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This is where I work on drafts.
This is where I work on pre-drafts and just try stuff out


Suggestions for rewrite of Computer:
I had a draft of [[Computer]] at [[User:Pat_Palmer/Computer]].


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For centuries, people sought assistance from mechanical devices in performing onerous arithmetical calculations (ref. abacus and knotted string--Amer. Indians?, and of course the slide rule).  
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The invention of computers--electronic machines that can perform numerical manipulations far faster than humans--revolutionized the world in the later half of the the twentieth century.


The first generation of computers (1940's and 1950's) were in fact used primarily for performing complex mathematical calculations such as actuary tables or weapons firing trajectories.  As the complexity of computer hardware increased, an even more drastic revolution occurred in the programs which the hardware was able to execute.


===Strowger switch and telephone dialing (~1920)===
- Telephone automation systems, called "switches" or switchboards, were likely among the first electromechanical devices to implement a primitive form of computer-like memory, whereby a number is stored by the setting of relays, or the operation of similar equipment. The earliest form of switching memory was the [[Strowger switch]], developed by an independent American inventor decades before [[Bell Laboratories]] invented an equivalent technology. Strowger switches completed an additional segment of a phone call's connection each time a digit was dialed; in this case, the entire telephone system was the memory. Later switchboards (1960's generation) used general-purpose computers and completely stored all digits of the dialed number in a [[register]] before making a [[routing decision]] based on a host of complex factors. Call connections were made "all at once" after running a program that analyzed the dialed number. + Telephone automation systems, called "switches" or switchboards, were likely among the first electromechanical devices to implement a primitive form of computer-like memory, whereby a number is stored by the setting of relays, or the operation of similar equipment. The earliest form of switching memory was the [[Strowger switch]], developed by an independent American inventor decades before [[Bell Laboratories]] invented an equivalent technology. Strowger switches completed an additional segment of a phone call's connection each time a digit was dialed; in this case, the entire telephone system was the memory. Strowger eliminated the need for intervention by a human operation when placing a phone call (in consumer terms, he "invented the dial telephone"). Later switchboards (1960's generation) used general-purpose computers and completely stored all digits of the dialed number in a [[register]] before making a [[routing decision]] based on a host of complex factors. Call connections were made "all at once" after running a program that analyzed the dialed number.


The classical, most stripped-down view of a computer has the following four basic parts:
==References==
processor (and bus)
<references />
memory
input (punched cards? keyboard? mouse? microphone?)
output (printout, monitor, sound, industrial automation of mechanical robots)


Although today's computer are used as a tool in almost every profession, in the early years after their inventions, computers were the domain of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
==Front==


Discuss the notion of a programmable computer, or a stored-program computer, and the Church-Turing ideas.
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Summarize the state of computing today without listing ten thousand computing jargon words.
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Outline the growth of a new academic discipline, computer science, starting around 1980's, and the parallel growth of world-wide computer networksMostly this part should just point off to other articles (that's where the jargon can live).
[http://www.citizendium.org/about.html The ''Citizendium''] ([http://www.citizendium.org/cit.mp3 sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um]), a "citizens' compendium of everything," is an experimental new wiki project started by a co-founder of [[Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] with the aim of improving on ''that'' model by adding "gentle expert oversight" ''and'' requiring contributors to use their real names.  The pilot project launched in November 2006 and became public in March 2007As of July 11, 2007, we were working on '''[[:Category:CZ Live|over 2,300 articles]].'''


The history of computer unfolds like a fascinating drama--first, the idea (Babbage et al.).  The invention of electricity.  Radio and vacuum tubes.  The realization that vaccuum tubes could be used as on-off switches to replace mechanical relays.  The almost accidental invention of the transitor (first one had a paper clip in it).  Turing, Shannon, and number and information theory.
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The invention of the compiler.  Then the evolution of operating systems, from batch to command line to windows.  Apple-Microsoft software wars paralleling Sun-Intel wars in hardware.  
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;<span>Entry points </span>
Workgroup homepages are &Phi; symbols.


The internet and the world wide web, and most astonishing of all, Google.
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This should be the outline of the article. It should be kept as short as possible, just introduce these different areas to explore, and then point off to more specialized topics.
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Latest revision as of 10:58, 7 March 2024

This is where I work on pre-drafts and just try stuff out

I had a draft of Computer at User:Pat_Palmer/Computer.

Discussion Archives
Archive 1, 4-9-07: here
Archive 2, date?: here
To Do List
placeholder
placeholder


Strowger switch and telephone dialing (~1920)

- Telephone automation systems, called "switches" or switchboards, were likely among the first electromechanical devices to implement a primitive form of computer-like memory, whereby a number is stored by the setting of relays, or the operation of similar equipment. The earliest form of switching memory was the Strowger switch, developed by an independent American inventor decades before Bell Laboratories invented an equivalent technology. Strowger switches completed an additional segment of a phone call's connection each time a digit was dialed; in this case, the entire telephone system was the memory. Later switchboards (1960's generation) used general-purpose computers and completely stored all digits of the dialed number in a register before making a routing decision based on a host of complex factors. Call connections were made "all at once" after running a program that analyzed the dialed number. + Telephone automation systems, called "switches" or switchboards, were likely among the first electromechanical devices to implement a primitive form of computer-like memory, whereby a number is stored by the setting of relays, or the operation of similar equipment. The earliest form of switching memory was the Strowger switch, developed by an independent American inventor decades before Bell Laboratories invented an equivalent technology. Strowger switches completed an additional segment of a phone call's connection each time a digit was dialed; in this case, the entire telephone system was the memory. Strowger eliminated the need for intervention by a human operation when placing a phone call (in consumer terms, he "invented the dial telephone"). Later switchboards (1960's generation) used general-purpose computers and completely stored all digits of the dialed number in a register before making a routing decision based on a host of complex factors. Call connections were made "all at once" after running a program that analyzed the dialed number.


References


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