Transcript computerHistorym - Rose

History of computers.
Charles McAnany.
Abacus
• A simple, hand-held
calculator.
• Developed by the
Babylonians around
2400 BCE.
• Not programmable –
simply a convenient
way to store numbers.
A Chinese abacus, or suanpan.
Capable of addition, subtraction,
Multiplication, division, square root,
and cube root.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Boulier1.JPG
Programs.
• Medieval Islamic world
saw the first
programmable device –
an automatic flute. If
given notes to play, it
would open the correct
holes, so your fingers
didn’t have to.
• In 1801, the Jacquard
loom first used punched
cards to store programs.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Weaver.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi
kipedia/commons/0/09/Jacquar
d.loom.cards.jpg
Difference engine
• The first
programmable
computer was
Babbage’s
difference engine. It
took a description
of a calculation to
be performed, and
performed it.
• In this sense, it is
equivalent to a
modern computer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Babb
age_Difference_Engine.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/w
ikipedia/commons/d/d2/Charl
es_Babbage_1860.jpg
Electrification and tape
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a.org/wikipedia/en/7/7
1/Honolulu_IFSS_Telety
pe1964.faa.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4
/43/Cambridge_differential_analyser.jpg
Modern computers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eniac.jpg
• Started by
WWII, in 1943.
Finished in ‘46,
shut down in
‘55.
• Programmable,
entirely
electric.
• Turingcomplete
Von-Neumann machines
• Equivalent to a
Turing machine,
but stores the
program and data
in one memory
space. Most
modern
computers use this
style of storage.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe
dia/commons/5/51/Magnetic_core.
jpg
1955: The transistor
• A transistor is a
switch that can be
very, very small.
• In the late ‘60s, the
microchip.
1hair = 4,000 transistors
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~mcammara/hair/
Altair 8800: The first home computer.
• Spawned the BASIC
programming
language, and
Microsoft.
• Very modular.
• Only differs from
modern computers
by IO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Altair_8800_Computer.jpg
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eo925Terminal_adjusted.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cray-1-p1010221.jpg
http://www.drajayjain.com/2010/
11/hearing-aids-and-how-to-getone.html
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