The antique roadshow of computing History of Computing The antique roadshow of computing
Trivial Pursuit What do the following all have in common? census taking weaving (cloth) multiplication daughter of a famous 19th century poet
Definitions ________________: The act of mathematical calculation The study of the principles and use of computing systems A programmable machine designed to carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem. Computation Computer Science Computer
Is the Abacus a Computer? Archaeologists found evidence of this from the 5th century B.C. in Greece. The earliest known written documentation of the Chinese abacus dates to the 2nd century BC Example: Upper level has one bead with two positions. The bead counts for 5 Lower level has four beads. The right-most column corresponds to ones, then tens, etc… Demo abacus counting: Enter 28 and then add 11 http://www.mathematik.uni-marburg.de/~thormae/lectures/ti1/code/abacus/sanpan.html
Is the Pascaline a Computer? Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator in 1642. Used to help reorganizing the tax revenues of the French province of Haute-Normandie. It could add and subtract directly and multiply and divide by repetition. Pascal went through 50 prototypes before presenting his first machine to the public in 1645. He built around twenty more machines during the next decade, often improving on his original design. Pascaline firsts: the first calculator to be used in an office (his father's to compute taxes) the first calculator commercialized (with around twenty machines built) the first calculator to be patented (royal privilege of 1649) the first calculator to have a controlled carry mechanism which allowed for an effective propagation of multiple carries.
Is Jacquards Loom a Computer? The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom for manufacturing textiles with complex patterns. The Jacquard loom was the first machine to use punched cards to control a sequence of operations: 1805. The ability to change the pattern of the loom's weave by simply changing cards was an important precursor to the development of computer programming. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order.
The Analytic Engine Charles Babbage: 1791–1871 An English mathematician and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex designs. He never actually completed construction, but the design was sound.
The Analytic Engine Ada Lovelace: 1815-1852 A mathematician, created a program for the Analytical Engine to calculate numbers in the Bernoulli sequence. Lovelace is widely credited with being the first computer programmer Ada is a programming language named after her.
Hollerith's Census Machine Herman Hollerith 1860-1929 Invents a machine to assist in counting the U.S. Census 1890 census is completed in 3 months Hollerith creates the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. This company becomes IBM in 1924 The 1880 census took almost a decade to complete due to a large immigration. Without the machine it is estimated that the 1890 census would have required at least 2 more years. The machine electrically read and tabulated punched cards. After several name changes Hollerith’s company becomes IBM as part of a 1924 merger.
What makes a computer modern? __________: not mechanical __________: not analog ______________: programs and data are essentially the same. Electronic Digital Can be programmed
Modern Computers Differential Analyzer ENIAC: Completed in 1942. Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer Completed 1945. fills a room Uses 19,000 vacuum tubes and 1,000 relays The Differential Analyzer had 2000 vacuum tubes and weighed 100 tons. The differential analyzer was analog, not digital. Atanasoff received his PhD in Physics from UW-Mad. In 1940 Atanasoff told Mauchly about ABC and visited the US Patent Office. The Des Moines Register printed an article about ABC in 1941. ENIAC was contracted by the US Ordinance Dep’t to calculate ballistic trajectories, but wasn’t finished until after WWII ends. ENIAC weighs 30 tons, consumes 150-200 kW, uses IBM punch cards for I/O Thomas Watson was CEO of IBM when Mark I was created.It weighed 5 tons and was 8 feet tall by 50 feet long. It “sounded like a room full of ladies knitting”. Zuse (a civil engineer) - 1936 designed Z1 (in parent’s home) a binary electrical calculator w/limited programming - 1941 creates Z3 a functional program-controlled computer. In 1948 he creates the first high-level language - Plankakul - forerunner to Algol.
Computing Systems A computing system is composed of hardware: the physical components of the system software: the “instructions” that control the hardware Hardware components include: Motherboard Central processing unit (CPU) Memory (RAM / Drives) IO Devices Video Card Sound Card Network Card
Computing System Video Keyboard Mouse Sound CPU Memory Network
Hardware: Motherboard Slots for cards Slot for RAM Slot for CPU PCIs Memory CPU http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ASRock_K7VT4A_Pro_Mainboard.jpg
Hardware: CPU Central Processing Unit An electronic chip that performs instructions The “brains” of a computing system A CPU can only perform very simple tasks: Can add/subtract/multiply/divide two numbers Can compare two numbers to see if one is smaller/larger Can copy/move data from one place to another CPU’s appear more powerful than this since these tasks are done very quickly
Hardware: CPU
Hardware: CPU http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehecatzin/71173187/in/photostream#preview http://biorobots.cwru.edu/server/howto/buildcomp/mountcpu/
Hardware: CPU http://biorobots.cwru.edu/server/howto/buildcomp/mountcpu/
Hardware: Storage All information needed for computing must be “storable” The instructions that a CPU must perform The data that the CPU requires as input The data that the CPU generates as output Computer storage (or memory) is used to “remember” these things
Past and Future ICs (computer chips) are created by Robert Noyce & Jack Kilby in mid 60's Noyce founds Intel in 1970 Gordon Moore is the other Intel co-founder Moore is most widely known for a prediction he made that has been surprisingly correct. Moore's Law: computer hardware will double in complexity every 18 months. In 2000 Noyce received the Nobel prize in physics for this work. Moore made his prediction in 1965!