The National Challenge in Computer Science and Technology (1988) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Promise of Technology
2 The Promise of Technology
Pages 7-13
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From page 7... ...
In the world of business, machines that were once confined to payroll and accounting are now relied upon to help create documents, route messages, analyze financial data, conduct banking transactions, handie airline reservations, run the telephone system, and gain access to the vast amounts of information stored in electronic databases. In the world of scientific calculation, machines once desired for calculating numerical tables are now used to design transportation vehicles, guide satellites, predict the weather, explore for oil, increase food production, develop new pharmaceuticals, investigate the atom, and map the human genome.
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From page 8... ...
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From page 9... ...
In the 1980s, the personal computer has delivered cheaper computational and storage resources directly to the end user and captivated millions of people through easy-to-learn programs for spreadsheets, word processing, data bases, and business graphics. At the same time, computer networks became more widespread, interconnecting many personal and time-shared machines, thereby redefining the computing base together with a large array of sophisticated software.
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From page 10... ...
Finally, by linking together a large number of the most powerful superprocessors, multiprocessor architectures might even lead to ultracomputers that could truly expand the capabilities of physical science through computer simulation of immense problems, thereby creating a new set of scientific tools, such as major computational observatories, computational microscopes, computational chemical or biochemical reactors, and computational wind tunnels. Beyond multiprocessors, another major direction in the systems area involves the interconnection via networks of geographically remote computers into distributed systems.
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From page 11... ...
Direct manipulation of objects on the screen is replacing traditional, much less user-friendly interaction via typed command languages. As a result, sophisticated computer technology is becoming widely accessible to casual users, lay persons, and even young children.*
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From page 12... ...
ARTIIlICLAL INTELLIGENCE The expected growth of multiprocessors and continued research strides in speech understanding and machine vision are expected to advance sensory computing substantially during the next decade. To the extent that sensory systems become as successful as we expect, they will have a dramatic impact on the way people interact with computers, since speech and vision, unlike typing, are natural means of human communication.
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From page 13... ...
The evolution of effective robotic systems could result in several benefits increased factory productivity and, perhaps as significantly, the ability to produce individually tailored products at mass production costs. THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE As a young discipline, computer science is in the process of building up its theoretical base and will probably continue to do so for many years to come.
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