Overview

In the last few decades, microprocessors have gone from being expensive and marginally useful to being the foundation of technological civilization. The importance of computers was highlighted by concerns surrounding the much anticipated "Y2K bug," the programming glitch that, if uncorrected, many feared would cause a variety of problems, ranging from data loss and communications failures to financial crises, crashed airplanes, and jammed elevators. Indeed, the microprocessor and the information revolution it sparked have become a defining characteristic of modern society. The last few decades of the twentieth century witnessed the inauguration of a new age of inexpensive, powerful computers and ready access to an incredible array of information. While it is uncertain exactly how such technology will affect the world, the microprocessor holds great promise for those who can partake of the digital revolution.

An Intel computer chip, 1982. (Jim...