VAST 20002 Computers and Society

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VAST 200-02 Computers and Society

• Lecture 1 - Course Overview
• Spring 2004
• Reading Assignment Gift of Fire Ch. 1Handout
  First writing assignment

Pentium 4 Chip Die Image couresy Intel
Corporation
Prof. John NestorECE DepartmentLafayette
CollegeEaston, Pennsylvania 18042nestorj_at_lafayet
te.edu
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Outline - Course Overview

• Administrative Details \
• Course Overview and Introduction
• Computer Systems Overview
• General Concepts
• History and Trends
• The Creative Process
• Hardware Design
• Software Design
• Current Issues Computers and Society
• Faults and Failures
• Privacy and Encryption

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Textbook and References

• Textbooks
• Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire Social, legal, and
  ethical issues for computers and the Internet ,
  2nd Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2003.
• Jay Richards, ed., Are We Spiritual Machines? Ray
  Kurzweil and the Critics of Strong A.I.,
  Discovery Insitute Press, 2002.
• Vernor Vinge (edited by James Frenkel), True
  Names and the opening of the cyberspace frontier,
  Tor Books, 2001.
• Additional Readings
• Links provided on world-wide web
• Articles provided by email
• Readings available in library

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Administrative Details

• Grading
• In-Class Discussions 15
• Papers 50
• Presentations 10
• Mid-Term Exam 25
• Office hours - TBD
• My schedule
• ECE 425 MWF 1100-1150, R 110-400 PM
• VAST 200 MWF 210-300, M 310-400
• Research T

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Course Themes

• Computers have enormous impact on society
• Computers are a disruptive technology
• Along with obvious benefits, many issues arise
• Privacy
• Reliability and Safety
• Freedom of Speech
• Intellectual property
• Impact on jobs and work
• Computer systems are built by and for humans

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Course Goal

• To explore the interaction of computers and
  society
• Key questions
• Where have we been?
• Where are we now?
• Where are we going?

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Roadmap for the Term Major Topics

• Computer Systems Overview \
• Computer History
• Technology Trends
• The Art of Building Hardware and Software
• Societal Issues
• Looking to the Future

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Outline - Course Overview

• Computer Systems Overview \
• The Digital Paradigm
• Computer Processors Organization and Operation
• Types of Computer Systems
• High-Level Operations - the fetch/execute cycle
  
• Common Abstractions
• Under the Hood of some example computer systems

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The Digital Paradigm

• Bit - a binary digit with two values
• 1 (One)
• 0 (Zero)
• Words - constructed from multiple bits
• 001101
• 11011011
• Words of different widths can represent
• Numbers - integers or floating-point
• Characters - using a code (e.g. T 01011000)
• Audio signals - using a sequence of numbers
• Images - using a two-dimensional array of numbers
• Video - using a sequence of images

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Digital Circuits

• Hardware circuits can be constructed to
• Store binary data (registers, memory)
• Manipulate binary data (e.g. ADD two numbers)

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Computer Systems

• A computer processor is a large digital circuit

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Computer Processor Operation

• The fetch/execute cycle
• Processor fetches instruction from memory
• Processor executes machine language instruction

Load Data
Change Data
OK, but how do we write useful programs using
these instructions?
Store Results
1001010010110000
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Abstractions in Computer Systems

• Designers use abstraction to manage complexity
• Focus on pertinent information
• Suppress unnecessary detail
• Example Auto controls
• Well-understood interface (inputs, outputs)
• Details suppressed

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Software Abstractions - Languages
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Software Abstractions - System Software

• Operating system
• Insulates programmer from low-level details
• Manages system resources
• Manages file system
• Coordinates operation of multiple programs
• Protects from system from damage by user
  programs(accidental or malicious)
• Programs interact w/ OS through system calls
• Libraries
• Provide programmer access to high-level
  primitives
• Programs access through well-defined interface
  (API)

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Software Abstractions - Applications

• Applications perform a specific function for
  users
• Web Browser
• Spreadsheet
• Word Processor
• Database

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Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) - The
Hardware-Software Interface

• The most important abstraction of computer design

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More about Instruction Set Architectures

• ISA specifies function of the architecture
• Multiple implementations are common
• Key advantage compatibility
• Example Intel IA-32 (x86)
• Intel 80x86, Pentium, etc.
• AMD Duron, Athlon, etc.
• Other architectures exist, often for speical
  purposes
• Digital Signal Processors
• Embedded Processors

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Types of Computer Systems
Image sources Dell Computer www.dell.com
Rackable Systems www.rackablecom Apple Computer
www.apple.com
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Desktop Computer Systems

• For General-Purpose Use
• Word-Processing, Web surfing, Multimedia, etc.
• Computation and Programming
• Whats in the box
• Microprocessor
• Memory - Synchronous DRAM
• Hard disk(s), CDROM/DVD, etc.
• I/O - mouse, keyboard, video card, monitor,
  network, etc.
• Important Issues
• Performance - how fast is fast enough?
• Basic capabilities (and expandability)
• Cost

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Server Computer Systems

• Large-Scale Services
• File storage
• Computation
• Transaction Processing, Web
• Whats in the Box(es)
• Microprocessor(s)
• Hard disks
• Network Interface(s)
• Important issues
• Performance
• Reliability, availability
• Cost

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Embedded Computer Systems

• Computer as part of larger system
• Consumer electronics, appliances
• Networking, telecommunications
• Automotive / aircraft control
• Whats in the box
• Microcontroller / Microprocessor
• Memory RAM, ROM Disk
• Special-purpose I/O (including analog stuff)
• Important issues
• Cost, Power Consumption
• Performance (against real-time constraints)
• Reliability and Safety

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Important Building Blocks

• Microprocessor
• Memory
• Mass Storage (Disk)
• Network Interface

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Under the Hood The Pentium 4
Image sources Intel Corporation www.intel.com
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Pentium 4 Microarchitecture
Source The Microarchitecture of the Pentium 4
Processor, Intel Technology Journal, First
Quarter 2001http//developer.intel.com/technology
/itj/q12001/articles/art_2.htm.
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Under the Hood A Desktop PC

• Display (CRT or LCD)
• Keyboard, Mouse
• The Box
• Power Supply
• Motherboard (see next slide)
• Memory
• Graphics card
• Standard bus card slots (e.g. PCI)
• Standard I/O connectors (e.g. USB, Parallel Port,
  etc)
• Disks, CDRW, etc.

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Organization of a Desktop PC
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Typical Motherboard (Pentium III)
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Under the Hood Apple iPod
Source EE Times, www.eetimes.com
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Roadmap for the Term Major Topics

• Computer Systems Overview
• Computer History \
• Technology Trends
• The Art of Building Hardware and Software
• Current Issues
• Looking to the Future

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The Illusion of Privacy

• 199? - On the Internet, nobody knows youre a
  dog -- New Yorker cartoon
• 1998 On the Internet, nobody knows youre a
  (choose one)
• Pedophile trolling for potential victims . OR
• Law-enforcment officer posing as a 14-year old
• 2002 On the Internet, nobody knows youre a
  Carnivore
• 2003 On the Internet, nobody knows youre a the
  RIAA

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The Internet - A Network of Networks

• Common addressing scheme
• Routers connect networks,
• TCP/IP
• IP Addresses - what identifies computers on the
  internet
• Static addresses - permanently assigned
• Dynamic addresses