CSCI 1200Introduction to Computing for

Non Majors

CHAPTER 1

Tami Meredith, Ph.D.tami.meredith@live.com

Chapter 1 Objectives Consider digital technology’s (i.e.,

computers, networking) role in our lives. Understand a bit of computer history. Describe the major types of computers. Critique and discuss the value, impact,

and relevance of issues presented in the text.

Discuss the social and ethical impact of information technology on our society.

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Question Everything!

Anyone can state "Computers are important" …

You should immediately question this claim … "HOW are they important?"

And then, you can discuss the merits of specific, accurate, statements for which proof, evidence, or data exists and can be interpreted.

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Bleeding Edge vs. Luddites

Luddites are those who shun new technology or accept it grudgingly.

The Bleeding Edge is where new technology arises (and it is frequently hazardous, hence Bleeding and not Leading).

Both stances are dangerous. What is important is that you can see

dangers/risks/rewards/benefits for adopting or not adopting technology.

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A Grain of Salt

The textbook is pro-technology. While there is not doubt that computers

are a major influence on our lives, are they truly as impactful as … the T.V., the phone, the automobile?

Times change and the book reflects a very current perspective which may not survive (c.f., flying boats, telegrams, VHS).

Skepticism can be healthy.5

Living in a Digital World

Computers are everywhere. Our lives are directly affected when they do

not operate. Computers have infiltrated our lives so we do

not know how to function without them … (or is it just inconvenient?)

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Digital Devices

Digital: ALL data within a computer is stored as numbers. We have various different ways of assigning meaning to the numbers.

For example:› ASCII is how we associate letters with numbers

so we can store words.› Colours are encoded with RGB values.› Sounds are encoded by fixed frequency sampling

of pitch values. There are formats to represent pretty much

anything using just numbers. 7

Computers in Perspective

Computers have been with us for a short time but are built on centuries of insight and effort.

Early humans counted with fingers or rocks. The abacus was used by Babylonians and

Chinese for thousands of years. By early 19th century, the need for more

accurate calculating tools became evident. Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace imagined

the construction of the Analytical Engine.

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Foundations Pascaline - Pascal, 1642.

› Mechanical, adds and subtracts. 4-Function Calculator - Liebniz, 1671.

› Also did multiplication and division. Jacquard Loom - Jacquard, 1801.

› Variable programs using punched cards.

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Pascaline (1642)

Outside

Inside

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Jacquard Loom Card, 1860

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Difference Engine Charles Babbage, 1822. Mechanical, could add and subtract. Using “finite differences” (a type of calculus) it

could do other things (e.g., trigonometry) as well.

Largest could work with 15 digit numbers. 20 digit version abandoned after 20 years of

failure;Much too hard to construct!

“Good only for calculating the cost of how much money had been spent to construct it.” British PM

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Difference Engine No. 2

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Analytic Engine

Charles Babbage, 1834. General purpose calculator (designed but

not built -- technology not available at the time).

Store: Memory with pascaline-like wheels, Mill: 4 operation ‘arithmetic unit,’ Operation Cards: To select operation, Variable Cards: To determine where in the

‘store’ values should placed, and Output: Punched card printing device.

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Z3

Konrad Zuse, 1941 (Germany). Electromechanical relays. Punched tape input device. Results displayed by light bulbs. First functioning general purpose

program controlled computer. Destroyed in WW2.

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Konrad Zuse and his Z3

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Turing's Colossus

Completed in December 1943. Used by the British to break Nazi codes

during WW2. Destroyed (including plans) at end of the

war which prevent it gaining recognition it deserved.

Alan Turing helped with the design and theory.

1600 vacuum tubes, paper tape input, printer, Boolean logic.

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Colossus:1943, Bletchley Park

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Mark 1

Howard Aiken, 1944 (Harvard, USA). Decimal digit counter wheels. Electromechanical relays. Could hold 72, 23-digit numbers. Paper tape programs. Could add in 6 seconds, divide in 12. 5 to 10 operations a minute (.167 Hz)!

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Aiken: Harvard IBM Mark 1

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Eniac

Mauchly and Eckert, 1946.Electronic Numerical Integrator And

Calculator First general purpose electronic digital

computer. 30 tons, 18,000 vacuum tubes,

140 KW/hour, 15,000 feet of floor space.

5000 additions per second (5000 Hz).21

Eniac

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History of Computing

1939—Atanasoff-Berry Computer created not programmable though, solves systems of linear

equations only 1943—Alan Turing developed Colossus to assist

in code breaking › First Programmable Electronic Digital Computer

1944—Mark I completed to compute ballistics tables

1945—ENIAC completed 1951—UNIVAC I (the first general-purpose

commercial computer) was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau

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Computers in PerspectiveComputer hardware

• Early computers used vacuum tubes.• Tubes were replaced by transistors.• By mid-1960s, more powerful machines

were based on integrated circuits—small silicon chips containing hundreds of transistors.

• Today, the most powerful CPU (Intel 18 core Xeon Haswell-EP) has 5.5 billion transistors+.

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Computers in Perspective Benefits of integrated circuits

› Reliability: Less prone to failure› Size: Single chips could replace entire

boards› Speed: Electricity had shorter distances

to travel› Efficiency: Small chips used less

electrical power and created less heat› Cost: Mass production techniques made it

easy to manufacture inexpensive chips

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Moore's Law

The computing power of a chip will approximately double every 2 years.

First stated in 1965. Can it hold forever? It has up until now but …

› There is a physical limit on the minimum size of a transistor,

› There is a maximum speed for an electron, and › Fundamental properties exist for materials

(melting points),

these facts suggest that limits exist and will be reached, perhaps as soon as 2020?

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Embedded Systems

Embedded system: A microprocessor used as a component of a larger system

More than 90% of microprocessors are hidden inside common household and electronic devices:› Thermostats, traffic lights, cars› Wristwatches, toys, game machines› TVs, camcorders, ovens

Anything powered by electricity, battery or house current, is candidate for a microprocessor implant.

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Personal Computers Personal computer: Designed to be used by one

person at a time› Tool for enhancing productivity, creativity, communication› DOES NOT properly mean "Runs MS Windows" though

that's what it has come to mean informally. That is, a Mac is a PC since it's for personal use.

Desktop computer has several components and is not portable:› Tower (containing microprocessor and other components)› Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers

Some house all components in monitor casing

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Workstations

Workstation: A high-end desktop computer with massive computing power.› Used for computationally intensive

interactive applications› Large-scale scientific data analysis

Line separating workstations and desktop computers becoming less distinct.

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Portable Computers Laptop computers—

sometimes called notebook computers—designed for portability.

Netbooks are extra-small, extra-light, no-frills computers (and most are practically useless).

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Handheld Devices Personal digital

assistants (PDAs) – Obsolete.

Smart phones combine the functions of a phone, camera, PDA, game machine, and music/video player.

Tablet computers bridge the gap between smart phone and notebook.

Smart phone

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Servers

Server: A computer that provides other computers connected to a network with access to data, programs, and other resources

Any desktop computer can be used as a server but some are specifically designed for this purpose.

Servers have faster processors, more memory, or faster network connections.

Often clustered together in groups to increase processing power.

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Google: Server Node (partial)

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Mainframes

Mainframes: Room-sized computers with price tags to match.

Before microcomputers, most information processing was done on mainframe computers.

Today mainframe computers are used by large organizations, such as airlines and banks.

Mainframe computers can communicate with several users simultaneously through timesharing.

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Supercomputers

Typical supercomputer is constructed out of thousands of microprocessors.

Power users with special requirements need access to fastest, most powerful computers.

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Titan: 18688 GPU & CPUs

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Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution

Work began on experimental network in the in late 1960s as it evolved it became known as the Internet.

The Internet refers to computers that are connected with the TCP/IP set of communication protocols.

The World Wide Web is a suite of software that exists computers connected to the Internet.

WWW ≠ Internet37

Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution (cont.)

Growth of the Internet› Widespread email and Web use› Few million users in 1990s—about two billion

users today› Internet’s population reflects population at

large› More than half are now female – BUT serious

gender disparity still exists in computing and the problem isn't necessarily getting better

› Areas with no Internet access are harder to find

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Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution (cont.)

Web 2.0 sites are built around contributions from Web users.

Web as a platform for other applications.

For example:› My Space› Facebook› Twitter› YouTube› Google Maps

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Into the Information Age 10,000 years ago, people learned to

domesticate animals and grow their own food.

Agricultural age: Lasted until about 200 years ago.

Industrial age: Advances in machine technology ushered in this age.

Information age: A convergence of computer and network technology—where most people earn their living working with words, numbers, and ideas.

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Data vs. Information

Data is some set of facts, e.g., all the scores of students on the midterm, number of visitors to a website.

Information is when data is structured, processed, or organised to make it useful, e.g., the class average, the rate of change for Canadian visitors to that site.

Computers need data, humans need information.

Data is the building block and information is what is built with it.

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Living with Digital Technology

In 1943, Thomas Watson, Sr., declared that the world would not need more than five computers.

Since then, computers have evolved from massive, expensive, unreliable calculators into (mostly) dependable, versatile machines.

Who could have imagined netbooks, iPhones, PlayStations, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, eBay, robot moon rovers, or laserguided “smart bombs”?

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Beam me up, Scotty …

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Phases of the Information Age

1. Institutional computing phase, starting about 1950: large, expensive mainframes.

2. Personal computing phase, starting about 1975: millions of PCs joined mainframes.

3. Interpersonal computing phase, starting about 1995: networks connected the PCs and mainframes.

4. Collaborative computing phase, starting about 2005: smart phones, tablets, and other digital devices join PCs on the Internet; migration to Internet “cloud.”

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What is "The Cloud" In networking, a cloud was typically

used to represent the network. Thus, data that is stored somewhere else on someone else's computer is now considered as "in the cloud."

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Explanations: Clarifying Technology

Computer hardware and software details change every few years.

Internet applications (e.g., the web) is evolving even faster.

Most of the underlying concepts remain constant.

It is important to understand the basics to keep up with the changes.

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Applications: Digital Technology in Action

Everyone can benefit from knowing the following:› Network applications› Word processing and desktop publishing› Spreadsheets and databases› Graphics and image processing› Audio, video, and multimedia› Programming and customized problem

solving› Artificial intelligence

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What I think is important

Problem solving Self-directed learning Courage and fearlessness Attention to detail, meticulousness Understanding risk and its impacts Managing(and understanding) tradeoffs Data management

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Risks of Technology

Threat to personal privacy Hazards of high-tech crime Difficulty of defining and protecting intellectual property Threat of automation and the dehumanization of work Abuse of information for political and economic power Dangers of dependence on complex technology Emergence of biodigital technology

Instead of asking "how do we do it" perhaps there needs to be more "should we do it?"

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Know the rules and the law. Be prepared to accept the consequences for breaking the law, however "justified" it may seem.

Computer ethics are nothing fundamentally new. The issues we face are simply repackaging of past issues in a modern guise.

Information loss and theft, identity theft, piracy, copyright violation, spam, ToS and license agreements … all existed before computing.

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Computer Ethics

History of the Future

Today’s technology raises fascinating and difficult questions.

We will need to deal with even more difficult questions as technology evolves.

Exponential growth in computing power makes it likely that we will see technology that was once considered far-fetched in our everyday lives.

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Chapter 1 Summary Mechanical computing devices date back

hundreds of years. First electronic computers were developed

during 1940s. Computers have evolved at an incredible

pace, becoming consistently smaller, faster, more efficient, more reliable, and less expensive.

Computers today come in all shapes and sizes with specific types suited for particular jobs.

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Summary Connecting to a network enhances the

value and power of a computer. Computers share resources with other

computers and facilitate electronic communication with other users.

The Internet is a collection of networks connecting computers and other devices around the globe.

The WWW is a set of applications built on top of the Internet.

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Summary Our civilization is in a transition from an

industrial economy to an information economy – but can you eat information?

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, offer promise for future applications.

At the same time, computers threaten our privacy, our security, and perhaps our way of life.

Our future depends on our choices and our application of our tools.

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