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What is a computer ? ...
Definition of computer
We can play this game of definitions with the amazing instrument called a ´ computer ´. ... The one important quality that puts the modern computer in a class by itself is its automatic operation. Since a computer is able to operate by itself, it can perform a long sequence of related operations with the original information without the need for a human operator to transfer partial results, give additional instructions, and collect the answers. In an automatic computer all instructions necessary to solve a complicated problem or a sequence of problems are originally written out as a ´ program ´ and translated into machine language for the continuing guidance and control of the computer. The ´ operational definition ´ we have arrived at inductively, therefore, should read:
A computer automatically performs logical (mathematical) operations on input information and puts out answers, according to a predetermined ´ program ´ of instructions.
History of Computing
The earliest computing device undoubtedly consisted of the five fingers of each hand, and this is still the preferred device of every child who learns to count. Since there are ten discrete fingers (digits) available for counting, both digital computation and the decimal system have enjoyed a huge popularity throughout history. ... When the diversity of these races were confronted with this leap into the future, a flowering of ingenuity - a sort of minor renaissance - resulted, which swept the pebble computer to a high plateau of development. ... In 1946 a contest between a Japanese abacist (Kiyoshu Matzukai) and an electronic computer was held for 2 days resulting in an unmistakable victory of the abacist. ...
From ´ Napiers Bones ´ to the Slide Rules
After reaching this first milestone, the development of computer devices seems to have stagnated for the next two thousand years, there having been, apparently, few scientific and business calculating needs during the Middle Ages that required more then ten fingers or the abacus. ... Napier played a key role in the history of computing. ... This slide rule based on Napiers logarithms was to become the first analog computer (of the modern ages) since multiplication and subtraction were figured out by physical distance. ... Some people know him as the "Father of Computing" as a result of his contributions to the basic design of the computer. ... But nowadays every person studying the history of the computer knows many things about him such as punch cards, chains and subassemblies. Ultimately the logical structure of the modern computer come from him. ... The first electronic analogue computer, the differential analyzer, was developed by him. ...
On September 11 of 1940, Stibitz made the worlds first example of remote job, a technique that would revolutionize dissemination of information through telephone and computer networks. ...
In 1964 he joined the Dartmouth faculty and worked further on the development of computer systems. ...
Rebuilding 1930s computer
not as easy as A-B-C
The A B C
Gary Sleege and John Erickson have collected nearly 500 vacuum tubes and ordered yards of cotton-rubber insulated wire, both relics of a time past. ...
Sleege, Erickson and six other engineers are part of a team that is building a full-scale replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). The ABC, the worlds first electronic digital computer, was built on campus by professor John Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The reconstruction, a tribute to the computer pioneers, requires the usual engineering skills, but also a considerable talent for scavenging. ... The system acted as sort of scratch paper for the computer as it worked its way through an equation. ... Later, the computer would find out where these holes were and read the data. ... Turing
Alan Mathison Turing was one of the great pioneers of the computer field. ... "
Turing helped pioneer the concept of the digital computer. ... A working model by the end of the year demonstrated the validity of their concepts and won them a grant of $850 to build a full-scale computer. ... The result was the Atanasoff Berry Computer, the worlds first electronic digital computer.
Approximate Word count = 5181
Approximate Pages = 20.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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