An analog computer is one which can perform multiple calculations at once and can cope with infinite fractions of numbers. The term analog does not relate to how the computer is powered and it is possible to have electronic analog computers. The characteristics of an analog computer mean it can be better than a digital computer at particular tasks.
A computer is simply a machine which processes data in a set fashion or, to put it another way, calculates. Today most computers are digital and work by reducing all data to binary numbers before processing. Analog computers go back thousands of years but vary from digital computers in only two fundamental ways.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Computer types
Since the invention of computers from first generation and fourth generation computers, they have been classified according to their types and how they operate that is input, process and output information. Below you will get a brief discussion on various types of Computers we have
Computer types can be divided into 3 categories according to electronic nature. Types of computers are classified according to how a particular Computer functions. These computer types are
· Analogue Computers
· Digital Computers
· Hybrid Computers
Analogue Computers
Analogue types of Computer uses what is known as analogue signals that are represented by a continuous set of varying voltages and are used in scientific research centers?, hospitals and flight centers
With analogue types of computer no values are represented by physical measurable quantities e.g. voltages. Analogue computer types program arithmetic and logical operations by measuring physical changes i.e. temperatures or pressure.
Digital Computer type
With these types of computers operation are on electrical input that can attain two inputs, states of ON=1 and state of OFF = 0. With digital type of computers data is represented by digital of 0 and 1 or off state and on state. Digital computer type recognizes data by counting discrete signal of (0 0r 1), they are high speed programmable; they compute values and stores results. After looking at the Digital computer type and how it functions will move to the third computer type as mentioned above.
Hybrid type of Computer
Hybrid computer types are very unique, in the sense that they combined both analogue and digital features and operations. With Hybrid computers operate by using digital to analogue convertor and analogue to digital convertor. By linking the two types of computer above you come up with this new computer type called Hybrid.
I hope this article on computer types gives you a basic foundation of how computers are classified and how they operate. Next article will focuses on computer sizes definition and characteristics,
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
An overview and Brief of the C++ Programming.
1 Introduction and Overview
The C++ programming language provides a model of memory and computation that closely matches that of
most computers. In addition, it provides powerful and flexible mechanisms for abstraction; that is, language
constructs that allow the programmer to introduce and use new types of objects that match the concepts
of an application. Thus, C++ supports styles of programming that rely on fairly direct manipulation
of hardware resources to deliver a high degree of efficiency plus higher-level styles of programming that
rely on user-defined types to provide a model of data and computation that is closer to a human’s view of
the task being performed by a computer. These higher-level styles of programming are often called data
abstraction, object-oriented programming, and generic programming.
This paper is organized around the main programming styles directly supported by C++:
§2 The Design and Evolution of C++ describes the aims of C++ and the principles that guided its evolution.
§3 The C Programming Model presents the C subset of C++ and other C++ facilities supporting traditional systems-programming styles.
§4 The C++ Abstraction Mechanisms introduces C++’s class concept and its use for defining new types
that can be used exactly as built-in types, shows how abstract classes can be used to provide interfaces
to objects of a variety of types, describes the use of class hierarchies in object-oriented programming,
and presents templates in support of generic programming.
§5 Large-Scale Programming describes namespaces and exception handling provided to ease the composition of programs out of separate parts.
§6 The C++ Standard Library presents standard facilities such as I/O streams, strings, containers (e.g.
v e c t o r , l i s t , and m a p ), generic algorithms (e.g. s o r t (), f i n d (), f o r _ e a c h ()) and support for numeric computation.
§3 The C Programming Model presents the C subset of C++ and other C++ facilities supporting traditional systems-programming styles.
§4 The C++ Abstraction Mechanisms introduces C++’s class concept and its use for defining new types
that can be used exactly as built-in types, shows how abstract classes can be used to provide interfaces
to objects of a variety of types, describes the use of class hierarchies in object-oriented programming,
and presents templates in support of generic programming.
§5 Large-Scale Programming describes namespaces and exception handling provided to ease the composition of programs out of separate parts.
§6 The C++ Standard Library presents standard facilities such as I/O streams, strings, containers (e.g.
v e c t o r , l i s t , and m a p ), generic algorithms (e.g. s o r t (), f i n d (), f o r _ e a c h ()) and support for numeric computation.
To round off, a brief overview of some of the tasks that C++ has been used for and some suggestions for
further reading are given.
further reading are given.
An Introduction to C++ Programming for the knowledge
Introduction
C++ is a programming language substantially different from C. Many see C++ as "a better C than C," or as C with some add-ons. I believe that to be wrong, and I intend to teach C++ in a way that makes use of what the language can offer. C++ shares the same low level constructs as C, however, and I will assume some knowledge of C in this course. You might want to have a look at the C introduction course to get up to speed on that language.
Basic I/O
All intro courses in programming begin with a "Hello World" program [except those that don't -- Ed], and so does this one.
#include <iostream.h>
int main(void)
{
cout << "Hello EDM/2" << endl;
return 0;
}Line 1 includes the header <iostream.h>, which is needed for the input/output operations. In C++ writing something on standard output is done by:
cout << whatever;
Here "whatever" can be anything that is printable; a string literal as "Hello EDM/2", a variable, an expression. If you want to print several things, you can do so at the same time with:
cout << expr1 << expr2 << expr3 << ...;
Again, expr1, expr2 and expr3 represents things that are printable.
In the "Hello EDM/2" program above, the last expression printed is "endl" which is a special expression (called a manipulator. Manipulators, and details about I/O, will be covered in a complete part sometime this fall) which moves the cursor to the next line. It's legal to cascade more expressions to print after "endl," and doing so means those values will be printed on the next line.
C++ Program with QT 3
The Qt toolkit is a C++ class library and a set of tools for building multiplatform
GUI programs using a “write once, compile anywhere” approach. Qt lets
programmers use a single source tree for applications that will run on Windows
95 to XP, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and many other versions of
Unix with X11.A version of Qt is also available for Embedded Linux, with the
same API.
The purpose of this book is to teach you how to write GUI programs using Qt 3.
The book starts with “Hello Qt” and quickly moves on to more advanced topics,
such as creating custom widgets and providing drag and drop. The text is
complemented by a CDthat contains the source code of the example programs.
The CD also provides Qt and Borland C++ for Windows, Qt for Unix, and Qt
for Mac OS X. Appendix A explains how to install the software.
The book focuses on explaining good idiomatic Qt 3 programming techniques
rather than simply rehashing or summarizing Qt’s extensive online documentation.
And because we are involved in the development of Qt 4, we have tried
to ensure that most of what we teach here will still be valid and sensible for
Qt 4.
It is assumed that you have a basic knowledge of C++. The code examples use
a subset of C++, avoiding many C++ features that are rarely needed when
programming Qt. In the few places where a more advanced C++ construct is
unavoidable, it is explained as it is used.
Qt made its reputation as a multiplatform toolkit, but because of its intuitive
and powerful API, many organizations use Qt for single-platform development.
Adobe PhotoshopAlbum is just one example of a mass-marketWindows
application written in Qt. Many sophisticated software systems in vertical
markets, such as 3D animation tools, digital film processing, electronic design
automation (for chip design), oil and gas exploration, financial services, and
medical imaging, are built with Qt. If you are making a living with a successful
Windows product written in Qt, you can easily create new markets in the
Mac OS X and Linux worlds simply by recompiling.
Qt is available under various licenses. If you want to build commercial
applications, you must buy a commercial license; if you want to build open
source programs,you can use a non-commercial Qt edition. (The editions of Qt
on the CD are non-commercial.) Qt is the foundation on which the K Desktop
Environment (KDE) and the many open source applications that go with it
are built.
In addition to Qt’s hundreds of classes, there are add-ons that extend Qt’s
scope and power. Some of these products, like the Qt/Motif integration module
and Qt Script for Applications (QSA), are supplied by Trolltech, while others
are provided by companies and by the open source community. See http://
www.trolltech.com/products/3rdparty/ for information on Qt add-ons. Qt also
has a well-established and thriving user community that uses the qt-interest
mailing list; see http://lists.trolltech.com/ for details.
The book is divided into two parts. Part I covers all the concepts and practices
necessary for programming GUI applications using Qt. Knowledge of this
part alone is sufficient to write useful GUI applications. Part II covers central
Qt topics in more depth and provides more specialized and advanced material.
The chapters of Part II can be read in any order, but they assume familiarity
with the contents of Part I.
GUI programs using a “write once, compile anywhere” approach. Qt lets
programmers use a single source tree for applications that will run on Windows
95 to XP, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and many other versions of
Unix with X11.A version of Qt is also available for Embedded Linux, with the
same API.
The purpose of this book is to teach you how to write GUI programs using Qt 3.
The book starts with “Hello Qt” and quickly moves on to more advanced topics,
such as creating custom widgets and providing drag and drop. The text is
complemented by a CDthat contains the source code of the example programs.
The CD also provides Qt and Borland C++ for Windows, Qt for Unix, and Qt
for Mac OS X. Appendix A explains how to install the software.
The book focuses on explaining good idiomatic Qt 3 programming techniques
rather than simply rehashing or summarizing Qt’s extensive online documentation.
And because we are involved in the development of Qt 4, we have tried
to ensure that most of what we teach here will still be valid and sensible for
Qt 4.
It is assumed that you have a basic knowledge of C++. The code examples use
a subset of C++, avoiding many C++ features that are rarely needed when
programming Qt. In the few places where a more advanced C++ construct is
unavoidable, it is explained as it is used.
Qt made its reputation as a multiplatform toolkit, but because of its intuitive
and powerful API, many organizations use Qt for single-platform development.
Adobe PhotoshopAlbum is just one example of a mass-marketWindows
application written in Qt. Many sophisticated software systems in vertical
markets, such as 3D animation tools, digital film processing, electronic design
automation (for chip design), oil and gas exploration, financial services, and
medical imaging, are built with Qt. If you are making a living with a successful
Windows product written in Qt, you can easily create new markets in the
Mac OS X and Linux worlds simply by recompiling.
Qt is available under various licenses. If you want to build commercial
applications, you must buy a commercial license; if you want to build open
source programs,you can use a non-commercial Qt edition. (The editions of Qt
on the CD are non-commercial.) Qt is the foundation on which the K Desktop
Environment (KDE) and the many open source applications that go with it
are built.
In addition to Qt’s hundreds of classes, there are add-ons that extend Qt’s
scope and power. Some of these products, like the Qt/Motif integration module
and Qt Script for Applications (QSA), are supplied by Trolltech, while others
are provided by companies and by the open source community. See http://
www.trolltech.com/products/3rdparty/ for information on Qt add-ons. Qt also
has a well-established and thriving user community that uses the qt-interest
mailing list; see http://lists.trolltech.com/ for details.
The book is divided into two parts. Part I covers all the concepts and practices
necessary for programming GUI applications using Qt. Knowledge of this
part alone is sufficient to write useful GUI applications. Part II covers central
Qt topics in more depth and provides more specialized and advanced material.
The chapters of Part II can be read in any order, but they assume familiarity
with the contents of Part I.
Difrent kinds of language in computer.
C++ (pronounced "see plus plus") is a general-purpose, high-level programming language with low-level facilities. It is a statically typed free-form multi-paradigm language supporting procedural programming, data abstraction, object-oriented programming, generic programming and RTTI. Since the 1990s, C++ has been one of the most popular commercial programming languages.
Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ (originally named "C with Classes") in 1983 at Bell Labs as an enhancement to the C programming language. Enhancements started with the addition of classes, followed by, among other features, virtual functions, operator overloading, multiple inheritance, templates, and exception handling. The C++ programming language standard was ratified in 1998 as ISO/IEC 14882:1998, the current version of which is the 2003 version, ISO/IEC 14882:2003. A new version of the standard (known informally as C++0x) is being developed.
Stroustrup began work on C with Classes in 1979. The idea of creating a new language originated from Stroustrup's experience in programming for his Ph.D. thesis. Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very helpful for large software development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while BCPL was fast but too low-level and unsuitable for large software development. When Stroustrup started working in Bell Labs, he had the problem of analyzing the UNIX kernel with respect to distributed computing. Remembering his Ph.D. experience, Stroustrup set out to enhance the C language with Simula-like features. C was chosen because it is general-purpose, fast, and portable. Besides C and Simula, some other languages which inspired him were ALGOL 68, Ada, CLU and ML. At first, the class, derived class, strong type checking, inlining, and default argument features were added to C via Cfront. The first commercial release occurred in October 1985.[1]
In 1983, the name of the language was changed from C with Classes to C++. New features were added including virtual functions, function name and operator overloading, references, constants, user-controlled free-store memory control, improved type checking, and a new single-line comment style with two forward slashes (//). In 1985, the first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, providing an important reference to the language, as there was not yet an official standard. In 1989, Release 2.0 of C++ was released. New features included multiple inheritance, abstract classes, static member functions, const member functions, and protected members. In 1990, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work became the basis for the future standard. Late addition of features included templates, exceptions, namespaces, new casts, and a Boolean type.
As the C++ language evolved, a standard library also evolved with it. The first addition to the C++ standard library was the stream I/O library which provided facilities to replace the traditional C functions such as printf and scanf. Later, among the most significant additions to the standard library, was the Standard Template Library.
After years of work, a joint ANSI-ISO committee standardized C++ in 1998 (ISO/IEC 14882:1998). For some years after the official release of the standard in 1998, the committee processed defect reports, and published a corrected version of the C++ standard in 2003. In 2005, a technical report, called the "Library Technical Report 1" (often known as TR1 for short) was released. While not an official part of the standard, it gives a number of extensions to the standard library which are expected to be included in the next version of C++. Support for TR1 is growing in almost all currently maintained C++ compilers.
Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ (originally named "C with Classes") in 1983 at Bell Labs as an enhancement to the C programming language. Enhancements started with the addition of classes, followed by, among other features, virtual functions, operator overloading, multiple inheritance, templates, and exception handling. The C++ programming language standard was ratified in 1998 as ISO/IEC 14882:1998, the current version of which is the 2003 version, ISO/IEC 14882:2003. A new version of the standard (known informally as C++0x) is being developed.
Stroustrup began work on C with Classes in 1979. The idea of creating a new language originated from Stroustrup's experience in programming for his Ph.D. thesis. Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very helpful for large software development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while BCPL was fast but too low-level and unsuitable for large software development. When Stroustrup started working in Bell Labs, he had the problem of analyzing the UNIX kernel with respect to distributed computing. Remembering his Ph.D. experience, Stroustrup set out to enhance the C language with Simula-like features. C was chosen because it is general-purpose, fast, and portable. Besides C and Simula, some other languages which inspired him were ALGOL 68, Ada, CLU and ML. At first, the class, derived class, strong type checking, inlining, and default argument features were added to C via Cfront. The first commercial release occurred in October 1985.[1]
In 1983, the name of the language was changed from C with Classes to C++. New features were added including virtual functions, function name and operator overloading, references, constants, user-controlled free-store memory control, improved type checking, and a new single-line comment style with two forward slashes (//). In 1985, the first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, providing an important reference to the language, as there was not yet an official standard. In 1989, Release 2.0 of C++ was released. New features included multiple inheritance, abstract classes, static member functions, const member functions, and protected members. In 1990, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work became the basis for the future standard. Late addition of features included templates, exceptions, namespaces, new casts, and a Boolean type.
As the C++ language evolved, a standard library also evolved with it. The first addition to the C++ standard library was the stream I/O library which provided facilities to replace the traditional C functions such as printf and scanf. Later, among the most significant additions to the standard library, was the Standard Template Library.
After years of work, a joint ANSI-ISO committee standardized C++ in 1998 (ISO/IEC 14882:1998). For some years after the official release of the standard in 1998, the committee processed defect reports, and published a corrected version of the C++ standard in 2003. In 2005, a technical report, called the "Library Technical Report 1" (often known as TR1 for short) was released. While not an official part of the standard, it gives a number of extensions to the standard library which are expected to be included in the next version of C++. Support for TR1 is growing in almost all currently maintained C++ compilers.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Fifth Generation - Present and Beyond: Artificial Intelligence
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today.
Artificial Intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. The term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Artificial intelligence includes:
· Games Playing: programming computers to play games such as chess and checkers
· Expert Systems: programming computers to make decisions in real-life situations (for example, some expert systems help doctors diagnose diseases based on symptoms)
· Natural Language: programming computers to understand natural human languages
· Neural Networks: Systems that simulate intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of physical connections that occur in animal brains
· Robotics: programming computers to see and hear and react to other sensory stimuli
Currently, no computers exhibit full artificial intelligence (that is, are able to simulate human behavior). The greatest advances have occurred in the field of games playing. The best computer chess programs are now capable of beating humans. In May, 1997, an IBM super-computer called Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a chess match.
In the area of robotics, computers are now widely used in assembly plants, but they are capable only of very limited tasks. Robots have great difficulty identifying objects based on appearance or feel, and they still move and handle objects clumsily.
Natural-language processing offers the greatest potential rewards because it would allow people to interact with computers without needing any specialized knowledge. You could simply walk up to a computer and talk to it. Unfortunately, programming computers to understand natural languages has proved to be more difficult than originally thought. Some rudimentary translation systems that translate from one human language to another are in existence, but they are not nearly as good as human translators.
There are also voice recognition systems that can convert spoken sounds into written words, but they do not understand what they are writing; they simply take dictation. Even these systems are quite limited -- you must speak slowly and distinctly.
In the early 1980s, expert systems were believed to represent the future of artificial intelligence and of computers in general. To date, however, they have not lived up to expectations. Many expert systems help human experts in such fields as medicine and engineering, but they are very expensive to produce and are helpful only in special situations.
Today, the hottest area of artificial intelligence is neural networks, which are proving successful in a number of disciplines such as voice recognition and natural-language processing.
There are several programming languages that are known as AI languages because they are used almost exclusively for AI applications. The two most common are LISP and Prolog.
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