965 results for: Computing

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Dictionary Entries (3 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
com·pute    Audio Help   [kuhm-pyoot] Pronunciation Key verb, -put·ed, -put·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.to determine by calculation; reckon; calculate: to compute the period of Jupiter's revolution.
2.to determine by using a computer or calculator.
–verb (used without object)
3.to reckon; calculate.
4.to use a computer or calculator.
5.Informal. to make sense; add up: His reasons for doing that just don't compute.
–noun
6.computation: outer space that is vast beyond compute.

[Origin: 1375–1425 for earlier sense; 1580–90 for def. 6; (v.) < L computāre, equiv. to com- com- + putāre to think; (n.) late ME < MF < LL computus calculation, number, n. deriv. of computāre; cf. putative, count1]

com·put·a·ble, adjective
com·put·a·bil·i·ty, noun
com·put·a·bly, adverb
com·put·ist    Audio Help   [kuhm-pyoo-tist, kom-pyoo-] Pronunciation Key, noun

1. estimate, count, figure.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
com·put·ing    Audio Help   [kuhm-pyoo-ting] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.the use of a computer to process data or perform calculations.
2.the act of calculating or reckoning.

[Origin: 1640–50; compute + -ing1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopedia Articles (959 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


grid computing, the concurrent application of the processing and data storage resources of many computers in a network to a single problem. It also can be used for load balancing as well as high availability by employing multiple computers—typically personal computers and workstations—that are remote from one another, multiple data storage devices, and redundant network connections. Grid computing requires the use of parallel processing software that can divide a program among as many as several thousand computers and restructure the results into a single solution of the problem. Primarily for security reasons, grid computing is typically restricted to multiple computers within the same enterprise.

Grid computing evolved from the parallel processing systems of the 1970s, the large-scale cluster computing systems of the 1980s, and the distributed processing systems of the 1990s, and is often referred to by these names. Grid computing can make a more cost-effective use of computer resources, can be applied to solve problems that require large amounts of computing power, and may be the forerunner of pervasive computing—computer applications that pervade our environment without our being aware of their presence.

See A. S. Tanenbaum and M. van Steen, Distributed Systems (2001); F. Berman, G. Fox, and A. J. G. Hey, Grid Computing (2003); A. Abbas, Grid Computing (2003).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press


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