Similarly, while Apple's OS X's user interface is not just easy to use but engaging, it's just a candy shell built around the kind of tried-and-true Unix software that's powered everything from phone networks to computer science labs for a generation.

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To qualify the candidates will need a good understanding of computer science concepts such as algorithms, logic, data networks and the internet, according to the Department for Education.

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He was at Edinburgh University's Computer Science Department in the 1970s, researching what was needed to run early Local Area Networks (LANs).

BBC: By Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall

Barry Cheetham, senior lecturer in The School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, is combining his academic expertise in communications, networks and digital signal processing with his love of choral singing.

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Finally, there was the creation of the Internet in the 1980s (its origins could be traced to earlier computer networks formed by the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation), and its explosive growth throughout the 1990s.

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