History of Computer 计算机发展史3

Chapter 1
The Digital Enters into
the Man’s Life

72
1.1 Decimal System
The number system we use on a day-today
basis is the decimal system, which is
based on ten digits: zero through nine.
The name decimal comes from the Latin
decimal meaning ten, while the symbols
we use to represent these digits arrived in
Europe around the thirteenth century
from the Arabs who, in turn, acquired
them from the Hindus.

73
• As the decimal system is based on ten digits,
it is said to be base-10 or radix-10, where the
term radix comes from the Latin word
meaning "root" . Outside of specialist
requirements such as computing, base-10
numbering systems have been adopted
almost universally.
• This is almost certainly due to the fact that
we happen to have ten fingers. (including
our thumbs). If mother nature had decreed
six fingers on each hand we would probably
be using a base-twelve numbering system.

74
1.2 Carving Notches Into Bones
——30,000 BC to 20,000 BC
The first tools used as aids to calculation
were almost certainly man's own fingers,
and it is not simply a coincidence that the
word "digit" is used to refer to a finger
(or toe) as well as a numerical quantity.

75
How to Represent Larger Numbers ?
As the need to represent larger numbers grew,
early man employed readily available materials
for the purpose. Small stones could be used to
represent larger numbers than fingers and toes,
and had the added advantage of being able to
easily store intermediate results for later use.
Thus, it is also no coincidence that the word
"calculate" is derived from the Latin word for
stone.

76
Cro-Magnon Man’s Bones
• The oldest known objects used to represent
numbers are bones with notches(槽口) carved
into them. These bones, which were discovered
in western Europe, date from the Aurignacian
（旧石器时期） period 20,000 to 30,000 years
ago and correspond to the first appearance of
Cro-Magnon man. (The term "Cro-Magnon"
comes from caves of the same name in
Southern France, in which the first skeletons of
this race were discovered in 1868.)

77
The Tally System
• Of special interest is a wolf‘s
jawbone(鄂骨) more than
20,000 years old with fifty-five
notches in groups of five. This
bone, which was discovered in
Czechoslovakia（捷克斯洛伐
克） in 1937, is the first
evidence of the tally（计算）
system.
• The tally system is still used to
the present day, and could
therefore qualify as one of the
most enduring of human
inventions
The first evidence of
the tally system.

78
The Discovery of Prime Numbers
Also of interest is a piece of bone dating from
around 8,500 BC, which was discovered in
Africa, and which appears to have notches
representing the prime numbers 11, 13, 17, and
19. What is surprising is that someone of that
era had the mathematical sophistication to
recognize this quite advanced concept and took
the trouble to write it down -- not the least that
prime numbers had little relevance to everyday
problems of gathering food and staying alive.

79
1.3 The First Place-Value Number
System ------1900BC
The decimal system is a place-value system,
which means that the value of a particular
digit depends both on the digit itself and on its
position within the number. For example, a
four in the right-hand column simply means
four ...... in the next column it means forty ......
one more column over means four-hundred ......
then four thousand, and so on.

80
Sexagesimal Numbering System
• For many arithmetic operations, the use of a number
system whose base is wholly divisible by many
numbers. And so we come to the Babylonians, who
were famous for their astrological(占星术)
observations and calculations, and who used a
sexagesimal (base-60) numbering system.
• Although sixty may appear to be a large value to have
as a base, it does convey certain advantages. Sixty is
the smallest number that can be wholly divided by two,
three, four, five, and six ...... and of course it can also
be divided by ten, fifteen, twenty, and thirty. In
addition to using base sixty, the Babylonians also
made use six and ten as sub-bases.

81
• Although the Babylonian‘s sexagesimal
system may seem unwieldy（笨拙的） to
us, one cannot help but feel that it was an
improvement on the Sumerians（闪族人）
who came before them. The Sumerians
had three distinct counting systems to
keep track of land, produce, and animals,
and they used a completely different set
of symbols for each system!

82
1.4 The Shamanistic Tradition The start of the modern science that we call “Computer
Science” can be traced back to a long ago age where
man still dwelled in caves or in the forest, and lived in
groups for protection and survival from the harsher
（粗糙的） elements on the Earth. Many of these
groups possessed some primitive form of animistic
religion（万物有灵论）; they worshipped the sun, the
moon, the trees, or sacred （神圣的） animals. In
order to correctly hold the ceremonies to ensure good
harvest in the fall and fertility（肥沃） in the spring,
the shamans needed to be able to count the days or to
track the seasons. From the shamanistic tradition, man
developed the first primitive counting mechanisms --
counting notches on sticks or marks on walls.

83

84
1.5 A Primitive Calendar
From the caves and the forests, man slowly evolved and
built structures such as Stonehenge（巨石柱）.
Stonehenge, which lies 13km north of Salisbury,
England, is believed to have been an ancient form of
calendar designed to capture the light from the summer
solstice in a specific fashion. It is widely believed that the
enormous edifice（大厦） of stone may have been
erected（竖立） by the Druids（德鲁教）. Regardless
of the identity of the builders, it remains today a
monument（纪念碑） to man's intense desire to count
and to track the occurrences of the physical world
around him.

85

86
Chapter 2
Explores the Computing
Machine

87
2.1 The Invention of the Abacus
• The first actual calculating mechanism known to us
is the abacus, which is thought to have been
invented by the Babylonians sometime between
1,000 BC and 500 BC, although some experts are of
the opinion that it was actually invented by the
Chinese.
• The word abacus comes to us by way of Latin as a
mutation（变化）of the Greek word abax.
我国处于西周（前1046—前771年）和东周
春秋（前770—前476年）时期。

88
• Regardless of the source, the original concept
referred to a flat stone covered with sand (or
dust) into which numeric symbols were drawn.
The first abacus was almost certainly based on
such a stone, with pebbles being placed on lines
drawn in the sand. Over time the stone was
replaced by a wooden frame supporting thin
sticks, braided（辫子形的）hair, or leather
thongs（皮带）, onto which clay beads or
pebbles with holes were threaded.

89
Two Main Types
• A variety of different types of abacus
were developed, but the most popular
became those based on the bi-quinary
（五进制） system, which utilizes a
combination of two bases (base-2 and
base-5) to represent decimal numbers.
Although the abacus does not qualify as a
mechanical calculator, it certainly stands
proud as one of first mechanical aids to
calculation.

90
A Primitive Calculator
• In Asia, the Chinese were becoming very
involved in commerce with the Japanese,
Indians, and Koreans. Businessmen
needed a way to tally（计算） accounts
and bills. Somehow, out of this need, the
abacus was born. The abacus is the first
true precursor（先驱） to the adding
machines and computers which would
follow.

91

92
2.2 John Napier’s Bones
• In the early 1600s, a Scottish
mathematician called John
Napier invented a tool called
Napier’s Bones, which were
multiplication tables
inscribed（记录） on strips
（条） of wood or bone.
16世纪，明朝万历（1573-1620）至清朝康
熙（1662-1723）年间。

93
John Napier
• John Napier was a famous Scottish theologian（神
学家） and mathematician who lived between 1550
and 1617. He spent his entire life seeking
knowledge, and working to devise better ways of
doing everything from growing crops to
performing mathematical calculations. Napier was
so intelligent, many of the locals believed him to be
in league with the Devil.
1550-1617，明朝嘉靖（1522-1567）至万历
（1573-1620）年间。

94
• Napier had a great interest in astronomy,
which led to his contribution to mathematics.
John was not just a star gazer; he was involved
in research that required lengthy and time
consuming calculations of very large numbers.
Once the idea came to him that there might be
a better and simpler way to perform large
number calculations, Napier focused on the
issue and spent twenty years perfecting his idea.
The result of this work is what we now call
logarithms（对数）.

95
Great Contributions
• The Table of Logarithms
• Napier’s Bones

96
Napier's Bones

97
2.3 The First Arithmetic Machine
• As was previously noted, determining
who invented the first mechanical
calculator is somewhat problematical.
Many references cite the French
mathematician, physicist, and
theologian(神学家), Blaise Pascal as
being credited with the invention of the
first operational calculating machine
called the Arithmetic Machine.

98
• However, Pascal’s claim to fame
notwithstanding（尽管）, the German
astronomer and mathematician Wilhelm
Schickard wrote a letter to his friend
Johannes Kepler about fifteen years before
Pascal started developing his Arithmetic
Machine. (Kepler, a German astronomer and
natural philosopher, was the first person to
realize (and prove) that the planets travel
around the sun in elliptical orbits.)

99
The Description of the Machine
• I have conceived a machine consisting of eleven
complete and six incomplete sprocket（链轮）
wheels; it calculates instantaneously and
automatically from given numbers, as it adds,
subtracts, multiplies and divides. You would
enjoy to see how the machine accumulates and
transports spontaneously（自然地）a ten or a
hundred to the left and, vice-versa, how it does
the opposite if it is subtracting ...

100
• Unfortunately, the only two
original copies of Schickard‘s
machine were lost, one in a
fire and one after his death
from plague（瘟疫） in 1635.
However, in the 1950s,
scholars who were collecting
the works of Kepler found,
tucked（卷起） into a book,
Schickard's original
drawings of his device. This
made it possible for
Professor Bruno Baron of
the University of Tübingen to
reconstruct Schickard's
calculator.
1635，明朝崇祯
（1628-1644）年间。高
迎祥破凤阳，卢象升总督
甘﹑陕，张献忠率部西入
陕西﹐与李自成合流。
Wilhelm Schickard
Schickard was born on April 22nd,
1592 in Herrenberg, Germany. He
attended the University of Tübingen,
earning a B.A. in 1609 and M.A. in 1611.
In 1613, he became a Lutheran（路得
教会） minister, serving several towns
around Tübingen. He served in this
capacity until 1619, when he was
appointed Professor of Hebrew（希伯
来） at the University of Tübingen. He
taught Biblical languages until 1631,
when he became Professor of
Astronomy.
1592，明朝万历二十年，日本丰臣秀吉侵朝鲜，明
兵赴援﹐大败。1609，1611，1613，国内无大事。
1619，万历四十七年， 萨尔浒之战﹐明军大败。

102
Wilhelm Schickard's Mechanical Calculator
• The non- programmable Schickard
machine was based on the traditional
decimal system. Leibniz subsequently
discovered the more convenient binary
system (1679), an essential ingredient of
the world’s first working programcontrolled
computer(1941).
1679，清朝康熙十八年，国内无大事。

103
2.4 Forefathers of Computing
For over a thousand years after the Chinese invented
the abacus, not much progress was made to automate
counting and mathematics. The Greeks came up with
numerous mathematical formulae and theorems, but all
of the newly discovered math had to be worked out by
hand. It could take weeks or months of laborious work
by hand to verify the correctness of a proposed theorem.
Most of the tables of integrals, logarithms, and
trigonometric values were worked out this way, their
accuracy unchecked until machines could generate the
tables in far less time and with more accuracy than a
team of humans could ever hope to achieve.

104

105
Blaise Pascal’s Arithmetic Machine
• Blaise Pascal, mathematician, thinker, and scientist,
built the arithmetic mechanical adding machine in
1642. He made each ten-teeth wheel accessible to be
turned directly by a person‘s hand (later inventors
added keys and a crank(曲柄)), with the result that
when the wheels were turned in the proper sequences,
a series of numbers was entered and a cumulative
sum was obtained. The gear train supplied a
mechanical answer equal to the answer that is
obtained by using arithmetic.
1642，明朝崇祯（1628-1644）年间，清军攻
陷松山。

106
Disadvantages
• Although Pascaline did offer a substantial
improvement over manual calculations, only Pascal
himself could repair the device and it cost more than
the people it replaced! In addition, the first signs of
technophobia（技术恐惧） emerged with
mathematicians fearing the loss of their jobs due to
progress.
• Pascal's device could only add and subtract, while
multiplication and division operations were
implemented by performing a series of additions or
subtractions. In fact the Arithmetic Machine could
really only add, because subtractions were
performed using complement techniques.

107

108
Blaise Pascal
Born at Clermont on
June 19, 1623, and
died at Paris on Aug.
19, 1662.
1623-1662，明朝天启（1621-1628）至清朝顺治
（1644-1662）年间。1623，天启三年， 阉党顾秉谦﹑
魏广微入阁，魏忠贤提督东厂。1662，国内无大事。

109
Blaise Pascal
• At the age of fourteen, Pascal started to
attend Mersenne’s meetings. Mersenne
belonged to the religious order of the
Minims, and his cell in Paris was a frequent
meeting place for Fermat, Pascal, Gassendi,
and others. By the age of sixteen, Pascal had
written his Treatise on Conic Sections（论圆
锥截面）, which included his famous
theorem of hexagons（六边形） (Pascal's
Theorem), and presented it to Mersenne.

110
Blaise Pascal
• Pascal acquired a strong interest in
religion, which was to last until his death.
As a result of his forays（袭击） into the
realm of spirituality（灵性）, he wrote
many religious works. Perhaps the most
famous of these religious works is
Pensées, a collection of personal thoughts
on human suffering and faith in God.

111
Blaise Pascal
• Later in his life, additional studies in geometry,
hydrodynamics（流体力学）, and hydrostatic （流
体静力学）and atmospheric pressure led him to
invent the syringe（注射器） and hydraulic press
（水压）, and to discover Pascal's law of pressure.
• He worked on conic sections（圆锥截面） and
produced important theorems in projective
geometry（投影几何）. In correspondence with
Fermat, he helped lay the foundation for the theory
of probability. Finally, his last work was on the
cycloid（摆线）, the curve traced by a point on the
circumference（圆周） of a rolling circle.

112
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
——Inventor of the Bit and of Calculus
Leibniz, sometimes called the last universal
genius, invented at least two things that are
essential for the modern world: calculus,
and the binary system.

113
The Calculus
• Leibniz studied mathematics and physics under
Huygens（惠更斯）, and read works by Pascal, Fabri,
Gregory, Saint-Vincent, Descartes and Sluze. He began
to study the geometry of infinitesimals（无穷小）. It
was during this period in Paris that Leibniz developed
the basic features of his version of the calculus. In 1673,
he was still struggling to develop a good notation for his
calculus and his first calculations were clumsy（笨拙
的）. In 1675, he wrote a manuscript using the integral
notation for the first time.
1673-1675，我国处于清朝康熙（1662-1723）年
间。玄烨下令撤藩，吴三桂发动叛乱﹐耿精忠﹑尚之
信举兵响应。

114
• In 1684 Leibniz published details of his differential
calculus（微分学） in Nova Methodus pro Maximis
et Minimis, itemque Tangentibus... in Acta
Eruditorum, a journal established in Leipzig（莱比
锡） two years earlier. The paper contained the
familiar notation, the rules for computing the
derivatives of powers, products and quotients
（商）. However it contained no proofs and Jacob
Bernoulli called it an enigma（谜） rather than an
explanation.
1684，我国处于清朝康熙（1662-1723）年间。
康熙开放海禁。

115
• Modern physics, math, engineering
would be unthinkable without calculus:
the fundamental method of dealing with
infinitesimal numbers. Leibniz developed
it around 1673. In 1679, he perfected the
notation for integration and
differentiation （微积分）that everyone
is still using today.
1673，康熙十二年，玄烨下令撤藩，吴三桂发动
叛乱。1679，国内无大事。

116
The Binary System
• The bit and the binary system he invented
around 1679, and published in 1701. This
became the basis of virtually all modern
computers.
• Unlike the decimal system, only two digits - 0, 1
– suffice（足以） to represent a number in the
binary system. The binary system plays a
crucial role in computer science and technology.
1679-1701，我国处于清朝康熙（1662-1723）年间。
朱三太子案发（1680）；清军攻破昆明﹐吴世璠兵败自
杀，三藩之乱平（1681）；郑克爽降清﹐台湾统一
（1683）；中俄《尼布楚条约》签订（1689）；分两路
出兵进剿准噶尔残部﹐噶尔丹兵败自尽（1697）。

117
Significance
• Our modern computers don't use the ten digits
of the decimal system for counting and
arithmetic. Their CPU and memory are made
up of millions of tiny switches that can be either
ON or OFF. Two digits, 0 and 1, can be used to
stand for the two states of ON and OFF. So we
can see that computers could work with a
number system based on two digits. This type
of system is called a binary numbering system.
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
• Gottfried Leibniz’s father died
when Leibniz was only 6, and he
was brought up by his mother,
from whom he learned his moral
and religious values. In school,
he taught himself advanced
Latin and Greek, and read
Aristotle and many metaphysics
（形而上学） and theology（神
学） books. At the age of 14, he
entered the University of Leipzig
to study philosophy and
mathematics. A few days after
Leibniz was awarded his
Master's Degree in philosophy,
his mother died.

119
• Leibniz’s final years were overshadowed
（遮蔽） by a priority fight with the
powerful president of the Royal Society,
Isaac Newton, who claimed he had
invented calculus before Leibniz (without
publishing it), and who made friends sign
texts he wrote to support this claim.

120
Leibniz’s Step Reckoner
• This non-programmable
Leibniz computer, the
step reckoner (1671),
featured a stepped drum
which found use in
numerous subsequent
computers.
1671，清朝康熙
（1662-1723）年间。国
内无大事。

121
What is the Applications of Binary System?
• If we asked Leibniz what was the applications
of the binary system in 1701, I believed he
could not answer the question. However, in 18th
century, who could forecast the system would
be applied in all of the computers in 20th
century?
• We are fickle so much today. We always ask
the similar questions.
——Commented by Li Tong, Summer, 2006.

122
Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine
Charles Babbage realized as early as 1812 that many
long computations consisted of operations that were
regularly repeated. He theorized that it must be possible
to design a calculating machine which could do these
operations automatically. He produced a prototype of
this “difference engine” by 1822 and with the help of the
British government started work on the full machine in
1823. It was intended to be steam-powered; fully
automatic, even to the printing of the resulting tables;
and commanded by a fixed instruction program.
1812-1823 ， 清朝嘉庆（ 1796-1821 ） 至道光
（1821-1851）年间。天理教攻入紫禁城﹐旋即失败
（1813）；清廷重申禁烟令﹐严禁在澳门﹑黄埔囤放
和售卖（1821）。

123

124
The Analytical Engine
The Difference Engine was only partially completed , so
in 1833, Babbage ceased working on the difference engine
because he had a better idea. His new idea was to build
an “analytical engine”. The analytical engine was a real
parallel decimal computer which would operate on words
of 50 decimals and was able to store 1000 such numbers.
The machine would include a number of built-in
operations such as conditional control, which allowed the
instructions for the machine to be executed in a specific
order rather than in numerical order（流水号）. The
instructions for the machine were to be stored on
punched cards.
1833，清朝道光（1821-1851）年间。国内无大
事。

125

126
Charles Babbage
• Born December 26, 1791 in
Teignmouth, Devonshire UK,
Died 1871, London; Known as
the “Father of Computing” for
his contributions to the basic
design of the computer
through his Analytical
machine.
1791，清朝乾隆（1736-1796）年间，廓尔喀再
次进犯日喀则﹐洗劫扎什伦布寺，清庭派福康安入藏
迎击。1871，清朝同治（1862-1875）年间，沙俄出
兵强占新疆伊犁地区。

127
Charles Babbage
• Charles Babbage often referred to as the “Father
of Computing” for his contributions to the
development of the computer, seemed to have a
rather ordinary childhood. Nevertheless, he grew
up to possess a keen intellect, with a mind
interested in not only mathematics, but also
philosophy, politics, and mechanics. While he is
well known for ideas underlying the difference
engine and the analytical engine, it is not so well
known that he also was an inventor responsible for
the cowcatcher（排障器）, heliograph（照相制
版）, standardized postal rates, Greenwich time
signals, and the dynamometer（功率计）.

128
Charles Babbage
• With respect to the field of philosophy and religion,
Babbage found beauty in the orderliness（整洁性） to
be found within man, nature, and inventions. He was
especially fond of the idea of constructing tables
containing standardized measurements for things such
as the length a bovine breath（牛呼吸）, or the time it
takes for a pig’s heart to beat. Quantification,
quantification, quantification. This led to him to
investigate biblical miracles（圣经奇事）. In his book
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher he wrote that
miracles are not “the breach（裂口） of established
laws, but... indicate the existence of far higher laws.”

129
2.5 First Statistical Engineer
• In 1790 it took the United States’ Census Bureau（人
口调查局） less than nine months to complete the
first census. By 1860 the population increased almost
tenfold since 1790, from 3.8 million to 31.8 million. In
1887 the Census Bureau completed the eleventh
census seven years after it began. The inability to
obtain census data in a reasonable time frame was a
manifestation of what all data collectors had to face:
with current technology the scale and complexity of
some tabulations would soon be unthinkable .
1790，清朝乾隆五十五年，国内无大事。1860，咸丰
十年，太平军再破江南大营；英法联军攻陷北京﹐焚毁圆
明园﹔签订《北京条约》；清廷设立总理各国事务衙门。
1887,清朝光绪十三年（1862-1875）年间，国内无大事。

130
• In the case of the census, a solution was
necessary. A regular census was needed
to uphold the integrity of the United
States Constitution. Due to the dynamic
state of the nation’s population at the
time of the eleventh census the need to
stay abreast（并排地） on the changing
demography（人口统计学） of the
country was particularly urgent.

131
• During this time of dramatic change in
the nation’s people, the primitive
methods used to tabulate the census were
not improved. As a result of the
significant changes in the composition of
the population and the time lapse
between the collection and tabulation, the
data of the eleventh census was outdated
before the census was even completed.

132
• The Census Bureau’s solution was to have a
competition to find a new method by which the
census could be tabulated. Herman Hollerith
entered and won this competition. With his
victory, not only did Hollerith make it possible
to complete the census in a reasonable time
frame, but his methods, which were used well
into the 1960s, offered a foundation for the
future collection of all types of data. With his
invention Hollerith allowed for the creation of
one of the most dominant corporations of the
computer age and secured his place in history
as the father of information processing.

133
Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine
• A step toward automated computation was the
introduction of punched cards in 1890 by
Herman Hollerith working for the U.S. Census
Bureau. He developed a device which could
automatically read census information which
had been punched onto card. Surprisingly, he
did not get the idea from the work of Babbage,
but rather from watching a train conductor
punch tickets.
1890，我国处于清朝光绪（1875-1909）年间，
张之洞在汉阳兴建铁厂。

134
Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine
• As a result of his invention, reading errors were
consequently greatly reduced, work flow was
increased, and, more important, stacks of punched
cards could be used as an accessible memory store
of almost unlimited capacity; furthermore, different
problems could be stored on different batches of
cards and worked on as needed. Hollerith’s
tabulator became so successful that he started his
own firm to market the device; this company
eventually became International Business Machines
(IBM).

135

136
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith’s parents were
immigrants to the United States
from Germany in 1848 after
political disturbances in that
country. School was not very
easy for Herman despite the fact
that he was clever. The
consequence of these school
problems were that Herman was
eventually taken away from
school and he was tutored
privately at home by the family.
1848，我国处于清朝道光（1821-1851）年间，
国内无大事。

137
2.6 The First Electronic-Digital Computer
• John Vincent Atanasoff conceived basic design
principles for the first electronic-digital
computer in the winter of 1937 and, assisted by
his graduate student, Clifford E. Berry,
constructed a prototype here in October 1939.
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer represented
several innovations in computing. It used
binary numbers, direct logic for calculation,
and a regenerative memory（再生存储器）. It
embodied concepts that would be central to the
future development of computers.

138
• “It was at an evening of Bourbon(波旁王朝) and
100 mph car rides,” Atanasoff said, “when the
concept came, for an electronically operated
machine, that would use base-two (binary)
numbers instead of the traditional base-10
numbers, condensers（电容器） for memory, and
a regenerative（再生的） process to preclude（排
除） loss of memory from electrical failure.”
• Atanasoff wrote most of the concepts of the first
modern computer on the back of a cocktail napkin
（餐巾纸）.

139
• Then, in late 1939, John V. Atanasoff teamed up
with Clifford E. Berry to build a prototype. They
created the first computing machine to use
electricity, vacuum tubes, binary numbers and
capacitors（电容器）. The capacitors were in a
rotating drum that held the electrical charge for the
memory. Berry, with his background in electronics
and mechanical construction skills, was the ideal
partner for Atanasoff. The prototype won the team
a grant of $850 to build a full-scale model. They
spent the next two years further improving the
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (aka ABC).

140
• In the process of creating the device, Atanasoff and
Berry evolved a number of ingenious（独创的） and
unique features. For example, one of the biggest
problems for computer designers of the time was to
be able to store numbers for use in the machine‘s
calculations. Atanasoff’s design utilized capacitors to
store electrical charge that could represent numbers
in the form of logic 0s and logic 1s. The capacitors
were mounted in rotating bakelite（胶木） cylinders,
which had metal bands on their outer surface. These
cylinders, each approximately 12 inches tall and 8
inches in diameter, could store thirty binary numbers,
which could be read off the metal bands as the
cylinders rotated.

141
• Input data was presented to the machine in the
form of punched cards, while intermediate results
could be stored on other cards. Once again,
Atanasoff‘s solution to storing intermediate
results was quite interesting -- he used sparks to
burn small spots onto the cards. The presence or
absence of these spots could be automatically
determined by the machine later, because the
electrical resistance of a carbonized（碳化） spot
varied from that of the blank card.

142
• The final product was the size of a desk, weighed
700 pounds, had over 300 vacuum tubes, and
contained a mile of wire. It could calculate about
one operation every 15 seconds. Too large to go
anywhere, it remained in the basement of the
physics department. The war effort prevented
Atanasoff from finishing the patent（专利）
process and doing any further work on the
computer. When they needed storage space in
the physics building, they dismantled（拆除）
the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.

143
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer

144

145
John Vincent Atanasoff
• John Vincent Atanasoff
was born on 4 October
1903 in Hamilton, New
York. He is the inventor
of the electronic digital
computer. He is, along
with being an Inventor, a
Mathematical Physicist
and a Businessman.
1903，我国处于清朝光绪（1875-1909）年间，
日俄战争爆发﹐清政府宣布严守“局外中立”，黄兴﹑
宋教仁等组织革命团体华兴会于长沙。

146
2.7 The First Automatic Digital
Computer -------Harvard Mark I
• By the late 1930s punched-card machine
techniques had become so well
established and reliable that Howard
Aiken, in collaboration with engineers at
IBM, undertook construction of a large
automatic digital computer based on
standard IBM electromechanical parts.
Aiken’s machine, called the Harvard
Mark I .

147
The Harvard Mark I
• Conceived in the 1930s by Howard H.
Aiken, a graduate student in theoretical
physics at Harvard University, the ASCC
was developed and built by IBM during
World War II. Aiken had initially
proposed a large-scale digital calculator
to the faculty of Harvard’s physics
department and later took his idea to the
Monroe Calculating Machine Company
and then to IBM.

148
The Harvard Mark I
• James Bryce, dean of IBM’s inventors
and scientists, liked the concept, and IBM
President Thomas J. Watson agreed to
back（支持） the project in 1939. Bryce
assigned Clair D. Lake, a prolific（多产
的） IBM inventor, to serve as chief
engineer and Aiken's chief contact. Lake
was ably assisted by Benjamin M. Durfee
and Frank E. Hamilton.

149
The Main Creators
• Shown in 1944 are
(from left to right)
Frank E. Hamilton,
Clair D. Lake,
Howard H. Aiken
and Benjamin M.
Durfee.

150
The Harvard Mark I
• Progress on the ASCC at IBM‘s North Street
Laboratory in Endicott, N.Y., was slowed by
other wartime demands, but the machine
eventually was shipped to Harvard in February
1944, assembled and formally presented to the
university on August 7 of that year. By then,
IBM had spent approximately $200,000 on the
project and donated（捐赠） an additional
$100,000 to Harvard to cover the ASCC's
operating expenses.

151
The Harvard Mark I
• The ASCC (IBM Automatic Sequence
Controlled Calculator) -- which became
known more popularly as the "Mark I" at
Harvard -- brought Babbage's principles of the
analytical engine almost to full realization,
while adding important new features.
• Consisting of 78 adding machines and
calculators linked together, the ASCC had
765,000 parts, 3,300 relays（继电器）, over
500 miles of wire and more than 175,000
connections.

152
The Harvard Mark I
• It handled 23-decimal-place numbers
(words) and could perform all four
arithmetic operations; moreover, it had
special built-in programs, or subroutines,
to handle logarithms and trigonometric
functions.
• Length: 51 feet. Height: eight feet.
Weight: nearly five tons.

153
The Harvard Mark I
• The computer, controlled by pre-punched
paper tape, could carry out addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and
reference to previous results. It had special
subroutines for logarithms and trigonometric
functions and used 23 decimal place numbers.
Data was stored and counted mechanically
using 3000 decimal storage wheels, 1400 rotary
dial switches, and 500 miles of wire. Its
electromagnetic relays classified the machine as
a relay computer. All output was displayed on
an electric typewriter. By today's standards,
the Mark I was slow, requiring 3-5 seconds for
a multiplication operation.

154
The Harvard Mark I
• The Mark I was a parallel synchronous calculator that
could perform table lookup and the four fundamental
arithmetic operations, in any specified sequence, on
numbers up to 23 decimal digits in length. It had 60
switch registers for constants, 72 storage counters for
intermediate results, a central multiplying-dividing
unit, functional counters for computing transcendental
（先验的） functions, and three interpolators（校对机）
for reading functions punched into perforated tape
（穿孔带）. Numerical input was in the form of
punched cards, paper tape or manually set switches.
The output was printed by electric typewriters or
punched into cards. Sequencing of operations was
accomplished by a perforated tape.

155
The Harvard Mark I
• Used by the Navy during the war to run
repetitive calculations for the production of
mathematical tables, the Mark I operated at
Harvard for 15 years while assisting in the
solution of complex problems in various
disciplines. Ultimately, a portion of the machine
was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C., while Harvard retained（保
留） a section as an exhibit. Some of the
ASCC's electromechanical counters are
preserved today in IBM's collection of historical
computing devices.

156
The Harvard Mark I

157

158

159
2.8 Konrad Zuse’s Z1,Z3,Z4
• The Z1 is today considered to be the first freely
programmable computer of the world. It was
completed in 1938 and financed completely
from private funds. Konrad Zuse's first
computer, built between 1936 and 1938, was
destroyed in the bombardment of Berlin in
WW II, together with all construction plans. In
1986, Konrad Zuse decided to reconstruct the
Z1.
• The Z1 contained all parts of a modern
computer, e. g. control unit, memory, micro
sequences, floating point logic.

160

161
The Z3
• He wanted to use the Z3 to demonstrate
that it was possible to build a reliable,
freely programmable computer based on
a binary floating point number and
switching system, which could be used for
very complicated arithmetic calculations.

162
The Z3
• Konrad Zuse rebuilt the Z3 at his Zuse
KG(3) company between 1960 and 1961.
• Like the original machine, the rebuilt Z3
is completely constructed from relays.
The console is at the front, while the
binary floating point arithmetic unit
appears on the right-hand side. The Z3 is
about five meters long, two meters high,
and 80cm wide.

163

164
The Z3
• It is now undisputed（无异议的） that the Z3 was
the first reliable, freely programmable, working
computer in the world based on a binary floatingpoint
number and switching system. In 1941, the Z3
contained almost all of the features of a modern
computer as defined by John von Neumann and his
colleagues in 1946.
• The only exception was the ability to store the
program in the memory together with the data.
Konrad Zuse did not implement this feature in the
Z3, because his 64-word memory was too small to
support this mode of operation.

165
The Z4
• For this reason, he compared the advantages and
disadvantages of a memory built using relays to a
memory constructed from thin metal sheets. His
conclusion was that constructing the memory from
metal sheets was much less expensive than building a
relay memory. It was clear to him that a memory of
one thousand 32-bit words consisting of relays would
be too big, because he would need more than 1000 x 32
= 32,000 relays. His patented(专利化) mechanical
memory (1936) worked very reliably, and for 1000
words he would not need more than one cubic meter of
space.

166
The Z4
• By 1941, Konrad Zuse was sure that the
general problems of building powerful
computers were solved. He planned the Z4 to
be a prototype of computers for engineering
bureaus and scientific institutes. Based on his
experiences with the Z1 to Z3 machines, and
knowing the problems he wanted to solve for
the engineers, he realized that the Z4 needed
much more memory than in the previous
machines.

167
The Z4

168
The Z4
• The goal of the Z4, which was developed between 1942
and 1945, was to build the prototype for a machine that
was intended to be produced in the thousands.
• The Z4, the second general purpose computer, was
completed in 1944. The Z4 was reassembled in the
years following 1945. Punched tape readers were then
added. From July 11, 1950, this configuration was used
for five years at the Institute of Applied Mathematics at
ETH Zurich（苏黎世）. In 1951, the Z4 was the only
operational computer in Europe. In 1954, the Z4 was
transferred to the Institute Franco-Allemand des
Recherches de St. Louis in France, where it was in use
until 1959.
• From 1950-1955 the Z4 processed approx. 100 different
projects.

169
Konrad Zuse
• Konrad Zuse (1910-
1995) built the first
operational, generalpurpose,
programcontrolled
calculator,
the Z3, in 1941.