{{Short description|Circuit board within a computer}} {{about|computer hardware modules|computer software and hardware modules|Module (disambiguation)}} {{Distinguish | Computer-on-module}} {{More sources needed|date=September 2022}} [[Image:Dec SYSTEM BUILDING BLOCKS 1103.jpg|thumb|DEC's original products were individual modules, like these System Building Blocks 1103 hex-inverter cards (both sides).]][[Image:CDC module block.jpg|thumb|CDC used much smaller modules in their early computers.]] A '''computer module''' is a selection of independent electronic circuits packaged onto a circuit board to provide a basic function within a computer.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=S. |last2=Siewiorek |first2=D. |last3=Swan |first3=R. |title=Proceedings of the 1975 annual conference on - ACM 75 |chapter=Computer modules - an architecture for a modular multi-microprocessor |date=1975 |chapter-url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=800181.810301 |language=en |location=Not Known |publisher=ACM Press |pages=129–133 |doi=10.1145/800181.810301|isbn=9781450374811 |s2cid=17439181 }}</ref> An example might be an inverter or flip-flop, which would require two or more transistors and a small number of additional supporting devices. Modules would be inserted into a chassis and then wired together to produce a larger logic unit, like an adder.
== History == Modules were the basic building block of most early computer designs, until they started being replaced by integrated circuits in the 1960s, which were essentially an entire module packaged onto a single computer chip. Modules with discrete components continued to be used in specialist roles into the 1970s, notably high-speed modular designs like the CDC 8600, but advances in chip design led to the disappearance of the discrete-component module in the 1970s.
==See also== *Modularity
==References== {{Commons category|Computer modules}} {{Reflist}}
Category:Modularity Category:Electronic engineering Category:Logic gates