Difference between revisions of "CSC103: DT's Notes 1"

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One can argue that if von Neumann hadn't written this report, we may have followed somebody else's brilliant idea for putting together a machine working with electricity, where information is stored and operated on in binary form.   
 
One can argue that if von Neumann hadn't written this report, we may have followed somebody else's brilliant idea for putting together a machine working with electricity, where information is stored and operated on in binary form.   
  
[[Image:Antikythera.jpg|right|200px]]For computers were not always electrical machines.  Initially they were mechanical machines.  The abacus, which appeared several millennia B.C. was a counting machine made of wood.  The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera] mechanism, currently regarded as the first mechanical machine for computing astronomical calculations.   
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[[Image:Antikythera.jpg|right|200px]]For computers were not always electrical machines.  Initially they were mechanical machines.  The abacus, which appeared several millennia B.C. was a counting machine made of wood.  The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera] mechanism, is currently regarded as the first mechanical machine for computing astronomical calculations.  Mechanical as well, the important machine in the history of computers is '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine Babbage's Difference Engine]'''.  This one was made of gears and shafts, with a crank at the top, and was a ''general purpose'' machine.  Interestingly, this machine has given us an expression we still use with modern electronic computers:  we still hear programmers refer to  "cranking out" the results, even though the crank is long gone.
  
  

Revision as of 23:39, 29 January 2012


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