Computers today. Гурьянова В.И. - 11 стр.

      The success or failure of any computer system depends on how skillfully
and cleverly the hardware and software components are selected and combined.
A poorly chosen system can be a monstrosity incapable of performing the tasks
for which it was originally acquired.

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      1. Read the text below quickly and make up its plan on the basis of
its heading and subheadings. Put the plan down into your copy-book.
      2. Read the text more carefully and prepare a short talk using the
items of your plan as starting points.
      3. Look through the text again and find the paragraph:
      1) that compares computers,
      2) that describes 2 main types of memory.
      Do the written translation of these parts of the texts.


                            Computer and its components
      When you mention the word “technology”, most people think about com-
puters. Computers take numerous physical forms. Early electronic computers were
the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern per-
sonal computers. Today, computers can be made small enough to fit into a wrist
watch and be powered from a watch battery. Society has come to recognize per-
sonal computers and their portable equivalent, the laptop computer, as icons of the
information age; they are what most people think of as “a computer”. However, the
most common form of computer in use today is by far the embedded computer.
Embedded computers are small, simple devices that are often used to control other
devices-for example, they may be found in machines ranging from fighter aircraft
to industrial robots, digital cameras, and even children’s toys.
      The ability to store and execute programs makes computers extremely
versatile and distinguishes them from calculators. The Church-Turing thesis is a
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