Like anything in this world, the laws of evolution are also applicable to computers. Computers have evolved from being based on fixed program concept to stored program concept. In this short topic, let’s talk about stored program and fixed program computers.
Fixed-Program Computers
As mentioned in above section, early computers followed Fixed-Program Concept where it is programmed to do only one thing. A calculator is an example of Fixed-Program computer. It’s sole purpose is to perform calculations. We create power-point presentations or shoot random people in GTA 5 using a calculator.
Stored Program Computers
When computers were only fixed-program machines, “re-programming” it was difficult and was a laborious process since it has to be rewired following new designs. It was similar to rebuilding the machine.
John Von Neumann proposed the Stored-Program Concept in 1940s based on Alan Turing‘s Turing machine. The idea is to store program instructions and data in the same memory. These stored instructions are executed on the stored data that produces results. These results are also stored in the same memory. This concept made computers “re-programmable”. His famous Von Neumann Architecture is based on this concept.
Want a power point presentation? No worries, install the application, open it and create one. Thanks to this concept, we don’t have to rebuild the machine now.
