Harvard mark-I and the bug, Computer Engineering

Assignment Help:

The next important effort in the direction of devising an electromechanical computer was made at Harvard University mutually sponsored by IBM and Department of UN Navy, Howard Aiken of Harvard University created a system known as Mark I in 1944. Mark I was a decimal machine means that computations were performed employing decimal digits.

Some of you should have heard a term known as 'bug'. It is mostly used to denote errors in computer programs. This term was invented when one day a program in Mark-I didn't run accurately because of a moth short-circuiting the computer. Since then moth or bug has been linked with problems or errors in computer programming. So process of eliminating error in a program is termed as 'debugging'.

The common shortcomings of these electromechanical and mechanical computers were: 

  • Inertia/Friction of moving components limited speed.
  • Data movement using liners and gears was very unreliable and difficult.

Change was to have a storing and switching mechanism with no moving parts. The electronic switching device 'triode' vacuum tubes were used so first electronic computer was born.


Related Discussions:- Harvard mark-I and the bug

What are universal gates, What  are  universal  gates.  Construct  a  lo...

What  are  universal  gates.  Construct  a  logic  circuit  using  NAND  gates  only  for  the expression x = A . (B + C). Ans. Universal Gates: NAND and NOR Gates both are t

How to load dos from hard disk, Q. How to Load DOS from Hard Disk? To L...

Q. How to Load DOS from Hard Disk? To Load DOS from the Hard Disk of your computer, follow these steps: 1. Turn on the power ON/OFF switch of the CPU unit of your PC the pow

What is meant by common control, What is meant by common control? In se...

What is meant by common control? In several switching systems, the control subsystem may be an integral part of the switching network itself. This system is termed as direct co

What is the size of the variant data type, The Variant data type has a nume...

The Variant data type has a numeric storage size of 16 bytes and can have data up to the range of a Decimal, or a character storage size of 22 bytes (plus string length),and can ke

Using bit wise operator implement nor and nand gate, Q. Write a program t...

Q. Write a program to implement NOR, NAND, XOR and XNOR gates using and without using bit wise operator. Also perform necessary checking. The user has option to give n numbe

Software characteristics, Software Characteristics: Software is en...

Software Characteristics: Software is engineered and developed. Software can't "wear-out". Most of the software continues to be routine built. The term in

Describe the functions of an operating system, Question: (a) Software ...

Question: (a) Software may be categorized into System software and Application software. Differentiate between these two categories, using examples to support your answer.

What is a table cluster, What is a table cluster? A table cluster join...

What is a table cluster? A table cluster joins several logical tables in the ABAP/4 Dictionary.  Various logical rows from different cluster tables are brought together in a o

Instruction length - assembly language, Instruction Length: Variabl...

Instruction Length: Variable-length instructions (Intel 80x86, VAX) need multi-step fetch and decode, but permit for a much more flexible and compressed instruction set.

Determine the o/p for JK flip flop with J=1 & K=0, For JK flip flop with J=...

For JK flip flop with J=1, K=0, the output after clock pulse will be ? Ans. The output will be 1 after clock pulse.

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd