Computers as an Artifact essays

Computers as an Artifact essays In 1942, John P. Eckert, John W. Mauchly, and their associates at the Moore school of Electrical Engineering of University of Pennsylvania decided instead of doing their jobs they would build a machine to do their jobs for them. This machine became known as ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator) the size of ENIACs numerical "word" was 10 decimal digits, and it could multiply two of these numbers at a rate of 300 per second, by finding the value of each product from a multiplication table stored in its memory. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes, about 1,800 square feet of floor space, and consumed about 180,000 watts of electrical power. It had punched card I/O, 1 multiplier, 1 divider/square rooter, and 20 adders using decimal ring counters , which served as adders and also as quick-access (.0002 seconds) read-write register storage. The executable instructions making up a program were embodied in the separate "units" of ENIAC, which were plugged together to form a "route " for the flow of information. These connections had to be redone after each computation, together with presetting function tables and switches. This computer is significantly slower and bigger from the computers we think of today. (Siman) Computers were a major step in the human exploration of knowledge. They make complex tasks simpler by 1000 fold. Mathematical computations can be completed in mere seconds using computers. Also the editing and reprinting of documents is extremely easier now that you can go and edit one word and the reprint it out instead of typing the entire thing over. The computer field continues to experience huge growth. Computer networking, computer mail, and electronic publishing are just a few of the applications that have grown in recent years. Every year companies produce cheaper and more powerful computers offering making it easier for everyone to have one at their home. Computers today use thousands of little resist...