CS 185C: The History of Computing August 29 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State University Fall 2011 Instructor: Ron Mak

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 2 CS for Graduate Students  This course will be cross-listed with CS Counts as an options course  Use this course to prepare for your masters thesis project. Research the historical context for your thesis. Hook up with a famous industry advisor. Convince the advisor to stay on as your thesis advisor.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 3 Projects  Each team works throughout the semester on a project related to computing history. Project depends on students’ interest (with instructor consent).  Select and connect with suitable advisors.  Research primary (original) sources. Interview the original designers and developers. Read books, articles, and websites written by the original designers and developers. Research historic artifacts in the archives of the Computer History Museum. etc.  Reference secondary sources. Books, articles, websites, etc.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 4 Some Project Ideas  Restore a historic hardware or software artifact.  Create a software simulation of a legendary computer architecture.  Study the evolution of a specific hardware or software technology, including key decision points, controversies, politics, etc.  Chronicle the early history and legacy of a pioneering computing company or organization such as Control Data Corporation, Burroughs Corporation, Wang Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corporation, Zilog, Xerox PARC, and others.  Investigate past programming languages and demonstrate their influences on today's languages and programming paradigms.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 5 More Project Ideas  Trace the advancement of business or scientific data processing applications over the decades as application requirements and computing technologies evolved.  Study the impact of computing on society from the punched-card culture to the Web and social networking.  Collect, analyze, categorize, and index original software, documentation, and other artifacts related to a particular technology.  Interview industry pioneers and videotape and record their oral histories. ... etc.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 6 Evolution of a Specific Technology  Number representation in a computer Fixed size vs. variable length (as in IBM 1401) Floating-point numbers and arithmetic  formats  operations in software vs. hardware  rounding errors  Evolution of computer memory Mechanical relays  semiconductor  Evolution of secondary storage systems Punched cards  flash memory

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 7 Computer Memory: Mercury Delay Line (1940s) UNIVAC I: bit words

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 8 Computer Memory: Williams Tube (1940s) First random-access computer storage device. Each tube stored 512 – 1024 bits.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 9 Computer Memory: Magnetic Core (1950s)

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 10 Software Simulation  Develop a software simulation of a historic computer system. Emulate the instruction set Graphical display of the front panel Run programs compiled for the original system on your simulation  The Computer History Simulation Project  Demo: ROPE/1401 simulation of the IBM 1401 Autocoder cross-assembler written in FORTRAN 90 SIMH 1401 simulator written in C GUI wrapper written in Java

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 11 IBM 1401 Workshop  Small team of two students spend the semester learning everything about the IBM 1401 Architecture How to operate How to program Work with the 1401 restoration project at the Computer History Museum  At the end of the semester, teach a hands-on workshop for local high school students. With handouts

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 12 The History of Zilog  Zilog had a significant role in the history of Silicon Valley and the history of the semiconductor industry. First corporation specializing in microprocessors The Z80 chip helped launch the personal computer revolution However, the history of Zilog is not well known.  Project: Document the history of Zilog. Advisors: Bernard Peuto, former engineering director at Zilog, and Christophe Lécuyer, professional historian and author of books on the history of the high-tech industry. Gather archival materials from Zilog and its competitors.  technical and marketing documents, business records, etc. Conduct oral histories of former Zilog engineers and managers. Supported by the Computer History Museum.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 13 Publish on the IEEE Website  Each project team posts to the IEEE Global History Network website. Each student will get an account  Edit only your project’s wiki  Read everybody else’s wiki Post drafts, blogs, final reports, etc. Get early exposure to experts worldwide  Receive comments, criticisms, advice, research guidance  You will be able to link to your project report. Add to your list of published works. The IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is a well-known and highly respected professional organization with over 400,000 members worldwide in over 160 countries.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 14 Getting an IEEE GHN Account  If you already have an IEEE account, you can just click on the “Sign In” button. Student memberships fees are discounted. Join the IEEE and access all of its benefits.  To create a guest account: Click on the “Create an IEEE Web Account” link Click on the “Create an IEEE Account” button me your IEEE user name  I will enable it for the Global History Network  An account is needed to create and edit pages.  All content can be read and viewed without first logging in.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 15 Create a New Topic Article  First look at the existing articles to see what’s already out there.  Click the “Submit a Topic Article” link For help, click the “Help Contents” link Identify at the top of your article: “I’m a student in the History of Computing class at San Jose State University ( ). This is a work in progress that will turn into a final article by the end of the semester. I welcome your comments and advice!”  Otherwise, other IEEE members may try to edit it. your topic title to  Each article has a “Discussion” button that others can use to start discussion threads about your article. You can reply to the comments.  You can also use your account to post a blog of your research in progress.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 16 Topic Gaps in Computing  Alan Turing  Computer Virus Infects PCs  ASCII  Herman Hollerith  UNIVAC  UNIX  Sun Microsystems  FORTRAN  CMOS  C  John von Neumann  ARPANET  Leon O. Chua  Shmuel Winograd  Charles H. Bennett  Ralph E. Gomory  Jamie Fenton  Henrietta Swan Leavitt  Betty Holberton  Adele Katz Goldstine  Frances Spence  Marlyn Meltzer  Lempel-Ziv Compression Algorithm  Ruth Teitelbaum  HTTP  Ethernet  Distributed Networks  Mary Allen Wilkes  Mary Shaw  Computer Language Compiler  ACE Computer  Packet Switching

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 17 Project Ideas  Send project descriptions to by Friday, September

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 18 TAKE ROLL!

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 19 Next Guest Speaker: Gordon Bell  Famous computer architect and manager. “Father of the minicomputer”  Early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VP of Engineering,  Co-author of the textbook, Computer Structures  Co-founder of the Computer History Museum Other co-founder was his wife Gwen Bell  He has also agreed to be a project advisor for students of this class.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 20 Gordon Bell, cont’d  Talk is Wednesday, August 31 6:00 – 7:00 PM Auditorium ENGR 189 Davidson Engineering Building  Come early for the reception outside the auditorium starting at 5:00

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 21 Gordon Bell, cont’d

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 22 Gordon Bell, cont’d At the console of the PDP-6, circa 1964 Gordon Bell today

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 23 Computer Structures  Classic classic textbook on computer architecture 1971 (first edition) and 1982 (second edition)  Introduced the PMS and ISP notations to describe the structure and behavior of computer systems PMS notation did not become very popular  Description languages such as VHDL more commonly used today ISP is the forerunner of today’s register transfer languages for simulation, verification, and design generally

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 24 PMS Notation  PMS: processor-memory-switch Describes the structure of a computer system at the information flow level. L = link S = switch D = data T = transducer K = control P = processor M = memory

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 25 ISP Notation  ISP: Instruction Set Processor Describes a computer system at the programming (logic) level It is possible to create a simulator for a computer system by interpreting its ISP description.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 26 Computer Structures, cont’d  Gordon Bell and his co-author Dan Siewiorek are starting to work on a third edition.  They are open to having top computer architecture students work with them on small writing and research projects. “Tracing the evolution using PMS structures for chips level to full system level to understand where performance or reliability is coming from.” “In a few cases, e.g. iPhone the notion of PMS structures of both hardware and software systems … this is a pioneering project as neither of us have done it before … we just share the belief that is will work.”

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 27 Bell’s Law of Computer Classes  Please look over his article (link on class website)  A computer class is a set of computers in a particular price range defined by: Programming environment (Windows, Linux, etc.) Network User interface  Bell’s Law describes how computer classes are born, evolve, and die

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 28 Minicomputers  Class of computer systems between the large expensive mainframe systems and the small inexpensive personal computer systems. Cheap enough to be purchased by individual departments, such as a school or a scientific laboratory.  Popular during the 1960s and 1970s. Major manufacturers were Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Data General, and Hewlett-Packard. Mostly 16- and 32-bit machines, up to 1 MB memory.  Overtaken by the microcomputers during the 1980s.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 29 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)  Major minicomputer manufacturer, CEO during most of that period was its cofounder Ken Olsen ( )  Computer systems PDP-1, PDP-6, PDP-8, PDP-10, PDP-11 VAX

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 30 DEC, cont’d PDP-1 (1960) at the Computer History Museum with Steve Russell, programmer of Spacewar! the very first video game, as an MIT student. 18-bit word, 4-64 K words of memory PDP-8 (1965) 12-bit word 4-32 K words of memory

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: August 29 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 31 DEC, cont’d PDP-11 (1970s-1990s) 16-bit word up to 56 KB of memory Early development of UNIX and C Introduced October 25, bit word, virtual memory