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What is a Computer?

Computer: A collection of electronic switches that can


perform mathematical and logical calculations.
It can be programmed to solve problems by loading
instructions which the computer can execute.
Computer components circuits, chasses, peripherals
are called hardware.
Computer programming instructions are called software.
Most computers have common hardware components:
CPU (central processor) performs calculations
Data and instruction memory (called RAM or DRAM)
Permanent storage memory (hard drive or CD-ROM)
Input/control devices (keyboard, mouse, CD/DVD)
Information output devices (LCD display, printer, CD/DVD)
History of the Computer
Although mathematical computation devices go back
into the middle ages (e.g., the abacus), modern
electronic computers have a relatively short history.
This history is one of the most remarkable stories of
technological innovation in the history of mankind,
made possible by the invention of the transistor in the
1940s.
What follows is a brief history of the electronic
computer since its invention only a few decades ago
(although we start with a few antecedents of the
electronic digital computer).

11 Lecture #1: Introduction, History of Computing, Binary Numbers N. B. Dodge 09/09


History of the Electronic Computer
In the beginning, there were only a very few computers, and
they were VERY, VERY LARGE.
First mechanical (cams and levers), early 1900s-1940s.
Then large, HOT vacuum tubes (a picture later), 1940s-1950s.
Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and
perhaps only weigh 1 tons.Popular Mechanics (1949).
In the intervening years, things have changed
the cost of computing has fallen 10 million-fold since the
microprocessor was invented in 1971. Thats the equivalent of getting
a Boeing 747 for the price of a pizza. If this innovation had been
applied to automotive technology, a new car would cost about $2; it
would travel at the speed of sound; and it would go 600 miles on a
thimble of gas.Bob Herbold, COO of Microsoft, in letter to Ralph
Nader (11/13/97)
The Need for Computers Drove Development

Scientific Needs:
Accurate math tables,
complex scientific
calculations
Business automation: Artillery Calculator
Payroll, accounting
Government needs:
Census tabulation, employee
records, tax files (!)
Military requirements:
Artillery tables, decryption,
nuclear weapon design
Eniwetok Atoll, 1952
The First Computers
Scientists begin to design calculating
machines in the 1800s.
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
designed the first complex
mechanical computer in 1834.
He and colleagues attempted to build
a steam-powered model with 20,000
funding from the British government.
The machine was never finished (due
to limitations of mid-19th century
technology), but a copy built in the
1990s actually worked!
It was the work of mathematician
George Boole, later in the 19th Reproduction of the Babbage Difference
century, that would lead the way for Engine built in the early 1990s.
modern computing.
Two Other Early Mechanical Computers

Just prior to and during WW


Enigma
II, Germany invented
Cipher
Enigma, a mechanical
Machine
cryptographic device that
enabled supposedly
undecipherable messages
during wartime.
Also prior to WW II, the
mechanical punched-card
sorter was invented, enabling
the automatic sorting of large
amounts of data.
Hollerith Card Sorter
The First Electrical Computers

Computer
Relay

One of the first computers powered by electricity was the Harvard


Mark II, which used direct-current electrical relays to do all its
calculations.
Such a relay is shown above.
The First Computer Bug
The term computer bug was
born when a small moth flew into
one of the Mark II cabinets and
stuck a relay open.
Searching for why the computer Grace Hopper and the First Computer Bug
had ceased operation, a young
female computer scientist, Grace
Hopper, discovered the Bug.
The page shown is reputed to be in
the Smithsonian Museum.
Grace Hopper was a career Naval
Officer and retired as an Admiral
(she also invented COBOL).
The First Electronic Computers
After the advent of electrical computers using relay switches,
designers began to incorporate vacuum tubes, which were becoming
readily available due to their use in radios.
An early computer was ENIAC, a monster that weighed 30 tons and
was designed to calculate artillery ballistics tables.
John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, who designed it (with help
from many others) are generally accorded the title of designers of
the first computer.
History has pretty well ignored womens contribution to the
development of this first computer (and computing in general).
In fact, a group of women were the first programmers on the
ENIAC. In those days (circa 1943-44), programming was a really
hard task, since there was NO software (and no manuals!).
These talented young women take their place beside Grace Hopper
as some of our most important computer pioneers.
The First Programmers
Programming the ENIAC
meant physically configuring
the computer processing
elements to do the calculating
task.
This involved not software,
but switches, plug panels, and
a thorough knowledge of the
hardware.
Shown at right is one of these
first programmers.
Women were major players
in computing technology from
the start. Courtesy IEEE Spectrum
Vacuum Tube Computer Elements
To the right is a typical
vacuum tube computer
circuit.
This circuit (about as big and
complicated as the entire
electronic assembly of a
modern PC) was only one tiny
part of a vacuum tube
computer.
As noted earlier, vacuum tube
computers typically weighed
many tons. Courtesy University of Virginia Computer Department
Second-Generation Electronic Computers

The second generation of


digital computers were
developed in the early 1960s
using transistors, invented in
the late 1940s and now
beginning to be available
commercially.
One such computer was the
Burroughs B5000 series, Both figures courtesy
of University of
developed about 40 years ago. Virginia Computer
An early transistor circuit is Department
shown as well.
Early Integrated Circuit Computers

The third generation of electronic computers were the first built with
integrated circuits, solid-state circuits with multiple transistors
(and other circuit elements) on the same chip of silicon.
The computer shown above is the Control Data Corporation Model
7600, one of the first computers built with integrated circuits and also
one of the first scientific super computers (cost: > $5 million!).
Fourth-Generation Electronic Computers

The next generation of electronic


computers featured VLSI
integrated circuits (circuits with
many transistors per chip).
Computer processors still
consisted of many custom VLSI
modules on multiple printed
circuit boards.
Computers of this era included:
General-purpose computers such
as the IBM 3xxx, 43xx series.
The first minicomputers, such as The Cray X-MP. Cray computers were the premier
the Digital Equipment VAX supercomputers in the 1980s. Cray Computer was
8400, PDP 11, the Data General founded by Seymour Cray, a former Control Data
Nova, and the Honeywell 516. employee, who quit CDC and started his own
Supercomputers such as the company because he thought that CDC was moving
Cray-2, Cray X-MP. too slowly in bringing out new models.
Computer Memory
Early memories were exotic: Magnetic
drums, columns of liquid mercury (!).
In the 1950s, magnetic core memory
became the standard for working data
memory. Data was stored by magnetizing
tiny donuts of magnetic material.
Computer Core Memory.
Electronic memory (or DRAM) brought
about the era of cheap computer memory
in the 1970s.
Magnetic disks remain a primary method
of bulk data storage due to their very low
(and constantly decreasing) cost.
Intel 1K DRAM
Computers on a Chip Generation 5

Starting in the mid-late 1970s, computer processors on a


chip and large electronic memories became available.
This led to the first affordable personal computers
(Altair, Apple I, Osborne I, and the IBM PC).
Single-chip processors included the Intel 4004, 8008,
8086, 80286 and 80386 and the Motorola 6800 and 68000.
Later single-chip computers included the Sun SPARC
(made by TI), the Digital Equipment Alpha, the Motorola
PowerPC and 88000 (as well as the 68010-68040) and the
Intel Pentium, Pentium II, III, and IV.
One of the Chips That Started It All
Intel 4004 (introduced November
1971).
Clock speed: 108 KHz (yes, thats
right, 108,000 Hz).
~2300 transistors (!).
10 feature size (1 = 106 m).
Used initially in some of the first
small, portable calculators that
were produced.
Also used to provide imbedded
intelligence in some early
computer-controlled devices.
Notice 16 output wires/pads.
State of the Art
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
Quad-Core Processor (4 processors
on one chip), 95 Watt power rating.
Features: 3 GHz clock, 12M L2
Cache, 1333MHz FSB.*
Currently built with the 45
nanometer process (45 nanometers
= 0.045 microns, less than 0.5% of
the minimum feature size of the
Intel 4004!).
Intel has announced move to 32
nanometer process in 2010.
* As of June, 2009
Generation 6 Embedded Processors
Today, computers are not only an invaluable tool for
almost everyone (e.g., the personal computer), they are
also embedded in just about any device and appliance
that one can imagine:
Every mobile telephone has a computer in it.
Many appliances have embedded computers (washers, dryers,
televisions, cable boxes, computer printers, DVD players/
recorders, microwave [and regular] ovens, etc).
We are even beginning to see smart clothing apparel that
has embedded computing as a part of the material.
Smart Clothing
An example of embedded processing is
the Adidas 1.
The shoe, introduced in 2005, features
active cushioning in which a processor
in each shoe constantly measures sole
compression as the user runs.
Between steps, the computer drives a
motor, which shortens or lengthens a
cable attached to a cushioning element.
The cushion is compressed or relaxed by
the cable, making it softer or firmer
depending on the need of the runner.
Cost: $250 (June, 2009).
Binary Numbers The Computer Number System

Number systems are simply ways to


count things. Ours is the base-10 or
radix-10 system.
Note that there is no symbol for 10
or for the base of any system. We
count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and then put a
People use the base-10 system
0 in the first column and add a new because we have 10 fingers!
left column, starting at 1 again. Then
we count 1-9 in the first column again. 1 3 5 7 8 9 6
Each column in our system stands for 6 105 104 103 102 101 100
0
a power of 10 starting at 10 .
10
1,357,896 = 1 x one million + 3 x one hundred thousand +
Example:
5 x ten thousand + 7 x one thousand + 8 x one hundred +
9 x ten + 6 x one.
Positional Notation A History
Heritage of western culture: The (difficult) M?
Roman representation of numbers:
MCMXCVI = 1996, but MM = 2000!
(M = 1000, C = 100, X = 10, V = 5, I = 1)
VII = 7 (5+1+1), but XC = 90 (100 10),
and (worst yet!) XLVII = 47 (50 I?
10+5+1+1).
Want more? X C = M, L/V=X. Ouch!
A better idea -- positional notation: Examples of positional notation:
Each digit in a column represents a
multiplier of the power of the base (10) 199610 = 1 x 103 + 9 x 102 + 9 x 101
represented by that column. + 6 x 100
The first column on the right is the zeroth
power of 10. Succeeding columns to the 2000 = 2x103
left represent higher powers of 10.
The Computer Number System
All computers use the binary system :
Binary number system: Base = 2.
Thus there are 2 numbers: 0 and 1.
A single binary number is called a
Binary digIT, or bit.
Computers perform operations on
binary number groups called words.
Computer numbers are 1 and 0!
Today, most computers use 32-, 64-, or
128-bit words: A simple electronic switch can represent
Words are subdivided into 8-bit both computer numbers
groups called bytes.
One-half a byte is sometimes
referred to as a nibble (a term not =1 =0
often used anymore).
Binary Numeric Representation
A 32-bit binary number: 1101 0010 0101 0011 0101 1111 0001 1001
We will see ways to make this number more comprehensible below.
We mentioned that in decimal notation:
199610 = 1 x 103 + 9 x 102 + 9 x 101 + 6 x 100, and
2002 = 2 x 103 + 0 x 102 + 0 x 101 + 2 x 100.
Consider the binary number 25510 = 111111112:
25510 = 1 x 27 + 1 x 26 + 1 x 25 + 1 x 24 + 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20
= 28 1.
In the decimal system, each position from the right represents a
larger power of ten, starting with 100.
Likewise, in the binary number system, which is also positional,
each position represents a larger power of two, starting with 20.
Reading Binary Numbers
In general, we read binary numbers like we read
decimal numbers; that is, we note the position of each
bit, and if it is a 1, we assign that number the value of
the power of 2 represented by that column (0s clearly
add no value).
This is true whether the binary number is on either side
of the binary point. That is:
21 24
21 212 2 2 20 23
20 20 2 22
21 22
1 23 23
21
2 4
22 2

111.1 101.011 11101.1011


Binary Number Examples
11 = 1 x 20 + 1 x 21 = 310
101 = 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 4 + 1 = 510.
1001 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 20 = 8 + 1 = 910.
1100 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 = 8 + 4 = 1210.
11101 = 1 x 24 + 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 1 x 20 = 16 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 2910.
0.1 = 1 X 21 = = 0.510
0.111 = 1 X 21 + 1 X 22 + 1 X 23 = 0.5 + 0.25 + 0.125 = 0.87510
0.10001 = 1 X 21 + 1 X 25 = 0.5 + 0.03125 = 0.5312510
1101.01 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 1 x 20 + 1 x 22 = 8 + 4 + 1 + 0.25 = 13.2510
11.001 = 1 x 21 + 1 x 20 + 1 X 23 = 2 + 1 + 0.125 = 3.125 1 X 210
10.0011 = 1 x 21 + 1 X 23 + 1 X 24 = 2 + 0.125 + 0.0625 = 2.187510
Exercise #1
Convert the binary numbers to decimal:
1001001 --

0.011 --

10111.101 --

1111.11 --
Homework
Write down the two or three most important things you
learned today. Put this in a list format that you can add
to as the semester continues.
Write down two or three things you did not clearly
understand. After finishing the assigned reading, if you
still have questions, see me during office hours.
Patterson and Hennessy, 1.
Read Pervin, chapter 0.
Read Tokheim, chapters 1-2.
Start work on homework #1.

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