"CPU" vs. CPU
To: David P*gue, NYT Technology columnist
From: ADM
Hi there,
You are one of my favorite technology writers and I recommend your books to people all the time, but I was surprised to see this error in your review of the iMac: you write the iMac makes it appear the buyer "somehow neglected to buy the C.P.U. itself (on most computers, that's the big plastic box containing disk drives and connectors)."
Now, you know as well as anyone that the CPU is the *processor* not the box!! People make this mistake all the time, and when they do, it perpetuates other people's misunderstanding of how computers work, and what their parts are properly called.
I think you could have written, "making it appear you somehow neglected to buy the rest of the computer" and it would have achieved about the same effect.
Thanks,
ADM
your article:
http://tinyurl.com/3w6du
wikipedia on "cpu":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpu
From: David P*gue
To: ADM
Actually, CPU can refer to either part these days.
From the University of Chicago Technotes Glossary for example: "CPU: Refers either to the principal microchip (such as the Pentium or PowerPC chip) or the box that houses the main components of the computer."
David P*gue
"State of the Art" columnist, The New York Times
To: Walt M*ssberg, WSJ Technology Columnist
From: ADM
Mr M*ssberg,
I enjoy your column very much.
My friend and I have a dispute and we wondered if you could help us out.
He says the term "CPU" can refer to either the central processing chip or the box that holds the motherboard, disk drives, etc. I say the phrase should only refer to the chip.
I say the box that contains everything is simply called "the computer."
We agreed to abide by your decision, if you have a second to issue one.
Who do you think is right? We have a steak riding on it.
Thanks,
ADM
NYC
From: Walt M*ssberg
To: ADM
Depends who's talking. Your view of it is more technically accurate (although an even more accurate term for the main processing chip is "microprocessor".) But, over the years, I've also heard many people use CPU to refer to the whole computer itself, as opposed to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or printer that may also make up the system.
There's no rule on this. It's a matter of usage.
Walt M*ssberg
Personal Technology Columnist
Mr M*ssberg,
Thanks for replying...
With no clear winner, I guess we'll have to take up another bet, like whether there's 1024 or 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte..... :-)
Thanks again,
ADM
I don't like dumbing things down for dumb people. The CPU is the chip. If it's the box, for what is CPU an acronym?
[Exactly! -adm]
I think most people take CPU to be an abbreviation of ComPUter, just like I did when I first saw it.
Still, I agree that this a stupid mistake, and not taking the time out to correct it just leads some poor hapless user to confusion down the line.
Another dumb/annoying one I've heard is when people call the entire box "the hard drive".
[quote]Actually, CPU can refer to either part these days.
From the University of Chicago Technotes Glossary for example: "CPU: Refers either to the principal microchip (such as the Pentium or PowerPC chip) or the box that houses the main components of the computer." [/quote]
This is just another example of where people have messed up the meaning of the acronym. THE CPU IS THE CHIP PPL!
I work at a Radioshack and I hear all kinds of things... Most notably (as Winona pointed out) is someone pointing at the tower and calling it the hard drive... Or having someone call the monitor the computer and the tower the monitor. Frustrating. But equally amusing.
CPU is an acronym for 'central processing unit'. i'd say if you use it to mean anything other than the chip that processes instructions that drive all of the other components of the system (thus making it the 'central' processing unit), you have it all wrong. just because a bunch of people call the case the CPU doesn't make it right. in fact, as a dorky computer nerd, i almost take offense to it.
so please, before you call anything other than the CPU the CPU, think of the dorky computer nerds.
and as for that RAM conversion thing... 1024 megabytes are in a gigabyte :). why? because due to the crazy rules of binary math and physics, everything in terms of storage or memory is measured in powers of 2
Young'uns!
A CPU, or Central Processing Unit, is obviously something like an IBM 4381, or if you're tight on space, perhaps a 9377. It's where the processing happens. "Unit" does not connote "chip," and since most non-laptop computers worth their salt can handle more than one processing chip in parallel, it's strange to use the word "central" to refer to a single chip that might be no more "central" than the one (or the thirty thousand) next to it.
If there's confusion, it's because of those blasted "microcomputer" manufacturers and their insistence on shoving other subsystems _into_ the central processing unit, instead of keeping them in separate cases where they should be. How on earth do you remove your drive packs? And they don't even have any 9-track reels on the sides. Hmph!
(I'm not even 35, and I've used all the technologies I just named... do people really forget so quickly?)
[Dan -- Great note. Don't forget that David P*gue and Walter M*ssberg are older than both of us! -ADM]