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von Neuman Machines

(This and the next node contain historical and conceptual background which the terminally impatient may wish to skip.)

Johnny von Neuman introduced what has come to be called the "von Neuman architecture" for computers on one of the first vacuum-tube computers, and despite much grumbling and many attempts to dethrone it, it has remained the mainstay of computing ever since.

The essential components of the von Neuman architecture are:


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