Christopher Tayler

EG21002 :ENGINEERING DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION

ASSIGNMENT PART 1

They control almost everything in our everyday life. From washing machines to
our cars, they are essential, without them Western society would collapse. They
can also be one of the biggest annoyances to us, crashing, turning off without
warning and spewing lewd warning messages at us. They are computers, the
development of which spans 3 centuries and has been a high speed fury of
technological achievement and implementation, and in some cases unfortunate
setbacks.

Back when computers were men with pencils the world was a different place.
Electricity was something that came out of the sky and the play thing of
physicists, however there was a real need for accuracy and the “computers of
the time” were un-reliable in constantly providing it. A gentleman, mechanical
engineer, mathematician, philosopher and inventor, Charles Babbage was what
could be seen as the father of computing. On the 14thJune 1822 Babbage
proposed a machine to the British Government for the “Computation of
astronomical and mathematical tables”. This machine was what was later to be
known as the Difference engine, essentially a mechanical calculator, the
operation of which is highly complicated and would require far more than 2
pages to describe. Unfortunately, the difference engine wasn’t made until 1991,
and was constructed to celebrate Babbage’s 250thBirthday. If the Difference
engine was manufactured back during the Industrial Revolution many things
could have been different, mistakes could have beenavoided such as the sinking
of the Titanic and the failure of many mechanical components. What could have
been the first step in computer technology was forgotten with the death of
Babbage in 1871.

It wasn’t really until the Second World War was the potential of the computer
really understood, and its existence madepossible. Solving the German codes
were becoming increasingly difficult and time consuming, and frankly there were
not enough “computers” to do the work. A real world solution was proposedby
an unknown post office engineer called Tommy Flower, who was very close to
another brain of the time Alan Turing. The two realised that a computer needed
to consist of an array of switches, just like a telephone exchange. Even though
the government dismissed his idea he went ahead with the project and created
in 1943 what was to be known as Colossus, the first programmable, digital,
electronic, computer. Colossus was not mechanical like the Difference engine
that Babbage has designed, but operated using what was at the time cutting
edge electronics. The thermionic valve (of which there were 1500 in its first
iteration).
Christopher Tayler

The thermionic valve, more commonly referred to as merely a “valve”, is a

device used to amplify, switch, otherwise modify, or create an electrical signal by
controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space (Vacuum tube,
2008). A valve consists of electrodes contained within a vacuum in a heat
resisting body (which is normally cylindrical). The simplest examples of valves
are similar to incandescent bulbs. The explanation from Wikipedia gives a rough
idea of how a valve works, the valves of course in Colossus contained several
filaments so could operate doing various different functions.

“When hot, the filament releases electrons into the vacuum: a process called
thermionic emission. The resulting negatively charged cloud of electrons is
called a space charge. These electrons will be drawn to a metal plate inside the
envelope, if the plate (also called the anode) is positively charged relative to the
filament (or cathode). The result is a flow of electrons from filament to plate. This
cannot work in the reverse direction because the plate is not heated and does
not emit electrons. This very simple example described can thus be seen to
operate as a diode: a device that conducts current only in one direction. The
vacuum tube diode conducts conventional current from plate (anode) to the
filament (cathode); this is the opposite direction to the flow of electrons (called
electron current).” (Vacuum tube, 2008)

Colossus had paved the way for computing, using a combination of switches and
various magnetic storage methods, but the machine took up a huge amount of
space, and the only way forward was to miniaturise, and unfortunately was kept
under raps until the mid 70’s by the government. With the invention of the
transistor this was achieved. Transistors performed the same function as valves,
but used the principles of semi-conductors. Computers became smaller and
smaller as more and more transistors were squeezed onto chips. The first
desktop-size system specifically designed for personal use appeared in 1974; it
was offered by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) and sparked a
race amongst companies to get a share in this new market.

The form which most computer systems now have (a screen, key board, mouse
and CPU) was established in the mid 80’s when systems were getting even more
affordable and easier to use. Not only were developments in the transistor
technology changing how computers were used, but also storage mediums.
Hard drives had to become larger and larger as programs required more space,
the same goes for RAM. Computers had started to get a grip on our everyday
life, and started to slither their way into everything even slightly automated.

The future of computing is a slightly fuzzy. As transistor technology reaches its

limits due to size, new solutions must be found. Market leaders such as Intel
and AMD are looking at Nano and quantum technology, and it has been
suggested that using micro or nano sized electro-mechanical systems like the
difference engine may be a viable solution. For now however computers are
more than adequate for our requirements.

The history of computers has been a rocky one. Setbacks and secrets
hamperedthe development in its early days. Recently computers have
Christopher Tayler

progressed exponentially however. A modern pocket calculator has more

processing power than the first Apollo modules had. If cars had progressed at
the same rate technologically as computers we would be driving around at at
least the speed of sound! When it comes to form, computers come in all sorts of
different packages, but from a mass consumer point of viewdesktops have come
to a standard form of a screen, cpu, mouse and keyboard. I cannot imagine a
world without computers, not only would money be essentially useless in the
western world but my car would not work, and I’m sure everyone would agree,
computers have greatly improved our quality of life, if not created new stresses
in it!

Bibliography
Vacuum tube. (2008, December). Retrieved 2008, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube