title: The hardware components of a computer system.
abstract: The two goals of this article are to give you a very brief overview of the evolution of computing and an introduction to the elements of a computer. The birth of the modern computer can be traced to John von Neumann. The model he proposed consisted of four major parts: the control unit, the arithmetic unit, the memory, and the input/output unit. His concept for a "stored program" computer provided the foundation for five decades of computer designs.
authors: California State University, Chico.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Pinkert
authors: L L
authors: LL
authors: Wear
mesh_terms: D003199:Computer Systems / Q000266:history*; D003201:Computers / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient