Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to a computer architecture where instructions are stored in memory: Describes the fundamental design principle of modern computers where both data and the program instructions operate on that data are held in the same rewritable memory.

Usage

• The term is primarily used in technical and historical computing contexts to describe a type of computer architecture or a concept central to how modern computers function.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The development of the stored-program concept was a major breakthrough in computing history.
  • Early stored-program computers, like the EDVAC, used mercury delay lines for memory.

Advanced Usage

• "stored-program computer": A complete noun phrase for a computer that uses this architecture.
  • Von Neumann is often credited with the architecture for the stored-program computer.
• "stored-program concept": Refers to the abstract idea or principle itself.
  • The report outlined the stored-program concept that would influence all future designs.

Variants and Related Words

• Stored-program-controlled (adj): A more specific term, often used in telecommunications, describing systems controlled by software stored in memory.
  • The telephone exchange was a stored-program-controlled system.
• Stored program (noun phrase): The program itself that is stored in memory.
  • The stored program was loaded from a tape drive.

Synonyms

• Von Neumann architecture (noun phrase): While not a perfect synonym, this is the most common specific term for the stored-program computer design. (Note: Some historical debate exists about credit for the concept.)

Related Terms and Concepts

• Harvard architecture (noun phrase): A contrasting computer architecture where program instructions and data are stored in separate physical memory units.
• Read-only memory (ROM) (noun phrase): Memory that stores permanent programs or data, a related but distinct concept from the rewritable memory central to the stored-program concept.
• Software (noun): The programs and other operating information used by a computer, which are made possible by the stored-program principle.

Adjective

1. of or concerning programs stored in the computer's own memory