Why do we call them computers?

[miketsp]

According to its manual my freezer is "computer controlled".
In fact all it has is a single chip microcontroller with a couple of inputs (door switch / some temperature measuring thermistors / second contact on the fast freeze switch).
The outputs are some LEDs and an alarm buzzer.
This seems a total overkill to implement a simple bit of logic but apparently this was the cheapest way to tell me the door is open or the seal is worn or the compressor needs more gas(coolant).

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

According to its manual my freezer is "computer controlled".
In fact all it has is a single chip microcontroller with a couple of inputs (door switch / some temperature measuring thermistors / second contact on the fast freeze switch).
The outputs are some LEDs and an alarm buzzer.
This seems a total overkill to implement a simple bit of logic but apparently this was the cheapest way to tell me the door is open or the seal is worn or the compressor needs more gas(coolant).

Cool. (pardon the pun)

As 'computer controlled' applliances get more mainstream, maybe our collective definition (general purpose) will change. Or maybe it's changed already, and I'm behind the times.

Your example is interesting. I question the 'controlled' part, as all it does is output, right? Not much control going on.

 

[miketsp]

Cool. (pardon the pun)

As 'computer controlled' applliances get more mainstream, maybe our collective definition (general purpose) will change. Or maybe it's changed already, and I'm behind the times.

Your example is interesting. I question the 'controlled' part, as all it does is output, right? Not much control going on.

Don't forget the analog part of the control loop - the owner of the freezer.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Don't forget the analog part of the control loop - the owner of the freezer.

HA! good one. So when the lights flash, you respond. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

 

[simbrooks]

As 'computer controlled' applliances get more mainstream, maybe our collective definition (general purpose) will change. Or maybe it's changed already, and I'm behind the times.

Your example is interesting. I question the 'controlled' part, as all it does is output, right? Not much control going on.

Isnt it controlling the conditions in there, albeit by a simple switch, turns on and off at certain temps.

I think finally your actual original line of questioning is starting to sink now i have had an hour or so off this thread. I was thinking you were asking about IF a dive computer is a computer, not how has our language developed around such terms - my answering was that by modern terms it is, i am sorry if i insulted you with the troll claim, i just wasnt seeing what you were getting at through the mist of a bunch of devices being named and me trying to catagorise them - thinking only 3D about objects, definitions etc, not 4D as in over time

I think i have grown up with the modern definition and accepted the phrase as it comes, but i agree it is overused on things that really arent even within grey area boundaries. Its like the title Engineer, i didnt go to college for 5 years to become an engineer and get a few degrees in that subject during that time to have my position the given the same name as someone who comes round to service my washing machine/fridge etc (not that its not a reasonable career or that i look down on them)who whilst good with their hands, didnt have attend a great amount of college classes to gain that education, train driver also in like manner.

 

[Goose75]

I think you missed my original post as well:
I wouldn't say that it is erroneous, just changed. My question is, based on what I perceive to be the modern definition (general purpose computing device), why is the dive computer labeled as such, when other purpose-built devices (GPS receivers, for example) are not?

Because in past times the word computer not only fit, but it it rolled off the tongue and had a connotation of complex precission equipment. Global Positioning Computer doesn't fit as well. It denotes one piece of euipment instead of a networked system.

PDA - people associate "data assistant" with a replacement for an organizer. PDC - people would associate "data computer" with a desktop model.

Everything starts based on either function or association. Usually it's a blend of each. If Dive Computers were invented for the first time today, they would probably be called a dive assitant or something else just as silly.

 

[WileEDiver]

Actually, if you want to go back to the origin of the term, a computer was used to describe the person who worked with those big electronic machines. The name of the organization, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) founded in 1947, made that distinction by including that "M" word.

 

[Goose75]

Its like the title Engineer, i didnt go to college for 5 years to become an engineer and get a few degrees in that subject during that time to have my position the given the same name as someone who comes round to service my washing machine/fridge etc (not that its not a reasonable career or that i look down on them)who whilst good with their hands, didnt have attend a great amount of college classes to gain that education, train driver also in like manner.

It's like I heard from an old hand early in my career, "I'll take a demotion for more pay any day!" Call me "ugly duckling who works out calculations" for all I care, just show me the money. By the same token, I'd happily buy a "wrist mounted device for calculating dive conditions and storage of data for later retrieval" at half the price of the same thing, but called "computer"

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Isnt it controlling the conditions in there, albeit by a simple switch, turns on and off at certain temps.

Good point. Based on his description, I assumed not. But you know what happens when you assume...

I think finally your actual original line of questioning is starting to sink now i have had an hour or so off this thread. I was thinking you were asking about IF a dive computer is a computer, not how has our language developed around such terms - my answering was that by modern terms it is, i am sorry if i insulted you with the troll claim...

Thanks. I admit that I was getting a little annoyed by some of the directions "my" thread was going, and may have not been as careful in my posts as I should have.

I think i have grown up with the modern definition and accepted the phrase as it comes, but i agree it is overused on things that really arent even within grey area boundaries. Its like the title Engineer, i didnt go to college for 5 years to become an engineer and get a few degrees in that subject during that time to have my position the given the same name as someone who comes round to service my washing machine/fridge etc (not that its not a reasonable career or that i look down on them)who whilst good with their hands, didnt have attend a great amount of college classes to gain that education, train driver also in like manner.

I agree completely.

I'm now really tired of my own thread. One I originally thought would be interesting. At least I got paid for it.

Maybe I'll go off somewhere and ask what we should call modern electronic tools/gadgets. Since the suffix 'ology' means 'the study of,' than 'technology' means???? Study of techniques??

But I digress. It's time to go home.

 

[simbrooks]

Actually, if you want to go back to the origin of the term, a computer was used to describe the person who worked with those big electronic machines. The name of the organization, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) founded in 1947, made that distinction by including that "M" word.

Anything to do with you being an employee = ACME(mployee) - sorry couldnt resist with WileE and all

To take the acronym ball and run with it:
So what could you call it by the modern definition, i think the name is fine, would you call it a Personal Diving Assistant - no PDA is already gone, PDTables? PDCalculator? or should you do away with the personal part even though the results are personal to you as its by your unique profile (recall the dont dive on your buddy's computer issue). Individual DT or IDC (again taken), IDA?