The antique roadshow of computing

What do the following all have in common? – census taking – weaving (cloth) – multiplication – daughter of a famous 19th century poet

________________: – 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.

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…

Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator in – 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 – 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.

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: 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.

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.

Ada Lovelace: – – 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.

Herman Hollerith – – 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 – This company becomes IBM in 1924

__________: not mechanical __________: not analog ______________: programs and data are essentially the same.

Differential Analyzer – Completed in ENIAC: – Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer – Completed – fills a room – Uses 19,000 vacuum tubes and 1,000 relays

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 12

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14 Slot for CPU Slots for cards Slot for RAM

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 – CPUs appear more powerful than this since these tasks are done very quickly 15

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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 19

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.