COMP 268Computer Organization and Assembly Language

A Brief History ofComputing Architecture

Figure 1-2. A six-level computer.

Steps needed to run Fortran program (circa 1960)

1. Retrieve the FORTRAN compiler card deck from the cabinet, place it in the card reader, and push the start button.

2. Place the card deck containing the FORTRAN source file program in the card reader and push the continue button.

3. When the computer pauses, feed the FORTRAN source file into the card reader for the 2nd pass.

4. If there are no errors, the compiler will punch the “compiled” program on a new card deck. If the compiler does detect 1 or more errors, you will have to make the necessary corrections to your FORTRAN program and return to step 1.

5. Once you have a “compiled” program that is free of syntax errors, feed it into the card reader along with the data card deck and the subroutine library deck that is available in the cabinet.

6. If the program works successfully, the output will be printed on paper. If there is a run-time error, a core dump will be printed instead. If you receive a core dump, you will need to take it home and find the error in your program. Once the errors have been corrected begin again with step 1.

Sample FORTRAN job for early operating systems

0th Generation – Mechanical Computers (1642 – 1945)Charles Babbage & Ada Lovelace - Difference Engine and Analytical EngineKonrad Zuse – Electronic relays in 1930’sJohn Atanasoff – ABC computer at Iowa State CollegeHoward Aiken – Mark I at Harvard (1944)

1st Generation – Vacuum Tubes (1945 – 1955)Alan Turing – COLOSSUS in Great Britain (1943)John Mauchley & J. Presper Eckert – ENIAC at MIT (1945)UnisysJohn von Neumann – “stored program concept” & the EDSAC

2nd Generation – Transistors (1955 – 1965)Kenneth Olsen - PDP-1 & PDP-8IBM’s 7094Seymour Cray and CDC’s 6600

3rd Generation – Integrated Circuits (1965 – 1980)IBM’s System/360DEC’s PDP-11

4th Generation – VLSI (1980 - ??)

Computer Generations

Alan Turing

ENIAC - background

• Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer• Eckert and Mauchly• University of Pennsylvania• Trajectory tables for weapons • Started 1943• Finished 1946

– Too late for war effort

• Used until 1955

ENIAC - details

• Decimal (not binary)• 20 accumulators of 10 digits• Programmed manually by switches• 18,000 vacuum tubes• 30 tons• 15,000 square feet• 140 kW power consumption• 5,000 additions per second

John Mauchly

J. Presper Eckert

von Neumann/Turing• Stored Program concept• Main memory storing programs

and data• ALU operating on binary data• Control unit interpreting

instructions from memory and executing

• Input and output equipment operated by control unit

John von Neumann

Commercial Computers

• 1947 - Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation

• UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer)

• US Bureau of Census 1950 calculations

• Became part of Sperry-Rand Corporation

• Late 1950s - UNIVAC II– Faster– More memory

IBM• Punched-card processing

equipment

• 1953 - the IBM 701– IBM’s first stored program

computer– Scientific calculations

• 1955 - the IBM 702– Business applications

Thomas Watson, Sr & IBM 701

Keypunch Machine

Transistors

• Replaced vacuum tubes• Smaller• Cheaper• Less heat dissipation• Solid State device• Made from Silicon (Sand)• Invented 1947 at Bell Labs• William Shockley et al.

Transistor Based Computers

• Second generation machines

• NCR & RCA produced small transistor machines

• IBM 7000

• DEC - 1957– Produced PDP-1

Microelectronics

• Literally - “small electronics”

• A computer is made up of gates, memory cells and interconnections

• These can be manufactured on a semiconductor

• e.g. silicon wafer

Moore’s law: Transistor density doubles every 18 months

Moore’s Law Transistor density doubles every 18 months

10 G

1 G

100 M

10 M

1 M

100 K

10 K

1 K

0.1 K1970 1980 1990 2000 2010