History of Computing

1
History of Computing

• Definition of Computing
• Computing is the study of systematic processes
  that describe and transform information their
  theory, analysis, design, efficiency,
  implementation, and application. The fundamental
  question underlying all computing is, What can
  and cannot be automated? (adapted from Denning
  et. al., Computing as a Discipline,
  Communications of the ACM, January, 1989).

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History of Computing

• What is Process?
• How we do things
• How we specify what we do
• How we specify what kinds of things were
  processing

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History of Computing

• What is an Algorithm?
• Precise description of a process
• Specifies exactly what is to be done in what
  order
• Uses terms that can be completely defined and
  understood
• Similar to a recipe
• Word algorithm is derived from name of Persian
  textbook author al-Khowârizmî (approx. A.D. 825)
• Word originally referred to process of using
  arithmetic computations using Arabic numerals

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History of Computing

• A goal of computing
• If we
• Develop a computing machine
• Specify a precise algorithm, represent the data
  used, and devise a way to translate all of this
  into a language (encoding) that our computing
  machine can understand
• Then,
• Our computing machine can accurately,
  consistently, and more quickly carry out our
  computation for us

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History of Computing

• Prehistoric People Groups
• Used fingers for counting, and length of hands
  and arms for measurements
• Kept track of larger numbers, such as number of
  animals in herds, using small pebbles

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History of Computing

• People of Egypt, China and ancient Babylonia
• By 3000 B.C., had developed written symbols to
  represent numbers
• Computational methods developed to save labor and
  solve practical eng., ag., bus., and gov.
  problems (applied math)
• Applications included measuring time, drawing
  straight lines, counting money, and computing
  taxes
• Developed tables for multiplication, square and
  cube roots, exponents, formulas for quadratic
  equations
• Babylonians and Egyptians not systematic
  reasoners trial-and-error methods not always
  precise

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History of Computing

• Practical examples of geometry in ancient Egypt
• Land surveying and navigation
• Egypt was the bread basket of the world
• Annual Nile River flooding fertilized plains but
  made it difficult to mark property
• Geometry used to survey fields and reestablish
  property boundaries
• Navigation required for food distribution
• Building of pyramids required extensive
  measurements

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History of Computing

• Greece
• Between 600 and 300 B.C., inherited mathematical
  knowledge from Egypt and Babylon
• Were the first to separate study of mathematics
  from application to practical problems
• Developed foundation of formal logic stated
  formal axioms, precise definitions, and patterns
  of valid reasoning
• Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, and
  others developed extensive knowledge of geometry,
  trigonometry, algebra, astronomy and physics

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History of Computing

• Aristotles modus ponen example
• If a student is a CS major, then the student
  takes CS 1401.
• You are a CS major.
• Therefore, you take CS 1401.
• Notice that the reasoning is valid, but this does
  not assure that the statements in the argument
  are true

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History of Computing

• Rome
• Applied mathematics to practical tasks in
  business, civil engineering, and military work
• Had little interest in study of pure mathematics

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History of Computing

• Middle Ages
• No new mathematical advances in Europe for
  hundreds of years after fall of Rome in 476 A.D.
• Arabs preserved mathematical knowledge developed
  by Greeks and Romans and expanded algebraic
  concepts
• Concept of zero and decimal number system
  developed in India and used by Arabs
• After 1100, growing commerce in Europe required
  an easier numbering system for merchants than
  Roman numerals
• Europeans started using decimal number system
  and studying Arabic mathematical texts
• During late Middle Ages, European mathematicians
  such as Fibonacci contributed to algebra and
  geometry

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• From 1400s to 1600s exploration of new lands
  required improved mathematics to support
  navigation, development of capitalism, and trade
• Invention of mechanical printing press allowed
  rapid spread of new math texts

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• What was an important contribution of Francois
  Viète (1540-1603) ?

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• What was an important contribution of Francois
  Viète (1540-1603) ?
• Francois Viète introduced the use of letters to
  stand for unknown numbers in formulas and
  equations (use of variables, important in
  computer science)
• Example
• c2 a2 b2

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• What was an important contribution of John
  Napier (1550-1617) ?

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• What was an important contribution of John
  Napier (1550-1617) ?
• Scottish mathematician John Napier invented
  logarithms that took advantage of fact that
  addition is easier than multiplication
  log (a b) log a log b
• Logarithms are inverse of power function
  log2 8 3
  because 23 8

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Do you know what a slide rule is?

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History of Computing

• Heres Robby the Robot holding a giant-sized
  slide rule

                                                  
                                                  
                                                  
                                                  
         
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History of Computing

• But the actual size was hand-held, with a middle
  sliding rule

                                                  
                                                  
                                                  
                                                  
         
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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Facts about the slide rule
• Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) invented forerunner of
  slide rule in 1620. Slide rule invented around
  1630.
• Slide rule is ruler-like device marked with
  logarithmic scales used to perform mathematical
  calculations.
• Slide rule used extensively for mathematical
  calculations by students, engineers, scientists,
  military, and others until largely replaced by
  hand-held calculators, starting with HP models in
  1970s

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Galileo (1564-1642) worked on mathematical
  applications in physical sciences
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) developed analytic
  geometry
• Who designed and built what is believed to be the
  first digital calculator?

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Who designed and built what is believed to be the
  first digital calculator? Wilhelm Schickard,
  in 1623
• Automated addition and subtraction partially
  automated multiplication and division
• Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) developed version of
  mechanical calculator called Arithmometer about
  20 years later just added and subtracted
• Modern computer programming language named after
  Pascal

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Who was a co-inventor of calculus along with Sir
  Isaac Newton?

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History of Computing

• Renaissance
• Who was a co-inventor of calculus along with Sir
  Isaac Newton? Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
  (1646-1716)
• What did he state about machines assisting with
  the work of calculation?
• Invented the Leibniz wheel based upon Pascals
  work, which performed arithmetic automatically
• Investigated binary arithmetic and proposed
  machine testing of hypotheses

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History of Computing

• 1700 and 1800s
• Who was Charles Babbage (1791-1871) ?

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History of Computing

• 1700s and 1800s
• Who was Charles Babbage (1791-1871) ?
• A founding member of the British Royal
  Astronomical Society
• In 1800s Englands sea power required accurate
  computations for calculating cannon shots from
  moving ships
• Babbage developed concept for steam-powered
  Difference Engine in 1821 to produce math
  tables
• Developed concept for Analytical Engine,
  designed to be general device for any kind of
  calculation and symbol manipulation
• Similar in concept to modern computers,
  Analytical Engine designed to use punch
  cards unfortunately, working model never
  completed

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History of Computing

• 1700s and 1800s
• Where did Babbage get the idea of using punch
  cards? From Joseph-Marie Jacquard of France
• Many inventions during Industrial Revolution led
  to automation of tasks formerly done by hand
• Jacquard invented automatic loom in 1804,
  improving on earlier punch card concept
• Holes in card controlled which doors opened or
  closed for thread patterning
• Similar cards with holes punched to represent
  data developed for use by modern computers

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History of Computing

• Jacquard Loom

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History of Computing

• Computer punch card

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History of Computing

• 1700s and 1800s
• Why did the U.S. DOD name the new programming
  language it developed in 1979 Ada ?

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History of Computing

• 1700s and 1800s
• Why did the U.S. DOD name the new programming
  language it developed in 1979 Ada ?
• In honor of Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace , the first
  computer programmer
• Daughter of the famous English poet Lord Byron,
  and trained in mathematics and science
• Became colleague of Babbage after hearing about
  his ideas for Analytic Engine at a dinner party
• Predicted in 1843 many uses for engine and
  developed first programs for it

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History of Computing

• What was George Booles (1815-1864) important
  contribution to the field of computer science?

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History of Computing

• What was George Booles (1815-1864) important
  contribution to the field of computer science?
• Answer Boolean expressions
• A largely self-educated Englishman, Boole worked
  on identifying fundamental operations, variables,
  and symbolic representations of both
• Introduced and studied expressions that had only
  two values 1 for true
• 0 for false

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History of Computing

• Booles ideas became foundation for logic study
• Concepts are basis for arithmetic-logic circuitry
  design in digital computers

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History of Computing

• Late 1800s and 1900s - Herman Hollerith
• Considered father of modern automatic computation
• Worked on 1880 U.S. census and saw need for
  mechanization of recording and tabulating process
  as immigration increased
• Won design competition for 1890 census by
  inventing equipment to tabulate and sort punched
  cards similar to ones used on Jacquard loom
• Founded company Computing-Tabulating-Recording
  Company (CTR) that later changed name to IBM in
  1924

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History of Computing

• Late 1800s and 1900s - Herman Hollerith
  (contd.)
• In Holleriths own words (An Electric Tabulating
  System, 1889)
• Few, who have not come directly in contact
  with a census office, can form any adequate idea
  of the labor involved in the compilation of a
  census of 50,000,000 persons, as was the case in
  the last census, or of over 62,000,000, as will
  be the case in the census to be taken in June,
  1890 Although our population is constantly
  increasing, and although at each census more
  complicated combinations and greater detail are
  required in the various compilations, still, up
  to the present time, substantially the original
  method of compilation has been -239- employed
  that of making tally-marks in small squares and
  then adding and counting such tally-marks. While
  engaged in work upon the tenth census, the
  writer's attention was called to the methods
  employed in the tabulation of population
  statistics and the enormous expense involved.
  These methods were at the time described as
  "barbarous Some machine ought to be devised for
  the purpose of facilitating such tabulations.

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History of Computing

• 1900s Question Is it possible to state one
  consistent system of logical/mathematical axioms
  from which all mathematics can be derived?
• Or..
• Are there mathematical problems that are
  inherently unsolvable? (Is there a limit to how
  far the systematic reasoning methods first
  developed by the ancient Greeks can take us) ?

CS 1401 Source Andrew Bernat
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History of Computing

• 1900s Question Is it possible to state one
  consistent system of logical/mathematical axioms
  from which all mathematics can be derived?
• Answer Mathematician David Hilbert (1862-1943)
  thought so. He proposed the existence of such a
  system for which all mathematics could be derived
• Are there mathematical problems that are
  inherently unsolvable? (Is there a limit to how
  far the systematic reasoning methods first
  developed by the ancient Greeks can take us) ?
• Answer Kurt Godel (1906-1978) proved in 1931
  that a sufficiently general formal system either
  must be inconsistent or must contain statements
  that cant be proved or disproved.

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History of Computing

• Mathematics were revolutionized
• Mathematicians and logicians worked to define
  exactly what it means when they say they have a
  method to solve a problem.
• One very influential answer came from Alan
  Turing. (1912-1954)
• What is Alan Turing famous for?

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History of Computing

• What is Alan Turing famous for?
• Answer Turing machine
• Turing defined an effective computation as a
  specific kind of abstract machine
• Became a major development in field of computing
• Greatest impact was on design of digital computer

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History of Computing

• Late 1800s-1900s New Applications Drive
  Advances in Computing Design
• Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852-1936), President
  of Academy of Sciences in Madrid , proposed
  chess-playing electromechanical version of
  Babbages machines
• New scientific uses developed for Holleriths
  punched-card tabulating machine , such as
  calculating position of moon
• Astronomer Wallace J. Eckert (1902-1971)
  recognized need for more scientific capability
  proposed several extensions to IBM tabulating
  machine

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History of Computing

• 1900s - Four new computing capacities identified
  by Howard T. Aiken (1900-1973). Ability to
• Handle positive and negative numbers
• Apply various mathematical formulas
• Operate fully automatically
• Perform long calculations in sequence

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• Mark I is not a missile. What is it?

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• Mark I is not a missile. What is it?
• Answer A computing machine designed and built in
  1944 by Aiken and his engineers in collaboration
  with IBM engineers.
• Instructions written on paper tape
• Could multiply 2 numbers in 6 seconds !
• Similar machine built by Bell Labs

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• How was a graduate student instrumental in
  linking the theory of computation and the design
  of computing machines?

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• How was a graduate student instrumental in
  linking the theory of computation and the design
  of computing machines?
• Answer Claude E. Shannon, in masters thesis at
  MIT, showed how Boolean algebra could be used to
  analyze complex switching circuits
• Pioneered systematic approach to design of
  switching circuits

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• The first fully electronic digital computer was
  named ABC. Why?

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• The first fully electronic digital computer was
  named ABC. Why?
• Answer Atanasoff Berry Computer
• Built in 1940 by John V. Atanasoff (1903- ),
  prof. at Iowa State University and grad. Student
  Clifford E. Berry
• Used vacuum tubes and binary arithmetic
• Influenced design of ENIAC

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History of Computing

• 1900s -
• First modern computers developed in 1940s
• Government and military requirements drove many
  early advances in computing
• Accurate artillery tables needed for WWII,
  1939-1945
• Automatic computations needed for atomic bomb
  development
• Increasingly larger and more powerful computing
  machines were developed

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History of Computing

• 1900s What is ENIAC ?
• Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer,
  worlds first electronic digital computer,
  developed by Army Ordnance to compute WWII
  ballistic firing tables
• Completed in 1945, served as prototype for
  development of most other modern computers
• Weighed over 30 tons, and stored a maximum of
  twenty 10-digit decimal numbers
• Included logic circuitry design now standard in
  computers

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History of Computing

• 1900s ENIAC

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History of Computing

• 1954 - IBM's Naval Ordinance Research Calculator,
  the first supercomputer

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History of Computing

• 1954 Tubes in IBM's NORC

CS 1401
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History of Computing

• 1900s Who was John von Neumann (1903-1957) and
  what are characteristics of a von Neumann
  machine?

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History of Computing

• 1900s Who was John von Neumann (1903-1957) and
  what are characteristics of a von Neumann
  machine?
• Famous Princeton University mathematician
  interested in both logic design and applied math
• Investigated complex problems in fluid flow
  requiring intensive calculations
• Developed characteristics of modern computers,
  which became known as von Neumann machine
• Began working with ENIAC project in 1944
• Took responsibility for logic design of new
  machine (EDVAC) planned to correct some of
  ENIACs shortcomings created detailed
  instruction set

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History of Computing

• 1900s - Some of von Neumanns Contributions
  (von Neumann machine)
• Notation for describing logic aspects of
  computer circuitry
• Concept of stored program (program and data can
  be stored in memory first program sorted and
  merged numbers in list)
• Concept of serial operation, one step at a time,
  simplifying circuitry (now going in direction of
  parallel processing)
• Use of binary arithmetic rather than decimal

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History of Computing

• 1900s and Beyond Hardware Generations
• Can you describe five generations?

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History of Computing

• 1900s and Beyond Software Generations
• Early machines machine language
• Ex 10100101
• Early 1950s assembly languages (symbolic )
• Late 1950s and early 1960s high-level
  languages.Ex
• FORTRAN (formula translator), John Backus,1954
• COBOL (common business-oriented language), Grace
  Murray Harper and others, 1960
• Pascal (Nicklaus Wirth, 1970)

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History of Computing

• 1900s and Beyond Software Generations
• Move from procedural languages to object-oriented
  languages
• C ? C
• C developed at Bell Labs starting in 1979
  (named in 1983), C with Classes
• Java (James Gosling and others at Sun
  Microsystems) developed early 1990s, released
  1995 platform independence lent itself to
  Internet use