A Brief Introduction to the History of Computing - 3

1
A Brief Introduction to theHistory of Computing
- 3

• ANU Faculty of Engineering and IT
• Department of Computer Science
• COMP1200 Perspectives on Computing
• Chris Johnson April 2003

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Intro to history of computing 4.3

• Moores Law driver of 3rd and 4th generations
• What computers were used for, who made
  themOperating systems, applications and the
  market
• 4 generations of computer systems and
  manufacturers

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2. Moores Law

• The density of transistors on a chip(i.e. the
  number per unit area)doubles every 18 months
• 1964 Gordon Moore (Intel) observed the fact and
  fitted the law to the figures to that date
• literally exponential growth
• is it still true 40 years later?
• what does doubling every 1.5 or 2 years actually
  imply?

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2. Moores Law

• 2,500
• 30,000
• 100,000
• 300,000
• 1990 1,000,000

• Number of transistors on onechip - Intel 80x86
  family processors

data from Intel
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2. Moores Law
log scale
1,000,000
data from Intel
2500
lt- - - - Linear scale - - - - -gt
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2. Moores Law

• what are all those extra transistors used for
• in processors?
• in memory (RAM) chips?

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3. 3rd 4th generation von Neumann architecture
with virtual memory and cache
Secondarystorageuse for online filestorage
Virtual memory Online file storage
I/O controllers
Memory
fast cache memory
pipelines
registers
ALU
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3. 4th generation (my numbering)

• Integrated circuits mark the start of 3rd
  generation - but no hardware change marks the
  start of the 4th
• a change in packaging and utilisationdesktop
  personal computerse.g. Apple II 1979, Apple
  Macintosh 1984 IBM PC personal computer
  1981
• personal productivity toolsspreadsheets, word
  processing programs (and Powerpoint)
• GUI WIMP interface WindowsIconsMenus-Pointer
  invented 1975 Xerox PARCmass market
  1984 (Mac) 1985 (IBM PC)

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1. Big Ideas - the stored program computer

Why is the ability tostore the program in
memory significant? (2) the 3rd and 4th
generations
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4.3 History of computer systems, applications and
markets

• 4 generations
• operating systems and software tools
• applications
• system configurations
• the size of the market
• manufacturers

• generation11945-59
• generation 21959-1964
• generation31964-1981
• generation 41981-----

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1st. generation 1945-59

• vacuum tubes
• storage magnetic core, mercury delay line,
  magnetic drum
• I/O paper tape, punch cards, line printer
• software no operating system
• assembly program, library
• 1951 symbolic assembler language invented (Grace
  Hopper) to improve on programming by numeric
  codes
• one user at a time

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1st. generation 1945-59 - configuration
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1st. generation 1945-59 - applications

• accounting (typically decimal computers)
• business stock control
• general substitute for punched card business data
  processing personnel, payroll
• military (binary computers) calculation of
  artillery tables
• decryption
• air traffic/air defence displays

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1st. generation 1945-59 the market (started 1951)

• most made by existing business equipment
  manufacturers
• IBM
• 1951-55 IBM 701 (scientific), IBM 702
  (commercial) 50 of each
• 24 computers installed in 1956
• 1956-61 sold 1,100 IBM 350 RAMACRandom Access
  Memory Accounting Machine- with a notable
  5MByte disk storage unit
• Remington Rand -gt Sperry Rand - 24 sold in 1956
• USA RCA, GE, Philco, Burroughs, NCR, Honeywell
• a few companies in UK and France
• top-endSAGE air traffic control/air defence
  system8k x 32 bit words, 75KHz, 100 radar
  display consoles1952-62 46 computers installed

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2nd generation 1959-1964

• discrete transistors replace vacuum tubes in CPU
• magnetic core memory
• I/O punched cards, high speed line printer
• removable disk packs

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2nd generation 1959-64

• Operating system and software tools
• Batch operating systemsprofessional
  operators,sequential execution of jobs
  controlled by operator switches,using magnetic
  tapes loaded by operator from library
• single job at a time
• systems software assembler, compilers
• High level languagesFORTRAN(from 1954-7) Algol
  (1960) COBOL (1961) LISP (1960)

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2nd generation 1959-1964 configuration
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2nd generation 1959-1964 applications

• more business operations
• airline reservation system SABRE IBM 7090, 1100
  users, leased phone lines, transaction based
• more scientific calculations computational
  modelling
• military...

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2nd generation 1959-1964markets - growth

• example IBM 1400 series (1401 - 7010)
  (1959-1965)
• 1.4k to 16k memory 6 bit characters, decimal
  arithmetic
• chain printer 600 lines per minute (10
  lines/second)
• 14,000 machines sold (IBM original estimate
  1,000)
• Manufacturers
• a fierce shakeout - IBM and the seven dwarfs
  (1964)
• IBM
• Sperry Rand
• RCA
• GE
• Burroughs-gtSperry Rand/Unisys
• NCR
• Honeywell
• Control Data Corporation CDC
• a few in UK (Ferranti-gtICL), France (Bull),
  Germany (Nixdorf), Italy (Olivetti)

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3rd generation 1964-1981

• integrated circuits in CPU Moores Law takes off
• magnetic core memory,
• solid state (RAM) memory from 1970
• magnetic disk secondary store, virtual memory
• magnetic tape offline storage
• high speed line printer
• remote data terminalsVDU, 24 x 80 characters,
  fixed char. setshort range serial line (1200,
  2400, 9600 bps)

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3. From 3rd to 4th generation

• 3rd generation from approx 1964mainframe
  computers first, then minis
• minicomputers e.g.DEC PDP/8, PDP/11, Birth of
  UNIX operating system 1975
• microcomputers PET TRS-80 1979
• Apple II, VisiCalc spreadsheet 1979
• 4th generation............................
• IBM PC, Microsoft DOS 1981

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3rd generation 1964-81 mainframe, minicomputer,
microcomputer

• mainframe enterprise scale, multiple boards in
  CPU, room-sized 24-60 bit words 100 users
  (supercomputer 10x cost, 10x speed)
• mini compact, solid state, fairly rugged, suits
  equipment rack 1972 DEC PDP-8 12 bit wordDG
  Nova, DEC PDP-11 16 bit, VAX 32 bit.20-30
  circuit boards for CPU initially, down to
  4-5Cheaper than mainframes e.g. 100,000 1970
  10 users
• micro very compact, single chip processor 8 bit
  to 16 bit slower than minicomputers, much
  cheaper again 2,000-10,000 1 user 1971-79
• pocket calculator replaces slide rule 1970

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3rd generation 1964-81 operating system and
software tools

• multiprogramming O/S concurrent processing and
  I/O, time-sharing multiple jobs apparently
  simultaneously
• database management systems
• time-sharing terminals, multiple users early
  70s
• interactive programming environments debugger
  programs
• interactive data entry, transaction systems

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3rd generation 1964-81 - software

• rapid development of high level languages
• 1965 revised COBOL 65 (ANSI standard COBOL in
  1968)
• 1966 FORTRAN 66 (FORTRAN IV) ANSI standard -gtF77,
  F95
• 1967 Algol W -gt Pascal 1972
• 1971 PROLOG programming in logic
• 1972 C
• BASIC
• 1968 NATO Software Conference identifies the
  software crisis human inability to create and
  manage programs-gt software engineering

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3rd generation 1964-1981 - configuration
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3rd generation 1964-81 applications

• more business operations
• databases
• scientific calculations, mathematical, industrial
  modelling, weather forecasting
• minicomputers
• industrial and other equipment control
• data concentrators - front ends to mainframes
• microcomputers
• digital watches, games, calculators (special
  purpose systems)
• embedded systems, hobby systems
• military... embedded micro computers digital
  avionics
• computer networks

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3rd generation 1964-81 the market

• Mainframes
• e.g. IBM System/360 family 1965-71
• not time-shared
• 18,000 machines sold
• System 370 1971-88
• upward compatible from 360 series
• time-shared (multiproccessing)
• semi-conductor memory
• 80,000 sold

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3rd generation 1964-81 the manufacturers

• IBM and the BUNCH (approx 1968) not 7 any
  longer
• IBM
• Burroughs-gtSperry Rand/Unisys
• UNIVAC
• NCR
• Control Data Corporation CDC - supercomputers
• Honeywell
• a few in UK (ICL), France (Bull), Germany
  (Siemens)
• the minis (approx 1970) new companies,
  electronics cos
• DEC Digital Equipment Corporation
• Data General
• Varian
• Hewlett-Packard... and others
• the micros
• Apple (and Apricot and Acorn and...)
• Xerox
• Commodore ... many others

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4th generation 1981-

• 1981 IBM PC a 16 bit personal computer for
  office desktopscommand line operating system
  MS-DOS. Word processing becomes a software
  application for PC not a dedicated box
• productivity software word processor,
  spreadsheet, paint and draw
• 1984 Apple Macintosh WIMP
• 1985 Microsoft Windows for PC
• 2000 common processor chips drive nearly all
  large and small computers

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4th generation 1981 mainframes, personal
computers

• applications become centred on Graphical User
  Interface, need for memory and processor speed
  grow enormously
• mainframes continue as main computers
  re-invented as servers to enterprise networks of
  personal workstations and PCs
• mid 1980s local computer networks transform the
  personal to the enterpise network the Internet
  for email
• mid 1990s the World Wide Web on the Internet
  transforms the personal computer from a local
  information management and processing tool to a
  communication tool

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4th generation the market

• Biggest manufacturers of servers, workstations,
  desktops, laptops a very volatile market, year
  by year in 2001
• Compaq (includes DEC) 1 million servers 14
  million PCs worldwide 12 of Australian PC
  market
• Dell 700k servers 11 Australian PC market
• IBM 660,000 servers
• Hewlett-Packard 10 now merged Compaq 2002
• Sun 360,000 workstations 9 Australian PC
  market
• Apple 4 of Australian PC market
• NEC 6 million PCs world
• many other small companies 48 Australian PC
  market, 25 servers, 80 million PCs
• figures from Gartner Group press release web
  pages
• The software market is now where the big money
  flows Microsoft, Oracle
• There are very few chip manufacturers. They
  produce millions.