ABSTRACT
Recent advances in microelectronic technology have made computers an integral part of our society. Each step in our everyday lives is inuenced by computer technology: we awake to a digital alarm clock’s beaming of preselected music at the right time, drive to work in a digital processorcontrolled automobile, work in an extensively automated ofce, shop for computer-coded grocery items, and return to rest in the computer-regulated heating and cooling environment of our homes. It may not be necessary to understand the detailed operating principles of a jet plane or an automobile to use and enjoy the benets of these technical marvels. Computer systems technology has also reached the level of sophistication wherein an average user need not be familiar with all the intricate technical details of an operation to use them efciently. Computer scientists, engineers, and application developers, however, require a fair understanding of the operating principles, capabilities, and limitations of digital computers to enable the development of complex yet efcient and user-friendly systems. This book is designed to give such an understanding of the operating principles of digital computers. This chapter begins by describing the organization of a general-purpose digital computer system and briey traces the evolution of computers.
