Feb 10 In Computer History From the ASCC To The SSEC.
What In The World Is ASCC To SSEC?
In 1948 news hit the streets slowly. They had no internet like we know it today to speed up delivery of important information for the common man. On February 10, 1948 it was announced that Thomas J. Watson, of IBM, achieved his goal of doing something for the common business man. It took 15 days for the news to be published broadly.
On January 27, 1948 Thomas achieved his goal of taking the Harvard Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) and converted it to something the common business man could use: the Selective Sequence Controlled Calculator (SSEC). Can you image the SSEC contained 21,400 relays and 12,500 vacuum tubes.
Vacuum Tubes You Say?Some of you will remember the days when televisions even used vacuum tubes. That seems like a long time ago. Well this is because it wasn’t until the 1950s-60s most TV vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors in the West. Those of you into special high-end equipment such as audio amplifiers may find them still used today because their amplification quality is still better. But for the rest of us, vacuum tubes were gone in the 1970’s.
Currently audio vacuum tube production is largely limited to 3 locations: China, Russia and the Czech, and Slovak Republics. While many other developed nations still produce and develop vacuum based electronics, only Japan and Germany have produced glass vacuum tubes suitable for audio recently.
Now Back To Computers And Vacuum TubesWay back when, computers did use vacuum tubes. That’s when a computer covered a city block or more. The size was so large because vacuum tubes were large. Obviously the size was impractical. So technology marched on. Transistors were introduced. And they were wonderful because they are lower cost, smaller, stay cooler, and are more energy efficient.
So What About Transistors and Computers Today?Today the most powerful computer processor uses 1.2 trillion transistors as announced by Cerebras. Their CPU chip has 400,000 cores and contains 1.2 trillion transistors on a die over 46,000 square mm in area. That's roughly the size of a square about 8.5 inches on each side. That sure beats the city block size of the early computer processors.
So What About UsWe don’t need the most powerful computer processor to create our websites but we need some computing power. So our computers today use transistors.
Why Are Transistors Found In Our ComputerIt is the transistors that communicate with the computer (machine). The computer (machine) only understands the switch concept (on and off or 0 and 1). Transistors are on and off switches. WordPress which uses PHP cannot talk to the computer (machine). It needs something to intervene.
So How Does A Computer (Machine) Understand WordPress PHP?Obviously WordPress which is written in PHP is not on and off switches; however PHP is based on the C language which is a language that can be compiled. A compiler takes the compiled language (the program code (source code) PHP which is C language which is compiled language) and converts it to machine executable code (on and off switches known as 0 and 1).
So Today’s Invention Transformed The Size Of Our ComputersHow much smaller can they get? Who knows? Technology marches on with wonderful discoveries.
Give Your Computer Some Data TodayEnjoy the usage of your computer today. It works so hard behind the scenes. All you need to do is give it some data.
Recent Comments
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I enjoy these posts on the workings of computers. You explain it very well. I remember when Apple came out with the mouse and icons when PCs were using DOS. It was revolutionary. Now it's normal. Who knows what will be next.
This is challenging because history becomes alive when applied to today. People will not read the history unless it is presented in an easy to read way. Of course that is true of our websites as well. If we don't relate people will not read.
Yah! The days of DOS and the mouse. Its hard to keep up with all of this.
Hello George, lovely article on ASCC to SSEC! I remember in my SanDisk days a NAND flash memory spec document crossed my desk, which stores 1s and 0s for later loading into the computer or camera memory or CPU for processing. I was amazed to learn the memory cell size was only 1.13 µm2 per bit, which is really too small to conceptualize. Thanks for the history lesson. Really appreciate it! Rupert.
Glad you enjoyed the history. What an interesting memory experience you have. Thinking back and looking at today is absolutely astounding.
Vacuum tubes were used in an Analog environment. On a speedometer you can equate that with the moving needle vs the digital display. Accurate results are produced from a vacuum tube system when all tubes are working virtually at full capacity. The transistor will give you a 1 or 0 accurately at closed to 50% which made it much more accurate and reliable working in a gated system. In 1964 there was a movie released called "FailSafe" about a breakdown in a military tracking system and if it did break down what could be the consequences. It never did happen and wouldn't. I was working at one of the pivotal sites as displayed in that representation. I had a Top Secret security clearance which all had that worked there. This was before the advent of Satellites. The system that I worked on was produced by ITT a very unique & wonderful system. If you were to Google ITT 465L you can read about it. Excellent post jghwebbrand, Keep up the good work.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. I learned some things. You certainly have a depth of experience that is great to be introduced to.
It's great to learn from others.
Thank you so much for the information.
I enjoyed using my computer, I bought this just for my Wealth affiliate thing.
Thank you for sharing.
Joyce
Glad you are enjoying the history.
So glad you have a computer to use for Wealthy Affiliate. A computer makes our work possible.
Enjoy your day.
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Hi George
Valves to transistors to IC boards was a very fast transition, and ICBs have developed beyond all recognition.
The other huge differences are that when I first joined IBM in 1976 they were still using 1 inch wide tape for main data storage (they were just beginning to switch to enormous banks for hard discs) and input was managed on punched cards.
I think the fastest tech development was probably during the 80s which laid the foundation for much of today's inventions.
Tape, however, is still used for long term data storage because it is able to retain data for 30 years or more, while other media deteriorates much faster unless (I believe) it's constantly powered up.
;-)
Richard
Thank you for all of your information. What A history. I would tend to agree with you a lot of invention went on in the 60's.
I didn't realize tape is still used for long term storage. WoW! Lasts 30 years. Interesting.
Sorry George ... I said the 80s but it is also true of the 60s ... it's just that (I think) the 80s innovations largely laid the foundations for today's tech.
:-)
Richard
Yah! I believe that is true as well. My so much happened during those years.