computer? what’s a computer? until the 1930s a “computer” was a person who did mathematical...

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


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

www.quotiki.com



We have desktop computers.

Like this system atwww.dell.com



We have laptop computersAppleDell



There are full computers that weigh little. Sony Vaio

Others are built to be essentially indestructible. Panasonic

ToughBook



And there are supercomputers.

Cray Inc. www.cray.com



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.”

http://www.laptopgiving.org



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



There are digital calculators


Computer? What’s a computer

PDA – Personal Digital Assistant

Palm TX Handheld HP iPAQ Moble Blackberry 8703e Messenger



Music Machines

Centon MP3 Player PowerUp MP3 Player Alexa MP3/MP4 Player



Music Machines -- iPods



Then there are computers in Deep Fryers Microwave Ovens Alarm Clocks Cameras Augmentative Communication Devices

(Talkers) Cash registers Gasoline pumps



And then there are cell phones? Or are these PDAs, cameras, alarm clocks, time pieces and… computers


Computers, Where did they come from?

Computer = Person Devices to assist people with their calculations

Mechanical Age 5000 BC

Still in use in Asia

1621Slide rule – William Oughtred



Mechanical Devices 1642 -- 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

1673 -- Baron Gottried Wilhelm von Leibnitz redesigned Pascal’s device so it could multiply and divide.



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.



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 electric 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.


Burroughs Adding Machines

Early Burroughs 1925 advertisement 1950 era Burroughs adding machine adding machinePhotos found on eBay



Next major step: late 1930What was happening in the world in the late 1930s?

Great Britian COLOSSUS -- 1943 Single Purpose Computer – code breaker

www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/colossus.htm


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/


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


Next major step: late 1930What was happening in the world in the late 1930s?

Telephone switches vs Vacuum Tubes Harvard/IBM – Howard Aikens Univ. of Pennsylvania- John Mauchly & 1943 Presper Eckert 1946

www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/markI/markI_intro.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC


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 Punched card or magnetic tape Assembly language or higher level language Magnetic core



Vacuum Tubes Transistors

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tubes Schindler, Kris


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



Integrated Circuits (IC) Very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI)

Schindler, Kris


computer? what’s a computer? until the 1930s a “computer” was a person who did mathematical...

Documents

computer technology

embedded computer

kershner slide

computers copyright

ipods copyright

digital calculators

e messenger copyright

panasonic toughbook