CS2642 & SWE2643 Computers and Society/Professional Practices and Ethics
Lecture 5--Getting Started
© 2001 Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
Overview
Getting Started
The situation faced by Eckert and Mauchly
The machine organization
History and the challenges
Players on the team
Prior art
Team dynamics and the leaders
Solution
Summary
The situation faced by Eckert and Mauchly
The enemies of the U.S. were winning
Herman Goldstine had gotten them the money and the responsibility to speed up production of firing tables
Other teams were rich in resources and bench players, e.g., Aiken had IBM
They had a basic idea of what they wanted to try but no details on how to create an electronic computer
The machine organization -- Three main parts
Math units
Addition
High-speed multiplication
Division and square roots
Memory units for both data and instructions
Electronic accumulators
Switch units for manually setting constant numbers
Master programmer for control
The machine organization -- Additional units and packaging
Peripheral units
Initiator
Clock
Packaging
Each unit in cabinet (with safety latch)
Units cabled together
Cabling was systematically designed into trays
digit trays
program trays
Question on this machine organization
McCartney says on page 63
"This is the basic structure of computers even today."
- Do you agree or disagree and why?
- (Homework for Thursday 9/27/01)
History and the Challenges
Mauchly and Eckert were ignorant of deep history
They knew recent history and focused on personal experience--they new electronics were fast
But, they realized they need to grasp certain problems before starting:
Logical machine design
Materials and reliability (getting many tubes to work)
Designing electronic counting circuits
Controlling the circuits and flow of information
History and the Challenges
"The smartest thing we ever did was to start slowly."
Pres Eckert
Players on the Team
Picture on page 67
Pres Eckert
John Mauchly
Bob Shaw
Arthur Burks
Kite Sharpless
Chuan Chu
Jack Davis
Harry Huskey
- Lt. Herman Goldstine Eckert--"the lubricant"
- Col. Paul N. Gillon
- John Grist Brainerd
- Carl Chambers
- James Cummings
- Joseph Chedaker
- Brad Sheppard
- F. Robert Michaels
The Prior Art
Flip-flops in relays
Counters that needed a pulse for each number
Binary coding (flip-flop counters) versus decimal coding (Pascaline wheel)
Tubes that were not very reliable
Conditional branching (since Babbage)
Team dynamics and the leaders
The Inseparable Confidants
Pres Eckert--Clearly chief engineer
Whirlwind of quick, nervous energy
Set standards, demanded they be met without exception
Always present; always helpful
John Mauchly--Clearly what????
Calming, charming, lovable intellectual
Kept an eye on the prize and the big picture
Always able and available to step in and fill a void
Team dynamics and the leaders
Lt. Herman Goldstine--(Project Manager)
Eckert "He’s the lubricant that made the thing work"
Gathered resources and people
Managed details - Mauchly’s dreams/Eckert’s designs
Col. Paul N. Gillon--(Goldstine’s Boss)
Scope creep
Total team: Worked around the clock
Solutions
Flip-flops -- in circuits
Counters that needed a pulse for each digit as opposed to each number
Binary coding versus decimal coding -- Eckert developed Decimal (electronic) counter in 28 tubes.
Tubes that were not very reliable -- Choose most reliable and run at 10% voltage
Conditional branching (since Babbage) --control to string computers together, not calculators.
Summary
Getting Started
The situation faced by Eckert and Mauchly
The machine organization
History and the challenges
Players on the team
Prior art
Team dynamics and the leaders
Solution
Midterm
Distribute three lists:
People, e.g., Pres Eckert and John Mauchly
Dates, e.g., 1946
Events, e.g., unveiling of ENIAC
For a C: Put the dates, people, and events together with reasonable accuracy
For a B: Add a column that shows your references. Use at least five reference sources
Midterm
Example Link that Y’all Have Already Established