Definition

Noun: A device, typically electronic, designed to automatically execute sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (calculations). This term broadly refers to a programmable machine that can process, store, and retrieve data.

Usage

The term "computing machine" is a formal and somewhat historical term for what is now most commonly called a "computer." It emphasizes the machine's core function of performing automated computation.

Examples

• Early computing machines, like the Analytical Engine, were mechanical.
• The development of the electronic computing machine revolutionized data processing.
• This laboratory houses a super computing machine used for complex climate modeling.

Advanced Usage

• Theoretical computing machine: Often used in computer science theory, such as a "Turing machine," which is an abstract model of computation.
  • The Turing machine is a conceptual computing machine that defines the limits of mechanical computation.

Variants and Related Words

• Computer (n): The modern, more common term for a computing machine.
• Calculator (n): A simpler device, typically for arithmetic operations, not usually programmable in the general sense.
• Data processor (n): A term highlighting the machine's function of processing information.
• Computing device (n): A broader term that can include smaller devices like smartphones and tablets.

Synonyms

• Computer
• Data processor
• Information processing system

Related Phrases

• Digital computing machine: Specifies a machine that operates on data represented in discrete, usually binary, form.
  • Most modern computing machines are digital.
• Analog computing machine: Refers to a machine that uses continuous physical phenomena to model problems.
  • Before the digital era, some computing machines were analog.

Noun

1. a machine for performing calculations automatically