History And Generation Of Computers Flashcards
Fingers or Pebbles
In the beginning, when the task was simply counting or adding
Abacus
People in Asia Minor built this
allowed users to do calculations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack
Napier’s Bones
manual calculating device using strips of ivory or other types of material that are divided into sections.
for quickly finding quotients and products of numbers.
Napier’s Bones Components
marked with numbers or digits and are used primarily for multiplication and division.
Napier’s Bones Origins
In Lattice Multiplication
Inventor of Napier’s Bones
John Napier
Napier’s Bones Publication Date
1617
Slide Rule
A device consisting of graduated scales capable of relative movement, by means of which simple calculations may be carried out mechanically.
Slide Rule Components
contain scales for multiplying, dividing, and extracting square roots, and some also contain scales for calculating trigonometric functions and logarithms.
Gunter’s Scale (the gunter)
Earliest known logarithmic rule
Aided in nautical calculations
Gunter’s Scale inventor
Edmun Gunter (1581-1626), English Mathematician
William Outred
English Mathematician
Designed first adjustable logarithmic rule (circular)
Designed first linear slide rule
Robert Bissaker
English instrument-maker
Invented the familiar inner sliding rule in 1654
Pascaline
Also called Arithmetic machine, the first calculator or adding machine to be produced in any quantity and actually used.
Could only do addition and subtraction, with numbers being entered by manipulating its dials.
First business machine too (if one does not count the abacus)
Pascaline inventor
1642, French Mathematician, Blaise Pascal
invented the machine for his father, a tax collector
Stepped Reckoner
expanded on the French mathematician- philosopher Blaise Pascal’s ideas and did multiplication by repeated addition and shifting.
Stepped Reckoner inventor
designed (1671) and built (1673) by the German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.
Difference Engine
an early calculating machine, verging on being the first computer
A digital device
Difference Engine Components
operated on discrete digits rather than smooth quantities, and the digits were decimal (0–9), represented by positions on toothed wheels
rather than the binary digits (“bits”) that the German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz had favoured (but did not use) in his Step Reckoner.
Difference Engine inventor
designed and partially built during the 1820s and ’30s by Charles Babbage, an English Mathematician
Jacquard Loom also called
Jacquard attachment/mechanism
Jacquard Loom components
in weaving, device incorporated in special looms to control individual warp yarns. It enabled looms to produce fabrics having intricate woven patterns such as tapestry, brocade, and damask, and it has also been adapted to the production of patterned knitted fabrics.
improved on the punched-card technology of Jacques de Vaucanson’s loom (1745).
Jacquard System inventor
developed in 1804–05 by Joseph-Marie Jacquard of France
Jacquard System
improved on the punched-card technology of Jacques de Vaucanson’s loom (1745).