Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing
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Microprocessors History of Computing Nouf Assaid
MICROPROCESSORS HISTORY OF COMPUTING NOUF ASSAID 1 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Brief History 2 Microprocessors 7 Instruction Set Architectures 8 Von Neumann Machine 9 Microprocessor Design 12 Superscalar 13 RISC 16 CISC 20 VLIW 23 Multiprocessor 24 Future Trends in Microprocessor Design 25 2 Introduction If we take a look around us, we would be sure to find a device that uses a microprocessor in some form or the other. Microprocessors have become a part of our daily lives and it would be difficult to imagine life without them today. From digital wrist watches, to pocket calculators, from microwaves, to cars, toys, security systems, navigation, to credit cards, microprocessors are ubiquitous. All this has been made possible by remarkable developments in semiconductor technology enabling in the last 30 years, enabling the implementation of ideas that were previously beyond the average computer architect’s grasp. In this paper, we discuss the various microprocessor technologies, starting with a brief history of computing. This is followed by an in-depth look at processor architecture, design philosophies, current design trends, RISC processors and CISC processors. Finally we discuss trends and directions in microprocessor design. Brief Historical Overview Mechanical Computers A French engineer by the name of Blaise Pascal built the first working mechanical computer. This device was made completely from gears and was operated using hand cranks. This machine was capable of simple addition and subtraction, but a few years later, a German mathematician by the name of Leibniz made a similar machine that could multiply and divide as well. After about 150 years, a mathematician at Cambridge, Charles Babbage made his Difference Engine. -
Analytical Engine, 1838 ALLAN G
Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, 1838 ALLAN G. BROMLEY Charles Babbage commenced work on the design of the Analytical Engine in 1834 following the collapse of the project to build the Difference Engine. His ideas evolved rapidly, and by 1838 most of the important concepts used in his later designs were established. This paper introduces the design of the Analytical Engine as it stood in early 1838, concentrating on the overall functional organization of the mill (or central processing portion) and the methods generally used for the basic arithmetic operations of multiplication, division, and signed addition. The paper describes the working of the mechanisms that Babbage devised for storing, transferring, and adding numbers and how they were organized together by the “microprogrammed” control system; the paper also introduces the facilities provided for user- level programming. The intention of the paper is to show that an automatic computing machine could be built using mechanical devices, and that Babbage’s designs provide both an effective set of basic mechanisms and a workable organization of a complete machine. Categories and Subject Descriptors: K.2 [History of Computing]- C. Babbage, hardware, software General Terms: Design Additional Key Words and Phrases: Analytical Engine 1. Introduction 1838. During this period Babbage appears to have made no attempt to construct the Analytical Engine, Charles Babbage commenced work on the design of but preferred the unfettered intellectual exploration of the Analytical Engine shortly after the collapse in 1833 the concepts he was evolving. of the lo-year project to build the Difference Engine. After 1849 Babbage ceased designing calculating He was at the time 42 years o1d.l devices. -
United States District Court District of Massachusetts
Case 1:16-cv-11613-RGS Document 51 Filed 02/14/17 Page 1 of 28 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS CIVIL ACTION NO. 16-11613-RGS EGENERA, INC. v. CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS February 14, 2017 STEARNS, D.J. The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error, is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself. This desire has led to the design and construction of a variety of aids to calculation, beginning with groups of small objects, such as pebbles, first used loosely, later as counters on ruled boards, and later still as beads mounted on wires fixed in a frame, as in the abacus. ─ Howard Aiken, father of the Mark I IBM computer1 Beginning with the invention by Blaise Pascal of the mechanical calculator, and culminating in our times with the integrated circuit-based computer, the ability of modern computers to aid human beings in performing tasks requiring the processing of large amounts of data has, as 1 In Zenon W. Pylyshyn & Liam J. Bannon, Perspectives on the Computer Revolution (1989). Case 1:16-cv-11613-RGS Document 51 Filed 02/14/17 Page 2 of 28 Gordon Moore predicted, grown exponentially as transistors have miniaturized, while doubling in capacity roughly every eighteen months since 1965. In 1874, Frank Stephen Baldwin was granted the first American patent (No. 153,522) for a calculating machine, the arithmometer. The number of “calculator patents” granted since is impossible to estimate accurately, but certainly runs to the hundreds of thousands. -
Finding a Story for the History of Computing 2018
Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Thomas Haigh Finding a Story for the History of Computing 2018 https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/3796 Angenommene Version / accepted version Working Paper Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Haigh, Thomas: Finding a Story for the History of Computing. Siegen: Universität Siegen: SFB 1187 Medien der Kooperation 2018 (Working paper series / SFB 1187 Medien der Kooperation 3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/3796. Erstmalig hier erschienen / Initial publication here: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:467-13377 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Creative Commons - This document is made available under a creative commons - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0/ Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivatives 4.0/ License. For Lizenz zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu dieser Lizenz more information see: finden Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Finding a Story for the History of Computing Thomas Haigh University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee & University of Siegen WORKING PAPER SERIES | NO. 3 | JULY 2018 Collaborative Research Center 1187 Media of Cooperation Sonderforschungsbereich 1187 Medien der Kooperation Working Paper Series Collaborative Research Center 1187 Media of Cooperation Print-ISSN 2567 – 2509 Online-ISSN 2567 – 2517 URN urn :nbn :de :hbz :467 – 13377 This work is licensed under the Creative Publication of the series is funded by the German Re- Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- search Foundation (DFG). No Derivatives 4.0 International License. The Arpanet Logical Map, February, 1978 on the titl e This Working Paper Series is edited by the Collabora- page is taken from: Bradley Fidler and Morgan Currie, tive Research Center Media of Cooperation and serves “Infrastructure, Representation, and Historiography as a platform to circulate work in progress or preprints in BBN’s Arpanet Maps”, IEEE Annals of the History of in order to encourage the exchange of ideas. -
Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records, 1915-1926, Undated
Loyola University Chicago ~ Archives and Special Collections UA1980.38 Dorr Felt Collection Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records Dates: 1915-1926, Undated Creator: Felt, Dorr (1862-1930) Extent: 1 linear foot Level of description: Folder Processor & date: Meredith Gozo, May 2012; Ashley Howdeshell, January 2013; Andrew Paddock, November 2014 Administration Information Restrictions: No restrictions. Copyright: Consult archivist for information. Citation: Loyola University Chicago University Archives and Special Collections. Dorr Felt Collection, Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records, 1915-1926, Undated. Box #. Folder #. Provenance: Records transferred to Loyola University Archives in November 1955 by Raymond Koch, son-in-law of Dorr Felt and then president of Felt and Tarrant Mfg. Co. Separations: No separations. See Also: Dorr E. Felt Collection – United States Employers’ Commission to Europe, 1918-1920; Dorr E. Felt Collection – Railroad Strikes, 1916-1921; Dorr E. Felt Collection – International Trade and Labor Conferences, 1919-1921; Dorr E. Felt Collection – World War I, 1909-1930 Biographical Sketch Dorr Eugene Felt was born in Rock County, Wisconsin on March 18, 1862. At fourteen he began working in a machine shop in Beloit, Wisconsin. He moved to Chicago in 1882 and obtained work as a mechanic. A perceptive and skilled worker with an entrepreneurial spirit, in his free time Felt devised and constructed a computation device out of such crude materials as a macaroni box, rubber bands, and metal skewers. Felt called the machine a Comptometer. A mechanical calculator, the Comptometer was the first mechanical calculator to greatly improve upon the first mechanical computing device created, the arithmometer, which was first commercially distributed in 1851. -
The History of Computing in the History of Technology
The History of Computing in the History of Technology Michael S. Mahoney Program in History of Science Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (Annals of the History of Computing 10(1988), 113-125) After surveying the current state of the literature in the history of computing, this paper discusses some of the major issues addressed by recent work in the history of technology. It suggests aspects of the development of computing which are pertinent to those issues and hence for which that recent work could provide models of historical analysis. As a new scientific technology with unique features, computing in turn can provide new perspectives on the history of technology. Introduction record-keeping by a new industry of data processing. As a primary vehicle of Since World War II 'information' has emerged communication over both space and t ime, it as a fundamental scientific and technological has come to form the core of modern concept applied to phenomena ranging from information technolo gy. What the black holes to DNA, from the organization of English-speaking world refers to as "computer cells to the processes of human thought, and science" is known to the rest of western from the management of corporations to the Europe as informatique (or Informatik or allocation of global resources. In addition to informatica). Much of the concern over reshaping established disciplines, it has information as a commodity and as a natural stimulated the formation of a panoply of new resource derives from the computer and from subjects and areas of inquiry concerned with computer-based communications technolo gy. -
Implications of Historical Trends in the Electrical Efficiency of Computing
[3B2-9] man2011030046.3d 29/7/011 10:35 Page 46 Implications of Historical Trends in the Electrical Efficiency of Computing Jonathan G. Koomey Stanford University Stephen Berard Microsoft Marla Sanchez Carnegie Mellon University Henry Wong Intel The electrical efficiency of computation has doubled roughly every year and a half for more than six decades, a pace of change compa- rable to that for computer performance and electrical efficiency in the microprocessor era. These efficiency improvements enabled the cre- ation of laptops, smart phones, wireless sensors, and other mobile computing devices, with many more such innovations yet to come. Valentine’s day 1946 was a pivotal date in trends in chip production.2 (It has also some- human history. It was on that day that the times served as a benchmark for progress in US War Department formally announced chip design, which we discuss more later on the existence of the Electronic Numerical in this article.) As Gordon Moore put it in Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).1 ENIAC’s his original article, ‘‘The complexity [of inte- computational engine had no moving parts grated circuits] for minimum component and used electrical pulses for its logical oper- costs has increased at a rate of roughly a fac- ations. Earlier computing devices relied on tor of two per year,’’3 where complexity is mechanical relays and possessed computa- defined as the number of components (not tional speeds three orders of magnitude just transistors) per chip. slower than ENIAC. The original statement of Moore’s law has Moving electrons is inherently faster than been modified over the years in several differ- moving atoms, and shifting to electronic digital ent ways, as previous research has estab- computing began a march toward ever-greater lished.4,5 The trend, as Moore initially defined and cheaper computational power that contin- it, relates to the minimum component costs ues even to this day. -
Die Gruncllehren Cler Mathematischen Wissenschaften
Die Gruncllehren cler mathematischen Wissenschaften in Einzeldarstellungen mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Anwendungsgebiete Band 135 Herausgegeben von J. L. Doob . E. Heinz· F. Hirzebruch . E. Hopf . H. Hopf W. Maak . S. Mac Lane • W. Magnus. D. Mumford M. M. Postnikov . F. K. Schmidt· D. S. Scott· K. Stein Geschiiftsfiihrende Herausgeber B. Eckmann und B. L. van der Waerden Handbook for Automatic Computation Edited by F. L. Bauer· A. S. Householder· F. W. J. Olver H. Rutishauser . K. Samelson· E. Stiefel Volume I . Part a Heinz Rutishauser Description of ALGOL 60 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1967 Prof. Dr. H. Rutishauser Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich Geschaftsfuhrende Herausgeber: Prof. Dr. B. Eckmann Eidgenossische Tecbnische Hocbscbule Zurich Prof. Dr. B. L. van der Waerden Matbematisches Institut der Universitat ZUrich Aile Rechte, insbesondere das der Obersetzung in fremde Spracben, vorbebalten Ohne ausdriickliche Genehmigung des Verlages ist es auch nicht gestattet, dieses Buch oder Teile daraus auf photomechaniscbem Wege (Photokopie, Mikrokopie) oder auf andere Art zu vervielfaltigen ISBN-13: 978-3-642-86936-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-86934-1 DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-86934-1 © by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1967 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1%7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-13537 Titel-Nr. 5l1B Preface Automatic computing has undergone drastic changes since the pioneering days of the early Fifties, one of the most obvious being that today the majority of computer programs are no longer written in machine code but in some programming language like FORTRAN or ALGOL. However, as desirable as the time-saving achieved in this way may be, still a high proportion of the preparatory work must be attributed to activities such as error estimates, stability investigations and the like, and for these no programming aid whatsoever can be of help. -
A Short History of Computing
A Short History of Computing 01/15/15 1 Jacques de Vaucanson 1709-1782 • Gifted French artist and inventor • Son of a glove-maker, aspired to be a clock- maker • 1727-1743 – Created a series of mechanical automations that simulated life. • Best remembered is the “Digesting Duck”, which had over 400 parts. • Also worked to automate looms, creating the first automated loom in 1745. 01/15/15 2 1805 - Jacquard Loom • First fully automated and programmable loom • Used punch cards to “program” the pattern to be woven into cloth 01/15/15 3 Charles Babbage 1791-1871 • English mathematician, engineer, philosopher and inventor. • Originated the concept of the programmable computer, and designed one. • Could also be a Jerk. 01/15/15 4 1822 – Difference Engine Numerical tables were constructed by hand using large numbers of human “computers” (one who computes). Annoyed by the many human errors this produced, Charles Babbage designed a “difference engine” that could calculate values of polynomial functions. It was never completed, although much work was done and money spent. Book Recommendation: The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer by Doron Swade 01/15/15 5 1837 – Analytical Engine Charles Babbage first described a general purpose analytical engine in 1837, but worked on the design until his death in 1871. It was never built due to lack of manufacturing precision. As designed, it would have been programmed using punch-cards and would have included features such as sequential control, loops, conditionals and branching. If constructed, it would have been the first “computer” as we think of them today. -
History in the Computing Curriculum 6000 BC to 1899 AD
History in the Computing Curriculum Appendix A1 6000 BC to 1899 AD 6000 B.C. [ca]: Ishango bone type of tally stick in use. (w) 4000-1200 B.C.: Inhabitants of the first known civilization in Sumer keep records of commercial transactions on clay tablets. (e) 3000 B.C.: The abacus is invented in Babylonia. (e) 1800 B.C.: Well-developed additive number system in use in Egypt. (w) 1300 B.C.: Direct evidence exists as to the Chinese using a positional number system. (w) 600 B.C. [ca.]: Major developments start to take place in Chinese arithmetic. (w) 250-230 B.C.: The Sieve of Eratosthenes is used to determine prime numbers. (e) 213 B.C.: Chi-Hwang-ti orders all books in China to be burned and scholars to be put to death. (w) 79 A.D. [ca.]: "Antikythera Device," when set correctly according to latitude and day of the week, gives alternating 29- and 30-day lunar months. (e) 800 [ca.]: Chinese start to use a zero, probably introduced from India. (w) 850 [ca.]: Al-Khowarizmi publishes his "Arithmetic." (w) 1000 [ca.]: Gerbert describes an abacus using apices. (w) 1120: Adelard of Bath publishes "Dixit Algorismi," his translation of Al-Khowarizmi's "Arithmetic." (w) 1200: First minted jetons appear in Italy. (w) 1202: Fibonacci publishes his "Liber Abaci." (w) 1220: Alexander De Villa Dei publishes "Carmen de Algorismo." (w) 1250: Sacrobosco publishes his "Algorismus Vulgaris." (w) 1300 [ca.]: Modern wire-and-bead abacus replaces the older Chinese calculating rods. (e,w) 1392: Geoffrey Chaucer publishes the first English-language description on the uses of an astrolabe. -
Oral History Interview with David J. Wheeler
An Interview with DAVID J. WHEELER OH 132 Conducted by William Aspray on 14 May 1987 Princeton, NJ Charles Babbage Institute The Center for the History of Information Processing University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Copyright, Charles Babbage Institute 1 David J. Wheeler Interview 14 May 1987 Abstract Wheeler, who was a research student at the University Mathematical Laboratory at Cambridge from 1948-51, begins with a discussion of the EDSAC project during his tenure. He compares the research orientation and the programming methods at Cambridge with those at the Institute for Advanced Study. He points out that, while the Cambridge group was motivated to process many smaller projects from the larger university community, the Institute was involved with a smaller number of larger projects. Wheeler mentions some of the projects that were run on the EDSAC, the user-oriented programming methods that developed at the laboratory, and the influence of the EDSAC model on the ILLIAC, the ORDVAC, and the IBM 701. He also discusses the weekly meetings held in conjunction with the National Physical Laboratory, the University of Birmingham, and the Telecommunications Research Establishment. These were attended by visitors from other British institutions as well as from the continent and the United States. Wheeler notes visits by Douglas Hartree (of Cavendish Laboratory), Nelson Blackman (of ONR), Peter Naur, Aad van Wijngarden, Arthur van der Poel, Friedrich L. Bauer, and Louis Couffignal. In the final part of the interview Wheeler discusses his visit to Illinois where he worked on the ILLIAC and taught from September 1951 to September 1953. 2 DAVID J. -
The Education Column
The Education Column by Juraj Hromkovicˇ Department of Computer Science ETH Zürich Universitätstrasse 6, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland [email protected] Informatics –New Basic Subject Walter Gander Department of Computer Science ETH Zürich [email protected] Abstract Informatics, as Computer Science is called in Europe, has become a leading science. It is high time that it be adopted as a basic subject in schools like mathematics or physics. We discuss in this article some recent develop- ments in Europe concerning informatics in schools. 1 Computers have been invented for computing! The first computers were calculating machines designed to solve engineering problems faster and with fewer errors. Consider for instance two typical repre- sentatives of computer pioneers: 1. Howard Aiken (1900-1973), a physicist, who encountered a system of dif- ferential equations during his PhD studies in 1939 which could not be solved analytically. He therefore needed to compute a numerical approximation, a tedious work by hand calculations. He envisioned an electro-mechanical computing device that could do much of the tedious work for him. This computer was originally called the ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator) and later renamed Harvard Mark I. With engineering, construction, and funding from IBM, the machine was completed and installed at Harvard in February, 1944.1 2. Konrad Zuse (1910-1995), civil engineer, had to solve linear equations for static calculations. This tedious calculations motivated him to think about constructing a machine to do this work. Unlike Aiken he did not look for a sponsor but installed 1936 a workshop for constructing a computer in the living room of his parents! [8] 1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_H._Aiken His greatest achievement was the world’s first programmable computer; the functional program-controlled Turing-complete Z3 became operational in May 1941.