I think that most people think that a computer is something more specific. And they'd probably be amazed to learn that the term once meant people who did calculations. I suspect that the term got applied to machines because the computer did the same job more or less as those people did. Talk about machines putting people out of work.
I have always considered the term machine to apply to mechanical things that had moving parts that were powered in some way, thus excluding hand drills, etc. Not to suggest that I think that I was right.
If you think about what smart phones and tablets can do they are computers in the sense that some of what they do is to calculate etc.
But modern computers can do infinitely more than those early multi-ton monsters and even the first PCs [as in IBM and clones] But even things like word processing and games are beyond the notion if what a computer is supposed to do. -
Jim
Posted by: jimpurcell2001@yahoo.com
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