Computer engineering combines electrical engineering and computer science to design computer hardware and the software that runs closest to it, including processors, memory systems, embedded systems and the firmware and low-level software that controls them. It is distinct from software engineering, which concerns application and system software more broadly, and from electrical engineering wider concern with power and communications systems. The first dedicated computer engineering degree program in the United States was established in 1971 at Case Western Reserve University, and by 2015 more than 250 ABET-accredited computer engineering programs existed nationwide.
Facts
Core ConcernDesigning computer hardware, processors, memory and embedded systems, together with the low-level firmware that controls them. 1 Core PrincipleComputer engineering integrates electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science, treating a computer's hardware and the software it runs as one designed system rather than two separately engineered halves. 2 Disputed
Origin YearCase Western Reserve University is widely credited with establishing the first computer engineering degree program in the United States in 1971. FAQs
When is computer engineering usually dated to have begun, and who is credited with starting it?
Computer engineering is usually dated to 1939, when John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry began building what became the world's first electronic digital computer, drawing on physics, mathematics and electrical engineering. Atanasoff taught physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, and Berry was his graduate student, trained in electrical engineering and physics.
Connections
Associated With
Laid the theoretical foundation of computing and helped design early stored-program computers.
Co-designed the TCP/IP protocols underlying the internets networking hardware and architecture.
Designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical forerunner of the programmable computer.
Co-built the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, an early electronic digital computer.
Computer engineering grew out of electrical engineering as digital logic and processors became a distinct specialty.
Led design of the Intel 4004, the first commercial single-chip microprocessor.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Built Sketchpad, a foundational program in interactive computer graphics and computer-aided design.
Co-designed ENIAC, one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers.
Co-invented the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, an early electronic digital computer.
Co-designed ENIAC, one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers.
Formulated the stored-program computer architecture used by nearly all modern computers.
Built the Z3, one of the first programmable digital computers.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Computer engineering and software engineering meet at firmware and low-level system software.
The integrated circuit is the foundational hardware component computer engineering designs with.
Invented the World Wide Web, running on the internets computing infrastructure.
Transistor, Inventions Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Co-designed the TCP/IP protocols underlying the internets networking hardware and architecture.
Includes
Source QR Code (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Radio-frequency Identification (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Random-Access Memory (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Raymond Kurzweil (National Inventors Hall of Fame)
Source Reynold Johnson (Lemelson-MIT)
Source Robert Metcalfe (Wikipedia)
Source Router (computing) (Wikipedia)
Source SIM card, Wikipedia
Source Sloot Digital Coding System (Wikipedia)
Source Smart card, Wikipedia
Source Smartphone (Wikipedia)
Source Solid-state drive, Wikipedia
Source Sound card, Wikipedia
Source Speech recognition, Wikipedia
Source Supercomputer (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Touchpad - Wikipedia
Source Trackball - Wikipedia
Source USB (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Video game console, Wikipedia
Source Ivan Sutherland's head-mounted 3D display (Wikipedia)
Source Wi-Fi (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Showing 51 to 75 of 75 in Includes, page 2 of 2.
Open Questions
Source Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
In the Other Atlases
Influenced By
Also in Mathematics Atlas: which influenced this subject.
Informed By
Also in Science Atlas: which informed this subject.
Also in Science Atlas: which informed this subject.
Shaped By
Also in Business Atlas: which shaped this subject.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source 2. Computer Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction section
Computer engineering may be referred to as Electrical and Computer Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering at some universities.
Lead section, opening definition of computer engineering
Computer engineering (CE, CoE, CpE, or CompE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software.
History section, Atanasoff and Berry paragraph
Computer engineering began in 1939 when John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry began developing the world's first electronic digital computer through physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering.
History of computer engineering education section, first degree program sentence
The first computer engineering degree program in the United States was established in 1971 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
- In Group: Computing and Software Systems Engineering, lead sentence: a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software
View the Source A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Ray HoltView the Source Federico Faggin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Federico Faggin, lead sectionQuote, Includes: Federico Faggin, lead section
He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the design group during the first five years of Intel's microprocessor effort.
View the Source Jay Wright Forrester
Includes: Jay Forrester, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Jay Forrester, Lead section
Jay Wright Forrester (July 14, 1918, November 16, 2016) was an American computer engineer, management theorist and systems scientist.
View the Source Douglas Engelbart (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Douglas Engelbart, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Douglas Engelbart, Categories
Computer hardware engineers
View the Source Hard Disk Drive (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Hard Disk Drive, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Hard Disk Drive, Categories
Rotating disc computer storage media
View the Source Floppy Disk (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Floppy Disk, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Floppy Disk, Categories
Rotating disc computer storage media
View the Source Computer Mouse (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Computer Mouse, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Computer Mouse, Categories
Computing input devices
View the Source Computer Keyboard (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Computer Keyboard, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Computer Keyboard, Categories
Computer peripherals
View the Source Solid-state drive, Wikipedia
Includes: Solid-State Drive, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Solid-State Drive, Categories
Non-volatile memory
View the Source Flash Memory (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Flash Memory, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Flash Memory, Categories
Non-volatile memory
View the Source Joystick - Wikipedia
Includes: Joystick, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Joystick, Categories
Computer peripherals
View the Source Trackball - Wikipedia
Includes: Trackball, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Trackball, Categories
Computing input devices
View the Source Webcam, Wikipedia
Includes: Webcam, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Webcam, Categories
Computing input devices
View the Source Wikipedia: Magnetic-core memory
Includes: Magnetic Core Memory, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Magnetic Core Memory, Categories
Non-volatile memory
View the Source Random-Access Memory (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Random Access Memory, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Random Access Memory, Categories
Computer architecture
View the Source Graphics Processing Unit (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Graphics Processing Unit, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Graphics Processing Unit, Categories
Graphics hardware
View the Source Wi-Fi (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Wi-Fi, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Wi-Fi, Categories
Mobile computing
View the Source USB (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: USB, CategoriesQuote, Includes: USB, Categories
Computer buses
View the Source Bluetooth (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Bluetooth, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Bluetooth, Categories
Mobile computing
View the Source Router (computing) (Wikipedia)
Includes: Router, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Router, Categories
Computer networks engineering
View the Source Sound card, Wikipedia
Includes: Sound Card, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Sound Card, Categories
Hardware acceleration
View the Source Personal digital assistant - Wikipedia
Includes: Personal Digital Assistant, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Personal Digital Assistant, Categories
Mobile computing
View the Source Integrated Circuit (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Integrated Circuit, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Integrated Circuit, Categories
Semiconductor devices
View the Source Microprocessor (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Microprocessor, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Microprocessor, Categories
Microprocessors
View the Source 3D scanning (Wikipedia)
Includes: 3D Scanning, CategoriesQuote, Includes: 3D Scanning, Categories
3D computer graphics
View the Source Personal computer (Wikipedia)
Includes: Personal Computer, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Personal Computer, Categories
Personal computers
View the Source Supercomputer (Wikipedia)
Includes: Supercomputer, CategoriesQuote, Includes: Supercomputer, Categories
Concurrent computing
View the Source Smartphone (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Smartphone, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Smartphone, Lead section
A smartphone is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone (feature phone) with advanced computing capabilities.
View the Source Punched card - Wikipedia
Includes: Punched Card, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Punched Card, Lead section
Developed over the 19th to 20th centuries, punched cards were widely used for data processing, the control of automated machines, and computing.
View the Source Barcode reader (Wikipedia)
Includes: Barcode Scanner, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Barcode Scanner, Lead section
A barcode reader or barcode scanner is an optical scanner that can read or scan printed barcodes and send the data they contain to a computer.
View the Source Modem (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Modem, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Modem, Lead section
A modulator-demodulator, commonly referred to as a modem, is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio.
View the Source Ethernet (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Ethernet, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Ethernet, Lead section
Ethernet ( EE-thər-net) is a family of wired computer networking standards designed for (but not limited to) local area networks (LAN), access networks, and metropolitan area networks (MAN).
View the Source Inkjet printing (Wikipedia)
Includes: Inkjet Printing, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Inkjet Printing, Lead section
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling very fine droplets of ink onto various substrates such as paper, plastic, wood and metal.
View the Source Motherboard - Wikipedia
Includes: Motherboard, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Motherboard, Lead section
It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals.
View the Source Portable media player (Wikipedia)
Includes: Portable Media Player, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Portable Media Player, Lead section
Normally, they refer to small, battery-powered devices utilising flash memory or a hard disk for storing various media files.
View the Source Graphics tablet (Wikipedia)
Includes: Graphics Tablet, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Graphics Tablet, Lead section
A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand draw or paint images, animations and graphics, with a special pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws pictures with a pencil and paper by hand.
View the Source Dot matrix printing (Wikipedia)
Includes: Dot Matrix Printer, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Dot Matrix Printer, Lead section
Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout.
View the Source John Mauchly (Wikipedia)
Includes: John Mauchly, IntroductionQuote, Includes: John Mauchly, Introduction
John William Mauchly ( MAWK-lee; August 30, 1907, January 8, 1980) was an American physicist who, along with J. Presper Eckert, designed ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, as well as EDVAC, BINAC and UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the United States.
View the Source John Vincent Atanasoff (Wikipedia)
Includes: John Atanasoff, IntroductionQuote, Includes: John Atanasoff, Introduction
John Vincent Atanasoff (October 4, 1903, June 15, 1995) was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer.
View the Source Clifford Berry (Wikipedia)
Includes: Clifford Berry, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Clifford Berry, Introduction
Clifford Edward Berry (April 19, 1918, October 30, 1963) was an American computer scientist who helped John Vincent Atanasoff create the first digital electronic computer in 1939, the Atanasoff-Berry computer (ABC).
View the Source Alan Turing (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alan Turing, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Alan Turing, Introduction
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912-7 June 1954) was an English mathematician and logician widely regarded as the father of theoretical computer science.
View the Source John von Neumann (Wikipedia)
Includes: John von Neumann, IntroductionQuote, Includes: John von Neumann, Introduction
John von Neumann ( von NOY-mən; Hungarian: Neumann János Lajos; December 28, 1903, February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer.
View the Source ATM (Wikipedia)
Includes: Automated Teller Machine, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Automated Teller Machine, Introduction
An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.
View the Source QR Code (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: QR Code, IntroductionQuote, Includes: QR Code, Introduction
The required data is then extracted from patterns that are present in both the horizontal and the vertical components of the QR image.
View the Source Radio-frequency Identification (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Radio-Frequency Identification, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Radio-Frequency Identification, Introduction
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.
View the Source Optical character recognition, Wikipedia
Includes: Optical Character Recognition, Introduction
Optical character recognition (OCR) or optical character reader is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scene photo (for example the text on signs and billboards in a landscape photo) or from subtitle text superimposed on an image (for example: from a television broadcast).
Includes: Emanuel Goldberg, History section
In the late 1920s and into the 1930s, Emanuel Goldberg developed what he called a "Statistical Machine" for searching microfilm archives using an optical code recognition system.
View the SourceSpeech recognition, Wikipedia
Includes: Speech Recognition, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Speech Recognition, Introduction
Speech recognition (automatic speech recognition (ASR), computer speech recognition, or speech-to-text (STT)) is a sub-field of computational linguistics concerned with methods and technologies that translate spoken language into text or other interpretable forms.
View the Source Touchpad - Wikipedia
Includes: Touchpad, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Touchpad, Introduction
Its largest component is a tactile sensor: an electronic device with a flat surface that detects the position and motion of a user's fingers, and translates them into 2D motion to control a pointer in a graphical user interface.
View the Source Image scanner (Wikipedia)
Includes: Image Scanner, Introduction
An image scanner (often abbreviated to just scanner) is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object and converts it to a digital image.
Includes: Flatbed Scanner, Lead section
An image scanner (often abbreviated to just scanner) is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object and converts it to a digital image.
View the SourceSmart card, Wikipedia
Includes: Smart Card, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Smart Card, Introduction
Smart cards can provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing.
View the Source SIM card, Wikipedia
Includes: SIM Card, IntroductionQuote, Includes: SIM Card, Introduction
SIM cards are also used in various satellite phones, smart watches, computers, or cameras.
View the Source Video game console, Wikipedia
Includes: Video Game Console, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Video Game Console, Introduction
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller.
View the Source Wikipedia: Punched tape
Includes: Paper Tape, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Paper Tape, Introduction
Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data storage that consists of a long strip of paper through which small holes are punched.
View the Source Near-field communication - Wikipedia
Includes: Near Field Communication, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Near Field Communication, Introduction
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in) or less.
View the Source Sloot Digital Coding System (Wikipedia)
Includes: Sloot Digital Coding System, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Sloot Digital Coding System, Introduction
The Sloot Digital Coding System (SDCS) is an alleged technique for data encoding claimed to have been invented in 1995 by Romke Jan Bernhard Sloot (1944-1999), an electronics engineer in the Netherlands.
View the Source Adding machine (Wikipedia)
Includes: Adding Machine, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Adding Machine, Introduction
They were phased out in favor of electronic calculators in the 1970s and by personal computers beginning in about 1985.
View the Source ASCII (Wikipedia)
Includes: ASCII, IntroductionQuote, Includes: ASCII, Introduction
The set of available punctuation had significant impact on the syntax of computer languages and text markup.
View the Source Calculator (Wikipedia)
Includes: Electronic Calculator, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Electronic Calculator, Introduction
A calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
View the Source Edgar F. Codd (Wikipedia)
Includes: Edgar F. Codd, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Edgar F. Codd, Introduction
Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd (19 August 1923-18 April 2003) was a British computer scientist who, while working for IBM, invented the relational model for database management, the theoretical basis for relational databases and relational database management systems.
View the Source Alan Emtage (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alan Emtage, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Alan Emtage, Introduction
Alan Emtage (born November 27, 1964) is a Bajan-Canadian computer scientist who conceived and implemented the first version of Archie, a pre-Web Internet search engine for locating material in public FTP archives.
View the Source Alan Kay (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alan Kay, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Alan Kay, Introduction
Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design.
View the Source Robert Metcalfe (Wikipedia)
Includes: Robert Metcalfe, IntroductionQuote, Includes: Robert Metcalfe, Introduction
He co-invented Ethernet, co-founded 3Com, and formulated Metcalfe's law, which describes the effect of a telecommunications network.
View the Source David Boggs (Wikipedia)
Includes: David Boggs, IntroductionQuote, Includes: David Boggs, Introduction
David Reeves Boggs (June 17, 1950, February 19, 2022) was an American electrical and radio engineer who developed early prototypes of Internet protocols, file servers, gateways, network interface cards and, along with Robert Metcalfe and others, co-invented Ethernet, the most popular family of technologies for local area computer networks.
View the Source Herman Hollerith (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Herman Hollerith, Article bodyQuote, Includes: Herman Hollerith, Article body
Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860, November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting.
View the Source Laser Printing (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Laser Printer, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Laser Printer, Lead section
Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process.
View the Source Grid Compass, Wikipedia
Includes: Laptop Computer, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Laptop Computer, Lead section
The Grid Compass is a family of laptop computers introduced in 1982 by the Grid Systems Corporation.
View the Source Ivan Sutherland's head-mounted 3D display (Wikipedia)
Includes: Virtual Reality Headset, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Virtual Reality Headset, Lead section
Ivan Sutherland's head-mounted 3D display, also called The Sword of Damocles, is the first augmented reality (or virtual reality) display system made.
View the Source Reynold Johnson (Lemelson-MIT)
Includes: Reynold B. Johnson, ProfileQuote, Includes: Reynold B. Johnson, Profile
In late 1955, Johnson and his team presented the first-ever functioning hard drive to IBM management.
View the Source Raymond Kurzweil (National Inventors Hall of Fame)
Includes: Raymond Kurzweil, Inductee pageQuote, Includes: Raymond Kurzweil, Inductee page
Ray Kurzweil invented the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first device to transform print into computer-spoken words, enabling blind and visually impaired people to read printed materials.
View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Was the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1939-1942) the first electronic digital computer, given that it was neither programmable nor Turing-complete?
Wikipedia's Atanasoff-Berry Computer article states the ABC "was the first automatic electronic digital computer...The ABC's priority is debated among historians of computer technology, because it was neither programmable, nor Turing-complete." A 1973 US federal court ruling (Honeywell v. Sperry Rand) held the ENIAC patent invalid because ENIAC derived key ideas from the ABC, but that legal ruling settled a patent case, not the historians' definitional debate over what should count as the "first" electronic digital computer.
What would resolve this A settled, family-wide definitional standard for what counts as a "computer" (mere electronic arithmetic vs. programmability vs. Turing-completeness) applied consistently across every early-computing priority claim, which does not yet exist in the historical literature.
Wikipedia contributors, Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Wikipedia)
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.