1. Computer? What’s a computer?
Until the 1930s a “computer” was a person who did mathematical calculations.
This changed at least in part due to World War II --
The US, Great Britain and Germany
all had active research into computer technology.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

2. Computer? What’s a computer?
Man vs. Machine
Albert Einstein said:
Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid:
Humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant;
Together they are powerful beyond imagination.1 -- Albert Einstein
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

3. Computer? What’s a computer?
We have desktop computers.
Like this system at
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

4. Computer? What’s a computer?
We have laptop computers
Apple
Dell
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

5. Computer? What’s a computer?
There are full computers that weigh little.
Sony Vaio
Others are built to be essentially indestructible.
Panasonic ToughBook
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

6. Computer? What’s a computer?
And there are supercomputers.
Cray Inc.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

7. Computer? What’s a computer?
The one laptop per child non-profit initiative!
“The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child.”
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

8. Computer? What’s a computer?
Much of what we own, use and do contains computers.
A computer on the “inside” of a device designed to do something else is an embedded computer.
Cars –
Antilock break systems
All wheel drive system
GPS systems
Satellite radio
Garmin 750
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

9. Computer? What’s a computer?
There are digital calculators
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

10. Computer? What’s a computer
PDA – Personal Digital Assistant
Palm TX Handheld HP iPAQ Moble Blackberry 8703e
Messenger
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

11. Computer? What’s a computer?
Music Machines
Centon MP3 Player PowerUp MP3 Player Alexa MP3/MP4
Player
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

12. Computer? What’s a computer?
Music Machines -- iPods
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

13. Computer? What’s a computer?
Then there are computers in
Deep Fryers
Microwave Ovens
Alarm Clocks
Cameras
Augmentative Communication Devices (Talkers)
Cash registers
Gasoline pumps
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

14. Computer? What’s a computer?
And then there are cell phones? Or are these PDAs, cameras, alarm clocks, time pieces and… computers
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

15. Computers, Where did they come from?
Computer = Person
Devices to assist people with their calculations
Mechanical Age
5000 BC
Still in use in Asia
1621
Slide rule – William Oughtred
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

16. Computers, Where did they come from?
Mechanical Devices
Blaise Pascal invented the first machine like adding machine (added and subtracted)
Used gears or wheels that were moved with a pointed object
Legend – he built if for his father who was a tax collector and spent lots of time and effort adding and subtracting
Baron Gottried Wilhelm von Leibnitz redesigned Pascal’s device so it could multiply and divide.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

17. Computers, Where did they come from?
Mechanical Devices
1833 – Charles Babbage an eccentric British mathematician and inventor created a mechanical machine that would perform many of the functions of modern computers
It was never built. The precision required for the gear systems was beyond the capabilities of the day.
Using more modern Engineering
techniques his son was able to
create a model an prove that it
would work.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

18. Computers, Where did they come from?
The Industrial Age – mid 1800s through early 1900s
Agrarian world  Industrialization
Farms  factories
Cloth made by hand  textile industries (mechanical loom)
Animal power  steam  internal combustion engine
Gas lights  electic lights
Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating machine
Contest to calculate the 1900 census
“Grandparent” company of IBM
1888 – William Burroughs’ created & patented a paper tape adding machine
Burroughs Corp. moved from adding machines to computers in 1961.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

19. Burroughs Adding Machines
Early Burroughs advertisement era Burroughs
adding machine adding machine
Photos found on eBay
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

20. Computers, Where did they come from?
Next major step: late 1930
What was happening in the world in the late 1930s?
Great Britian
COLOSSUS
Single Purpose Computer – code breaker
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

21. Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
Computers, Great Ideas
In 1936, mathematician Alan Turing theorized that a general purpose computer could be built.
Great Idea – He asked, what is computable? He then suggested that “a task is computable if one can specify a sequence of instructions which when followed will result in the completion of the task.” *
This was intended strictly as a mathematical idea. This concept/thought experiment is known as a Turing machine.
In 1943, Turing helped the British government develop COLOSSUS.
*plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

22. Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
Computers, Great Ideas
In 1944, scientist John Von Neumann added his talents to the ENIAC team.
Great Idea -- Developed the concept of storing a program in the computer’s memory, rather part of it’s circuitry.
This is called the stored program concept.
Each program was a numeric code using binary digits (0 or 1) (off or on).
Both the program and the data could now be stored in memory.
Kershner, Computer Literacy 3rd Ed.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

23. Computers, Where did they come from?
Next major step: late 1930
What was happening in the world in the late 1930s?
Telephone switches vs Vacuum Tubes
Harvard/IBM – Howard Aikens Univ. of Pennsylvania- John Mauchly &
Presper Eckert
www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/markI/markI_intro.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

24. History Computer Generations
Each Generation notes a major change in technology.
First Generation (1951 – 1958)
Vacuum tube technology
Punched card or magnetic tape
Machine language
Magnetic core
Second Generation (1959 – 1964)
Great Idea -- Transistor
Solid-state technology – no moving parts
Assembly language or higher level language
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

25. Computers, Where did they come from?
Vacuum Tubes Transistors 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tubes Schindler, Kris
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

26. History Computer Generations
Third Generation (1965 – early 1970s)
Great Idea -- Integrated circuits (IC) – multiple transistors on a chip
Silicon chips
Large-scale integration
Punched cards, magnetic tape, magnetic disks
Magnetic core, some semiconductor memory
Fourth Generation Computers (early 1970s – present?)
Very large-scale integration (VLSI)
Great Idea– Computer on a chip - Microprocessor chip
Magnetic disks, floppy disks, flash/memory sticks
Great Idea – High level programming language“ --user friendly” software
Semiconductor memory
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner

27. Computers, Where did they come from?
Integrated Circuits (IC) Very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI) 
Schindler, Kris
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner