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An Illustrated History of Computation
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1
An Illustrated History of Computation
Bernie Cohen FBCS
Emeritus Professor of Computing City University
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
Computing in Antiquity
The Antikythera analog astronomical computer
(4thC BC) uses the Metonic (5thC BC) cycle:
19 solar years ≅ 235 synodic months
= 6940 days
Now I, even I, shall celebrate, in rhymes
inapt, the great immortal Syracusan ...(3rdC BC).
Showed that 31/7 < π < 310/71 and calculated the number
of grauns of sand in the unverse(= Eddington's
estimate of 1080 nucleons) without the use of zero.
Probably invented the Vitruvius (1stC BC)odometer: on each
rotation of the wheel. a pebble (calculus) dropped into a pot.
The number of pebbles determined the fare.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13 2
Victor 1, the first African Pope (189-199), fixed Easter on a Sunday in opposition to the
quartodeciman bishops of the Eastern Church.
Pope Paul I adopted a computus developed by the Scythian friar
Dionysius Exiguus (470–544) aka Dennis the Little
who also introduced the number zero into Europe and the notation BC/AD into the calendar (but made at least three errors that persist to this day!)
The Celtic Church had its own computus developed in Iona by
King Oswiu of Northumbria convened the
Synod of Whitby
in 664 to resolve the
conflict. The Celtic Church lost and
vanished until revived by the anti-papist Orange Order
1000 years later (hence the Irish Troubles!) St Columba
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When Computors Were Human
John Napier 1550 - 1617
and his bones
Blaise Pascal 1623 -1662 and his Pascaline The Brunswiga
1892-1959
The amazing Curta invented by Curt Herzstark
(1902 - 1988) while imprisoned in Buchenwald.
He survived because the Nazis wanted to give Hitler one for his birthday. After the war, he manufactured it in Lichtenstein at the invitation of
Prince Franz Jozef II.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Navigation, Longitude and Time
Sextant and chronometer were useless without tables:
astronomical (here solar to sidereal time) and mathematical (logs, trig etc.). Human computors were trained to use
the 'method of differences' to interpolate between main values calculated by mathematicians.
In 1812, the high incidence of errors in these tables led ...
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Charles Babbage (1791 -1871)
to suggest to Sir John Herschel that they would be better
'constructed by steam' and he designed
the Difference Engine to do it. He soon realised that a machine
could be 'programmed' to do different calculations and designed
the Analytical Engine. He never completed it but
a detailed description written by Luigi Menebrea,
later Prime Minister of Italy, was translated and expanded with
example programs by the lady whom Babbage called the 'Enchantress of Numbers'
Augusta Ada Byron, Countess Lovelace
(1815-1852)
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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The Theory of Computation
Alan Turing 1912 - 1954
Reframed Gödel's proof
using a universal model of
computation: the Turing Machine
David Hilbert 1862 - 1943
Hilbert's Programme: To prove that
mathematics is complete, consistent
and decidable.
John von Neumann 1903 - 1957
Polymath. Stored program
archiecture Self-replicating
automata
Alonzo Church 1903 - 1995 Ditto using a different, but equivalent model of
computation: λ-calculus
Kurt Gödel 1906 - 1978 Proved that mathematics
could not be both
complete and consistent
In 1934, Hilbert attended a banquet and was seated next to the new Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust. Rust asked, "How is mathematics in Göttingen now that it has been freed of the Jewish influence?
Hilbert replied, "Mathematics in Göttingen? There is really none any more."
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Prof John Rees 1918 – 2013 helped to break
Enigma 'Red' in 1940 using Turing's
Bombe
Colossus, built by ...
Breaking the Codes at Bletchley Park
When you leave valves on, they don't burn out.
Forbidden to work on ACE because of the OSA.
I can't tell you how to do it , but I wouldn't do it like that.
ca. 1966
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
to break Lorenz
Tommy Flowers 1905 – 1998
(BT Dollis Hill & STC)
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Ferranti Mark 1, 1951 the world's first commercially available electronic computer
Based on the 'Baby', designed in Victoria University, Manchester by Frank Williams
Early British Computers
Pilot ACE, 1946 designed by Turing for
NPL, Teddington
DEUCE, 1955 Made by English Electric
Nelson Research Lab, Stafford Based on ACE.
60 sold. This one was in Glasgow University in 1960.
STANTEC-ZEBRA, 1956
Zeer Eenvoudige Binaire Rekenautomaat
Made by STC, Newport designed by W. L. van der
Pool of Netherlands PTT
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
Replaced in 1964
by English Electric KDF9
runnning Algol 60.
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Ordered in October 1947 by Joe Lyons Tea Shops.
Ran the world's first regular routine office computer job in 1951.
At present four Government offices have been equipped with computers and orders have been placed for equipment for a further four. Studies of the possible use of
computers in five more offices have almost been completed. Jocelyn Simon, Financial Secretary to the Treasury,
House of Commons debate, June 26, 1958
Computers in Business
Ernest Kaye 1922-2012 Engineer and musician.
Last surviving member of the LEO I development team
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Programming Languages
The first program run on the'Baby',
predecessor of the Machester Mark 1 and
Ferranti Mark 1, Monday June 21,
1948.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Programming Languages
Grace Murray Hopper, USN, 1906 - 1992 First compiler 1951
COBOL 1959
'DIVIDE CAKE INTO THREE'
John W Backus, IBM, 1924 - 2007
FORTRAN 1954
Peter Naur, U Copenhagen,
1928 - Algol 60
BNF : Backus-Naur Form syntactic metalanguage.
Panini (ca. 550BC) constructed a formal grammar of Sanskrit, the Ashtadhyayi
John G. Kemeny 1926 -1992
Dartmouth BASIC 1964. Manhattan Project with
John von Neumann. PhD under
Alonzo Church. Mathematical assistant
to Einstein.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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More Programming Languages Christopher Strachey 1916 - 1975 Scion of the Bloomsbury Group. Designed programming languages for Elliott and Ferranti. Creator of CPL, 'Christopher's Programming
Language', from which came BCPL, then B, then C, then Unix. First Prof of Computer Science at Oxford, founded denotational
semantics, the theory of programming languages.
John McCarthy 1927 -2011 Developed LISP at MIT in 1958: a Turing-complete language
with a few simple operators and a notation for functions, which provided the foundation for Artificial Intelligence.
Robin Milner, 1934 - 2010 City University, Ferranti, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Stanford, etc.
ML, CCS, LCF, pi-calculus. Automatic theorem proving Advised me not to take the Chair of IT at Surrey in 1984
as I would be more useful in industry. He was probably right.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Minis and Mainframes
DEC PDP 8, 1965 up to 32K 12-bit words.
666KHz
IBM 360, 1964 Up to 8Mb 32-bit words, 1MHz
Courier Executerm 60, 1970 IBM 360 compatible remote terminal
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
DEC PDP 1, 1960 $120,000, up to 64K 18-bit words,
200KHz The first computer game:
Steve Russell's Spacewar! 20 bought by ITT for
ADX7300 message switch using Gordon Bell's UART.
The sad tale of the sheriff and the IBM sales
engineer
Chips with Everything
William Shockley 1910-1989
Nobel Laureate 1956 co-inventor with
Bardeen and Brattain of the contact
transistor at Bell Labs. Set up first 'Silicon Valley' company:
Beckman Instruments at Mountain View,
Palo Alto.
The first Fairchildren including Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce, founders of Intel,
left Beckman Instrunments in 1957 to form Fairchild Semicoductor, where they developed Silicon Gate Technolgy
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The Single Chip Microprocessor
Intel 8008, 1971 16Kb
in 8-bit words 3500
transistors 800KHz,
$120
Intel 4004. 1970, 4kB in 4-bit words, 2300 transistors, 740KHz, $200, designed for the NCM Busicom141-PF,
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
and signed 'FF', by Federico Faggin (1941 - )
who also designed the Intel 8008, 4040 and 8080. Disowned by Intel when he founded Zilog in 1974.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13 17
Carver Mead (1934 -)
Lynn Conway (1938 -)
The Bible and the Law
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VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) and the Swiss Watch Industry
Self-Defeating Technology The Blundell Vector Slide Rule
(1952) and High Speed Electronic
Circuits
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Homebrew Computers
The MITS Altair 8800, 1975 $400 kits for electronics hobbyists.
10,000 kits shipped No software
Microsoft founded to supply a BASIC interpreter. CP/M OS added later.
Processor Technology Sol-20, 1977 'IBM Blue' case and walnut sides
Video and tape I/O interface boards built-in. Designed by Lee Felsenstein.
Kansas City data transfer standard.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Xerox PARC
The Star, or Dandelion, outperformed the Sun but, at $16,595, was overpriced
and was abandoned as a product line by Xerox.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
The Xerox 914 copier, 1959, generated so much profit that Xerox founded a non-profit
research lab in Palo Alto with instructions not to make product. Unfortunately they hired some crazy people who developed
the mouse, the graphical user interface and the ethernet
which they put together into the Alto personal computer, 1973
which inspired Steve Jobs to design the Apple and Stanford University to develop the Sun workstation.
The Alto was developed into the Xerox 8010 Star, 1981,
powered by a Symbolics LISP chip
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Alan Kay 1940 -
1966: worked with Ivan Sutherland (1938 -) on Sketchpad (1962), the first GUI
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
1968: worked with Seymour Papert(1928 -) on Logo 1973: worked in Xerox Parc with Doug Engelbart (1925-2013) on the mouse, and Adele Goldberg (1945 -) on Smalltalk, which became Squeak and Tweek,
In 1968, conceived Dynabook, prototype of the laptop, tablet and e-book reader, which became One Laptop Per Child.
1983: Chief Engineer at Atari then Apple then Disney, now Viewpoints Research Institute
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The 1977 Trinity
Apple II Commodore PET Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80
Jack Tramiel 1928-2012 Commodore and Atari
Auschwitz survivor
Steve Jobs 1955-2012 Charles Tandy 1918-1978 Texas leather company
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Personal Computers
Atari 400, 1979 The original games machine
4 million sold IBM thought of buying the
company to get it, but instead designed ...
The IBM PC, 1981 4.77MHz Intel 8088, up to 256Kb RAM 2 floppy disk drives, open architecture
Operating system MS-DOS by Microsoft based on QDOS, based on CP/M
$1565
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Home Computers
Commodore 64, 1982 $595, 17 million sold
BBC Model A/B, 1981 Acorn (ARM)
£235, Millions sold
Sinclair ZX Spectrum, 1982 £125, 5 million sold
(not including clones)
Amstrad CPC464, 1984 £249, 3 million sold
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
Raspberry Pi, 2012 £20, ??? Sold
Sinclair ZX80, 1980 £99.99, 100,000 sold
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WIMP: the Xerox PARC Legacy
Apple Macintosh, 1984 8MHz Motorola 68000 MacPaint, MacWrite, Mac Draw 128k, $2495 256k, $2795
Windows 1.0 1985, 2 years late, slow and buggy Windows 2.0 1987 Mac look-alike, Aldus Pagemaker, Excel, Word, Corel Draw
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Meanwhile … on the telephone
Almon Brown Strowger
1839 - 1902 Undertaker
First exchange La Porte, IN, 1892
75 subscribers. First UK automatic
exchange Epsom, 1912
Alexander Graham Bell 1847 - 1922
Prof of Elocution. Founder of Bell Labs. Invented telephony,
aeronautics, hydrofoil and much else.
In 1876, the President of Western Electric declined to
buy Bell's patent for $100,000, claiming that the telephone was just a toy.
Two years later, he offered $2,000,000 for it.
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Digital telecoms
First digital telephone exchange Moorgate PCM, ITT-STC 1971 (now demolished and replaced by the 'ski slope' building in Fore St)
Alec Reeves 1902-1971 Pulse code modulation
STC 1937 Gottfried Ungerboeck
1940- Trellis coded modulation
IBM Zurich 1980 (now at Broadcom) Massively increased
transmission rates made data comms feasible.
Vint Cerf TCP/IP
on Arpanet DARPA 1972
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
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Convergence Tim Berners-Lee
CERN Hypertext,
1980 plus Internet
= WWW, 1989 Martin Cooper
Motorola DynaTac
('The Brick') 1973
27/9/2013 ©2013 Prof Bernie Cohen OTA13
Moses, meet Steve. He's going to upgrade
your tablet.
Meanwhile, on a different cloud ...
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Recursion and Invariance
Dijkstra's Ball Game The Mutilated Chessboard
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