Unit 1 - A Brief History of Computers

Neagu Iulia Unit 1 – A Brief History of Computers

Unit 1A Brief History of Computers

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The development of the modern day computer was the result of advances in technologies and man’s need to quantify. Papyrus helped early man record language and numbers. The abacus, a wooden rack holding two horizontal wires with beads strung on them, was one of the first counting machines.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “computer” as any programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data. The basic idea of computing develops in the 1200 when a Moslem cleric proposes solving problems with a series of written procedures. As early as 1640 mechanical calculators are manufactured for sale. Records exist of earlier machines but Blaise Pascal invents the first commercial calculator, a hand powered adding machine. It added numbers entered with dials and was made to help his father, a tax collector.

In 1801 a Frenchman, Joseph – Marie Jacquard, builds a loom that weaves by reading punched holes stored on small sheets of hardwood. These plates are then inserted into the loom which reads the pattern and creates the weave. Powered by water, this “machine” came 140 years before the development of the modern computer.

Shortly after the first mass-produced calculator (1820), Charles Babbage begins his lifelong quest for a programmable machine based on the principles of punched cards, storing data in a memory and a sequence of instructions clearly set out in a programme. This machine will be released in 1830. By 1842, Ada Lovelace, his assistant, uses Babbage’s analytical engine to mechanically translate a short written work. She is generally regarded as the first programmer.

In 1925, unaware of the work of Charles Babbage, Vannevar Bush of MIT builds a machine he calls the differential analyzer, which is in fact the first analog computer. Using a set of gears and shafts, much like Babbage, the machine can handle simple calculus problems but accuracy is a problem.

In 1945, Von Neumann performed an abstract study of computation that showed that a computer should have a very simple, fixed physical structure, and yet be able to execute any kind of computation by means of a proper programmed control without the need for any change in the unit itself.

J. Eckert and J. Mauchly heralded the computer era in 1946 by building the first digital computer using parts called vacuum tubes. They named their invention ENIAC but these types of machines were too bulky and unreliable to be used in any but largest firms.

In 1947 and 1956 two further technological breakthroughs materialized the tendency towards miniaturization: the transistor, invented in Bell laboratories, and the integrated circuit, invented by Jack Kilby. The secret of the new technology was to etch transistors and other components onto a thin silicon wafer, called a chip, in order to create an integrated circuit.

In 1956 FORTRAN is introduced. Two additional languages, LISP and COBOL are added in 1957 and 1958. Other early languages include ALGOL and BASIC. Although never widely used, ALGOL is the basis for many of today’s languages.

Over the last decades computers have undergone more transformations: MOS technology has been supplanted by C-MOS and RISC and laptops and powerful computers no larger or thicker than an A4 notepad have become commonplace. Despite these transformations, however, the same basic pattern emerges: data is inputted using an input device, usually a keyboard, a mouse, a pen or a scanner. This information is then stored in the computer’s memory until the user needs to retrieve it. Once the retrieval of

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data is complete, the relevant information is either displayed on a screen (soft copy) or can be printed out by a printer (hard copy).

Progress in the area of software has not matched the great advances in hardware. Software has become the major cost of many systems because programming productivity has not increased very quickly. New programming techniques, such as object-oriented programming, have been developed to help relieve this problem. Despite difficulties with software, however, the cost per calculation of computers is rapidly lessening, and their convenience and efficiency are expected to increase in the early future. The computer field continues to experience huge growth. Computer networking, computer mail, and electronic publishing are just a few of the applications that have grown in recent years. Advances in technologies continue to produce cheaper and more powerful computers offering the promise that in the near future, computers or terminals will reside in most, if not all homes, offices, and schools.

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INFO

FORTRAN – one of the first high-level programming languages, initially invented to allow a concise wording of numerical problems; other high-level programming languages: BASIC, COBOL, PASCAL, C, C++, JAVA; low-level programming languages: the assembly language (the assembler) and machine language (machine code)

LISP – programming language invented by John McCarthy in 1960 in order to process character rows and lists

COBOL – programming language created in 1958 for financial administration program writing; it allowed large file processing, alphanumeric information handling, report editing

ALGOL – scientific programming language created in 1958 that obeyed three exigencies: to be as close as possible to regular mathematical notations; to be legible enough to become an algorithm communication language; to be compilable

BASIC - programming language whose purpose was to provide scientific learning programming tools by means of an interactive environment

MOS, C-MOS – technology commonly used to manufacture integrated circuits RISC – elementary processor architecture whose purpose was to obtain

performances by using a regular set of instructions which allowed instruction pipeline processing.

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I.

a) Give synonyms for the following words from the text:

Brief; machine (l. 4); dial (l.10); quest (l. 17); to handle (l. 24); computation (l. 28); to

herald (l. 30); bulky (l. 32); to undergo (l. 42); however (l. 45); to relieve (l. 53); growth

(l. 57)

b) What do the following abbreviations stand for?

MIT; ENIAC; FORTRAN; LISP; COBOL; ALGOL; BASIC; MOS; C-MOS; RISC

II. Match the following words (1 – 10) with their appropriate definitions

(A – J):

1. Bulky A. a computer that can be carried easily

2. Silicon chip B. an essential component of a microprocessor

3. Transistor C. to recover or regain lost information or data

4. Reliable D. condition or quality of being true, correct or exact

5. Scanner E. taking up a lot of space

6. Laptop F. a thin, small disk

7. To etch G. you can count on it

8. To retrieve H. the type of technology that made miniaturisation possible

9. Wafer I. an automatic electronic means of inputting data

10. Accuracy J. to engrave as to form a design

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III. The following names are related to the history of computers. Read the

above text once again and decide who’s who using the list below. Two

names are not in the text:

1. Charles Babbage; 2. Blaise Pascal; 3. Bill Gates; 4. Vannevar Bush; 5. Grace

Hopper; 6. Ada Lovelace; 7. Von Neumann; 8. J. Eckert and J. Mauchly

A. The inventor of the first analog computer

B. Allegedly the first programmer

C. The inventor of the analytical engine and alleged father of computers

D. The one who developed the idea of keeping instructions for the computer inside the

computer’s memory

E. Mathematician, inventor of a hand powered adding machine

F. Creator of the first spreadsheet program and former Microsoft CEO

G. Inventors of the ENIAC, the first digital mainframe

H. The US army colonel who helped develop COBOL

IV.

a) Fill in the table with the appropriate dates and inventions:

DATE PERSON AND/OR INVENTION

……………….. Babbage’s calculating machine

1946 ………………..

1947 The invention of the ……………….. in

……………….. Laboratories

……………….. J. Kilby invented the ……………….

………………..

1956 ………………..

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b) Answer the following questions:

1. What three modern principles were fundamental to Babbage’s theoretical machine?

2. Who wrote the first ever “programme”?

3. What was the general tendency after ENIAC?

V. Fill in the blanks with the words in the list:

binary, built, calculation, can, could, development, first, mechanically, most, moving, on,

other, perforated, punched, world’s.

Automatic (1) ……… has a long history. The (2) ……… calculators were (3)

……… in the early 17th century. The German mathematician Gottfried Leibnitz

speculated (4) ……… the possibility of building a calculator using (5) ……… balls to

represent numbers in (6) ……… code. Self-playing musical instruments and (7) ………

automata incorporated the notion of storing a sequence of instructions (8) ……… .In

1725 Basile Bouchon invented a method of producing woven patterns on a draw loom

from instructions on a (9) ……… paper tape. Jacquard later refined this method into a

highly successful automatic loom controlled by (10) ……… cards. (11) ……… of the

elements of a truly general-purpose computer (12) ……… be found in the analytical

engine conceived by Babbage in 1835. In 1941 Konrad Zuse in Germany built the (13)

……… first working stored-program computer. In the USA, the mathematician Howard

Aiken, in association with IBM (International Business Machines), worked independently

on a large electromechanical calculator that (14) ……… be programmed using paper

tape. Computers later based on the electronic thermionic valve were a major (15) ……….

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VI. Fill in the gaps:

In the early fifties, computers were so 1) ………… and 2) ………… that only very few

big companies could 3) ………… them. They used 4) ………… ………… and were the

first generation of computers. In 1947, the use of 5) ………… instead of 6) …………

………… gave birth to the second generation of computers which were able to 7)

………… calculations ten times 8) ………… than their 9) …………. Second – 10)

………… computers were less 11) …………, 12) ………… and more 13) …………

than first – generation computers. With the 13) ………… of 14) ………… circuits in the

mid-sixties computers became even 15) ………… and even more 16) …………. Yet

they could not sit on a desk and were still expensive. In the seventies, 17) …………

………… microminiaturization, thousands of integrated 18) ………… could be 19)

………… on a chip, a tiny piece of silicon a few millimetres in 20) ………….

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GRAMMAR SPOTLIGHTThe Articles in English

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

Uses:

Before the representative of a classe.g.: The PC was a milestone in the development of computers.

When it has already been mentioned or it is knowne.g.: Yesterday I saw a film on my DVD player. The film was very interesting. Shut down the computer if you don’t need it anymore.

Before nouns that are considered to be uniquee.g.: the Earth, the sun, the Web, the Internet

Before nouns that are used in their most general sensee.g.: The computer is a machine.

Before names of countries that contain smaller entities or are plural in forme.g.: the U.K., the U.S., the Netherlands

Before names of rivers, oceans, seas, mountains or islandse.g.: the Thames, the Pacific, the Black Sea, the Isle of Man

Before names of nationalities: the English, the French Before names of publications: the Guardian, the Times Before names of points of the compass: the North Before nouns preceded by prepositions: in the file, by the way, in the end

THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

Uses:

Before a countable noune.g.: A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

Before nouns used as the representative of a classe.g.: Michael is a computer programmer.

Before names of origine.g.: Bill Gates, the creator of the first spreadsheet program, former Microsoft CEO and currently the richest man on the planet, is an American.

Religione.g.: He is a Catholic.

Politicse.g.: He is a Republican.

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THE ZERO ARTICLE

Uses:

Before abstract nouns: death, life, love, freedom, hate etc.e.g.: Most people fear death.

Before names with a general meaninge.g.: Computers are widely used nowadays. The GPS system my father bought me for my birthday is cutting-edge technology.

before names of languagese.g.: Mike speaks English very well.

Before names of days, months, seasons, holidayse.g.: On Monday, George starts work as a computer programmer for a famous computer firm.

Before names of subjects (in school)e.g.: Computer science is a set of very efficient tools with which the common user can organize, process, present and transmit all kind of information.

Before names of means of transport: by air, by boat, by bus, by car, by plane, by sea, by ship

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EXERCISES

I. Translate into English:

Magistrala; placa audio; unitatea centrală de procesare; cartuşul; cifra; o eroare; o grilă;

jetonul; majuscula; mufa; un nucleu; panglica (de imprimantă); versiunea; un portal; un

releu; stiva; stratul; o sucursală; un şir; telecomanda.

II. Fill in the blanks with a/an/the/zero article and motivate your choice:

1. Where are you going ………… next week?

We are staying at ………… home, because we have to study hard to pass …………

exams.

2. ………… computer shop is closed today. It is ………… Sunday.

3. ………… sound card you bought is less reliable than ………… one I have at

………… home.

4. She is ………… teacher and works in one of those schools near ………… your house.

5. Numerical methods is one of ………… hardest subjects in computer science faculty.

6. She’s visiting ………… United States next month.

7. I can’t remember where, but my best friend is studying in ………… university in

France.

8. They have got two children: ………… boy and ………… girl. ………… girl’s seven

and ………… boy’s nine.

9. How often does he go to London?

He goes to London once ………… year.

10. How much time do you work ………… day?

I work 7 hours and ………… half every day.

11. I’ve decided to go freelance and hire myself out as ………… computer programmer.

12. Because of ………… crisis, ………… company Microsoft has been forced to lay off

several thousand employees.

13. ………… good manager is not so easy to find.

14. ………… distributors will probably boost the price of ……….. software when

……….. next version is released.

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Documents

Unit 1 - A Brief History of Computers