a brief introduction to the history of computing - 2 anu faculty of engineering and it department of...

A Brief Introduction to theHistory of Computing - 2

ANU Faculty of Engineering and ITDepartment of Computer Science

COMP1200 Perspectives on Computing

Chris Johnson April 2003

Intro to history of computing: hardware 2

Intro to history of computing – 4.2

The early years of electronic computing

Moore’s Law

The 3 or 4 Generations of computing technology - hardware


1. early years: Big Ideas: the von Neumann architecture

The stored program computer


1. early years: Big Ideas - the stored program computer

Why is the ability tostore the program in memory significant?


1. early years: Generations of electronic computing

1. electronic valves (1943)1948(vacuum tubes)

2. individual solid-state transistors 1959

3. integrated solid-state circuits 1964

LSI, MSI, VLSI

4. VLSI & the Personal Computer 1981


1. early years: small ideas...

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”

IBM’s chairman Thomas J Watson, 1943

(133 Million PCs were sold in 2000)


1. early years: the 1st generationexample: Bendix G-151956

300 built

2,160 x 29 bit words(about 8KBytes storage)

speed: 2 kHz max

180 tube packages(valves)

300 germanium diodepackages(transistor precursor)


1. early years: 1st generation – valves (vacuum tubes)

Burroughs B205, ca. 1954

This module represents one decimal digit in theALU accumulator

University of Virginia museum


1. early years: 1st generation hardware based on vacuum tubes: like small light bulbs,

2, 3 - 5 contacts common(diode, triode,..., pentode)

slow: computer logic needs internal switching of tube states: limited to kHz speeds

expensive, so computers had only small ALU unreliable: vacuum tubes fail frequently,

randomly - like light bulbs runs hot, required a lot of power & cooling physically big showed that electronic computing was useful


1. early years: 1st generation software programs writen as numeric codes

(machine language) and in primitive assembly languages(a few words and code names: A1, M100)

system software tiny: small subroutine libraries for numeric routine (e.g.SIN, TAN) and I/O formatting (e.g. convert internal number to decimal digits)

manual operation: load next program from paper tape by physical switches at console: no “operating system”


1. early years: 2nd generation from approximately 1959 transistor a general purpose electronic

amplification device:cooler, faster, smaller, much more reliable than valves

computer systems software: came with manufacturer-supplied Operating System for batch operation,still needed an operator to load paper and magnetic tapes and paper cards – no online backing store files


1. 1st and 2nd

generation I/O: input/outputTYPICAL INPUT/OUTPUTUSED A SINGLETYPEWRITER-LIKE DEVICE

WITH MECHANICAL KEYBOARD,FAN-FOLD PAPER.PAPER TAPE, MAYBE PUNCH CARD READER AND PUNCH.ONE PERSON AT A TIME.EARLY INTERFACEDEVICES WERE THE SAME ASCOMMUNICATIONSTELETYPES, RUNNING ATSPEED OF 10-30 CHARACTERSPER SECOND.

NO GRAPHICS AT ALLONE FONT - OFTEN ONLY UPPERCASECHARACTERS.


1. 2nd generation - transistors software: by end of generation (early

1960s) each manufacturer sold compilers for machine independent, application-oriented programming languages for their machines:FORTRAN, COBOL, Algol, LISP

no easy portability of programs,magnetic tapes for fast secondary storage

no general computer networks


1. 3rd generation electronics ability to manufacture Integrated Circuit containing many

transistors on single “chip” of silicon: 1964 fewer physical components, less soldering,

cheaper, more reliable manufacturing- fit more logic on each circuit board

computers now used custom-designed integrated circuits (ICs)

allowed circuits to work faster: MHz not kHz

4 microsecond ADD (0.25 MIPS) [IBM 360/50: 1965]

0.75 microsec ADD (1.25 MIPS) [IBM 360/75: 1968]

computers more reliable, physically smaller,larger memory 360/50: 256KByte (1965) 360/75: 1 MByte (1968)


1. 3rd generation computers

IBM 360

1968

Conducting a war by computerVietnam, circa 1968 Philip Jones Griffiths


1. 3rd generation: von Neumann architecture plus virtual memory

Secondarystorageuse for

online filestorage

I/Ocontrollers

Virtualmemory

Onlinefile

storage


1. 3rd generation storage and software

add fast online secondary storage – disks -use for scratch files, database, general user files and Virtual Memory [Atlas - UK 1961]

Operating Systems - yes!High level Languages – yes yes yes!


1. Big Ideas - the stored program computer

Why is the ability tostore the program in memory significant?

(2): the 3rd generation.


2. Moore’s Law

The density of transistors on a chip(i.e. the number per unit area)

doubles every 18 months

1964: Gordon Moore (Intel) observed the fact and fitted the “law” to the figures to that date

literally “exponential growth”

is it still true 40 years later?

what does doubling every 1.5 or 2 years actually imply?


2. Moore’s Law

Number of transistors on onechip - Intel 80x86 family processors

0100000200000300000400000500000600000700000800000900000

1000000

1972 78 83 86 90

transistors

1972 2,500

1978 30,000

1983 100,000

1986 300,000

1990 1,000,000

data from Intel


2. Moore’s Lawdata from

Intel


3. 3rd & 4th generation: von Neumann architecture with virtual memory and cache

Secondarystorageuse for

online filestorage

I/Ocontrollers

Virtualmemory

Onlinefile

storage

fast cache memory


3. From 3rd to 4th generation

3rd generation dates from approx 1964mainframe computers first, then minis

minicomputers: e.g.DEC PDP/8, PDP/11, Birth of UNIX operating system 1975

microcomputers PET TRS-80 1979 Apple II, VisiCalc spreadsheet 1979 IBM PC, Microsoft DOS 1981


3. 4th generation (my numbering)

no hardware change marks the start IBM PC personal computers 1981 personal productivity tools:

spreadsheets, word processing programs (and Powerpoint)

GUI – WIMP interface Windows–Icons–Menus-Pointer invented 1975 Xerox PARChit market 1984 (Mac) 1985 (IBM PC)

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