Assignment 1

Contents:

  • Overview
  • Internet Requirements
  • Practice Problems
  • Problems to be Submitted
  • Extra Credit

    • Overview

    Topic: History of Computing
    Related Reading: Ch. 1
    Due:

    Internet Requirements

    You will need an Internet connection for completing the assignment as well as submission.

    Practice Problems
  • Exercise 8 of Ch. 1 (p. 28); (Answers appear at the bottom of this page)
  • Exercise 39 of Ch. 1 (p. 30); answer in back of text
  • We have discussed layers of capacity, and improvement in implementation. What is the sequence of improvements in implementation in each of these three topics. 
         a.  Mechanical calculators
         b.  Electrical circuit technology
         c.  Computer memory
      (Answers appear at the bottom of this page)
  • Punched cards have been used in different situations. List at least three and describe them. (Answers appear at the bottom of this page)

    • Problems to be Submitted (20 points)
    1. (3 points)  Exercise 3 of Ch. 1 (p. 28)
    2. (3 points)  Exercise 20 of Ch. 1 (p. 29)
    3. (4 points) Exercise 40 of Ch. 1 (p. 30)
    4. (6 points)We have discussed the interplay between hardware, software, and applications imagined. With the technology and vision that Thomas Watson of IBM had in 1943, he thought "there is a world market for maybe 5 computers". Of course part of that suggestion was based on the price of computers at the time. Also it was based on an assessment of what needed to be calculated. What are at least three later ideas (after 1943) of what could be calculated usefully, and what came out of these ideas in terms of hardware and software?  Write a sentence or two for what came out of each idea.
    5. (4 points)
      At the end of Ch. 1 there are a series of "Thought Questions" (p. 31). Pick any one question to answer. The length of your answer should be appropriate for the question, however I envision answers in the range of 1/2-page to 1-page.
    Please note that for this course, you must always cite any source of information that you use on a submitted problem, when appropriate. If found on the web, please give a valid URL for your source. If you are giving a direct quote taken from your source, that statement should be enclosed in quotation marks.  My personal favorite of search engines is google.com.

    Overall, please type your answers to all of the problems in a single document to be submitted electronically. Please see details about the submission process.

    Extra Credit (2 points)

    The Pascaline device was not actually the earliest gear-driven calculator. It was designed in 1642 and patented in 1645. An earliest gear-driven caluclator, capable of performing addition, was created by someone else in 1623. Sadly it was destroyed in a fire and the creator died of bubonic plague years before Pascal's device was created. The original went unnoticed until design documents were discovered in 1935!.

    Who created that earlier device?  Site your references.

    If you find some other earlier device that you feel qualifies as a gear-driven calculator, feel free to discuss it (and again, cite your source of information).

    Answers to Some Sample Questions

  • G:  Turing
  • Sequence of improvements in implementation
    1. Mechanical calculators
      We only talked about better metalurgy, improved gears.
    2. Electrical circuit technology
      (1) Wires and vacuum tubes, (2) wires and transistors, (3) integrated circuits, (4) large scale integrated circuits
    3. Computer memory
      (1) Rotating drum, (2) magnetic cores, (3) transistors, (and could go on as in 2. above:  (4) integrated circuits)
  • Punched cards in different situations.
    Instructions for a Jacquard loom
    Numerical data (as for Hollerith's census data)
    Input of whole computer programs into first generation computers
    • Last modified: 26 August 2004