Week Four Notes

Announcements

• The Glossary assignment is due today - in class, on podium.
• Is anybody having difficulty with the assignment?
• We are doing 'self-service' roll call today. Please mark the appropriate box with an 'X'. Please tell me if your name is missing from the sheet.
• The next graded assignment coming up is a quiz - we need to discuss what to expect. Here are some sample questions from chapter one:

  
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  * All computers take in information which, in computer 
    terminology, is known as:
  
  A. processing.
  B. softcopy.
  C. input.
  D. CPU data.
  
  Answer: 
  Reference: The Information-Processing Machine 
  Difficulty: Easy
  
  
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  * The real power, flexibility, and functionality of a computer is in the:
  A. CPU.
  B. software.
  C. hardware.
  D. data.
  
  Answer: 
  Reference: The Information-Processing Machine	
  Difficulty: Moderate
  
  
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  * . ____________ developed the microprocessor.
  A. Intel
  B. IBM
  C. Microsoft
  D. Apple
  
  Answer: 
  Reference: The Microcomputer Revolution	
  Difficulty: Moderate
  
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  * A handheld computer known as a PDA stands for:
  
  A. planned digital associate.
  B. personalized digital assistance.
  C. personal digital assistant.
  D. practical digitized associate.
  
  Answer: 
  Reference: Portable Computer
  Difficulty: Challenging
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• There are sample questions at the end of each chapter. Work on those tests - test yourself. Most of my questions will be multiple choice.

Chapter One -- Computer Currents and Internet Waves

• "Computers are everywhere."
• Babbage - Difference Engine - Analyical Engine (Programmable) - First Programmer: Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace
• Early Computers:
  • 1939 - Konrad Zuse - programmable, general purpose
  • 1943 - Turing et al - Colossus - electronic, digital special-purpose code-breaker
  • 1939 - John Atanasoff - Atanassoff-Berry Computer - original purpose: differential equation solver
  • 1944 - Howard Aiken - Mark I - general purpose - electromechanical relays
  • 1945 - ENIAC - John Mauchly & J. Presper Eckert - original purpose: calculation of projectile trajectories - electronic & digital - 18,000 vacuum tubes.
  • 1951 - Univac - Mauchly & Eckert - Remington Rand - first general purpose commercial computer
• 1971 - Invention of the micro processor - a computer on a chip - paves the way for cheap computers - PC's and computers embedded in devices like cars, microwave ovens, etc.
• Gordon Moore's Law - 1965 - the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years. This prediction has proved to be quite close to the truth over the last 40 years.
• Kinds of Computers:
  • Mainframes - maybe the size of a refrigerator - costing a million dollars - machines like this can control an ATM network or an airline reservation system - timesharing allows such computers to service many users concurrently.
  • Super Computers - for work even more demanding than a mainframe can handle - weather prediction, simulation of nuclear reactor dynamics, computer animation - typically super computers are massively parallel - thousands of microprocessors.
  • Servers - powerful computers used to service clients over a network - examples include web and file service.
  • Workstations - designed for use by one person, but usually more powerful than a personal computer - for example a computer for a programmer, scientist, animator or designer.
  • PC's - personal computers - "Wintels", Macs
  • Portables - laptops
  • Handheld computers - Personal Digital Assistants - PDA's
  • Embedded computers - 90% of all computers - in watches, toys, game machines, stereo's, digital video recorders, ovens, and so on. They typically run a computer "etched" in firmware - e.g. ROM.
• Networking of computers in the 90's made them extremely important as communication devices.

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• Important applications on personal computers nowadays include word processors, spreadsheets, databases, computer graphics & digital photos, digital audio, telecommunication, artificial intelligence (e.g. speech recognition), and entertainment (e.g. DVD player). Maybe it would be good to demonstrate some of these. First ask folks which they have worked with.
• Social & Ethical Issues
  • After many on-line interactions, a large amount of personal information about you can accrue in databases. What kinds of controls over such information should you be entitled to? Options to remove, explain, or correct?
  • computer crime & protection
  • intellectual property rights - illegal copying & sale of intellectual property
  • risks of errors in software and hardware - who is responsible?
  • automation and dehumanization of work
  • computers increasing gulf between rich and poor
  • danger of dependency on complec technology

Chapter Two -- Hardware Basics

• Thomas Watson -- IBM
• Ignore directions in the book to bypass material
• Much of computer hardware is implemented with binary switching systems - explain the basic functionality of transistors.
• Binary representation of information - binary arithmetic - binary numbers - binary character codes - examples of ASCII codes on page 79.
• When we use our word processor, what is happening with the RAM, Disk Drive, and CPU?