A
ShortHist ory of t he Comput er
(b. c. - 1993a. d. )
by
Jeremy Meyers
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Tabl e of Cont ent s:
In The Beginning. . .
The hi st or y of comput er s st ar t s out about 2000 year s ago, at t he bi r t h of t he abacus, a wooden rack hol di ng t wo hor i zont al wi r es wi t h beads st r ung on t hem. When t hese beads ar e moved ar ound,
accor ding t o programming r ul es memor i zed by t he user , al l r egul ar ar i t hmet i c pr obl ems can be done. Anot her i mpor t ant i nvent i on ar ound t he same t i me was t he Ast r ol abe, used f or navigat ion.
Bl aise Pascal is usual l y cr edit ed f or buil ding t he f ir st digital comput er i n 1642. It added number s ent er ed wi t h di al s and was made t o hel p hi s f at her , a t ax col l ect or . In 1671, Got t f r i ed Wi l hel m von
1) In The Beginning. . . 5) The Moder n "St or ed Pr ogr am"
2) Babbage 6) Advances i n t he 1950 ’ s
3) Use of Punched Car ds by Hol l er it h 7) Advances i n t he 1960 ’ s
Leibniz i nvent ed a comput er t hat was bui l t i n 1694. It coul d add, and, af t er changi ng some t hi ngs around, mul t ipl y. Leibniz invent ed a special st epped gear mechanism f or int roducing t he addend di gi t s, and t hi s i s st i l l bei ng used.
The pr ot ot ypes made by Pascal and Leibniz wer e not used i n many pl aces, and consi der ed wei r d unt i l a l i t t l e mor e t han a cent ur y l at er , when Thomas of Col mar (A. K. A. Char l es Xavi er Thomas) cr eat ed t he f irst successf ul mechanical cal cul at or t hat coul d add, subt r act , mul t i pl y, and di vi de. A l ot of i mpr oved deskt op cal cul at or s by many i nvent or s f ol l owed, so t hat by about 1890, t he r ange of i mpr ovement s i ncl uded:
l Accumul at ion of part ial resul t s
l St or age and aut omat i c r eent r y of past r esul t s (A memor y f unct i on)
l Print ing of t he resul t s
Each of t hese r equi r ed manual i nst al l at i on. These i mpr ovement s wer e mai nl y made f or commer ci al user s, and not f or t he needs of sci ence.
Babbage
Whi l e Thomas of Col mar was devel opi ng t he deskt op cal cul at or, a ser ies of ver y int er est ing devel opment s in comput er s was st ar t ed in Cambr i dge, Engl and, by Char l es Babbage (l ef t, of whi ch t he comput er st ore "Babbages" i s named), a mat hemat i cs pr of essor . In 1812, Babbage
r eal i zed t hat many l ong cal cul at i ons, especi al l y t hose needed t o make mat hemat i cal t abl es, wer e r eal l y a ser i es of pr edi ct abl e act i ons t hat were const ant l y repeat ed. From t his he suspect ed t hat it shoul d be possi bl e t o do t hese aut omat i cal l y.
He began t o design an aut omat ic mechanical cal cul at ing machine, which he cal l ed a difference engine. By 1822, he had a wor king model t o demonst r at e wi t h. Wi t h f i nanci al hel p f r om t he Br i t i sh gover nment ,
Babbage st ar t ed f abr i cat i on of a di f f er ence engi ne i n 1823. It was i nt ended t o be st eam power ed and f ul l y aut omat ic, incl uding t he pr int ing of t he r esul t ing t abl es, and commanded by a f ixed inst r uct ion program.
The di f f er ence engi ne, al t hough havi ng l i mi t ed adapt abi l i t y and appl i cabi l i t y, was r eal l y a gr eat advance. Babbage cont i nued t o wor k on i t f or t he next 10 year s, but i n 1833 he l ost i nt er est because he t hought he had a better idea -- t he const r uct ion of what woul d now be cal l ed a gener al pur pose, f ul l y program-cont r ol l ed, aut omat i c mechani cal di gi t al comput er . Babbage cal l ed t his idea an Analyt ical Engine. The i deas of t hi s desi gn showed a l ot of f or esi ght , al t hough t hi s coul dn’ t be appreciat ed unt il a f ul l cent ury l at er.
The pl ans f or t hi s engi ne r equi r ed an i dent i cal deci mal comput er oper at i ng on number s of 50 deci mal di gi t s (or wor ds) and havi ng a st or age capaci t y (memor y) of 1, 000 such di gi t s. The bui l t -i n oper at i ons wer e supposed t o i ncl ude ever yt hi ng t hat a moder n gener al - pur pose comput er woul d need, even t he al l import ant Condit ional Cont rol Transfer Capabilit y t hat woul d al l ow commands t o be execut ed i n any or der , not j ust t he or der i n whi ch t hey wer e pr ogr ammed.
Babbage's comput er s wer e never f i ni shed. Var i ous r easons ar e used f or hi s f ai l ur e. Most used i s t he l ack of pr eci si on machi ni ng t echni ques at t he t i me. Anot her specul at i on i s t hat Babbage was wor ki ng on a sol ut i on of a pr obl em t hat f ew peopl e i n 1840 r eal l y needed t o sol ve. Af t er Babbage, t here was a t empor ar y l oss of i nt er est i n aut omat i c di gi t al comput er s.
Bet ween 1850 and 1900 gr eat advances wer e made i n mat hemat i cal physi cs, and i t came t o be known t hat most obser vabl e dynami c phenomena can be i dent i f i ed by di f f er ent i al equat i ons (which meant t hat most event s occur r i ng i n nat ur e can be measur ed or descr i bed i n one equat i on or anot her ), so t hat easy means f or t hei r cal cul at i on woul d be hel pf ul .
Moreover, f rom a pract ical view, t he avail abil it y of st eam power caused manuf act uring (boil ers), t r anspor t at ion (st eam engines and boat s), and commer ce t o pr osper and l ed t o a per iod of a l ot of engineer ing achievement s. The designing of r ail r oads, and t he making of st eamships, t ext il e mil l s, and br i dges r equi r ed different ial calculus t o det er mi ne such t hi ngs as:
l cent er of gr avi t y
l cent er of buoyancy l moment of inert ia
l st ress dist ribut ions
Even t he assessment of t he power out put of a st eam engi ne needed mat hemat i cal i nt egr at i on. A st r ong need t hus devel oped f or a machi ne t hat coul d r api dl y per f or m many r epet i t i ve cal cul at i ons.
Use of Punched Cards by Hollerit h
A st ep t owar ds aut omat ed comput i ng was t he devel opment of punched car ds, whi ch wer e f i r st successf ul l y used wi t h comput er s i n 1890 by Herman Hol l erit h
(l ef t) and James Power s, who wor ked f or t he US. Census Bureau. They devel oped devi ces t hat coul d r ead t he i nf or mat i on t hat had been punched i nt o t he car ds aut omat i cal l y, wi t hout human hel p. Because of t hi s, r eadi ng er r or s wer e r educed dr amat i cal l y, wor k f l ow i ncr eased, and, most i mpor t ant l y, st acks of punched car ds coul d be used as easi l y accessi bl e memor y of al most unl i mi t ed si ze. Fur t her mor e, di f f er ent pr obl ems coul d be st or ed on di f f er ent st acks of car ds and accessed when needed.
These advant ages wer e seen by commer ci al compani es and soon l ed t o t he devel opment of i mpr oved punch-car d usi ng comput er s cr eat ed by Int ernat ional Busi ness Machi nes (IBM), Remingt on (yes, t he same peopl e t hat make shaver s), Bur r oughs, and ot her cor por at i ons. These comput er s used el ect r omechani cal devi ces i n whi ch el ect r i cal power pr ovi ded mechani cal mot i on -- l ike t urning t he wheel s of an adding machine. Such syst ems incl uded f eat ur es t o:
l f eed in a specif ied number of cards aut omat ical l y
l add, mul t ipl y, and sort
l f eed out car ds wi t h punched r esul t s
Elect ronic Digit al Comput ers
The st ar t of Wor l d War II pr oduced a l ar ge need f or comput er capaci t y, especi al l y f or t he mi l i t ar y. New weapons wer e made f or whi ch t raj ect ory tables and ot her essent i al dat a wer e needed. In 1942, John P. Ecker t , John W. Mauchl y (l ef t ), and t hei r associ at es at t he Moore school of El ect rical Engineer ing of Univer sit y of Pennsyl vania decided t o buil d a high - speed el ect r oni c comput er t o do t he j ob. Thi s machi ne became known as ENIAC
(El ect r i cal Numer i cal Int egr at or And Cal cul at or )
The size of ENIAC’ s numer i cal "wor d" was 10 deci mal di gi t s, and i t coul d mul t i pl y t wo of t hese number s at a r at e of 300 per second, by f i ndi ng t he val ue of each pr oduct f r om a mul t i pl i cat i on t abl e st or ed i n i t s memor y.
ENIAC was t her ef or e about 1, 000 t i mes f ast er t hen t he pr evi ous gener at i on of rel ay comput ers.
ENIAC used 18, 000 vacuum t ubes, about 1, 800 squar e f eet of f l oor space, and consumed about 180, 000 wat t s of el ect r i cal power . It had punched car d I/ O, 1 mul t i pl i er , 1 di vi der / squar e r oot er , and 20 adder s usi ng deci mal r i ng counters, which ser ved as adder s and al so as qui ck-access (. 0002 seconds) r ead-wr i t e r egi st er st or age. The execut abl e i nst r uct i ons maki ng up a pr ogr am wer e embodi ed i n t he separ at e "uni t s" of ENIAC, whi ch wer e pl ugged t oget her t o f or m a "r out e" f or t he f l ow of i nf or mat i on.
These connect i ons had t o be r edone af t er each comput at i on, t oget her wi t h pr eset t i ng f unct i on t abl es and swi t ches. Thi s "wi r e your own" t echni que was i nconveni ent (f or obvi ous r easons), and wi t h onl y some l at i t ude coul d ENIAC be consider ed pr ogr ammabl e. It was, however , ef f icient in handl i ng t he par t i cul ar pr ogr ams f or whi ch i t had been designed.
ENIAC i s commonl y accept ed as t he f i r st successf ul hi gh - speed el ect r oni c di gi t al comput er (EDC) and was used f r om 1946 t o 1955. A cont r over sy devel oped i n 1971, however , over t he pat ent abil it y of ENIAC's basic digit al concept s, t he cl aim being made t hat anot her physicist , John V. At anasof f (l ef t) had al r eady used basi cal l y t he same i deas i n a si mpl er vacuum - t ube devi ce he had bui l t i n t he 1930’ s whil e at Iowa St at e College. In 1973 t he cour t s f ound i n f avor of t he company usi ng t he At anasof f cl ai m.
The Moder n St or ed Pr ogr am EDC
Fascinat ed by t he success of ENIAC, t he mat hemat ician John Von Neumann (l ef t) under t ook, i n 1945, an abst r act st udy of
kind of comput at ion by means of a proper programmed cont rol wi t hout t he need f or any change i n t he unit it sel f .
Von Neumann cont r i but ed a new awar eness of how pr act i cal , yet f ast comput er s shoul d be or gani zed and buil t . These ideas, usual l y r ef er r ed t o as t he st or ed - pr ogr am t echni que, became essent i al f or f ut ur e gener at i ons of hi gh - speed di gi t al comput er s and wer e uni ver sal l y adopt ed.
The St or ed - Pr ogr am t echni que i nvol ves many f eat ur es of comput er desi gn and f unct i on besi des t he one t hat i t i s named af t er . In combi nat i on, t hese f eat ur es make ver y - high - speed oper at ion at t ai nabl e. A gl i mpse may be pr ovi ded by consi der i ng what 1, 000 oper at i ons per second means. If each i nst r uct i on i n a j ob pr ogr am wer e used once i n consecut i ve or der , no human pr ogr ammer coul d generat e enough inst ruct ion t o keep t he comput er busy.
Ar r angement s must be made, t her ef or e, f or par t s of t he j ob pr ogr am (cal l ed subr out i nes) t o be used r epeat edl y i n a manner t hat depends on t he way t he comput at i on goes. Al so, i t woul d cl ear l y be hel pf ul i f i nst r uct i ons coul d be changed i f needed dur i ng a comput at i on t o make t hem behave dif f erent l y. Von Neumann met t hese t wo needs by maki ng a speci al t ype of machi ne i nst r uct i on, cal l ed a Condit ional cont rol t ransfer - whi ch al l owed t he pr ogr am sequence t o be st opped and st art ed again at any point - and by st or i ng al l i nst r uct i on pr ogr ams t oget her wi t h dat a i n t he same memor y uni t , so t hat , when needed, i nst r uct i ons coul d be ar i t hmet i cal l y changed i n t he same way as dat a.
As a r esul t of t hese t echni ques, comput i ng and pr ogr ammi ng became much f ast er , mor e f l exi bl e, and mor e ef f icient wit h wor k. Regul ar l y used subr out ines did not have t o be r epr ogr ammed f or each new pr ogr am, but coul d be kept i n "l i br ar i es" and r ead i nt o memor y onl y when needed. Thus, much of a gi ven pr ogr am coul d be assembl ed f r om t he subr out i ne l i br ar y.
The al l - pur pose comput er memor y became t he assembl y pl ace i n whi ch al l par t s of a l ong comput at i on wer e kept , wor ked on pi ece by pi ece, and put t oget her t o f or m t he f i nal r esul t s. The comput er cont r ol sur vi ved onl y as an "er r and r unner " f or t he over al l pr ocess. As soon as t he advant age of t hese t echni ques became cl ear , t hey became a st andar d pr act i ce.
i nf or mat i on. . These machi nes had punched - car d or punched t ape I/ O devi ces and RAM’ s of 1, 000 - wor d capaci t y and access t i mes of . 5 Gr eek MU seconds (. 5*10 -6 seconds). Some of t hem coul d per f or m mul t i pl i cat i ons i n 2 t o 4 MU seconds. Physi cal l y, t hey wer e much smal l er t han ENIAC. Some wer e about t he si ze of a gr and pi ano and used only 2, 500 el ect r on t ubes, a l ot l ess t hen r equi r ed by t he earl ier ENIAC. The f irst - gener at i on st or ed - pr ogr am comput er s needed a l ot of mai nt enance, r eached pr obabl y about 70 t o 80% r el i abi l i t y of oper at i on (ROO) and wer e used f or 8 t o 12 year s. They wer e usual l y pr ogr ammed i n ML, al t hough by t he mi d 1950’ s pr ogr ess had been made i n sever al aspect s of advanced pr ogr ammi ng. Thi s gr oup of comput er s i ncl uded EDVAC (above) and UNIVAC
(r i ght ) t he f i r st commer ci al l y avai l abl e comput er s.
Advances in t he 1950’ s
Earl y in t he 50 ’ s t wo i mpor t ant engi neer i ng di scover i es changed t he i mage of t he el ect r oni c -
comput er f i el d, f r om one of f ast but unr el i abl e har dwar e t o an i mage of r el at i vel y hi gh r el i abi l i t y and even mor e capabi l i t y. These di scover i es wer e t he magnet ic core memory and t he Transist or - Circuit Element. These t echnical discover ies quickl y f ound t heir way int o new model s of digit al comput er s. RAM capaci t i es i ncr eased f r om 8, 000 t o 64, 000 wor ds i n commer ci al l y avai l abl e machi nes by t he 1960’ s, wi t h access t i mes of 2 t o 3 MS (Mi l l i seconds). These machi nes wer e ver y expensi ve t o pur chase or even t o r ent and wer e par t i cul ar l y expensi ve t o oper at e because of t he cost of expandi ng
pr ogr ammi ng. Such comput er s wer e most l y f ound i n l ar ge comput er cent er s oper at ed by i ndust r y, gover nment , and pr i vat e l abor at or i es - st af f ed wi t h many pr ogr ammer s and suppor t per sonnel . Thi s si t uat i on l ed t o modes of oper at i on enabl i ng t he shar i ng of t he hi gh pot ent i al avai l abl e.
One such mode i s bat ch pr ocessi ng, i n whi ch pr obl ems ar e pr epar ed and t hen hel d r eady f or comput at i on on a r el at i vel y cheap st or age medi um. Magnet i c dr ums, magnet i c - disk packs, or magnet i c t apes wer e usual l y used. When t he comput er f i ni shes wi t h a pr obl em, i t "dumps" t he whol e pr obl em (pr ogr am and r esul t s) on one of t hese per i pher al st or age uni t s and st ar t s on a new pr obl em.
Anot her mode f or f ast , powerf ul machines is cal l ed t ime -sharing. In t ime -sharing, t he comput er pr ocesses many j obs i n such r api d successi on t hat each j ob r uns as i f t he ot her j obs di d not exi st , t hus keepi ng each "cust omer " sat i sf i ed. Such oper at i ng modes need el abor at e execut able programs t o at t end t o t he administ r at ion of t he var ious t asks.
Advances in t he 1960’ s
In t he 1960’ s, ef f or t s t o desi gn and devel op t he f ast est possi bl e comput er wi t h t he gr eat est capaci t y r eached a t ur ni ng poi nt wi t h t he LARC machi ne, bui l t f or t he Li ver mor e Radi at i on Labor at or i es of t he Universit y of Cal if ornia by t he Sperry - Rand Cor por at ion, and t he St r et ch comput er by IBM. The LARC had a base memor y of 98, 000 wor ds and mul t i pl i ed i n 10 Gr eek MU seconds. St r et ch was made wi t h sever al degr ees of memor y havi ng sl ower access f or t he r anks of gr eat er capaci t y, t he f ast est access t i me bei ng l ess t hen 1 Gr eek MU Second and t he t ot al capaci t y i n t he vi ci ni t y of 100, 000, 000 wor ds.
Dur i ng t hi s per i od, t he maj or comput er manuf act ur er s began t o of f er a r ange of capabi l i t i es and pr ices, as wel l as accessor ies such as:
l Consol es l Card Feeders l Page Print ers
l Gr aphi ng devi ces
These wer e wi del y used i n busi nesses f or such t hi ngs as:
l Account ing
l Payrol l
l Invent ory cont rol
l Ordering Suppl ies l Billing
CPU’ s f or t hese uses di d not have t o be ver y f ast ar i t hmet i cal l y and wer e usual l y used t o access l ar ge amount s of r ecor ds on f i l e, keepi ng t hese up t o dat e. By f ar , t he most number of comput er syst ems wer e sol d f or t he mor e si mpl e uses, such as hospi t al s (keepi ng t r ack of pat i ent r ecor ds, medi cat i ons, and t reat ment s given). They were al so used in l ibraries, such as t he Nat ional Medical Library ret rieval syst em, and in t he Chemi cal Abst r act s Syst em, wher e comput er r ecor ds on f il e now cover near l y al l known chemical compounds.
More Recent Advances
The t r end dur i ng t he 1970's was, t o some ext ent , movi ng away f r om ver y power f ul , si ngl e - pur pose comput er s and t owar d a l ar ger r ange of appl i cat i ons f or cheaper comput er syst ems. Most cont inuous-process manufacturing, such as pet rol eum ref ining and el ect rical -power dist ribut ion syst ems, now used comput er s of smal l er capabi l i t y f or cont r ol l i ng and r egul at i ng t hei r j obs.
In t he 1960’ s, t he pr obl ems i n pr ogr ammi ng appl i cat i ons wer e an obst acl e t o t he i ndependence of medium sized on -si t e comput er s, but gai ns i n appl i cat i ons pr ogr ammi ng l anguage t echnol ogi es r emoved t hese obst acl es. Appl i cat i ons l anguages wer e now avai l abl e f or cont r ol l i ng a gr eat r ange of manuf act ur i ng pr ocesses, f or usi ng machi ne t ool s wi t h comput er s, and f or many ot her t hi ngs. Mor eover , a new r evol ut i on i n comput er har dwar e was under way, i nvol vi ng shr i nki ng of comput er -l ogi c ci r cui t r y and of component s by what ar e ca-l -l ed large-scale int egrat ion (LSI) t echniques. In t he 1950s i t was r eal i zed t hat "scal i ng down" t he si ze of el ect r oni c di gi t al comput er ci r cui t s and par t s woul d i ncr ease speed and ef f i ci ency and by t hat , i mpr ove per f or mance, i f t hey coul d onl y f i nd a way t o do t his. About 1960 phot o print ing of conduct i ve ci r cui t boar ds t o el i mi nat e wi r i ng became mor e devel oped. Then i t became possi bl e t o bui l d r esi st or s and capaci t or s i nt o t he ci r cui t r y by t he same pr ocess. In t he 1970’ s, vacuum deposit ion of t ransist ors became t he nor m, and ent i r e assembl i es, wit h adders, shif t ing regist ers, and count ers, became avail abl e on t iny "chips. "
In t he 1980’ s, very large scale int egrat ion (VLSI), i n whi ch hundr eds of t housands of t r ansi st or s wer e pl aced on a si ngl e chi p, became mor e and mor e common. Many compani es, some new t o t he comput er f iel d, int roduced in t he 1970s programmabl e minicomput ers suppl ied wit h sof t war e packages. The "shr i nki ng" t r end cont i nued wi t h t he i nt r oduct i on of per sonal comput er s (PC’ s), which are
pr ogr ammabl e machi nes smal l enough and i nexpensi ve enough t o be pur chased and used by individual s.
Microprocessors equipped wit h read -onl y memor y (ROM), whi ch st or es const ant l y used, unchangi ng pr ogr ams, now per f or med an i ncr eased number of pr ocess-cont r ol , t est i ng, moni t or i ng, and di agnosi ng f unct ions, l ike aut omobil e ignit ion syst ems, aut omobil e -engine diagnosis, and product ion -l ine
inspect ion dut ies.
Cr ay Research and Cont r ol Dat a Inc. domi nat ed t he f i el d of super comput er s, or t he most power f ul comput er syst ems, t hrough t he 1970s and 1980s. In t he earl y 1980s, however, t he Japanese
gover nment announced a gi gant i c pl an t o desi gn and bui l d a new gener at i on of super comput er s. Thi s new generat ion, t he so -cal l ed "f i f t h" gener at i on, i s usi ng new t echnol ogi es i n ver y l ar ge i nt egr at i on, al ong wit h new programming l anguages, and wil l be capabl e of amazing f eat s in t he area of art if icial i nt el l i gence, such as voi ce r ecogni t i on.
Pr ogr ess i n t he ar ea of sof t war e has not mat ched t he gr eat advances i n har dwar e. Sof t war e has become t he maj or cost of many syst ems because pr ogr ammi ng pr oduct i vi t y has not i ncr eased ver y quickl y. New programming t echniques, such as obj ect -or i ent ed pr ogr ammi ng, have been devel oped t o hel p r el i eve t hi s pr obl em. Despi t e di f f i cul t i es wi t h sof t war e, however , t he cost per calculation of comput er s i s r api dl y l esseni ng, and t hei r conveni ence and ef f i ci ency ar e expect ed t o i ncr ease i n t he ear l y f ut ur e.
