The History of Computer Development

Computer (20th Century)

The computer has been another life-transforming invention. British mathematician Charles Babbage designed a form of computer in the mid-1830s, but it was not until more than a century later that theory was put into practice. The word ‘computer’ is an old word that has changed its meaning several times in the last few centuries. Originating from the Latin, by the mid-17th century it meant ‘someone who computes’. The American Heritage Dictionary (1980) gives its first computer definition as “a person who computes.” The computer remained associated with human activity until about the middle of the 20th century when it became applied to “a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data” as Webster’s Dictionary (1980) defines it. Today, the word computer refers to computing devices, whether or not they are electronic, programmable, or capable of ‘storing and retrieving’ data.

Now, a whole generation has grown up with calculators, windows, icons, computer games and word processors, and the Internet and e-mail have transformed communication and information.

Computer

Computer is an electronic device that can receive a set of instructions called program and then carry out them. The modern world of high technology could not be possible without computers. Different types and sizes of computers find uses throughout our society. They are used for the storage and handling of data, secret governmental files, information about banking transactions and so on.

 

Computers have opened up a new era in manufacturing and they have enhanced modern communication systems. They are essential tools in almost every field of research, from constructing models of the universe to producing tomorrow's weather reports. Using of different databases and computer networks make available a great variety of information sources.

 

There are two main types of computers, analog and digital, although the term computer is often used to mean only the digital type, because this type of computer is widely used today. That is why I am going to tell you about digital computers.

Everything that a digital computer does is based on one operation: the ability to determine: on or off, high voltage or low voltage or — in the case of numbers — 0 or 1 or do-called binary code. The speed at which the computer performs this simple act is called computer speed. Computer speeds are measured in Hertz or cycles per second.

 

Text A: «WHAT IS A COMPUTER?»

The termcomputer is used to describe a device made up of a combination of electronic and electromechanical (part electronic and part mechanical) components. Com­puter has no intelligence by itself andis referred to as hardware. A computer system is a combination of five elements:

• Hardware

• Software

• People

• Procedures

• Data/information

When one computer system is set up to communicate with another computer system, connectivity becomes the sixth system element. In other words, the manner in which the various individual systems are connected — for ex­ample, by phone lines,microwave transmission, or sat­ellite — is an element of the total computer system.

Software is the term used to describe the instructions that tell the hardware how to perform a task. Without software instructions, the hardware doesn't know what to do.People, however, are the most important compo­nent of the computer system: they create the computer software instructions and respond to the procedures that those instructions present.

The basic job of the computer is the processing of in­formation. Computers accept information in the form of instruction called aprogram andcharacters calleddatato perform mathematical and logical operations, and then give the results. The data israw material whileinforma­tion is organized, processed, refined and useful for deci­sion making. Computer is used to convert data into in­formation. Computer is also used to store information in the digital form.

 

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The History of Computer Development

The rapidly advancing field of electronics led to construction of the first general-purpose electronic computer in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania. It was Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer or ENIAC, the device contained 18,000 vacuum tubes and had a speed of several hundred multiplications per minute. Its program was wired into the processor and had to be manually altered.

 

Later transistors appeared. The use of the transistor in computers began in the late 1950s. It marked the advent of smaller, faster elements than it was possible to create with the use of vacuum-tube machines. Because transistors use less power and have a much longer life, computers alone were improved a lot. They were called second-generation computers.

Components became smaller and the system became less expensive to build.

Modern digital computers are all conceptually similar, regardless of size and shape. Nevertheless, they can be divided into several categories on the basis of cost and performance.

The first one is the personal computer or microcomputer, a relatively low-cost machine, usually of desk-top size. Sometimes they are called laptops. They are small enough to fit in a briefcase. The second is the workstation, a microcomputer with enhanced graphics and communications capabilities that make it especially useful for office work. And the server computers, a large expensive machine with the capability of serving the needs of major business enterprises, government departments, scientific research establishments. The largest and fastest of these are called supercomputers.

A digital computer is not actually a single machine, in the sense that most people think of computers. Instead it is a system composed of five distinct elements: a central processing unit, input devices, memory storage devices, output devices and a communications network,called a «bus» that links all the elements of the system and connects the system itself to the external world.

Computer speeds are measured in gigahertz today. Recently, an optical central processing unit has been invented, which is capable of executing trillions discrete operations per second or it is as fast as the speed of light.

So, we are at the threshold of new computer era, when artificial intelligence could be invented. There are no questions with «if», the only question is «when». And time will show us either computers become our best friends or our evil enemies as it is shown in some movies.

 

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Internet and Modern Life

The Internet has already entered our ordinary life. Everybody knows that the Internet is a global computer network, which embraces hundred of millions of users all over the world and helps us to communicate with each other.

 

The history of Internet began in the United States in 1969. It was a military experiment, designed to help to survive during a nuclear war, when everything around might be polluted by radiation and it would be dangerous to get out for any living being to get some information to anywhere. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest and safest path available from one computer to another. Because of this, any two computers on the net will be able to stay in touch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology was called packet switching.

 

Invention of modems, special devices allowing your computer to send the information through the telephone line, has opened doors to the Internet for millions of people.

 

Most of the Internet host computers are in the United States of America. It is clear that the accurate number of users can be counted fairly approximately, nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet today, because there are hundred of millions of users and their number is growing.

 

Nowadays the most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people use the network only for sending and receiving e-mail messages. They can do it either they are at home or in the internet clubs or at work. Other popular services are available on the Internet too. It is reading news, available on some dedicated news servers, telnet, FTP servers, etc.

 

In many countries, the Internet could provide businessmen with a reliable, alternative to the expensive and unreliable telecommunications systems its own system of communications. Commercial users can communicate cheaply over the Internet with the rest of the world. When they send e-mail messages, they only have to pay for phone calls to their local service providers, not for international calls around the world, when you pay a good deal of money.

But saving money is only the first step and not the last one. There is a commercial use of this network and it is drastically increasing. Now you can work through the internet, gambling and playing through the net.

 

However, there are some problems. The most important problem is security. When you send an e-mail, your message can travel through many different networks and computers. The data is constantly being directed towards its destination by special computers called routers. Because of this, it is possible to get into any of the computers along the route, intercept and even change the data being sent over the Internet. But there are many encoding programs available. Not with-standing, these programs are not perfect and can easily be cracked.

 

Another big and serious problem of the net is control. Yes, there is no effective control in the Internet, because a huge amount of information circulating through the net. It is like a tremendous library and market together. In the future, the situation might change, but now we have what we have. It could be expressed in two words— an anarchist's dream.

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Text C: "TYPES OF SOFTWARE»

A computer to complete a job requires more than just the actual equipment or hardware we see and touch. It requires Software — programs for directing the opera­tion of a computer or electronic data.

Software is the final computer system component. These computer programs instruct the hardware how to conduct processing. The computer is merely a general-purpose machine which requires specific software to per­form a given task. Computers can input, calculate, com­pare, and output data as information. Software deter­mines the order in which these operations are performed.

Programs usually fall in one of two categories: sys­temsoftware and applications software.

System software controls standard internal compu­ter activities. An operating system, for example, is a col­lection of system programs that aid in the operation of a computer regardless of the application software being used. When a computer is first turned on, one of the sys­tems programs is booted or loaded into the computers memory. This software contains information about memory capacity, the model of the processor, the disk drives to be used, and more. Once the system software is loaded, the applications software can be brought in.

System programs are designed for the specific pieces of hardware. These programs are called drivers and coor­dinate peripheral hardware and computer activities. User needs to install a specific driver in order to activate a pe­ripheral device. For example, if you intend to buy a printer or a scanner you need to worry in advance about the driver program which, though, commonly goes along with your device. By installing the driver you «teach» your mainboard to «understand» the newly attached part.

Applications software satisfies your specific need. The developers of application software rely mostly on mar­keting research strategies trying to do their best to at­tract more users (buyers) to their software. As the pro­ductivity of the hardware has increased greatly in recent years, the programmers nowadays tend to include as much as possible in one program to make software inter­face look more attractive to the user. These class of pro­grams is the most numerous and perspective from the

marketing point of view.

Data communication within and between computers systems is handled by system software.Communications software transfers data from one computer system to another. These programs usually provide users with data security and error checking along with physically transferring data between the two computer's memories. Dur­ing the past five years the developing electronic network communication has stimulated more and more companies to produce various communication software, such as Web-Browsers for Internet.

 

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Text B: «HARDWARE»

What is hardware? Webster's dictionary gives us the following definition of the hardware —the mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical devices composing a computer system.

Computer hardware can be divided into four catego­ries:

Input hardware

Processing hardware

Storage hardware

Output hardware.

Input hardware

The purpose of the input hardware is to collect data and convert it into a form suitable for computer process­ing. The most common input device is akeyboard. It looks very much like a typewriter. Themouse is a hand held device connected to the computer by small cable. As the mouse is rolled across the mouse pad, the cursor moves across the screen. When the cursor reaches the desired location, the user usually pushes a button on the mouse once or twice to signal a menu selection or a command to the computer.

Thelight pen uses a light sensitive photoelectric cell to signal screen position to the computer. Another type of input hardware is optic-electronicscanner that is used to input graphics as well as typeset characters.Micro­phone andvideo camera can be also used to input data into the computer. Electronic cameras are becoming very popular among the consumers for their relatively low price and convenience.

Processing hardware

The purpose of processing hardware is retrieve, inter­pret and direct the execution of software instructions provided to the computer. The most common components of processing hardware are the Central Processing Unit and main memory.

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of the computer. It reads and interprets software instructions and coordinates the processing activities that must take place. The design of the CPU affects the processing power and the speed of the computer, as well as the amount of main memory it can use effectively. With a well-designed CPU in your computer, you can perform highly sophisti­cated tasks in a very short time.

Memory is the system of component of the computer in which information is stored. There are two types of computer memory: RAM and ROM.

RAM (random access memory) is the volatile compu­ter memory, used for creating loading, and running pro­grams and for manipulating and temporarily storing data;

ROM (read only memory) is nonvolatile, non-modifiable computer memory, used to hold programmed in­structions to the system.

The more memory you have in your computer, the more operations you can perform.

Storage hardware

The purpose of storage hardware is to store computer instructions and data in a form that is relatively permanent and retrieve when needed for processing. Storage hardware serves the same basic functions as do office fil­ing systems except that it stores data as electromagnetic signals. The most common ways of storing data are Hard disk, floppy disk and CD-ROM.

Hard disk is a rigid disk coated with magnetic mate­rial, for storing programs and relatively large amounts of data.

Floppy disk (diskette) - thin, usually flexible plas­tic disk coated with magnetic material, for storing com­puter data and programs. There are two formats for floppy disks: 5.25" and 3.5". 5.25" is not used in mod­ern computer systems because of it relatively large size flexibility and small capacity. 3.5" disks are formatted 1.4 megabytes and are widely used.

CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory) is a com­pact disc on which a large amount of digitized read-only data can be stored. CD-ROMs are very popular now be­cause of the growing speed which CD-ROM drives can provide nowadays. Output hardware

The purpose of output hardware is to provide the user with the means to view information produced by the com­puter system. Information is output in eitherhardcopy or softcopy form. Hardcopy output can be held in your hand, such as paper with text (word or numbers) or graphics printed on it. Softcopy output is displayed on a monitor.

Monitor isa component with a display screen for view­ing computer data, television programs, etc.

Printer isa computer output device that produces a paper copy of data or graphics.

Modem is an example ofcommunication hardware — an electronic device that makes possible the transmission of data to or from computer via telephone or other communication lines.

Hardware comes in many configurations, depending on what the computer system is designed to do. Hard­ware can fill several floors of a large office building or can fit on your lap.

 

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Сomputers in Our Life (2)

Computer addicts are the minority of computer users but there is no doubt that more and more young people are computer literate. Computer studies is a subject in many schools and many young people have personal computers. About one in three hundred computer owners spend almost all their time using computers.

Ninety six per cent of them are males of all ages. All of them spend an average of twenty hours per week on home computers. The majority of the adults also use computers at work. All the computer addicts are very intelligent. They have been interested in science and technology from a very early age, and they are usually very shy people who like being alone.

Usage of computers gives them confidence. They love debugging (удалять вирусы) and solving problems, developing programs and love learning programming languages. They learnt to communicate with other users through computer networks and the people they met in school and work think of them as of computer experts. A few spend their time "hacking" and one addict left a message on a computer of Buckingham House.

A survey in a school showed that fewer girls are interested in computers because girls are less likely to have a computer. Even if they have one, they use them less frequently than boys. Possibly it is because we think of computers as something to do with maths and science, which are traditionally "male" subjects. Possibly it is because most of the computer teachers are men, who give the girls less attention. Possibly parents think it is less important for girls to have computer skills.

Some parents worry about computer games because they think their children won't be able to communicate with real people in the real world. But parents do not need to worry. According to research computer addicts usually do well after they have left school.

Parents also do not need to worry that computer addiction will make their children become unfriendly and unable to communicate with people. It is not the computer that makes them shy. In fact, what they know about computers improves their social lives. They become experts and others come to them for help and advice.

For most children computer games are a craze. Like any other craze, such as skate-boarding, the craze is short-lived. It provides harmless fun and a chance to escape.

If we didn't have these computer addicts, we wouldn't have modern technology. They are the inventors of tomorrow.

 

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Mass Media

Mass Media become a very important part of our life. The press, the radio and television play a big role in the life of the society. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world and make them change their views. As sociologists say news is not what happens, it is what you see or read about it in mass media. In other words, mass media plays a very important role in organizing public opinion. Millions of people watch TV and read newspapers in their free time. Most of people can’t do without a newspaper in the underground or during the lunch break. TV also dominates the life of the family most of the time. It is also a habit which impossible to resist. The radio is turned on most of the time, creating a permanent background noise. In fact it does not interfere with your activities. I can easily listen to the radio while doing my homework, cooking or washing the dishes. It’s no secret that some of the TV and radio stations are owned by big corporations, so the owners can advertise whatever they choose Commercial firms have to buy TV and radio time to advertise their products. Most of the new inventions and technologies become popular and well known with the help of mass media. Thus mass media promotes quality and progress in our everyday life. Of course advertising promotes business and benefits businessmen. And very often the advertising annoys people.

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Microsoft Company

Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded the Company in 1975.

Microsoft is best-known American company involved in software production. Microsoft's wealth and power is growing up for years. It is a giant company. Microsoft's $25 billion market value tops that of Ford, General Motors.

 

Some time ago, Microsoft dominated the PC market with its-MS-DOS operating system, the basic software that let the computer understand your commands and carrythem out, appeared in the beginning of 80s. MS-DOS ran on 90 percent of the worlds IBM and IBM-clone computers. Then, Microsoft has extended that presence with releasing of Windows, which is probably the most important and popular operating system in the World. And now it dominates the market.

 

Firstly, Microsoft released Windows '95 in 1995. It was a graphics interface environment that ran on top of MS-DOS and replaced DOS in future versions. Then, Microsoft released Windows '98, Windows NT, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

 

Microsoft also supplies about 50 percent of the world's software applications. Among them, there are three well-known Office Packs; they are also called Microsoft Office programs such as Excel (spreadsheets), Microsoft Word (word processing), Access (databases) and Outlook Express (e-mail)- There were releases in 1997, 2000, and 2002, when appeared Microsoft Office XP. Microsoft is also in the market of networking, multimedia and even books. And as an early supporter of the Macintosh computer, Microsoft virtually owns the Mac application market.

 

It has been calculated that Microsoft controls 80-85 % of the entire PC software industry. The company has hundreds of products and thousands of employees, making it one of the largest companies. Many of the company's shareholders are now millionaires and a few including Bill Gates and Paul Allen are billionaires. Microsoft is no doubt the fastest growing company in the PC software industry.

 

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Bill Gates

William Henry Gates, also known as «Bill», has established himself as the richest man in the world. He is the youngest self made billionaire, and perhaps the best businessman in the world.

Bill Gates is important because he did not only change the computer technology in America, but also created the biggest, strongest, richest and the most powerful company in the world.

Bill was born on October 28, 1955, his parents, Mary and Bill, had one other daughter Kristi. Gates began his career in PC software, programming computers at age 13.

As to his education, he attended a well-known private school in Seattle, Washington called Lakeside. At Lakeside, he met his future business partner Paul Allen. Bill Gates entered Harvard in 1973.

He created the programming language BASIC. Gates attended Harvard University and after a few years Gates and his business collaborator, Paul Allen, dropped ou t of Harvard to begin the Microsoft Corporation in 1975.

Throughout his life, Gates had many experiences with business. Allen and Gates started a small company called Traf-O-Data. They sold a small computer outfitted with their program that could count traffic for the city.

Gates also worked at a programming company called 'TRW. After all his minor jobs, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft in 1975, the largest computer based company in the world. Gates is the Chief Executive officer and Paul Allen is VP. They are both very wealthy due to this business.

Gates believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence you can accomplish anything. Bill works very hard to carry out his vision.

His belief in high intelligence and hard work is what put him where he is today, as well as being in the right place at the right time. He doesn't believe in luck or any sort of god, just hard work and competitiveness.

«Trey» as he is called at home is a remarkable man who has been able to go into the world spotlight as a genius at what he does. His welfare until today is worth about 92,000,000,000 dollars.

 

 

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