General-Purpose Computer

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Acronyms.

general-purpose computer

[¦jen·rəl ¦pər·pəs kəm′pyüd·ər]

(computer science)

A device that manipulates data without detailed, step-by step control by human hand and is designed to be used for many different types of problems.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

General-Purpose Computer

a digital computer that is used to solve a wide range of scientific and technical, economic, and other problems, such as the design of complex engineering structures, the computation of spacecraft flight trajectories, and the calculation of payrolls. In contrast to a special-purpose computer, a general-purpose computer is not designed to solve any particular problem. A general-purpose computer is characterized by a large memory that is organized according to the hierarchical principle, a well-developed man/machine interface, and branching operations. Examples of general-purpose computers include the BESM-6 computer (USSR), the ES family of computers (COMECON countries), the Atlas and System 4 computers (Great Britain), and the CDC 6600 computer and the IBM 370 family of computers (USA).

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

When the project's nature was changed in 1948 to be cthe construction of a general-purpose computer," Forrester was ambivalent in defining its contemplated role.

The computing program of the Office of Naval Research, 1946-1953

In such a high-bandwidth, digital, multimedia world - in which clients (general-purpose computers or appliances) connect to the utility - people could pay for their computing by usage, modulated by guaranteed response requirements.

Pervasive information systems

The PIM is an attached server that runs Paracell applications in a peer-to-peer configuration with applications running on general-purpose computers. PIM systems attach to general-purpose computers through a shared memory interface.

Supercomputers on the factory floor

So we've tried to define a new rule: We rank only software companies that target general-purpose computers. Again, that's a fuzzier rule than we like, since companies like Nintendo are rapidly enhancing their hardware with keyboards and communications features.

Postscript

The ministry, on the other hand, will relax its control on general-purpose computers, citing the speed of technological innovations in the area, which it says has slashed the effects of such regulation.

METI to enhance grip on arms-related exports

The Cereva Solution is a proprietary design without the use of general-purpose computers. It will have its own content shelves and circuit boards.

Hew Do You Satisfy The Hunger Foe Storage? Cereva It!

To computer professionals it is obvious that calculators, personal digital assistants, and more general-purpose computers eventually will be ubiquitous.

Computers in schools: past, present, and how we can change the future

These may also be general-purpose computers that are applied to solv-ing specific problems.

Clustering Strategies For Web Environments

Over the years, Krueger and a host of students, often building their own equipment, have put together a system that now consists of two general-purpose computers and several specialized processors, including one that executes 40 million instructions per second.

Artificial reality; combining a person's live video image with computer graphics suggests novel ways of working and playing with computers