The von Neumann Model for Computing Machines

At the highest level, the major hardware components of most boards can be classifi ed into fi ve major categories: Central processing unit (CPU). The master processor. Memory. Where the system’s software is stored. Input device(s). Input slave processors and relative electrical components. Output device(s). Output slave processors and relative electrical components. Data pathway(s)/bus(es). Interconnects the other components, providing a “highway” for data to travel on from one compone...

 Vonnegut on Fiction vs. Journalism - Noise and Melody

I am reminded now, as I think about news and fiction, of a demonstration of the difference between noise and melody which I saw and heard in a freshman physics lecture at Cornell University so long ago. (Freshman physics is invariably the most satisfying course offered by any American university.) The professor threw a narrow board, which was about the length of a bayonet, at the wall of the room, which was cinder block. "That's noise," he said. Then he picked up seven more boards, and he...