History of Computing: From The Greeks To Autonomous Robots

Class 1 Introduction Pre-History

Wednesdays 1:15 – 2:30 PM September 10, 17, 24, October 8, 15, 22, & 29

(no class October 1)

John F. McMullen johnmac13@gmail.com

AIM, Google Talk, Skype – johnmac13; Facebook – John F. McMullen (or search on my e-mail)

Overview • Introduction – Me

• Course Material

• Computer Talk

• PowerPoints Will Be Posted On The Marist Site

• I Will Send Articles on This Material To Class Member who provide their e-mail Addresses

Resources

• “The Computer: An Illustrated History From Its Origins to the Present Day” – Mark Frauenfelder; Carleton Books, 2013; ISBN: 978-178097-184-1

• Other Sources -- with URLs – provided on these slides throughout the schedule

What Is A Computer? • For most over the last seventy years, a

“computer” was thought to be something that enabled calculation

• Not only has that definition broadened in recent years, it was not always the definition of the word.

• The women employed during WWII to work three shifts, pouring over intercepted coded German documents, attempting to make sense of them, were known as “computers”

Computation • “Computation is a general term for any type of process, algorithm

or measurement; this often includes but is not limited to digital data. This includes phenomena ranging from human thinking to calculations with a more narrow meaning. Computation is a process following a well-defined model that is understood and can be expressed in an algorithm, protocol, network topology, etc. Computation is also a major subject matter of computer science: it investigates what can or cannot be done in a computational manner” -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computation

• “computation (plural computations)The act or process of computing; calculation; reckoning.The result of computation; the amount computed.” -- http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/computation

Computing

• "In a general way, we can define computing to mean any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computers. Thus, computing includes designing and building hardware and software systems for a wide range of purposes; processing, structuring, and managing various kinds of information; doing scientific studies using computers; making computer systems behave intelligently; creating and using communications and entertainment media; finding and gathering information relevant to any particular purpose, and so on. The list is virtually endless, and the possibilities are vast.“ -- The ACM Computing Curricula 2005

Computing - 2

• “The discipline of computing is the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information: their theory, analysis, design, efficiency, implementation, and application. The fundamental question underlying all computing is ‘What can be (efficiently) automated?’“ -- 1989 ACM report on Computing as a Discipline

“A Bicycle for the Mind”

• Steve Jobs (on Nova) described a computer as “a bicycle for the mind” (as he marveled at the way a bicycle could transform a slow-moving easily tired human into a super-efficient traveler able to outrun a cheetah (the world’s fastest mammal)) -- Frauenfelder, 10

• Jobs’ definition presumes that a computer, like a bicycle, needs a user to work – but must the user be human?

The Beginnings (Really The Beginnings)

• Tallying – Numbers understood as abstract concepts (circa 30,000 BC, based on notched bones found in the country known as Czechoslovakia in 1937)

• Babylonian Counting Board – predecessor to Abacus, thought to be developed in Ur (the world’s first city in the country of Sumer (now Iraq) somewhere after 3,500 BC (the oldest counting board from 300 BC was dicover in 1899 on Salamis Island

The Beginnings (Slightly More Recent)

• Eratosthenes (c276 – 195 BC) – Developed an algorithm (a step-by-step set of instructions), “The Sieve of Eratosthenes” to generate prime numbers. Since computers can’t think (until Watson), algorithms are necessary to instruct computers to act.

• Leonardo da Vinci (1492 – 1519 AD) –was credited in 1967 as the inventor of the first mechanical calculator

The Beginnings (A Little More Recent)

• John Napier (1550 – 1617) – Discovery of “Logarithms” and then “Napier’s Bones” (or “Napier’s Rods”), a set of sticks that incorporated the logarithmic tables, allowing the multiplication of large numbers.

• William Oughtred (1574 – 1660) – invented the “slide rule” which uses logarithmic scales to perform mathematical operations.

• Wilhelm Schickard (1592 – 1635) – invented the “Calculating Clock”

Blaise Pascal

• French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, philosopher (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

• Invented the first mechanical calculator, the “Pascaline”, in 1645 and built 20 of them.

Gottfried Leibniz

• German Philosopher and Mathematician (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz

• Leibniz wheel (1673) – basis for mechanical calculators -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_wheel

• Stepped Reckoner (1694) – first calculator to perform all four arithmetic operations – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_Reckoner

Joseph Marie Jacquard

• French Inventor (7 July 1752– 7 August 1834) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Jacquard

• Jacquard loom (1801) – A mechanical loom, controlled by instructions contained on “punched cards”, the vehicle for machine instruction for over 150 years – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom

Charles Babbage

• English mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage

• “Difference Engine” 1820 – 1991 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

Ada Lovelace

• Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron, the only legitimate daughter of George Gordon, Lord Byron, English writer, known for her work on Babbage’s “Difference Engine” (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

Ada Lovelace – 2

• Called the “World’s First Computer Programmer” (although there were not electronic computers for another 120 years)

• The Programming Language “Ada” was named for her – the only other commonly used programming language named after a real person is “Pascal”, named after Blaise Pascal

The Difference Engine

• Novel About the Babbage / Ada Times –”The Difference Engine” by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine ; available at http://www.amazon.com/Difference-Engine-Spectra-special-editions/dp/055329461X

Bruce Sterling • Sterling, along with William Gibson, Rudy

Rucker, John Shirley, Lewis Shiner, and Pat Cadigan, is one of the founders of the “cyberpunk movement” in science fiction. In addition, he is one of the sub-genre's chief ideological promulgators. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling

• Two of his many books, “Islands in the Net” and “The Hacker Crackdown” are among my favorite books.

Bruce Sterling - 2

• Sterling’s 1988 novel ‘Islands In The Net” portrayed a totally connected “net” with connection through “glasses” and celleur connection – all this, before there was a World Wide Web, portable connected devices, and, certainly long before “Google Glass”

• Sterling’s 1992 non-fiction “The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Order on the Electronic Frontier” is an extremely accurate portrait of “Hacker” misbehavior and over reaction by law enforcement.

William Gibson

He is considered the one of the fathers of “cyberpunk” science fiction, he coined the term “cyberspace” his short story "Burning Chrome" (1982) and later popularized the concept in his debut novel, “Neuromancer” (1984). In envisaging cyberspace, Gibson created an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s.[3] He is also credited with predicting the rise of reality television and with establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as video games and the World Wide Web -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson

Programming

• Program – a set of instructions that cause a computer to perform a pre-defined task (example – word processing) – also called “software” to differentiate it from the equipment itself called “hardware”.

• Hardware can be touched, banged on.

• Software can not be touched, only the media that contains it – disk, USB drive, DVD, etc. can be touched

Programming - 2

• Programs are developed by “Programmers” (using tools that have been developed by other programmers)

• Some famous programmers – Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft), Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Tim Berners-Lee (developer of the World Wide Web), Marc Andreessen (developer of the first Graphics Browser, “Mosiac”)

Herman Hollerith

• American statistician and inventor (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith

• Developer of “punched card processing”, used in the 1890 Census -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card

• Founder of the “Tabulating Machine Company”, later merged to form the “Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation” (CTR) and renamed “International BusinessMachines” (IBM) in 1924 -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_Tabulating_Recording_Corporation

Vannevar Bush

• An American engineer, VP and Dean of Engineering at MIT, founder of Raytheon, developer of the concept of the Memex (March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush

• Memex – An adjustable Microfilm reader • Director of The Office of Scientific Research and

Development (OSRD) during WWII * • Author of “As We May Think” *

* More on this later

Alan Turing

• English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

• “Turing Machine” (1938) -- a theoretical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. A basis for understanding computing and algorithms -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine

Up To Here

• Illustrated History of Computing, Part 1 -- http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm

• Illustrated History of Computing, Part 2 -- http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/HistoryPt2.htm

More To Come

• Timeline of Computer History (1939 – 1994) -- http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1940