CS154A History of Computation

Thaddeus AidDepartment of Computer Science

San Jose State UniversitySpring 2016

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Why Study Computer Science?

•The point is not to understand the world, but to transform it. ~ Karl Marx

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Before History….• Before numbers…..

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Source Wikipedia Commons

Then comes…• The tally sticks led to numbers, and numbers lead to mathematics• The formalization of numbers allowed for the discovery of arithmetic• The Hindu-Arabic numbering system allowed for the further development of

math• There is quite a lot that you can figure out with some numbers, some

operators, a piece of paper, and a stick of charcoal

• The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers. ~ Richard Hamming

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• [Computer science] is not really about computers -- and it's not about computers in the same sense that physics is not really about particle accelerators, and biology is not about microscopes and Petri dishes...and geometry isn't really about using surveying instruments. ~ Hal Abelson

• So what is Computer Science about?• Understanding problems in order to solve them.

• Is it a science? A math? An engineering discipline?• It is all of these, every computer built and every program engineered is an empirical

experiment into the realm of nature and mathematics. Does this experiment work?

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2400 BCE – The Babylonian Abacus

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100 CE - The Antikythera mechanism

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200 CE – The Chinese Abacus

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1000 CE – The Astrolabe

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1100 CE - The Torquetum

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Islamic Robots?• During this time, Islamic scholars also built analogue constructs that

could do a number of things like play flute.• Islamic Scholars also built the “Castle Clock” which could be

programmed to strike a gong/bell/noise maker in order to call Muslims to prayer at the right times of day.

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1822 CE – Charles Babbage's Difference Engine

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Babbage and Lovelace• Charles Babbage came up with the idea of a machine that could be

used to solve complex equations.• Ada Lovelace came up with the idea of using repeatable programs to

change the function of the machine. She is the mother of programming.

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1837 CE – Babbage’s Analytical Engine

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23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954 Alan Turing

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Turing• Mathematician• Logician• Cryptanalyst• Computer Scientist• Theoretical Biologist• Formalized the Algorithm• Formalized Computability• Artificial Intelligence

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The Enigma and Bletchley Park

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1947 CE – The Transistor

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1951 CE - UNIVAC

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1955 CE – The Pilot ACE

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1958 CE – The Integrated Circuit

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Dec 9, 1906 – Jan 1, 1992 – Admiral “Amazing” Grace Hopper

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Grace Hopper nee Murray• Early programmer• Invented the compiler• Lead the effort to build FORTRAN and COBOL• Coined the term “debugging”

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1957 CE - Fortran• Formula Translation• First Compiled Language• Considered one of the fastest languages in the world• Imperetive

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1958 - LISP• List Processor• Favored language for AI

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1959 CE - COBOL• Targeted business needs• Procedural

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1962 - Simula• The introduction of Object Oriented Programming

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1964 - Speakeasy• Object Oriented Numerical package• Lead to modern languages like Matlab and Mathmatica

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1969 - C• Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson developed this systems

programming language at Bell Labs.• It is hard to overestimate the influence that C has had on the world.

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1972 - Prolog• Logic Programming

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More languages• 1980 C++• 1984 Matlab• 1986 Objective C• 1987 Perl• 1990 Haskell• 1991 Python• 1995 Java• 2007 Clojure

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