Transcript History - pantherFILE

Why build a computer?
 Computers
were developed to mechanize
mathematical computations.
 Two definitions:
computer is “a programmable electronic device that
can store, retrieve, and process data.”
-
A
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2000
computer is “one who computes; a reckoner; a
calculator.”
- Webster’s Dictionary, 1828
A
Computer History
 Mechanical
devices
 Electro-mechanical devices
 “Modern” Computers:
(past - 1890)
(1890 - 1942)
1st Generation - Vacuum tubes (1942 - 1959)
2nd Generation - Transistors (1959 - 1965)
3rd Generation - Integrated Circuit (1965 - 1971)
4th Generation - Microprocessor (1971 -)
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
“Pascaline”
 1642
 Base-10
adding machine
 Carried one digit to the next
 Never really used
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716)
“Leibniz calculator”
 1694
 Base-10
multiplication machine
 Worked by repeated addition
Joseph-Marie Jacquard
(1752-1834) “Jacquard’s loom”
 1801
 Weaved
patterns
described by holes
in punched cards
 1st programmable
device
Charles Babbage (1793-1871)
“Difference Engine”
 1822
 Calculated
squares and
cubes using the method of
differences
 Base-10
 Never completed
Charles Babbage (cont.)
“Analytical Engine”




1833
Primary innovation:
 The difference engine was
single-purpose
 The analytical engine was
general-purpose
Anticipated modern computers
by:
 Separating processing from
storage
 Using punched cards for
input
Was never built
Ada Augusta (1816-1852)
“the first programmer”
 A supporter
and mentor of Babbage
 Translated material on the analytical engine
 Suggested that punched cards could “instruct” the
engine to perform and repeat operations
 The Ada programming language is named for her
Herman Hollerith (1860-1929)
“tabulating machine”
 Mechanized
the 1890 US
census
 Worked by electronically
counting one card per person
 Formed a company that
eventually became IBM
John Atanasoff (1903-1995)
“Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)”
 1942
 The
first electronic
computer
 Snubbed by IBM
 Never patented
Other Early Computers
Colossus (1943 - Bletchley Park)
Used by the British to break German codes
in WWII
Mark I (1944 - Harvard and IBM)
Funded by the US Navy to compute
navigation tables
ENIAC (1946 - U Pennsylvania)
Used by the US Army to compute artillery
firing tables
Stored-Program Computers
 ENIAC
(1946 – U Pennsylvania)
18,000 vacuum tubes, hard-wired for task
 Used to compute artillery firing tables


von Neumann’s draft report (1945)


“von Neumann” architecture
EDSAC (1949 - U Cambridge)
John von Neumann
The first large-scale stored-program machine
 Did not have to be rewired for a new task

UNIVAC
 An
updated version of the ENIAC.
 Sold to the US census bureau and
delivered in 1951
 Successfully predicted the outcome of
1952 presidential election based on early
returns
IBM
 UNIVAC’s
success scared
Thomas Watson, Jr.
 IBM 700 series
 “Big Blue” held 75% of the
market by 1957 and
dominated the industry for
the next 25 years
PDP-8
 Using
transistors made computers
smaller, faster, and more reliable
 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
built the PDP series starting in 1960
 The PDP-8, 1963, was the definitive
mini-computer
IBM 360
 Using
integrated circuits made computers even
smaller, and capable of being mass produced.
 The IBM-360 series, starting in 1964, was the
definitive IC computer.
The Personal Computer
 Altair
(1975)
The Altair 8800 was the first affordable
personal computer
 256 bytes of memory

 Apple
II (1977)
 IBM PC (1981)
 Apple Macintosh (1984)
 The PC Today (20__)