Transcript Machines that Think? Electronic Computers

Machines that Think?
Electronic Computers
Sketch 23
Presented By:
Peter Haagenson
The Beginning
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Centuries ago the first attempts were made to attempt to
streamline calculations by using some kind of mechanical
device.
About 5000 years ago, the Oriental abacus, was the first
known calculating device.
• The Oriental abacus was a calculating device of beads
and rods.
• The abacus was used by merchants who needed ways to
keep track of what they bought and sold.
• However, the abacus was still not mechanical. The
person operating the abacus still had to do the
calculations in their head.
Napier’s Bones
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1617- John Napier used a set of logarithms along
with movable sticks numbered so that when slid
together correctly, multiplication was done
automatically!
The chart could multiply any numbers from 2-9!
The Pascaline
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Between 1642 and 1652, Blaise Pascal designed an
adding and subtracting machine called the Pascaline.
The machine works somewhat like a car’s odometer.
• Uses base-ten system
• Used dials numbered 0 through 9
• One full revolution on one dial would automatically move
the next dial to the next number.
Pascaline Demonstration
The Difference Engine
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Invented by Charles Babbage
in 1822.
• Built to generate accurate
logarithmic and astronomical
tables.
• Also used for navigation
• Became obsolete when
Joseph-Marie Jacquard
invented a loom that was
guided by cards with holes
punched in them.
The Analytical Engine
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Also designed by Babbage
Made calculations by accepting data from
punched cards.
The engine was run with the same
technology that was used to run
locomotives… steam!
Led to the writing of the first significant
computer program. The program was a
“loop” and was used for repeating steps
automatically.
Boolean Algebra
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Invented in the mid-1800s by George Boole.
• Boole thought that his findings would never have any
practical application.
Set of algebraic rules in which 0 and 1 are equated to TRUE
and FALSE.
Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT, NAND(not And),
NOR(not or), and XOR(exclusive OR).
• These can be used to manipulate TRUE and FALSE
values.
Boolean algebra has become the theoretical key to all the
“thinking” circuitry of today’s computers
Used to search databases to find results that are relevant to
the search.
1930s & 40s
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Konrad Zuse
• Invented an electromechanical binary
computer called “Z1”
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The computer read instructions from punched tape.
Words could be read from and written to by the
punch cards
John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry
• Built a programmable computer (The ABC
Computer) that solved systems of linear
equations by storing numbers in a capacity
drums and then adding or subtracting the
numbers from other numbers stored in other
drums.
The Colossus
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Designed to break the German “Enigma code”
Used around 1500 vacuum tubes.
Decoded messages in hours rather than weeks or
months.
Twice as fast as a modern Pentium PC doing the
same decoding task.
Ten were made, but all were dismantled and their
diagrams were burned after the war.
Some of their decryption algorithms are still
confidential.
The ENIAC-1946
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Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator
Built by J. Presper Eckert & John Mauchly
Used to help in WWII by calculating naval
artillery firing charts, but the war ended before it
could be used.
Dimensions
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Forty-two 9x2x1 ft. panals!
More than 18,000 vacuum tubes!
1500 electrical relays!
Weighs more than 30 tons!
•Programming had to be done by
rearranging external wiring and
throwing switches manually.
•Had virtually NO data storage
capacity
EDSAC-1949
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Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic Computer
The world’s first ever practical stored program electronic
computer.
Used mercury delay lines for memory
The input consisted of a 5-hole punched tape and the
output came through a teleprinter
Instructions available:
• Add, subtract, multiply, collate, shift left, shift right, load
multiplier register, store (and optionally clear) accumulator,
conditional skip, read input tape, print character, round
accumulator, no-op and stop.
• There was no division instruction.
Important Advances
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Early 1950s Bell Labs invented the transistor
• Device used as an amplifier
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• The transistor led to “second generation” technology
which was a large step in making technology smaller,
faster and more powerful.
Mid-1960s- circuitry was introduced
• This invention led to the availability of personal computers.
• Since this invention circuitry has become much smaller, much
more powerful, and much faster.
Fastest Growing Technology in the World!
“There has never been a technology in the
history of the world that has progressed as fast
as computer technology… If automotive
technology progressed as fast as computer
technology between 1960 and today, the car of
today would have an engine less than one tenth
of an inch across; the car would get 120,000
miles to a gallon of gas, have a top speed of
240,000 miles per hour, and would cost $4.”
-The Analytical Engine(1990)
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