04-05-2017, 09:38 AM
In computer theory and mathematics, computer theory is the branch that deals with how problems can be solved in a computational model, using an algorithm. The field is divided into three main branches: automaton and language theory, computability theory and computational complexity theory, which are linked by the question: "What are the fundamental capacities and limitations of computers ? ".
To perform a rigorous study of computing, computer scientists work with a mathematical abstraction of computers called the computer model. There are several models in use, but the most commonly examined is the Turing machine. Computer scientists study the Turing machine because it is simple to formulate, can be analyzed and used to test results, and because it represents what many consider to be the most powerful "reasonable" model of computation (see Church-Turing thesis ). It might seem that potentially infinite memory capacity is an unrealisable attribute, but any decidable problem solved by a Turing machine will always require only a finite amount of memory. Thus, in principle, any problem that can be solved (decided) by a Turing machine can be solved by a computer that has a finite amount of memory.
History
The theory of computation can be considered the creation of models of all type in the field of computer science. Therefore, mathematics and logic are used. In the last century it became an independent academic discipline and separated from mathematics.
Some pioneers of computer theory were Alonzo Church, Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing, Stephen Kleene, John von Neumann and Claude Shannon.
