CS 185C: The History of Computing September 26 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State University Fall 2011 Instructor: Ron Mak

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 2 IEEE Global History Network  Create your topic! Create in the appropriate category and subcategory Send me the URL by this Friday, Sept. 30  Initial contents (not all needs to be done by Friday) Object of your historical research  Architecture (hardware or software), computer system, application, methodology, biography, company, etc. What do you want to discover from your research  What questions do you want answered Outline of your research plan  Proposed source materials museum artifacts, interviews, exchanges with project advisors, etc.  Rough timeline  Online experts  Ask specific questions  Get suggestions and comments _

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 3 IEEE Global History Network  Include the following text “I’m a student in the History of Computing class at San Jose State University ( ). This is a work in progress that will turn into a final article by the end of the semester. I welcome your comments and advice!”  Otherwise other IEEE members may try to edit your article.  Post frequent updates to your article. Drafts of your report Blog of your research activities  The blog can end up as an appendix to your final report. _

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 4 Computer History Museum Archives  When doing your research, be sure to take advantage of the archives of the Computer History Museum:

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 5 Wednesday, September 28: Randall Neff  “Yes, the HP-35 Fits in Your Pocket” Auditorium ENGR 189 at 6:00-7:00 PM Reception ENGR 294 at 5:00 PM  The early history of HP calculators Hewlett Packard during the 70s was like Apple today. Really cool consumer products  Every geek with any self respect wanted an HP calculator.  Don’t forget to write and send me your essays after each guest lecture. Recordings online: /hist/computing.html /hist/computing.html

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 6 Greek Antikythera Mechanism  Possibly the world’s first mechanical computer Created between BCE Discovered 1901 in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera  Calculated astronomical positions Sun and moon Inner planets Predicted solar eclipses

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 7 Greek Antikythera Mechanism X-ray imageReconstruction

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 8 Greek Antikythera Mechanism  Videos: Animation: antikythera-computer-animation antikythera-computer-animation Working model:

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 9 Abacus  Japanese abacus (soroban) Each bead in the top (heaven) row is worth 5 Each bead in the bottom (earth) rows is worth 1 Each column was worth 0 through 9

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 10 Abacus  Chinese abacus (suanpan) The Chinese abacus was hexadecimal! Each column was worth 0 through 15 For normal (decimal) computations, only one heaven bead and four earth beads were used in each column, worth 0 through 9.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 11 Abacus  Video: How to use the abacus: w&NR=1 w&NR=1

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 12 Slide Rule  Mechanical analog computer using logarithms Invented around William Oughtred ( ) created the precursor to the modern side rule in  In general use until modern electronic calculators Many scales Mostly multiply and divide using the C and D scales Doesn’t tell you where the decimal point is in the result.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 13 Slide Rule Circular slide rule

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 14 Slide Rule  Video: How to use a slide rule:

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 15 Curta  Hand-held cranked mechanical calculator First introduced in 1948 Invented by Curt Herzstark ( )  Add, subtract, multiply, divide Type I  8 digits input, 11 digits output Type II (introduced 1954)  11 digits, 15 digits output Doesn’t tell you where the decimal point is in the result.

SJSU Dept. of Computer Science Fall 2011: September 26 CS 185C: This History of Computing © R. Mak 16 Curta  Video: How to use a Curta: