0 history brief外语英文电子书.pdfVIP

A Brief History of Computers Computing devices – from ancient things to modern systems ‹#› Generations • Computing hardware is grouped into generations, according to the technology in use: - “0th” – Primitive devices » Pre-industrial » Electro-mechanical - 1st – Vacuum-tube electronic circuits - 2nd – Solid-state circuits - 3rd – Integrated Circuits - 4th – VLSI CMO144 David Walker 1 Generation 0: the earliest devices • Writing, Counting aids - cuneiform records of crops, taxes, etc. • Adding machines - the Abacus a recent discovery • the Antikythera mechanism - discovered in 1900, in Mediterranean - complexity suggested Middle Ages or later - understood in 1970s: it dates back to 100 B.C. • Astronomical calculations - computed dates for Olympic Games CMO144 David Walker 2 A reconstruction 1600s - logarithms and the slide rule • John Napier described logarithms in 1614, and used them in a calculating device called