The Nature of the Computer
| Author | F.J.M. LAVER |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1965.tb01605.x |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
The
Nature
of
the Computer
F.
J
.M.LAVER
Mr.Laver, formerly
.with
the Treasury
0.
&
M.
Division,
is
tiow
Head
of
the Coinpuler rldvisory Service,
MiiiiJtry
of Techtioloxy. He contributed
(I
lecture,
under
the same title,
to
the Institute’s hiphly surcessful
series
on
‘
The
Coinputer and
its
Consequences’.
My title indicates
a
concern
less
with
how
comput.ci-s
\\orli
and mure \vith
the qualities that make them what they
are.
For
many, perhaps for most,
their outstanding quality is that of
a
forbidding mystery. This imprcssion,
though false, has been nourished by publicity which, for example, making
much
of
computers’ use of the binary system, implies that
evcn
their
arithmetic has an esoteric quality. In fact, the
use
of
binary is
a
technological
accident-a reversion to
a
more primitive form
of
arithmetic to suit
a
machine which is more primitive than the human mind; and it
is
rarely of
significance to the user in what language
a
computer mutters to itself
as
it
goes about his business.
Nevertheless, an uneasy feeling that he can nevrr hope to understand
arouses
in
the average man feelings of hostility which are illustrated by
the numerous cartoons which portray computers
as
juggernauts covered
with bewildering arrays of
dials
and levers and lamps and attended by
white-coated acolytes. The truth
is
more prosaic. Again, newspapers take
obvious
delight in trumpeting the more foolish failures
of
computers-
usually the failures of those who have planned their work.
The apparent complexity of computers comes
from
their having
;f
large
number
of
parts, but these are individually simple mechanical and
electronic units. The subtlety is in the architecture, not in the bricks.
And, the seeming complexity of computer processes comes from the
combination of simple basic actions, and respect is due to the ingenuity
of the men and women who weave these elementary actions into complex
patterns rather than to the simple machine which merely
ol~eys
their
commands.
The nature of the computer is concealed by its name and by its origins.
Like some other new products, the idea arose first in Britain (Charles
Babbage
I
833)
but has been developed
and
applied pre-eminently across
the Atlantic. The computer was invented
to
meet the needs of mathe-
maticians for fast, accurate and precise calculation.
Its
essence, however,
I27
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