The history of computing Flashcards
When was the Abacus in use
1000-500 BC
What is the Antikythera mechanism
- Its the oldest example of an analogue computer
100 BC - It was used to predict eclipses and the irregular movement of the moon
Who created the first automatic mechanical calculator and when
In 1623: Wilhelm Schickard
- It could add and subtract 6 digit numbers
Who created a calculator that could multiply and divide
Gottfried von Leibniz in 1640
What was Charles Babbage’s first attempt at the mechanical computer
1822: The difference engine
How much funding did Babbage receive from the government and when
1823: £1700
What was the name of the exceptional toolmaker he hired
Joseph Clement
What year did Babbage have a working prototype of the difference engine
1832
When and why did they halt the construction of the difference engine
1834, though Babbage designs were feasible the metalworking techniques of the era meant it could not be produced economically and with the precision required. Babbage spent 17,000 by this point and his new theory of the analytical engine undermined the project
What did the difference engine do
It mechanised a series of calculations with a number of variables and could store values for later processing
it also had 20 decimal places of working memory
When did Babbage come up with the idea for the analytical engine
1834
What was the analytical engine
A general purpose programmable computing machine
Did babbage make the analytical engine
No, they didn’t have enough funding
When did Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace meet
1833
Who was Ada Lovelace
- She is often regarded as the first computer programmer, the program being ‘Note G’
What did Ada do
She translated a french paper written by Luigi Menabrea and added notes to it. These notes explained how the analytical engine could be used to calculate Bernoulli numbers - “note g”
What did Wilhem Gottfried Leibniz develop
He developed the concept of formal symbolic logic
What did Wilhem Gottfried Leibniz describe
in 1703 he described how binary numbers may be added, subtracted, multiplied and divided - though he was too ahead of his time
What did Charles Boole develop
the concept of using symbols to represent objects, these symbols obeyed algebraic laws and could be added and multiplied to real numbers
What did Claude Shannon provide
Shannon provided mathematical techniques for building a network of switches to realise a specific logical function
What did Shannon provide in circuit design
An electrical circuit that worlds is and only if the right combination of buttons is pressed
What was the first generation of electronic machines
Vacum Tubes:
UNIVAC - commercial vacuum-based computer
When was the first generation of electronic machines
1950-1959
What was the problem with vacuum tubes
Heat, weight and size; reliability
What was the second generation of electronic machines
The transistor
Who proposed transistors and what for
William Shockley at AT&T’s Bell labs to replace vavvum tubes
What did transistors enable us to do
To create logic gates without power consumption of the vacuum tubes
When did IBM introduce the concept of the computer family
1964, the idea that devices wotk together synoticity. “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”
What was the third generation of key technology
Integrated circuit
What do integrated circuits allow for
smaller, cheaper and more reliable devices
What was the first commercial supercomputer
The Cray -1
What was the key technology of the fourth-generation
The microprocessor. This was developed in 1971 by the integrated electronics company
An example of the fourth generation is
The IBM PC, it has an open architecture meaning it is open for everybody
What is the fifth generation
Post PC era?
System on a chip, the IC integrating most components of a computer
Artificial intelligence
cloud
What is the difference between the analytical engine and the difference engine
the difference engine is mechanical while the analytical engine is not
- the analytical engine consists of parts performing similar functions to a modern-day computer
