Week One Questions: "The Machine that Changed the World"

Christopher Diaz-Mihell

DAI. 227.01, David Cox

February 2, 2011

“The Machine that Changed the World”

Week One Questions

1) What was unique about Charles Babbage Analytical Engine, compared to his original Difference Engine?

-  Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine, which was a compilation of wheels and shafts, added by a technique of method of differences which was fairly easy to mechanize. To avoid printing errors the machine would also print out the answers. But this machine could only do one thing, which was calculating by the method of differences. This is where the uniqueness of his Analytical Engine comes into play. Babbage thought why not create an engine that had the capability of doing many different things, this idea was a direct correlation to the concept of a modern computer. The machine was programmable through the use of punch cards and shared many of the similar characteristics of a digital computer such as a place for memory and a similar part to a modern cpu. The Analytical Engine, using punch cards, had the ability to be programmed. Successfully achieving the ability to accomplish different tasks rather than only being able to do one.

2) What role did Ada Lovelace play in the development of the Analytical Engine?

- She was the interpreter to Charles Babbage who provided help and encouragement. Her published notes contained detailed programs on the analytical engine. Because of her thorough notes she has been labeled as the first computer programmer.

3) How was the ENIAC computer reprogrammed?

- The ENIAC could not store its program inside so people programmed it. Reprogramming the ENIAC meant rewiring the machine. This took time because it involved setting up to 6,000 switches and then re-plugging the 100’s of cables connecting to different parts of the machine.

4) Name an innovation that helped make programming faster post ENIAC (see ep. 2)

- COBOL: which stood for COmmon Business Oriented Language helped make programming faster.  With the help of the compiler it was also easily translated back to the binary code, which consisted of two numbers, 0 and 1.

5) What is it about binary counting that makes it so well suited to computers?

-  Plain and simple it was the simplest element because the binary system uses only two numbers, 0 and 1. The binary system as said by Paul Ceruzzi, came about from an engineering stand point because to an engineer nothing is simpler than a switch that has two positions, an on and off. These numbers were represented very simply by a switch.

6) In what ways did UNIVAC influence the portrayal of computers in popular culture in the 1950s? Give an example. (see ep. 2)

- Because of UNIVAC’s success in tabulating live returns during the 1952 election, it gained trust from its thousands of viewers watching the election play by play on national T.V. The UNIVAC performed with no error even accurately predicting the Eisenhower landslide with only 1% of the vote giving computers a strong portrayal.

7) Codebreaking required the automatic manipulation of symbols to unscramble messages during WWII. What was the name of the rudimentary computer at Bletchley Park in England that unscrambled Nazi codes?

- The Lorenz

8) Alan Turing who understood the implications of such machines later went on to describe them as __________ machines.

- Universal machines

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Write two paragraphs for each:

9) Describe when you first used computers and what types of tasks you performed on them.

- I don’t quite remember how old I was when I first started using computers but know I was still in elementary school. It’s funny that this question was asked because not to long ago one of my friends brought up the early use of computers. I remember always using a PC as opposed to a Mac and only completing tasks such as inserting disks and finding the games.

My early exploration of computers began and mostly consisted of just playing games. Whether they were child learning games or little fun adventure games, my knowledge of computers came from my experience with computer games. The types of games I remember most were the learning how to add and subtract games. These games would mostly consist of an adventure through some type of environment with a little instruction on the basic principles of adding and subtracting or some type of elementary subject.

        

10) How restricted do you think computers are in terms of what they can do compared to how they are most often used?

- I believe that computers are indeed restricted when comparing it to the general use of computers by the people around me and other students. Computers today, especially when focusing on users in the age range of college students and younger, tend to be used just for social connectivity and Internet purposes.

The range of the capabilities of today’s computer expands beyond my knowledge. I feel that my use of a computer should not only consist of going on the Internet, writing papers, e-mailing, connecting with my friends, and occasionally using the range of editing programs. It’s my lack of knowledge on the tons of programs that can take your use of the computer to its full capabilities. It is not that the computer doesn’t have these capabilities, its that most of what I do doesn’t show the true capabilities of today’s modern computer.