计算简史A Short History of Computing.ppt

A Short History of Computing Tim Bergin Computing History Museum American University Ancient History Abacus 3000 BCE, early form of beads on wires, used in China From semitic abaq, meaning dust. Table Abacus 100,000 ------?---?---------------------------- 50,000 -----?---------------------------------- 10,000 -----?--- ?--- ?----------------------- 5,000 -----?---------------------------------- 1,000 -----?---?----------------------------- 500 ----------------------------------------- 100 -----?---?---?---?-------------------- 50 -----?--- ------------------------------- 10 ------------------------------------------ 5 ------------------------------------------ 1 -----?---?------------------------------- Chinese Swan Pan The Middle Ages Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Born: December 26, 1791 son of Benjamin Babbage a London banker (part of the emerging middle class: property, education, wealth, and status) Trinity College, Cambridge [MA, 1817] with John Herschel and George Peacock, produced a translation of LaCroix’s calculus text. A vision of calculating by steam! My friend Herschel, calling upon me, brought with him the calculations of the computers, and we commenced the tedious process of verification. After a time many discrepancies occurred, and at one point these discordances were so numerous that I exclaimed, “I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam.” 1821 Never to be completed December 1830, a dispute with his chief engineer, Joseph Clement, over control of the project, ends work on the difference engine Clement is allowed to keep all tools and drawings by English law Importance of the Difference Engine 1. First attempt to devise a computing machine that was automatic in action and well adapted, by its printing mechanism, to a mathematical task of considerable importance. 2. An example of government subsidization