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Technical Details of the Elliott 152 and 153
Appendix 1 Technical Details of the Elliott 152 and 153 Introduction The Elliott 152 computer was part of the Admiralty’s MRS5 (medium range system 5) naval gunnery project, described in Chap. 2. The Elliott 153 computer, also known as the D/F (direction-finding) computer, was built for GCHQ and the Admiralty as described in Chap. 3. The information in this appendix is intended to supplement the overall descriptions of the machines as given in Chaps. 2 and 3. A1.1 The Elliott 152 Work on the MRS5 contract at Borehamwood began in October 1946 and was essen- tially finished in 1950. Novel target-tracking radar was at the heart of the project, the radar being synchronized to the computer’s clock. In his enthusiasm for perfecting the radar technology, John Coales seems to have spent little time on what we would now call an overall systems design. When Harry Carpenter joined the staff of the Computing Division at Borehamwood on 1 January 1949, he recalls that nobody had yet defined the way in which the control program, running on the 152 computer, would interface with guns and radar. Furthermore, nobody yet appeared to be working on the computational algorithms necessary for three-dimensional trajectory predic- tion. As for the guns that the MRS5 system was intended to control, not even the basic ballistics parameters seemed to be known with any accuracy at Borehamwood [1, 2]. A1.1.1 Communication and Data-Rate The physical separation, between radar in the Borehamwood car park and digital computer in the laboratory, necessitated an interconnecting cable of about 150 m in length. -
Information Technology 3 and 4/1998. Emerging
OCCASION This publication has been made available to the public on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. DISCLAIMER This document has been produced without formal United Nations editing. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrialized” and “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. FAIR USE POLICY Any part of this publication may be quoted and referenced for educational and research purposes without additional permission from UNIDO. However, those who make use of quoting and referencing this publication are requested to follow the Fair Use Policy of giving due credit to UNIDO. CONTACT Please contact [email protected] for further information concerning UNIDO publications. For more information about UNIDO, please visit us at www.unido.org UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 300, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 26026-0 · www.unido.org · [email protected] EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SERIES 3 and 4/1998 Information Technology UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna, 2000 EMERGING TO OUR READERS TECHNOLOGY SERIES Of special interest in this issue of Emerging Technology Series: Information T~chn~~ogy is the focus on a meeting that took INFORMATION place from 2n to 4 November 1998, in Bangalore, India. -
Computer Conservation Society
Issue Number 52 Autumn 2010 Computer Conservation Society Aims and objectives The Computer Conservation Society (CCS) is a co-operative venture between the British Computer Society (BCS), the Science Museum of London and the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. The CCS was constituted in September 1989 as a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society. It is thus covered by the Royal Charter and charitable status of the BCS. The aims of the CCS are: To promote the conservation of historic computers and to identify existing computers which may need to be archived in the future, To develop awareness of the importance of historic computers, To develop expertise in the conservation and restoration of historic computers, To represent the interests of Computer Conservation Society members with other bodies, To promote the study of historic computers, their use and the history of the computer industry, To publish information of relevance to these objectives for the information of Computer Conservation Society members and the wider public. Membership is open to anyone interested in computer conservation and the history of computing. The CCS is funded and supported by voluntary subscriptions from members, a grant from the BCS, fees from corporate membership, donations, and by the free use of the facilities of both museums. Some charges may be made for publications and attendance at seminars and conferences. There are a number of active Projects on specific computer restorations and early computer technologies and software. -
Computer Conservation Society
Issue Number 88 Winter 2019/20 Computer Conservation Society Aims and Objectives The Computer Conservation Society (CCS) is a co-operative venture between BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT; the Science Museum of London; and the Science and Industry Museum (SIM) in Manchester. The CCS was constituted in September 1989 as a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society. It is thus covered by the Royal Charter and charitable status of BCS. The objects of the Computer Conservation Society (“Society”) are: To promote the conservation, restoration and reconstruction of historic computing systems and to identify existing computing systems which may need to be archived in the future; To develop awareness of the importance of historic computing systems; To develop expertise in the conservation, restoration and reconstruction of historic computing systems; To represent the interests of the Society with other bodies; To promote the study of historic computing systems, their use and the history of the computer industry; To publish information of relevance to these objectives for the information of Society members and the wider public. Membership is open to anyone interested in computer conservation and the history of computing. The CCS is funded and supported by a grant from BCS and from donations. There are a number of active projects on specific computer restorations and early computer technologies and software. Younger people are especially encouraged to take part in order to achieve skills transfer. The CCS also enjoys a close relationship with the National Museum of Computing. Resurrection The Journal of the Computer Conservation Society ISSN 0958-7403 Number 88 Winter 2019/20 Contents Society Activity 2 News Round-Up 9 The Data Curator 10 Paul Cockshott From Tea Shops to Computer Company: The Improbable 15 Story of LEO John Aeberhard Book Review: Early Computing in Britain Ferranti Ltd. -
The Profession of IT Multitasking Without Thrashing Lessons from Operating Systems Teach How to Do Multitasking Without Thrashing
viewpoints VDOI:10.1145/3126494 Peter J. Denning The Profession of IT Multitasking Without Thrashing Lessons from operating systems teach how to do multitasking without thrashing. UR INDIVIDUAL ABILITY to The first four destinations basi- mercial world with its OS 360 in 1965. be productive has been cally remove incoming tasks from your Operating systems implement mul- hard stressed by the sheer workspace, the fifth closes quick loops, titasking by cycling a CPU through a load of task requests we and the sixth holds your incomplete list of all incomplete tasks, giving each receive via the Internet. In loops. GTD helps you keep track of one a time slice on the CPU. If the task 2001, David Allen published Getting these unfinished loops. does not complete by the end of its O 1 Things Done, a best-selling book about The idea of tasks being closed loops time slice, the OS interrupts it and puts a system for managing all our tasks to of a conversation between a requester it on the end of the list. To switch the eliminate stress and increase produc- and a perform was first proposed in CPU context, the OS saves all the CPU tivity. Allen claims that a considerable 1979 by Fernando Flores.5 The “condi- registers of the current task and loads amount of stress comes our way when tions of satisfaction” that are produced the registers of the new task. The de- we have too many incomplete tasks. by the performer define loop comple- signers set the time slice length long He views tasks as loops connecting tion and allow tracking the movement enough to keep the total context switch someone making a request and you of the conversation toward completion. -
1St Slide Set Operating Systems
Organizational Information Operating Systems Generations of Computer Systems and Operating Systems 1st Slide Set Operating Systems Prof. Dr. Christian Baun Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (1971–2014: Fachhochschule Frankfurt am Main) Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering [email protected] Prof. Dr. Christian Baun – 1st Slide Set Operating Systems – Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences – WS2021 1/24 Organizational Information Operating Systems Generations of Computer Systems and Operating Systems Organizational Information E-Mail: [email protected] !!! Tell me when problems problems exist at an early stage !!! Homepage: http://www.christianbaun.de !!! Check the course page regularly !!! The homepage contains among others the lecture notes Presentation slides in English and German language Exercise sheets in English and German language Sample solutions of the exercise sheers Old exams and their sample solutions What is the password? There is no password! The content of the English and German slides is identical, but please use the English slides for the exam preparation to become familiar with the technical terms Prof. Dr. Christian Baun – 1st Slide Set Operating Systems – Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences – WS2021 2/24 Organizational Information Operating Systems Generations of Computer Systems and Operating Systems Literature My slide sets were the basis for these books The two-column layout (English/German) of the bilingual book is quite useful for this course You can download both books for free via the FRA-UAS library from the intranet Prof. Dr. Christian Baun – 1st Slide Set Operating Systems – Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences – WS2021 3/24 Organizational Information Operating Systems Generations of Computer Systems and Operating Systems Learning Objectives of this Slide Set At the end of this slide set You know/understand. -
Editors/Translators Foreword
J Comput Virol (2009) 5:1–3 DOI 10.1007/s11416-008-0116-y EDITORIAL Editors/translators Foreword Daniel Bilar · Eric Filiol © Springer-Verlag France 2009 Bereishit In the beginning, there was bureaucracy. I had tried a feeling of nostalgia (and gratitude for Donald Knuth). I set to get major AV companies to give me malware samples to it aside till Christmas break. study in an academic setting, but to no avail: Liability rea- As I worked my way through the thesis over Christmas sons, and their suggestion—trekking back and forth to their break 2006, my cursory curiosity gave way to wonderment, corporate ‘clean’ room—was unpalatable to me. I like flat then awe, then electricity. I felt as if I had stumbled upon hierarchies, so I turned to herm1t. Herm1t runs (singlehand- a 10th century manuscript in an Scottish convent, delineat- edly, with minimal equipment and funds) the labour of love ing the calculus seven hundred years before Leibnitz and known as vxheavens (http://vx.netlux.org), a full-spectrum Newton. Aspects of the history of computer virology had to site dedicated to computer viruses. As quid pro quo, I sent be rewritten and proper due given- what a fortuitous find! him historical papers he sought for his collection. One title, I sent a printed snail mail copy off to herm1t in the Ukraine though, seemed out of reach: A German 1980 MSc thesis by and pondered my next steps. some fellow named Juergen Kraus. In early February, Eric Filiol, after having discovered an A hefty Dortmund package arrived late October 2006. -
Alan Turingturing –– Computercomputer Designerdesigner
AlanAlan TuringTuring –– ComputerComputer DesignerDesigner Brian E. Carpenter with input from Robert W. Doran The University of Auckland May 2012 Turing, the theoretician ● Turing is widely regarded as a pure mathematician. After all, he was a B-star Wrangler (in the same year as Maurice Wilkes) ● “It is possible to invent a single machine which can be used to compute any computable sequence. If this machine U is supplied with the tape on the beginning of which is written the string of quintuples separated by semicolons of some computing machine M, then U will compute the same sequence as M.” (1937) ● So how was he able to write Proposals for development in the Mathematics Division of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) by the end of 1945? 2 Let’s read that carefully ● “It is possible to inventinvent a single machinemachine which can be used to compute any computable sequence. If this machinemachine U is supplied with the tapetape on the beginning of which is writtenwritten the string of quintuples separated by semicolons of some computing machinemachine M, then U will compute the same sequence as M.” ● The founding statement of computability theory was written in entirely physical terms. 3 What would it take? ● A tape on which you can write, read and erase symbols. ● Poulsen demonstrated magnetic wire recording in 1898. ● A way of storing symbols and performing simple logic. ● Eccles & Jordan patented the multivibrator trigger circuit (flip- flop) in 1919. ● Rossi invented the coincidence circuit (AND gate) in 1930. ● Building U in 1937 would have been only slightly more bizarre than building a differential analyser with Meccano. -
Who Did What? Engineers Vs Mathematicians Title Page America Vs Europe Ideas Vs Implementations Babbage Lovelace Turing
Who did what? Engineers vs Mathematicians Title Page America vs Europe Ideas vs Implementations Babbage Lovelace Turing Flowers Atanasoff Berry Zuse Chandler Broadhurst Mauchley & Von Neumann Wilkes Eckert Williams Kilburn SlideSlide 1 1 SlideSlide 2 2 A decade of real progress What remained to be done? A number of different pioneers had during the 1930s and 40s Memory! begun to make significant progress in developing automatic calculators (computers). Thanks (almost entirely) to A.M. Turing there was a complete theoretical understanding of the elements necessary to produce a Atanasoff had pioneered the use of electronics in calculation stored program computer – or Universal Turing Machine. Zuse had mad a number of theoretical breakthroughs Not for the first time, ideas had outstripped technology. Eckert and Mauchley (with JvN) had produced ENIAC and No-one had, by the end of the war, developed a practical store or produced the EDVAC report – spreading the word memory. Newman and Flowers had developed the Colossus It should be noted that not too many people were even working on the problem. SlideSlide 3 3 SlideSlide 4 4 The players Controversy USA: Eckert, Mauchley & von Neumann – EDVAC Fall out over the EDVAC report UK: Maurice Wilkes – EDSAC Takeover of the SSEM project by Williams (Kilburn) UK: Newman – SSEM (what was the role of Colossus?) Discord on the ACE project and the departure of Turing UK: Turing - ACE EDSAC alone was harmonious We will concentrate for a little while on the SSEM – the winner! SlideSlide 5 5 SlideSlide 6 6 1 Newman & technology transfer: Secret Technology Transfer? the claim Donald Michie : Cryptanalyst An enormous amount was transferred in an extremely seminal way to the post war developments of computers in Britain. -
Social Construction and the British Computer Industry in the Post-World War II Period
The rhetoric of Americanisation: Social construction and the British computer industry in the Post-World War II period By Robert James Kirkwood Reid Submitted to the University of Glasgow for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economic History Department of Economic and Social History September 2007 1 Abstract This research seeks to understand the process of technological development in the UK and the specific role of a ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’ in that process. The concept of a ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’ will be developed throughout the thesis through a study into the computer industry in the UK in the post-war period . Specifically, the thesis discusses the threat of America, or how actors in the network of innovation within the British computer industry perceived it as a threat and the effect that this perception had on actors operating in the networks of construction in the British computer industry. However, the reaction to this threat was not a simple one. Rather this story is marked by sectional interests and technopolitical machination attempting to capture this rhetoric of ‘threat’ and ‘falling behind’. In this thesis the concept of ‘threat’ and ‘falling behind’, or more simply the ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’, will be explored in detail and the effect this had on the development of the British computer industry. What form did the process of capture and modification by sectional interests within government and industry take and what impact did this have on the British computer industry? In answering these questions, the thesis will first develop a concept of a British culture of computing which acts as the surface of emergence for various ideologies of innovation within the social networks that made up the computer industry in the UK. -
A DATA DEFINITION FACILITY for PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES By
A DATA DEFINITION FACILITY FOR PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES by T. A. Standish Carnegie Institute of Technology ....... PittsbUrgh, Pennsylvania May 18, 1967 Submitted to the Carnegie Institute of Technology ....... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy This work was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (SD-146). Abstract This dissertation presents a descriptive notation for data structures which is embedded in a programming language in such a way that the resulting language behaves as a synthetic tool for describing data and processes in a number of application areas. A series of examples including formulae, lists, flow charts, Algol text, files, matrices, organic molecules and complex variables is presented to explore the use of this tool. In addition, a small formal treatment is given dealing with the equivalence of evaluators and their data structures. -ii- Table of Contents Title Page ....................... i Abstract ........................ ii Table of Contents .................... iii Acknowledgments .................... v Chapter I. Introduction .................. 1 Chapter II. A Selective Review of the Work of Others ...... 17 Chapter III. The Data Definition Facility ........... 25 1. Chapter Summary .............. 25 2. General Description .............. 25 3. Component Descriptions ........... 30 4. Elementary Descriptors ........... 34 5. Modified Descriptors ............ 40 6. Descriptor Formulae ............ 48 7. Declaring Descriptor Variables. and Descriptor Procedures ......... 51 8. Predicates, Selectors, Constructors and Declarations ............. 53 9. Constructors ............... 53 10. Selectors ................. 58 11. Predicates ................ 60 12. Declarations ............... 64 13. Reference Variables, Pointer Expressions and the Contents Operation ......... 65 14. Overlay Assignments, Sharing of Structures and Copying of Structures .......... 68 - iii- Table of Contents, Continued 15. -
BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications
BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications San Jacinto College This course was developed from generally available open educational resources (OER) in use at multiple institutions, drawing mostly from a primary work curated by the Extended Learning Institute (ELI) at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), but also including additional open works from various sources as noted in attributions on each page of materials. Cover Image: “Keyboard” by John Ward from https://flic.kr/p/tFuRZ licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications by Extended Learning Institute (ELI) at NOVA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. CONTENTS Module 1: Introduction to Computers ..........................................................................................1 • Reading: File systems ....................................................................................................................................... 1 • Reading: Basic Computer Skills ........................................................................................................................ 1 • Reading: Computer Concepts ........................................................................................................................... 1 • Tutorials: Computer Basics................................................................................................................................ 1 Module 2: Computer