Essay: Evolution of Computer Technology

Sample Essay

Throughout the last 25 years, computers have evolved from being low speed simple machines to high speed behemoths while still remaining affordable. This quantum leap in their performance was made possible by integration of new technology, some of which was made possible through the use of computers themselves. The computers have evolved considerably from being basic set of components made up of Integrated Circuits (ICs) to have a much complex architecture involving microprocessors with millions of mini components on them. The architecture of computer has also evolved with extensive use of new techniques such as pipelining and caching, each of which has evolved itself.  The evolution of the performance of computer systems has been supported by integration of these technologies.

 Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)is a processor design strategy that uses a much simplified instructions set than  traditional Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC) .The philosophy behind using RISC  was that CISC architecture was not as fast and flexible to growth as RISC.

The RISC architecture was shown to be more flexible and faster on several occasions when performing the same operations.

The RISC processors of 1980s were very simple from the ones available currently available in the market. These processors only consisted of thousands of transistors and had a typical instruction set of 32 instructions. However, as the time passed the number of transistors on the CPU also increased along with the instruction set. Earlier, the register size within the processor was also limited to 8-bit; however, as the technology evolved, the size of the registers also increased considerably which allowed for same operations to be performed in lesser processor cycles.

Furthermore, the addition of instructions to perform complex operations also allowed the software to run faster as a single complex task which was previously done using multiple instructions could now be performed by a single instruction. Today many of the x86 based processors use RISC as the major design. These processors  not only have large registers to process data (at least 32-bits) but also use wider memory bus (64-bits compared to only 24-bits in 1980s) which allows them to move and process more data in one go, making the computer faster (Stokes, 2007). There are also a number of other techniques used to support RISC operations; these include pipelining and cache memory.

 

Computer connectors ? Technology at your call!

The computer connectors are the most necessary links that complete a computer system. Without these connectors it is impossible to start up the computer or make it a cohesive unit on the whole. The other complexity with these computer connectors is that there are different connectors for different hardware for example monitor will have a different connector cable where as video cables will be different and same is the case with USB and other cables. The 2-monitor VGA splitter cable computer connectors are very useful if you want to share your screen with others.

 

It is the best way to share the presentations or anything that is running on the main monitor. This VGA splitter has shielding of foil so that there is no color loss, loss of signal or ghosting of screen. These computer connectors is a great tool to make sure that same picture at the same speed can be shown on two different screens without compromising on the quality.

Working for the same purpose the MT2502 and MT2502A are also the computer connectors that you can look forward to for sharing the screen among two monitors.

 

The adapter computer connectors are another category of connectors that you will need to connect different devices to your computer. The USB to parallel connectors are the ones that connect USB enabled device to DB25F. This is the most suitable connector to form the connection between external devices like a printer with a computer.

The power consumption in this connector is low as compared to other connectors meant for the same purpose. The computer connectors meant to convert Keyboard functioning from USB to PS/2 is the best suited one for laptops and notebooks.

These computer connectors ensure that people can work at the same efficiency with an external keyboard just they do with the laptop keyboard.

 

The best part of this connector is that it does not require any driver to run it and thus it is a plug and play device and in terms of support it can work on almost all the latest version of Windows Operating system. In the same manner there are computer connectors for mouse also which helps in forming a connection between a laptop and an external mouse.

 

These computer connectors enable advance USB machines to accommodate PS/2 mouse models to work on them with the same efficiency. The USB to RS232 computer connectors are the connectors that help in converting serial devices to USB without decreasing their efficiency in any manner.

 

Onboard Computer

The UC San Diego mechanical engineering undergraduates installed a computer and sensors on a surfboard and recorded the speed of the water flowing beneath the board. While the students surfed, the onboard computer sent water velocity information to a laptop on shore in real time.

This is part of Benjamin Thompson's quest to discover if surfboards have an optimal flexibility -- a board stiffness that makes surfing as enjoyable as possible. Thompson is a UC San Diego structural engineering Ph.D. student studying the fluid-structure interaction between surfboards and waves. By outfitting a surfboard with sensors and electronics that shuttle data back to shore, the mechanical engineering undergraduates built some of the technological foundation for Thompson's science-of-surfboards project.

Four undergraduates from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering outfitted a surfboard with eight sensors and an onboard-computer or "microcontroller." The students dug trenches into the board's foam and ran wires connecting the sensors to the onboard computer.

From this computer, the data travels via a wireless channel to a laptop on land -- in this case, a beach in Del Mar, Calif.

The onboard computer also saves the data on a memory card.

"We were stoked to get good data and to be surfing for school," said Dan Ferguson, one of the two mechanical engineering undergraduates who surfed while the onboard computer captured water velocity information and transmitted it back to land.

The four mechanical engineering majors built the wired surfboard for their senior design project, the culmination of the MAE 156 course sequence.

Each project has a sponsor, and in this case, the sponsor was Benjamin Thompson, the structural engineering Ph.D. student from UC San Diego and founder of the surfboard Web site www.itsbattery.com.

The onboard computer such as Acer Aspire 1680 Battery,  Acer Aspire 2200 battery and Acer BATBL50L6 battery is in a watertight case the shape of a medium-sized box of chocolates. It sits at the front of the surfboard and glows blue. "What's on your board? What is that?" fellow surfers asked Ferguson. "We'd have to tell them it's a microprocessor connected to velocity sensors, and they would kind of nod and paddle away. It created a minor stir."

Each of the eight sensors embedded into the bottom of the board is a "bend sensor." The faster the water beneath the board moves, with respect to the board, the more the sensors bend, explained Trevor Owen, the other surfer on the four-person mechanical engineering team.

The data from the sensors runs through wires embedded in the board to the microcontroller. "You can see where we carved channels in the board," said Owen.

The most interesting part of the project for senior mechanical engineering major Victor Correa was using the microcontrollers and wireless transmitters to get the data to land.

Thompson, the project sponsor, is already working on a smaller version of the onboard computer. He hopes to shrink it down to the size of a cell phone and embed it flush with the top surface of the board.

Assembling, waterproofing and installing the microcontroller, connecting it to the sensors, and successfully transmitting the collected data to a computer on land required persistence and a lot of learning, explained senior mechanical engineering major Julia Tsai. "Everything hypothetically should take five minutes, but everything took at least three hours."

Even though the team has finished their class project, Ferguson plans to keep working with Thompson. "This project is going to apply some science that most likely [board] shapers understand pretty well...it's going to settle the debates. It's going to be black and white hard data to let them know for sure which ideas work, which concepts work, and why they work."

Surfboard Flex Surfboard flex refers to the temporary shape changes that surfboards are thought to undergo. While many surfers say flex makes their boards feel springy in the water, it has not been scientifically measured. Thompson hopes to scientifically document surfboard flex. Then he wants to determine if there is an amount of flexibility that enhances the performance and feel of a surfboard, and if this optimal flexibility depends on other factors such as surfer experience or wave conditions.

The surfboard project falls within a hot area of engineering research: the study of fluid-structure interactions. According to UC San Diego structural engineering professor Qiang Zhu, the study of fluid-structure interaction is important due to the large number of applications in mechanical, civil, aerospace and biological engineering. "In my opinion, its popularity in recent years is partly attributed to advances in experimental and computational techniques which allow many important processes to be studied in detail," said Zhu.

Technology And Security Related Computer Essay Topics

World has become a global village which is full of technological innovation, this technology driven society has provided us with many benefits out of which one of the greatest benefit is a computer.It is a small machine with loads of mechanism involved but the subject is so diversified that when a teacher assign the task for writing computer essay to the students they do not know which topic they should go for.

There are millions of essay about computers topics that you can write on, but the problem arises when you have to choose any one of them which is not only the best but informative as well. The first thing a writer should do is to ask himself or herself for what purpose he is writing the computers essay, mean do they want to inform or persuade or discuss, once the type of the essay on computers is decided, go on for thinking what purpose does this machine serves?This would help them to decide the best topic for them and also assist them in creating strong arguments for it.

Whether your assignment is about computer security essay or essay on computer technology, you can choose any one of the following topic.

Technology related computer essays topics:

1-Contribution of the technology of computers in medicine.
2-USB vs. Fire wire
3-How cyber bullying works?
4-Stealth virus and root kits
5-Engine speed controlling through artificial neutral network
6-How fire wire works?
7-Linux USB
8-How to deploy windows 7 from a USB drive?
9-How to remove stealth virus
10-Polymorphic vs. stealth virus
11-Career in computer technology.
12-Cyber terrorism and computer technology.
13-Computer technology for blind peoples
14-The encyclopedia of computer technology

Security related computer essay topics:

1-How to control spamming?
2-How to secure computerized secret information in a corporate?
3-Pirated soft wares
4-Trojan virus vs. the virus detecting soft wares
5-What are online security issues?
6-How to control email spamming?
7-Classification of search engine spamming?
8-Web spam taxonomy
9-Keyword spamming vs. tag spamming
10-Online security- CITIC Bank International
11-Recovering from a Trojan Horse or Virus
12-Difference between Trojan and Worm virus
13-Cyber security tips
14-Computer security  ethics and privacy

We have given you technology and security related topic for essays on computers that can be easily written on, for example if you think you don't know much about USB and Fire Wire, you can find unlimited information on them over the internet, just Google it and see. They are of course not out of the world topic which has not been used as essay on computer topic but they can prove to be immensely informative for the readers.
Hence,  we have suggested you twenty computer essay topics which can be effectively used to write an essay on but it is important that you have handful of information about the topic so that you can do full justice with your essays computers topic.