Last modified: Monday, August 05, 2002
(pronounced von noi-man) An early computer created by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann (1903-1957). It included three components used by most computers today: a CPU; a slow-to-access storage area, like a hard drive ; and secondary fast-access memory (RAM ). The machines stored instructions as binary values (creating the stored program concept) and executed instructions sequentially - the processor fetched instructions one at a time and processed them. Today "von Neumann architecture" often refers to the sequential nature of computers based on this model.
John von Neumann History and background information about John von Neumann, the architecture, and related work.	Related Categories Computer Science Hardware Types of Computers Related Terms artificial intelligence CPU DML hard disk drive RAM sequential access Shop for: Books - John Von Neumann, Paul M. Churchland, Patricia Smith Churchland - The Computer and the Brain Products Release Date: November 01, 2000 Compare all matches: 2 Store Offers from $8.04-$9.4 Top Store Offers Amazon - 9.40 Amazon Marketplace - 8.04 more stores...