarly research
Secondary research
Society for Artistic Research
Timeline of the history of scientific method
References[edit]
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^ Jump up to: a b c Unattributed. ""Research" in 'Dictionary' tab". Merriam Webster (m-w.com). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
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Jump up ^ Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational Research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Jump up ^ Trochim, W.M.K, (2006). Research Methods Knowledge Base.
Jump up ^ Creswell, J.W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 2008 ISBN 0-13-613550-1 (pages 8-9)
Jump up ^ Shields, Patricia and Rangarjan, N. 2013. A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management. [1]. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.
Jump up ^ Gauch, Jr., H.G. (2003). Scientific method in practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2003 ISBN 0-521-81689-0 (page 3)
Jump up ^ Rocco, T.S., Hatcher, T., & Creswell, J.W. (2011). The handbook of scholarly writing and publishing. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. 2011 ISBN 978-0-470-39335-2
Jump up ^ Questions About Freedom, Democide, And War
Jump up ^ Plato, & Bluck, R. S. (1962). Meno. Cambridge, UK: University Press.
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Jump up ^ Garraghan, Gilbert J. (1946). A Guide to Historical Method. New York: Fordham University Press. p. 168. ISBN 0-8371-7132-6.
Jump up ^ Sullivan P (2005-04-13). "Maurice R. Hilleman dies; created vaccines". Washington Post.
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Jump up ^ Data Collection Methods
Jump up ^ Kara H (2012) Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners: A Time-Saving Guide, p.102. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Jump up ^ Kara H (2012) Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners: A Time-Saving Guide, p.114. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Jump up ^ Liu, Alex (2015-01-01). Structural Equation Modeling and Latent Variable Approaches. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 9781118900772.
Jump up ^ Matusov, E., & Brobst, J. (2013). Radical experiment in dialogic pedagogy in higher education and its centaur failure: Chronotopic analysis. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Jump up ^ Kent, D. (1995). Russian psychology-I. APS Observer, March, 28-31.
Jump up ^ Kent, D. (1995). Russian psychology-II. APS Observer, May/June, 28-38.
Jump up ^ Kent, D. (1995). Russian psychology-III. APS Observer, July/August, 28-30.
Jump up ^ Schrag, Z. M. (2010). Ethical imperialism: Institutional review boards and the social sciences, 1965-2009. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jump up ^ Job qualifications for Leading Researcher (Russian)
Jump up ^ Heiner Evanschitzky, Carsten Baumgarth, Raymond Hubbard and J. Scott Armstrong (2006). "Replication Research in Marketing Revisited: A Note on a Disturbing Trend" (PDF).
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Jump up ^ "What is Original Research? Original research is considered a primary source.". Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North Florida. Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 9 Aug 2014.
Jump up ^ Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers - Laurie Rozakis
Jump up ^ Singh, Michael; Li, Bingyi (October 6, 2009). "Early career researcher originality: Engaging Richard Florida’s international competition for creative workers" (PDF). Centre for Educational Research, University of Western Sydney. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012.
Jump up ^ Callaham, Michael; Wears, Robert; Weber, Ellen L. (2002). "Journal Prestige, Publication Bias, and Other Characteristics Associated With Citation of Published Studies in Peer-Reviewed Journals". JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.287.21.2847.
Jump up ^ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-2007 edition - The United States Department of Labor
Jump up ^ Lesage, Dieter (Spring 2009). "Who’s Afraid of Artistic Research? On measuring artistic research output" (PDF). Art&Research - A Journal of Ideas, Contexts and Methods 2 (2). ISSN 1752-6388. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
Jump up ^ Eisner, E. W. (1981). "On the Differences between Scientific and Artistic Approaches to Qualitative Research". Educational Researcher 10 (4): 5–9. doi:10.2307/1175121.
Jump up ^ Unattributed. "Artistic research at DOCH". Dans och Cirkushögskolan (website). Retrieved 14 August 2011.
Jump up ^ Schwab, M. (2009). Draft Proposal. Journal for Artistic Research. Bern University of the Arts.
Jump up ^ Schiesser, G. (2015). What is at stake – Qu’est ce que l’enjeu? Paradoxes – Problematics – Perspectives in Artistic Research Today, in: Arts, Research, Innovation and Society. Eds. Gerald Bast, Elias G. Carayannis [= ARIS, Vol. 1]. Wien/New York: Springer 2015, pp. 197-210.
Jump up ^ Topal, H. (2014) Whose Terms? A Glossary for Social Practice: RESEARCH
Jump up ^ Hoffman A (2003) Research for Writers, pp 4-5. London: A&C Black Publishers Limited.
Jump up ^ Swiss Science and Technology Research Council (2011), Research Funding in the Arts [accessed Feb 3, 2014]
Jump up ^ Borgdorff, Henk (2012), The Conflict of the Faculties. Perspectives on Artistic Research and Academia (Chapter 11: The Case of the Journal for Artistic Research), Leiden: Leiden University Press.
Jump up ^ Schwab, Michael, and Borgdorff, Henk, eds. (2014), The Exposition of Artistic Research: Publishing Art in Academia, Leiden: Leiden University Press.
Jump up ^ Wilson, Nick and van Ruiten, Schelte / ELIA, eds. (2013), SHARE Handbook for Artistic Research Education, Amsterdam: Valand Academy, p. 249.
Jump up ^ Hughes, Rolf: "Leap into Another Kind: International Developments in Artistic Research," in Swedish Research Council, ed. (2013), Artistic Research Then and Now: 2004–2013, Yearbook of AR&D 2013, Stockholm: Swedish Research Council.
Jump up ^ Leavy, Patricia (2015). Methods Meets Art (2nd Edition ed.). New York: Guilford. ISBN 9781462519446.
Further reading[edit]
Cohen, N. & Arieli, T. (2011) Field research in conflict environments: Methodological challenges and snowball sampling. Journal of Peace Research 48 (4), pp. 423–436.
Soeters, Joseph; Shields, Patricia and Rietjens, Sebastiaan. 2014. Handbook of Research Methods in Military Studies New York: Routledge.
External links[edit]
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Computer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Computer technology" and "Computer system" redirect here. For the company, see Computer Technology Limited. For other uses, see Computer (disambiguation) and Computer system (disambiguation).
Computer
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A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem.

Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit (CPU), and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit can change the order of operations in response to stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved.

Contents  [hide] 
1	Etymology
2	History
2.1	Pre-twentieth century
2.2	First computing device
2.3	Analog computers
2.4	Digital Computers
2.4.1	Electromechanical
2.4.2	Vacuum tubes and digital electronic circuits
2.5	Modern computers
2.5.1	The concept of modern computer
2.5.2	Stored programs
2.5.3	Transistors
2.5.4	Integrated circuits
2.6	Mobile computers become dominant
3	Programs
3.1	Stored program architecture
3.2	Machine code
3.3	Programming language
3.3.1	Low-level languages
3.3.2	High-level languages/Third Generation Language
3.4	Fourth Generation Languages
3.5	Program design
3.6	Bugs
4	Components
4.1	Control unit
4.2	Central processing unit (CPU)
4.3	Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
4.4	Memory
4.5	Input/output (I/O)
4.6	Multitasking
4.7	Multiprocessing
5	Networking and the Internet
5.1	Computer architecture paradigms
6	Misconceptions
6.1	Unconventional computing
7	Future
8	Further topics
8.1	Artificial intelligence
9	Hardware
9.1	History of computing hardware
9.2	Other hardware topics
10	Software
11	Languages
11.1	Firmware
12	Types of computers
12.1	Based on uses
12.2	Based on sizes
13	Input Devices
14	Output Devices
15	Professions and organizations
16	See also
17	Notes
18	References
19	External links
Etymology
The first known use of the word "computer" was in 1613 in a book called The Yong Mans Gleanings by English writer Richard Braithwait: "I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he reduceth thy dayes into a short number." It referred to a person who carried out calculations, or computations. The word continued with the same meaning until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, a machine that carries out computations.[1]

History
Main article: History of computing hardware
Pre-twentieth century

The Ishango bone
Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, mostly using one-to-one correspondence with fingers. The earliest counting device was probably a form of tally stick. Later record keeping aids throughout the Fertile Crescent included calculi (clay spheres, cones, etc.) which represented counts of items, probably livestock or grains, sealed in hollow unbaked clay containers.[2][3] The use of counting rods is one example.


The Chinese Suanpan (算盘) (the number represented on this abacus is 6,302,715,408)
The abacus was initially used for arithmetic tasks. The Roman abacus was used in Babylonia as early as 2400 BC. Since then, many other forms of reckoning boards or tables have been invented. In a medieval European counting house, a checkered cloth would be placed on a table, and markers moved around on it according to certain rules, as an aid to calculating sums of money.


The ancient Greek-designed Antikythera mechanism, dating between 150 and 100 BC, is the world's oldest analog computer.
The Antikythera mechanism is believed to be the earliest mechanical analog "computer", according to Derek J. de Solla Price.[4] It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to circa 100 BC. Devices of a level of complexity comparable to that of the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until a thousand years later.

Many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement were constructed for astronomical and navigation use. The planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī in the early 11th century.[5] The astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC and is often attributed to Hipparchus. A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was effectively an analog computer capable of working out several different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy. An astrolabe incorporating a mechanical calendar computer[6][7] and gear-wheels was invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan, Persia in 1235.[8] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī invented the first mechanical geared lunisolar calendar astrolabe,[9] an early fixed-wired knowledge processing machine[10] with a gear train and gear-wheels,[11] circa 1000 AD.

The sector, a calculating instrument used for solving problems in proportion, trigonometry, multiplication and division, and for various functions, such as squares and cube roots, was developed in the late 16th century and found application in gunnery, surveying and navigation.

The planimeter was a manual instrument to calculate the area of a closed figure by tracing over it with a mechanical linkage.


A slide rule
The slide rule was invented around 1620–1630, shortly after the publication of the concept of the logarithm. It is a hand-operated analog computer for doing multiplication and division. As slide rule development progressed, added scales provided reciprocals, squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots, as well as transcendental functions such as logarithms and exponentials, circular and hyperbolic trigonometry and other functions. Aviation is one of the few fields where slide rules are still in widespread use, particularly for solving time–distance problems in light aircraft. To save space and for ease of reading, these are typically circular devices rather than the classic linear slide rule shape. A popular example is the E6B.

In the 1770s Pierre Jaquet-Droz, a Swiss watchmaker, built a mechanical doll (automata) that could write holding a quill pen. By switching the number and order of its internal wheels different letters, and hence different messages, could be produced. In effect, it could be mechanically "programmed" to read instructions. Along with two other complex machines, the doll is at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and still operates.[12]

The tide-predicting machine invented by Sir William Thomson in 1872 was of great utility to navigation in shallow waters. It used a system of pulleys and wires to automatically calculate predicted tide levels for a set period at a particular location.

The differential analyser, a mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations by integration, used wheel-and-disc mechanisms to perform the integration. In 1876 Lord Kelvin had already discussed the possible construction of such calculators, but he had been stymied by the limited output torque of the ball-and-disk integrators.[13] In a differential analyzer, the output of one integrator drove the input of the next integrator, or a graphing output. The torque amplifier was the advance that allowed these machines to work. Starting in the 1920s, Vannevar Bush and others developed mechanical differential analyzers.

First computing device

A portion of Babbage's Difference engine.
Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and polymath, originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer",[14] he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century. After working on his revolutionary difference engine, designed to aid in navigational calculations, in 1833 he realized that a much more general design, an Analytical Engine, was possible. The input of programs and data was to be provided to the machine via punched cards, a method being used at the time to direct mechanical looms such as the Jacquard loom. For output, the machine would have a printer, a curve plotter and a bell. The machine would also be able to punch numbers onto cards to be read in later. The Engine incorporated an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a general-purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as Turing-complete.[15][16]

The machine was about a century ahead of its time. All the parts for his machine had to be made by hand — this was a major problem for a device with thousands of parts. Eventually, the project was dissolved with the decision of the British Government to cease funding. Babbage's failure to complete the analytical engine can be chiefly attributed to difficulties not only of politics and financing, but also to his desire to develop an increasingly sophisticated computer and to move ahead faster than anyone else could follow. Nevertheless, his son, Henry Babbage, completed a simplified version of the analytical engine's computing unit (the mill) in 1888. He gave a successful demonstration of its use in computing tables in 1906.

Analog computers

Sir William Thomson's third tide-predicting machine design, 1879–81
During the first half of the 20th century, many scientific computing needs were met by increasingly sophisticated analog computers, which used a direct mechanical or electrical model of the problem as a basis for computation. However, these were not programmable and generally lacked the versatility and accuracy of modern digital computers.[17]

The first modern analog computer was a tide-predicting machine, invented by Sir William Thomson in 1872. The differential analyser, a mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations by integration using wheel-and-disc mechanisms, was conceptualized in 1876 by James Thomson, the brother of the more famous Lord Kelvin.[13]

The art of mechanical analog computing reached its zenith with the differential analyzer, built by H. L. Hazen and Vannevar Bush at MIT starting in 1927. This built on the mechanical integrators of James Thomson and the torque amplifiers invented by H. W. Nieman. A dozen of these devices were built before their obsolescence became obvious.

By the 1950s the success of digital electronic computers had spelled the end for most analog computing machines, but analog computers remain in use in some specialized applications such as education (control systems) and aircraft (slide rule).

Digital Computers
Electromechanical
By 1938 the United States Navy had developed an electromechanical analog computer small enough to use aboard a submarine. This was the Torpedo Data Computer, which used trigonometry to solve the problem of firing a torpedo at a moving target. During World War II similar devices were developed in other countries as well.


Replica of Zuse's Z3, the first fully automatic, digital (electromechanical) computer.
Early digital computers were electromechanical; electric switches drove mechanical relays to perform the calculation. These devices had a low operating speed and were eventually superseded by much faster all-electric computers, originally using vacuum tubes. The Z2, created by German engineer Konrad Zuse in 1939, was one of the earliest examples of an electromechanical relay computer.[18]

In 1941, Zuse followed his earlier machine up with the Z3, the world's first working electromechanical programmable, fully automatic digital computer.[19][20] The Z3 was built with 2000 relays, implementing a 22 bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about 5–10 Hz.[21] Program code was supplied on punched film while data could be stored in 64 words of memory or supplied from the keyboard. It was quite similar to modern machines in some respects, pioneering numerous advances such as floating point numbers. Replacement of the hard-to-implement decimal system (used in Charles Babbage's earlier design) by the simpler binary system meant that Zuse's machines were easier to build and potentially more reliable, given the technologies available at that time.[22] The Z3 was Turing complete.[23][24]

Vacuum tubes and digital electronic circuits
Purely electronic circuit elements soon replaced their mechanical and electromechanical equivalents, at the same time that digital calculation replaced analog. The engineer Tommy Flowers, working at the Post Office Research Station in London in the 1930s, began to explore the possible use of electronics for the telephone exchange. Experimental equipment that he built in 1934 went into operation 5 years later, converting a portion of the telephone exchange network into an electronic data processing system, using thousands of vacuum tubes.[17] In the US, John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry of Iowa State University developed and tested the Atanasoff–Berry Computer (ABC) in 1942,[25] the first "automatic electronic digital computer".[26] This design was also all-electronic and used about 300 vacuum tubes, with capacitors fixed in a mechanically rotating drum for memory.[27]


Colossus was the first electronic digital programmable computing device, and was used to break German ciphers during World War II.
During World War II, the British at Bletchley Park achieved a number of successes at breaking encrypted German military communications. The German encryption machine, Enigma, was first attacked with the help of the electro-mechanical bombes. To crack the more sophisticated German Lorenz SZ 40/42 machine, used for high-level Army communications, Max Newman and his colleagues commissioned Flowers to build the Colossus.[27] He spent eleven months from early February 1943 designing and building the first Colossus.[28] After a functional test in December 1943, Colossus was shipped to Bletchley Park, where it was delivered on 18 January 1944[29] and attacked its first message on 5 February.[27]

Colossus was the world's first electronic digital programmable computer.[17] It used a large number of valves (vacuum tubes). It had paper-tape input and was capable of being configured to perform a variety of boolean logical operations on its data, but it was not Turing-complete. Nine Mk II Colossi were built (The Mk I was converted to a Mk II making ten machines in total). Colossus Mark I contained 1500 thermionic valves (tubes), but Mark II with 2400 valves, was both 5 times faster and simpler to operate than Mark 1, greatly speeding the decoding process.[30][31]


ENIAC was the first Turing-complete device, and performed ballistics trajectory calculations for the United States Army.
The US-built ENIAC[32] (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first electronic programmable computer built in the US. Although the ENIAC was similar to the Colossus it was much faster and more flexible. Like the Colossus, a "program" on the ENIAC was defined by the states of its patch cables and switches, a far cry from the stored program electronic machines that came later. Once a program was written, it had to be mechanically set into the machine with manual resetting of plugs and switches.

It combined the high speed of electronics with the ability to be programmed for many complex problems. It could add or subtract 5000 times a second, a thousand times faster than any other machine. It also had modules to multiply, divide, and square root. High speed memory was limited to 20 words (about 80 bytes). Built under the direction of John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania, ENIAC's development and construction lasted from 1943 to full operation at the end of 1945. The machine was huge, weighing 30 tons, using 200 kilowatts of electric power and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and inductors.[33]

Modern computers
The concept of modern computer
The principle of the modern computer was proposed by Alan Turing, in his seminal 1936 paper,[34] On Computable Numbers. Turing proposed a simple device that he called "Universal Computing machine" that is later known as a Universal Turing machine. He proved that such machine is capable of computing anything that is computable by executing instructions (program) stored on tape, allowing the machine to be programmable.

The fundamental concept of Turing's design is stored program, where all instruction for computing is stored in the memory.

Von Neumann acknowledged that the central concept of the modern computer was due to this paper.[35] Turing machines are to this day a central object of study in theory of computation. Except for the limitations imposed by their finite memory stores, modern computers are said to be Turing-complete, which is to say, they have algorithm execution capability equivalent to a universal Turing machine.

Stored programs
Three tall racks containing electronic circuit boards
A section of the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the first stored-program computer.
Early computing machines had fixed programs. Changing its function required the re-wiring and re-structuring of the machine.[27] With the proposal of the stored-program computer this changed. A stored-program computer includes by design an instruction set and can store in memory a set of instructions (a program) that details the computation. The theoretical basis for the stored-program computer was laid by Alan Turing in his 1936 paper. In 1945 Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory and began work on developing an electronic stored-program digital computer. His 1945 report ‘Proposed Electronic Calculator’ was the first specification for such a device. John von Neumann at the University of Pennsylvania also circulated his First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC in 1945.[17]


Ferranti Mark 1, c. 1951.
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, nicknamed Baby, was the world's first stored-program computer. It was built at the Victoria University of Manchester by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, and ran its first program on 21 June 1948.[36] It was designed as a testbed for the Williams tube the first random-access digital storage device.[37] Although the computer was considered "small and primitive" by the standards of its time, it was the first working machine to contain all of the elements essential to a modern electronic computer.[38] As soon as the SSEM had demonstrated the feasibility of its design, a project was initiated at the university to develop it into a more usable computer, the Manchester Mark 1.

The Mark 1 in turn quickly became the prototype for the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose computer.[39] Built by Ferranti, it was delivered to the University of Manchester in February 1951. At least seven of these later machines were delivered between 1953 and 1957, one of them to Shell labs in Amsterdam.[40] In October 1947, the directors of British catering company J. Lyons & Company decided to take an active role in promoting the commercial development of computers. The LEO I computer became operational in April 1951[41] and ran the world's first regular routine office computer job.

Transistors

A bipolar junction transistor
The bipolar transistor was invented in 1947. From 1955 onwards transistors replaced vacuum tubes in computer designs, giving rise to the "second generation" of computers. Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors have many advantages: they are smaller, and require less power than vacuum tubes, so give off less heat. Silicon junction transistors were much more reliable than vacuum tubes and had longer, indefinite, service life. Transistorized computers could contain tens of thousands of binary logic circuits in a relatively compact space.

At the University of Manchester, a team under the leadership of Tom Kilburn designed and built a machine using the newly developed transistors instead of valves.[42] Their first transistorised computer and the first in the world, was operational by 1953, and a second version was completed there in April 1955. However, the machine did make use of valves to generate its 125 kHz clock waveforms and in the circuitry to read and write on its magnetic drum memory, so it was not the first completely transistorized computer. That distinction goes to the Harwell CADET of 1955,[43] built by the electronics division of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell.[43][44]

Integrated circuits
The next great advance in computing power came with the advent of the integrated circuit. The idea of the integrated circuit was first conceived by a radar scientist working for the Royal Radar Establishment of the Ministry of Defence, Geoffrey W.A. Dummer. Dummer presented the first public description of an integrated circuit at the Symposium on Progress in Quality Electronic Components in Washington, D.C. on 7 May 1952.[45]

The first practical ICs were invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor.[46] Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July 1958, successfully demonstrating the first working integrated example on 12 September 1958.[47] In his patent application of 6 February 1959, Kilby described his new device as "a body of semiconductor material ... wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated".[48][49] Noyce also came up with his own idea of an integrated circuit half a year later than Kilby.[50] His chip solved many practical problems that Kilby's had not. Produced at Fairchild Semiconductor, it was made of silicon, whereas Kilby's chip was made of germanium.

This new development heralded an explosion in the commercial and personal use of computers and led to the invention of the microprocessor. While the subject of exactly which device was the first microprocessor is contentious, partly due to lack of agreement on the exact definition of the term "microprocessor", it is largely undisputed that the first single-chip microprocessor was the Intel 4004,[51] designed and realized by Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, and Stanley Mazor at Intel.[52]

Mobile computers become dominant
With the continued miniaturization of computing resources, and advancements in portable battery life, portable computers grew in popularity in the 2000s.[53] The same developments that spurred the growth of laptop computers and other portable computers allowed manufacturers to integrate computing resources into cellular phones. These so-called smartphones and tablets run on a variety of operating systems and have become the dominant computing device on the market, with manufacturers reporting having shipped an estimated 237 million devices in 2Q 2013.[54]

Programs
The defining feature of modern computers which distinguishes them from all other machines is that they can be programmed. That is to say that some type of instructions (the program) can be given to the computer, and it will process them. Modern computers based on the von Neumann architecture often have machine code in the form of an imperative programming language.

In practical terms, a computer program may be just a few instructions or extend to many millions of instructions, as do the programs for word processors and web browsers for example. A typical modern computer can execute billions of instructions per second (gigaflops) and rarely makes a mistake over many years of operation. Large computer programs consisting of several million instructions may take teams of programmers years to write, and due to the complexity of the task almost certainly contain errors.

Stored program architecture
Main articles: Computer program and Computer programming

Replica of the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), the world's first stored-program computer, at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England
This section applies to most common RAM machine-based computers.

In most cases, computer instructions are simple: add one number to another, move some data from one location to another, send a message to some external device, etc. These instructions are read from the computer's memory and are generally carried out (executed) in the order they were given. However, there are usually specialized instructions to tell the computer to jump ahead or backwards to some other place in the program and to carry on executing from there. These are called "jump" instructions (or branches). Furthermore, jump instructions may be made to happen conditionally so that different sequences of instructions may be used depending on the result of some previous calculation or some external event. Many computers directly support subroutines by providing a type of jump that "remembers" the location it jumped from and another instruction to return to the instruction following that jump instruction.

Program execution might be likened to reading a book. While a person will normally read each word and line in sequence, they may at times jump back to an earlier place in the text or skip sections that are not of interest. Similarly, a computer may sometimes go back and repeat the instructions in some section of the program over and over again until some internal condition is met. This is called the flow of control within the program and it is what allows the computer to perform tasks repeatedly without human intervention.

Comparatively, a person using a pocket calculator can perform a basic arithmetic operation such as adding two numbers with just a few button presses. But to add together all of the numbers from 1 to 1,000 would take thousands of button presses and a lot of time, with a near certainty of making a mistake. On the other hand, a computer may be programmed to do this with just a few simple instructions. The following example is written in the MIPS assembly language:

  begin:
  addi $8, $0, 0           # initialize sum to 0
  addi $9, $0, 1           # set first number to add = 1
  loop:
  slti $10, $9, 1000       # check if the number is less than 1000
  beq $10, $0, finish      # if odd number is greater than n then exit
  add $8, $8, $9           # update sum
  addi $9, $9, 1           # get next number
  j loop                   # repeat the summing process
  finish:
  add $2, $8, $0           # put sum in output register
Once told to run this program, the computer will perform the repetitive addition task without further human intervention. It will almost never make a mistake and a modern PC can complete the task in a fraction of a second.

Machine code
In most computers, individual instructions are stored as machine code with each instruction being given a unique number (its operation code or opcode for short). The command to add two numbers together would have one opcode; the command to multiply them would have a different opcode, and so on. The simplest computers are able to perform any of a handful of different instructions; the more complex computers have several hundred to choose from, each with a unique numerical code. Since the computer's memory is able to store numbers, it can also store the instruction codes. This leads to the important fact that entire programs (which are just lists of these instructions) can be represented as lists of numbers and can themselves be manipulated inside the computer in the same way as numeric data. The fundamental concept of storing programs in the computer's memory alongside the data they operate on is the crux of the von Neumann, or stored program[citation needed], architecture. In some cases, a computer might store some or all of its program in memory that is kept separate from the data it operates on. This is called the Harvard architecture after the Harvard Mark I computer. Modern von Neumann computers display some traits of the Harvard architecture in their designs, such as in CPU caches.

While it is possible to write computer programs as long lists of numbers (machine language) and while this technique was used with many early computers,[55] it is extremely tedious and potentially error-prone to do so in practice, especially for complicated programs. Instead, each basic instruction can be given a short name that is indicative of its function and easy to remember – a mnemonic such as ADD, SUB, MULT or JUMP. These mnemonics are collectively known as a computer's assembly language. Converting programs written in assembly language into something the computer can actually understand (machine language) is usually done by a computer program called an assembler.


A 1970s punched card containing one line from a FORTRAN program. The card reads: "Z(1) = Y + W(1)" and is labeled "PROJ039" for identification purposes.
Programming language
Main article: Programming language
Programming languages provide various ways of specifying programs for computers to run. Unlike natural languages, programming languages are designed to permit no ambiguity and to be concise. They are purely written languages and are often difficult to read aloud. They are generally either translated into machine code by a compiler or an assembler before being run, or translated directly at run time by an interpreter. Sometimes programs are executed by a hybrid method of the two techniques.

Low-level languages
Main article: Low-level programming language
Machine languages and the assembly languages that represent them (collectively termed low-level programming languages) tend to be unique to a particular type of computer. For instance, an ARM architecture computer (such as may be found in a PDA or a hand-held videogame) cannot understand the machine language of an Intel Pentium or the AMD Athlon 64 computer that might be in a PC.[56]

High-level languages/Third Generation Language
Main article: High-level programming language
Though considerably easier than in machine language, writing long programs in assembly language is often difficult and is also error prone. Therefore, most practical programs are written in more abstract high-level programming languages that are able to express the needs of the programmer more conveniently (and thereby help reduce programmer error). High level languages are usually "compiled" into machine language (or sometimes into assembly language and then into machine language) using another computer program called a compiler.[57] High level languages are less related to the workings of the target computer than assembly language, and more related to the language and structure of the problem(s) to be solved by the final program. It is therefore often possible to use different compilers to translate the same high level language program into the machine language of many different types of computer. This is part of the means by which software like video games may be made available for different computer architectures such as personal computers and various video game consoles.

Fourth Generation Languages
These 4G languages are less procedural than 3G languages. The benefit of 4GL is that it provides ways to obtain information without requiring the direct help of a programmer. Example of 4GL is SQL.

Program design

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Program design of small programs is relatively simple and involves the analysis of the problem, collection of inputs, using the programming constructs within languages, devising or using established procedures and algorithms, providing data for output devices and solutions to the problem as applicable. As problems become larger and more complex, features such as subprograms, modules, formal documentation, and new paradigms such as object-oriented programming are encountered. Large programs involving thousands of line of code and more require formal software methodologies. The task of developing large software systems presents a significant intellectual challenge. Producing software with an acceptably high reliability within a predictable schedule and budget has historically been difficult; the academic and professional discipline of software engineering concentrates specifically on this challenge.

Bugs
Main article: Software bug

The actual first computer bug, a moth found trapped on a relay of the Harvard Mark II computer
Errors in computer programs are called "bugs". They may be benign and not affect the usefulness of the program, or have only subtle effects. But in some cases, they may cause the program or the entire system to "hang", becoming unresponsive to input such as mouse clicks or keystrokes, to completely fail, or to crash. Otherwise benign bugs may sometimes be harnessed for malicious intent by an unscrupulous user writing an exploit, code designed to take advantage of a bug and disrupt a computer's proper execution. Bugs are usually not the fault of the computer. Since computers merely execute the instructions they are given, bugs are nearly always the result of programmer error or an oversight made in the program's design.[58]

Admiral Grace Hopper, an American computer scientist and developer of the first compiler, is credited for having first used the term "bugs" in computing after a dead moth was found shorting a relay in the Harvard Mark II computer in September 1947.[59]

Components
Main articles: Central processing unit and Microprocessor
File:Computer Components.webm
Video demonstrating the standard components of a "slimline" computer
A general purpose computer has four main components: the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), the control unit, the memory, and the input and output devices (collectively termed I/O). These parts are interconnected by buses, often made of groups of wires.

Inside each of these parts are thousands to trillions of small electrical circuits which can be turned off or on by means of an electronic switch. Each circuit represents a bit (binary digit) of information so that when the circuit is on it represents a "1", and when off it represents a "0" (in positive logic representation). The circuits are arranged in logic gates so that one or more of the circuits may control the state of one or more of the other circuits.

Control unit
Main articles: CPU design and Control unit

Diagram showing how a particular MIPS architecture instruction would be decoded by the control system
The control unit (often called a control system or central controller) manages the computer's various components; it reads and interprets (decodes) the program instructions, transforming them into control signals that activate other parts of the computer.[60] Control systems in advanced computers may change the order of execution of some instructions to improve performance.

A key component common to all CPUs is the program counter, a special memory cell (a register) that keeps track of which location in memory the next instruction is to be read from.[61]

The control system's function is as follows—note that this is a simplified description, and some of these steps may be performed concurrently or in a different order depending on the type of CPU:

Read the code for the next instruction from the cell indicated by the program counter.
Decode the numerical code for the instruction into a set of commands or signals for each of the other systems.
Increment the program counter so it points to the next instruction.
Read whatever data the instruction requires from cells in memory (or perhaps from an input device). The location of this required data is typically stored within the instruction code.
Provide the necessary data to an ALU or register.
If the instruction requires an ALU or specialized hardware to complete, instruct the hardware to perform the requested operation.
Write the result from the ALU back to a memory location or to a register or perhaps an output device.
Jump back to step (1).
Since the program counter is (conceptually) just another set of memory cells, it can be changed by calculations done in the ALU. Adding 100 to the program counter would cause the next instruction to be read from a place 100 locations further down the program. Instructions that modify the program counter are often known as "jumps" and allow for loops (instructions that are repeated by the computer) and often conditional instruction execution (both examples of control flow).

The sequence of operations that the control unit goes through to process an instruction is in itself like a short computer program, and indeed, in some more complex CPU designs, there is another yet smaller computer called a microsequencer, which runs a microcode program that causes all of these events to happen.

Central processing unit (CPU)
The control unit, ALU, and registers are collectively known as a central processing unit (CPU). Early CPUs were composed of many separate components but since the mid-1970s CPUs have typically been constructed on a single integrated circuit called a microprocessor.

Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
Main article: Arithmetic logic unit
The ALU is capable of performing two classes of operations: arithmetic and logic.[62]

The set of arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to addition and subtraction, or might include multiplication, division, trigonometry functions such as sine, cosine, etc., and square roots. Some can only operate on whole numbers (integers) whilst others use floating point to represent real numbers, albeit with limited precision. However, any computer that is capable of performing just the simplest operations can be programmed to break down the more complex operations into simple steps that it can perform. Therefore, any computer can be programmed to perform any arithmetic operation—although it will take more time to do so if its ALU does not directly support the operation. An ALU may also compare numbers and return boolean truth values (true or false) depending on whether one is equal to, greater than or less than the other ("is 64 greater than 65?").

Logic operations involve Boolean logic: AND, OR, XOR, and NOT. These can be useful for creating complicated conditional statements and processing boolean logic.

Superscalar computers may contain multiple ALUs, allowing them to process several instructions simultaneously.[63] Graphics processors and computers with SIMD and MIMD features often contain ALUs that can perform arithmetic on vectors and matrices.

Memory
Main article: Computer data storage

Magnetic core memory was the computer memory of choice throughout the 1960s, until it was replaced by semiconductor memory.
A computer's memory can be viewed as a list of cells into which numbers can be placed or read. Each cell has a numbered "address" and can store a single number. The computer can be instructed to "put the number 123 into the cell numbered 1357" or to "add the number that is in cell 1357 to the number that is in cell 2468 and put the answer into cell 1595." The information stored in memory may represent practically anything. Letters, numbers, even computer instructions can be placed into memory with equal ease. Since the CPU does not differentiate between different types of information, it is the software's responsibility to give significance to what the memory sees as nothing but a series of numbers.

In almost all modern computers, each memory cell is set up to store binary numbers in groups of eight bits (called a byte). Each byte is able to represent 256 different numbers (28 = 256); either from 0 to 255 or −128 to +127. To store larger numbers, several consecutive bytes may be used (typically, two, four or eight). When negative numbers are required, they are usually stored in two's complement notation. Other arrangements are possible, but are usually not seen outside of specialized applications or historical contexts. A computer can store any kind of information in memory if it can be represented numerically. Modern computers have billions or even trillions of bytes of memory.

The CPU contains a special set of memory cells called registers that can be read and written to much more rapidly than the main memory area. There are typically between two and one hundred registers depending on the type of CPU. Registers are used for the most frequently needed data items to avoid having to access main memory every time data is needed. As data is constantly being worked on, reducing the need to access main memory (which is often slow compared to the ALU and control units) greatly increases the computer's speed.

Computer main memory comes in two principal varieties:

random-access memory or RAM
read-only memory or ROM
RAM can be read and written to anytime the CPU commands it, but ROM is preloaded with data and software that never changes, therefore the CPU can only read from it. ROM is typically used to store the computer's initial start-up instructions. In general, the contents of RAM are erased when the power to the computer is turned off, but ROM retains its data indefinitely. In a PC, the ROM contains a specialized program called the BIOS that orchestrates loading the computer's operating system from the hard disk drive into RAM whenever the computer is turned on or reset. In embedded computers, which frequently do not have disk drives, all of the required software may be stored in ROM. Software stored in ROM is often called firmware, because it is notionally more like hardware than software. Flash memory blurs the distinction between ROM and RAM, as it retains its data when turned off but is also rewritable. It is typically much slower than conventional ROM and RAM however, so its use is restricted to applications where high speed is unnecessary.[64]

In more sophisticated computers there may be one or more RAM cache memories, which are slower than registers but faster than main memory. Generally computers with this sort of cache are designed to move frequently needed data into the cache automatically, often without the need for any intervention on the programmer's part.

Input/output (I/O)
Main article: Input/output

Hard disk drives are common storage devices used with computers.
I/O is the means by which a computer exchanges information with the outside world.[65] Devices that provide input or output to the computer are called peripherals.[66] On a typical personal computer, peripherals include input devices like the keyboard and mouse, and output devices such as the display and printer. Hard disk drives, floppy disk drives and optical disc drives serve as both input and output devices. Computer networking is another form of I/O.

I/O devices are often complex computers in their own right, with their own CPU and memory. A graphics processing unit might contain fifty or more tiny computers that perform the calculations necessary to display 3D graphics.[citation needed] Modern desktop computers contain many smaller computers that assist the main CPU in performing I/O.

Multitasking
Main article: Computer multitasking
While a computer may be viewed as running one gigantic program stored in its main memory, in some systems it is necessary to give the appearance of running several programs simultaneously. This is achieved by multitasking i.e. having the computer switch rapidly between running each program in turn.[67]

One means by which this is done is with a special signal called an interrupt, which can periodically cause the computer to stop executing instructions where it was and do something else instead. By remembering where it was executing prior to the interrupt, the computer can return to that task later. If several programs are running "at the same time". then the interrupt generator might be causing several hundred interrupts per second, causing a program switch each time. Since modern computers typically execute instructions several orders of magnitude faster than human perception, it may appear that many programs are running at the same time even though only one is ever executing in any given instant. This method of multitasking is sometimes termed "time-sharing" since each program is allocated a "slice" of time in turn.[68]

Before the era of cheap computers, the principal use for multitasking was to allow many people to share the same computer.

Seemingly, multitasking would cause a computer that is switching between several programs to run more slowly, in direct proportion to the number of programs it is running, but most programs spend much of their time waiting for slow input/output devices to complete their tasks. If a program is waiting for the user to click on the mouse or press a key on the keyboard, then it will not take a "time slice" until the event it is waiting for has occurred. This frees up time for other programs to execute so that many programs may be run simultaneously without unacceptable speed loss.

Multiprocessing
Main article: Multiprocessing

Cray designed many supercomputers that used multiprocessing heavily.
Some computers are designed to distribute their work across several CPUs in a multiprocessing configuration, a technique once employed only in large and powerful machines such as supercomputers, mainframe computers and servers. Multiprocessor and multi-core (multiple CPUs on a single integrated circuit) personal and laptop computers are now widely available, and are being increasingly used in lower-end markets as a result.

Supercomputers in particular often have highly unique architectures that differ significantly from the basic stored-program architecture and from general purpose computers.[69] They often feature thousands of CPUs, customized high-speed interconnects, and specialized computing hardware. Such designs tend to be useful only for specialized tasks due to the large scale of program organization required to successfully utilize most of the available resources at once. Supercomputers usually see usage in large-scale simulation, graphics rendering, and cryptography applications, as well as with other so-called "embarrassingly parallel" tasks.

Networking and the Internet
Main articles: Computer networking and Internet

Visualization of a portion of the routes on the Internet
Computers have been used to coordinate information between multiple locations since the 1950s. The U.S. military's SAGE system was the first large-scale example of such a system, which led to a number of special-purpose commercial systems such as Sabre.[70]

In the 1970s, computer engineers at research institutions throughout the United States began to link their computers together using telecommunications technology. The effort was funded by ARPA (now DARPA), and the computer network that resulted was called the ARPANET.[71] The technologies that made the Arpanet possible spread and evolved.

In time, the network spread beyond academic and military institutions and became known as the Internet. The emergence of networking involved a redefinition of the nature and boundaries of the computer. Computer operating systems and applications were modified to include the ability to define and access the resources of other computers on the network, such as peripheral devices, stored information, and the like, as extensions of the resources of an individual computer. Initially these facilities were available primarily to people working in high-tech environments, but in the 1990s the spread of applications like e-mail and the World Wide Web, combined with the development of cheap, fast networking technologies like Ethernet and ADSL saw computer networking become almost ubiquitous. In fact, the number of computers that are networked is growing phenomenally. A very large proportion of personal computers regularly connect to the Internet to communicate and receive information. "Wireless" networking, often utilizing mobile phone networks, has meant networking is becoming increasingly ubiquitous even in mobile computing environments.

Computer architecture paradigms
There are many types of computer architectures:

Quantum computer vs. Chemical computer
Scalar processor vs. Vector processor
Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) computers
Register machine vs. Stack machine
Harvard architecture vs. von Neumann architecture
Cellular architecture
Of all these abstract machines, a quantum computer holds the most promise for revolutionizing computing.[72]

Logic gates are a common abstraction which can apply to most of the above digital or analog paradigms.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a minimum capability (being Turing-complete) is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore, any type of computer (netbook, supercomputer, cellular automaton, etc.) is able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.

Misconceptions
Main articles: Human computer and Harvard Computers

Women as computers in NACA High Speed Flight Station "Computer Room"
A computer does not need to be electronic, nor even have a processor, nor RAM, nor even a hard disk. While popular usage of the word "computer" is synonymous with a personal electronic computer, the modern[73] definition of a computer is literally: "A device that computes, especially a programmable [usually] electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information."[74] Any device which processes information qualifies as a computer, especially if the processing is purposeful.[citation needed]

Unconventional computing
Main article: Unconventional computing
Historically, computers evolved from mechanical computers and eventually from vacuum tubes to transistors. However, conceptually computational systems as flexible as a personal computer can be built out of almost anything. For example, a computer can be made out of billiard balls (billiard ball computer); an often quoted example.[citation needed] More realistically, modern computers are made out of transistors made of photolithographed semiconductors.

Future
There is active research to make computers out of many promising new types of technology, such as optical computers, DNA computers, neural computers, and quantum computers. Most computers are universal, and are able to calculate any computable function, and are limited only by their memory capacity and operating speed. However different designs of computers can give very different performance for particular problems; for example quantum computers can potentially break some modern encryption algorithms (by quantum factoring) very quickly.

Further topics
Glossary of computers
Artificial intelligence
A computer will solve problems in exactly the way it is programmed to, without regard to efficiency, alternative solutions, possible shortcuts, or possible errors in the code. Computer programs that learn and adapt are part of the emerging field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Hardware
Main articles: Computer hardware and Personal computer hardware
The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects. Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and mice are all hardware.

History of computing hardware
Main article: History of computing hardware
First generation (mechanical/electromechanical)	Calculators	Pascal's calculator, Arithmometer, Difference engine, Quevedo's analytical machines
Programmable devices	Jacquard loom, Analytical engine, IBM ASCC/Harvard Mark I, Harvard Mark II, IBM SSEC, Z1, Z2, Z3
Second generation (vacuum tubes)	Calculators	Atanasoff–Berry Computer, IBM 604, UNIVAC 60, UNIVAC 120
Programmable devices	Colossus, ENIAC, Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, EDSAC, Manchester Mark 1, Ferranti Pegasus, Ferranti Mercury, CSIRAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 702, IBM 650, Z22
Third generation (discrete transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI integrated circuits)	Mainframes	IBM 7090, IBM 7080, IBM System/360, BUNCH
Minicomputer	HP 2116A, IBM System/32, IBM System/36, LINC, PDP-8, PDP-11
Fourth generation (VLSI integrated circuits)	Minicomputer	VAX, IBM System i
4-bit microcomputer	Intel 4004, Intel 4040
8-bit microcomputer	Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Motorola 6809, MOS Technology 6502, Zilog Z80
16-bit microcomputer	Intel 8088, Zilog Z8000, WDC 65816/65802
32-bit microcomputer	Intel 80386, Pentium, Motorola 68000, ARM
64-bit microcomputer[75]	Alpha, MIPS, PA-RISC, PowerPC, SPARC, x86-64, ARMv8-A
Embedded computer	Intel 8048, Intel 8051
Personal computer	Desktop computer, Home computer, Laptop computer, Personal digital assistant (PDA), Portable computer, Tablet PC, Wearable computer
Theoretical/experimental	Quantum computer, Chemical computer, DNA computing, Optical computer, Spintronics based computer
Other hardware topics
Peripheral device (input/output)	Input	Mouse, keyboard, joystick, image scanner, webcam, graphics tablet, microphone
Output	Monitor, printer, loudspeaker
Both	Floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, optical disc drive, teleprinter
Computer buses	Short range	RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB
Long range (computer networking)	Ethernet, ATM, FDDI
Software
Main article: Computer software
Software refers to parts of the computer which do not have a material form, such as programs, data, protocols, etc. When software is stored in hardware that cannot easily be modified (such as BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible), it is sometimes called "firmware".

Operating system /System Software	Unix and BSD	UNIX System V, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS), IRIX, List of BSD operating systems
GNU/Linux	List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux distributions
Microsoft Windows	Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
DOS	86-DOS (QDOS), IBM PC DOS, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS
Mac OS	Mac OS classic, Mac OS X
Embedded and real-time	List of embedded operating systems
Experimental	Amoeba, Oberon/Bluebottle, Plan 9 from Bell Labs
Library	Multimedia	DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL, Vulkan (API)
Programming library	C standard library, Standard Template Library
Data	Protocol	TCP/IP, Kermit, FTP, HTTP, SMTP
File format	HTML, XML, JPEG, MPEG, PNG
User interface	Graphical user interface (WIMP)	Microsoft Windows, GNOME, KDE, QNX Photon, CDE, GEM, Aqua
Text-based user interface	Command-line interface, Text user interface
Application Software	Office suite	Word processing, Desktop publishing, Presentation program, Database management system, Scheduling & Time management, Spreadsheet, Accounting software
Internet Access	Browser, E-mail client, Web server, Mail transfer agent, Instant messaging
Design and manufacturing	Computer-aided design, Computer-aided manufacturing, Plant management, Robotic manufacturing, Supply chain management
Graphics	Raster graphics editor, Vector graphics editor, 3D modeler, Animation editor, 3D computer graphics, Video editing, Image processing
Audio	Digital audio editor, Audio playback, Mixing, Audio synthesis, Computer music
Software engineering	Compiler, Assembler, Interpreter, Debugger, Text editor, Integrated development environment, Software performance analysis, Revision control, Software configuration management
Educational	Edutainment, Educational game, Serious game, Flight simulator
Games	Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Simulation, First-person shooter, Platform, Massively multiplayer, Interactive fiction
Misc	Artificial intelligence, Antivirus software, Malware scanner, Installer/Package management systems, File manager
Languages
There are thousands of different programming languages—some intended to be general purpose, others useful only for highly specialized applications.

Programming languages
Lists of programming languages	Timeline of programming languages, List of programming languages by category, Generational list of programming languages, List of programming languages, Non-English-based programming languages
Commonly used assembly languages	ARM, MIPS, x86
Commonly used high-level programming languages	Ada, BASIC, C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, PL/1, REXX, Java, Lisp, Pascal, Object Pascal
Commonly used scripting languages	Bourne script, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl
Firmware
Firmware is the technology which has the combination of both hardware and software such as BIOS chip inside a computer. This chip (hardware) is located on the motherboard and has the BIOS set up (software) stored in it.

Types of computers
Computers are typically classified based on their uses:

Based on uses
Analog computer
Digital computer
Hybrid computer
Based on sizes
Micro computer
Personal computer
Mini Computer
Mainframe computer
Super computer
Input Devices
When unprocessed data is sent to the computer with the help of input devices, the data is processed and sent to output devices. The input devices may be hand-operated or automated. The act of processing is mainly regulated by the CPU. Some examples of hand-operated input devices are:

Overlay keyboard
Trackball
Joystick
Digital camera
Microphone
Touchscreen
Digital video
Image scanner
Graphics tablet
Computer keyboard
Mouse
Output Devices
The means through which computer gives output are known as output devices. Some examples of output devices are:

Computer monitor
Printer
Projector
Sound card
PC speaker
Video card
Professions and organizations
As the use of computers has spread throughout society, there are an increasing number of careers involving computers.

Computer-related professions
Hardware-related	Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Computer engineering, Telecommunications engineering, Optical engineering, Nanoengineering
Software-related	Computer science, Computer engineering, Desktop publishing, Human–computer interaction, Information technology, Information systems, Computational science, Software engineering, Video game industry, Web design
The need for computers to work well together and to be able to exchange information has spawned the need for many standards organizations, clubs and societies of both a formal and informal nature.

Organizations
Standards groups	ANSI, IEC, IEEE, IETF, ISO, W3C
Professional societies	ACM, AIS, IET, IFIP, BCS
Free/open source software groups	Free Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Apache Software Foundation
See also
Portal icon	Information technology portal
Computability theory
Computer insecurity
Computer security
List of computer term etymologies
List of fictional computers
Pulse computation
TOP500 (list of most powerful computers)
Glossary of computer hardware terms
Notes
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Jump up ^ Robson, Eleanor (2008), Mathematics in Ancient Iraq, ISBN 978-0-691-09182-2. p.5: calculi were in use in Iraq for primitive accounting systems as early as 3200–3000 BCE, with commodity-specific counting representation systems. Balanced accounting was in use by 3000–2350 BCE, and a sexagesimal number system was in use 2350–2000 BCE.
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^ Jump up to: a b Ray Girvan, "The revealed grace of the mechanism: computing after Babbage", Scientific Computing World, May/June 2003
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^ Jump up to: a b c d "The Modern History of Computing". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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Jump up ^ Zuse, Konrad (1993). Der Computer. Mein Lebenswerk. (in German) (3rd ed.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. p. 55. ISBN 978-3-540-56292-4.
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Jump up ^ Rojas, R. (1998). "How to make Zuse's Z3 a universal computer". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20 (3): 51–54. doi:10.1109/85.707574.
Jump up ^ Rojas, Raúl. "How to Make Zuse's Z3 a Universal Computer" (PDF).
Jump up ^ January 15, 1941 notice in the Des Moines Register,
Jump up ^ Arthur W. Burks. The First Electronic Computer.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Copeland, Jack (2006), Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Codebreaking Computers, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 101–115, ISBN 0-19-284055-X
Jump up ^ "Bletchley's code-cracking Colossus", BBC News, 2 February 2010, retrieved 19 October 2012
Jump up ^ The Colossus Rebuild http://www.tnmoc.org/colossus-rebuild-story
Jump up ^ Randell, Brian; Fensom, Harry; Milne, Frank A. (15 March 1995), "Obituary: Allen Coombs", The Independent, retrieved 18 October 2012
Jump up ^ Fensom, Jim (8 November 2010), Harry Fensom obituary, retrieved 17 October 2012
Jump up ^ John Presper Eckert Jr. and John W. Mauchly, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, United States Patent Office, US Patent 3,120,606, filed 26 June 1947, issued 4 February 1964, and invalidated 19 October 1973 after court ruling on Honeywell v. Sperry Rand.
Jump up ^ Generations of Computers
Jump up ^ Turing, A. M. (1937). "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 2 42 (1): 230–265. doi:10.1112/plms/s2-42.1.230.
Jump up ^ "von Neumann ... firmly emphasized to me, and to others I am sure, that the fundamental conception is owing to Turing—insofar as not anticipated by Babbage, Lovelace and others." Letter by Stanley Frankel to Brian Randell, 1972, quoted in Jack Copeland (2004) The Essential Turing, p22.
Jump up ^ Enticknap, Nicholas (Summer 1998), "Computing's Golden Jubilee", Resurrection (The Computer Conservation Society) (20), ISSN 0958-7403, retrieved 19 April 2008
Jump up ^ "Early computers at Manchester University", Resurrection (The Computer Conservation Society) 1 (4), Summer 1992, ISSN 0958-7403, retrieved 7 July 2010
Jump up ^ Early Electronic Computers (1946–51), University of Manchester, retrieved 16 November 2008
Jump up ^ Napper, R. B. E., Introduction to the Mark 1, The University of Manchester, retrieved 4 November 2008
Jump up ^ Computer Conservation Society, Our Computer Heritage Pilot Study: Deliveries of Ferranti Mark I and Mark I Star computers., retrieved 9 January 2010[dead link]
Jump up ^ Lavington, Simon. "A brief history of British computers: the first 25 years (1948–1973).". British Computer Society. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
Jump up ^ Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2 ed.), Swindon: The British Computer Society, pp. 34–35
^ Jump up to: a b Cooke-Yarborough, E. H. (June 1998), "Some early transistor applications in the UK", Engineering and Science Education Journal (London, UK: IEE) 7 (3): 100–106, doi:10.1049/esej:19980301, ISSN 0963-7346, retrieved 7 June 2009 (subscription required)
Jump up ^ Cooke-Yarborough, E.H. (1957). Introduction to Transistor Circuits. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. p. 139.
Jump up ^ "The Hapless Tale of Geoffrey Dummer", (n.d.), (HTML), Electronic Product News, accessed 8 July 2008. Archived 11 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Kilby, Jack (2000), Nobel lecture (PDF), Stockholm: Nobel Foundation, retrieved 2008-05-15
Jump up ^ The Chip that Jack Built, (c. 2008), (HTML), Texas Instruments, Retrieved 29 May 2008.
Jump up ^ Jack S. Kilby, Miniaturized Electronic Circuits, United States Patent Office, US Patent 3,138,743, filed 6 February 1959, issued 23 June 1964.
Jump up ^ Winston, Brian (1998). Media Technology and Society: A History : From the Telegraph to the Internet. Routledge. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-415-14230-4.
Jump up ^ Robert Noyce's Unitary circuit, US patent 2981877, "Semiconductor device-and-lead structure", issued 1961-04-25, assigned to Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
Jump up ^ Intel_4004 (November 1971), Intel's First Microprocessor—the Intel 4004, Intel Corp., archived from the original on 13 May 2008, retrieved 2008-05-17
Jump up ^ The Intel 4004 (1971) die was 12 mm2, composed of 2300 transistors; by comparison, the Pentium Pro was 306 mm2, composed of 5.5 million transistors, according to Patterson, David; Hennessy, John (1998), Computer Organization and Design, San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 27–39, ISBN 1-55860-428-6
Jump up ^ Chartier, David (December 23, 2008). "Global notebook shipments finally overtake desktops". Ars Technica.
Jump up ^ IDC (25 July 2013). "Growth Accelerates in the Worldwide Mobile Phone and Smartphone Markets in the Second Quarter, According to IDC". Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
Jump up ^ Even some later computers were commonly programmed directly in machine code. Some minicomputers like the DEC PDP-8 could be programmed directly from a panel of switches. However, this method was usually used only as part of the booting process. Most modern computers boot entirely automatically by reading a boot program from some non-volatile memory.
Jump up ^ However, there is sometimes some form of machine language compatibility between different computers. An x86-64 compatible microprocessor like the AMD Athlon 64 is able to run most of the same programs that an Intel Core 2 microprocessor can, as well as programs designed for earlier microprocessors like the Intel Pentiums and Intel 80486. This contrasts with very early commercial computers, which were often one-of-a-kind and totally incompatible with other computers.
Jump up ^ High level languages are also often interpreted rather than compiled. Interpreted languages are translated into machine code on the fly, while running, by another program called an interpreter.
Jump up ^ It is not universally true that bugs are solely due to programmer oversight. Computer hardware may fail or may itself have a fundamental problem that produces unexpected results in certain situations. For instance, the Pentium FDIV bug caused some Intel microprocessors in the early 1990s to produce inaccurate results for certain floating point division operations. This was caused by a flaw in the microprocessor design and resulted in a partial recall of the affected devices.
Jump up ^ Taylor, Alexander L., III (16 April 1984). "The Wizard Inside the Machine". TIME. Retrieved 17 February 2007. (subscription required)
Jump up ^ The control unit's role in interpreting instructions has varied somewhat in the past. Although the control unit is solely responsible for instruction interpretation in most modern computers, this is not always the case. Some computers have instructions that are partially interpreted by the control unit with further interpretation performed by another device. For example, EDVAC, one of the earliest stored-program computers, used a central control unit that only interpreted four instructions. All of the arithmetic-related instructions were passed on to its arithmetic unit and further decoded there.
Jump up ^ Instructions often occupy more than one memory address, therefore the program counter usually increases by the number of memory locations required to store one instruction.
Jump up ^ David J. Eck (2000). The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and Computing. A K Peters, Ltd. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-56881-128-4.
Jump up ^ Erricos John Kontoghiorghes (2006). Handbook of Parallel Computing and Statistics. CRC Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8247-4067-2.
Jump up ^ Flash memory also may only be rewritten a limited number of times before wearing out, making it less useful for heavy random access usage. (Verma & Mielke 1988)
Jump up ^ Donald Eadie (1968). Introduction to the Basic Computer. Prentice-Hall. p. 12.
Jump up ^ Arpad Barna; Dan I. Porat (1976). Introduction to Microcomputers and the Microprocessors. Wiley. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-471-05051-3.
Jump up ^ Jerry Peek; Grace Todino; John Strang (2002). Learning the UNIX Operating System: A Concise Guide for the New User. O'Reilly. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-596-00261-9.
Jump up ^ Gillian M. Davis (2002). Noise Reduction in Speech Applications. CRC Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8493-0949-6.
Jump up ^ However, it is also very common to construct supercomputers out of many pieces of cheap commodity hardware; usually individual computers connected by networks. These so-called computer clusters can often provide supercomputer performance at a much lower cost than customized designs. While custom architectures are still used for most of the most powerful supercomputers, there has been a proliferation of cluster computers in recent years. (TOP500 2006)
Jump up ^ Agatha C. Hughes (2000). Systems, Experts, and Computers. MIT Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-262-08285-3. The experience of SAGE helped make possible the first truly large-scale commercial real-time network: the SABRE computerized airline reservations system...
Jump up ^ "A Brief History of the Internet". Internet Society. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
Jump up ^ "Computer architecture: fundamentals and principles of computer design" by Joseph D. Dumas 2006. page 340.
Jump up ^ According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (6th ed, 2007), the word computer dates back to the mid 17th century, when it referred to “A person who makes calculations; specifically a person employed for this in an observatory etc.”
Jump up ^ "Definition of computer". Thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
Jump up ^ Most major 64-bit instruction set architectures are extensions of earlier designs. All of the architectures listed in this table, except for Alpha, existed in 32-bit forms before their 64-bit incarnations were introduced.
References
Fuegi, J. and Francis, J. "Lovelace & Babbage and the creation of the 1843 'notes'". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 25 No. 4 (October–December 2003): Digital Object Identifier[dead link]
a Kempf, Karl (1961). "Historical Monograph: Electronic Computers Within the Ordnance Corps". Aberdeen Proving Ground (United States Army).
a Phillips, Tony (2000). "The Antikythera Mechanism I". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 5 April 2006.
a Shannon, Claude Elwood (1940). "A symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits". Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Digital Equipment Corporation (1972). PDP-11/40 Processor Handbook (PDF). Maynard, MA: Digital Equipment Corporation.
Verma, G.; Mielke, N. (1988). "Reliability performance of ETOX based flash memories". IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium.
Doron D. Swade (February 1993). "Redeeming Charles Babbage's Mechanical Computer". Scientific American: 89.
Meuer, Hans; Strohmaier, Erich; Simon, Horst; Dongarra, Jack (13 November 2006). "Architectures Share Over Time". TOP500. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
Lavington, Simon (1998). A History of Manchester Computers (2 ed.). Swindon: The British Computer Society. ISBN 978-0-902505-01-8.
Stokes, Jon (2007). Inside the Machine: An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors and Computer Architecture. San Francisco: No Starch Press. ISBN 978-1-59327-104-6.
Zuse, Konrad (1993). The Computer - My life. Berlin: Pringler-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-56453-5.
Felt, Dorr E. (1916). Mechanical arithmetic, or The history of the counting machine. Chicago: Washington Institute.
Ifrah, Georges (2001). The Universal History of Computing: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-39671-0.
Berkeley, Edmund (1949). Giant Brains, or Machines That Think. John Wiley & Sons.
Cohen, Bernard (2000). Howard Aiken, Portrait of a computer pioneer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-2625317-9-5.
Ligonnière, Robert (1987). Préhistoire et Histoire des ordinateurs. Paris: Robert Laffont. ISBN 9-782221-052617.
Couffignal, Louis (1933). Les machines à calculer ; leurs principes, leur évolution. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
Essinger, James (2004). Jacquard's Web, How a hand loom led to the birth of the information age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280577-0.
Hyman, Anthony (1985). Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6910237-7-9.
Cohen, Bernard (2000). Howard Aiken, Portrait of a computer pioneer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-2625317-9-5.
Bowden, B. V. (1953). Faster than thought. New York, Toronto, London: Pitman publishing corporation.
Moseley, Maboth (1964). Irascible Genius, Charles Babbage, inventor. London: Hutchinson.
Collier, Bruce (1970). The little engine that could've: The calculating machines of Charles Babbage. Garland Publishing Inc. ISBN 0-8240-0043-9.
Randell, Brian (1982). "From Analytical Engine to Electronic Digital Computer: The Contributions of Ludgate, Torres, and Bush" (PDF). Retrieved 29 October 2013.
External links
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