Anyone alive in the latter part of the 20th century is familiar with computers and the concept of doing work via these silicon-chip-driven modern wonders. A typical handheld computing device today has more computing power than a 1960s computer that took up an entire room. In today's world, computing size equals speed: the smaller the faster. With computing speed nearly doubling every 18 months, today's computing power is more than 100 million times that of a computer in 1970.What does the future hold for computers and their ever-growing power? In Scientific American's UNDERSTANDING SUPERCOMPUTING, you'll discover what constitutes a "super-computer," how the super-computers of today function, how you can make your own computer into a super machine (it's a matter of networking), and what tomorrow holds in store for computer usage in terms of hardware, software, and everyday applications.