Introduction to Computers and Programming

1. Introduction to Computers and Programming

2. What are humankind’s greatest inventions?

3. What are humankind’s greatest inventions? • Wheel? • Fire? • Cotton gin? • Light bulb? • Disneyland? • Microscope? • Television?

4. What are humankind’s greatest inventions? • ? • ? • ?

5. What are humankind’s greatest inventions? • Language (first spoken, then written) • Mathematics • Computer

6. The invention of the computer

7. The invention of the computer • 1945 – Eckert & Mauchly built ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Calculator) at Penn • 1951 – E&M built UNIVAC I for Remington-Rand • which became Sperry • which merged with Burroughs • which became Unisys • 1953 – IBM entered the market

8. The invention of the computer • PCs • Altair • Imsai • Apple, Atari, Commodore (in West Chester, PA), Sinclair • Finally IBM PC (w/out windows & mouse) • Mac (w/ windows & mouse)

9. The invention of the computer • Paralled developments in electronics • 50’s – vacuum tubes • 60’s – transistors • 70’s – ICs (integrated circuit) • >= 80’s – VLSI (very large scale integration) • In 1988, President Ronald Regan visited the Great Valley corporate center and called it “the Silicon Valley of the East.”

10. What is a computer? INPUT (information) PROCESSING OUTPUT (information) MEMORY

11. The components of a computer • Monitor (CRT or LCD) • Chassis • Mouse • Keyboard • Printer • Speakers • Network connection • Memory • CPU

12. The components of a computer • Chassis • Outside • Many connectors for peripherals • Drives (floppy, CD, DVD, etc.) • Inside • Power supply • Motherboard • CPU, RAM, ROM • Expansion slots • Drives (hard, etc.)

13. Types of computers • Super (fast, expensive) • Mainframe • Mini • Personal (micro) • Laptop • Palm (hand) • Embedded (slow, cheap)

14. Number of processors (cores) • 1 – uni • 2 – dual • 4 – quad • … • Multi/parallel

15. Hierarchy of memory • Registers (fast, electronic, expensive, few; bytes to K bytes) • Cache (K to M bytes) • RAM & ROM (M to few G bytes) • Drives (slow, electro-mechanical, cheap, vast; M to T bytes)

16. CPU = central processing unit • Not just Intel! • AMD, Analog, ARM, IBM, Microchip, nVidia, TI, VIA, Xilinx, … • Parts: • storage • ALU (arithmetic logic unit) • control

17. Types of storage: • Input • Program • Working • Output

18. Bits & bytes • Bit = 0 or 1 (contraction for ?) • Nibble = 4 bits • Byte = 8 bits • K bytes = 210 = 1024 ~= 1000 bytes • M bytes • G bytes • T bytes • P bytes • X bytes (exabyte) • Z bytes (zettabyte) • Y bytes (yottabyte)

19. Bits & bytes • Some interesting facts about what these various-sized bytes can store: • 1 bit: a binary decision • 1 byte: a character • 5 megabytes: the complete works of Shakespeare • 2 gigabytes: 20 meters of shelved books • 10 terabytes: the printed collection of the US Library of Congress • 200 petabytes: all printed material • 5 exabytes: all words ever spoken by human beings • from http://th.atguy.com/techCorner/powers.shtml

20. Bits & bytes • What comes after a yottabyte? • xonabyte then • wekabyte then • vundabyte then what happens?

21. Bits & bytes • What comes after a yottabyte? • xonabyte then • wekabyte then • vundabyte then what happens? • Rabies vaccination? • Lottabytes? • No, it’s a udabyte.

22. Base 2 vs. base 10 • Why base 2? Why base 10? • Numbers in base 10 • 908110 = 9x103 + 0x102 + 8x101 + 1x100 • 10112 = ? in base 10

23. So do we humans always use base 10?

24. So do we humans always use base 10? • How about time?

25. So do we humans always use base 10? • How about time? • “Sexagesimal (base 60) is a numeral system with sixty as its base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, it was passed down to the ancient Babylonians, and it is still used — in a modified form — for measuring time, angles, and the geographic coordinates that are angles.” • from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal

26. So do we humans always use base 10? • How about time? • “The number 60, a highly composite number, has twelve factors, namely { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60 } of which two, three, and five are prime numbers. With so many factors, many fractions involving sexagesimal numbers are simplified. For example, one hour can be divided evenly into sections of 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 10 minutes, 6 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. Sixty is the smallest number that is divisible by every number from one to six. This is because 60 = 1 × 60 = 4 × 3 × 5 = 2 × 6 × 5.” • from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal

27. So do we humans always use base 10? • How about metric time?

28. So do we humans always use base 10? • How about metric or decimal time? • It’s already been done! • See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_time.