Lecture Notes 01 (15 January 2002)

Introduction and History

Overall Reading
Brookshear: Ch. 0
Decker/Hirshfield: Mod. 1; p. 235-237

Outline:

  • Introduction to this course
  • What is Computer Science?
  • Course Administration

  • Historical Perspective (Ch. 0.2 [Br]; Mod. 1, p. 235-237 [DH])
  • Early History
  • Modern Computers -- Electricity
  • "First Generation" - vacuum tubes (1930s,1940s)
  • "Second Generation" - transistor based (1957-1960s)
  • "Third Generation" - integrated circuits (early 1970s)
  • "Fourth Generation" - large-scale integrated circuits (1980s--today)
  • "Next Generation" ???

    • Introduction to this course (Ch. 0.1, 0.3 [Br])

  • What is Computer Science?


    [Any ideas?]


    Some basic issues of Computer Science:

  • How is information represented? (e.g. text, numbers, sound, images)
  • How is it stored in memory and organized?
  • How is it communicated?
  • How is it physically manipulated?
  • How is a process described so as to be automated?
  • What type of tasks can be easily automated?
  • Are there tasks which simply cannot be automated?
  • Are there tasks which should not be automated (even if it might be possible)?


  • Course Administration

    Today's handout about the course will be the only handout of the semester.

    All information in that handout and more is found on the course web page:
    www.cs.luc.edu/~mhg/comp150/
    That site will be updated continously through the semester.

    All students must fill out an online questionaire as soon as possible.

    • Historical Perspective (Ch. 0.2 [Br]; Mod. 1, p. 235-237 [DH])

  • Early History

  • "computer" used to mean the human who would do arithmetic

  • Abacus (origin?)
    Human still does the computing, but the data is represented by the position of the beads (by a convenient system which allows for mechanical computations)

  • Blaise Pascal (1623-1662):
    used gear positions to represent data for addition [More info]

  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716):
    gear-based but 'hardwired' for some other arithmetic operations

  • Joseph Jacquard (c. 1801):
    mechanical loom with weaving pattern based on holes in paper which had the effect of raising and lowering particular hooks [Picture]
    (i.e. programmable)

  • Music Box & Player Piano (1800's, 1900's) [History, photos, music ]

  • Herman Hollerith (1860-1929):
    census tabulation using punched cards - led to founding of IBM (originally Tabulating Machine Company)

  • Charles Babbage (1792-1871):
    gear-based computer, but envisioned it to be programmable where general instructions could be loaded based on holes in paper cards. Machine was never fully realized as he ran out of money. Technical problem was that gear-based machine had some inherent inaccuracy that might go unnoticed in watch or loom, but not in complex arithmetic calculations.

  • Modern Computers -- Electricity

    Breakthrough: Can control flow of electrons. Electrons travel faster, more accurately, and with less power/cost than gears.

  • "First Generation" - vacuum tubes (1930s,1940s)
  • Non-military (thus funding/support limited)
  • John Atansoff & Clifford Berry, Iowa State (1937-1941)
    Special purpose to solve systems of linear equations
  • Konrad Zuse and Helmut Schreyer, Germany (c. WWII)
    more general-purose, i.e. programmable
  • Military (thus funding/support plentiful)
  • Mark 1 -- Howard Aiken et al, Harvard University/IBM (1941-1944)
    electro-mechanical (controls were electronic, but involved some moving parts - relays)
  • Colossus -- Alan Turing et al, England (1943)
    special purpose to decode German messages during WWII
  • ENIAC -- John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, John Von Neumann, et al. Univ. Pennsylvania (c. 1940s)
    Designed originally for analyzing ballistic firing tables
    Key concept: Stores the program instructions in memory using the same technology as for storing the data. This basic architecture still used in all modern computers.

  • "Second Generation" - transistor based (1957-1960s)
    Breakthrough: Transistors are an electronic switch, serving similar purpose as vacuum tubes, but made with some silicon. About the size of a thumbnail. Uses much less power, generates much less heat.
  • Bell Telephone Labs (1947)
    Created first transistors.
  • With their use, computers became more affordable, received more use in industry/academia. As a result, new programming languages developed (FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC)

  • "Third Generation" - integrated circuits (early 1970s)
    Breakthrough: Rather than soldering traditional wiring/transistors, all of the 'wiring' was etched onto chips of silicon. Could mass produce these circuits, creating machines faster than ENIAC, weighing 1/2 pound versus a full room, and 1/10000 the cost.

  • "Fourth Generation" - large-scale integrated circuits (1970s--today)
    Breakthrough: Began using computers to help in designing much more intricate layout of integrated circuits. This allowed true "microprocessor" where entire computer could be placed on a single chip.
  • 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple Computers
  • 1981, IBM introudces the "Personal Computer (PC)"

  • "Next Generation" ???
  • Quantum Computing: based on spin of electrons
  • DNA Computing: info stored as sequences which can be merged/duplicated
  • ????

    • comp150 Class Page
    mhg@cs.luc.edu
    Last modified: 22 January 2002