A B rie f In tro d u c tio n to th e H is to ry o f - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A B rie f In tro d u c tio n to th e H is to ry o f C o m p u tin g - 2 ANU Faculty of Engineering and IT Department of Computer Science COMP1200 Perspectives on Computing 2002-05 Chris Johnson

In tro to h isto ry o f co m p u tin g – 2 The early years: 1 st and 2nd generations of electronic computing Moore’s Law The 3 or 4 Generations of computing technology - hardware Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 2

1 . e a rly y e a rs : B ig Id e a s : th e v o n N e u m a n n a rc h ite c tu re late 1940s The stored program computer Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 3

1 . e a rly ye a rs: B ig Id e a s - th e sto re d p ro g ra m co m p u te r Why is the ability to store the program in memory significant? Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 4

1 . e a rly ye a rs: G e n e ra tio n s o f e le ctro n ic co m p u tin g electronic valves (1943)1948 1. (vacuum tubes) individual solid-state transistors 1959 2. integrated solid-state circuits 1964 3. LSI, MSI, VLSI 4. VLSI & the Personal Computer 1981 Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 5

1 . e a rly y e a rs : s m a ll id e a s ... “I think there is a world market for m aybe five computers” IBM’s chairman Thomas J Watson, 1943 ( 133 Million PCs were sold in 2000 ) Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 6

1 . e a rly ye a rs: th e 1 st g e n e ra tio n example: Bendix G-15 1956 300 built 2,160 x 29 bit words (about 8KBytes storage) speed: 2 kHz max 180 tube packages (valves) Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 300 germanium diode 7 packages

1 . e a rly ye a rs: 1 st g e n e ra tio n – va lve s (va cu u m tu b e s) Burroughs B205, ca. 1954 This module represents one decimal digit in the ALU accumulator University of Virginia museum Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 8

1 . e a rly ye a rs: 1 st g e n e ra tio n h a rd w a re based on vacuum tubes: like small light bulbs, 2, 3 - 5 contacts common (diode, triode,..., pentode) slow: computer logic needs internal switching of tube states: limited to kHz speeds expensive, so computers had only small ALU unreliable: vacuum tubes fail frequently, randomly - like light bulbs runs hot, required a lot of power & cooling physically big showed that electronic computing was useful Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 9

1 . e a rly ye a rs: 1 st g e n e ra tio n so ftw a re programs writen as numeric codes (machine language) and in primitive assembly languages (a few words and code names: A1, M100) system software tiny: small subroutine libraries for numeric routine (e.g.SIN, TAN) and I/O formatting (e.g. convert internal number to decimal digits) manual operation: load next program from paper tape by physical switches at console: no “operating system” Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 10

1 . e a rly y e a rs : 2 nd g e n e ra tio n from approximately 1959 transistor a general purpose electronic amplification device: cooler, faster, smaller, much more reliable than valves computer systems software: came with manufacturer-supplied Operating System for batch operation, still needed an operator to load paper and magnetic tapes and paper cards – no online backing store files Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 11

1 . 1 st a n d 2 nd TYPICAL INPUT/OUTPUT g e n e ra tio n I/O : in p u t/o u tp u t USED A SINGLE TYPEWRITER-LIKE DEVICE WITH MECHANICAL KEYBOARD, FAN-FOLD PAPER. PAPER TAPE, MAYBE PUNCH CARD READER AND PUNCH. ONE PERSON AT A TIME. EARLY INTERFACE DEVICES WERE THE SAME AS COMMUNICATIONS TELETYPES, RUNNING AT SPEED OF 10-30 CHARACTERS PER SECOND. NO GRAPHICS AT ALL. ONLY ONE FONT (like this Courier) - Usually had only UPPERCASE CHARACTERS. Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 12

1 . 2 nd g e n e ra tio n - tra n s is to rs software: by end of generation (early 1960s) each m anufacturer sold com pilers for machine independent, application-oriented programm ing languages for their machines: FORTRAN, COBOL, Algol, LISP no easy portability of programs, m agnetic tapes for fast secondary storage no general computer networks Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 13

1 . 3 rd g e n e ra tio n e le c tro n ic s ability to manufacture Integrated Circuit containing many transistors on single “chip” of silicon: 1964 fewer physical components, less soldering, cheaper, more reliable manufacturing - fit more logic on each circuit board computers now used custom-designed integrated circuits (ICs) allowed circuits to work faster: MHz not kHz 4 microsecond ADD (0.25 MIPS) [IBM 360/50: 1965] 0.75 microsec ADD (1.25 MIPS) [IBM 360/75: 1968] computers more reliable, physically smaller, larger memory Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 14 360/50: 256K Byte (1965) 360/75: 1 M Byte (1968)

1 . 3 rd g e n e ra tio n c o m p u te rs IBM 360 1968 Conducting a war by computer Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 15 Vietnam, circa 1968 Philip Jones Griffiths

1 . 3 rd g e n e ra tio n : vo n N e u m a n n a rch ite ctu re p lu s virtu a l m e m o ry I/O Secondary controllers Virtual storage memory use for online file storage Online file storage Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 16

1 . 3 rd g e n e ra tio n sto ra g e a n d so ftw a re add fast online secondary storage – disks - use for scratch files, database, general user files and Virtual Mem ory [Atlas - UK 1961] Operating Systems - yes! High level Languages – yes yes yes! hundreds of langauges were created. Intro to history of computing (2) hardware 17