Early Information Processing Section 1 Flashcards
Great Britain before the Industrial Revolution
Agricultural society with need for a more efficient, mechanized workforce
Adam Smith’s 1776 “The Wealth of Nations”
Describes breaking complex manufacturing tasks into simple steps
Difference Engine
Would print navigational tables, supported by the British government, Never had a fully functional prototype
Analytical Engine
General-purpose calculating machine, not supported by the British government, never manufactured due to lack of government support
Ada Lovelace
Wrote the algorithm for computing Bernoulli numbers on the Analytical Engine.
Considered the first computer programmer.
Telegram messages
Sent via electric pulses. Could be received and transmitted in a matter of hours.
Bernoulli numbers
Sequence of rational numbers that are defined by the exponential function
Entscheidungsproblem
Proposed by German mathematician David Hilbert during the 1920s.
“Does every problem have an algorithmic solution?” Proofed by Alonzo Church and Alan Turing.
Turing Machine
Proofed by Alan Turing to solve the Entscheidungsproblem during the 1930s. Has memory, programmability, and conditional branching.
Memory
Can be read from and written to
Programmability
Can run algorithms and lists of instructions
Conditional Branching
Can make decisions and run different instructions based on prior decisions
Alan Turing
Worked as a codebreaker during World War II. Made bombes. Developed the electronic computer called the “ACE.”
The U.S Census
First conducted in 1790 and is carried out every 10 years.
1890 U.S Census
Directed by Robert Porter. The slow tabulating problem was solved by Herman Hollerith.
Herman Hollerith
Solved the 1890 Census problem. Inspired by sheets of paper in an organelle. Hollerith’s machine kept track of information w/ holes, like a scantron.
Computer’s ancestors
Office automation devices that had word processing, information storage + retrieval, and financial analysis.
Typewriter
Invented by Christopher Lathan Sholes. Manufactured by Philo Remington in 1873.
Filing Cabinet
Invented by the Rand Kardex Company. Was efficient and expandable.
Adding Machine
Invented by Dorr E. Felt and William S. Burroughs. Designed for addition.
Cash Register
Invented by James Ritty and marketed by John H. Patterson. Showed purchase amount to clerks and customers.
Comptometer
Invented by Dorr E. Felt. Made around the same time that Burroughs invented a calculator. Could not print.
Thomas J. Watson Sr.
Fired from the National Cash Register Company. Founded Computing Tabulating Recording Company (now IBM)
Differential Analyzer
Invented by Vannevar Bush from 1928-1931. Could elaborate electronics to solve differential equations. Could tackle engineering problems.
Howard Aiken
Wanted to use calculating machines to solve nonlinear equations. Created the Mark I.
Harvard Mark I
Invented by Howard Aiken. Harvard rejected his funding but IBM agreed. Could add, subtract, multiply, and perform logarithms and trigonometric functions.
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
Created by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State. Invented to solve linear equations. Was abandoned in 1942.
Differential Analyzer (qualities)
Mechanical, no conditional branching
Mark I (qualities)
Mechanical, no conditional branching
Atansoff-Berry Computer (ABC) qualities
Electrical, no conditional branching
Konrad Zuse’s computers
Wanted to automate calculations for civil engineering projects.
Used binary arithmetic.
German army refused to fund Zuse’s project.
Z1 (computer)
Prototype made by Konrad Zuse. Had an arithmetic and memory unity.
