Introduction
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Digital - Electronic signals and devices used for the transmission of data
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Convergence
Convergence - Many different streams of techniques, devices, and machines, each coming from its own separate historical avenue
of development, merging together
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Solid - State Electronics
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Solid-State Electronics - Devices comprised of physical materials, of which electrons are entirely confined within i.e. computer
chips and hard drive.
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Chapter 1
The Digital Age
Bit/Byte
Byte - A unit of digital information in computing and digital communications that generally consists of 8 bits
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Bit - The basic unit of information in computing and
digital communications
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Tabulator
Tabulator - The first machines used to read the coded hole-punch cards that Hollerith created. Its significance came
from its flexibility in utilization based on the information punched into different columns, and the way its use could
be combined with other devices.
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Chapter 2
The First Computers, 1935-1945
Colossus/Computer
Colossus - A machine that operated at electronic speeds using vacuum tubes for both storage and processing data. It was
used predominantly to process text, and had binary circuits.
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Computer - A general purpose machine that
through programs, is capable of numerous processes including numerical calculations, processing
texts, and storing and transmitting information.
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Vannevar Bush
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Vannevar Bush - An MIT professor of electrical engineering who
developed an analog computer called the Differential Analyzer,
which used a spinning disk to solve differential equations. Bush also
proposed a “rapid arithmetical machine” that calculated using vacuum tubes.
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Chapter 3
The Stored Program Principle
IBM 701
IBM 701 - A large-scale computer developed by IBM, the 701 was optimized for scientific applications rather than business ones, but was a general-purpose computer. Its memory units were special-purpose modified cathode ray tubes.
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Minicomputer/Arpanet
Minicomputer - The TX-0 developed by Ken Olsen and Harlan
Anderson, was a small computer that used a new type of transistor.
It was built to test the feasibility of that transistor for large-scale
computers, but the machine demonstrated that a small computer,
using high speed transistors, could outperform a large mainframe in
certain applications
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ARPANET - One of the predecessors of the Web. It
lacked the social, political, and economic components
that together comprise the modern networked world;
however, ARPANET demonstrated the possibility of
packet switching.
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Chapter 4
The Chip and Silicon Valley
Integrated Circuit/Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments - An American company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and makes semiconductors. It is during his employment at Texas Instrument, that
Jack Kilby developed a circuit built entirely out of silicon
and connected by fine gold wires.
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Integrated Circuit - Also referred to as a chip or microchip,
the integrated circuit was a revolutionary breakthrough in the
process of miniaturizing electronic circuits, as multiple transistors and other devices could be placed on a single chip of silicon, which led rapidly to circuits that could store everincreasing amounts of data.
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IBM System/360
IBM System/360 - A new high end line of mainframe computers developed in 1964, that addressed the full circle of scientific and
business customers IBM sought to appeal. The System/360 was not just a single computer, but a family of machines optimized for
numerical calculations.
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Chapter 5
The Microprocessor
RAM/Personal Computer
RAM - A random-access-memory, RAM is a form of
computer data storage where detailed instructions
are stored in any random order.
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Personal Computer - A “microprocessor,” the general-purpose
computer contains a small and rugged chip, and can be utilized
for a variety of processes by the general public: commercial and
business applications, as well as scientific and militaristic applications.
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MS-DOS
MS-DOS - The first operating system that was supplied by Microsoft, and was implemented in IBM’s Personal Computer, the
PC. The deal between Microsoft and IBM that incorporated MS-DOC with PCs would catapult Microsoft in to the ranks of the
industry’s wealthiest.
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Chapter 6
The Internet and The World
Wide Web
Supercomputers/HTML
HTML - An acronym for hypertext markup language, a subset of a formatting language. Simple to learn and easy to use, it
allowed for the creation of Web pages by the general audience.
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Supercomputers - Expensive devices supported by the NSF.
By 1986, there were five supercomputer centers built, and the
NSF made the crucial decisions to adopt the TCP/IP protocols,
and created a general-purpose network, available to researchers
in general.
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Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi - A new method of Internet access that appeared at the end of 1990ʹ′s, Wi-Fi started as an ad hoc system that took advantage
of little-used portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With devices that have Wi-Fi capability, the Internet can essentially be accessed anywhere where Wi-Fi is present. However, there are drawbacks, as Wi-Fi ranges are limited, and efforts to install Wi-Fi
throughout cosmopolitan areas have not been successful.
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Conclusion
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Disk Storage - The ability to store and record data on such
mechanisms as hard drives and RAM. Due to technological advancements, the capacities of disk storage are continuing to increase.
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Database Software
Database software - Programming that contains an organized collection of data, that supports specific processes.
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UAVs
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UAVs - Acronym for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, these devices use satellite data and robotic vision to fly autonomously and hit remote targets. This is made possible through the small microprocessor-based devices that are embedded into its weapons systems.
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Reflective Essay
After finishing the “Computing” of Paul E. Ceruzzi, I realized that I learned a lot of things from him and the history of computers. My previous knowledge of the history
computer is pretty simple and there were two things that
I could tell about the computer; the personal computer
was invented around 1980s and Bill Gates with Steve Jobs
are two co-founders for the largest software companies,
Microsoft and Apple. By reading this book, I clearly understood how and when it is that computer came from, as
well as it’s significantly impacts into the human history.
Besides, I always ask myself who was invented the computer before reading this book and the answer is not
really simply. Personally, I found that it’s very interesting
to read the computer’s history through the World Wars.
Also, it’s very admirable how all the scientists and inventors made the first computer in order to store information and run all the simple programs. Ceruzzi presents
the history of computers through the computing concepts and he showed us that it’s very important for our
history with the digital age. Although, there were some
problems that occurred during the computing revolution,
our previous generations fixed those issues by creating
the new technologies in order to make it more perfectly.
In the conclusion, Ceruzzi mentioned about the smartphones and tables with his prediction for these devices’
future potential issues. Since we always come up with the
solutions when we struggle with the technologies’ problems, it’s very exciting to look forward for fixing these future problems and keep inventing new technologies’ products.
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