Computer: revised

computer, n.

DRAFT REVISION Mar. 2008

Brit. /kmpjut/, U.S. /kmpjudr/ [< COMPUTE v. + -ER suffix¹. Cf. Middle French computeur person who makes calculations (1578). Cf. COMPUTOR n., and earlier COMPUTATOR n.
In sense 3 the English word has been borrowed into numerous other languages, although it is not the usual or preferred term in all of them; cf. e.g. German Computer (c1962), Dutch computer (1960s), Danish computer (also datamaskine, datamat), French computer (1950s; now ordinateur (1956 in this sense)), Spanish computer (1960s, rare; more commonly ordenador, computador, computadora), Italian computer (1960s; less commonly calcolatore, elaboratore, cervello elettronico).]

1. A person who makes calculations or computations; a calculator, a reckoner; spec. a person employed to make calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc. Now chiefly hist.

1613 ‘R. B.’ Yong Mans Gleanings 1, I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he reduceth thy dayes into a short number. 1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseudodoxia Epidemica VI. vi. 289 The Calenders of these computers. 1704 SWIFT Tale of Tub vii. 140 A very skillful Computer, who hath given a full Demonstration of it from Rules of Arithmetick. 1855 D. BREWSTER Mem. Life I. Newton (new ed.) II. xviii. 162 To pay the expenses of a computer for reducing his observations. 1893 Publ. Amer. Econ. Assoc. 8 23 Some curious computer makes out the cost of electing a President for these United States to be four hundred millions of dollars. 1943 Philos. Mag. 34 409 Iterative methods have found favour with computers, despite an outward semblance of clumsiness which masks their solid advantages from the casual critic. 2001 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 23/5 He married, in 1939, Betty Moore, a computer (what would nowadays be called a numerical analyst).

2. A device or machine for performing or facilitating calculation.

1897 Engineering 22 Jan. 104/2 This was..a computer made by Mr. W. Cox. He described it as of the nature of a circular slide rule. 1915 Chambers's Jrnl. July 478/1 By means of this computer the task is performed mechanically and almost instantaneously. 1941 Nature 14 June 753/2 The telescope drive is of an elaborate nature; the effects of changing refraction, of differential flexure and of errors in the gears are automatically allowed for by a system of ‘computers’. 1946 Modesto (Calif.) Bee (Electronic ed.) 12 Mar., A new electronic computer owned by the war department can add 63,895 to itself 5,000 times in a second. 1983 E. T. HALL Dance of Life viii. 118 These ‘observatories’

some call them computers

of which Stonehenge is the best known, made it possible..to predict eclipses.

    3. a. An electronic device (or system of devices) which is used to store, manipulate, and communicate information, perform complex calculations, or control or regulate other devices or machines, and is capable of receiving information (data) and of processing it in accordance with variable procedural instructions (programs or software); spec. a small, self-contained one for individual use in the home or workplace, used esp. for handling text, images, music, and video, accessing and using the Internet, communicating with other people (e.g. by means of email), and playing games.
  Early electronic computers were cumbersome machines employing large numbers of vacuum tubes and requiring much electric power. By the 1960s valves had been replaced by transistors (cf. MAINFRAME n. 2), which were themselves supplanted by integrated circuits and microprocessors during the 1970s (cf. MINICOMPUTER n., MICROCOMPUTER n.). This series of technological advances has exponentially increased the efficiency and speed of computers and led to progressive miniaturization (cf. MOORE'S LAW n.), and the use of computers has spread into and transformed many different areas of activity. From the 1990s the reduced price and size of computer hardware enabled personal computers to become widespread (cf. PERSONAL COMPUTER n., lap-top adj. at LAP n.¹ Compounds, PALMTOP n.).
  In the earliest quotations this sense is not clearly distinguishable from sense 2. The programmable digital computer had its origins in powerful automatic machines developed in the United States and Britain during World War II for complex calculations, especially in ballistics, and cryptographic analysis. Although often referred to at the time as computers, these precursors are not usually regarded as computers in the modern sense. Several of them were electronic in operation and some could be instructed to a limited extent, but they did not have the versatility and programmability of the devices which were developed from them. Von Neumann, in a 1945 paper envisaging future developments, only used computer to mean a calculating machine:1945 J. VON NEUMANN First Draft Rep. on EDVAC (Moore School Electr. Engin., Univ. of Pennsylvania) 1 Since the device is primarily a computer, it will have to perform the elementary operations of arithmetic most frequently.
  analogue, digital, electronic, home, network, neural, pen, tablet computer, etc.: see the first element. See also MINISUPERCOMPUTER n., NANOCOMPUTER n., super-computer n. at SUPER- prefix 2f(c), etc.

1946 G. STIBITZ in Moore School Lect. (1985) 12 If the computer is such that new formulas are easily set up in it, it may be economical to use it in the solution of 5 or 10 problems. 1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation Oct. 359 We are engaged at the RCA Laboratories in the development of a storage tube for the inner memory of electronic digital computers. 1950 Philos. Mag. 41 256 The problem of constructing a computing routine or ‘program’ for a modern general purpose computer which will enable it to play chess. 1953 Proc. IRE 41 1320/1 We discuss the use of three types of diagnostic and servicing programs which enable us to use the computer to diagnose its own troubles. 1957 Technology July 167/3 At present a computer can read, remember, do arithmetic, make elementary decisions and print its answers. 1963 Publishers' Weekly 5 Aug. 80/1 Computers are being used to speed up the production of justified tape for the operation of typesetting machines. 1966 P. K. DICK in We can remember It for you Wholesale (1994) iii. 188 He thoroughly knew the schematics of the computer. No one else had been into it replacing defective components and wiring as he had. 1975 M. DUFFY Capital (2001) 86 To arrive at a world prediction on the rate of consumption of natural resources we have to tell the computer all the known facts, plus the variables that will modify trends and the trends themselves. 1980 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 3 (advt.) If you have bought or are about to buy a small computer or text processor, you need Cave Tab to ensure you make the most of it. 1985 T. FERGUSON Onyx John (1988) viii. 295 Nothing is easier than catching crooks with priors. The computer does it all, matching crimes to the criminals, fingerprints to the asshole. 1992 New Scientist 19 Sept. 24/2 Levy bet £1000 that a computer would not beat him by 1978. He won the bet by comfortably beating Chess 4.7, then the world's best program, which examined up to three million positions. 1999 Mizz 10-23 Mar. 18/1 Last year my dad bought a computer for our family and showed us how to dial up the Internet. 2004 S. MEHTA Maximum City 22 India desires modernity; it desires computers, information technology, neural networks, video on demand. 2005 J. COX Around World in 80 Dates xii. 267 Most nights we'd sit on the computer and Instant Message each other or sit on the phone for hours.

b. by (also on) computer: by means of a computer or computers.

1962 Proc. Royal Soc. 265 A. 35 The value..was calculated by computer at 5° intervals around the circle. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 53/4 (advt.) Many more exciting dates, parties, and trips. Dating by computer! 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing xxii. 365 Product mix is an economically important problem which can in many cases be handled by computer. 1989 Which? Oct. 528/1 Information about your relationships which can't, under the Data Protection Act, be stored on computer. 1998 Skydiving June 42/1 Paperwork. Screw the paperwork. Ted..can do the whole thing on computer now. 2007 New Yorker 8 Jan. 58/3 Popular plot elements can be codified by computer and laid into scripts.

COMPOUNDS

(In sense 3.)

    C1. a. General attrib. With the sense ‘of or relating to a computer or computers’, as computer circuit, computer console, computer display, computer terminal, etc.
  Some of the more established compounds of this type are entered separately at Compounds 1b.

1947 A. W. BURKS et al. Prelim. Discuss. Logical Design Electr. Computing Instr. (ed. 2) 68 Since the timing of the entire computer is governed by a single pulse source, the computer circuits will be said to operate as a synchronized system. 1952 Proc. Assoc. Computing Machinery 2/1 If the staff of a computer installation expects to process a number of different problems, a set of compiling routines..is essential. 1966 S. DELANY Babel-17 II. i. 62 By the computer console lay the four pages of definitions she had amassed. 1984 D. LODGE Small World II. ii. 116 She..ran through on the computer display the list of passengers who had already checked in. 1985 PC Week (Nexis) 29 Jan. 9 Developers are so steeped in computer culture that they haven't stepped outside to see who is using a program. 1991 Futurist May-June 56/3 They simply insert their card in a computer terminal at the platform entrance to gain admittance on to the train. 1998 E. DAVIS TechGnosis (1999) vii. 195 The angels, demons, and Bosch-like mutant morphs that animate so many video games and online computer worlds. 2000 Disability Now May 47/2 (advt.) The..Centre provides a range of specially designed computer equipment to support students with special needs. 2007 Mirror (Nexis) 19 May 20 A furious dad has complained to a computer store after he picked up a Playstation memory card for his son and found four porn films saved on it.

b. computer jargon n.

1959 M. H. WRUBEL Primer of Programming for Digital Computers p. x, The text includes a Glossary of Terms so that the beginner, who may become confused by *computer jargon, can refresh his memory as to the meaning of the most frequently used expressions. 2003 H. TABBERS et al. in W. Jochems et al. Integrated E-Learning vii. 102 A good GUI does not let the user perform unnatural acts, avoids computer jargon and visibility of the software's internal workings.

computer monitor n.

1963 I. H. GOULD & F. S. ELLIS Digital Computer Technol. vii. 57 An oscilloscope..has not been specially arranged for use as a *computer monitor device. 1982 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Conservation 22 53 There are three features in Figure 4 which are obscure in the original x-ray, particularly when displayed on a high resolution computer monitor. 2007 Inside Bay Area (Calif.) (Nexis) 2 June, Across the darkened floor, the faces of Air Force professionals in jumpsuits glowed in the light of computer monitors as they quietly did their jobs.

computer network n.

1950 U.S. Patent 2,516,000 2 In..the drawings typical *computer networks are illustrated of a type disclosed and claimed in..1947. 1962 Electr. Engin. 81 376 (heading) Airline computer networks speed reservations. 1992 B. STERLING Hacker Crackdown 124 The so-called Internet is..an ‘internetwork’ connections standard that allows several globe-spanning computer networks to communicate with one another. 2002 A. FEENBERG Transforming Technol. (rev. ed.) v. 119 Human communication over computer networks was not originally part of the design.

computer screen n.

1966 Brain Res. 2 52 The evoked potentials were then transcribed from the *computer screen on to millimeter paper by an X-Y plotter. 1993 USA Weekend 22 Aug. 5/3 Sterile desks swim in the green light of computer screens in the ‘war room’, where four full-time investigators sit 50 hours a week. 2006 F1 Racing June 48/3 Once an idea has been validated, the initial concept can be off the computer screen and in the wind tunnel in seven to 10 days.

computer system n.

1949 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation 3 437 Mr. F. G. Miller described the Western Union teletype equipment used, with appropriate modification, in the Mark II *computer system. 1986 T. CLANCY Red Storm Rising (1988) xv. 192 A massive computer system sifted through an avalanche of waterborne sound, analyzing individual frequency bands known..to mark the acoustical signature of a Soviet vessel. 2001 J. DEAVER Blue Nowhere V. xxxv. 394 The school had a computer system that the chancellor..had once declared..was hacker-proof.

    C2. a. With the sense ‘carried out or created by means of a computer or computers’, as computer analysis, computer control, computer modelling, computer printout, computer tape, etc.
  Some of the more established compounds of this type are entered separately at Compounds 2b.

1957 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 147 139 The provision of the facilities for the computer analysis. 1957 Economist 30 Nov. 807/2 Computer-control methods that have already been applied to certain machine tool operations. 1971 Computers & Humanities 6 45 A printer's computer tape would probably require some post-editing. 1988 S. MCCRUMB Bimbos of Death Sun i. 8 He was always clutching a sheaf of computer printouts, which he would try to read to the unwary. 1990 Nucleic Acids Res. 18 306/1 Computer analyses of amino acid and nucleic acid sequences were carried out using the DNAid program on a Macintosh computer. 1993 Wired Dec. 48/1 Computer tapes containing White House e-mail going back to 1980 are now protected by law as federal records. 2003 High Country News 26 May 11/2 Computer modelling showed that, in the worst case, the Broad Fire might blow up and burn a park village.

b. computer conferencing n.

1975 Science Feb. 408/3 The use of *computer conferencing to address economic problems obviously need not be restricted to international forums. 1998 N.Y. Times 5 Apr. IV. 20 (advt.) UMUC's distance learning programs connect you directly to faculty, course-mates, and advisors through innovative technology, including online computer conferencing, e-mail, and voice-mail conferencing.

computer error n.

1949 B. CHANCE Electronic Time Measurem. 210 Since the *computer errors vary little with the aircraft heading and airspeed, memory-point tracking may be continued even though these quantities alter. 2001 Times 31 Aug. 24/5 A draft document..had been ‘inadvertently disclosed to financial analysts as a result of a computer error’.

computer model n.

1956 H. H. GOODE et al. in Proc. Highway Res. Board 35 548/2 The results of the present paper demonstrate further the feasibility of the development of the *computer model as a powerful tool for traffic analysis. 1969 Times 12 Feb. 9/2 They have run a computer model of an underdeveloped country's economy which relates the growth of g.n.p. to the labour force, capital stock and other factors. 2001 H. HOLMES Secret Life of Dust xi. 201 She presented her peers with the gloomy predictions of her computer model. ‘I've never done anything as popular as roasting the Earth.’

computer search n.

1957 Science 25 Oct. 819 The incentive to start on the *computer search of chemical structures arose out of discussions with Ascher Opler. 2004 J. L. SCHROEDER Triumph of Venus iv. 209 A quick computer search will locate scores of articles.

computer simulation n.

1953 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation 7 204 The *computer simulation includes velocity square orifice damping, a nonlinear oleo air spring, wheel spin-up, [etc.]. 2003 Archaeology Jan.-Feb. 19/1 Computer simulations..have shown that ancient athletes would swing the 20-pound lead or stone halteres forward as they jumped and backward as they landed.

computer typesetting n.

1963 Times 22 Oct. 8 The adoption of the system would prepare the way for further automation, possibly for the introduction of *computer typesetting. 2003 M. A. GERNSBACHER et al. Handbk. Disc. Processes ii. 66 In the last half of the 20th century, the pace continued to increase with the appearance of computers, the Internet, e-mail, computer typesetting, photocopiers, [etc.].

C3. a. Objective, as computer designer, computer maker, computer owner, etc.

1947 Salamanca (N.Y.) Republican-Press 29 Mar. 3/5 Lt. Burley..earned the award as torpedo data computer operator on the submarine USS Whale. 1954 Science 17 Sept. 447 Registration will not be accepted from individuals employed by computer manufacturers. 1963 Times Rev. Industry May 85/1 Computer makers would..have us believe that there is no such animal as a typical programmer. 1991 Compute Sept. 39/4 (advt.) Consult your computer owner's manual to find out which kind of chips your computer takes. 1998 K. ESHUN More Brilliant than Sun 181 If he could have been, Grandmaster Flash would have been a computer designer.

b. computer user n.

1955 Amer. Math. Monthly Jan. 10 Employees of the *computer user (who may also build computers). 1986 S. L. MANDELL Working with Applic. Software ii. 40 Other software solves specific problems for the computer user. They are called application programs. 2001 J. DEAVER Blue Nowhere I. vii. 74 ‘She's a civilian’, Gillette said, using the hacker term for a casual computer user.

    C4. a. Instrumental, as computer-based, computer-controlled, computer-driven, computer-mediated, etc., adjectives; computer-readable, computer-searchable, etc., adjectives.
  Some of the more established compounds of this type are entered separately at Compounds 4b.

[1957 I. ASIMOV Earth is Room Enough 13 The decisions on priority are computer-processed. I could in no way alter those decisions arbitrarily.] 1958 Econ. Jrnl. 68 159 We witness the emergence of..new products (control equipment, computer-controlled machines and electronic brains). 1965 Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) p. viii, For some time past commerce and industry have been making increasing use of computer-based automatic data processing systems. 1977 New Yorker 29 Aug. 35/2 Source documents, once put into computer-readable form, tend to become relatively inaccessible, and in some computer systems are even eliminated. 1992 Lit. & Ling. Computing 7 249/1 Electronic texts, being computer-searchable collections, can be transmitted via disks, phone lines, or other media at a fraction of the cost in money, time, and paper. 1997 J. SEABROOK Deeper Pref. 15 E-mail, conferencing, posting in newsgroups, and other forms of computer-mediated communication. 1999 New Yorker 2 Feb. 53/2 The Eagle Patient Simulator..is a life-size, computer-driven mannequin that is capable of amazingly realistic behavior. 2003 G. KOLATA Ultimate Fitness ii. 48 Soon gyms were featuring computer-controlled equipment, like exercise bikes and step climbers that featured variable programs. 2004 New Yorker 13 Dec. 28/2 The film is a hybrid of sorts

a computer-animated movie filmed with live actors in a process called ‘performance capture’.

b. computer-aided adj.

1959 Science 6 Nov. 1227/3 Radioactive-carbon-tagged chemicals can be used..for pinpointing specific dysfunctions of the metabolic pathway, opening up new fields of research in *computer-aided specific diagnostic analysis. 1964 Discovery Oct. 56/2 Such projects form a part of the developing field of computer-aided design. 1971 C. R. W. W. WRIGHT in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer 24 The initial reaction when computer-aided learning is discussed is to imagine vast systems using large and expensive computers. 2001 Navy News Feb. 5/3 Using computer-aided sonar equipment and a remote-controlled unmanned submersible..single mines can be identified and destroyed.

computer-assisted adj.

1961 Operations Res. 9 748 LP-II was the first attempt to apply *computer-assisted, abstract, manned simulation techniques to detailed support-operations weapon system planning. 1970 Brit. Printer Feb. 27/1 One of the unnerving things about computer-assisted typesetting is the pace at which developments take place. 2000 J. MANN Murder, Mystery, & Magic (ed. 2) iv. 217 More recently, with the advent of computer-assisted molecular modelling,..it has become possible to verify how the drug fits into the actual receptor.

computer-generated adj.

1959 Geogr. Rev. 49 531 Two types of *computer-generated map output may now be distinguished. 1987 P. MCCABE Bad News at Black Rock iv. 59 The people responsible for our fancy computer-generated graphics. 2003 D. L. SCOTT Wall St. Words 130 Brokerage firms route computer-generated customer orders to appropriate dealers and exchange specialists.

computer-integrated adj.

1964 Talanta Sept. p. vi, Wednesday, 14 October:..*Computer-Integrated Activation Analyses. 1993 Sat. Night (Toronto) June 55/2 (advt.) A computer-integrated call centre..combines the power of the computer with the flexibility of the telephone. 2002 P. BRÖDNER & J. FORSLIN in P. Docherty et al. Creating Sustainable Work Syst. ii. 17 In the 1980s, the ambition of replacing humans by machines also in intellectual work culminated (so far) with computer integrated manufacturing systems.

computer-supported adj.

1964 Methods of Info. in Med. 10 57 (title) Design of a *computer supported clinical study. 1991 Whole Earth Rev. Summer 59/2 Links connect nodes in the hypertext software by computer-supported relationships that permit rapid, easy movement across the network of nodes. 2005 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. (Nexis) 24 Jan. 6 Alford became the region's first school to have a computer network and one of the first to introduce a computer-supported self-study programme for pupils.

C5. computer age n. the era marked by the development and (widespread) use of computers.

div class="qt">[1956 Math. Mag. 29 258 In this Electronic Computer Age, any mathematician might have to learn the ‘lingo’.] 1957 Amer. Math. Monthly 64 388 Observations on teaching mathematics for the *computer age. 1982 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 2 Dec. B30 For others the computer age now means sitting screen to screen in big offices typing..onto keyboards all day. 2006 Icon May 99/1 A self-standing loop of light..reads like a witty, computer-age reworking of..[the] 1960s classic, the Arco lamp.

computer animation n. the generation and manipulation of moving images by means of a computer; an instance of this.

1967 Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 14/6 The festival director..shows the breadth of his vision by featuring also a lecture by an American expert on ‘*computer animation’ in which the hand of man plays no part at all. 1984 Financial Times (Nexis) 30 Apr. I. 9 System Simulation's work includes computer animations for the science fiction film Alien. 2006 Sight & Sound Sept. 77/6 Appropriately for a film based on a radio show, the computer animation..is what the late Looney Tunes cartoon artist Chuck Jones called ‘illustrated radio’.

computer art n. (a) (with the) the (skilled) use of computers; (b) art produced using a computer.

1950 Science Dec. 732/2 At this stage in the *computer art, a rough basis for the selection of an appropriate type of machine to perform a given calculation is not only the degree of accuracy required but also the number of inputs to be considered and varied. 1969 Computers & Humanities 4 66 Production of Visual Material by Computer. The formal name of this category is computer graphics, but you might prefer calling it computer art. 2007 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 8 Mar. 3 Any media or mixed-media may be used. Photography and computer art is acceptable.

computer chip n. = CHIP n.¹ 2f.

1975 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 27 May 25/4 Metal work for the Cyber-lite is manufactured by Proto Stamping of Redwood City; the *computer chip is from Interdesign of Sunny-vale. 1996 F. POPCORN & L. MARIGOLD Clicking ii. 283 One group of Warrior Parents, upset about the sexist messages in the computer chips of Talking Barbie and Talking Ken, made quiet, unannounced raids on toy stores, quickly..switching the voice mechanisms in the dolls. 2004 Guardian 11 Nov. I. 3/3 Criminals were aware the new generation of credit and debit cards containing computer chips would hinder their activities.

computer crime n. crime involving illegal access to or manipulation of electronic data; an instance of this.

1972 New Scientist 2 Mar. 497/3 A growth business indeed, with the highest growth in the unspectacular areas: fraud, credit-card cheating, *computer crimes. 2006 Computer Weekly 18 Apr. 1/2 Security professionals are concerned that Soca's creation could leave a dearth of police resources to fight day-to-day computer crime.

computer criminal n. a person who commits a computer crime.

1969 Jrnl. Criminal Law, Criminol., & Police Sci. 60 1/1 A need already appears to exist for special legislation..to deal with the growing problem of ‘*computer criminals’. 2004 Network World 29 Nov. 46/2 Some computer criminals are techie mavericks who take pleasure in..releasing destructive viruses.

computer dating n. the use of a computer database to match partners for dating, according to specified criteria; matchmaking using a computer.

div class="qt">1965 Sunday Gaz.-Mail (Charleston, W. Va.) 25 Apr. (Parade section) 5/3 *Computer dating is a lot of fun. 1968 Economist 3 Feb. 18/1 The present fad for computer-datingmatching people with people. 2002 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 27 July 10 If you're using the office environment and equipment for a spot of computer dating, please be discreet.

computer disk n. = DISC n. 2g.

1966 Managem. Sci. 12 B-498 A whole spectrum of file types which will probably vary from *computer disks with millisecond access to unsorted garbage with access time measured in weeks. 1985 M. ATWOOD Handmaid's Tale (1988) X. xxvii. 223, I worked transferring books to computer discs. 2007 Wisconsin State Jrnl. (Nexis) 5 June D1 A man robbed a Brooklyn residence..but left behind a computer disk containing his resume and his keys.

computer file n. = FILE n.² 4b.

1964 Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 52 159 Major design considerations include..efficient maintenance of various complex *computer files. 1995 L. GARRETT Coming Plague xi. 363 By 1986 hospitals and blood banks all over the country began actively shredding their pre-1982 paper trails and purging computer files. 2004 Future Music May 152/3 MP3 is a way of turning music into tiny computer files, which can then be played on portable players, burned to CDs or traded illegally over the internet.

computer fraud n. fraud perpetrated using a computer; an instance of this; cf. computer crime n.

1965 Times 14 Apr. 18/2 Cases of ‘*computer fraud’ have already occurred in the States. 1983 Listener 4 Aug. 34/4 He estimates that the average sum stolen during a computer fraud is $400,000. 2006 Washington Times (Nexis) 25 Mar. A10 A misdemeanor charge of computer fraud in which she illegally obtained..Steele's credit report last summer.

    computer-friendly adj. (a) (of a person) well-disposed towards computers; computer-literate; (b) suitable for use with computers, compatible with computers.
  The sense in quot. 1982 is unclear.

1982 Christian Sci. Monitor 30 Apr. B16/2 The challenge of making the microcomputer revolution ‘*computer friendly’..was also a primary concern. 1989 Guardian 10 Aug. 19/4 Headmasters become factory managers, chosen because they are accountants or computer-friendly. 1991 Southwest Sampler (U.S.) Summer II. 27/1 Siggins even offers computer-friendly desks with built-in keyboard trays. 1995 New Yorker 7 Aug. 26/1 Gingrich, more than Al Gore, is now thought of as America's most computer-friendly politician. 2003 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 30 Aug. II. 3/1 Music gets ‘ripped’ or converted into computer-friendly compressed formats like MP3 or WAV first.

computer geek n. slang (orig. U.S.) = computer nerd n.

1983 Lacaslalaland in net.movies (Usenet newsgroup) 11 July, I am sure some of us found the *computer geeks [in the film] a bit, ahem, close to home. 2005 Nature 15 Dec. 915/2 The computer geeks who created Terragen, probably weaned in bad sci-fi art, have imbued their program with terrible taste.

computer hardware n. the physical components of a computer or computer system, including peripheral devices such as monitors and printers; cf. computer software n.

1959 Operational Res. Q. 10 106 The system control engineers can shape up the *computer hardware. 1989 UnixWorld Sept. 61/3 Real-time UNIX..benefits users with portability. ‘Hardware keeps changing and I don't want to get too married to any particular piece of computer hardware platform’. 2004 Time Out N.Y. 22 July 51/4 Cybernetic totalism

the theory that humans will one day be upgraded with computer hardware

is at once laughable and discomfiting.

    computer-illiterate adj. and n. (a) adj. not computer-literate; cf. computer-literate adj. and n. (a); (b) n. a person who is computer-illiterate.
  The 1978 article referred to in quot. 1982² is in fact entitled ‘Confessions of a microcomputer illiterate’.

1982 Computerworld (Nexis) 8 Mar. 6 We are the last *computer-illiterate generation. 1982 C.-C. CHEN & S. E. BRESSLER Microcomputers in Libraries Bibliogr. 242 Confessions of a computer illiterate, or you too can see the light. 1992 E. YOURDON Decline & Fall Amer. Programmer 275 Much of the work..is based on the assumption that the vast majority of the human race is still computer illiterate, if not computer phobic. 2005 A. SMITH Accidental 42 They were computer illiterates.

computer jock n. N. Amer. slang a computer enthusiast or expert; cf. JOCK n.⁵

1974 Yuma (Arizona) Daily Sun 9 July 4 (headline) Players tackle *computer jocks. 1991 A. R. STONE in M. Benedikt Cyberspace (1993) 97 For the young computer jocks, the lure of Silicon Valley..was irresistible. 2004 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 9 Dec. E4 Their country's computer jocks fixed the world's Y2K software glitches.

computerland n. the world of computers; the computer industry.

1970 Times 12 Aug. 5 It can feel like living in *Computerland, but the Universities Central Council on Admissions..emphasizes that all decisions affecting applications are made by people. 1996 F. POPCORN & L. MARIGOLD Clicking ii. 217 Even in the vastness of computerland, not everyone is happy with the umbrella superhighway term. 2006 Financial Express (Nexis) 27 May, Anyone who has tracked Apple Computers knows why it is referred to as a square peg in a round hole in a Wintel-dominated computerland.

computer language n. language, or a particular language, used in communicating with or programming computers; (also) the language of computer science, computer jargon; cf. LANGUAGE n. 1d, COMPUTERESE n.

1955 Acta Crystallographica 8 633/1 The foregoing procedures (‘programmes’ in *computer language) for structure refinement were originally developed for particular space groups. 1989 R. PENROSE Emperor's New Mind (1991) ii. 70 The powerful and flexible computer language LISP incorporates..the basic structure of Church's calculus. 1997 J. SEABROOK Deeper i. 21 Frenchy explained that the computer could only speak computer language, which was a kind of symbolic language. 2003 Guardian 18 Oct. I. 7/3 [He] claimed he was a victim of Trojanism

computer language for an outside takeover of his PC.

computer literacy n. the quality of being computer-literate; knowledge of or expertise in the use of computers.

1969 Acad. of Managem. Jrnl. 12 282 The results of the research are summarized under the following topical points:..f) Management's *computer literacy. 1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 40 (advt.) You'll catch it on TV, the star of a series of computer literacy programmes. 2000 D. D'SOUZA Virtue of Prosperity ix. 246 We are in a transitional phase in which computer literacy seems of paramount importance; that phase will soon pass.

computer-literate adj. and n. (a) adj.educated or skilled in the use of computers; able to use computers; (b) n.a person who is educated or skilled in the use of computers.

1961 Technol. Rev. July 46 It is going to take a major effort to make scientific..and nonscientific computer administrators *computer literate. 1982 Inc. (Nexis) July 33 Lee..seems like someone who would lead the way for other CEOs as a charter member in the club of managerial computer literates. 2000 Vanity Fair Mar. 149/3 He was barely computer-literate when the Microsoft case threw him into the brave new world of browsers, platforms, and run times. 2006 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 24 June, The minister asked the state literacy mission to include computer training in its curricula as there was a growing gap between computer literates and non-literate.

computer nerd n. slang (orig. U.S.) a person who pursues an (obsessive) interest in, or is extremely knowledgeable about, computers, and is often regarded as lacking other interests or knowledge, boringly studious, socially inept, etc.

1982 Los Angeles Times 20 May (Metro section) 11 (headline) Now, summer camp for *computer nerds. 1995 Pacific Current Mar. 28/1 We keep hearing the Internet is not just for computer nerds..any more. 2005 Sunday Territorian (Austral.) (Nexis) 27 Mar. 44 From the sublime to the mundane for some but highly interesting for computer nerds and IT people.

computer porn n. = cyberporn n. at CYBER- comb. form 2.

1982 Chicago Tribune 20 May III. 4/2 Most of the *computer porn programs, which cost about $30 each, are word games. 1995 Maclean's (Electronic ed.) 22 May 58 But with the increasing allure of the Internet..computer porn has taken off. 2003 Daily Mail (Nexis) 23 Aug. 7 He was accused of downloading computer porn.

computer pornography n. = computer porn n.

1982 Chicago Tribune 20 May III. 4/1 *Computer pornography still has a long way to go. 2003 Evening Chron. (Nexis) 4 June 11 The FBI uncovered a worldwide trade in computer pornography.

computer-process v. to process (data, images, etc.) with a computer; to alter or generate using a computer.

1957 I. ASIMOV Earth is Room Enough 13 The decisions on priority are *computer-processed. I could in no way alter those decisions arbitrarily. 1993 R. RUCKER et al. Mondo 2000 186/2 By computer-processing the STM data, one can in fact generate pictures that seem to show the atoms in some crystals all lined up like oranges in a supermarket display. 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. IX. 1/2 A fresh list of music to download. Of course it would never sound quite the same as it does when computer-processed by the D.J.

computer processing n. the action of processing data, images, etc., by computer.

1957 Accounting Rev. 32 164/2 The specific and immediate objective of readying one or more data processing operations for *computer processing. 1989 J. GATENBY GCSE Computer Stud. i. 7 Most computer processing can be reduced to simple binary arithmetic, such as addition or subtraction. 2005 P. KEEFE Chatter iii. 75 In 1965, three years before cofounding the computer-processing company Intel,..Gordon Moore predicted that computer power would double every eighteen months.

computer ranking n. Sport the calculation of the ranking of a player or team relative to others using a computer; a ranking assigned in this way.

1967 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Jrnl. 19 Nov. 5/6 The college guard rated fourth best in the nation by the *computer ranking was not drafted. 1989 L. BRYCE Influential Woman (1990) i. 11 Even though she was Britain's junior champion she started her international career as a nobody without even a computer ranking. 2006 Times (Nexis) 25 May 95 After the 2004-05 season, the Fink Tank ranked Steven Gerrard 289th. This year was a different story

his computer ranking was sixth.

computer-savvy adj. having a thorough practical knowledge of computers.

1972 Odessa (Texas) Amer. 29 Apr. 3A/1 (caption) *Computer savvy

Some 20 area county auditors Friday converged on..Bill Hick's office..for pointers on auditing county business by computer. 2004 S. J. BARNES Becoming Digital Libr. iii. 56 While most users are becoming more computer-savvy, undergraduates often are the ones pushing the limits of the new technologies.

computer software n. = SOFTWARE n. 1; cf. computer hardware n.

1964 Van Nuys (Calif.) News (Nexis) 21 Jan., At present our openings call for a diverse range of *computer ‘software’ backgrounds. 1989 Omni Dec. 24/3 Computer software could be developed that might one day be able to help prosecutors prescreen cases. 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer 13 June E5/2 The Spyware Control Act, passed this year, makes it illegal to create or install computer software that monitors Internet activity.

computer trading n. the use of networked computers in stock market trading.

1969 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. F10/3 Will electronic block-matching usher in something new

the use of psychology in *computer trading? 2004 C. LYNN Leg the Spread vii. 137 Terms have sprung up for these advantages of computer trading, such as ‘price transparency’, which means that anyone around the world can see the current price.

DERIVATIVES

computerdom n. the world or realm of computers; the computer industry.

1968 Los Angeles Times 11 Mar. II. 5/3 Subscription department (now *computerdom) goes poetic... The handling of magazine subscriptions have [sic] been entrusted to computers. 1984 Washington Post 13 Aug. (Washington Business section) 15/2 It's too soon to tell whether public domain software will be just a tiny subculture in computerdom or a real force. 2006 Computerworld 22 May 6/2 Today, some of the hottest ideas in computerdom..are grounded in the Internet.

computerless adj. not possessing, or involving the use of, a computer.

1967 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 17 Dec. 4C/4 The wheels of the Vatican may grind faster these days but not at the *computerless Congregation of Rites. 2001 What Digital Camera Aug. 83 Direct connection capabilities allow ‘computerless’ printing straight from the camera.

computer-like adj.

1952 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 26 Aug. 12/2 These will be *computer-like machines capable of processing all sorts of information. 1964 A. WYKES Gambling xi. 259 He must have a computer-like ability to remember all the cards. 2005 A. BROWN & R. G. PICARD Digital Terrestial Television Europe i. 7 A rapid migration of households from 25-28 hours per week of passive television viewing to broadband interactivity via computer-like devices?